Skip to main content

358. King Solomon? Or King Jesus

 Psalm 72
Key Verse:  “Praise be to the Lord God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds.  Praise be to His glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with His glory.  Amen and Amen!
Psalm 72:18-19

Did David write this Psalm for his son Solomon, or for the one to come, the promised Messiah?  Way back, somewhere in the first couple of weeks of our journey, we explored this supposed mystery.

Nathan had come to David to prophesy that David’s throne would last forever through his prodigy. We talked about how it could have sounded as though Nathan were talking about Solomon, the son of David, who would reign after David “slept with his fathers.” We examined how many of the statements Nathan made couldn’t have applied to Solomon, but only Messiah. The same is true now, in this Psalm.

It would appear that this Psalm was intended to be presented at Solomon’s coronation. In the heading it is entitled: “Of Solomon.” It begins with asking God to “endow the king with justice, the royal son with your righteousness.”  (PS. 72:1)  It quickly departs from what Solomon can do, or will do, however, and turns into what only God Himself could possibly do or be.

“He will judge Your people in righteousness, Your afflicted ones with Justice. The mountains will bring prosperity to the people, the hills the fruit of righteousness. He will defend the afflicted among the people and save the children of the needy; He will crush the oppressor.”  (Ps.72:2-4) Solomon did none of this. He was more interested in his building programs and building alliances through marriage. There is no record of the poor being defended during his reign or of the oppressor being put down. There was prosperity for the people, but that is because they were enjoying the peace that David, his Father, had established. David may have hoped that Solomon would live up to the high ideals expressed in this psalm, but the Solomon we know fell quite short of them due to his many distractions.

This Psalm makes much more sense as describing the reign of Jesus as Messiah. He cares for the afflicted. His reign will endure as long as and beyond the sun. Jesus will rule from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth. “All kings will bow down to Him and all nations will serve Him.” (Ps. 72:11) “He will take pity on the weak and the needy and save the needy from death.” (Ps. 72:13)  Only Christ can save from death by the price of His blood.

As you read this Psalm again, rejoice over the King you have. He is not an oppressor or a dictator. He is fair and just. He cares for the poor and the weak. He longs for justice for the people.  “All nations will be blessed through Him, and they will call Him blessed.” (Ps. 72:17)  He is a good God who lives in you.  He is a good God who longs to be your King.  

No King has done what He has done. No King has ruled as He rules and will rule forever. This is not a King to fear if you are His.  His rule is a blessing to all who choose to be a part of it. Who and what He is, is so far beyond our comprehension.  How do you take all that He has done for us, through His death and resurrection and all that He is in His “I Am,” portrait, and top it with a crown?  How can we understand all of this?  We don’t really.  Paul said that “now we see through a glass darkly, but then we shall see face to face.”  (1 Cor. 13:12)  Even then, however, think about it, we will be seeing God, our creator, yet King!  We may never fully know, but we are fully known by Him.  He is our King.  He is in charge.  He knows our frame and He knows what is best.  To God be the glory for ever and ever!

“Praise be to the Lord God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds.  Praise be to His glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with His glory.   Amen and Amen


Hymn:  "All Hail King Jesus"

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

211. The Sons of Thunder's Request

Matthew 20:20-28 , Mark 10:35-45 , Key verse: "Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all." Mark 10:43B-44 In our readings for yesterday, in which Jesus outlined what was about to happen to Him, for His disciples, the passage in Luke ends: "The disciples did not understand any of this. It's meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what He was talking about." ( Luke 18:34 ) Now, we see just how truly clueless they were. Jesus had laid out a plan before them of pain and suffering and death and now James and John are focused on a promotion. The disconnect is so obvious. It's really not important to know whether James and john came up with this request on their own or if their mother put them up to it. The request was made and James and John thought that they could handle the responsibility that would come with it. What is that saying, "Fools rush in where angels fe...
Post a Comment
Read more

These Boots are Made for Walking

Scripture: Ephesians 6:10-15 These Boots are Made for Walking. Of course, I picked that title because it has a reference to popular culture, and it connects with our text today about “feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.” I was tempted to play the video of that song, but it’s really not amenable to worship. If you remember that old song, it was quite confrontational. The singer had a righteous complaint against a boyfriend or spouse who was cheating on her. She’s not going to put up with that, and the song goes on to say, “One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you!” And that “take a stand” bravado made her a hero! It was a #1 hit in 1966. I mention it because it has one interesting parallel and one major contrast with the message of grace and forgiveness. That parallel is this. God has a righteous complaint against the entire human race for cheating Him out of the loving relationship He desires with us. As the God who created us, he h...
Post a Comment
Read more

186. Ten Healed, Or One?

Luke 17:11-19 Key Verse: Then He said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well." Luke 17:19 At last, Jesus has left the crowd behind and again is continuing His journey toward Jerusalem. His path takes Him and His disciples along the border of Judea and Samaria, between the pure Jews, and the hated half breeds of the day. On His way, Jesus encounters an interesting group of people. We only learn the nationality of one of them and, though we don't know the nationality of the others, because Jesus sends them to the priests in Jerusalem we can probably assume that at least some of them are Jews. Isn't it interesting that through leprosy, a disease that causes much suffering, the dividing wall of hatred has come down for the sake of companionship? We encountered one leper earlier on our Journey. Lepers were the dreaded untouchables of the day. Their disease cut them off from all they loved. It was a very lonely life. No wonder these people had ...
Post a Comment
Read more