Keith Simons explores Psalm 72, which reflects on the rule of King Solomon and foreshadows the reign of the Messiah. He emphasizes that both rulers are characterized by justice, righteousness, and care for the poor, with the Messiah's rule extending far beyond Solomon's. The psalm illustrates a time of peace and prosperity, where even the mountains yield abundance, and all nations honor the king. Simons highlights the eternal nature of the Messiah's reign, contrasting it with Solomon's temporary rule, and concludes with a call to recognize God's wondrous works through the Messiah.

What will the rule of the Messiah be like? Well, one answer to that is to look at King Solomon's rule, which was a time of great peace and prosperity in Israel. And today's psalm, Psalm 72, is both about Solomon's rule and about the rule of the Messiah. Welcome, my name is Keith Symons and I present these weekly talks on how to understand the King James Bible by using the psalms. So Psalm 72 has the heading, A Psalm for Solomon. And the words a psalm are in italics or slanted type to tell us that these words are not in the Hebrew. And the words for Solomon could mean by Solomon, but the King James translators have understood this to be about Solomon and so they've given the title, A Psalm for Solomon. Verse one, Give the king thy judgment, O God, and thy righteousness unto the king's son. Now, the king in this verse and the king's son are the same person. Solomon was both the king and the son of a king. He was the son of David. And so the prayer is that he will be a God, he will be a king rather of judgments, a king who carries out justice, and a king who carries out acts of righteousness, that he does what is right and good. And so the prayer is for Solomon to be a wise king. And we all know that Solomon is famed as being the wisest king, but not as wise, of course, as the Messiah, God's future king from David's family, who will rule with complete wisdom and understanding. Verse two, He shall judge thy people with righteousness and thy poor with judgment. The word thy refers to God, he shall judge God's people with righteousness and God's poor people with judgment. In other words, the poor people of the country under the rule of the king, be it Solomon or be it the Messiah, they won't be mistreated as in many countries. They won't be taken advantage of by the rich or the wealthy, because this king will be a judge, a fair judge, a right judge. He will deal rightly with everyone, whether they are poor or whether they are rich. And so the poor people will not suffer from the cruelty of powerful evil people. They will be rescued by their king. Verse three, the mountains shall bring peace to the people and the little hills by righteousness. Now, this could be, this is a few meanings have been suggested to this, this passage. One meaning is that when people proclaimed peace in the land, the end of a war, they would go up on the mountains and they would shout so that people could gather around and hear the good news. Another meaning that's been suggested is that the mountains and hills are word pictures here, for the mountains meaning the powerful people or the powerful nations that so often caused the oppression and the trouble of poorer people. But now the mountains, these powerful people or the powerful nations around Israel, they'll be approaching the poor people of Israel with peace. They will have a right relationship with the poor people and the needy people. And then there's yet another meaning that some people have suggested, and this matches with verse 16. And that meaning is simply that under Solomon's peaceful rule, under the peaceful rule of King Messiah, why even the mountains and the hills, which don't normally yield very good crops, they will bring the blessing of peace and prosperity to the people. They will yield a harvest, just as the valleys, which normally do well, yield a harvest. Verse 4, he, the king, shall judge the poor of the people. He shall save the children of the needy and shall break in pieces the oppressor. So we see here, he's rescuing people. He's rescuing the weakest of people. This is not a king who rules by cruelty, but this is a king who frees those who are suffering. He breaks in pieces the oppressor. In other words, like you trample something under your foot and break it apart, well this cruel enemy who has been so evil towards the poor people of the country, his power is going to be utterly destroyed. Verse 5, they, that's the people, the needy, the people who've been poor, who this king has set free, they shall fear thee, the king, as long as the sun and moon endure throughout all generations. Yes, they will respect their king, and they will respect their king on and on, because he is God's king. He is serving God. He has freed them from their troubles, and just as God has created the sun and moon to rule the skies, and the sun rules by day, and the moon rules by night, and generations come and go, and they are still there in their position of rule, so will be the rule of King Messiah. Solomon ruled for 40 years, but the rule of the Messiah will never end. Verse 6, he shall come down like rain upon the mown grass, as showers that water the earth. Israel's a dry country. Six months of the year you get almost no rain, so how refreshing when the rain comes, and what happens when it comes? Well then the green herbs start to grow, and that dry parched ground, that dry parched earth becomes living again. Verse 7 explains this, in his days shall the righteous flourish. So because God's king is ruling, then good people do well. They are blessed, they live successful lives, and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth. Yes the peace that he's brought will be there month after month after month, just as the moon faithfully rises in the sky with each new moon. So the king's rule will bring peace to the land, and not just to the land of Israel, because verse 8, he shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river and to the ends of the earth. King Solomon ruled the surrounding countries around Israel. His rule extended to the river Euphrates in one direction, and to the border of Egypt in the other direction. This vast area of rule, and king Messiah rules the whole world. He is the king of Israel, but he is the king of all people, and he shall have dominion from the end to the end of the earth, and not just over the one country, but over the whole world. But someone says, what about the desert robbers? What about the people who are enemies of what's right and good? Well they'll have a choice, won't they? Verse 9, they that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him. So here is our king with authority, even over the robbers that live in the desert. And there were many robbers in ancient Israel who lived in the deserts around ancient Israel, and who would rob travelers as they passed by. But these in the psalm, they're bowing before the king. They're giving honor to this great king, and those who choose to remain his enemies, well his enemies shall lick the dust. They will be totally defeated, as if they have to lie down on the floor in front of him with their mouths against the earth. They lick the dust, they are totally and utterly defeated. And that is why rulers from across the world give honor to God's king. It happened in the rule of King Solomon. Rulers sent their envoys to King Solomon with presents. The queen of Sheba travelled a great distance with gold that she could give it to Solomon. And now we read the prophecy of this happening under Solomon's rule, and under the of King Messiah. Verse 10. The kings of Tarshish, that's Spain, and of the Isles shall bring presents. The kings of Sheba and Seba. They might be in Arabia or in Ethiopia, some people think. The kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yes, these places which before Solomon's time had seemed almost imaginary. They were so far away, yet their rulers were coming to give honor to Solomon. How much more then, in the time of King Messiah, will the whole world give honor to God's Messiah, to God's king. Verse 11. Yea, all nations, sorry, yea, all kings shall fall down before him. All nations shall serve him. They will all accept his rule. They will all be glad to be under the rule of such a good and kind king. Verse 12. For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth, the poor also, and him that hath no helper. He shall deliver them. In other words, he'll rescue them. He'll snatch them away from the power of the evil people. He will take those poor needy people, those who have no one to help them, and he will declare himself to be their helper. Or more than that, verse 13. He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy. He shall spare them. He shall pity them. He shall save their souls. He will free their lives. He will set them to free. He will give them freedom. He will look after them. He cares about them. And verse 14 goes even further. He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence. That word redeem is the word that we're familiar with from the book of Ruth, the idea of the kinsman redeemer or the relative who looks after those related to him. If they go into slavery, he pays the money to set them free. If they are killed, then he takes the responsibility to bring the killer, the murderer to justice. Oh no wonder this king is loved when he is the one who frees the souls, the inner lives of his people from deceit, from lies, from violence, and from cruelty. Who cares about them so much that precious shall their blood be in his sight. He cares about every aspect of their lives. What a wonderful king the king messiah is. Verse 15 has a couple of possible interpretations depending on who you think it is that lives in this verse. And he shall live and him shall be given of the gold of Sheba. Prayer also shall be made for him continually and daily shall he be praised. Okay two explanations. The one is that we're still talking about how he's rescued these poor people. And if that's so then it means the king has rescued the poor man and the poor man shall live. And the king is going to be so generous that just as he has received this gift from the king of Sheba, so he's going to give gold to that poor man. He's going to provide for him and provide for him the richest of things. And he's going to take that poor man from his poverty and look after him and provide for him. So no wonder the poor man prays for him continually. Prayer shall also be made for him continually and daily shall he be praised. Oh the poor man is going to be so grateful that he is going to pray continually for his king and he is always going to bless the name of his king. He will always give honour to his king. But it might be different from that. So maybe, maybe it's the other way around. Maybe the meaning is this. And the king shall live and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba. To the king goes the greatest honour and the greatest presence and the best gold. Prayer also shall be made for him continually. He'll pray for the poor people in his land. He will pray for that poor man and daily shall he be praised. That word praised in the Hebrew is blessed. Daily the poor man will receive the king's blessing. Well those are the two interpretations that have been given and in a way they're similar. They express the idea of a king who truly cares about the poor people in his land and the poor people who truly care about their king. And so no wonder that every part of Israel will be blessed. Why even the tops of the mountains. Tops of the mountains are often bare. Nothing grows there. But in the time of the rule of King Messiah, verse 16, there shall be a handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains. The fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon. So in other words, people will sow corn, grain, grains like wheat and barley, on the tops of the mountains. Places where grain would not normally grow. But how well it will grow there. Why in Lebanon there were great trees called cedars and they shook in the wind. Well that corn, that grain is going to grow so well that it will sway like the trees, the great trees on the mountains in Lebanon. We're talking about great prosperity here of the harvests. And not just in the countryside because in the cities where it's so hard to live up normally, well they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth as easily as the grass grows from the ground. So the people in the city will live to have successful lives and successful families. Verse 17, his name, the king's name shall endure forever. Oh we remember King Solomon's name and his wisdom and his greatness to this day. But King Messiah's name shall endure forever because his rule will endure forever. His name, his reputation will always be remembered and continued because his rule will always continue. His name shall be continued as long as the sun and men shall be blessed in him. All nations shall call him blessed. So the King Messiah's rule is going to continue forever and people will receive great blessing, great goodness from God through King Messiah. Where it says all nations shall call him the Hebrew is they'll call him happy, they'll call their king truly happy. And now in verse 18 the author of our psalm turns from the King Messiah and he talks about God, God the Father and he declares how God the Father will always be blessed because Messiah's rule is not to give honour to himself but to give honour to God. Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel who only doeth wondrous things. How much he deserves blessing and honour and praise because he will bring about the rule of his Messiah. And blessed, verse 19, be his glorious name forever and let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Let the whole earth be filled with the honour of God and with the knowledge of God and the praise of God. This will happen, it will happen when King Messiah rules. And so the author of our psalm writes Amen and Amen. The word Amen comes from the Hebrew word which means the truth. God is a faithful and true God. He will bring about the rule of Messiah. He will bring all nations under the right and good rule of the Messiah who will free the people from evil, from their enemies, from cruelty that they may live before him lives of righteousness and holiness. And with that prayer we find out the author of this psalm because verse 20 declares the prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended. David's been talking about the king. Of course David was a king too, wasn't he? But he doesn't declare himself king here. He just says David, the son of Jesse. With humility he just remembers himself by his name and his father's name. He is humble before God as he presents his request for the King Solomon, for his own son as he begins his rule. But more than that, for the rule of King Messiah whom God will bring about into his position of authority at the proper time. In a moment I'll read you the whole psalm but first my email address 333kjv at gmail.com. Please write to me, let me know where in the world you're listening to these podcasts from and a little about yourself, how you heard about them maybe. 333kjv at gmail.com. Now let me finish by reading the whole of psalm 72. A psalm for Solomon. Give the king thy judgment, O God, and thy righteousness unto the king's son. He shall judge the people with righteousness and thy poor with judgment. The mountains shall bring peace to the people and the little hills by righteousness. He shall judge the poor of the people. He shall save the children of the needy and shall break in pieces the oppressor. They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure throughout all generations. He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass, as showers that water the earth. In his days shall the righteous flourish and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth. He shall have dominion from sea to sea and from the river and to the ends of the earth. They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him and his enemies shall lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and of the Isles shall bring presents. The kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down before him. All nations shall serve him for he shall deliver the needy when he crieth, the poor also and him that hath no helper. He shall spare the poor and needy and shall save the souls of the needy. He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence and precious shall their blood be in his sight. And he shall live and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba. Prayer also shall be made for him continually and daily shall he be praised. There shall be a handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains. The fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth. His name shall endure forever. His name shall be continued as long as the sun and men shall be blessed in him. All nations shall call him blessed. Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things. And blessed be his glorious name forever and let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and amen. The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.