Year A. Second Sunday in Advent December 9th, 2001
Title: “Hunger and thirst for justice.”
Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19
(Reader) Give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to a king’s son.
C. May he judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice.
(Reader) May the mountains yield prosperity for the people, and the hills, in righteousness.
C. May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the needy, and crush the oppressor.
(Reader) May he live while the sun endures, and as long as the moon, throughout all generations.
C. May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass, like showers that water the earth.
(Reader) In his days may righteousness flourish and peace abound, until the moon is no more.
C. Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things.
(Reader) Blessed be his glorious name forever; may his glory fill the whole earth. Amen and Amen
Title: “Hunger and thirst for justice,”
Classified as a “Royal Psalm,” this psalm closes the second book of the Psalter that is, Psalms 42-72, an early collection of Davidic psalms later incorporated into the larger collection, with a vision of the future- the entire world under the just and merciful rule of God. The human king is merely the viceroy of God who, by acts, decrees, attitudes and actions, expresses the character of God and leads his people by example to multiply justice to such an extent that not only the peoples of the earth but the earth itself yields abundant examples of God’s life-giving love. This psalm is a prayer that the Davidic hopes be fulfilled in his descendants.
Composed during the period of the monarchy, even attributed to Solomon, Psalm 72 was probably used at the coronation of a new king and at the anniversary celebration of his coronation to remind him and all of just how different God’s viceroy should be and behave. After the exile, when there was no actual king, this psalm would be prayed in hope for a future, messianic, king who would come and do all these things. Hence, Christians would see this as a prophecy of Christ. Indeed, this king and his realm are close to the prophecies of Isaiah 11: 1-5 and 60-62. Like all people of faith, the speaker here would be under the spell of the Holy Spirit and have a vision of what lay underneath and behind history and its facts and what lay beyond the present moment, in the case the act of enthronement. We have a picture of a king who is not a dictator, like Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, but is kind, merciful and just, concerned for the poor, weak, and oppressed. This psalm does not even mention Jerusalem or Zion or conquest by military means. It is completely irenic, stressing that the result of just acts is peace.
The structure of the psalm is clear. The psalmist prays that God give the king justice verses one to four, life verses five to eight, universal leadership verses nine to eleven,, compassion verses twelve to fourteen, and prosperity and peace verses fifteen to seventeen. It ends with a benediction verses nineteen to twenty.
In verse one, Give the king your justice, the word for “judgment,” Hebrew mishpat, refers to all functions of government and not merely the judicial ones. It means everything the king does. It is qualified by “justice” or “righteousness,” Hebrew tsedeqah, in the second half of this verse. The two words encompass all aspects of justice: the abstract notion of justice, the divine character, concrete acts of justice and the spirit of justice, which creates the concrete acts. The psalmist prays that the king, and by implication all his people, would be given this gift and, like God himself, would be scrupulously faithful to his responsibilities in every particular situation.
To the king… your righteousness to a king’s son. The Hebrew reads “son of the king,” singular. The NAB translates this as “kings,” plural, without textual foundation. The crown prince is the king’s son, heir to the dynasty.
In verse three, May the mountains yield prosperity for the people, and the hills, in righteousness.
The psalmist knew that human injustice, acting in ways contrary to the revealed character of God, had consequences on every level of life, including the fertility of the land. The fertility of nature is intimately connected to the righteousness of humans, especially the head human, the king. “Bounty” translates Hebrew shalom. Shalom is that condition when things are as they should be, all they can be, a state of being filled full, of perfection. When the crops that grew on the mountainside yielded their full potential, a state of shalom existed. This can be so only when the king and people act justly in regard to planting, caring for the land, and distributing the food fairly. “Harmony,” or ecological balance is a form of justice as well as peace. Thus the second half of this verse, which poetically says the same thing in different words, uses “justice, righteousness,” Hebrew tsedeqah, translated here as “great abundance.” The idea here is a harmonious relationship between human action and nature, the result of which is prosperity.
In verse four, oppressed…poor: The highest priority is to be given to the lowest in society. That is the measure of real justice.
In verses five to eight, the psalmist prays that the king may live a long and active life, but also that he may give life. He is compared to the rain giving fertility to the land. The idea that he live as long as the sun and moon exist approaches the messianic hope of a millennial reign. Thus the prayer is both for the king and the dynasty.
In verses nine to eleven, the king is Yahweh’s agent. If he excels in justice, then he should rule over the entire world, representing God. “Tarshish” would be in western Spain, considered the western edge of the world. The “islands” would be those dotting the Mediterranean, the lands in between the farthest reaches of the earth and Israel, its “center.” “Arabia” or “Sheba” would be southern Arabia, modern Yemen, representing the eastern edge and “Seba” would be modern Ethiopia, from which came its queen to visit Solomon, the southern edge. These were really the extent of Israel’s trading partners. The psalmist prays that God’s justice, reflected in the actions and attitudes of the king, would spread throughout the world, just as Israel’s trade has spread. There is no hint here of a military takeover of these nations. It would be by the power of example and the force of righteousness.
In verses twelve to fourteen, if the king’s behavior influences the productivity of the land and increases trade with other nations, it also helps the poor, needy and oppressed to come to “abundance,” and “bounty.” The psalmist prays that the king show his justice through compassion, helping those who have no one else to help them. The king is their kinsman and so he has a responsibility in justice to act as their go’el, their next-of-kin, redeemer. Oppression and violence, in the view of the psalmist, are as unnatural to the human environment as is sterility to the natural environment.
In verses fifteen to seventeen, these verses recap what has been said before. The psalmist prays that the king live a long life, that the land yield abundantly, that he enjoy the respect of his people and the admiration of the nations of the world. In other words, may the peace and prosperity he brings to others redound to his own good name. The fame of the king, however, is but a reflection of God himself.
In verses eighteen to twenty, this is a liturgical, hymnic conclusion to both the psalm and to the second part of the Psalter, Psalms 42-72. There is no mention of the human king. The wish is for the Lord’s presence to shine brightly and rule justly throughout the earth. God alone, whom the king only represents, is the giver of life, justice and power.
Sermon
When this psalm was first written it was for a specific king, David, Solomon or one of their successors. It would have been sung as he was installed as king and, probably, on the anniversary of his coronation. In that context it seems full of exaggeration, typical of the sort of sentiments and hopes at the beginning of any reign or even the tenure of a person who rules in some termed way, like a presidential inauguration. The psalmist is waxing eloquent on the virtues and ideals this king, supposedly, hopefully, possesses. He will do everything right and will fulfill all the dreams of his people. Like all new beginnings these hopes and dreams will not be so easily fulfilled as they are expressed. The history of Israel and Judah reveal that really none of them were. In fact, the Davidic dynasty was wiped out at the time of the Exile, never to be restored. Yet, even though the dynasty died, the people’s hopes did not. Despite all the evidence to the contrary, they hoped and dreamt for the day when the kingship would be restored and all these good things would happen. So, even after the exile, they would pray this psalm not with a physical king in front of their physical eyes, but with hope in their spiritual eyes they would envision a “son of the king,” the real King, God, would come to save them. Christians, of course, believe that all this came true in Jesus Christ.
Even though the ideal king, the Christ, has come, the ideal kingdom is not fully established. His rule cannot now be reversed. It will inevitably be completed. Yet, there is a “not yet,” done aspect to it. We who live in the “in between time,” the time between the beginning, the inauguration of the Kingdom and its spread to the “ends of the earth,” we are the King’s subjects and more. We are his arms, legs, hands, etc. We, his Church, are the physical extension of his bodily and spiritual presence. So, it is for us to complete his work, to spread justice by doing it, to establish security and peace by acting justly in all our affairs, to be “regal,” as he is regal. So, when Christians pray this psalm they can think of Christ as already having fulfilled the hopes and dreams expressed therein. That is the fulfillment side of it, the “already” aspect. But, there is still the “promise,” side. It is interesting to note that this psalm is the responsorial for both the Feast of the Epiphany, the “fulfillment,” side, when all the nations come to pay tribute to the king, and also for the Second Sunday of Advent, Year A, the “promise,” side, when the Church looks forward to the actual denouement of all her hopes. This psalm can be prayed in both “awarenesses,” in both levels.
Besides praying this psalm as a Church, each individual Christian can pray this psalm as it pertains to his or her own small realm of influence, responsibility and power. While the Church officially prays this psalm in the evening, of the second Thursday of each month, it makes a great morning prayer as well. It is about beginnings. Each Christian can look at each day as a microcosm of his or her entire life-journey in Christ. As we begin each day we are filled with the same enthusiasm and pent-up energy, as is the case with this very hopeful psalm. We look at the tasks and opportunities ahead of us and we cannot wait to get started. We resolve to be God’s agent, representative, and regent in our little world. We become aware that our “hunger and thirst for justice,” both to do it and receive it, is a gift from God and, really, an aspect of his nature or character. We ask him to endow us with that, with himself that all we do be done in his name and give him glory. Our own trading place, the places where we do our business, our own “Tarshish, isles, Arabia, Seba,” represent areas where we can bring the influence of God’s justice to bear, where the situation can be changed from one of sterility to fertility, one of need to abundance, one of incompleteness to wholeness and peace. We pray to carry justice, God’s presence, in our hearts and minds to all we meet and do commerce with. Certainly, when we come to the end of the day we will once again see, as we see every day, that we have not quite accomplished the mission. Like the Davidic kings of old we have fallen short of the mark. But, tomorrow is another day. Inspired by the dauntless hope and courage of our spiritual ancestors we dare to hope again. Despite all the evidence to the contrary we dare to begin again. And we realize that all beginnings need to be marked by “exaggerated,” hopes if we are to accomplish anything at all. By aiming so high we might fail to reach the mark, but we have a better chance of rising higher than we would have without such a high goal.
The “king” stands for every human being, male and female, endowed with the dignity of being a child of God. What is said of the king in the Old Testament is meant to apply to all humans as vice-regents of God.
Human beings have a responsibility to exercise their role in harmony with the mind of God, revealed in both the workings of the world and the Word.
Real wealth is found in virtue(s), especially in justice and peace.
As all humans are related as brothers and sisters, so all virtues come from the same source, different forms and expressions of the same essence.
Kings and Queens: With the growth of democracy the very idea of there being kings and queens is a bit repulsive to us moderns. Yet, when we see them as models or metaphors for all human beings we can derive both guidance and inspiration from applying what used to be true of and said of ancient kings and queens to each human being. We are all children of God, Christian and non-Christian alike. Yet, we are not all “heirs to the throne.” That legacy is only for those who accept their divinely conferred status, who are proud to be God’s children and who behave as such. Given that distinction, we can see all human beings, either potentially or actually, as having a “realm” over which they preside, that is, their “realm of influence.” This “realm” certainly involves the way we treat people and also the way we treat the earth, indeed all of God’s creation and creatures. We are to exercise our dominion, our “authority,” within our realm by applying the principles of justice and we are to relate to other “realms,” the “countries,” and the “boundaries” of others by applying the principles of peace. Essentially, they are the same principles, the principles by which God himself, our Father, the true and only King, acts. These are the “law of the land,” for all of us and none of us is above those laws. If we violate them then we are not behaving, not ruling, in harmony with the King whom we represent. To prevent that from happening we are “crowned,” installed, inaugurated, if you will, every day when we get up. The beginning of each day is like our coronation day or a renewal of that day, our day of Baptism, when we actually became God’s adopted sons and daughters. Each morning we begin with prayer, reflection, on our bestowed, not earned, dignity as royal children of the King, our Father. In truth, everybody behaves like a king or queen, but often a bad one, a tyrant, when we act unjustly, arbitrarily, for self-purposes. And we all start fights, skirmishes and wars when we insist that our terms be the only ones for interacting, interrelating with other, kings, queens, nations, realms.
Harmony: Harmony is really unity with diversity. If every singer or musician, is singing or playing, the same tune or instrument, on the same key it can be a beautiful song, but after a while it can also be boring. Harmony, different voices singing and instruments playing, in different keys at the same time is even more beautiful, provided that the various “keys,” do not contradict each other. There is a lesson here for life. With everyone in the world being a king or queen, we multiply the potential for both war and injustice. In fact, that is precisely what has happened. Everyone or even one behaving as though his or her “realm” were either the only one or the dominant one produces disharmony, indeed cacophony, noise not music. There needs to be a conductor, “THE king,” of the orchestra and or the choir. Unless everyone in the world, the orchestra, the choir, recognizes the superior position of this one person and acts accordingly, the results are disastrous, as we have seen and experienced and maybe even contributed to. We certainly have seen what has happened to the earth as a result of selfish and near-sighted humans, acting as though they really and regally owned the earth and as though the earth were mere natural resources for their selfish extortion. Ecology, for a vice-regent of God, is really justice and peace as they relate to the earth. Economy, for a vice-regent of God, is really justice and peace as they relate to money, business and commerce. Harmony is justice and peace as they relate to music and to life. Amen.
