Psalms 72:10 - Exposition

The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents. "Tarshish" here is probably Tartessus in Spain, so well known to the Israelites in the days of Solomon ( 1 Kings 10:22 ; 2 Chronicles 9:21 ). According to Herodotus, Tartessus, when it first became known to the Greeks, was governed by kings (Herod; 1:163). By "the isles" are to be understood the coasts and islands of the Mediterranean generally. All these have, at one time or another, paid homage to Christ. The kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. "Sheba" and "Seba" are distinguished by the writer of Genesis ( Genesis 10:7 ), and appear not even to have been very near the one to the other. Sheba was in Southeastern Arabia, and was known to the Greeks and Romans as the country of the Sabaeans (Diod. Sic; 3.45; Strabo, 16.4, § 19; Pliny, 'Hist. Nat.,' 6.23). Saba was in Africa, on the Middle Nile, and the Sebaeans ( סְבָאִים ) are closely connected by Isaiah with Ethiopia and Egypt ( Isaiah 43:3 ; Isaiah 45:14 ).