Psalm 72:1
Endow the king with your justice, O God,
the royal son with your righteousness. (NIV)
Today’s Reading: Psalm 72
Psalm 72 is written by David as a prayer for his son Solomon. David was promised by God that his seed would inherit the throne for eternity (2 Sam 7). This king would bring righteousness and justice to the kingdom. Solomon would build the Temple that God wouldn’t allow David to build due to the blood on his hands. At the Temple dedication, Solomon’s prayer sounded very much like a reading of Psalm 72. David incorrectly expected God’s promises to be fulfilled in Solomon.
Jesus would be King to fulfill the promises to David. Psalm 72 is entirely about Jesus as is the case with so many of the psalms. The psalm describes a King that would rule perfectly in righteousness, defending the weak, delivering the needy and crushing his enemies. The entire psalm can be summed up by saying, “Jesus will reign, let his people rejoice!” But let’s dive in a little deeper.
The first four verses describe Jesus’ reigning in perfect justice. Verse one describes him as the king and the royal son. Jesus would come as The King and be of David’s lineage. These verses would further describe the ways that Jesus would reign – in righteousness, justice and defense of the afflicted.
Verse two begins with, “May he judge your people in righteousness.” While David and Solomon were good kings in many ways, only Jesus could truly rule in righteousness. Hebrews 1:8 says of Jesus, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom” (NKJV). Jesus reigns as God and shares in His righteousness.
Verse two continues with, “May he judge … your afflicted ones with justice.” In his gospel, Matthew quoted Isaiah to prove that Jesus had fulfilled the Scriptures, “I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations” (Matt 12:18). And John also refers to Jesus perfect judgment, “Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son” (John 5:22). Jesus is the perfect judge and his justice is perfect.
Lastly, we see how Jesus will reign in his defense of the afflicted, “May he defend the afflicted among the people and save the children of the needy; may he crush the oppressor” (vs 4). The apostle John describes Jesus’ future reign, “The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your people who revere your name, both great and small—and for destroying those who destroy the earth” (Rev 11:18).
Jesus justice will be perfect and he will defend those who have been afflicted by rewarding them – both great and small. Those who have done evil will be destroyed and God’s people will be prosperous (vs 3). Like we’ve discussed recently, if we turn to Jesus he will turn to us. He has provided the way to become children of God and all we must do to spend eternity with him is accept it.
The verse in Revelation states that those who revere the name of Jesus will be rewarded “both great and small.” I often feel that in the light of the apostles and champions of the faith we read about in history, anything I do for the kingdom is extremely small in comparison. So I take solace in this verse to know that God sees the small contributions. Nothing we do goes unnoticed. So I look forward to sharing in the crumbs that fall off the table of rewards in heaven!
Christ in the Old Testament 
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