A Great King

An ideal king

Psalm 72. I’ve heard that it’s a prayer for King Solomon, a description of the perfect king, and a prophecy of the Messiah’s kingship.

In verse 2, the ideal king is righteous and just. Americans still value justice and righteousness in our political leaders today, although we no longer agree on what those concepts mean.

He brings abundant prosperity (v. 7). Definitely something we expect from our rulers now.

Verses 9 through 11 describe his power. Other nations bow before him, bring him gifts, and serve him. His enemies “lick the dust.” Many Americans shy away from a display of strength like that, but a leader can’t lead without some form of power.

What catches my eye as I read Psalm 72 this time around is the reason he has this power. Verses 12 and 13 say, “For he will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help. He will take pity on the weak and the needy and save the needy from death. He will rescue them from oppression and violence, for precious is their blood in his sight.”

The king’s righteousness and justice and power and the nation’s prosperity are directly tied to his heart. His compassion for the most helpless among us, as demonstrated by his actions.

The seventeenth verse declares that “all nations will be blessed through him.” Even the ones he’s conquered won’t be oppressed, but blessed.

God’s ideal king isn’t the one who defeats other countries and rules them with an iron hand. He isn’t the one who builds the strongest economy (although that can be a factor in helping the needy). He isn’t the one who grants his people the greatest freedom to pursue their own desires.

The greatest king, in God’s eyes, is the one who sees the suffering of an individual even when no one else is paying any attention to them. He uses his power, not to increase his own wealth and happiness and reputation, but to rescue the most helpless from oppression and violence. He values them highly. That’s when and why he prospers.

This was a radical idea at the time when it was written. It’s still a radical idea in many parts of the world. And even in America.

Although different groups disagree on the best means of helping the helpless, most Americans believe that part of governing is making sure that everyone’s needs are being met. But government assistance isn’t the compassionate, individual attention described in this psalm. It’s the identification of groups that are in need and the application of impersonal rules and requirements in providing for that need. Something important is missing here.

The radical part of this psalm is that the king will personally deliver the afflicted one who has no one to help—not even government programs. He will personally save the needy one from death. Not because he buys into a political philosophy or wants to increase his own popularity, but because their very blood is precious in his sight.

Two kingly examples

In 1 Kings chapter 3, two prostitutes—among the lowest of the low—brought their case before the powerful King Solomon himself. The women lived in a house together. They each had a baby. One of those babies died in the night. Both mothers laid claim to the living child.

Solomon didn’t dismiss them as unworthy of his attention. He didn’t assign the case to a lesser representative or to the court system. He didn’t tell them how to sign up for a government program. He didn’t lecture them on how they were defying God’s laws by selling their bodies, or condemn them to death for breaking those laws (as he could have done). He treated their case with compassion.

Solomon’s solution: Cut the living infant in half and give one half to each woman.

That might very well have been considered justice by most of the people living in that part of the world at that time. The woman whose baby had died accepted the decision. That seems so cold and heartless to me. But in that time and place, it might have sounded reasonable and fair, even to her. They were prostitutes. Neither one deserved to have a living child.

But that wasn’t King Solomon’s purpose. The blood of that baby was precious in his sight. He intentionally declared his decree in order to determine which woman was the mother of that helpless child.

This case is an example of Solomon’s great wisdom. But it also provides a view of the type of king that the Lord wants to see ruling over His people. A king with a heart like God’s.

In Luke 8:42-48, a woman slipped in behind Jesus in the middle of a crowd and touched the edge of His cloak, believing that she’d be healed. She was.

Jesus immediately stopped and looked around, asking who had touched Him. The disciples dismissed His question, assuming someone in the pressing crowd had accidentally bumped up against Him. But He persisted and the woman came forward, trembling in fear. He spoke to her, calling her “daughter,” reassuring her, and telling her to go in peace.

Jesus made it a point to reach out to her personally. He didn’t want a system where people touch the edge of His clothing while His back is turned and go on their way without interacting with Him. He didn’t want anyone to be afraid to approach Him to His face to present their requests. The needy, the afflicted, the weak, the oppressed, and the victims of violence are precious in His sight. He is the King who perfectly exemplifies God’s description in Psalm 72.

The purpose of the psalm

This psalm isn’t saying that the only way a king can help his subjects is by giving his personal attention to each individual. There’s room in God’s design for systems and programs.

In the Old Testament, the Lord Himself put in place the system of having the reapers leave behind whatever fruit or grain they missed on their first pass through a field, so that “the poor and the alien” could collect it for their own use (Leviticus 19:9-10). In the New Testament, the apostles set up a program for feeding needy widows (Acts 6:1-6).

Instead, the psalm reveals the heart of the ideal ruler. One that reflects the heart of God, the greatest Ruler and King.