psalm 2
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Psalm 2:1-3: Why do the nations rage, And the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, And the rulers take counsel together, Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us break Their bonds in pieces And cast away Their cords from us.”
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In Psalm 2, this concept of history as conspiracy is briefly summarized. It should be noted that no other psalm is more frequently quoted in the New Testament; Revelation is in a sense an expansion of the same vision. Psalm 2 was written by David in terms of a personal and national event, and he saw the cosmic crisis behind the local affair. The whole world is seen as organized against the Lord and in deliberate opposition to His rule, for David sees, not himself, but the Lord Messiah as the true king. In verses 1-3, the worldly conference of the conspiracy is depicted: "Why do the heathen (or nations) rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?" The nations rage against their bondage to God, and they take counsel or conspire against God and His Christ, planning to create their own world order and law in contempt of Him. [SOURCE: Chalcedon: http://chalcedon.edu/topics/conspiracy/]
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Why do the nations rage: The psalmist seems genuinely mystified. The nations have no reason to rage against God, and they have no benefit in raging against Him. Their opposition against God is nothing but a vain thing.
The rulers take counsel together: Since the time of Babel, men have continued to band themselves together against God. Their mistaken belief is that two or more men united against God have a better chance than one man set against God. -Enduring Word
The rulers take counsel together: Since the time of Babel, men have continued to band themselves together against God. Their mistaken belief is that two or more men united against God have a better chance than one man set against God. -Enduring Word
The banded enemies are rebels, and the revolt is widespread; for the "kings of the earth" is a very comprehensive, if we may not even say a universal, expression. If taken in connection with "the uttermost parts of the earth" (verse 8), which are the King's rightful dominion, it implies a sweep of authority and a breadth of opposition quite beyond any recorded facts. Authorship and date must be left undetermined.
The true basis of the psalm is not some petty revolt of subject tribes, even if such could be adduced, but Nathan's prophecy in II Samuel 7, which sets forth the dignity and dominion of the King of Israel as God's son and representative.
The first three verses of Psalm 2 the conspiracy of banded rebels is set before us with extraordinary force. the singer does no delay to tell what he sees, but breaks into a question of astonished indignation as to what can be the cause of it all. Then, in a series of swift clauses, of which the vivid movement cannot be preserved in a translation, he lets us see what has moved him. The masses of the "nations" are hurrying tumultuously to the mustering place; the "peoples" are meditating revolt, which is smitingly stigmatised in anticipation as "vanity." But it is no mere uprising of the common herd; "the kings of the earth" take their stand as in battle-array, and the men of mark and influence lay their heads together, pressing close to one another on the divan as they plot. All classes and orders are united in revolt, and hurry and eagerness mark their action and throb in the words. The rule against which revolt is directed is that of "Jehovah and His anointed." That is one rule, not to,--the dominion of Jehovah exercised through the Messiah. The psalmist has grasped firmly the conception that God's visible rule is wielded by Messiah, so that rebellion against one is rebellion against both.
When we can vote ourselves out of submission to physical law, we may plot or fight ourselves out of the subjection to reign of Jehovah and His anointed. All the self-will in the world does not alter the fact that the authority of Christ is sovereign over human wills. We cannot get away from it; but we can either lovingly embrace it, and then it is our life, or we can set ourselves against it, like an obstinate ox planting its feet and standing stock-still, and then the goad is driven deep and draws blood.
The metaphor of bands and cords is taken from the fastenings of the yoke on a draught bullock. One can scarcely miss the lovely contrast of this truculent exhortation to rebellion with the gracious summons "Take my yoke upon you and learn of me." The bands are already on or necks in a very real sense, for we are all under Christ's authority, and opposition is rebellion, not the effort to prevent a yoke being imposed, but to shake off the one already on.
The true basis of the psalm is not some petty revolt of subject tribes, even if such could be adduced, but Nathan's prophecy in II Samuel 7, which sets forth the dignity and dominion of the King of Israel as God's son and representative.
The first three verses of Psalm 2 the conspiracy of banded rebels is set before us with extraordinary force. the singer does no delay to tell what he sees, but breaks into a question of astonished indignation as to what can be the cause of it all. Then, in a series of swift clauses, of which the vivid movement cannot be preserved in a translation, he lets us see what has moved him. The masses of the "nations" are hurrying tumultuously to the mustering place; the "peoples" are meditating revolt, which is smitingly stigmatised in anticipation as "vanity." But it is no mere uprising of the common herd; "the kings of the earth" take their stand as in battle-array, and the men of mark and influence lay their heads together, pressing close to one another on the divan as they plot. All classes and orders are united in revolt, and hurry and eagerness mark their action and throb in the words. The rule against which revolt is directed is that of "Jehovah and His anointed." That is one rule, not to,--the dominion of Jehovah exercised through the Messiah. The psalmist has grasped firmly the conception that God's visible rule is wielded by Messiah, so that rebellion against one is rebellion against both.
When we can vote ourselves out of submission to physical law, we may plot or fight ourselves out of the subjection to reign of Jehovah and His anointed. All the self-will in the world does not alter the fact that the authority of Christ is sovereign over human wills. We cannot get away from it; but we can either lovingly embrace it, and then it is our life, or we can set ourselves against it, like an obstinate ox planting its feet and standing stock-still, and then the goad is driven deep and draws blood.
The metaphor of bands and cords is taken from the fastenings of the yoke on a draught bullock. One can scarcely miss the lovely contrast of this truculent exhortation to rebellion with the gracious summons "Take my yoke upon you and learn of me." The bands are already on or necks in a very real sense, for we are all under Christ's authority, and opposition is rebellion, not the effort to prevent a yoke being imposed, but to shake off the one already on.
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Psalm 2:4:
He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The Lord shall hold them in derision. Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, And distress them in His deep displeasure: 6 “Yet I have set My King On My holy hill of Zion.” |
At times in the past, the conflict between church and state has been an institutional conflict, sometimes for power, and often for very principled reasons of jurisdiction. It is more than a jurisdictional dispute now: it is religious conflict, and a war unto death. The modern humanistic state is history’s most jealous god, and it will tolerate no rivals. Hence, its war against Christianity. In this struggle, however, the state has taken on a power far greater than itself. As the humanistic world powers take “counsel together against the LORD, and against His anointed,” planning to overthrow His law and government, “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the LORD shall have them in derision” (Ps. 2:4). He shall break His enemies with a rod of iron [SOURCE: Chalcedon: http://chalcedon.edu/topics/christianity-and-the-state-2/]
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God "laughs" at the vain and futile efforts of man to escape from the control of his laws and throw off his dominion (comp. Psalm 37:13; Psalm 59:8). It is impossible that these efforts should succeed. Men must obey God willingly, or else unwillingly. The Lord (Adonay in the ordinary Hebrew text, but a large number of manuscripts have Jehovah) shall have them in derision. "Laughter" and "derision" are, of course, anthropo-morphisms. It is meant that God views with contempt and scorn man's weak attempts at rebellion. --Pulpit Commentary
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God’s laughter gives us the assurance that Christ will ultimately triumph over evil. Any defiance of Him and His will is futile. Instead of opposing the Son, we should submit to the Lord Jesus and take refuge in Him.
God dwells in light and holiness, In splendor and in might; It's godly fear of His great power That helps us do what's right. -D. De Haan |
God is a mocker. God does more than rage against arrogance; he plans on humiliating it. Psalm 37:12-13: The wicked plotted against the just, and gnashes upon him with his teeth. The Lord shall laugh at him: for he seeth that his day is coming.
Hot with hatred, flushed with defiant self-confidence and busy with plots, the rebels hurry together like swarming ants on their hillock. "He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh." That representation of the seated God contrasts grandly with the stir on earth. He needs not to rise from His throned tranquility, but regards undisturbed the disturbances of earth.
The attribution of such action to Him is so bold that no danger of misunderstanding is possible,. It sends us at once to look for its translation, which probably lies in the thought of the essential ludicrousness of opposition, which is discerned in heaven to be so utterly groundless and hopeless as to be absurd.
Gods laughter passes into the utterance of His wrath at the time determined by Him. The silence is broken by His voice, and the motionless form flashes into action. One movement is enough to "vex" the enemies and fling them into panic, as a flock of birds put to flight by the lifting of an arm. There is a point, known to God alone, when He perceived that the fullness of time has come, and the opposition must be ended. By long-drawn-out, gentle patience He sought to win to obedience (though that side of His dealings is not presented in this psalm), but the moment arrives when in world-wide catastrophes or crushing blows on individuals sleeping retribution wakes at the right moment, determined by considerations inappreciable by us: "Then does he speak in His wrath."
The attribution of such action to Him is so bold that no danger of misunderstanding is possible,. It sends us at once to look for its translation, which probably lies in the thought of the essential ludicrousness of opposition, which is discerned in heaven to be so utterly groundless and hopeless as to be absurd.
Gods laughter passes into the utterance of His wrath at the time determined by Him. The silence is broken by His voice, and the motionless form flashes into action. One movement is enough to "vex" the enemies and fling them into panic, as a flock of birds put to flight by the lifting of an arm. There is a point, known to God alone, when He perceived that the fullness of time has come, and the opposition must be ended. By long-drawn-out, gentle patience He sought to win to obedience (though that side of His dealings is not presented in this psalm), but the moment arrives when in world-wide catastrophes or crushing blows on individuals sleeping retribution wakes at the right moment, determined by considerations inappreciable by us: "Then does he speak in His wrath."
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Psalm 2:7-9:
“I will declare the decree: The Lord has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. 8 Ask of Me, and I will give You The nations for Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth for Your possession. 9 You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’” |
The word rendered "break" may also be translated with a different set of vowels, "shepherd," and is so rendered by the LXX and by some other versions. But, in view of the parallelism of the next clause, "break" is to be preferred. The truth of Christ's destructive energy is too often thrown forward into another world. The history of the world ever since the Resurrection has been but a record of conquered antagonism to Him. The stone cut out without hands has dashed against the images of clay and silver and gold and broken them all. The Gospel of Christ is the great solvent of institutions not based upon itself. Its work is :
"To cast the kingdoms old into another mould." Destructive work has still to be done, and its most terrible energy is to be displayed in the future, when all opposition shall be withered into nothingness by the brightness of His presence. There are two kinds of breaking: a merciful one, when His love shatters our pride and breaks into penitence the earthen vessels of our hearts; and a terrible one, when the weight of His sceptre crushes, and His hand casts down in shivers "vessels of wrath, fitted to destruction." |
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Psalm 2:9:
You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’ |
The history of the word ever since the resurrection has been but a record of conquered antagonism to Him. The stone cut without hands has dashed the images of clay and silver and gold and broken them all. The Gospel of Christ is the great solvent of institutions not based upon itself. destructive work still has to be done, and its most terrible energy is to be displayed in the future , when all opposition shall be withered into nothingness by the brightness of His presence.
There are two kinds of breaking: a merciful one, when His love shatters our pride and breaks into penitence the earthen vessels of our hearts; and a terrible one, when the with of His sceptre crushes, and His hand casts down in shivers "vessels of wrath, fitted to destruction." |
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Psalm 2:10-11:
Now therefore, be wise, O kings; Be instructed, you judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, And rejoice with trembling. |
The poet speaks in solemn exhortation: "Be ye wise now, ye kings." The "now" is argumentative, not temporal. It means "since things are so." The kings addressed are the rebel monarchs whose power seems so puny against that of "my King." But not only these are addressed, but all possessors of power and influence. The maddest thing a man can do is to shut his eyes to them and steel his heart against their instruction.
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Psalm 2:12:
Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him |
If you put your trust in Him, you are already blessed. "kiss the Son"= to lay hold of, reverence, appeal to Him for mercy. God will not forever tolerate a nonreciprocal relationship.
The expression "put their trust" literally means to take refuge in. The act of trust cannot be more beautifully or forcibly described than as a flight to the soul of God. They who take shelter in God need fear no kindling anger. |
