Psalm 72:4

He shall judge the poor of the people, he shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

72:2-17 This is a prophecy of the kingdom of Christ; many passages in it cannot be applied to the reign of Solomon. There were righteousness and peace at first in the administration of his government; but, before the end of his reign, there were troubles and unrighteousness. The kingdom here spoken of is to last as long as the sun, but Solomon's was soon at an end. Even the Jewish expositors understood it of the kingdom of the Messiah. Observe many great and precious promises here made, which were to have full accomplishment only in the kingdom of Christ. As far as his kingdom is set up, discord and contentions cease, in families, churches, and nations. The law of Christ, written in the heart, disposes men to be honest and just, and to render to all their due; it likewise disposes men to live in love, and so produces abundance of peace. Holiness and love shall be lasting in Christ's kingdom. Through all the changes of the world, and all the changes of life, Christ's kingdom will support itself. And he shall, by the graces and comforts of his Spirit, come down like rain upon the mown grass; not on that cut down, but that which is left growing, that it may spring again. His gospel has been, or shall be, preached to all nations. Though he needs not the services of any, yet he must be served with the best. Those that have the wealth of this world, must serve Christ with it, do good with it. Prayer shall be made through him, or for his sake; whatever we ask of the Father, should be in his name. Praises shall be offered to him: we are under the highest obligations to him. Christ only shall be feared throughout all generations. To the end of time, and to eternity, his name shall be praised. All nations shall call HIM blessed.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

He shall judge the poor of the people - The afflicted; the down-trodden; the needy. He would vindicate their cause against their oppressors; his reign would be one of impartial justice, under which the rights of the poor as well as of the rich would be respected. See the notes at Isaiah 11:4.

He shall save the children of the needy - Those in humble life; those most likely to be oppressed by others; those who have no natural protectors.

And shall break in pieces the oppressor - Shall subdue, or destroy, those who live to oppress others. See the notes at Psalm 12:5.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

4. That peace, including prosperity, as an eminent characteristic of Christ's reign (Isa 2:4; Isa 9:6; 11:9), will be illustrated in the security provided for the helpless and needy, and the punishment inflicted on oppressors, whose power to injure or mar the peace of others will be destroyed (compare Isa 65:25; Zec 9:10).

children of the needy—for the needy (compare sons of strangers, Ps 18:45 [Margin]).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Judge, i.e. vindicate them from their potent oppressors, as judging is used, Psalm 43:1, and oft elsewhere.

The children of the needy; whom the rich peradventure did seize upon for bondmen, upon some pretence or other.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

He shall judge the poor of the people,.... Of the people of God, whether among Jews or Gentiles; See Gill on Psalm 72:2;

he shall save the children of the needy; whose parents being needy, they are so too, in a spiritual sense, and in distressed circumstances. Such Christ saves from their sins; from the curses and condemnation of the law: from, wrath to come, and out of the hands of all their enemies;

and shall break in pieces the oppressor; the tyrant Satan, the god of this world; that has usurped a power over it; who works in the children of disobedience, and leads captive the people of God in their unregenerate state: the "calumniator", as some render the word; the accuser of the brethren: "the defrauder" (q), as others: who beguiled our first parents, and deceives mankind. Now it was foretold of Christ that he should break his head; and he was manifested in the flesh to destroy his works; and him himself; and he has broke him and all his schemes in pieces, and spoiled all his principalities and powers: The Syriac Version reads, "tyrants" or "oppressors", in the plural number; and it may include the Jews, who were the persecutors and oppressors of the first Christians; and Rome, Pagan and Papal; antichrist, and all the antichristian states, which have been, or will be, broken to pieces by Christ; who will rule them with a rod of iron, and break them in pieces as a potter's vessel, Revelation 2:27.

(q) "calumniatorem", Pagninus, Tigurine version, Vatablus, Musculus; "fraudatorem", Muis, Cocceius.

Geneva Study Bible

He shall {e} judge the poor of the people, he shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor.

(e) He shows why the sword is committed to Kings that is, to defend the innocent, and suppress the wicked.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

4. An expansion of Psalm 72:2. The oppressed and defenceless are the special care of the true king, “whose glory is, redressing human wrong.” He does justice to ‘the afflicted of the people’; he is the preserver of ‘the children of the needy,’ words which are best understood literally, not merely of those born poor, or as a periphrasis, according to a common idiom, for ‘the needy,’ but of children, especially orphans, at once innocent and helpless, and therefore calling for special protection (see Isaiah 10:2; Micah 2:9, for the dangers to which they were exposed): while he crushes the merciless oppressor, treating him as he had treated his victims (Psalm 94:5; Proverbs 22:22-23; Isaiah 3:15; James 2:13).

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 4. - He shall judge the poor of the people. Not exclusively, but especially. The unjust rulers and judges of Israel neglected this duty. They judge not the fatherless... and the right of the needy do they not judge" (Jeremiah 5:28; see also Isaiah 1:23; Zechariah 7:10). He shall save the children of the needy. He shall preserve them, i.e., from oppression and wrong. And shall break in pieces the oppressor. (On God's hatred of oppression and oppressors, see Exodus 3:9; Leviticus 25:14; Job 27:13; Psalm 12:5; Isaiah 16:14, etc.) Psalm 72:4

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The name of God, occurring only once, is Elohim; and this is sufficient to stamp the Psalm as an Elohimic Psalm. מלך (cf. Psalm 21:2) and בּן־מלך are only used without the article according to a poetical usage of the language. The petition itself, and even the position of the words, show that the king's son is present, and that he is king; God is implored to bestow upon him His משׁפּטים, i.e., the rights or legal powers belonging to Him, the God of Israel, and צדקה, i.e., the official gift in order that he may exercise those rights in accordance with divine righteousness. After the supplicatory teen the futures which now follow, without the Waw apodoseos, are manifestly optatives. Mountains and hills describe synecdochically the whole land of which they are the high points visible afar off. נשׂא is used in the sense of נשׂא פּרי Ezekiel 17:8 : may שׁלום be the fruit which ripens upon every mountain and hill; universal prosperity satisfied and contented within itself. The predicate for Psalm 72:3 is to be taken from Psalm 72:3, just as, on the other hand, בּצדקה, "in or by righteousness," the fruit of which is indeed peace (Isaiah 32:17), belongs also to Psalm 72:3; so that consequently both members supplement one another. The wish of the poet is this: By righteousness, may there in due season be such peaceful fruit adorning all the heights of the land. Psalm 72:3, however, always makes one feel as though a verb were wanting, like תּפרחנה suggested by Bttcher. In Psalm 72:4 the wishes are continued in plain unfigurative language. הושׁיע in the signification to save, to obtain salvation for, has, as is frequently the case, a dative of the object. בּני־אביון are those who are born to poverty, just like בּן־מלך, one who is born a king. Those who are born to poverty are more or less regarded, by an unrighteous government, as having no rights.