Think Wink.

Yesterday I blogged about Psalm 72 and some of the ideas of righteousness language in the text. I want to come back to this psalm because I really enjoyed this passage. Specifically I want to look at Psalm 72:8-14 and the domain of the king to whom God grants righteousness and justice. The psalmist pens,

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!
12 For he delivers the needy when he calls,
the poor and him who has no helper.
13 He has pity on the weak and the needy,
and saves the lives of the needy.
14 From oppression and violence he redeems their life,
and precious is their blood in his sight.

The psalm consists structurally of three prayers. Verses 1, 8, and 15 all contain jussive verbs that express the psalmist’s pleas to God. Verses 2-7, 9-14, 16-17 contain imperfect verbs that communicate the results of Elohim granting the wish of the jussive verbs. But I think that the prayers found in 72:8-14 and 15-17 must be understood in light of the prayer of 72:1-7. The things that he does in 72:12-14 is a restatement of 72:2-7 where the king who has received Elohim’s righteousness defends the poor for the oppressed and violent. And 72:15-17 restates what has been prayed for in 72:1-14.

Now from this prayer in Psalm 72:8-12 the psalmist prays for king and his kingdom in two ways: the extent of the kingdom to expand world-wide (72:8-11) and that the right decisions and just decisions with which the king judges Israel will have the same freeing, liberating, enemy-destroying, prospering effect on the whole world (72:12-14).

The psalmist envisions a messianic kingdom as he prays for the extent of this king’s authority and dominion to be from sea to sea. It is similar to what the prophet Zechariah states in Zechariah 9:9-10, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you…and he shall speak peace to the nations; his rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.”

The king will rule the whole earth and bring righteousness and justice to all of the earth. The poor not just of Israel is seen here but the oppressed of the whole world will be delivered. The psalmist is very missions-minded (for lack of a better term). In praying for the glory of the king, in praying for Elohim to bless the king, the psalmist is forced to pray for the whole world to be delivered from the violent, wicked oppressors. If all the nations of the world were to submit to Elohim’s king, then by necessity the whole world would experience the fair and just decisions that free the poor and oppressed and cause the land to prosper.

Again I come back to idea that if the Christian were to pray for Jesus to show his glory, if the Christian were to pray for God to show his glory, and for the King to extend his honor throughout the whole world it is a good thing. The people are blessed as a result. The expansion of the King’s dominion shows how powerful and mighty he is. But that expansion frees the poor and liberates the oppressed, crushing their enemies. I cannot escape that to pray for God to display his honor and glory as King means that I am praying for the people of God to be blessed. I am not seeing how some people think it is so horrible to pray for this. When one boils it down, a person is praying for God to bring food to the hungry through is church, alleviate the financial woes of the poor, the shelter the homeless, to graciously touch the lives of sinners and bring them into the kingdom of God. Praying for God to show his glory and honor is to ask God to put an end to hunger and poverty, to destroy death and remove injustice from his creation. This is what happens when God brings forth his glory for all to see.

Thus I join the psalmist and pray for my King, King Jesus, to expand his dominion over all the earth and bring all the nations in subjection to himself, and therefore bring honor to himself. Because for the King to be honored means that the poverty is done away with, disease is wiped out, the homeless are sheltered, and the gates of hell are torn down and Hades is destroyed.

Blessing and Psalm 72

Sabertooth and Gambit

“My name is Wade Wilson…”