Commentary on Psalms - Volume 3 - Bible Study Guides

Comm on Psalms (V3)John CalvinPSALM 72David in this psalm prays to God, in the name of the whole Church, for the continual prosperityof the kingdom which was promised him, and teaches us at the same time, that the true happinessof the godly consists in their being placed under the government of a king who was raised to thethrone by the appointment of heaven. Of Solomon. 119From the inscription of this psalm we cannot determine who was its author. As it is expresslysaid at the close to be the last of David’s prayers, it is more probable that it was composed by himthan by Solomon, his successor. 120 It may, however, be conjectured that Solomon reduced theprayer of his father into poetical measure, to make it more generally known, and to bring it moreextensively into use among the people, — a conjecture which is not improbable. But as the letter, lamed, has many significations in Hebrew, it may be explained as denoting that this psalm wascomposed for or in behalf of Solomon. If this is admitted, it is to be observed, that under the personof one man there is comprehended the state of the kingdom through successive ages. After havingcarefully weighed the whole matter, I am disposed to acquiesce in the conjecture, that the prayersto which David gave utterance on his death-bed were reduced by his son into the form of a psalm,with the view of their being kept in everlasting remembrance. To indicate the great importance ofthis prayer, and to induce the faithful with the greater earnestness to unite their prayers with thememorable prayer of this holy king, it is expressly added, that this is the last which he poured forth.As Solomon did nothing more than throw into the style of poetry the matter to which his fathergave expression, David is to be considered as the principal author of this inspired composition.Those who would interpret it simply as a prophecy of the kingdom of Christ, seem to put aconstruction upon the words which does violence to them; and then we must always beware ofgiving the Jews occasion of making an outcry, as if it were our purpose, sophistically, to apply toChrist those things which do not directly refer to him. But as David, who was anointed king by thecommandment of God, knew that the terms upon which he and his posterity possessed the kingdomwere, that the power and dominion should at length come to Christ; and as he farther knew that thetemporal well-being of the people was, for the time, comprehended in this kingdom, as held byhim and his posterity, and that from it, which was only a type or shadow, there should at lengthproceed something far superior — that is, spiritual and everlasting felicity; knowing, as he did, allthis, he justly made the perpetual duration of this kingdom the object of his most intense solicitude,and prayed with the deepest earnestness in its behalf, — reiterating his prayer in his last moments,with the view of distinctly testifying, that of all his cares this was the greatest. What is here spokenof everlasting dominion cannot be limited to one man, or to a few, nor even to twenty ages; butthere is pointed out the succession which had its end and its complete accomplishment in Christ.119 “Ou, pour Solomon.” — Fr marg “Or, for Solomon.” The prefix , lamed, may be rendered either of or for120 To this it may be added, as Dathe observes, that “Solomon could not, without the imputation of vanity, have predicted insuch strains the glory of his reign, the admiration with which he would be regarded by other nations, and the happiness of hissubjects, arising from his prudence and virtue.” The same writer adds, “But while David, or the inspired author, whoever hewas, predicted the prosperity of Solomon’s reign, the promise given (2 Samuel 7) of that greatest and best of kings, who wasafterwards to arise in the family of David, seems to have been brought before his mind. This is the reason that the descriptiongiven is, in various respects, more suited to the reign of the Messiah than to the reign of Solomon.”61