The Pulpit Commentary — Psalms — Volume 2 — Section 58

eerly in Solomon's roign for liturgice.l pur- upon the mown grass; i.e. softly and gently, poses, It is 11, prophetio proyer for o. bless- bringing refreshment (comp. Dent. xxxii. ing on the king end on his reign, which is 2; Isa. lv. 10, 11; and perhaps 2 Sam. xxiii. 4). As showers that water the earth. ropresenled in colours and with circum- The same idea. as in the preceding clause stances, that make ii typical of the reign (comp. Hoe. vi. 3). of Messiah ( see oapecie.lly vers. 8, 11, 17). Ver. 7.-111 his days shall the righteous The concluding vereee (18, 19) are n doxo- flourish. In Messiah's days, when his king- logy, marking the end of the Second Book r.om is. fully established, the righteous will flourish and prosper, since the wicked will (compare the commont on Ps. xlL 13). not be suffered to hinder them (comp. ver. Ver. 1.-Giv~ the king thy judgments, 0 4; e.nd see Bo tier's 'Analogy,' pt. i. eh. iii.). God, 11,nd thy r1ghteo11Bneas unto the king's And abundance of peace so long a.a the moon son, Gcd had established in Isro.el, in the endureth; literally, till there be M longer a person .?f De.vid, hereditary monarchy (2 moon (comp. ver. 5). Sam. vu. 12-16), such RB wns usnal in the Ver. 8.-He shall have dominion also East, and suited to Oriental notions. In from sea to sea. It does not appear that speo.king of himself, not only as "the king," any particular seas are meant, a.a in Eirnd. but also as "the king's son," Solomon makes xxiii 31 and Numb. x.xxiv. 3, ti; rather, the appeal to the sentiment of respect for hered- idea is that the earth is set in the midst of ito.ry royalty. Compare the inscription of the sea, and that Messiah's dominioR will Mesba, "My father was king over Moab reach from shore to shore. And from the thirty years, and I became king after my river (i.e. the Euphrates) 11I1to the ends ot father" (line I). In praying God to give the ea.rth. Israel's promised dominion ex- him " his judgments," he is desiring a tended only as far as the great river (Gen. "spirit of judgment" which will enable xv. 18), which was also the boundary of him to deliver decisions as righteous as Solomon's kingdom eastward (I Kings iv. God's. 21, 24); Messiah's was to reach indefinitely Ver. 2.-He shall judge thy people with beyond the river to the world's end. righteousness, and thy poor with judgment. Ver. 9.-They that dwell in the wilderness Then will he have wisdom to judge tby shall bow before him (for the meaning here people aright. The wish iB in the clos~t assigned to tsiyyim (Cl".:), see Ps. l:uiv. 14; possible agreement with the prayer in 1 lia. xxiil. 13). The wild tribes of the Kings iii. 6-9. Syrian and Arabian deserts are probably Ver. 3.-The mountains shall bring peace intended (comp. Isa. Ix. 6, 7). And his to the people, and the little hills, by right- enemies shall lick the dust ; i.e. prostrate eousne11. Through the general establish- themselves at his feet with their faces in ment of "righteousness " shall " peace" the duet. Bee the Assyrian representations overspread the land, well represented by its of Oriental prostrations (' A.noient Monar- "mountains" and "hills "-certainly its chies,' vol. i pp. 266, 502). most prominent features. Ver. 10.-The kings of Tarshish and of Ver, i.-He shall judge the poor of the the isles shall bring presents. "Tarshi.sh " people. Not exclusively, but especially. here is probably Tarlessus in Spain, so well The unjust rulers and judges of Israel known to the Israelites in the da.ys of neglected this duty: "They judge not the Solomon (1 Kings x. 22; 2 Chron. ix.. 21). fatherless . . . and the right of the needy According to Herodotu3, Te.rtessus, when do they not judge" (Jer. v. 28; see also it first became known to the Greeks, was Isa. i. 23; Zech. vii. 10). He shall HVe the governed by kings (Herod.. i. 163). By ohildren of the needy. He shall preserve "the isles " are to be understood ihe coasts them, i.e., from oppression and wrong. And a.nd islands of the Mediterranean generally. shall brea.k in pieces the oppressor. (On All th11se have, at. one time or another, paid God's hatre'1 of oppression and oppressors, homage to Christ. The kings of Sheba and 1ee Exod. iii. 9; Lev. x.xv. H; Job xxvil. Seba shall offer gifts. "Sheba" and" Seba" 13 ; Ps. xii. 5 ; Isa. xvi. 14, eto.) are distinguished by the writer of Genesis Ver. 5.-They shall fea.r thee (i.e. Got!) as (Gen. x. 7), nnd a.ppea.r not even to have long as the sun and moon endure, through- been very near the one to the other. Sheba out all generations. The righteous govern- was in South-Eastern Arabia, and was ment of the king shall spread a.broad the known to the Greeks and Romans as the " fear of God," and establish pure religion country of the Sabmans (Diod. Sic., iii. 45 ; in the land, while the world continues. Stra.bo, xvi. 4, § 19; Pliny, 'Hist. Nat.,' vi. Here the pee.Im first becomes distinotly 23). Saba was in Africa, on the Middle Nile, Messianio, passing on from the reigning and the Sebmans (Cl'lt9P) are closely con. mono.rob to the ideal king whom he typifies. neoted by Isaiah with Ethiopia. and Egypt Ver. 6.-Ha shell ooma down like raiD (Isa. xliii. 3; xiv. 14). PSALMS-JI, •  66 THE BOOK OF PSALMS. [PS, LXXII, 1-20,