His name shall endure for ever; his name shall be continued as long as the sun and [men] shall bless themselves in him; all nations shall call him blessed.
Psalm 72 describes a reign that no earthly ruler has ever matched. Verse 17 draws it to a point: a name that lasts as long as the sun, and a King whom every nation calls blessed.
The king in this psalm is the Son of David. Commentators read verse 17 not as a question about how long His rule lasts, but as a picture of what that rule does to people.
Psalm 72 does not show us David in suffering and conflict. It shows us the full reign of peace and royal blessing. The One here is the Son of David, the source of the millennial blessings and the One who secures them... He is the king to whom God gives His judgments, and He is at the same time the king's Son, the Son of David, reigning in righteousness and peace... Verse 17 shows, I think, that the point is not doubt about how long His rule lasts. The point is what His rule does to the hearts of all who live under it.
This King rules the whole world and judges it in righteousness. He also died. Psalm 72 answers what that death did to His name.
The law will go out from Him, for He administers the whole world. He will "judge the world in righteousness" — and what will He do? He will make people sing for sheer gladness! "Shall He die, and His Name perish?" Hallelujah! Psalm 72 gives the answer.
His name is not just long-lasting. It stands behind every blessing the psalm has described.
So the King's Name, which guarantees all this blessing, will last forever. His name will continue like the life-giving sun, which is His image. People will bless themselves in Him, because He is the highest thought of blessing there can be.
The blessing of the nations was promised long before, to Abraham. That promise points past Abraham to one Person.
The first part of this promise certainly came true for Abraham. But the promise as a whole goes far beyond him. It looks ahead to the Seed, "which is Christ" (Gal. 3:16)... Not all Israel were blessed in faithful Abraham. But in his Seed, in millennial glory, all Israel and all the nations will be blessed. Israel will hold the first place in blessing, yet this far-reaching promise takes in all nations.
No one forces this verdict on the nations. They reach it because they find real blessing nowhere else.
Verse 17 speaks plainly of Christ, whose name will last forever, for He is the One the godly depend on. People will be blessed in Him, the only One in whom there is real blessing. So all nations will call Him blessed, and they will do it willingly.
The full scene is still future. Yet something of it happens now, whenever someone believes the good news. That turns the verse into a personal question.
The coming age will show this in full, when people are blessed in Him and all nations call Him blessed (Ps. 72:17). But the same thing happens in principle today. People from a thousand different peoples hear the Gospel and find in Jesus the One who has been made both Lord and Christ. Let every reader put the question to his or her own heart. Have I really received His witness? Is He truly Leader and Commander in my life?
The psalm ends by saying David's prayers are finished. One writer explains why a glimpse of this kingdom left him nothing more to ask.
The Seventy-second Psalm reveals the glories of the coming kingdom of Him who is greater than Solomon. David catches a glimpse of it and declares: "The prayers of David, my prayers are ended; I have nothing greater to ask than what this Psalm reveals."
- The Name first. The verse is about a Person, not a dynasty. He is the Son of David, and His name stands behind every blessing the psalm lists.
- The Name survives death. "Shall He die, and His Name perish?" The psalm answers it: His name endures as long as the sun.
- The Name blesses. To be blessed in Him is to take Him as the highest blessing there is. He is the only One in whom there is real blessing.
- The Name reaches everyone. The promise to Abraham runs past him to his Seed, Christ. Israel comes first, but the promise takes in every nation.
- The Name confessed. Every nation will call Him blessed, and will do it willingly. Once David saw that, he had nothing greater left to ask.
Blessed be Jehovah Elohim, the God of Israel, who alone doeth wondrous things!
Psalm 72 has just described a King whose rule reaches from sea to sea, who rescues the needy, and whom all nations call blessed. Now the psalm turns from the King to God, and the question is why a song about a kingdom should end in worship.
The psalm does not end with the King receiving honour. It ends with the people carrying that honour higher.
(vv. 18-20) In the end the praise of the King will lead to the praise of God. So men will say, "Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only does wondrous things. And blessed be His glorious name for ever." So through the reign of Christ in righteousness, the whole earth will be filled with the glory of God.
Verse 17 says all nations call the King blessed. Verse 18 says the God of Israel is blessed. One writer joins the two and ties them back to God's promise to Abraham. In the quote, Jehovah Elohim is an older way of writing "the LORD God."
The blessing and the inheritance were settled in Abraham and in his Seed. They are now confirmed and fulfilled in righteousness in the King, the King's Son (v. 17, Gen. 22:18). He is none other than Jehovah Elohim, the Elohim of Israel (v. 18)… All nations call Him blessed, but the outcome is that Jehovah Elohim, the God of Israel, is the One blessed. So it seems that the seed of Abraham (Genesis 22:18), the Son of David, and Jehovah God are one and the same.
The ESV reads "who alone does wondrous things"; the older wording below says "only." Either word rules out any rival. One writer also fixes the time when these wonders come.
This is not heaven, and not eternity. It is not the present evil age either. It is the bright and holy age to come. Then the Lord Jehovah is blessed, and He blesses. He is the God of Israel who only does wondrous things. In that day His glorious name is blessed for ever, and the whole earth is filled with His glory. Amen and Amen.
Psalm 72 closes the second of the five books of Psalms. One writer sets that ending beside the end of Exodus. The tabernacle he mentions was the tent where God lived among Israel.
Psalm 72 closes this second book, and it gives the reign and the royal glory of Christ. This book also ends with a double Amen and with words that suit it well: "And let the whole earth be filled with His glory." The book of Exodus ends with the glory of the Lord filling the tabernacle. The Exodus portion of the Psalms ends with His glory filling the whole earth.
The same coming day draws opposite reactions. Faith blesses God for it; the enemy can only grieve.
The Spirit led David to describe the blessedness of that time in Psalm 72, and carried him far beyond himself into overflowing worship and praise. Faith looks at the future and breaks out with: "Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel." The enemy outside can only say with sadness, "Alas! who shall live when God does this?" (Ps. 72:18; Num. 24:23).
The psalm closes by saying David's prayers are ended. One writer explains what that line does and does not mean.
This does not mean that David never prayed after he wrote Psalm 72. It means that, as a believer whose calling was on earth, he could ask for nothing beyond an earth filled with righteousness, peace, and glory under the rule of the Man of God's pleasure.
- Blessing rises. The psalm moves from the King's reign to God's praise. Honouring the King ends in honouring God.
- Blessing identifies. Verse 17 names the King's Son; verse 18 names the God of Israel. The promise to Abraham's offspring finds its answer in One who is Jehovah Elohim.
- Blessing is God's alone. "Only" leaves no rival cause. These wonders belong to the age to come, when the Lord is blessed and Himself blesses.
- Blessing spreads. Exodus ends with God's glory filling the tabernacle. This book of Psalms ends with His glory filling the whole earth.
- Blessing satisfies. With that in view David has nothing more to ask — only "Amen and Amen."
And blessed be his glorious name for ever! and let the whole earth be filled with his glory! Amen, and Amen.
Psalm 72 describes a King whose reign brings righteousness to the earth. Verse 19 is the burst of praise that description produces. It blesses God's name and asks that His glory fill the whole earth, and a double "Amen" seals it.
The Psalms fall into five books, and this verse closes the second with praise. One writer links this part of the Psalms with the book of Exodus:
The Seventy-second Psalm closes this second book. It gives the reign and the kingly glory of Christ. This book also ends with a double Amen. It ends too with the statement so fitting for this book: "And let the whole earth be filled with His glory." The book of Exodus ends with the glory of the Lord filling the tabernacle. The Exodus portion of the Psalms ends with His glory filling the whole earth.
The psalm never separates God's glorious name from the King it has been describing. Both names come together in one Person:
The Name of the Lord God of Israel is so glorious, and in this psalm it unites with the Name of God's King. For it is in the Person of Jesus that God's glory fills the earth. This fulfils the word of the Lord in Numbers 14:21: "But truly, as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD."
Notice the direction the psalm's praise travels. It has spent seventeen verses on the King; it ends by blessing God:
Lastly, the praise of the King will lead to the praise of God. So men will say, "Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only does wondrous things. And blessed be His glorious name for ever." So through the reign of Christ in righteousness, the whole earth will be filled with the glory of God.
Another writer weighs that phrase against what men do:
Men may appear to be doing wonderful things today with all their inventions, but they are not. Their inventions will probably yet fall disastrously on their own heads. When the King of kings takes His throne in glory, nothing will appear wonderful except what God has done in and by Him.
This is no hopeful guess. God pledged it by oath long before David prayed, and the setting of that oath is sobering:
The Lord says in Numbers 14:20, "I have pardoned according to your word." He further tells Moses that those men shall not see the land, though all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord. That will be the completion of everything. Three times we find this "filling": here in this passage, in Isaiah 11:9, and in Habakkuk 2:14. Each time it is connected with judgment.
The psalm's last verse says David's prayers are ended. One writer explains why David had nothing more to ask:
The Seventy-second Psalm reveals the glories of the coming kingdom of Him who is greater than Solomon. David gets a glimpse of it and declares: "The prayers of David, my prayers, are ended; I have nothing greater to ask than what this Psalm reveals."
For the Christian, asking stops later still:
He has sung of the might, the majesty and the riches of Him whom "Solomon in all his glory" pictured. When the song is finished, with his harp's last note he cries, "The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended." His hopes are fully realised, and the happy Israelite asks no more. But the Christian's expectations are higher, and beyond anything of earth.
One writer sets that filled earth beside a greater glory still:
In that bright day the whole earth will be filled with His glory. Even so, the excellent glories of the coming Kingdom will not exceed His far deeper glories as the Son of Man on the Cross. They cannot even equal them. The glory of His earthly throne is exceeded by the glory of His shameful Cross. The Kingdom will display His official glories; the Cross witnesses to His moral glories.
- Filled by promise — in Numbers 14 God swore that His glory would fill all the earth. The psalm asks for what He has already promised.
- Filled through a Person — the glorious name of the God of Israel and the name of God's King meet in Jesus. His reign fills the earth with glory.
- Filled through judgment — all three passages that promise this "filling" tie it to judgment. The glory comes when God deals with evil, not when man improves.
- Filled, not yet full — the psalm asks for a glory the earth does not hold yet. The double "Amen" is the heart agreeing with that prayer twice.
- Filled — and still surpassed — David had nothing greater to ask than a world full of glory. Yet the Cross shows a deeper glory, and the Christian's hope reaches beyond earth.