The ascriptions at the head of many of the psalms often appear to indicate an author: “a psalm of David” or “a maskil of the sons of Korah.” But the “of” in such settings is tricky. It’s literally the Hebrew preposition “to,” and can indicate authorship, or dedication, or remembrance. So in the inscriptions for both Psalm 72 and 127, “Of Solomon,” could mean that they were written by Solomon; or that they were written during his reign and dedicated to his kingship; or that they were written many years later, in memory of Solomon and as a prayer for the blessing of a king of a different generation.

“Give the king your justice, O God” (Psalm 72:1) sets the tone of this prayer. We want the king to have dominion, of course, with his foes bowing down before him (72:8-11); and it would be great if lots of tribute came in from foreign lands so that our own taxes would be less: “May the kings of Tarshish and the isles render him tribute, may the kings of Sheba and Seba brings gifts” (72:10). But especially the role of the king is to make sure that the poor and needy are taken care of.

Then as now, it was easy for people to fall through the cracks in society. Sometimes bad stuff just happens: droughts, floods, or blight might come, and even though you’ve worked hard at your farming, you end up with nothing for your children to eat. And sometimes bad stuff happens because somebody makes it happen: somebody figured out how to run a con or swindle on you, and made it look like it was really legitimate until they walked away with everything you had: and again your children are going hungry.

But the psalm prays for the king: “May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance for the needy, and crush the oppressor” (72:4). We know our king is the king God has chosen not only because of the tribute of the nations, but because “he delivers the needy when they call, the poor and those who have no helper. He has pity on the weak and needy, and saves the lives of the needy” (72:12-13).

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Give the same to governments and rulers today, O Lord: a love of justice, an insistence that all the needy must be fed. And grant us all hearts of compassion and grace, so that we may all insist that it’s just not good enough if most of us have everything we want, while others are left in misery.

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