Ps. 72.17 (Abraham and the king)

May his name / endure forever
and increase / as long as the sun
may people bless themselves / by him
and all nations / call him happy. 

We alluded to Abraham in the previous reflection and the fact that the covenant made with him was one that established his seed forever and that it would become ‘more numerous than the stars’. One thing we did not mention was the fact that contained within one of the three promises to Abraham was the promise that a king would come forth from him. Further, there was the promise that all nations would find their blessing in their relation to him (Abraham, his descendant, and the king). In many ways, the promise to Abraham is here found in a parallel fashion in the king. The first blessing is that his ‘name endure forever’ which, in the following line is understood as ‘increasing as long as the sun.’ It seems clear that the perpetuity of the king is likely here conceived of as one obtained by and through his perpetual descendants; that they will be, in a very real sense, not simply children of the king, but the king himself. His ‘name’ will continue in them. And, it will not only continue but partake of this ‘bounty’ we have been describing—it will ‘increase’. The king will be ‘perpetual’ in his children. As the first verse says, “O God, your justice give to the king, and your righteousness to the son of the king.” This perpetuity is then met with the “people” “blessing themselves in him.” Again, the kings that will flow from this first king will take their office not from their predecessor but from “him”. It is “his name”, in his sons, that many will bless themselves by. The resonances with Abraham are clear: the world finds its blessing “in him”. This king not only ‘endures’ but ‘increases’ and is the ‘blessing’ of the people. He, and himself in his descendants, fulfills the promise made to Abraham. We can repeat what we have already said many times: the blessing of this king is anything but static; it is dynamic and explosive (it “increases as long as the sun”). And it is a burning center of life for the peoples.