Psalms 72 · The Lantern

Of Solomon. God, give your judgments to a king, and your righteousness to a king’s son.

Further, to persuade you that you have not understood anything of the Scriptures, I will remind you of another psalm, dictated to David by the Holy Spirit, which you say refers to Solomon, who was also your king. But it refers also to our Christ. But you deceive yourselves by the ambiguous forms of speech.

As this psalm is addressed to Solomon, the first verse of the psalm must be referred to him, and all the rest to the son of Solomon, not Rehoboam, who was king of Israel after him, but him that was of his seed according to the flesh, the Christ of God; for all who are acquainted with the holy Scriptures will agree that it is impossible to connect what is said in this psalm with…

"O God, Your judgment to the King give Thou, and Your justice to the King's Son" [Psalm 72:1]. The Lord Himself in the Gospel says, "The Father judges not any one, but all judgment He has given to the Son:" [John 5:22] this is then, "O God, Your judgment to the King give Thou." He that is King is also the Son of the King: because God the Father also is certainly King.

Endow the King with Your Justice

May he judge your people with righteousness, and your afflicted ones with judgment.

May the mountains bear peace for the people, and the hills, in righteousness.

May he judge the afflicted of the people, save the sons of the needy, and crush the oppressor.

May they fear you while the sun endures, and before the moon, generation of generations.

[Daniel 11:24] "And there shall stand up in his place one despised, and the kingly honor shall not be given him; and he shall come privately and shall obtain the kingdom by fraud. And the arms of the fighter shall be overcome before his face and shall be broken, and the prince of the covenant as well.

So that now, concerning the things to be promised to the people through the kingdom of Zerubbabel, who was assigned for this through the divine judgment, it was not at all inappropriate for the prophet, speaking, to say, "he comes righteous and saving," so that he might show that he is present with them and that he has been chosen by God for the kingship in order to do these th…

"And He shall endure to the sun," or, "shall endure with the sun" (ver. 5). For thus some of our writers have thought would be more exactly translated that which in the Greek is συμπαραμενεῖ.

May he come down like rain on mown grass, like showers watering the earth.

For indeed, when I was often examining the seventy-first psalm within myself, this moved me: that, when it describes the coming of Christ in it, in that very psalm it also asserts that this shall come to pass: "and he shall descend," it says, "like rain upon a fleece, and like raindrops dripping upon the earth." A "fleece" is named here in Judges, a "fleece" is written also in…

"And He shall come down like rain into a fleece, and like drops distilling upon the earth" [Psalm 72:6]. He has called to our minds and admonished us, that what was done by Gedeon the Judge, in Christ has its end.

Therefore, today the Lord was born according to the flesh in such secret silence that his generation was thoroughly ignorant of his birth. For the world did not know that he was born outside the knowledge of his father and that he was conceived outside the order of nature.

In his days may the righteous flourish, and abundance of peace, until the moon is no more.

And may he rule from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.

Where? At the river Jordan. That, you see, is where Christ's work of teaching began. It was there that the baptism of Christ that was to come was commended to us, because the previous kind of baptism was received there, and the one preparing the way, and saying, "Prepare a way for the Lord, make straight his paths." The Lord, you see, wished to be baptized by the servant, so th…

Before him let desert dwellers kneel, and his enemies lick the dust.

May the kings of Tarshish and the coastlands bring back a gift; may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring tribute near.

And may all kings bow down to him; may all nations serve him.

For he rescues the needy who cries for help, and the afflicted who has no helper.

He has pity on the weak and the needy, and the souls of the needy he saves.

From oppression and from violence he redeems their soul, and their blood is precious in his eyes.

And may he live, and may gold of Sheba be given to him; and may prayer be made for him continually; all the day may he be blessed.

May there be an abundance of grain in the land, on the top of the mountains; may its fruit rustle like Lebanon, and may they blossom from the city like the grass of the earth.

May his name be forever; before the sun may his name flourish; and may they bless themselves in him; may all nations call him happy.

And as they kept silence, I went on: "[The Scripture], speaking by David about this Christ, my friends, said no longer that `in His seed' the nations should be blessed, but `in Him.' So it is here: `His name shall rise up for ever above the sun; and in Him shall all nations be blessed.' But if all nations are blessed in Christ, and we of all nations believe in Him, then He is i…

And if, as David says in the seventy-first [LXX] psalm, "His name remains before the sun and before the moon, from one generation to another," how did he receive what he always had, even before he now received it? Or how is he exalted, being before his exaltation the Most High?

To Him are referred all the eloquent sayings of Scriptural wisdom, as for instance those of Solomon and others. And yet the Jews understand as applying to Solomon what is said of Christ in the Psalm: "Fairer in beauty are you than the sons of men; grace is poured out upon your lips." Solomon was not like that. And again, "May his name be blessed forever."

Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, who alone does wonders.

Let us say again: "Blessed be God, who alone does wonderful things," who does all things and transforms them. Before yesterday you were captives, but now you are free and citizens of the church; lately you lived in the shame of your sins, but now you live in freedom and justice.

Let the blind therefore come to Christ to be enlightened. For Christ is the light in the world, and among the worst men. Divine miracles have been wrought, and no one has performed miracles from the beginning of the human race except him to whom Scripture says: "He who alone does great wonders." Why is it said, "he who alone does great wonders," except because when he wishes to…

The marvelous deeds and miracles performed almost in our own day by the apostolic and most upright man, Emilian the priest, are so new that they urge us to relate them; yet, at the same time, so vast in scope that to recount them is frightening.

And blessed be his glorious name forever, and let all the earth be filled with his glory. Amen and amen.

The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are finished.

Psalms72

Endow the King with Your Justice