And this is, as I said, our text for today. So Psalm 72, this is the word of the Lord. A Psalm of Solomon. Give the king your judgments, O God, and your righteousness to the king's son. He will judge your people with righteousness and your poor with justice. The mountains will bring peace to the people and the little hills by righteousness. 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. They shall fear you as long as the sun and moon endure throughout all generations. He shall come down like rain upon the grass before mowing, like showers that water the earth. In his days, the righteous shall flourish and abundance of peace until the moon is no more. He shall have dominion also from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth. Those who dwell in the wilderness will bow before him and his enemies will lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and of the Isles will bring presents. The kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yes, all kings shall fall down before him. All nations shall serve him. For he will deliver the needy when he cries, the poor also, and him who has no helper. He will spare the poor and needy and will save the souls of the needy. He will redeem their life from oppression and violence and precious shall be their blood in his sight. 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. There will be an abundance of grain in the earth. On the tops of the mountains its fruits shall wave like Lebanon, and those of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth. 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. Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only does wondrous things. And blessed be his glorious name forever. And let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and amen. The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended. That is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. May he bless our time as we look at this and make it relevant to our lives. So, Psalm 72. As you may have gathered from our reading here of this psalm, this psalm brings something to a close. Okay? verse of this Psalm says, the prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended. That's obviously a closing off of things. As you may recall, the book of Psalms is made up of books of Psalms. In fact, there are five books within it. Just quickly, book 1 is chapter 1 through 41, book 2 is chapter 42 to 72, where we are right now. Book 3 takes you up through chapter 89, 4 takes you through 106, and book 5 obviously takes you to the end of all the Psalms, 107 to 150. So by the structure that Psalms is compiled into these five books, we're at the end of book two of the Psalms. And so that brings us to our close also today of our time in the Psalms before we go back to the New Testament. As you know, we've kind of been going, at least in my teachings, back and forth. And after finishing a part of the Psalms, we've gone to the New Testament, done either an epistle or a gospel. then come back to the Psalms. And so I know all of you are waiting with bated breath as to what we're going to do after this. And if you're not, I'm going to tell you anyway. The plan is to actually do the book of Romans. So we're going to do the book of Romans starting the next time, which I think will be next week. that I'll start in that and then after we do Romans, whatever year that ends, we'll go back to the Psalms and we'll actually be able to do all of book three since it's only Psalm 73 through 89, about 17 verses. We usually do, I mean, 17 chapters and we usually do about 20 chapters a time when we were cutting the others in half. So anyway, there we go. So that's the plan. So now, here in Psalm 72, in its position, as I'm talking about, being at the end of Book Two of the Psalms, and we saw that final verse that says the prayers of David, the son of Jesse, have ended, that is a different kind of close, really, of what the close is. The close to Book Two of the Psalms is actually indicated by the verses that precede that, the verses that precede that final verse. It's the doxology part of this psalm that actually says we've come to the close. Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only does wondrous things, and blessed be His glorious name forever, and let the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen and amen. That is the close of the book. If you do look at each of the books, for example, just quickly go back to Psalm 41 and look at the final verse there, you'll see a doxology. Verse 13 says, blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting, amen and amen. And that brought book one to a close. Those verses I just read prior to that at the end of Psalm 72 brings book two to a close. And we're not gonna go through each one, but if you look in chapter 89, you'll see in the final verses of doxology and so forth at the end of book three, book four. And of course, book five has several doxologies as it closes the whole of all the Psalms. So the true indicator that we've come to a close of something, at least as far as the books of the Psalms, is the doxology. What that tells us is that verse 20, in a sense, is something that possibly was added. Verse 20 is something that's possibly added to the psalm, and I think it actually was. If you were to peruse book two, what we've actually gone through and thought of it in terms of who are these psalms attributed to, as you know, many of them have a psalm of, and often they would say David, but actually if you go back and you walk through the Psalms of Book Two, the first nine Psalms, there are eight of them that say somebody wrote them, or they're of somebody, likely indicating the author. And you'll see that eight of those nine that have that are not attributed to David, in fact, They are, let's see, it's about seven of them that are attributed to the sons of Korah. An eighth one, the byline, if we want to call it that, is a Psalm of Asaph. And so as you start at Psalm 42 and you go through the first nine, of which eight are attributed to somebody else, sons of Korah or Asaph, you come then to Psalm 51. Psalm 51 you may realize is a psalm of David just if you're familiar with it includes his repentive aspect for his sin with Bathsheba and it is a psalm of David and it is from that point on that the vast majority in fact all the psalms up through Psalm 71 that say a psalm of person are Psalms of David from Psalm 51 up through Psalm 71 and in fact the others that do not say that they are written by somebody when we went over them I pointed out that most believe these are of David Psalms of David. They are Davidic in their style and the message and so we could pretty safely say from Psalm 51 up through Psalm 71 these are Psalms of David. But now we come to Psalm 72 and it has this interesting indication here that it is a Psalm of Solomon. Yet, after that psalm is completed with its doxology, it has this line that the prayers of David and the son of Jesse are ended. And you just look at that and you go, well that's pretty interesting. And it's so interesting that there's a debate. There's a debate over is this a psalm of Solomon that he wrote it or is it a psalm of David and he wrote it. We're not gonna go over the whole debate and everything like that. Just pointing out that obviously you would say, if you looked at the title, Solomon wrote this psalm. And there's another psalm that is of Solomon too. And so, yeah, he wrote psalms. But then you look at the last verse and you're thinking, well, that's kind of interesting that that's there. So what might be going on here? I'll just tell you my position. My position is that this is actually a psalm of David. He wrote this, and he wrote it for his son Solomon. It is likely one that he wrote very late in his life. He knew the throne was passing on. He had selected Solomon over his other sons to be the inheritor of the throne, and so he wrote a coronation psalm, a psalm for Solomon. In fact, if you happen to have a King James Bible, which I know my wife always is using, it says in the superscription a psalm for Solomon, doesn't it? So as a psalm of Solomon, the thought is, is it meaning written by or does it mean it's about? It's for him. It's about him. And not only the King James, but the Septuagint Bible, which is that Greek translation of the Old Testament that was done by Jewish scholars in the intertestamental period. put in the superscription a psalm for Solomon. And so with that, I'm thinking, well, that was probably the prevailing idea and understanding among the Jewish people about this psalm. It was written for Solomon. And that certainly would make the last line much more understandable. In fact, the thought is, book two was likely compiled by Solomon. Solomon, during his reign, put together the psalms that had been written, at least these psalms that had been written, compiled it into book two, and wouldn't it be very natural for him, the closing psalm of the books that I'm compiling together, that I think ought to go together, Solomon would be saying, I want to end with the one that my father wrote for me, that closed off his reign. and spoke of his desire for my reign. And with that, the prayers of David are ended. So that's what I believe has gone on here. That is how this psalm should be understood. It's a coronation psalm. It's what David prayed for his son and possibly even read to him as they spoke of that transition from his reign to Solomon. You can also go to where the words of David are recorded, at least some of them obviously, that he spoke to Solomon and read that in the book of Kings as well. They are other words than this. This is his prayer for Solomon. So that tells us we have another Psalm of David, and it's a transitional Psalm to Solomon. And what's so significant about these two is that they're both types of Christ. Both David in his reign and Solomon in his reign were types of the Messianic reign that we all look toward. we actually experience some of right now. But in these two, they depicted two very distinct aspects of the messianic reign. David was more of a warrior king. He depicted the conquering of the enemies of God. And it was because of that aspect of him that he was not allowed to build the house of God. It was gonna be under Solomon because Solomon depicted the reign of peace of God, the reign of peace of the Messiah. And so these two typologies together reflected those two very key aspects of Christ's reign. Now, of course, David, was an imperfect type in the sense that he was a man and he faltered along the way. There were things in his life that the Messiah never would do or reflect in his life, but yet in his imperfect aspect, God used him as the warrior conquering king and a depiction of the establishment of the rule of Christ and the defeat of his enemies. Solomon too, was a typology of wisdom and the king of peace, yet he was not perfect in that, and he faltered greatly in that, yet he was a type. And in his reign, and during the time of his reign, he depict the reign of Christ and his great influence, not only rule of peace over the immediate kingdom that he had, but his great influence over even other kings. who would come and bow down before Him, who would bring gifts to Him, who would come to Him to learn of His wisdom. And these things are depicted in the Scriptures, and we'll look at those as we go along. They were imperfect, David and Solomon. They were men like you and me. We bear the image of God in our creation. We bear the image of Christ in our recreation. We walk depicting that to the world. Yet we don't do that very well at times, do we? Yet God still desires to work through us to be a type of Christ. bringing his image into contact with the world as the instrument he would use to impact and change this world. but there is Christ, and he's the reality. He was not just a man, he was the God-man, and he came into the world and took on human flesh, and he has established his kingdom. He has entered warfare over his enemies, of which he will and does win, and everywhere he wins, he establishes a kingdom ruled in peace. He is the Prince of Peace, of which Solomon only was a type. And one day, homage will be paid to Christ by all. All nations will bow before him and all will go to Christ to learn of his wisdom. So, we have that all spoken about in this psalm, this coronation psalm that was a prayer that David wrote and he or maybe Nathan the prophet or someone read probably at his coronation to Solomon this prayer. MacArthur, in his study notes, says of this, that this is a coronation psalm dedicated to the prosperity of Solomon at the beginning of his reign. So he acknowledges it that same way. He then notes something very interesting, though, and that is that no New Testament writer ever cites this psalm and applies it to Christ. Yet, you need to realize there's a lot of the Old Testament that isn't cited by the New Testament writers, and they do apply to Christ. And MacArthur goes on to say, since the Davidic kings and the Messiah's rule occasionally merge into each other in the Old Testament literature, the Messianic inferences here ought not to be missed, and we don't want to miss those at all. Other commentators are a little more overt or forward or assertive, you might say, about the messianic nature of this psalm. I'll just quote one other. It's the editors of the Reformation Heritage Study Bible. They write this, a very simple but poignant remark concerning the psalm. This psalm was written for Solomon, but as a type of Christ, and soon transitions into statements applicable only to Jesus Christ, the one greater than Solomon. And I think that expression is something we need to keep in this, is that yes, this was written for Solomon in hopes of what God would do in and through his reign, but they continually just jump beyond Solomon to the greater than Solomon, and they speak of Jesus Christ. So, this is actually a 19-verse chapter of a prayer of David for his son as he is commencing his reign. But through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that was upon David as he wrote this prayer, he could not but help speak also of that which Solomon's reign foreshadowed, the ultimate reign of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now the prayer can be divided into sections. I started out naming the sections and I thought it was getting a little cumbersome. I may or may not name them as we go through. I think just walking through it will be enough, but it'll go from a call of rain to righteousness to a praise of the God who is going to establish this unquestionably, establish this righteous rain. That's going to be the walk of this psalm. Again, this psalm or prayer, it begins with a call, a call to God, a call for a just reign to be that which is established, particularly in these first four verses. Verse one tells us, give the king your judgments, O God, and your righteousness to the king's son. So David in his prayer is calling upon God to give the king that judgment, that judgment that is of God, that is to give him the wisdom necessary to provide wise judgment over the issues, a just judgment. You think about that initial call there and It may very well be words like this, as well as what David is recorded as saying directly to Solomon back just prior to his reign that's recorded in probably 2 Kings. Well, I guess it'd be 1 Kings for Solomon. It may have been words like this that helped influence Solomon when God himself came in a vision and dream in the night and visited Solomon and asked of him, what do you desire of the Lord? And Solomon responded with humility that, you know, He was like a child when it comes to taking this position, this position that his father, who was so dominant as a strong king that someone even said, walked before God in truth and righteousness and in uprightness of heart. But he will say, but I'm like a child saying, you know, I lack that strength, that integrity of that. And as a child, how could, he says, I rule and pass judgment on the people of Israel? And if you were to go to 1 Kings chapter 3, you will read what you're probably familiar with as Solomon responded to God. He said, therefore, give to your servant an understanding heart to judge your people that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of yours? And so Solomon responded with that response to God, asking for an understanding heart And that was pleasing to God, it said. It pleased the Lord what Solomon had requested, especially since he hadn't done what so many kings would have likely requested, right? Give me the longest reign anybody's ever had, you know, or give me riches and power and this type of a thing. So God granted Solomon a wise and understanding heart, the Bible tells us, and did give him a long reign and riches. One commentator in referencing this mentioned that Solomon received the Lord, the Spirit of the Lord in measure. Solomon received the Spirit of the Lord in measure to rule with understanding and wisdom because he was a type, but he was the type of Christ who would rule in understanding and wisdom and this antitype as it's said, would be Jesus Christ, the true Messianic King who received the Spirit of God without measure. He received the Spirit of God without measure. In fact, Christ seems to indicate this by his own words in John chapter three. One thing I failed to mention is we're gonna look at a lot of different places in the Bible. So, John chapter three, which I thought I marked. Oh yeah. John chapter three and verse 34, Christ said this of himself. He's speaking of himself. For he, that is himself, whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the spirit by measure. He had the fullness of the Holy Spirit as a part of his life. Solomon, of course, had great wisdom, and he was known for that, but yet we also know he still battled with the sinful nature. Isaiah affirmed this great giving of the Spirit to Christ in Isaiah chapter 11. Verses one and two, it says, there shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. Speaking of all the great aspects that would be attributed to him through the Holy Spirit, that he would rule with understanding and wisdom, that Christ's rule would be a righteous rule. David was praying this for Solomon. David's prayer for Solomon was that he would be given the righteousness of God, that out of it, he would have just judgment, because his mind would be in line with the mind of God, that he would have, in a sense, the mind of God to determine what was right. So Solomon asked that of the Lord even and he was given that in measure and he ruled in many ways as the righteous king of peace over the nation of Israel. Verse 2 tells us He will judge, this is back in Psalm 72, he will judge your people with righteousness and your poor with justice. One of the things that we'll hear repeatedly in this Psalm is the reference to the poor, the disadvantaged, the individuals who would fall under a position of being easily oppressed Often referred to as the widow and the orphan, that is the fatherless, the impoverished. They're always of great concern to God. They depict spiritually weak individuals who need special care, but they also are speaking of literally impoverished individuals of the culture. The ones that are most at a disadvantage in the culture, the ones most easily taken advantage of or just neglected. And David desired that Solomon would have the heart God has. God's heart is for those in that condition. The heart that we should have as well. We're to have that heart for those who are in need and in an impoverished condition, be it physical or spiritual. And even James himself tells us that this is the characteristic of true religion, of those who would live in accordance with God's desires, as he wrote in the first chapter. Recorded in verse 27 of his epistle, James wrote, pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their trouble and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. Yeah, purity's not just don't touch those things of the world. Purity and true religion is to engage yourself with those who are in need. To visit is more than just to spend time with. It is to understand the needs of and to seek how you can meet the need that is there. Back in Psalm 72 now, as we jump back and forth, confirming the things that are said here, not only of Solomon that depict Christ, but how they speak to us. Verses three and four, the blessings of this rule of the righteous king then are depicted, that the wisdom of God that would come forth from the righteous rule is illustrated in the things that are said. And with it, this psalm is going to progress concerning the extent, time-wise, of this rule, as well as the breadth, encompassing width of this rule. For this psalm will ever be stepping out of its depiction of Solomon into its depiction of the messianic king, the king of kings. verses 3 and 4 tell us this, the mountains will bring peace to the people and the little hills by righteousness. 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. So we hear those things repeated. The righteous rule and what that's going to bring and the concern for those who are needy and poor and reaching out to their lives. Verse 3, which speaks of the mountains and the hills that will bring peace to the people by righteousness, can actually be taken in two different ways. The first, and it's probably the intent, the direct intent of David here as he writes this, is to just speak of the mountains and hills as a picture of the nation and its prosperity, and its prosperity under a righteous rule that brings peace. a righteous rule that brings peace, that it would spread throughout the very nation of Israel. As one commentator wrote, it is to be remembered that Judea is a country abounding in hills and mountains, and that a great part of its former fertility resulted from terracing the hills and cultivating them as far as possible toward the summit. The idea here is that one should look upon the land who could take in at a glance the whole country and would see those mountains and hills cultivated in the most careful manner and everywhere, bringing forth the productions of peace. And that's the point. Peace breeds prosperity. Peace breeds prosperity, particularly in, well, in any economic cultural system. But in an agricultural system, you would see that in the fields being green and the produce being abundant. That would be a site of actual peace in the land, peace and prosperity. In fact, some of you, if you're using the ESV Bible, where the new King James, and I think the King James says the mountains will bring peace to the people. The ESV says the mountains bear prosperity for the people. And both those are being spoken of here. For a rule of peace puts the people in a position to be the most productive. And production and prosperity is a result of a true righteous and peaceful reign. And that is the picture being depicted here. As I said, that's probably the intent of David as he wrote this, for he knew of the great abundance that Israel could have under a peaceful reign. It also is a type. And mountains and hills are used in the scripture for nations and governments and rules that are happening in the land. And so the second view of this verse is to say we can apply it to the messianic rule of Christ over the earth. That will affect nations' great mountains and small hills. And that nations will prosper and show their prosperity as they succumb and walk in agreement with the ultimate rule of the mountain of mountains, So as the great king of righteousness extends his rule into the earth and over the nations great and small, they will experience peace and their people will be prosperous as well. And that's not just a made up thing by me, okay? Isaiah spoke about that. We can go back to Isaiah and this time go to Isaiah chapter 2. I think we looked at this another time when I think it was Psalm 69 spoke so much in similar terms about the rule of Christ. We're going to read four verses here. The word of Isaiah, that Isaiah the son of Amos saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain, now notice we're going to talk about mountain and hills, okay? We're going to talk about the mountain of the Lord. We're going to talk about other mountains and hills. That the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills and all nations shall flow to it. many people shall come and say come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob he will teach us his ways and we shall walk in his paths for out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem he shall judge between the nations and rebuke many people and they Here's the result of them being rebuked. "...shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore." This is the picture that Isaiah gave of the ultimate impact of the kingdom of God, the mountain of the Lord, over the nations of the world, the mountains and the hills upon which it would rest. And this picture here is not only one that Isaiah captured, but we won't go there, but you can just note Micah chapter four, verses one through three is almost a verbatim repeat of what is said here by Isaiah, that this ultimate promise that David prays for Solomon in his reign in Israel would be depicted worldwide by the impact of the kingdom of God in the earth. Verse four, as we mentioned, speaks of the justice that would come forth out of this righteous rule and especially, again, looking to the poor and the needy and the children of those individuals and how they would be blessed by this. They will receive justice, they will receive care. This will come forth out of not only the act of righteous rule, toward them, but the act of righteousness ruled toward their oppressors. And when he speaks of the oppressors, he uses very strong language. He will break in pieces the oppressors. That's what righteous rule does. That's what righteous rule does. It not only provides the means by which people can be blessed, because peace exists, and those that have means bless those that do not, not by force of government, but by voluntary contribution and act, for they are true acts of love. But righteous judgment also punishes the unjust and puts to an end the unlawful acts, those who unlawfully take advantage of and oppress the poor. This expression will break in pieces the oppressor is one that is used very directly of Jesus Christ in another coronation psalm, Psalm 2, which we looked at, obviously, Quite a while ago, but some too, was a coronation psalm that leaves no doubt it's talking of Jesus Christ. for verses seven through nine say, I will declare the decree the Lord has said to me, you are my son. Today I have begotten you. That was said repeatedly in the New Testament of God to Christ. Here he says, ask of me. He says, Christ, ask of me, the father says, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possessions. We're talking about everywhere. But what does it say? You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel. Christ's rule will break and destroy the oppressive ungodly rules of the unrighteous as he takes possession by his truth of them. So from rulers of nations to common persons within the nation, the righteous rule of God is going to result in discipline and destruction, but also in blessing and peace and righteousness. Going back now to Psalm 72, we look at verses 5 through 7. They shall fear you as long as the sun and moon endure. Throughout all generations, he shall come down like rain upon the grass before mowing, like showers that water the earth. In his days, the righteous shall flourish in abundance of peace until the moon is no more. Here we read expressions that definitely go beyond Solomon. They go beyond just Solomon. As long as the sun and moon endures, throughout all generations, until the moon is no more, these are extensive, time-wise expressions that go far beyond Solomon and therefore point to a long-lasting, eternal kingdom. That is the rule of Christ, the Messianic King. The next verses of this kingdom speaks not just to the extent of time, but the breadth of encompassing far greater than just the land of Israel. We read that in verses eight through 11. He shall have dominion also from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth. Those who dwell in the wilderness will bow before him, and his enemies will lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and of the Isles will bring presents. The kings of Sheba and Seba will offer gifts. Yes, all kings shall fall down before him. All nations shall serve him." These words can be in many ways, or in some ways I should say, applied to Solomon. But the extent and breadth of it beyond Solomon cannot be missed. Now, let me help you understand how they would apply to Solomon. From sea to sea, this could be speaking of from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. The next verse, the next line of Solomon, this. Well, both C to C and then the next line, the river to the ends of the earth. Albert Barnes writes, the language is susceptible of a more enlarged application. And we're going to hear that. The Reformation Study Bible agrees, the language far exceeds any achievement of an earthly king of Israel and so looks forward to Messiah's reign. These things will always be there. They cannot be ignored. But as I mentioned, Albert as Albert Barnes comments, it may mean from 1C, well actually in depicting the universal aspect of this, it may mean that from C one sea to another, that it's actually saying we're embracing all the lands or countries lying between seas and oceans. In other words, it could very well be depicting a universal dominion. And the second half of that verse, eight, from the river, what you need to understand is that expression, the river, always, Are we having popcorn for lunch? That expression, the river, always means the Euphrates River. So there it says, from the Euphrates to the ends of the earth. Barnes says of this, the meaning here is that taking the river, the Euphrates, as one of the boundaries or as a starting point, the dominion would extend from that to the utmost limits of the earth. It would have no other boundary but the limits of the world. The promise therefore is that the dominion would be universal or would pervade the earth at once a kingdom of peace and yet spreading itself all over the world. He goes on to say it is hardly necessary to say that this did not occur under Solomon and that could not have been expected. that it would occur under him. And especially as it was expected that his reign would be one of peace and not of conquest, spreading over all the world. Solomon was ruling as peace. It would find its complete fulfillment only under the Messiah. So Barnes continually goes to that messianic application here. But I do want to take a little bit of time to say that if you take that verse, and much of what's said in these verses in the restrictive sense. They were fulfilled by Solomon and I'm going to assert they were fulfilled by Solomon to the extent that in his reign all that was promised to the descendants of Abraham were given. Solomon ruled and the rule of Israel was over all the land Abraham and his descendants were promised. For from the river to the ends of the earth can mean from the Euphrates to the very edges of the land, which would extend to Edomia and possibly even the northern boundaries of Egypt. And let me show you where the scriptures seem to indicate that this was the case. So let's go to 1 Kings chapter 4. In 1 Kings chapter 4, And verse 21, it says, So Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the river, you know what that means, the Euphrates, to the land of the Philistines as far as the border of Egypt. They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life. And then going to verse 24, it states, for he had dominion over all the region on this side of the river from Tisha, even to Gaza, namely over all the kings on this side of the river, and he had peace on every side all around him. Adam Clark, who was another 1800s, 19th century commentator, says that Solomon, it appears, reigned over all the provinces from the river Euphrates to the land of the Philistines, even to the frontiers of Egypt. The Euphrates was on the east of Solomon's dominions, the Philistines on the westward and on the Mediterranean Sea. Egypt was on the south. Solomon was therefore as tributaries. Solomon had therefore as tributaries the kingdoms of Syria, Damascus, Moab, and Ammon, which lay between the Euphrates and the Mediterranean. Thus he appears to have possessed all the land which God covenanted with Abraham to give to his posterity. So what I'm saying here is that God had promised Abraham this land and he showed Abraham that land and he says, it's going to go to your descendants. And in Solomon, that was completely fulfilled. And the fullness of the type of the peaceful reign of righteousness that was depicted through Israel happened under Solomon. again, it was a type. It was a type of the ultimate kingdom of Christ that it was foreshadowing his ultimate worldwide dominion that he would rule and reign. And those things continually begin to get bore out in this song. Now we are going to make it to the end. Hang in there. We're going to pick the pace up. Verse 9 speaks of those immediately outside of Israel's border in the wilderness coming and acknowledging this king. That did happen to Solomon. Verse 10, too, could possibly be applied to Solomon, as it would not be unusual that the kings of Tarshish could have brought gifts to him, though that's not recorded. The queen of Sheba brought up. Sheba, it says kings of Sheba. Well, we know that at least the queen of Sheba came up. Sheba would be Arabia. Seba is thought of Ethiopia. Now that's extending to the furthest south that they were really aware of, of any nation. And though we don't have that, it's possible. Those of Ethiopia came. Where we start reaching positions where this is going beyond any contact of Solomon is when it says the isles. When it says the isles in verse 10. The isles were those places out in the sea of the Mediterranean. They may be islands or they could be the coastal regions throughout the coast of the Mediterranean. But as you know, back then, sailing was not always just, hey, let's just head right out into the middle of the water. You'd sail along the coast and you'd go from port to port. You'd safely move along and there were, these were often called the isles. But Solomon had no reach and touch to them, but yet, This is used to depict that well beyond what Solomon touched are going to come and bring gifts and homage to this king. So we know by those words it's beginning to extend beyond Solomon to speak to a greater than Solomon. And then you have verse 11 ending this section that leaves no doubt, all kings shall fall down before him, all nations shall serve him. Yet, if you go to 1 Kings 10, that terminology was said about Solomon's reign. verses 23-25 of 1 Kings 10. So King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. Now all the earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom which God had put in his heart. Each man brought his present, articles of silver and gold, garments, armor, spices, horses and mules at a set rate year by year. Clearly by context, all the earth meant that immediate land that Solomon had influence over. In Psalm 72, as a projection of what David prayed would be true of Solomon that came to pass to that extent was also a foreshadowing of the ultimate kingdom of Christ. Again, let me just read a couple of commentators on this. Clark states, if we take these expressions to mean literally all the habitable globe, then they cannot apply to Solomon. But if we take them as they are most evidently used by the sacred writer, then they are literally true. When all the earth shall be brought to receive the gospel of Christ, they can be applied to Him, that'd be Christ alone. Barnes says His reign will be universal, the kings and people mentioned in the previous verses are only specimens. So he's saying, you know, they're types of what will occur. All kings, all nations will do what these are representatives doing. They will submit to the Messiah. They will own him as their Lord. So from this point, verse 12 through 16, What I see in there is much of what I brought out in Psalm 69. You're gonna see a fading back and forth of, this is Solomon, instead of him and what's fulfilled in him, but obviously a type of Christ. This is something that, hey, in a way we might say was in Solomon, but it's Christ. And he will come into a fuller picture, and Solomon will eventually fade completely out of this psalm. Verses 12 through 14 speak again, delivering the needy, helping the poor, saving their souls, redeeming their lives, holding them precious in His sight. Yeah, to a degree, Solomon probably weakly fulfilled this, but it was fully seen in Christ both at his ministry and now. For Christ himself declared this would be his very ministry. In Luke chapter 4, verses 17 through 19, we have Christ coming to Nazareth. and there as you know he was handed the book of the prophet isaiah listen to these words and think about what verses 12 through 14 of psalm 72 speak of i just mentioned the needy the poor saving the soul redeeming that is buying by redemption back someone's life Christ read this, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, there's the redeeming, and recover of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. those aspects were what David prayed would be a part of Solomon's reign, they are fulfilled in reality by Christ. Solomon comes more to the fore in these verses as we move into verses 15 and 16 as they speak of gold being brought from particular places like Sheba. Recognition of Solomon by these kings. Prayers for him and praise for him. Abundance of grain, the cities flourishing like grass on the earth. This is reflection back maybe of the earlier part of the psalm of the prosperity that would be in the land. It's identifying things that did happen under Solomon's reign, but that's the last time you see Solomon. Certainly, they foreshadow what Christ would bring as well, but that principe, Solomon, now will fade out of the psalm. The final verses, Christ and Christ alone comes forward, particularly here in verse 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." You know, that is the gospel. That is the gospel itself. for the scriptures by Paul recorded in Galatians 3 say that the gospel was preached to Abraham, right? And when it was preached to Abraham, what was said there was that, in you shall all the nations be blessed. This is read in verse 8 in the scriptures, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand saying, in you all the nations shall be blessed. So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. In fact, later Paul will say in that same letter, now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made and he does not say and to seeds plural as many but as of one and that seed is Christ. We know that all who are of Christ are Abraham's descendants. Well, what is being said here in Psalm 72 is what Paul depicted there in Galatians that it is Christ that we're speaking of. Only His name endures forever. Only His name continues as long as the sun. Only He is the one who blesses and is blessed by men and nations. So what we have here in Psalm 72, yeah, a coronation psalm that David wrote for Solomon that would be a prayer for him that his kingdom would be a kingdom of righteousness and rule of righteousness over all of God's people, but it was a picture of Christ and what the gospel brings and is bringing in the earth as his rule is established by that good news. We hold this hope as well for the kingdom of Christ in the earth. And in that hope, and that expectation, we too can join in this doxology, which says that God and God alone will bring this to pass. And it can be our close of our look at this psalm. So we join David as he says, blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only does wondrous things. and blessed be His glorious name forever. And let the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen and amen. That is our prayer. Thank you, Father, for your word as it speaks to us today. Thank you for David who so diligently and faithfully as he passed on from his generation to Solomon the rule over your people Israel of that age and prayed so diligently for his son to be a righteous ruler. Father, in your sovereignty, you used it to make a picture of your Son and His rule, which is even now, for He sits upon the throne. And Father, His act of conquering is by the Spirit and the Word. And Lord, we do pray that it would go out and conquer the nations, that as we have prayed even here with David, The whole earth might be filled with your glory. Father, use us in our part of that world here to be your instruments that your glory would be seen through the lives that we touch. And Father, through the exercise of obedience of your word in our own lives. And we pray this in Jesus' name, amen.