Lessons From the Psalms - Psalm 72

[00:00:07] Welcome to Lessons From the Psalms. This is Bill Kelley and I'll be your host. On this podcast we will be going over the book of Psalms.

[00:00:21] Father God, I thank you for anyone listening to this Psalm today. I pray that you would reveal to everyone listening how much you truly love each and every one of them. In Jesus name, Amen.

[00:00:35] Friends, today I'm going to be going over Psalm 72. And Psalm 72 is entitled, Glory and Universality of the Messiah's Reign.

[00:00:48] Now I am reading out of the Nelson Study Bible and what I'd like to do is read the commentary for Psalm 72.

[00:00:57] Psalm 72, a royal psalm, is one of two psalms ascribed to Solomon, the son of David.

[00:01:09] King Solomon might have arranged David's psalms in something like their present order.

[00:01:16] Then appended his own psalm to the group. See verse 20.

[00:01:22] This psalm is intensely messianic, speaking in ideal terms of the coming of the great king.

[00:01:32] On the basis of the ideals of ancient Middle Eastern royalty, the psalm calls for a good king to govern Israel under God's blessing.

[00:01:44] Ultimately, this king is the Savior Jesus.

[00:01:48] So friends, as I read this psalm today, I want you to picture Jesus in his glory.

[00:01:57] Now friends, if a psalm is a little bit lengthy and this one has 20 verses,

[00:02:04] sometimes I ask people to get comfortable.

[00:02:07] To lay down, get in an easy chair, maybe sit on a sofa.

[00:02:13] But just be prepared to close your eyes and meditate and just hear the goodness of this psalm.

[00:02:22] Psalm 72 is one of those that I ask that you consider doing this.

[00:02:28] It is a wonderful psalm and I hope you enjoy it.

[00:02:32] Give the king your judgments, O God, and your righteousness to the king's son.

[00:02:40] He will judge your people with righteousness and your poor with justice.

[00:02:46] The mountains will bring peace to the people and the little hills by righteousness.

[00:02:53] He will bring justice to the poor of the people.

[00:02:57] He will save the children of the needy and will break in pieces the oppressor.

[00:03:05] They shall fear you as long as the sun and moon endure throughout all generations.

[00:03:13] He shall come down like rain upon the grass before mowing, like showers that water the earth.

[00:03:22] In his days the righteous shall flourish and abundance of peace until the moon is no more.

[00:03:31] He shall have dominion also from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth.

[00:03:40] Those who dwell in the wilderness will bow before him and his enemies will lick the dust.

[00:03:49] The kings of Tarshish and of the isles will bring presents.

[00:03:54] The kings of Sheba and Seba will offer gifts.

[00:03:58] Yes, all kings shall fall down before him.

[00:04:03] All nations shall serve him, for he will deliver the needy when he cries.

[00:04:10] The poor also and him who has no helper.

[00:04:14] He will spare the poor and needy and will save the souls of the needy.

[00:04:21] He will redeem their life from oppression and violence,

[00:04:26] and precious shall be their blood in his sight.

[00:04:30] And he shall live.

[00:04:33] And the gold of Sheba will be given to him.

[00:04:38] Prayer also will be made for him continually,

[00:04:42] and daily he shall be praised.

[00:04:46] There will be an abundance of grain in the earth on the top of the mountains.

[00:04:52] Its fruit shall wave like Lebanon, and those of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.

[00:05:01] His name shall endure forever.

[00:05:04] His name shall continue as long as the sun, and men shall be blessed in him.

[00:05:13] All nations shall call him blessed.

[00:05:16] Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only does wondrous things.

[00:05:26] And blessed be his glorious name forever.

[00:05:30] And let the whole earth be filled with his glory.

[00:05:36] Amen and amen.

[00:05:38] The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended.

[00:05:45] So friends, what I'd like to do,

[00:05:47] I'm going to do things a little bit differently with this psalm since I enjoy it so much.

[00:05:52] What I'm going to do is read verses 15 through 17,

[00:05:57] and then I'm going to read the commentary found in my Bible.

[00:06:02] Verse 15,

[00:06:04] And he shall live, and the gold of Sheba will be given to him.

[00:06:11] Prayer also will be made for him continually,

[00:06:15] and daily he shall be praised.

[00:06:18] There will be an abundance of grain in the earth on the top of the mountains.

[00:06:24] Its fruit shall wave like Lebanon,

[00:06:28] and those of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.

[00:06:33] His name shall endure forever.

[00:06:36] His name shall continue as long as the sun,

[00:06:41] and men shall be blessed in him.

[00:06:44] All nations shall call him blessed.

[00:06:48] Now friends, let's go over the commentary for these three verses.

[00:06:53] It says,

[00:06:54] The promise of life in the words he shall live is a messianic theme.

[00:07:02] For the coming Savior, meaning Jesus,

[00:07:05] is the only one who grants true life.

[00:07:10] Now let's look at verses 18 and 19.

[00:07:13] Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel,

[00:07:20] who only does wondrous things.

[00:07:23] And blessed be his glorious name forever.

[00:07:28] And let the whole earth be filled with his glory.

[00:07:33] Amen and amen.

[00:07:35] Now let's listen to the commentary for those two verses.

[00:07:41] These magnificent words of benediction mark the conclusion of the psalm,

[00:07:48] as well as the conclusion of book two of the psalms.

[00:07:54] The repetition of the word blessed,

[00:07:57] the focus on the name,

[00:07:59] and the double amen,

[00:08:02] all indicate that this psalm was used in the worship of God in his temple.

[00:08:09] And finally, let's look at verse 20.

[00:08:13] The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended.

[00:08:19] Let's look at the commentary.

[00:08:22] The superscription of Psalm 72 attributes the psalm to Solomon.

[00:08:30] It is possible that Solomon wrote this poem in honor of his father David

[00:08:37] at the end of an early edition of the psalms that are so far collected.

[00:08:45] Other psalms were added later to this original collection.

[00:08:52] Friends, I hope that you enjoyed today's psalm.

[00:08:57] You know, when I talk about Proverbs,

[00:09:01] and I have a separate podcast entitled Wisdom Today with Bill Kelly.

[00:09:06] That was my original call of God when he called me to say start a podcast.

[00:09:14] It began with that podcast, Wisdom Today.

[00:09:20] And I was only going to go over Proverbs,

[00:09:23] but then the Holy Spirit told me,

[00:09:25] I want you to do a separate podcast on all of the psalms.

[00:09:32] And about half of the psalms are attributed to King David.

[00:09:37] And the majority of the book of Proverbs was written by his son Solomon.

[00:09:44] These are the two greatest kings in the history of the country of Israel.

[00:09:50] Solomon is also known as the wisest man who ever lived,

[00:09:55] and certainly is the richest man who ever lived.

[00:09:59] But friends, I hope you continue to enjoy these psalms and lessons from the psalms

[00:10:08] as I continue through this beautiful book.

[00:10:11] So please join me again soon as we take a closer look at Psalm 73,

[00:10:17] beginning the third book of Psalms.