5 They shall fear you while the sun endures; and as long as the moon, throughout all generations.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
They shall fear thee with the sun If this is read as an apostrophe, or change of person, it may be properly and without violence understood of the king; implying, that the ornaments or distinctions which chiefly secure to a sovereign reverence from his subjects are his impartially securing to every man the possession of his own rights, and his manifesting a spirit of humanity ready at all times to succor the poor and miserable, as well as a spirit determined rigorously to subdue the audacity of the wicked. But it will be more appropriate, without changing the person, to explain it of God himself. [1] The preservation of mutual equity among men is an inestimable blessing; but the service of God is well worthy of being preferred even to this. David, therefore, very properly commends to us the blessed fruits of a holy and righteous government, by telling us that it will draw in its train true religion and the fear of God. And Paul, when enjoining us in 1-Timothy 2:2, to pray for kings, expressly mentions what we ought to have in view in our prayers, which is, "that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty." As there is no small danger, were civil government overthrown, of religion being destroyed, and the worship of God annihilated, David beseeches God to have respect to his own name and glory in preserving the king. By this argument he at once reminds kings of their duty, and stirs up the people to prayer; for we cannot be better employed than in directing all our desires and prayers to the advancement of the service and honor of God. When we come to Christ, this is far more truly applicable to him, true religion being established in his kingdom and nowhere else. And certainly David, in describing the worship or service of God as continuing to the end of the world, intimates by the way that he ascends in thought to that everlasting kingdom which God had promised: They shall fear thee with the sun; and generation of generations shall fear thee in the presence of the moon. [2]
1 - "The poet in this clause addresses God; not the king, of whom he speaks always in the third person. The sense is, This king shall establish and preserve among his subjects the true religion, -- the uncorrupted worship of God. Michaelis, on this passage, justly remarks that this could not, without extreme flattery, be predicated of Solomon." -- Dathe.
2 - "With the sun," and "in the presence of the moon," are Hebrew idioms, designating the eternity of the Messiah's kingdom. "They shall venerate thee with the sun, and in presence of the moon;' that is, as long as the sun shines, and is succeeded by the moon, or while the sun and moon continue to give light, -- in a word, for ever. Compare verse seventh, where the same idea is expressed, only in a slightly different manner, -- until there be no moon Psalm 89:37 -- His throne shall be as the sun before me, as the moon it shall be established for ever.' The word lphny, [translated in presence of,] in this passage, is to be understood in the same sense as in Genesis 11:28, Mortuus est Haran, l-phny,coram facie Terah; And Haran died before the face of Terah,' that is, while Terah still survived. Hence, in Psalm 102:28, where lphnyk, coram te, before thee,' is used in reference to God, -- the Alexandrine version gives eis aionas for ever.' Here the sense is given in the words immediately following, dvr dvrym, generatio generationum, a generation of generations' shall venerate thee; -- in other words, throughout all generations, or during a continual series of years, men shall celebrate thy happy and glorious reign." -- Rosenmüller Calvin also reads dvr dvrym, "generation of generations," in the nominative case. The translators of our English Bible supply the preposition l, lamed, thus making it, "throughout all generations." But in either case the meaning is the same.
They shall fear thee - That is, "men" shall fear thee, or thou shalt be feared, or reverenced. The idea is, that his reign would continue, or that he would be obeyed during all the time mentioned here.
As long as the sun and moon endure - literally, "With the sun, and before the moon;" that is, as long as they have the sun with them, or have it to shine upon them, and as long as they are in the presence of the moon, or have its light. In other words, they would continue to the end of time; or to the end of the world. It does not denote "eternity," for it is not assumed in the Bible that the sun and moon will continue forever; but the idea is, that as long as the sun shall continue to shine upon the earth - as long as people shall dwell upon the earth - the kingdom would be perpetual. There would be no change of dynasty; no new empire would arise to displace and to supersede this. This would be the dynasty under which the affairs of the world would be wound up; this the kingdom which would be found at the consummation of all things. The reign of the Messiah will be the "final" reign in the earth; that under which the affairs of earth will close.
Throughout all generations - While the generations of people dwell on the earth.
They shall fear thee - There is no sense in which this can be spoken of Solomon, nor indeed of any other man: it belongs to Jesus Christ, and to him alone. He is the Prance of peace, who shall be feared and reverenced "through all generations, and as long as the sun and moon endure."
They shall (f) fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations.
(f) The people will embrace your true religion, when you give a king who rules according to your word.
They shall fear thee,.... The King Messiah, the Judge of the poor, and the destroyer of the oppressor: either the tyrants and oppressors themselves shall fear him, and such who have been aiding and assisting to them; see Revelation 11:11; or rather the people of God, the poor of the people, and children of the needy, judged and saved by Christ; who shall fear the Lord, both internally and externally, in the exercise of grace, and in the performance of religious worship; in all the parts of it, which are both included in the fear of the Lord; of which there will be many instances, both among Jews and Gentiles, in the latter day; see Hosea 3:5; and this they shall do,
as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations; or, "with the sun, and before the moon, generation of generations" (r); that is, to the end of the world, until sun and moon shall be no more: so long will Christ have a seed to serve him:; see Psalm 89:36.
(r) Sic Eth. Syr. Arab. Apollinarius, Vatablus, & Cocceius.
as long as . . . endure--literally, "with the sun," coeval with its existence, and before, or, in presence of the moon, while it lasts (compare Genesis 11:28, "before Terah," literally, "in presence of," while he lived).
The invocation of Psalm 72:1 is continued in the form of a wish: may they fear Thee, Elohim, עם־שׁמשׁ, with the sun, i.e., during its whole duration (עם in the sense of contemporary existence, as in Daniel. 3:33). לפני־ירח, in the moonlight (cf. Job 8:16, לפני־שׁמשׁ, in the sunshine), i.e., so long as the moon shines. דּור דּורים (accusative of the duration of time, cf. Psalm 102:25), into the uttermost generation which outlasts the other generations (like שׁמי השּׁמים of the furthest heavens which surround the other heavens). The first two periphrastic expressions for unlimited time recur in Psalm 89:37., a Psalm composed after the time of Solomon; cf. the unfigurative expression in Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the Temple in 1-Kings 8:40. The continuance of the kingship, from the operation of which such continuance of the fear of God is expected, is not asserted until Psalm 72:17. It is capricious to refer the language of address in Psalm 72:5 to the king (as Hupfeld and Hitzig do), who is not directly addressed either in Psalm 72:4, or in Psalm 72:6, or anywhere in the Psalm. With respect to God the desire is expressed that the righteous and benign rule of the king may result in the extension of the fear of God from generation to generation into endless ages. The poet in Psalm 72:6 delights in a heaping up of synonyms in order to give intensity to the expression of the thoughts, just as in Psalm 72:5; the last two expressions stand side by side one another without any bond of connection as in Psalm 72:5. רביבים (from רבב, Arab. rbb, densum, spissum esse, and then, starting from this signification, sometimes multum and sometimes magnum esse) is the shower of rain pouring down in drops that are close together; nor is זרזיף a synonym of גּז, but (formed from זרף, Arab. ḏrf, to flow, by means of a rare reduplication of the first two letters of the root, Ew. 157, d) properly the water running from a roof (cf. B. Joma 87a: "when the maid above poured out water, זרזיפי דמיא came upon his head"). גּז, however, is not the meadow-shearing, equivalent to a shorn, mown meadow, any more than גּז, גּזּה, Arabic ǵizza, signifies a shorn hide, but, on the contrary, a hide with the wool or feathers (e.g., ostrich feathers) still upon it, rather a meadow, i.e., grassy plain, that is intended to be mown. The closing word ארץ (accus. loci as in Psalm 147:15) unites itself with the opening word ירד: descendat in terram. In his last words (2 Sam. 23) David had compared the effects of the dominion of his successor, whom he beheld as by vision, to the fertilizing effects of the sun and of the rain upon the earth. The idea of Psalm 72:6 is that Solomon's rule may prove itself thus beneficial for the country. The figure of the rain in Psalm 72:7 gives birth to another: under his rule may the righteous blossom (expanding himself unhindered and under the most favourable circumsntaces), and (may there arise) salvation in all fulness עד־בּלי ירח, until there is no more moon (cf. the similar expression in Job 14:12). To this desire for the uninterrupted prosperity and happiness of the righteous under the reign of this king succeeds the desire for an unlimited extension of his dominion, Psalm 72:8. The sea (the Mediterranean) and the river (the Euphrates) are geographically defined points of issue, whence the definition of boundary is extended into the unbounded. Solomon even at his accession ruled over all kingdoms from the Euphrates as far as the borders of Egypt; the wishes expressed here are of wider compass, and Zechariah repeats them predictively (Psalm 9:10) with reference to the King Messiah.
Thee - Thee, O God, this shall be another blessed fruit of this righteous government, that together with peace, true religion shall be established, and that throughout all generations, which was begun in Solomon's days, but not fully accomplished 'till Christ came.
*More commentary available at chapter level.