The Bible Study Podcast, episode 404. Today, the Bible Study podcast continues the study of the book of Psalms with Psalm 72.

Welcome to the Bible Study podcast. I'm your host, Chris Christensen. Coming to you from a Marriott

residence in in Boston today, so if you hear background noises, that's where they're coming from.

Psalm 72 is an unusual psalm because it is not a Psalm of David, but one of the few Psalms from Solomon.

And it goes like this. Endow the king with your justice, O God, the royal son with your righteousness. May he judge your people in righteousness, your afflicted ones with justice. May the mountains bring prosperity to the people, the hills, the fruit of righteousness. May he defend the afflicted among the people, and save the children of the needy. May he crush the oppressor.

May he endure as long as the sun, as long as the moon through all generations. May he be like

rain falling on a moan field, like showers watering the earth. In his days, may the righteous

flourish, and prosperity abound till the moon is no more.

It's an interesting Psalm because it certainly seems on the face of it to be a Psalm about

Solomon praying to God for the ability to judge, praying to God for the wisdom to guide

his people, praying for prosperity, for Solomon and for his

people. The only thing in there that makes me wonder if there's something else going on is we do

have that, may he endure as long as the sun, as long as the moon through all generations.

Certainly, we don't think that Solomon is expecting that he himself will personally endure,

so whether he's meaning his reign or whether he's using that poetically.

We know that Solomon is a poet because he wrote the Song of Solomon, for instance,

which is all poetry, or whether he's talking about a coming king, whether he's looking forward

to Christ, for instance, is what we would say as Christians.

But there's definitely the, may the one who is your

servant here, who is in charge of your people prosper. May all the things work together. May he

defend, because that's part of the job of the one who protects the people. May he judge in

righteousness and with justice, because certainly one of the job of the one who protects the people. May he judge in righteousness

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