8 May he rule from sea to sea
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
9 May the desert tribes bow before him
and his enemies lick the dust.
10 May the kings of Tarshish and of distant shores
bring tribute to him.
May the kings of Sheba and Seba
present him gifts.
11 May all kings bow down to him
and all nations serve him.
In this part of his psalm, Solomon is either praying (“May he rule…”) or else he is making a prophecy about the Messiah (“He will rule…”). Grammatically, it’s easier to take these verses as a prophecy than as a prayer, but the NIV and many other translations present the text as you see it above. We can also understand this as a prayer about the Messiah, which would also be a Messianic prophecy. Solomon sees the Messiah ruling a kingdom even greater than his own, and many of the great events of Solomon’s reign—the visit of the monarchs of Sheba, contact with the distant land of Tarshish, and the praise and worship of many other rulers—would be topped in every way by the rule of the Messiah King.
This Psalm was set to poetry in James Montgomery’s hymn Hail to the Lord’s Anointed (hymn 59 in The Lutheran Hymnal, 93 in Christian Worship, and 87 in the Lutheran Book of Worship). The verse for this section calls the king of Sheba “Arabia’s desert ranger” and the king of Seba “The Ethiopian stranger,” and Tarshish is described this way: “With offerings of devotion, ships from the isles shall meet to pour the wealth of ocean in tribute at his feet.”
12 For he will deliver the needy who cry out,
the afflicted who have no one to help.
13 He will take pity on the weak and the needy
and save the needy from death.
14 He will rescue them from oppression and violence,
for precious is their blood in his sight. (NIV)
Here the work of the Messiah is proclaimed. Look at the verbs in these verses: delivers, take pity, save, rescue. All of these words describe what Christ did for mankind. Now look at the words that describe us: the needy who cry out, the afflicted, the weak and needy. We don’t have a role in our salvation except as those who are saved. All of the work is from Christ our Messiah alone.
When Peter described Jesus’ work, he said that it was accomplished “with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect” (1 Peter 1:19). Here, we see the work of the Savior from his own vantage point: We know that his blood is precious, and he sees our blood as precious as well—he let his be shed to redeem us, just as the Lord provided a substitute for Isaac’s blood on Mount Moriah (Genesis 22:2, 14).
15 Long may he live!
May gold from Sheba be given him.
May people ever pray for him
and bless him all day long.
16 May grain abound throughout the land;
on the tops of the hills may it sway.
May the crops flourish like Lebanon
and (may those from the city) thrive like the grass of the field.
17 May his name endure forever;
may it continue as long as the sun.
Then all nations will be blessed through him,
and they will call him blessed.
Verse 16 is difficult to translate and to understand. Some translations omit the words “may those from the city” although the word is there in Hebrew. The NASB (New American Standard Bible) has them. Without that phrase, the verse could seem to be talking about an ordinary harvest like the old reason for celebrating Pentecost in the Old Testament: It was a celebration of God’s blessings in the world and the produce of the fields. However, when we see that God’s real emphasis is not on plants, but on people, then we have a New Testament Pentecost celebration: We praise God for bringing in the harvest of people (“those from the city”) into his kingdom.
This is the reason for praising our Messiah King, Jesus Christ. He rescued us from our sins, and brought us in as his harvest of joy, so that we are blessed through him, and we call him blessed forever.
Hail to the Lord’s Anointed, Great David’s greater son!
Hail, in the time appointed, his reign on earth begun!
He comes to break oppression, to set the captive free,
To take away transgression, and rule in equity.Arabia’s desert ranger to him shall bow the knee,
The Ethiopian stranger his glory come to see;
With off’rings of devotion ships from the isles shall meet
to pour the wealth of ocean in tribute at his feet.
(The Lutheran Hymnal 59:1, 3)
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. His wife, Kathryn, attended Chapel from 1987-1990 while studying Secondary Education (Theater and Math) at UW-Madison. Kathryn’s father, John Meyer, was also the first man to serve as a Vicar at Chapel.
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