When a new government takes office, people pray, march or post online about what they hope it will be. Rarely do they pray that the leader becomes rich or famous. They pray that the farmer gets a fair price, that the widow's case is heard, that the bully is stopped. Psalm 72 is that kind of prayer, offered for a new king. It asks for long life and wide rule, yes, but it keeps circling back to the same test: does the king defend the poor, rescue the child of the needy, and treat their blood as precious? Only then, the psalm says, will his reign be like rain on mown grass.
Where it sits in the story: In Act 3, Israel's story, the monarchy has just passed from David to Solomon. This psalm lays out what a king in David's line was meant to be: God's justice made visible, with blessing reaching the nations as promised to Abraham (Genesis 12:3). Solomon's reign will partly match it and partly betray it. Later Jewish and Christian readers came to hear in it a king still to come, whom the New Testament identifies with Jesus.
What this chapter is doing: To set the standard for Israel's king in the form of a prayer: power is given for the sake of justice for the weak, and a righteous king's rule would overflow in blessing to the whole earth.
- 72:1–4 — The prayer begins with justice, not victory: give the king your judgments, O God, so he will judge your people rightly and defend the afflicted. Even the mountains will bring prosperity when the ruler is righteous.
- 72:5–11 — May his reign last as long as sun and moon and fall like showers on the land. May he rule from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth, with kings of Tarshish, Sheba and Seba bringing gifts and nations serving him.
- 72:12–14 — The reason for all that honour: he rescues the needy who cry out and the poor who have no helper. He redeems them from oppression and violence, because their blood is precious in his sight. This is the heart of the psalm.
- 72:15–17 — Prayer for long life, gold from Sheba, abundant grain waving even on hilltops, and a name that lasts. All nations will be blessed through him and call him blessed, language that echoes God's promise to Abraham.
- 72:18–20 — A doxology blesses the God of Israel whose glory should fill the whole earth. It closes the second book of Psalms, followed by an editor's note that the prayers of David son of Jesse are ended.
Key verse: Psalm 72:12 · So what: This psalm gives a simple, searching measure for anyone with power, in government, business, church or family: what happens to the weakest people under your care? It also invites prayer for leaders that is neither flattery nor cynicism, but a request that they do justice. For Christian readers it describes the kind of king they believe Jesus is.