72:1-4 This prayer for the ability to rule justly and righteously is similar to Solomon's request for wisdom that he voiced at the beginning of his reign (1 Kings 3:9). His references to the mountains and hills are probably metaphorical allusions to his government (cf. Ps. 30:7; Isa. 2:2; 41:15; Jer. 51:25; Dan. 2:35, 44; Rev. 17:9). Verse 4 describes basic justice.
72:5-7 In verse 5 the antecedent of "them"in the NASB is the oppressed of verse 4, and "Thee"refers to God. In the NIV the translators, following the Septuagint, felt the king was the subject of the whole verse. The Hebrew text favors the NASB rendering. In verses 6 and 7 the king is the subject.
The effects of a just and righteous king, the type of person Solomon asked God to make him, are as beneficial to his people as rain and peace are to the landscape.
"It is the other side of kingship to the rod of iron' of Psalm 2:9; yet the one is the true complement of the other, as verse 4 has shown already."134
