Psalms 72 – 74

Psalm 72 is titled “A Song of Solomon” and ends showing it was a prayer by David for Solomon. Verse 72:2 shows the hope going into Solomon’s reign:

May he be honest and fair in his judgments over Your people
    and offer justice to the burdened and suffering.

The hope in Solomon being a great king was played out early in his reign. But one has to wonder if the dysfunction in David’s family was the root to Solomon failing in his later years? In my view Solomon was one of the greatest and worst kings for Israel. In his early years he was wonderful and his wisdom helped him rule fairly. In his later years he let his lust for women over take his heart and soul worshiping other gods. This eventually led to Israel and Judah splitting. 

As we have seen in 1 Kings there are many very awful kings that did many more egregious things that Solomon. I still think Solomon was dangerous because when he drifted he documented his work for future generations. The Lesser Key of Solomon is one of the most dangerous books he made since it reveals how to call up demons. It is used today by most Satanic cults with devastating results. This is the danger of Solomon since his deviation into evil still lives today.

Verse 73:2 shows feelings many of us have:

You see, there was a time when I envied arrogant men
    and thought, “The wicked look pretty happy to me.”

This opens a series of writing by Asaph, who was a Levite musician David appointed to lead worship. So you can imagine his words are important to saves.  Do you envy those with confidence? This happened to me recently at my former job. A young engineer just out of school was brimming with confidence. His technical skills were good and he made sure people knew when he fixed things. In the 5 years he got transferred and promoted, when my 30+ years of experience stayed stagnant.

Part was my fault and most was he oozed confidence and promoted himself well when things went good. Let me be clear, this young man was not wicked and I am happy for his success, but there were times I envied his arrogance and success. Now in reading this did both Asaph and I break the commandment of coveting? I believe mine was based in this and it’s implied in the reading of Psalm 73, so where is line drawn?

Verse 74:10 asks a very import question:

O True God, how much longer will the enemy mock us?
    Will this insult continue against You forever?

This is an important question since it’s definitely still asked today. We have the hope of Jesus’ return as they had the hope of the Messiah then. One has to ask are we waiting for something that will never happen. Reason I question this is because God had paradise and that did not change Satan to fall with 1/3 the angels. Adam and Eve were in paradise and they were deceived. Will post tribulation paradise get corrupted by a disturbed angel or person? Can we shed the envy that seems to embedded in our DNA to live peacefully in paradise?