For he will deliver the needy who cry out and the afflicted who have no helper.
The inscription leaves us uncertain who composed this psalm, though it closes David's prayers and bears his mark more than Solomon's. Solomon could scarcely have prophesied his own reign without vanity; but David, foreseeing the prosperity promised his house, lifted his eyes to that greatest King yet to come, the Messiah, whose reign this description truly fits.
AI summary
Commenting on Psalm 72:1-20
For he shall deliver the needy. Here is an excellent reason for man's submission to the Lord Christ; it is not because they dread his overwhelming power, but because they are won over by his just and condescending rule. Who would not fear so good a Prince, who makes the needy his peculiar care, and pledges himself to be their deliverer in times of need? When he crieth.
For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth,.... Such as are not only in want, but are sensible of it, see their need of Christ and his righteousness, and salvation by him, and cry to him for the same, under a sense of their misery and danger; these he delivers out of all their troubles, and out of the hands of all their enemies...