Psalm 72: 1 – 20
Prayer Warriors
A Psalm of Solomon.
1 Give the king Your judgments, O God, and Your righteousness to the king’s Son.
2 He will judge Your people with righteousness, and Your poor with justice. 3 The mountains will bring peace to the people, and the little hills, by righteousness. 4 He will bring justice to the poor of the people; He will save the children of the needy, and will break in pieces the oppressor. 5 They shall fear You as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations. 6 He shall come down like rain upon the grass before mowing, like showers that water the earth. 7 In His days the righteous shall flourish, and abundance of peace, until the moon is no more. 8 He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth. 9 Those who dwell in the wilderness will bow before Him, and His enemies will lick the dust. 10 The kings of Tarshish and of the isles will bring presents; The kings of Sheba and Seba will offer gifts. 11 Yes, all kings shall fall down before Him; All nations shall serve Him. 12 For He will deliver the needy when he cries, the poor also, and him who has no helper. 13 He will spare the poor and needy and will save the souls of the needy. 14 He will redeem their life from oppression and violence; And precious shall be their blood in His sight. 15 And He shall live; And the gold of Sheba will be given to Him; Prayer also will be made for Him continually, and daily He shall be praised. 16 There will be an abundance of grain in the earth, on the top of the mountains; Its fruit shall wave like Lebanon; And those of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth. 17 His name shall endure forever; His name shall continue as long as the sun. And men shall be blessed in Him; All nations shall call Him blessed. 18 Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, Who only does wondrous things! 19 And blessed be His glorious name forever! And let the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen and Amen. 20 The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.
In case you are not one who keeps up with the times we live in, I want to let you in on some ‘breaking news’. Folks there is a war going on and you need to join up in His army.
So many bad circumstances take place in this fallen world – such as illness, crime, accidents, and conflicts – that it’s easy to get so discouraged that you simply let it all happen without fighting it. But you have more control over bad situations than you may realize. Evil is behind much of the bad that happens in the world, and God has given you the ability to fight evil and overcome it with good through the most powerful weapon possible: prayer.
You have been drafted to serve in this current war. Your MOS (Mission of Service) is to fight from your knees and serve as a Prayer Warrior.
God calls all believers to fight in the spiritual battles that are constantly taking place, where evil causes suffering but God works to redeem it for good purposes. Those who say “yes” to God’s call – prayer warriors – participate in the world’s most important work. Prayer warriors see the battle and consistently act by coming before God.
We all need to understand that there is a war and you are in it. Like it or not, all of us are caught up in the spiritual war that’s taking place between good and evil. If you don’t engage in the war, you’ll still be affected by it – and you’ll be much more vulnerable to evil than you would if you decided to fight as God calls you to do. So be active; not passive. Engage in spiritual warfare with the confidence that God’s power working through you is greater than any evil working against you. Your prayers can help prevent bad things from happening to people and usher good things into people’s lives. Listen to the Holy Spirit’s promptings for guidance about how best to pray for what’s most needed – and then pray to advance God’s kingdom on Earth and stop the spread of evil.
Your commander in spiritual warfare is our King Lord Jesus Christ, who leads two armies: the army of holy angels in heaven and the army of prayer warriors on Earth. Our Holy Lord Jesus chose you, saves you, gives you an eternal inheritance of blessings, and lives in your soul as the Holy Spirit. The Holy Son of God Jesus wants you to choose His side in the spiritual war, and to remember that the power He gives you is more powerful than evil. Your commander Jesus the Lord of Hosts Is the greatest example of a prayer warrior; by studying his life on Earth you can learn how to serve God without fear.
The enemy is Satan, the highest ranked of the fallen angels who rebelled against God. Satan is your adversary, accuser, tempter, and deceiver. He works by trying to convince you to doubt God’s truth and believe his lies instead. You open doors for your enemy to attack you whenever you deliberately disobey God and choose to sin. It’s vital to run away from temptations to sin and pray against Satan’s plans to hurt you and other people. Safety is staying in His camp.
Our Master Lord Jesus has given you authority to pray in His name and to know that He will answer your prayers according to God’s will and at the right time. Be confident that you can pray to usher God’s power into any situation.
Do the best you can to stay in good condition spiritually, physically, mentally, and emotionally. Prayer warriors, like soldiers should to be optimally effective when fighting.
Put on your protective armor each morning. Put on the spiritual armor that the Bible mentions can help you engage in spiritual warfare: Gird your waist with the truth by reading your Bible often so that its truths sink deeply into your soul and keeping those truths in mind whenever you make decisions to help guard yourself from deception. Put on the breastplate of righteousness by relying on the Holy Spirit’s guidance to choose what’s right; your right attitudes and actions will act like a bulletproof vest protecting you against Satan’s attacks. Shoe your feet with the preparation of the Gospel of peace by accepting the peace that only our God Jesus can give you and using that peace as an unshakeable foundation of confidence to defend yourself against evil. Take the shield of faith by placing your faith in God and His Word, the Bible, to deliver you from evil and trusting that anything is indeed possible with God. Put on the helmet of salvation by reminding yourself of what The Holy Lamb of God Jesus did on the Cross to save you from sin’s deception and destruction and choosing to believe what our Lord Jesus says about you rather than lies the enemy wants you to believe. Take the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God by combatting lies with biblical truth, both defensively and offensively. Keep praying and relying on the Holy Spirit working through you until you see breakthroughs happen and God’s will is accomplished in the situations about which the Spirit led you to pray.
You can become skilled with your spiritual weapons. Read the Bible and incorporate its truth into your life. Invite God’s presence into your life in greater power through praise and worship. Believe that anything is possible with God. Fast when you pray about especially challenging situations. Commit everything you pray about fully to God.
Remember that in this war time is short. Keep in mind that the time until our Holy Lord Jesus returns at the end of the world is limited, and so is that time you must live and serve on Earth. So, make the most of the time you must fight evil.
Identify the immediate battlefield. When you’re attacked by evil, be as specific as possible in your prayers about where the enemy has taken the battle.
Follow his orders to resist the enemy. Resist Satan and the evil spirits who work with him by submitting your life completely to God, rejecting pride, refusing fear, praying for miracles, being content, remembering what’s true and what’s not, and never giving up when you’re praying.
See what’s happening from God’s perspective. Ask God to show you the full truth about what’s going on in the situations about which you’re praying, as well as how you can pray about each of those situations to be most effective against evil. Let’s get started soldier!
King David was a prayer warrior. He loved to talk with our Holy Father God. Our key verse today is from verse 20 which speaks of his prayer life, “20 The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.”
Psalm of Solomon.
The question arises as to who is being spoken of. Did Solomon write it while David was still alive so that the king’s son is Solomon himself, or did he write it later with his own son in mind, or did he mainly have in mind the future kingship to which God had promised worldwide and permanent rule? Indeed, it is very possible in the glow of his early years that he did consider that his son would become the perfect king. Having built the Temple, and his own glorious royal palace, he may well have seen these as the foundation of his son’s future glorious reign. It would only be later that the inadequacies of Rehoboam would come out. And in the end, he would see his words as to be fulfilled in the coming of the final son of David who would establish the kingdom forever.
This would then seem to be a Psalm describing the ideal king, something which Solomon, even in his heyday, could not have claimed. For prosperous though his kingdom was, it contained within it the seeds of injustice in the forced labor that he required, even from Israelites, and the heavy taxation in the financing and provisioning of his grandiose schemes. That did not fit in with the king described here. So, we can unquestionably say that the writer was looking forward to an even greater permanent king who would be wholly just, in essence to the Messiah, an idea taken up by Isaiah (Isaiah 7.14).
The picture is finally depicting life in the new heaven and the new earth (2 Peter 3.13). It is not a picture of some imagined ‘kingdom age’ which would be superficial and finally fall apart. It is a picture of the everlasting kingdom.
When he began his reign Solomon asked of God the ability to rule justly and with understanding (1 Kings 3.9), and we need not doubt that it was initially his desire to do so. In his first enthusiasm it was no doubt his great vision. And he was certainly famed for his wisdom. But he soon got caught up in the spirit of the age. Just ruling did not go along with his grand schemes which oppressed the people, and his grandeur of living which impoverished them. His spirit was willing, but his flesh was weak. He failed to fulfil his vision. To some extent, however, it remained with him and here he calls for the same ability for the ideal king, and then goes on to describe that king’s righteous rule, which was in the end so unlike his own.
1 Give the king Your judgments, O God, and Your righteousness to the king’s Son.
God had already given a series of ordinances and laws for the king’s enlightenment, and he had been commanded to study them carefully all his days (Deuteronomy 17.18-19). So, Solomon’s prayer here is that through them God will give His judgments to the king, enlightening him and enabling him to know God’s mind in his judgments. He is seeking the enlightenment of God’s Spirit. He wanted to ensure that as the king judged, what he determined would be given to him by God. He wanted the king to be aware of what God would do in the circumstances, so that he would always act in accordance with God’s righteousness. He would be guided by God’s Holy Spirit. The desire was good, but its near fulfilment would be a vain dream. It was not in man to follow such an ideal course.
It was a vain hope until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ Who fulfilled it to the letter. As He would later emphasize, ‘this commandment I have received of My Father’ (John 10.10). As the supreme King He spoke and judged in terms of the Father’s judgments and the Father’s righteousness, which were, of course, parallel to His own.
2 He will judge Your people with righteousness, and Your poor with justice.
Here it is stressed that the king rules under God, for he is ruling God’s people (‘your people’). And because he receives truth from God he will judge God’s people with righteousness and will especially provide the poor and defenseless with justice. It was the ideal vision which only found its complete fulfilment in our Lord, Jesus Christ.
3 The mountains will bring peace to the people, and the little hills, by righteousness.
Palestine was mainly made up of mountains and hills, and the promise is that these will provide wellbeing to the people along with righteousness as a way of life. Peace and security were essential if the people were to flourish, and certainly Solomon overall brought them that, and he gave them Proverbs by which they could learn righteousness. It was a shadow of what was to come. But there was too much suffering, and affliction, and heavy taxation in Solomon’s day for this ideal picture to be fulfilled. It was only as Jesus Christ walked among the mountains and hills that the people who responded found true wellbeing and peace, and consequently lived in righteousness. It can be enjoyed today by those who truly know our Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
4 He will bring justice to the poor of the people; He will save the children of the needy and will break in pieces the oppressor.
The picture of the ideal king continues. He ensures that the poor receive justice, and that the wants of the needy are supplied, and he destroys oppression. He ensures that all will live in peace and prosperity. He ensures the good of all.
Concern for the poor and needy was one of God’s attributes. It was to be characteristic of His ideal king. Solomon foundered on this as he used the poor and needy on his building schemes that made them poorer and needier as they supplied his table. The vision however was that one day a king would arise who would fulfil this to the letter.
5 They shall fear You as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations.
The Psalmist now addresses our Holy Father God. The consequence of the king’s righteous rule will be that the people live in the reverent fear of God continually, something which will go on throughout all generations whilst the sun and moon endure. And this very ‘fear of God’ is a characteristic of those who have submitted to the Kingly Rule of God and His righteous King and will continue in them into eternity.
6 He shall come down like rain upon the grass before mowing, like showers that water the earth.
The king is seen here as so blessing his people that they respond to his activity and are fruitful. His wisdom, and justice, and righteousness and truth will so renew the people’s spirits that their lives will blossom. How gloriously it was fulfilled in the Messiah Who would drench men and women in Holy Spirit (Matthew 3.11). They received His word, responded to His Holy Spirit, and produced fruitfulness in their lives.
7 In His days the righteous shall flourish, and abundance of peace, until the moon is no more.
The result of the king’s influence will be that the righteous will flourish, and there will be abundance of peace and wellbeing which will be everlasting (‘till the moon be no more’). It is, of course true, that when the king was righteous (e.g. Hezekiah, Josiah) the righteous flourished. But this is going beyond that for it is an idealized picture, with no dark shadow involved. It is the experience of the Messiah’s true people (believers) today, for under His rule the righteous do flourish, and there is no place for hypocrisy (there is plenty in the church, but not among Messiah’s true people), and it will one day be the experience of all those who have been God’s true people through the ages.
The vision of the future king was one of worldwide dominion. He would bring all men under his rule. It was the result of the promise to Abraham that through him and his seed all the world would be blessed (Genesis 12.3).
8 He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.
The dominion of the righteous king was to extend much further than Solomon’s. Solomon’s rule could, with reservations, be said to extend to the River (Euphrates). The righteous king was to go far beyond that. He would rule to the ends of the earth. As our Master Lord Jesus said after His resurrection, ‘all authority in Heaven and earth has been given to Me’ (Matthew 28.19).
9 Those who dwell in the wilderness will bow before Him, and His enemies will lick the dust.
Even the nomads who honor no man as master (those who dwell in the wilderness) will bow down to him and acknowledge his rule, and all his enemies will prostrate themselves on their faces before him. Solomon saw this to some extent, but in the case of the ideal king His supremacy will be complete. As the Scripture says, ‘in the name of Jesus every knee shall bow --- and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ Is LORD to the glory of God the Father’ (Philippians 2.10-11).
10 The kings of Tarshish and of the isles will bring presents; The kings of Sheba and Seba will offer gifts.
Those in far off places across the seas (the kings of Tarshish) will render him tribute, along with the Aegean coastlands. Tarshish represented far off trading places to which the ships of Tarshish sailed, travelling to the limit of men’s knowledge (the description could include the East African coast, Sardinia and Spain).
The kings of Sheba and Seba represented the powerful and wealthy Arab nations. Solomon had trading relationships with some of these and he clearly saw them as potential subjects. But he looked ahead to when under the ideal king it would become an even greater reality. And it was Another, Who, by using very different methods, would finally conquer them, not for gain, but out of love.
11 Yes, all kings shall fall down before Him; All nations shall serve Him.
The whole is summed up by these words. All kings will fall before him, and all nations will serve him. He will be Sovereign Lord of all. It was the vision of David that one day it would be true of the Davidic house (Psalm 2.7-9), only partially fulfilled by Solomon, and hardly at all by his successors. But it has found its greater partial fulfilment in the spread of Christ’s rule around the world by the preaching of the Gospel, and it will come to final fruition in the new heaven and the new earth (2 Peter 3.13).
Great emphasis is now placed on the righteous king’s compassion and sense of justice. He has not come to obtain power and wealth for himself, but to bring justice to the oppressed. His concern is with the poor and needy, whom he will raise up and enrich, with the consequence that they will pray for him continually and bless him all day long.
Spiritually we are all poor and needy, and so this applies to us all. We all need the touch of Christ.
12 For He will deliver the needy when he cries, the poor also, and him who has no helper. 13 He will spare the poor and needy and will save the souls of the needy.
Note the threefold emphasis on ‘the needy’, (those who are in want), amplified by reference to ‘the poor and weak’. He will have pity on them and deliver them when they call on him. His compassion will also be for the poor who have no helper, and for the weak and feeble. All who call on him in want and need will be delivered, both in body and soul.
The promise goes beyond just feeding them and meeting their physical needs, to the ‘saving’ of their lives. This was partially experienced under the good kings, but it is the constant experience of all those who know our Lord, Jesus Christ.
14 He will redeem their life from oppression and violence; And precious shall be their blood in His sight. 15 And He shall live; And the gold of Sheba will be given to Him; Prayer also will be made for Him continually, and daily He shall be praised.
He will not only supply the wants of the poor and needy but will also act to deliver them from oppression and violence at cost to himself (he will ‘redeem’ them), because they are precious to him. Their blood is precious in his sight. He will thus act firmly against all who seek to cause them harm and ensure the safety of their lives.
The vision is of an ideal king who will be whole-hearted in caring for the lowly. Shades of it were seen in the lives of the good kings, but none of them carried it though fully. That awaited the Messiah. When He came the poor and the needy were precious to Him, and He gave them life indeed. While such a thought would not be present to the Psalmist we may see here an unconscious prophecy that the Messiah will give true life, eternal life, to the weak and helpless (John 10.12).
We now have a brief picture of prosperity under the ideal king, and an expression of the confidence that he will live and reign forever. ‘As long as the sun’ indicates that this means more than just for a long time.
16 There will be an abundance of grain in the earth, on the top of the mountains; Its fruit shall wave like Lebanon; And those of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.
The picture here is the nearest that men of that day could get to the thought of the new heaven and the new earth. They thought in terms of their own day, and what they saw as prosperity and blessing. Because of the reign of the coming King the earth would produce abundant grain.
The mountains were little more than hills, and grain was grown on them. Jerusalem itself was built on the Judean heights. Thus, the thought is of a fruitful Israel, with its fruit-bearing trees rustling in the wind like the famed cedars of Lebanon.
Furthermore, the population would expand and grow because peace abounded, so that the cities would be full of people. ‘The grass of the earth’ indicates flourishing vegetation.
17 His name shall endure forever; His name shall continue as long as the sun. And men shall be blessed in Him; All nations shall call Him blessed.
The coming King’s Name will endure forever. His reign and reputation will go on and on. It will go on as long as the sun existed, and that meant forever. And because of his reign men will be blessed, with the result that men will bless themselves in him because he rules over a prosperous and satisfied people. So, the reign of the everlasting king is in effect seen as introducing eternal bliss.
18 Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, Who only does wondrous things! 19 And blessed be His glorious name forever! And let the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen and Amen.
YHWH, the God of Israel, Is praised and honored as the only One Who truly does ‘wondrous things’. It stresses that God Is a God of wonders, especially as acting on behalf of His people. Such wonders included the Exodus deliverance, the settlement in the land and the establishment of Israel as a great power in the time of David. In the days of Solomon Israel was at its zenith.
YHWH, The God of Israel’s, glorious name is to be praised and honored forever, and the desire is expressed that the whole earth will be filled with His glory. That is, will experience his glorious hand at work among them resulting in their glorifying Him so that He is praised everywhere. To Israel the name indicated the essence of what was named. Thus, what is being praised and honored, is not a name as such, but the One Whom that name defines. It is God in all the glory of what He Is.
20 The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.
Well done, prayer warrior.
