Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 72:9
They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him; and his enemies shall lick the dust.
9. Let them that dwell in the wilderness bow down before him, And let his enemies lick the dust.
Even the wild Bedouin tribes that roam at large through the desert, the freest of the free, submit to his rule. LXX, Aq., Symm., Jer., render, Ethiopians, the Targ., Africans; but the term is quite general. There is no need to alter the text. Cp. Psa 74:14.
lick the dust ] I.e. prostrate themselves with their faces on the ground in abject submission. Cp. Mic 7:17; Isa 49:23.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him – The word rendered they that dwell in the wilderness – tsyym, means properly those who abide in deserts, dry places, solitudes; and it might be applied either to animals or to people. It is applied to the former in Isa 13:21 (see the notes at that place); Isa 23:13; Isa 34:14; Jer 50:39. In all these, except Isa 23:13, it is rendered wild beasts of the desert, denoting jackals, ostriches, etc.; but here, and in Psa 74:14, it is evidently applied to people, as denoting shepherds – nomadic tribes – people who have no permanent home, but who wander from place to place. The idea is, that these wild, wandering, unsettled hordes would become subject to him, or would bow down and acknowledge his authority. This can be fulfilled only under the Messiah.
And his enemies shall lick the dust – This is expressive of the most thorough submission and abject humiliation. It is language derived from what seems actually to occur in Oriental countries, where people prostrate themselves on their faces, and place their mouths on the ground, in token of reverence or submission. Rosenmuller (Morgenland, vol. ii., pp. 82, 83) quotes a passage from Hugh Boyds Account of his embassage to Candy in Ceylon, where he says that when he himself came to show respect to the king, it was by kneeling before him. But this, says he, was not the case with other ambassadors. They almost literally licked the dust. They cast themselves on their faces on the stony ground, and stretched out their arms and legs; then they raised themselves upon their knees, and uttered certain forms of good wishes in the loudest tones – May the head of the king of kings reach above the sun; may he reign a thousand years. Compare the notes at Isa 49:23.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 72:9
His enemies shall lick the dust.
The enemies of Christ subdued
I. Who are the enemies of Christ?
1. Those who maintain sentiments contrary to the Gospel of Christ.
2. Those who endeavour to subvert His influence over His peoples hearts.
3. Those who refuse submission to His Gospel.
II. What will be the result of the conflict?
1. Over some He will triumph by His grace.
2. But those who reject all His overtures of mercy He will break in pieces like a potters vessel.
III. What assurance we have that such shall be the issue of the conflict.
1. His own resistless power.
2. His unimpeachable veracity. (Evangelical Preacher.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 9. They that dwell in the wilderness] The tsiyim, termed Ethiopians by the Vulgate, Septuagint, AEthiopic, and Arabic. The Syriac terms them the islands. But it is likely that those who dwell by the sea-coasts, and support themselves by navigation and fishing, are here intended.
His enemies shall lick the dust.] Shall be so completely subdued, that they shall be reduced to the most abject state of vassalage, till they shall become proselytes to the Jewish faith.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
In the wilderness; in solitary places; even rude and barbarous people, who lived without order and government among themselves; of which sort great numbers submitted to Christ, and received the gospel.
Shall lick the dust, i.e. shall prostrate themselves to the ground, in token of reverence and subjection, as the custom of the Eastern people was. See Isa 49:23; Mic 7:17.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
9-11. The extent of theconquests.
They that dwell in thewildernessthe wild, untutored tribes of deserts.
bow . . . dustinprofound submission. The remotest and wealthiest nations shallacknowledge Him (compare Ps45:12).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him,…. In token of subjection to him, reverence and worship of him, to whom every knee shall bow, Isa 45:23. The Septuagint version, and others, render the word , “Ethiopians”, who dwell in a dry land, parched and burnt with the sun; and so it is a prophecy of their conversion to Christ, as in Ps 68:31; of which there is an instance, Ac 8:27; the word is used of the wild beasts of the field, in Isa 13:21; to which wicked men, for the malignity of their nature, may be compared; as they are to the wild ass, to lions, leopards, and bears; and yet these are so tamed by the power of divine grace as to be made subject to Christ. Kimchi explains it as we do, of the inhabitants of the wilderness; and so the word is rendered in Ps 74:14; and instances in the Kedarenes; and it may in particular design those that dwell in the deserts of Arabia; and in general the Gentiles, the wilderness of the people, who in Gospel times should be brought to the knowledge of Christ, and submission to him: and it fitly describes the people of God in an unregenerate state; when they are as barren and unfruitful as the dry and parched ground, and as the heath in the wilderness; are in want of provision, and have nothing but husks to feed upon; in perplexity of ways, and know not which to take, or whither they are going; and in very dangerous circumstances, destruction and misery being in all their ways: in this wilderness state the Lord finds them, as he did Israel of old, and leads them about, and brings them to Christ; when they submit to him as a Saviour, being willing to be saved by him, and him only, and to his righteousness, as their justifying righteousness before God, and to the sceptre of his kingdom, to his laws and commands, to his Gospel, and the ordinances of it; all which they do not by constraint, but willingly. The Targum and Jarchi interpret it, the one of governors of provinces; the other of companies of princes. The Syriac version is, “the isles shall bow before him”; the inhabitants of the islands: but this is expressed in Ps 72:10. Aben Ezra thinks masters of ships are meant;
and his enemies shall lick the dust; of the earth; which is an instance of their great subjection to him; see Isa 49:23; the allusion is to the custom of the eastern people, and which continues to this day with the Turks, that as soon as an ambassador sees the sultan, whether at the window, or elsewhere, he immediately falls down on his knees, and kisses the ground a. The Jews particularly are the enemies of Christ, who rejected him, and would not have him to reign over them; and yet some of these became obedient to the faith of Christ, and more of them, even the whole nation, will in the latter day: all that are Christ’s are, before conversion, enemies to him, to his people, to his Gospel and ordinances, to him as a King, and to all his laws and commands; but when his arrows are sharp in their hearts, they fall under him, and submit to him; throw off the yoke of sin, Satan, and the world, and own him, and obey him, as their King and Lawgiver.
a Mandevil. Itinerar. c. 7.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
This third strophe contains prospects, the ground of which is laid down in the fourth. The position of the futures here becomes a different one. The contemplation passes from the home relations of the new government to its foreign relations, and at the same time the wishes are changed into hopes. The awe-commanding dominion of the king shall stretch even into the most distant corners of the desert. is used both for the animals and the men who inhabit the desert, to be determined in each instance by the context; here they are men beyond all dispute, but in Psa 74:14; Isa 23:13, it is matter of controversy whether men or beasts are meant. Since the lxx, Aquila, Symmachus, and Jerome here, and the lxx and Jerome in Psa 74:14, render , the nomadic tribes right and left of the Arabian Gulf seem traditionally to have been associated in the mind with this word, more particularly the so-called Ichthyophagi. These shall bend the knee reverentially before him, and those who contend against him shall be compelled at last to veil their face before him in the dust. The remotest west and south become subject and tributary to him, viz., the kings of Tartessus in the south of Spain, rich in silver, and of the islands of the Mediterranean and the countries on its coasts, that is to say, the kings of the Polynesian portion of Europe, and the kings of the Cushitish or of the Joktanitish and of the Cushitish , as, according to Josephus, the chief city of Mero was called (vid., Genesis, S. 206). It was a queen of that Joktanitish, and therefore South Arabian Sheba, – perhaps, however, more correctly (vid., Wetzstein in my Isaiah, ii. 529) of the Cushitish (Nubian) Sheba, – whom the fame of Solomon’s wisdom drew towards him, 1 Kings 10. The idea of their wealth in gold and in other precious things is associated with both peoples. In the expression (to pay tribute, 2Ki 17:3, cf. Psa 3:4) the tribute is not conceived of as rendered in return for protection afforded (Maurer, Hengstenberg, and Olshausen), nor as an act repeated periodically (Rdiger, who refers to 2Ch 27:5), but as a bringing back, i.e., repayment of a debt, referre s . reddere debitum (Hupfeld), after the same idea according to which obligatory incomings are called reditus (revenues). In the synonymous expression the presentation appears as an act of sacrifice. signifies in Eze 27:15 a payment made in merchandise, here a rent or tribute due, from , which in blending with the Aleph prostheticum has passed over into by means of a shifting of the sound after the Arabic manner, just as in the verb , to interweave, passes over into (Rdiger in Gesenius’ Thesaurus). In Psa 72:11 hope breaks through every bound: everything shall submit to his world-subduing sceptre.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(9) They that dwell in the wilderness. . . .The Hebrew word in other places is used of wild animals (Psa. 74:14; Isa. 23:13). Here apparently it refers to the nomad tribes wandering over the desert. The LXX. and ancient versions generally have thiopians.
Lick the dust.The allusion is to the Eastern etiquette of prostration before a sovereign.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
9. Wilderness Of Arabia, as in Psa 74:14. The Arabian tribes, from immemorial ages, have been a wild, independent, and unconquerable people, and their willing submission is here a notable feature.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 72:9. In the wilderness ziim, is derived from a root, which signifies to be dry or thirsty, and is applied to barren grounds or desarts, parched up for want of springs and rains; and it means here, and in the next verse, where it is rendered isles, the inhabitants of those desert countries, and particularly the people and kings of Arabia Deserta. The kings of Arabia are expressly said to bring gifts, or pay tribute to Solomon, 1Ki 10:15. Sheba and Seba are also countries of Arabia. The queen of Sheba brought him the most valuable presents. To lick the dust, signifies to prostrate themselves before the king, and kiss the ground, in token of reverence towards him; as was, and still is the custom of the eastern nations. D’Herbelot informs us, that kissing the feet, and lying prostrate in the dust before a person, were very ancient customs in the east; and it appears that they were not mere expressions of reverence, but (which is not well known) of vassalage; and kissing the earth, of the most abject vassalage, sometimes arising from the low rank of those who paid their homage, and sometimes from dejectedness and adulation. When, therefore, the Psalmist says, He shall have dominion, &c. he marks out extent of empire: When he adds, they that dwell in the wilderness shall bow, &c. it would be extremely wrong to suppose that he is only specifying one particular part of that extensive authority, which he had before expressed in general terms; for he greatly enlarges the thought. It is equivalent to saying, that those wild Arabs, whom the greatest conquerors could never tame, shall bow before him, or become his vassals; nay, his enemies, and consequently these Arabs, among the rest, shall lick the dust, or court him with the most abject subjection. See Observations, p. 254 and Isa 49:23. It is added in the 11th verse, that all kings shall fall down before him; which, in the highest sense, can relate only to Christ, the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. See Mat 1:11; Mat 12:42.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psa 72:9 They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him; and his enemies shall lick the dust.
Ver. 9. They that dwell in the wilderness ] Wild, barbarous, rude people; such as were the ancient Britons our progenitors, till Christ, the Sun of righteousness, shone upon them, till they were brought to the obedience of faith; Tunc enim sensim evanuit feritas, indies exulavit immanitas, corruit crudelitas, &c., for then it was otherwise (Bond in Horat.).
And his enemies shall lick the dust
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
lick the dust. Put by Figure of speech Metonymy (of the Adjunct), App-6, for utter subjugation.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 72:9-12
Psa 72:9-12
THE EXTENT OF HIS DOMINION
“They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him;
And his enemies shall lick his dust.
The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall render tribute:
The kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts.
Yea, all kings shall fall down before him;
All nations shall serve him.
For he will deliver the needy when he crieth,
And the poor that hath no helper.”
“All his enemies shall lick his dust” (Psa 72:9). It is very difficult to credit anyone except David with a remark like this.
“Kings of Tarshish … the isles … of Sheba and Seba” (Psa 72:11). Through his marriages to the daughters of many kings, Solomon did indeed bring many rulers of the world into the periphery of his power.
“Tarshish” was a Phoenician colony on the south coast of Spain, and there is no evidence available to us that Solomon’s dominion ever extended to the westernmost nation of Europe.
“Sheba and Seba” might well have been under Solomon’s dominion. “Sheba was in southern Arabia and Seba was in Ethiopia.
All of the places mentioned here, at one time or another, have paid homage to the Lord Jesus Christ.
“All kings shall fall down before him” (Psa 72:11). Nothing like this ever happened either to Solomon or to Christ; but it will yet be fulfilled, as in Rev 6:15-17.
“He will deliver the needy … and the poor” (Psa 72:12). Again, this note of special concern for the poor and needy is sounded in this psalm. We do not have much information about how Solomon’s kingship conformed to this pattern; but certainly, that of Christ is truly prefigured here. He announced great blessings upon “the poor in spirit,” and upon “the poor,” and “the meek,” “the persecuted,” “the fatherless,” and “the widows.”
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 72:9. People will be encouraged to come from obscure places to serve such a king. On the other hand, those who persist in opposing him shall lick the dust which is a figure denoting their humiliating defeat.
Psa 72:10. Tarshish, Sheba and Seba were towns having kings ruling In them. Shall offer gifts means these kings will be induced to offer the usual tokens of recognition. See Gen 32:13 and 1Sa 10:27 for comments on this subject.
Psa 72:11. This has the same meaning as the preceding verse except that it is general in designating who would bring the gifts.
Psa 72:12. God will not help a man on the mere fact that he is poor and needy, for those conditions do not prove that he is worthy. The connection shows that David was considering those who had been imposed upon because they were poor and therefore were in need of help, it being understood that they were worthy characters.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
They that: 1Ki 9:18, 1Ki 9:20, 1Ki 9:21, Isa 35:1, Isa 35:2
his enemies: Psa 2:9, Psa 21:8, Psa 21:9, Psa 110:1, Psa 110:6, Luk 19:27
lick: Isa 49:23, Mic 7:17
Reciprocal: Gen 3:14 – dust Gen 22:17 – thy seed Gen 24:26 – General Gen 43:26 – bowed 2Sa 22:44 – head Psa 74:14 – meat Psa 95:6 – worship Isa 18:7 – shall the Isa 23:13 – for them Isa 45:24 – and all Isa 52:15 – kings Mat 2:1 – from Mar 5:6 – he ran Luk 20:43 – General Act 2:35 – thy foes
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 72:9. They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him That is, that inhabit solitary places. The Hebrew word, , tziim, here used,
(from , tziah siccitas, dryness, or a dry place,) is applied to barren grounds or deserts, parched up for want of springs and rains, and it here signifies the inhabitants of such countries, and particularly the people and kings of Arabia Deserta. These were tributary to Solomon, 1Ki 10:15, and great numbers of them submitted to Christ, and received his gospel. And his enemies shall lick the dust Shall prostrate themselves to the ground in token of reverence and subjection to him, as was the custom of the eastern people.