1 Give the king your justice, O God,
and your righteousness to the royal son!
2 May he judge your people with righteousness,
and your poor with justice!
3 Let the mountains bear prosperity for the people,
and the hills, in righteousness!
4 May he defend the cause of the poor of the people,
give deliverance to the children of the needy,
and crush the oppressor!
5 May they fear you while the sun endures,
and as long as the moon, throughout all generations!
6 May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass,
like showers that water the earth!
7 In his days may the righteous flourish,
and peace abound, till the moon be no more!
8 May he have dominion from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth!
9 May desert tribes bow down before him,
and his enemies lick the dust!
10 May the kings of Tarshish and of the coastlands
render him tribute;
may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts!
11 May all kings fall down before him,
all nations serve him!
Comment: Because of v 20 ‘The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended.’, which is part of tomorrow’s devotional, I’m not sure if this psalm was written by Solomon for himself or to be offered on his father’s behalf. Maybe it was written by David for Solomon’s instillation as king. Solomon, one of David’s sons, followed after David as the next king of Israel. There are things about Solomon that I personally don’t like. But to give him credit, where due, he was apparently very wise – at least initially. He wrote and probably collected together many proverbs. I have just finished writing on Ecclesiastes which is ascribed to him and is a very thought provoking book. At the end he turned away from worshipping Jehovah alone and left the kingdom in a mess for others to take over and divide. Nevertheless the beginning of this psalm is a prayer that we could and should emulate everyday of our lives – both for our rulers, God’s needed blessings on our lands and for ourselves, although we can’t claim to be kings!
From verse 8 on, if Solomon is writing on his own behalf, it sounds pretty self-oriented. He seeks many subjugated kingdoms and requires his enemies to ‘lick the dust’. If he is writing on behalf of his father then I expect that it is the sort of language which one might use to blow up the ego of an official! We sadly hear and read that sort of thing too commonly about retiring officials whose history was in many areas dubious! If David is writing for his proposed successor it is a very expected thing for him to say!
Prayer: Father, help me to think deeply about Your word and apply it to my own life wisely and faithfully.
As I read it! 