"Let the mountains bring peace to the people,
and the hills, justice.
HE will defend the cause of the poor,
deliver the children of the needy,
and crush the oppressor.
Justice will flower in HIS days,
and peace abound, till the moon be no more.
May HIS name endure forever;
may HIS name be as lasting as the sun.
All the races will boast about HIM;
and HE will be praised by all nations."
- Psalm 72:3-4 .7-8 .17
(Is this a picture of the future ideal king, or an idealistic picture of the reigning king? In any case it outlines the king-Messiah as Israel would hope HIM to be: after all, every new Davidic King must have seen a potential Messiah. The courtly compliments--if this is what they are--are quite deliberately extravagant: the whole of the inhabited earth, the soil itself, pays HIM homage. But not unwillingly! The king buckles on no sword as HE does in Psalm 45: there is no weapon mentioned, except the weapons of integrity and sympathy. Surely this psalm prepares GOD's people for a king who would tell HIS followers to put the sword back in the scabbard.)
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