Psalm 72 is what is called a royal psalm. It is all about the king (I know I have blogged about this kind of psalm before.) Basically the psalm asks God to bless the king and make everything (and I do mean everything) fantastic for the king and thus for all the people. All our enemies conquered. May he last as long as the sun. May the rivers and oceans obey him.
Hmm, sometimes we still vest this much hope in new political leadership. For that matter some churches have believed the new pastor will somehow save them. Human leadership is never, never perfect. The leaders are part of the problem and those of us who are followers are also part of the problem. Thinking that we can control rivers, oceans, etc is over reaching. Later Christian interpreters reassigned the praises in this psalm to Jesus as the only true king worthy of this kind of trust.
Now, all that being said, there is a poignancy to this psalm. The prescript speaks of it being "of Solomon" which could mean it was written about Solomon perhaps for his coronation. And the last line of the psalm points in that direction also -- "the prayers of David son of Jesse are ended." David has died. Solomon is now king. One era ends. Another begins. Let the new king be prosperous. David is remembered fondly and we hope the new king also does as well.
Your right there, human leadership is never perfect~
ReplyDelete