Welcome to the MHB Podcast. This is Michael Baun. And welcome to my fourteenth episode. Tonight I want to take a look at Psalm 72. I’ll be teaching this Bible study live at my church on June 13th.
To give you a little bit of background, the church has been doing a once weekly Bible study and we’ve been working through the psalms. The most recent one we did was Psalm 71. When I saw that I was scheduled to teach on June 13th, I considered doing a different section of the Bible for the sake of variety. Well, I have this slimline leather Bible that I take with me to the studies because it’s easy to carry. I walked into my office to pick it up. The little ribbon book marker was tucked at the back of the Bible. I opened it to where the general location of the psalms are and wouldn’t you know that Psalm 72 was the first one staring back at me. I took that as providence and so decided to work through Psalm 72 instead of moving to a different section.
So my model for teaching Psalm 72 is going to be similar to my previous model for teaching Psalm 70. I’ve prepared a commentary and I’m going to work through it with you. Embedded in the commentary are a series of questions. When we come to a question, I will read the question to you and then I will answer it from my own perspective. Then I will restate the question so you can think about your own answer. It’s super valuable to have everyone’s perspective – there’s a lot of life experience in this world and together we can generate fascinating insights.
The first thing we need to know about Psalm 72 is that it was written by Solomon. You’ll notice in verse 20 it says (This ends the prayers of David son of Jesse). That verse is meant to signify the end of Book Two of the psalms – which are largely psalms written by David. But Psalm 72 in particular is not written by David, it is written by Solomon.
The theme of Psalm 72 is Solomon asking for guidance for himself and his son. Then he begins to describe the endless reign of the Messiah, who alone can rule with perfect justice and whose citizens will enjoy perfect peace.
So before we break this down, we’re going to read through the entire psalm. Verses 1-20:
Give your love of justice to the king, O God, and righteousness to the king’s son. Help him judge your people in the right way; let the poor always be treated fairly. May the mountains yield prosperity for all, and may the hills be fruitful. Help him to defend the poor, to rescue the children of the needy, and to crush their oppressors. May they fear you as long as the sun shines, as long as the moon remains in the sky. Yes, forever!
May the king’s rule be refreshing like spring rain on freshly cut grass, like the showers that water the earth. May all the godly flourish during his reign. May there be abundant prosperity until the moon is no more. May he reign from sea to sea, and from the Euphrates river to the ends of the earth. Desert nomads will bow before him; his enemies will fall before him in the dust. The western kings of Tarshish and other distant lands will bring him tribute. The eastern kings of Sheba and Seba will bring him gifts. All kings will bow before him, and all nations will serve him.
He will rescue the poor when they cry to him; he will help the oppressed, who have no one to defend them. He feels pity for the weak and the needy, and he will rescue them. He will redeem them from oppression and violence, for their lives are precious to him.
Long live the king! May the gold of Sheba be given to him. May the people always pray for him and bless him all day long. May there be abundant grain throughout the land, flourishing even on the hilltops. May the fruit trees flourish like the trees of Lebanon, and may the people thrive like grass in a field. May the king’s name endure forever; may it continue as long as the sun shines. May all nations be blessed through him and bring him praise.
Praise the LORD God, the God of Israel, who alone does such powerful things. Praise his glorious name forever! Let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and amen!
(This ends the prayers of David son of Jesse.)
Okay, so the first verses we are going to examine are 1 and 2:
Give your love of justice to the king, O God, and righteousness to the king’s son. Help him judge your people in the right way; let the poor always be treated fairly.
Notice this idea of the poor being treated fairly. Even today, it’s not uncommon for people in poverty to be handled more harshly by the justice system. God desires all who work under him to be just and righteous. Think how the world would change if leaders would commit themselves to these two qualities. We should pray for our leaders as we hear about them in the news. One of the best requests we can make is for God to help them see their need for Him. Imagine being constantly surrounded by yes-men and wielding the most powerful office in the world. It would be so easy to feel like you don’t need anyone – including God. That is a disastrous mindset for a world leader to be in.
Think of a person you know who lives in open rebellion and claims they don’t need God. Now give that person a standing army and a nuclear arsenal. We must always remember that world leaders are human beings just like us and are susceptible to the same effects of sin as we are. We should ask God to help these leaders to govern with justice and righteousness.
1 Timothy 2:1-2 reiterates this instruction when it says:
I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity.
What I really like about these verses is that Paul is instructing the church to pray for those in authority – and at the time he wrote this, the man in authority was Roman Emperor Nero. Nero was notoriously cruel. When Paul wrote 1 Timothy, persecution was a growing threat to believers. In A.D. 64, there was a great fire that destroyed much of Rome. Nero needed a scapegoat so he blamed the Roman Christians so that he could take the focus off of himself. After the fire, Christians were denied certain privileges in society – some were even publicly butchered, burned or fed to animals. Nonetheless, Paul instructed the church to pray for him.
There is an interesting point to discover here: God is all-powerful and all-knowing, yet he has chosen to let us help him change the world through our prayers. How exactly that works is probably something we will never figure out this side of heaven. Couple that with the idea that we should pray for our leaders and we have a powerful gift. We should use that gift and pray for those in authority around the world so that their societies will be conducive to the spread of the Gospel.
My first question for you is this. Do you find yourself complaining about leadership more frequently than you find yourself praying for leadership? Maybe your boss at work? Maybe your state and local government? Maybe the President? Do you complain about them more often than you pray for them?
For myself, this is an absolute yes. I think I might be one of the rare ones who manages to complain about the state of something every single time I watch the news. I usually encounter three types of people when it comes to approval of leadership. One type has very little idea of current events or leaders, they don’t spend much time thinking or complaining about them. The other type is more like me, I’m hot on all of the current events and I complain about many of them. The third type has a good reading on the pulse of society but doesn’t care too much because they feel there is not much they can do about it. But you know what type I almost never run into? The type that pays attention and prays for the leadership.
There’s something to think about here. Let us understand just how divided our nation is when it comes to leadership. It’s not only 50 -50, but it’s a hard 50 – 50. I’ve met people who maintain such a hatred for the current President that they’ve become blind to most of his actions. I watched the same phenomenon happen to the previous President. There are people who would rather suffer the consequences of these men failing than benefit from their successful leadership. Praying for our leaders (no matter who they are) to understand their need for God and to govern in ways that are just and right is one of the first steps to ending this toxic identity politic that keeps us divided. Pray for the leader.
Restating the first question. Do you find yourself complaining about leadership more frequently than you find yourself praying for leadership? Maybe your boss at work? Maybe your state and local government? Maybe the President? Do you complain about them more often than you pray for them?
The next three verses we are going to look at are 3-5:
May the mountains yield prosperity for all, and may the hills be fruitful. Help him to defend the poor, to rescue the children of the needy, and to crush their oppressors. May they fear you as long as the sun shines, as long as the moon remains in the sky. Yes, forever!
In the Bible, sometimes mountains are used as symbols to represent human governments. One way of thinking about these verses is that Solomon was alluding to a national government (represented by mountains) and a local government (represented by hills). Within that framework, the national government would bless the people and the local government would rule with righteousness. This godly governance would accomplish three things:
1.) It would bring justice to the poor. Since the poor are often a demographic that is treated unfairly, it would be up to the king and his government to make sure that this didn’t happen.
2.) The king and his government would rescue and support the most vulnerable in society – which would include the children of the needy. This idea is in keeping with God’s call throughout the Bible to protect widows and orphans.
3.) The king and his government would protect Israel from external domination and internal corruption. Both external domination and internal corruption would lead to an oppressor, so those two things would have to be protected against.
Using mountains and hills as representations for human governments is just one way of looking at these verses. Several other cases could be made. The verses might speak of messengers placed on mountains and hilltops that would distribute news throughout the land. It’s possible these verses speak of the fertility of the soil on the mountains. Or maybe they mean safety from robbers who often occupied mountain passes.
The point is that the Bible is intentionally vague in these verses. This is extremely important. You can read a set of verses in the Bible and match them to a reality that you’ve experienced. When that matching process occurs, it gives rise to insight about that experience that you didn’t have before you read the verses. The Scripture works alongside your life experience to unlock new levels of understanding. That is so sophisticated. And it means that as you go about living your life, the experience you gain out in the world will give you the ability to unlock new information in the Scripture.
Now, that does not mean there are unlimited interpretations of the Bible and that all of them are valid. Here’s how you check. If you are building a biblical interpretation from your life experience and that interpretation violates other sections of Scripture, then you know you are misreading it. Think of your biblical understanding like its an arrow shot from a bow, your arrow has to be able to pass cleanly through all 66 books of the Bible – or there’s a very good chance you’ve gotten something wrong.
So my next question for you is this: if you could go back in time and give the younger version of yourself advice, what would that advice be?
For myself, I would try to explain the importance of patience and listening. Patience because without patience, you are consigning yourself to a lifetime of unnecessary stress. Listening because sometimes the greatest wisdom comes from the most unexpected sources. The irony is, my younger self probably wouldn’t have the patience to listen to that advice. The reason for this question is to drive home an idea. I think the more life you live the more opportunity you’ll have to gain deeper understanding of Scripture. In some way, doing unlocks understanding.
There’s something I want to warn you about. We should all avoid becoming bloodless scholars. Bloodless scholars was an idea that Nietzsche discussed in his book Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future. A bloodless scholar is someone who learns and understands new ideas but doesn’t bother to implement them. Think of this person as someone who stands outside of the game pointing out problems and solutions but never having enough passion to get in there and do something.
One way of thinking about this is Faith without Good Deeds Is Dead – James 2:14-17:
What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well” – but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.
The author here is telling us that faith is not enough to produce for the betterment of the world. He isn’t saying that good works earn your spot in heaven. He’s saying that good works provide a completeness to your faith.
Restating the second question. If you could go back in time and give the younger version of yourself advice, what would that advice be?
So, moving on to verses 6-11 we see a transition away from king Solomon and towards the Messiah:
May the king’s rule be refreshing like spring rain on freshly cut grass, like the showers that water the earth. May all the godly flourish during his reign. May there be abundant prosperity until the moon is no more. May he reign from sea to sea, and from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth. Desert nomads will bow before him; his enemies will fall before him in the dust. The western kings of Tarshish and other distant lands will bring him tribute. The eastern kings of Sheba and Seba will bring him gifts. All kings will bow before him, and all nations will serve him.
Here we see the results of good leadership, and there is no greater leadership than Christ in His Kingdom. There is a connection being made between good leadership and rain falling on parched ground. When the rains come and the ecology is balanced – the grasses and crops flourish. In a similar way, when people are under good leadership they also flourish. This is something we should strive for in the church. We should always be looking for ways that we can encourage growth in each individual’s faith and in their spiritual gifts.
There is an important idea to think about when it comes to learning and growing. Imagine yourself sitting on a fence. On one side of the fence is the unknown, a space of total chaos. On the other side of the fence is the known, a space of order. Look out over the fence into the unknown – the space of chaos. If you never venture into the unknown then you can never learn and grow. But if you go too far into the unknown then you can become lost.
Now, look out over the fence in the other direction where you see the known – the space of order. It’s more comfortable over there. We all have some tendency to want to stay on that side of the fence, where we are familiar. But if you spend all of your time in the known, you will stagnate. You will stop learning and growing. When that happens it becomes very difficult to maintain a sense of meaning and purpose. Then, when an event happens in your life that forces you over the fence to the side of the chaotic unknown – you are unprepared to face it.
It is always better to stay as close as you can to that fence or that line between order and chaos, known and unknown. You want to go through patient, measured exposure to the unknown. Staying on that line will do two things for you: 1.) it will prepare you for chaotic events to enter your life and 2.) it will put you in a position where it’s easier for you to maintain a sense of meaning and purpose.
So my third question for you is this: when was the last time you reached the edge of your comfort zone? Did someone else push you there or did you do it yourself?
For myself, I would say that preaching my first sermon was the last time I was operating outside of my comfort zone. Before I did it, I thought that maybe I might do well at it. But the reality was, I had never done it so I had no way of knowing for certain. I had never done any public speaking. After I was finished, I absorbed a rush of new information that I was able to use in my second sermon. It was being up there and doing it that exposed me to that new information. But what’s cool about it is, my mentor had me preach a couple of practice runs in front of himself and my colleague. So, I was given the benefit of measured exposure to the unknown.
We must remember, measured exposure to the unknown is only possible when the situation is still under control. This is why it is always dangerous for us to rest on our laurels. During times of peace and order, we should seek to learn and grow in a way that is as patient and comfortable as possible. Contrast that with being thrust into a world of unknowns by a tragedy or an unexpected event. You will be completely disoriented and forced to learn and grow much faster than is healthy for you.
Restating the third question. When was the last time you reached the edge of your comfort zone? Did someone else push you there or did you do it yourself?
Moving on to verses 12-14, we read:
He will rescue the poor when they cry to him; he will help the oppressed, who have no one to defend them. He feels pity for the weak and the needy, and he will rescue them. He will redeem them from oppression and violence, for their lives are precious to him.
You know, when I hear people say “Oh, I can’t accept the Bible because the Bible supports slavery!” I have to wonder if they just completely miss verses like these ones. Do they not know that Exodus is an entire book in the Bible dedicated to God saving the Israelites from slavery? Anyway, what we see here is just more evidence of how wonderful God is. He cares for individuals that many people don’t even pay attention to. God cares for the poor, oppressed, weak, and needy because they are precious to him.
Apart from the fact that God loves them, I think he also pushes us towards the needy because these are the people who give us some of the best opportunities to show love. It’s good to love everyone, but what’s really good about loving the needy is that they can’t give back to you. So there’s no chance of falling into the trap of loving them for your own benefit. When people are going through hard times, they give us an opportunity to express a more pure love. A love that’s closer to agape, or God’s love.
My fourth question for you is this: think of a time in your life that stands out as being a moment when you were filled with joy. During this moment, were you alone or were you with someone else?
For myself, I was definitely not alone during these times. Some of my happiest moments were spent playing in the backyard with my family, going out to dinner, getting married, and coming to Christ. All of these times were spent with other people. Never alone. I think one of the great joys of advancing the kingdom of God is that the work gives you so many moments to meet and share experiences with people. Sometimes the poorest among us are the ones who have the richest stories to tell.
There was once a man who ran away from home to go find happiness. He traveled across the country to the west coast and then went north to Alaska. In Alaska, he tried to live off the land. He didn’t do so well and they found his body in an abandoned bus. Before he died he wrote these words: “Happiness only real when shared.”
That is such a big truth. We don’t want to spend decades of our lives chasing something else before we discover it. I had a friend who said to me “Happiness feels best when it is given to someone else.” That seems similar to hearing parents say that having Christmas presents under the tree is the most fun when you have little kids. It is their reaction of happiness that makes you so happy. The same thing applies in a relationship. If you know how to make your spouse happy, and you love them, then it is going to make you feel good to see them happy. When two people do this for each other they enter into an upward spiral and strengthen their relationship.
Restating the fourth question. Think of a time in your life that stands out as being a moment when you were filled with joy. During this moment, were you alone or were you with someone else?
So let’s finish up with verses 15-20:
Long live the king! May the gold of Sheba be given to him. May the people always pray for him and bless him all day long. May there be abundant grain throughout the land, flourishing even on the hilltops. May the fruit trees flourish like the trees of Lebanon, and may the people thrive like grass in a field. May the king’s name endure forever; may it continue as long as the sun shines. May all nations be blessed through him and bring him praise.
Praise the LORD God, the God of Israel, who alone does such wonderful things. Praise his glorious name forever! Let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and amen!
(This ends the prayers of David son of Jesse.)
Solomon, David’s son, reigned in Israel’s golden age. He built the magnificent Temple, and the land rested in peace. This psalm, though written by Solomon, looks beyond Solomon’s reign to that of Jesus the Messiah, whose kingdom extends to the ends of the earth and is greater than any human empire. This will be fulfilled when Christ returns to reign forever. When we anticipate his worldwide rule, it fills our hearts with hope.
These last verses give us a description of Christ’s perfect kingdom. At the beginning of this psalm, Solomon prayed for wisdom and the ability to get his own kingdom closer to that mark. This is something we all can work towards today. Everywhere you go there are things within your arms reach that you have the power and the ability to improve. The best possible version of the world in this lifetime requires that you yourself seek to realize your potential. The world needs you. The people around you need you. And all of us need God.
I think the secret to a meaningful and purposeful life rests in your ability to go out into the world and fulfill your potential. We all have a choice in whether we act to tilt the world upwards toward heaven or downwards toward hell. But being a good person and doing good deeds for the sake of the work, or for the sake of your own reward, is not enough to permanently feel that sense of meaning and purpose. You must also know that you are doing these things as a representative of God Himself. That your love for others has eternal value that will impact them, that will impact yourself, and that will impact God’s plan for all of eternity – well beyond your brief life here on earth.
My final question for you is this: if a person came to you and told you that something you did or something you said during your life improved the lives of people 100 years from now, what would that thing be? What do you think you said or did that rippled out across time?
For myself, it would be getting out of my own way. It would be realizing how much I missed the mark before God and allowing Him to forgive me for it. It would be trusting Him that I can boldly represent His Word without fear as long as I am right with Him. It would be listening to others’ perspectives and understanding that each one of us has something wonderful to offer. It would be lifting up my head and walking by faith when I can’t see the road forward. It would be choosing to love even when that choice brings suffering along with it.
Those are the things that I hope will cause improvement in the lives of others in our generation and the generations to come. I know that this question carries with it the idea that our small lives can have big impacts – and I want you to know it is not narcissistic to think this way. This isn’t about pride or ego or fame.
To explain, let me tell you about this idea called the Butterfly Effect. It was coined by Edward Lorenz. Lorenz discovered the effect when he was testing runs of his weather model and found that very small changes in initial conditions had created a significantly different outcome. An example of this is a tornado’s formation and path taken being influenced by minor perturbations (or events) such as a distant butterfly flapping its wings several weeks earlier.
We can see this effect in human interaction too. You never know when you’re going to say just the right thing that someone needs to hear to influence them to do something that changes the world. One example I like to reference is Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was a Russian author who wrote The Gulag Archipelago, among other books. When he was imprisoned in the gulag, Solzhenitsyn witnessed several people who wouldn’t let the horrific conditions of captivity compromise their character.
So, imagine a bunch of people locked away in a terrible prison camp and all of them are certain they are going to die there. Everyone starts being really mean to each other and stops caring about integrity. But a handful of them seem immune to what’s going on around them and continue to strive to be good. Solzhenitsyn witnesses this handful of people and their unnatural integrity. Seeing this inspires him to write the The Gulag Archipelago. This book becomes credited as one of the reasons for the downfall of the Soviet Union. So, even if you are locked away in a prison camp (like the people Solzhenitsyn saw) you still have the opportunity to represent God and change the lives of millions of people who will live long after you have moved on from this world.
Restating the final question. If a person came to you and told you that something you did or something you said during your life improved the lives of people 100 years from now, what would that thing be? What do you think you said or did that rippled out across time like the Butterfly Effect?
That brings us to the end of our study of Psalm 72.
If you find this content valuable, feel free to share it and to use it in your own studies. If you’d like to support this podcast, you can do so at http://www.patreon.com/michaelhbaun. There is a link in the description. Your generosity goes a long way to promoting the growth of this enterprise and the cause of free speech. Thank you all for joining me this evening, and I will see you in the next episode.
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