Bible Commentaries
Psalms 72

Verses 1-20

This is a great psalm of the Theocracy. Incidentally the whole perfect order is revealed. God high over all enthroned, and in all actively governing. The king, appointed by God, and gaining his guidance from God, so reigning over his own people as to succor the needy, spoil the oppressor, and secure the prosperity of the righteous; and so reigning that the beneficial influence of the kingship and kingdom are felt over all the earth. Submission to him is followed by deliverance of the poor and helpless, and universal peace and prosperity.

This is the Kingdom for which the world still waits. It is a perfect order which has never yet been established, because the ultimate rule of God has never yet been recognized and obeyed. This was surely all in the view of Jesus when He taught us to pray for the coming of the Kingdom. The One King has come, and men would not have Him to reign. Therefore, notwithstanding all the best and highest efforts of man without Him, the needy are still oppressed, and peace and prosperity are postponed. To us the song of this psalm is a prophecy of hope. We have seen the King, and we know the perfect Kingdom must come, for God cannot be defeated.