The Politics of Shalom Text: Psalm 72:1-4
Introduction: Justice Down from the Mountain
We live in an age that is drowning in politics. We are saturated with it, suffocated by it, and yet we are starving for true justice. Our political discourse is a frantic, desperate attempt to build a just society on a foundation of sand. We want the fruit of justice without the root of righteousness. We want peace without the Prince of Peace. We want a government that establishes shalom, but we want to do it without acknowledging the God of shalom. The result is a cacophony of competing injustices, a society where every man does what is right in his own eyes and calls it a "human right."
Our problem is not a lack of political theories. Our problem is that we have rejected the only source of true political theory. We think justice is something we invent, something we hammer out in committees, something we discover through polling data. But the Bible teaches that justice is not a human invention; it is a divine gift. It is not something we construct from the ground up; it is something that must be handed down from on high.
Psalm 72 is a coronation psalm, a prayer for the king, likely Solomon as he ascended the throne of his father David. But like all such psalms, its ultimate fulfillment is found only in the Son of David, the Lord Jesus Christ. This psalm is a blueprint for righteous government. It is a prayer that we should pray for our own rulers, and it is a standard by which we must judge them. It teaches us that true justice is not a matter of policy papers and partisan talking points. True justice flows from the throne of God, through a righteous ruler, and results in the flourishing of the people and the crushing of their enemies. This is the politics of shalom, and it begins not with an election, but with a prayer.
The Text
O God, give the king Your judgments,
And Your righteousness to the king’s son.
May he render judgment to Your people with righteousness
And Your afflicted with justice.
Let the mountains lift up peace to the people,
And the hills, in righteousness.
May he give justice to the afflicted of the people,
Save the children of the needy,
And crush the oppressor.
(Psalm 72:1-4 LSB)
The Fountainhead of Justice (v. 1)
The psalm begins with a petition, which is also a profound political statement.
"O God, give the king Your judgments, And Your righteousness to the king’s son." (Psalm 72:1)
Notice where this starts. It does not start with the king's innate wisdom, his charisma, or his military might. It starts with his utter dependence on God. The prayer is for God to give the king His judgments. This establishes the foundational principle of all legitimate authority: it is delegated. A king, a president, a prime minister, a governor, none of them are the source of justice. God is the source. They are stewards, not owners. Their job is not to invent righteousness, but to receive it and apply it.
This single verse demolishes two opposite errors that have plagued political thought for centuries. The first is the error of tyranny, the idea of the divine right of kings where the ruler's will is law. This verse says no; the king is under God's law. His judgments must be God's judgments. The second error is the modern one, the tyranny of the mob, the idea that sovereignty resides in the people. This verse says no; the people are not the source of justice either. Fifty million Frenchmen can be wrong. A democratic majority can be just as tyrannical as any king if it is not submitted to the righteousness of God.
The king is to receive God's righteousness. He is to be a conduit, not a reservoir. His rule is to be a reflection of God's rule. This means that the first and most important qualification for any ruler is not his economic policy or his foreign policy, but his piety. Does he fear God? Does he look to God's law as the standard? If he does not, then all his attempts at justice will be nothing more than organized theft and sophisticated oppression.
The Purpose of Justice (v. 2)
Verse 2 tells us why the king needs this divine gift. It is not for his own glory, but for the good of the people.
"May he render judgment to Your people with righteousness And Your afflicted with justice." (Psalm 72:2)
The authority is given for a purpose: to judge, to govern. And the standard is righteousness. But notice the particular focus: "Your afflicted." The health of a society, in the biblical view, is measured by how it treats its most vulnerable members. Righteousness is not an abstract ideal; it is intensely practical. It pays special attention to the afflicted, the poor, the widow, the orphan, because these are the ones most easily crushed by the powerful and forgotten by the busy.
This is not a call for what our modern statists call "social justice," which is often little more than institutionalized envy and theft. This is not about class warfare. It is about impartial justice that is particularly vigilant in defending those who cannot defend themselves. God's law has built-in protections for the poor, not because poverty is virtuous, but because the poor are tempting targets for the wicked. A righteous ruler ensures that the scales of justice are not tipped by a man's wealth or social standing.
The Fruit of Justice (v. 3)
When a king rules with God's righteousness, the result is peace and prosperity for the whole land.
"Let the mountains lift up peace to the people, And the hills, in righteousness." (Psalm 72:3)
The mountains and hills, the very framework of the land, are here personified. They are pictured as bringing forth peace, or shalom. Shalom is not merely the absence of war. It is wholeness, health, prosperity, and comprehensive well-being. It is a state of things where everything is in its right place, functioning as God intended.
And how does this shalom come about? "In righteousness." Righteousness is the soil in which peace grows. You cannot have the fruit of shalom without the root of righteousness. All secular attempts to manufacture peace, whether through international treaties, economic redistribution, or therapeutic programs, are doomed to fail. They are like trying to tape fruit onto a dead tree. Peace is a byproduct of a society ordered according to God's law. When the king judges rightly, the whole creation rejoices. The economy flourishes, families are secure, and the land itself is fruitful.
The Teeth of Justice (v. 4)
This final verse in our text gets to the sharp end of what righteous rule actually does. It is not passive or sentimental.
"May he give justice to the afflicted of the people, Save the children of the needy, And crush the oppressor." (Psalm 72:4)
Here we see three specific actions of the righteous king. First, he gives justice to the afflicted. This is more than just hearing their case; it means actively vindicating them, setting things right for them. Second, he saves the children of the needy. He delivers them from danger and exploitation. He is a protector of the helpless.
But look at the third action. "And crush the oppressor." Biblical justice has teeth. It is not a limp-wristed, therapeutic enterprise that seeks to "understand" the oppressor. It crushes him. The word means to break in pieces, to pulverize. The righteous ruler is a terror to evildoers (Romans 13:3-4). He bears the sword, and he does not bear it in vain. A justice system that is more concerned with the "rights" of the criminal than with the protection of the innocent and the punishment of the wicked is a perversion of justice. God's justice is a fearsome, militant thing. It saves the righteous by crushing the wicked.
Christ Our Righteous King
This prayer was for Solomon, and in some measure, it was answered in the peace and prosperity of his early reign. But Solomon was a flawed man, and his kingdom eventually crumbled. This psalm points beyond Solomon to his greater Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true King who has received all judgment and all righteousness from His Father.
Jesus is the one who perfectly judges His people with righteousness. He is the one whose special concern is for the afflicted and the needy. He is the one who brings true shalom to the nations. And He is the one who has come to crush the ultimate oppressor. On the cross, He dealt a mortal blow to the head of that ancient serpent, Satan (Genesis 3:15). Through His resurrection and ascension, He has been enthroned at the right hand of the Father, and He is now in the process of putting all His enemies under His feet.
The advance of His kingdom in the world is the advance of this righteous rule. As the gospel goes forth, it saves the needy, vindicates the afflicted, and crushes the works of darkness. This psalm, therefore, is not just a prayer for earthly rulers. It is a prayer for the victory of Christ's kingdom. It is a prayer that Christ would continue to save His people and crush His enemies until that day when the mountains and hills of the new earth will bring forth an everlasting shalom, all in righteousness.
Our political task, then, is simple. It is to pray this prayer and live in its light. We are to call upon our earthly rulers to bow the knee to Christ and receive His judgments. And we are to live as loyal citizens of the King of kings, knowing that His reign is righteous, His peace is sure, and His victory over all oppressors is absolute.