Our Future King

Psalm 72

Most of us want our children to succeed in life and their legacy to be a great one.  The same was true of King Solomon, the author of our psalm. Psalm 72 is commonly attributed to King Solomon, which, along with Psalm 127, the only psalms he was thought to have written.  In the psalm, he speaks of how he wants his son Rehoboam’s reign over the kingdom to be the greatest reign ever. Some have believed that Solomon is instead speaking about his reign, referring to himself as the son of the great King David, rather than of speaking of his son. As we read the psalm, we see that in addition to having been written about either Solomon or his son Rehoboam, the psalm is definitely prophetic and speaking of another King, that of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus. Let’s take a look at our passage of Scripture for today.

Our psalm begins with a prayer that the Lord will bless the reign of the king, and that his reign will be characterized by righteousness, peace, and justice to the people of the country (vs. 1 - 4).  These verses could, for the most part, be applicable to the reign of King Solomon. During his reign the kingdom went through a period of peace, which they had not seen during the reign of his father, David, who saw many years of war with neighboring countries. Solomon also was known to be a fair, righteous, and just king, as was seen in the example of his wise judgment with the two women and the baby in I Kings 3:16-28. However, his son, Rehoboam was not like his father. When he came to the throne the people asked him to lighten the taxes and conscripted labor his father had put upon them. Rehoboam refused, even threatening to make their burden heavier. Due to his harsh attitude, the people rebelled in a civil war, and the kingdom split in two (I Kings 12:1-17).

As the psalm continues, Solomon goes into very expressive and poetic language of how the king’s reign will endure for as long as the sun and moon do (vs. 5), be from sea to sea (vs. 8), and that foreign kings will all bow before him (vs. 9-11), and continues on throughout the remainder of the psalm in this fashion. Though the Kingdom of Israel was at its height during Solomon’s reign, it was still relatively small when compared to Egypt and later kingdoms of Assyria, Babylon, and others. Though many kings traded with Solomon, only a few were actually under tribute to him, and none of this would be applicable to Rehoboam.

So who could this psalm really be talking about, if it is not really applicable to either Solomon or his son, Rehoboam, or actually any of the following kings, either?  No king has ever reigned from one end of the earth to the other, and no human king could reign for as long as the sun and moon endure. Obviously this must be referring to the Messiah, Jesus, the Son of God.  When Solomon wrote this, he was dreaming big for either himself or his son, and probably did not even know he was writing prophecy regarding the Messiah. Let’s look at how these verses refer to Jesus.

Jesus, as the second Person of the Trinity, has always existed since before all time, long before the sun and moon were created, and He will exist long after they are gone (vs. 5).  For those who know Jesus as Savior, He can be like a refreshing rain to our parched souls (vs. 6), and He brings us a peace the world cannot know (vs. 7). When Jesus returns, the whole world will be under His dominion, from one sea to the other (vs 8), and all kings and rulers will have to bow before Him, either willingly or not (vs. 9-11).  As our Savior, we can call upon Him for all of our needs, for He has redeemed us (vs. 12-14). Though there are some rulers who have truly cared about the poor in their country, for the most part they are of little concern to them. Not so with the Lord Jesus.

Only a handful of all the rulers who have ever reigned are really remembered by the general population aside from historians.  The Lord Jesus’s Name will endure forever (vs. 17), and not only that, but all mankind is blessed by and through His Name. Solomon closes our psalm today with a doxology, giving praise and glory to the Lord God, as is fitting, blessing His glorious Name.