Commentary - Psalm 72:5-7

Bird's-eye view

This portion of Psalm 72, a psalm of Solomon, is a glorious prophecy of the Messiah's kingdom. While it had an immediate application to Solomon's own reign, its language strains the boundaries of any mere earthly king and finds its ultimate fulfillment only in the Lord Jesus Christ. These verses describe the nature and quality of His reign. It will be permanent, as enduring as the celestial bodies God set in the heavens. It will be refreshing and life-giving, not oppressive, coming down like a quiet rain that causes new growth. And the result of this reign will be a world turned right side up, a world where righteousness is the dominant characteristic and peace is the resulting fruit, a peace that will last until the very end of the age. This is a profoundly optimistic and Christ-centered picture of the gospel's effect on the world. It is a postmillennial vision, where the kingdom of God grows inexorably, bringing righteousness and peace to the ends of the earth through the gentle but powerful influence of Christ's rule.

The psalmist is praying for the king, and in doing so, the Spirit carries him along to describe the reign of the King of kings. The fear of God will define His kingdom, not for a short season, but for all generations. The growth of this kingdom is not like a violent political conquest, but like the irresistible, quiet, and fruitful advance of spring showers. And the outcome is exactly what the world, groaning under the curse, has been longing for: the flourishing of justice and an abundance of true shalom, a comprehensive peace that will define history until the final consummation.

Outline

Context In Psalms

Psalm 72 concludes the second book of the Psalter. It is one of only two psalms attributed to Solomon (the other being Psalm 127). The final verse of the psalm notes that "The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended," which likely indicates this psalm's position as the capstone of a collection of Davidic prayers, with Solomon, David's son and heir, providing the concluding doxology. The psalm is a royal psalm, a prayer for the king, but its language is so expansive and idealized that it clearly points beyond Solomon to his greater Son, the Messiah. It speaks of a universal, everlasting kingdom of peace and righteousness, themes that run throughout the Old Testament's prophetic hope. This psalm gives us the very shape of the kingdom we are praying for when we say, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." It is a prayer for the success of the Great Commission.

Key Issues

The Sun and Moon as Witnesses

Throughout Scripture, God points to the fixed nature of His creation as a guarantee of the fixed nature of His covenant promises. The sun and moon are His faithful witnesses in the sky (Psalm 89:37). They rise and set with unbreakable regularity, governed by the word of His power. When the Holy Spirit, through Solomon, wants to describe the permanence of the Messiah's kingdom, He reaches for the most stable and enduring things we can observe. As long as there is a sun in the sky and a moon at night, the kingdom of Christ will endure. This is not apocalyptic language about the end of the physical cosmos; it is covenantal language about the certainty of God's promise. The political heavens and earth of old covenant Israel might be shaken, but the kingdom of the Son is an unshakeable kingdom. His dominion is not a fleeting dynasty; it is as permanent as the created order itself.

Verse by Verse Commentary

5 Let them fear You while the sun endures, And as long as the moon, from generation to all generations.

The prayer begins with the foundation of all true society: the fear of God. This is not a servile, cowering fear, but a covenantal awe and reverence. And this reverence for God will be the hallmark of the Messiah's kingdom for as long as history continues. The psalmist uses the most enduring things he knows, the sun and moon, as a measure of time. As long as the sun shines, as long as the moon reflects its light, the kingdom of Christ will be a reality on earth, and men will fear God because of Him. This is a promise of historical perseverance and success. It is not a kingdom that will flicker out after a few centuries. It is to last from generation to all generations. This is a direct prophecy of the enduring nature of the Church and the global reach of the gospel. The reign of Christ is not temporary; it is the permanent reality under which all of human history now unfolds.

6 May he come down like rain upon the mown grass, Like showers that water the earth.

This verse describes the manner of the King's coming and the nature of His influence. His reign is not like a violent storm that beats down the crops, but like a gentle, life-giving rain. Specifically, it is rain on mown grass. The mowing is a picture of judgment or hardship. After the field has been cut down, looking bare and desolate, the rain comes to bring forth new, lush life. This is a beautiful picture of the gospel. Christ comes to a people cut down by the law, humbled by their sin, and His grace brings supernatural life and growth. His kingdom doesn't advance through carnal, coercive power. It advances like the quiet, irresistible soaking of the spring rains. It finds a dry and thirsty land and brings forth fruit. This is the power of the Holy Spirit, sent by the ascended King, to regenerate and refresh the world.

7 May the righteous flourish in his days, And abundance of peace until the moon is no more.

Here we see the fruit of this enduring and gentle reign. The effect of Christ's rule is that the righteous flourish. In a world that is upside down, righteousness is suppressed and wickedness is exalted. But in the kingdom of Christ, things are set right. Those who are justified by faith begin to grow and prosper like healthy trees. Righteousness becomes the defining characteristic of the culture. And what is the direct result of a flourishing righteousness? An abundance of peace. Peace, or shalom, is not merely the absence of conflict, but a positive state of all-encompassing well-being, health, and prosperity. Where there is justice and righteousness, true peace breaks out. And this state of affairs is not for a brief golden age. It will last until the moon is no more, a poetic way of saying until the end of the age. This is a promise that the gospel will be so successful in the world that it will produce a global civilization characterized by righteousness and a deep, abiding peace.

Application

We are citizens of this kingdom. The prayer of this psalm is our prayer, and the prophecy of this psalm is our hope. We live in a world that is still very much in process. We see fields that look mown, barren, and hopeless. We see wickedness flourishing and the righteous struggling. It is easy to become discouraged and to think that the kingdom is failing. But this psalm calls us to lift our eyes and trust the promise.

First, we must be confident in the permanence of Christ's reign. His throne is established. His kingdom cannot be shaken. Political empires rise and fall, cultural trends come and go, but the Son's dominion is as sure as the sunrise. Our job is not to build the kingdom in a panic, but to live as faithful citizens of a kingdom that is already and is inexorably advancing.

Second, we must embrace the methods of our King. The kingdom comes like rain, not like a political blitzkrieg. It comes through the faithful preaching of the gospel, through lives transformed by the Spirit, through the quiet influence of families and churches living in righteousness. We are not called to impose righteousness by the sword, but to be the kind of people whose very lives are the gentle rain that brings new growth to the parched ground around us.

Finally, we must labor and pray with an unconquerable optimism. We are on the winning side. The future of this world is not secularism, or Islam, or paganism. The future of this world is Jesus Christ. He has promised that the righteous will flourish and that peace will abound. Our task is to plant the seeds of that righteousness everywhere we go, knowing that our King will provide the rain, and He will ensure the harvest.