Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 72

The king ... the king’s son. —The article is lacking in the Hebrew.

The order of the words should be noticed—“judgments,” “righteousness,” “righteousness,” “judgment”—as offering a good instance of introverted parallelism. With regard to the meaning of the words we are placed on practical ground; they refer to the faculty of judging in affairs of government, of coming to a great and fair decision. In fact, whether Solomon be the intended subject of the poem or not, the prayer made in his dream at Gibeon (1 Kings 3:9) is the best comment on these verses. (Isaiah 32:1.)

The mountains ... —More accurately, literally, Let the mountains and the hills bring forth to the people peace in (or by) righteousness. Most modern commentators preserve this imperative sense, instead of the future, throughout the psalm. The Septuagint uses this sense here and in Psalm 72:17, but elsewhere uses the future.

The verb used here (which properly means “lift up”) is used in Ezekiel 17:8, for “bearing fruit,” and in Isaiah 32:17 peace is described as the natural work or fruit of righteousness. (Compare Psalm 85:10.) For the same prominence given to its hills as the characteristic feature of Palestine, a land which is “not only mountainous, but a heap of mountains,” compare Joel 3:18.

They shall ... —Literally, May they fear You (simultaneously) with the sun, and in the face of the moon, from generation to generation. For the preposition, “coevally with,” see Daniel 3:33 (Hebrew), and compare the Latin use of cum—

“Cum sole et luna semper Aratus erit.”

Ovid: Amores, xv. 16.

The phrase “in the presence of the moon” (see the same expression, Psalms 72:17, and compare Job 8:16), means, not by the moonlight, but as long as the moon shines. (Compare Psalm 72:7.) On the other hand, our phrase “under the moon” refers to space. With this passage Psalm 89:36-37, alone in Hebrew poetry exactly compares, or may perhaps have been borrowed from here.

Whether God or the king is the object of the “fear” spoken of in this verse is a question that must remain unanswered.

He shall come down. —The rule of the monarch is to be beneficent as the rain refreshing the earth, and covering it with blessings as with verdure. Under a similar image, David’s last words (2 Samuel 23:4) describe a good government.

Mown grass. —The Hebrew word means “a shearing,” and is used of a fleece (Judges 6:37; as it is also translated in this verse by the Septuagint, Vulgate, and Prayer Book version), and of a hay crop (Amos 7:1). The reference here may be either to a “mown field,” on which a shower would cause fresh grass to sprout, or to meadow grass ready for mowing.