The Righteous One’s hopes realised in the glory of the kingdom 

Whilst this is a psalm that David composed for, and about his son, Solomon, yet there is a greater fulfilment in the Person of the heavenly Solomon, the Prince of Peace, to come. Solomon, though he was to have a glorious and splendid reign, could not match the descriptions given here. 

Solomon, in writing his Song of Songs, stated of Christ, “Thy Name is as an ointment poured forth.” And David, his father, in this psalm makes much of “The Name.” The Name will endure forever; it will continue as the sun, and it is so glorious that it will be blest forever. Though Solomon’s glory was heard of even in Sheba, the Name of Christ, or the Person of Christ will fill the earth with glory. We can assent with the psalmist, and cry ‘Amen, Amen, so let it be.’ This doxology ends the second book within the psalms.

Pastor Jeff O’ Neil

Recommended Tune: Effingham

Psalm 72

¹O Lord, thy judgments give the king,
His son thy righteousness.
²With right he shall thy people judge,
Thy poor with uprightness.

³The lofty mountains shall bring forth
Unto the people peace;
Likewise the little hills the same
Shall do by righteousness.

⁴The people’s poor ones he shall judge,
The needy’s children save;
And those shall he in pieces break
Who them oppressed have.

⁵They shall thee fear, while sun and moon
Do last, through ages all.
⁶Like rain on mown grass he shall drop,
Or show’rs on earth that fall.

⁷The just shall flourish in his days,
And prosper in his reign:
He shall, while doth the moon endure,
Abundant peace maintain.

⁸His large and great dominion shall
From sea to sea extend:
It from the river shall reach forth
Unto earth’s utmost end.

⁹They in the wilderness that dwell
Bow down before him must;
And they that are his enemies
Shall lick the very dust.

¹⁰The kings of Tarshish, and the isles,
To him shall presents bring;
And unto him shall offer gifts
Sheba’s and Seba’s king.

¹¹Yea, all the mighty kings on earth
Before him down shall fall;
And all the nations of the world
Do service to him shall.

¹²For he the needy shall preserve,
When he to him doth call;
The poor also, and him that hath
No help of man at all.

¹³The poor man and the indigent
In mercy he shall spare;
He shall preserve alive the souls
Of those that needy are.

¹⁴Both from deceit and violence
Their soul he shall set free;
And in his sight right precious
And dear their blood shall be.

¹⁵Yea, he shall live, and giv’n to him
Shall be of Sheba’s gold:
For him still shall they pray, and he
Shall daily be extoll’d.

¹⁶Of corn an handful in the earth
On tops of mountains high,
With prosp’rous fruit shall shake, like trees
On Lebanon that be.

The city shall be flourishing,
Her citizens abound
In number shall, like to the grass
That grows upon the ground.

¹⁷His name for ever shall endure;
Last like the sun it shall:
Men shall be bless’d in him, and bless’d
All nations shall him call.

¹⁸Now blessed be the LORD our God,
The God of Israel,
For he alone doth wondrous works,
In glory that excel.

¹⁹And blessed be his glorious name
To all eternity:
The whole earth let his glory fill.
Amen, so let it be.