Paraphrase Upon the Books of the Psalms, Book 2 · Psalm 72
The Seventy Second Psalm.
1. Solomon foreignA Psalm for Solomon.
Paraphrase. The Seventy Second Psalm was composed in contemplation of Solomons succeeding David in the throne, and the happy dayes of his reign, and under that type looks forward to the dayes of the Messias (as the Jews themselves apply it; see note e.)
1. Give the King thy judgments, O God, and thy righteousness unto the Kings son.
O Lord, I beseech thee to poure out upon Solomon my son, who is to succeed me in the throne, all the royall virtues, and skill in government (according to the rule which thou hast prescribed to Kings) and all manner of justice and goodness in the admiration of so sublime an office:
2. He shall judge thy people with righteousness, and thy poor with judgment.
That so he may manage this power with all indifferency, and impartially relieve all that make their appeals to his tribunal;
3. The mountains shall bring peace unto the people, and the little hills‖righteousness. bya. righteousness.
And both the higher and lower judicatures move so regularly, that the whole Kingdome may be governed peaceably and justly;
4. He shall judge the poor of the people; he shall save the children of the needy, and break in pieces the oppressor.
And all innocent persons receive the benefit of his patronage and protection, and all injurious invaders of others rights be severely punished by him.
5. b.†or, with the sun and before the moon, generation of generations shall fear or adore thee.They shall fear thee as long as the Sun and Moon indure, throughout all generations.
Then shall his government be famed, and his wisdome and happy administration be lookt on with continual reverence by all posterities, and therein be a type of the Kingdome of the Messias, who shall descend from him, and set up his throne in mens hearts, when the Jewish Kingdome shall determine, and be adored and worshipped at set hours constantly every day throughout all ages.
6. He shall come down like rain upon the mowed grass, as showrs that water the earth.
Then shall he be an instrument under God of refreshment, and incouragement, and growth to all vertue (and so shall the Messias in a most eminent manner.)
7. In his dayes shall the righteous flourish, and abundance of peace*till the moon cease, or, till there be no m… foreign so long as the Moon endureth.
And as long as he reigns, the nation shall be managed with all justice, and peaceablenes and prosperity, and from him shall the Messiah arise in the time appointed by God, and settle and establish a Church, which shall never utterly perish till the end of the world.
8. He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the‖land foreign earth.
The whole Jewish nation, the Kingdome of Israel and Judah, both shall remain under his subjection as long as he lives (see note on Psal. 11. f.) and so shall the bordering nations also, the Philistims, and Moabites, and Idumaeans, and Syrians, &c. (…s for the Messias, of whom he is the most eminent type, he shall begin his spiritual Kingdome in Judaea, and propagate it over all the world.)
9. c.They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him, and his enemies shall lick the dust.
And others more remote shall do him homage, and th…se that oppose and make warre against him, shall be subdued and des…royed. (And so in the dayes of the Messias, the heathen nations shall submit to the faith of Christ, and they that obstinately oppose it shall be destroyed.)
10. The Kings of Tarshish and of the Isles shall bring presents; the Kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts.
And many Princes from the remotest parts of the world (see note on Ps…l. xlviii. 6.) shall send tokens of their respect and reverence to him, see note c. and 1 King. x. 1. Ma…. xii 12 (And so in like manner the Gentile nations shall receive the faith of Christ, and as a praesignification thereof, the Magi, Mat. ii. shall bring him presents, as soon as he is born.)
11. Yea, all Kings shall fall down before him, all nations shall serve him.
And in summe, the generality of the Potentates of the world, and all the people thereof shall acknowledge and magnify his government, (And so shall the Gentile world universally subject themselves to Christ.)
12. For he shall deliver the needy when hed. cryeth, the poore also and him that hath no helper.
As the government of a just and mercifull Prince, that is ready to relieve all that are opprest and wronged. (And therein a type of Christs Kingdome, who never denies grace and pardon to the humble suppliant, that having no trust to rely on in himselfe, flyes in prayer to his free grace and mercy.)
13. He shall spare the poor and needy, and he shall save the soules of the needy.
A Prince of bowels and compassion to them that are in any kinde of distress, to defend and deliver them out of it, (And so shall Christ not only not punish the lowly penitent sinner, but bestow all that is pretious upon him, even grace here, and eternal salvation hereafter.)
14. He shall redeem their soule from deceit and violence; and pretious shall their blood be in his sight.
To rescue them out of the hand of the injurious and oppressor, and preserve their lives from the invader, as those that are much valued and esteemed by him. (And so shall Christ redeem, in the most eminent manner, those that rely on him, from all their spiritual enemies, sin and Satan, from the power of the one, and tyranny of the other, and pay his own life a ransome for mankinde.)
15. And he shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba: prayer also shall be made for him continually, and daily shall he be praised.
As long as he lives shall strangers reverence, and subjects continually bless and pray for him, as the author of a peaceable and happy life to them. (And so shall the faith of Christ have the reverence of strangers, be admired by all that hear of it, as being made up of the most excellent divine doctrines of charity, purity, subjection, &c. and for all those that set themselves to the practice of his precepts, they shall have cause to bless them and magnify them as the greatest mercy that could ever have been vouchsafed them.)
16. There shall bee. an handfull of corne in the earth, upon the top of the mountains; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon, and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.
In his time shall there be great abundance of all things, and Gods hand very remarkable, in blessing and prospering the smallest quantity of seed, sown in the barennest soile, into a most plentifull harvest, and this city shall thrive proportionably, the number of the inhabitants shall increase as fast as the seed which is sown doth (And so in the dayes of the Messiah shall Gods providence and his grace most signally evidence it selfe, in bringing forth a multitude of believers by a little contemptible preaching of the faith, among the most idolatrous obdurate Gentiles.)
17. His name shall endure for ever, his name shall‖descend upon his children before the Sun. be continuedf. as long as the Sun; andg. †theymen shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him blessed.
And his memory and honour shall outlive his person, shall never be blotted out, but shall flourish, and descend upon his posterity, as a mark of renoun to all that shall come from him. And for all others, when they shall blesse any Prince or royal person, they shall doe it in this forme, The Lord make thee like Solomon. And in summe, all the nations in the world shall look upon him as a most blessed person, a most wise and a most prosperous Prince. (And so shall Christ, pretypified by Solomon, be in a most eminent manner remembred, even adored and worshipped and magnified for ever. All they that receive his faith shall, as his sonns, be called by his name, be known by the the title of Christians, and be looked upon as a most happy and blessed sort of men, that they are vouchsafed that dignity of being his sonnes, to be taught and educated by him, and to transcribe his copies, to be like him in all goodness.)
18. Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doth wondrous things.
For these and all other his mercies so wonderfully wrought for his servants, and which none else is able to worke, the eternal Lord of heaven and earth, who alone is worshipped by the Jews, and which hath chosen them to himselfe to be his people, be now and ever magnified.
19. And blessed be his glorious name for ever, and let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen, and Amen.
And O that all the men in the world would set themselves industriously and faithfully to his service, that they would bless and praise him continually, offer up their daily oblation of lauds and thanksgiving to him, and all hearts be throughly possest with his divine excellencies, and endeavour to express the power thereof in all the actions of their lives, in doing what he hath directed and exemplified to them. O that every man would say Amen to this prayer. O that God would once grant this petition.
20. The prayers of David the sonne of Iesse are ended.
Here is the conclusion of the Second Book of Psalms, which were, if not all composed, yet perhaps all collected and put into this order by David. The other books that follow being a collection of Asaph and other men, in which some there are also of Davids composing, after the finishing of this collection, or shutting up of this book.
The End of the Second Book.