Give the king thy judgments, O God, and thy righteousness unto the king's son.

Wesley's Notes

72:1 Judgments - He saith judgments in the plural number, because though the office of judging and ruling was but one, yet there were divers parts and branches, of it; in all which he begs that Solomon may be directed to do as God would have him to do.

King James Translators' Notes

for: or, of

Scofield Reference Notes

[1] Give the king

The Psalm as a whole forms a complete vision of Messiah's kingdom so far as the O.T. revelation extended. All David's prayers will find their fruition in the kingdom (Ps 72:20); 2Sam 23:1-4.

Verse 1 refers to the investiture of the King's Son with the kingdom, of which investiture the formal description is given in Dan 7:13,14 Rev 5:5-10 Ps 72:2-7,12-14 give the character of the kingdom. (Cf) Isa 11:3-9.

The emphatic word is righteousness. The sermon on the Mount describes the kingdom of righteousness. Verses 8-11 speak of the universality of the kingdom. Verse 16 hints at the means by which universal blessing is to be brought in. Converted Israel will be the "handful of corn" Amos 9:9 as the King Himself in death and resurrection was the single grain, the "corn of wheat" Jn 12:24 "To the Jew first" is the order alike of Church and kingdom. Rom 1:16 Acts 13:46 15:16,17. It is through restored Israel that the kingdom is to be extended over the earth. Zech 8:13,20-23.

See Psalm 89., next in order of the Messianic Psalms.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

PSALM 72

Ps 72:1-19. For, or literally, "of Solomon." The closing verse rather relates to the second book of Psalms, of which this is the last, and was perhaps added by some collector, to intimate that the collection, to which, as chief author, David's name was appended, was closed. In this view, these may consistently be the productions of others included, as of Asaph, sons of Korah, and Solomon; and a few of David's may be placed in the latter series. The fact that here the usual mode of denoting authorship is used, is strongly conclusive that Solomon was the author, especially as no stronger objection appears than what has been now set aside. The Psalm, in highly wrought figurative style, describes the reign of a king as "righteous, universal, beneficent, and perpetual." By the older Jewish and most modern Christian interpreters, it has been referred to Christ, whose reign, present and prospective, alone corresponds with its statements. As the imagery of the second Psalm was drawn from the martial character of David's reign, that of this is from the peaceful and prosperous state of Solomon's.

1. Give the king, &c.-a prayer which is equivalent to a prediction.

judgments-the acts, and (figuratively) the principles of a right government (Joh 5:22; 9:39).

righteousness-qualifications for conducting such a government.

king's son-same person as a king-a very proper title for Christ, as such in both natures.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

72:1 This psalm belongs to Solomon in part, but to Christ more fully and clearly. Solomon was both the king and the king's son, and his pious father desired that the wisdom of God might be in him, that his reign might be a remembrance of the kingdom of the Messiah. It is the prayer of a father for his child; a dying blessing. The best we can ask of God for our children is, that God would give them wisdom and grace to know and to do their duty.