START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14
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OBSERVE:
This is one of the so-called “Royal Psalms” that either honors the king or is, as in this case, an intercession for the king.
The intercession is for the Lord to endow the king with those qualities that will help him rule with justice and righteousness. The social concern here, as elsewhere in Psalms and in the Prophets, is not merely for the king’s wisdom, but that he will have a particular concern for the poor and the afflicted.
The Psalmist prays for distributive justice, but also for retributive justice. That is, he prays for prosperity and protection for the oppressed — that is distributive justice. But he also prays that the king might have the power to crush the oppressor — that is retributive justice.
The metaphors in verses 5-7 implore the Lord to give the king long life and reign:
as long as the sun,
as long as the moon, through all generations. . .
and prosperity abound till the moon is no more.
In other words, may the king endure for as long as human imagination can possibly conceive!
Then, when we pick up with verse 10-11, the language sounds very much like Isaiah 60. Gifts from far distant kings will flow as tribute to the king in Jerusalem. Tarshish is as far west in the then known world the Psalmist can imagine — most likely Spain. And Sheba and Seba are in the lower peninsula of Arabia. Perhaps there is a nodding reference to the Queen of Sheba who came to Solomon’s court at the height of his powers?
And the Psalmist closes once again with a strong sense of social justice for the weak and needy whom:
He will rescue . . . from oppression and violence,
for precious is their blood in his sight.
Again, as with Isaiah 60, the Christian reader can see some foreshadowing of the coming of the Messiah — the references to justice and righteousness; the everlasting reign which will never end; and the tribute that comes from distant Gentile kings.
APPLY:
We live in a largely “democratic” era, when kings no longer rule with absolute power in most lands. But we still may pray for justice and righteousness, and relief for the poor and oppressed.
Obviously, the only “King” who will absolutely fulfill these longings is the true Anointed One, the Messiah Jesus.
Whatever tribute or gifts might be brought to him, or were brought to him in Bethlehem, his gifts to us far exceed what we can bring to him — justice, mercy, righteousness, true prosperity.
So we ultimately pray for his reign to come in our lives and in our world.
RESPOND:
What gift can I possibly bring to honor Christ? I have received far more than I can ever repay.
Our Lord, reign in my life and in our world! Bring your justice, righteousness and prosperity for all people. Amen!
PHOTOS:
“Rex et Legifer noster” by Fr. Lawrence Lew, O.P. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.