Psalms 72:10

10 The western kings of Tarshish and other distant lands will bring him tribute. The eastern kings of Sheba and Seba will bring him gifts.

Psalms 72:10 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 72:10

The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents,
&c.] Tarshish either signifies the sea, as it is sometimes rendered in the Targum; and then the sense is, the kings of the sea, that is, of the islands of the sea, as it follows, shall be subject to the kingdom of Christ; and, as a token of it, bring presents to him, as the Moabites and Syrians did to David, and as several nations and kings did to Solomon, ( 2 Samuel 8:2 ) ( 1 Kings 4:21 ) ; or it designs a large country inhabited by the Celtae ^F2, and so is distinct from the islands; and then the sense is, that kings, both of the continent, and of the islands of the sea, shall do homage to the Messiah;

and the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts;
the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Ethiopic, and Arabic versions, render it, "the kings of the Arabians and Saba"; and so Apollinarius, the Arabians, and Sabeans, these being places in Arabia Felix and Petraea ^F3: this will be fulfilled when the kings of the earth shall bring their honour and glory into the New Jerusalem, ( Revelation 21:24 ) . This, and the preceding verse, are interpreted of the Messiah by the ancient Jews ^F4; who say ^F5, that all the gifts that Jacob their father gave to Esau, the nations of the world shall return them to the King Messiah in time to come, according to the sense of these words; where it is not written "they shall bring"; but (whyvy) ^F6, "they shall return [presents]".

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FOOTNOTES:

F2 Hiller. Onomast. p. 944.
F3 Hiller. ibid. p. 165, 920.
F4 Zohar in Gen. fol. 71. 1.
F5 Bereshit Rabba, s. 78. fol. 69. 1. Bemidbar Rabba, s. 13. fol. 210.
F6 "Redire facient, vel reddant", Muis.

Psalms 72:10 In-Context

8 May he reign from sea to sea, and from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth.

9 Desert nomads will bow before him; his enemies will fall before him in the dust.

10 The western kings of Tarshish and other distant lands will bring him tribute. The eastern kings of Sheba and Seba will bring him gifts.

11 All kings will bow before him, and all nations will serve him.

12 He will rescue the poor when they cry to him; he will help the oppressed, who have no one to defend them.