Psalm 72--Give the King Your Justice

Psalm 72
English Standard Version

Give the King Your Justice
Of Solomon.
72 Give the king your justice, O God,
    and your righteousness to the royal son!
2 May he judge your people with righteousness,
    and your poor with justice!
3 Let the mountains bear prosperity for the people,
    and the hills, in righteousness!
4 May he defend the cause of the poor of the people,
    give deliverance to the children of the needy,
    and crush the oppressor!

5 May they fear you while the sun endures,
    and as long as the moon, throughout all generations!
6 May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass,
    like showers that water the earth!
7 In his days may the righteous flourish,
    and peace abound, till the moon be no more!

8 May he have dominion from sea to sea,
    and from the River to the ends of the earth!
9 May desert tribes bow down before him,
    and his enemies lick the dust!
10 May the kings of Tarshish and of the coastlands
    render him tribute;
may the kings of Sheba and Seba
    bring gifts!
11 May all kings fall down before him,
    all nations serve him!

12 For he delivers the needy when he calls,
    the poor and him who has no helper.
13 He has pity on the weak and the needy,
    and saves the lives of the needy.
14 From oppression and violence he redeems their life,
    and precious is their blood in his sight.

15 Long may he live;
    may gold of Sheba be given to him!
May prayer be made for him continually,
    and blessings invoked for him all the day!
16 May there be abundance of grain in the land;
    on the tops of the mountains may it wave;
    may its fruit be like Lebanon;
and may people blossom in the cities
    like the grass of the field!
17 May his name endure forever,
    his fame continue as long as the sun!
May people be blessed in him,
    all nations call him blessed!

18 Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel,
    who alone does wondrous things.
19 Blessed be his glorious name forever;
    may the whole earth be filled with his glory!
Amen and Amen!

20 The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended.

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We have reached the end of "Book Two" in the anthology known as The Book of Psalms.  Solomon wrote this one and penned at the end, "The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended," so I assume that Solomon penned this shortly after becoming king and shortly after David died.  In this prayer, Solomon asks the LORD to give Solomon His justice and righteousness so that Solomon might dispense these as king over the LORD's people, Israel.

Solomon's heart that started off in such a good place--wanting the people to fear the LORD and obey Him always so that His justice, righteousness and blessings would be upon them.  However, we know that quickly Solomon had a divided heart looking for pleasure in all the wrong places--wine, women, money, worldly knowledge and pleasures, and even chasing after the gods of his foreign wives.

He prays for the LORD to make his kingdom large and that everyone will pay tribute to him so that there will be peace throughout his entire time as king.  The LORD answered this prayer.  Though Solomon spent much time and money building the armaments and the army of the nation of Israel, they didn't need to go to war, because every nation was fearful of messing with Solomon.  They saw early on how he dealt with those who had mistreated his father David--the vengeance was swift and brutal.  No one wanted to be on the receiving end of Solomon's sword after that.

Solomon wants all those who are in need to have plenty, and for even the places that would normally be barren (like the tops of the mountains) to be full of produce and livestock.  Solomon has seen David's prayers for the LORD to save the weak and the needy answered over and over again, and he asks for the LORD to continue to do so during his reign.

He asks for long life (a long reign, as the king's reign usually was brought to an end because someone else that wanted to be king killed him), to become rich with gold (that's a little troubling) and that people may pray for him and invoke blessings on him all they days of his reign.  He asks again for the Land to be fruitful, even in the desolate places as well as in the cities and the fields.  He does not forget to ask that the name of the LORD will be praised forever and that people from every nation will always bless Him as their true King.

Like David, Solomon wraps up remember all the wonderous deeds that the LORD has done for him personally and for the people of Israel.  There is no one else like Him.  There is then a call to worship that goes out to the whole world--let the whole earth praise and worship Him!  Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised in all the earth!  The whole earth is filled with His glory!  Praise His holy Name forever and ever!

This is how Solomon ended "The Psalms of David."  There are many other psalms that David penned later in this book as they were not placed in the book in chronological order, but this was probably Solomon's first and he tried to write it as a tribute to his father David who was known for the way in which he prayed and worshiped.  Of the 150 psalms, about 75 (roughly half of them) area attributed to David--73 have his name on them and another two we assume he wrote because they contain similar language and style to others that we know he wrote.  While God certainly did everything for Solomon that he asked for here, we know that Solomon getting all these things was not necessarily what was best for him.

I plan to return to the books of History next, and we'll see where we go after that should the LORD tarry.