Why are the nations in tumultuous agitation, and [why] do the peoples meditate a vain thing?
Psalm 2 opens with a question rather than a statement: why are the nations in uproar, and what do they expect to gain? The psalm answers its own question, and the answer ends with God's King set on Zion.
Older translations read "heathen" where the ESV has "nations." One commentator explains the word and gives a more literal rendering of the line.
The word translated "heathen" often appears in the Old Testament for the various nations of the earth apart from Israel. A more literal translation renders the opening words like this: "Why are the nations in tumultuous agitation, and why do the peoples meditate a vain thing?" With this simple explanation the words become clear. They say just what any one of us might want to ask about the agitated nations of today.
One word ties this verse to the psalm before it. Where the ESV has "plot," older translations read "imagine."
"Imagine" in Psalm 2 is the same word as "meditate" in Psalm 1:2.
Nations fight for many reasons, and those reasons change with each generation. The psalm looks under all of that to something that never changes.
There are countless causes of strife among the nations. They lie on the surface of things, and they vary from age to age, even from year to year. The inspired psalmist probes beneath the surface. He sees that the real root of it all is the built-in lawlessness of fallen man. It is the desire to be rid of any restraint that the Lord and His Anointed might place on them. This lawlessness is the very essence of sin.
The verse calls the plotting empty before it says how it ends. The rest of the psalm shows why.
The nations rage, the peoples plot in vain; the kings of the earth and the rulers would break free from the bonds of Jehovah and His Anointed. But this rising only brings wrath and displeasure, and all resistance to it will fail. He who sits in the heavens will laugh; Adonai scorns them. Despite it all, Jehovah has set His King on His holy hill of Zion. Such is the sure counsel of God made good by His power. Man's pride in resisting only brings his own ruin.
History has already seen this coalition once. One writer points to the crucifixion, and to a further alliance still to come.
The first stanza (Psalm 2:1-3) predicts that Israel and the nations will join in open resistance to the claims of Jehovah and His Anointed. The earthly powers agree together to break their bonds and throw off their cords. This prediction came true when Jews and Gentiles joined to crucify the Messiah, Jehovah's Anointed, and the apostles quoted it that way in their prayer to the Lord (Acts 4:24-28). The evil alliance against Jehovah and His Christ foretold in this psalm will have a further fulfilment in the future agreement between the Jews who have turned from God and the head of the revived fourth Gentile empire (Revelation 13).
after_note: DELETE
Commentators differ on how far the events of Acts 4 match the psalm's own scope.
Their quotation from Psalm 2 does not apply directly. The psalm speaks of the bitter hostility of Gentiles, Israel, kings and rulers at the time of the coming tribulation. Yet the rulers of Israel were already showing that hostility... But in beautiful triumph the disciples add, "to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place." The emptiness of man's hostility and pride is tragic: it is God in control, not they.
The psalm does not leave its opening question hanging.
This psalm does not merely ask the question. It answers it in full. What is more, the answer comes with prophetic insight that goes to the root of things. It also gives foresight that carries us to the end of things, when the agitation and rage of the nations will cease. If we profit by this prophetic insight — above all if we see the contrast between this psalm and Psalm 1 — we shall gain much moral instruction. And if we profit by the foresight it gives, we will not be too troubled, even while we live in the middle of the unrest.
- Question. The verse asks why the nations rage, and what their plotting can ever achieve. Any reader could ask the same about the news today.
- Root. The surface causes of strife change from year to year. Under them lies the built-in lawlessness of fallen man: the wish to be free of any restraint from the Lord and His Anointed.
- Empty. The plotting is empty because it fails. All resistance runs into wrath, and man's presumption only brings his own ruin.
- Fulfilled. Jews and Gentiles united to crucify God's Anointed, and the first believers prayed this psalm in Acts 4. Commentators differ on whether the psalm reached its full scope then, or waits for a last alliance still to come.
- Settled. God has set His King on His holy hill. Take in the psalm's foresight, and you need not be shaken while the noise goes on.
The kings of the earth set themselves, and the princes plot together, against Jehovah and against his anointed
Psalm 2 opens with the world in revolt against God, and verse 2 names who is behind it: not mobs, but kings and rulers, sitting down to plan. Who is this "Anointed" they plot against, and what do they hope to gain?
The verse names "kings of the earth" and "rulers." One writer reads these as Gentiles and Jews, and points to the day two old enemies became friends:
The Gentiles are "the nations" of verse 1 and "the kings of the earth" of verse 2. The Jews are "the peoples" of verse 1 and "the rulers" of verse 2. They agree together, but only in carrying out the oppressive persecution of the Lord's Anointed. If we turn to Luke 23:12 we find that "Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that very day." What were they made friends about? They wished to put out the light of grace and truth which shone in the Person of the Lord's Anointed. That brought them together and made them friends, who had been enemies before.
One writer explains the word and what the anointing means:
I change the word "Anointed" to "Messiah," as the more usual and correct word for the Psalms. Messiah and Christ both mean "the Anointed." The former is Hebrew, the latter Greek. The anointing is consecration. In His case, first as Prophet, for He carries the word of the Most High. Second as Priest, the one who leads divine worship. Third as King, the one who governs. "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power" (Acts 10:38).
The next verse states their aim: to break bands and cords. One writer explains what those cords are:
What do they plot together to do? To break in pieces the bonds and cords of God's restraining power (v. 3). Men do not see God at work restraining evil, but they feel it in their consciences, and many resent it deeply. They try hard to silence conscience. They refuse any reference to God's word, which they say is an intrusion into their private rights. They see this as an effort to tie them up when they want to be free to do as they please. In this the nations — people, kings and rulers — unite together, intending to do away with the authority of God.
The first believers prayed these words back to God and saw them fulfilled in their own day:
The first stanza (Ps. 2:1-3) predicts the coalition of Israel and the nations in defiant resistance to the claims of Jehovah and His Anointed. The united counsel of the earthly powers is to break Their bands and cast away Their cords. This prediction came true when Jews and Gentiles joined together to crucify the Messiah, Jehovah's Anointed. The apostles quoted it that way in their prayer to the Lord (Acts 4:24-28). This Psalm also foretells a further evil alliance against Jehovah and His Christ. It is a future agreement between the Jews who have turned away from God and the head of the restored fourth Gentile empire (Rev. 13).
Verse 4 shows God's reaction to all this plotting:
The Scriptures do not often present God as laughing. Three times in the Psalms they do, and once in Proverbs. In each case the same thing is in view. If men refuse His mercy, if they mistreat His people, if they lawlessly deny Him and His Anointed and mock His authority and His Word, He will judge them in due season. And not only judge them, but cast them down in a way that makes them supremely ridiculous, objects of derision to all created intelligences. The "laugh" will be on God's side in that day.
Their planning runs into a decision already made. The same writer points to one word in verse 6:
The ragings, the imaginations, the counsel taken by kings and rulers, all comes to nothing, and God's counsel stands. His purposes are not delayed one hour, and His King is set exactly as intended upon His holy hill of Zion. The word "set" is literally "anointed," as the margin of a reference Bible shows. The rulers and the kings will depart in judgment, the shouting and the tumult will die, and Jehovah's King will be anointed according to the decree.
Writers see the psalm reaching beyond Calvary to a final, open version of the same alliance:
Even today the nations are throwing aside the truth of the word of God as of no serious consequence. So after the Lord takes believers home to heaven at the Rapture, the kings of the earth will be fully ready to "set themselves" in determined hostility against God (v. 2). God's anointed King also, who was once cast out and crucified, will be the object of their hatred, for they know they have not really got rid of Him. Though they rejected Him from the earth, He has been received in heaven, though they don't like to admit it.
- Counsel — The rebellion is deliberate, not accidental: kings and rulers sit down and plan against the LORD and His Anointed.
- Cords — What they want broken is God's restraint, felt in conscience and resented as an intrusion on their freedom.
- Christ — "Anointed" is Messiah in Hebrew, Christ in Greek: God's consecrated Prophet, Priest and King.
- Cross — Pilate and Herod became friends over one thing, and the apostles prayed this psalm as fulfilled in the death of Jesus.
- Crown — Their counsel comes to nothing; God's counsel stands, and the King they refused is anointed on Zion exactly as decreed.
Let us break their bonds asunder, and cast away their cords from us!
Psalm 2 opens with the nations in uproar. Verse 3 gives the words of the revolt — spoken not by one tyrant but by the whole human race. So what are these "bonds" and "cords"? Who put them there? And what happens to those who throw them off?
These are not chains put on by an enemy. The "their" of the verse points back to the Lord and His Anointed — this is God's own hold on people.
In Psalm 2 the kings and the rulers of the earth take counsel together against the Lord and against His Anointed. They say, "Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us" — that is, the bonds and cords in which God held and restrained them.
Men do not feel this restraint as an outward force. They feel it inside, in the conscience — and they resent it.
Men do not see God at work restraining evil, yet they feel it in their consciences. Many resent this. They try hard to silence conscience and to shut out every reference to God's word, which they call an intrusion into their private rights! They consider this an effort to bind them by cords when they want to be free to do as they please.
Nations quarrel over a thousand shifting issues. Verse 3 goes underneath all of them to name one cause.
The inspired Psalmist probes beneath the surface. He sees that the real root of it all is the inborn lawlessness of fallen man — the desire to be rid of the restraint which the Lord and His Anointed might impose on them. This lawlessness is the very essence of sin.
The motive is not intellectual. It is practical — men want room for what they already know will not stand inspection.
The psalm shows the nations in an uproar against God and against Christ, trying in vain to throw off divine authority and restraint. They say, "Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us." Men want to banish every public recognition of God so they can pursue desires that, as conscience tells them, will not bear the light of God. In Acts 4:26-27 the Spirit of God applies this Scripture to the rejection of Christ by "the Gentiles, and the people of Israel." Men formed this alliance against God and Christ at the cross, and it is still the principle that governs the world.
Few people today say these words out loud. But the same attitude shows up in how people handle the Bible.
God holds and exercises the consciences of men by His Word. But suppose men refuse to accept the Word as the Word, and claim the right to keep or reject whatever parts suit their moods and whims. What hold has God upon them then? They have in this cast away His cords from them and burst His bonds apart, and they imagine that they are free.
The Psalm looks forward as well as back. Commentators expect the loose drift of today to harden into one deliberate act.
There is to be one last great rising against Jehovah and against His Christ. Its aim is to rid mankind once for all of those bonds and cords. Men feel them to be leftovers from a less enlightened, less scientific age, and so an unbearable check on human progress and glory. A day is coming when almost the whole world will treat the Christian religion as a leftover from a darker age, no longer to be tolerated.
The verse treats God's limits as an insult. Read the other way round, those limits are the reason the world still stands.
God Himself places restrictions upon men, and when God acts in this way men begin to say, "Let us burst Their bonds apart, and cast away Their cords from us." Yet how thankful we should be for the restraining hand of God! In creation and in the moral realm we owe much to the limits God sets in His power and His wisdom.
Heaven shows no alarm. The next verse answers the revolt.
This is how He will fight all man's enmity against Himself and against His Anointed. What divine irony! "Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us!" God answers: "He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision!"
- Cords — the bonds are God's own restraint on men, felt in the conscience, not chains from an enemy.
- Root — that wish to be rid of restraint is the deepest cause of human unrest, and it is the essence of sin.
- Motive — men push God out of public life to chase desires that cannot bear His light.
- Reach — that alliance took shape at the cross, still rules how men handle the Bible, and will end in one final rising.
- Result — the restraint men resent is the mercy that holds the world together, and God answers their revolt with laughter.
He that dwelleth in the heavens shall laugh, the Lord shall have them in derision.
In Psalm 2 God answers the world's revolt with a sound, not an army. It is laughter from a throne that nothing on earth can shake. The verse raises sharp questions. How can God laugh at rebellion? Who is the One sitting there? And why does the laughter not turn at once into judgment?
The psalm has just shown the nations in uproar and the kings taking counsel. Verse 4 turns from the noise below to the quiet above.
From a world in revolt we pass to the calm of heaven to learn God's thoughts of man's vain efforts. The great men of the earth — its political leaders, its scientists, its philosophers — may join together to throw off all recognition of God. But their efforts do not move Him. The Christ of God "sits in the heavens," and holds man's revolt in derision. Men rage on earth; God laughs in heaven. Human ideas here show us heaven's contempt for man's folly.
Laughter is a response to something absurd. The absurdity is the gap between what the rebels announce and what they can do.
Well might the God of heaven and earth laugh at their stupidity! For they are like little children who gather against their national government and tell the authorities, "We are cancelling every law you have ever passed. We will refuse to obey anything you say." Of course, this would only be laughable. They have no power to carry out their schemes. But it is amazing how long God bears with this evil before judging it outright.
The word behind "the Lord" in this verse is Adonai — a title of lordship, and one commentators connect with Christ exalted as man. Some therefore read the derision of this verse as His.
"He that sits in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall have them in derision." That is, Christ Himself shall have them in derision.
That seat explains why the psalm's threat has not yet fallen. The One whom men rejected on earth is waiting, not absent.
Heaven is silent till the appointed time comes. Here we have the exalted position of the rejected Christ, as in Psalm 110. He sits in the heavens. His place is at the right hand of God. He shares the Father's throne. In infinite patience He is waiting, silent about all that wicked men do in dishonouring His Name. But when the final rebellion takes place on earth, then He will laugh at them and hold them in derision.
Commentators differ on when the laughter comes. Some read it as heaven's present answer to man's folly. Others place it at the final rebellion.
God laughing is rare in Scripture, and it is never light-hearted. It points forward to a reversal that will be public.
The Bible rarely pictures God laughing. Three times in the Psalms they do so, and once in Proverbs, and in each case the same thing is in view. If men refuse His mercy, mistreat His people, and defy Him and His Anointed, mocking His authority and His Word, God will judge them in due season. He will not only judge them. He will bring them down in a way that makes them look utterly ridiculous — an object of scorn to every created being. The "laugh" will be on God's side in that day.
Between the laughter and the wrath, God is doing something the rebels never expected.
Futile and wicked effort! The murderous violence of man only fastens tighter the bands and cords he would tear apart. … But this is far from all in the second Psalm. Then He will speak to them in His wrath and terrify them in His fury. This, however, is not yet. God is not now sending judgments to punish their evil and crush their pride. Instead His grace is sending out the gospel — repentance and forgiveness of sins preached in the name of Jesus to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
If God is unshaken, the believer watching a hostile world can be unshaken too.
Eternal confusion will mark all the opposition of men and devils. This gives sweet rest to the heart, in a scene where everything seems so contrary to God and so contrary to faith. We look at the circumstances and influences around us in the world. Our spirits would often sink, if we did not have the settled assurance that "the wrath of man shall praise" the Lord.
- Seated — the nations rage below, but God does not stand up to defend Himself. He sits, and heaven stays calm. That calm shows how little the revolt threatens Him.
- Seated and laughing — the laughter is not cruelty. Rebels cancel God's authority with their words, but they have no power to do it.
- Seated as Christ — commentators name the One on the throne: the rejected Christ, now at God's right hand. He waits in patience for the appointed time.
- Seated while grace runs — the wrath has not come yet. In the meantime God is sending the gospel of forgiveness to all nations.
- Seated until He speaks — the silence will break. He will speak in wrath, and the mockers will become the mocked.
Then will he speak to them in his anger, and in his fierce displeasure will he terrify them
Psalm 2 has just shown heaven laughing at a world in revolt; now the laughter stops and God opens His mouth. That turn from patience to terror raises two questions: when does it happen, and why is God silent now?
The striking thing here is not that God acts, but that He speaks. Until then He stays quiet while men speak against Him.
God not only holds these efforts of men in derision, but the time is coming when God will "speak to them in His wrath." For long ages God has been speaking in grace. He has kept silent while man rebels against His authority. God, however, has not been indifferent to "all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him." God will break His silence. When God speaks it will be in wrath, showing "His fury," and men will be silent in terror.
Note the reversal. Now men speak and God is silent; then God speaks and men have nothing to say.
The verse does not say where God speaks from, or what He does next. One writer supplies both.
These worldly powers band together to throw off all allegiance to Jehovah and His Christ. Adonai (Jehovah's title as "Lord of all the earth") treats their plot with contempt (Ps. 2:4-6). He will speak to them in His wrath from heaven (see Heb. 12:25-26). They organise their hostility against Jehovah and His Anointed, and He answers by setting His King on Zion, His mountain of holiness. So the "counsel" of man's might and wisdom comes to nothing.
God's answer to the plot is not only wrath. It is a King set on His holy hill, and man's best plan comes to nothing.
The little word that opens the verse is a date-stamp. One writer marks what that word rules out: this wrath has not fallen yet.
Futile and wicked effort! The murderous violence of man only fastens tighter the bands and cords he wanted to burst. He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. But this is far from all in the second Psalm. Then He will speak to them in His wrath and terrify them in His fury. But this is not yet. Instead of judgments to punish their evil and overwhelm their pride, His grace is meanwhile sending out the gospel — repentance and forgiveness of sins preached in the name of Jesus to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
So the gap between verse 4 and verse 5 is the age we are living in. The delay is not weakness; it is the gospel going out.
That leaves the question of what kind of scene this is. One writer answers it by naming what this psalm is not.
Psalm 2 is the time when the judgment is ending, and the Son puts government right by the power of His wrath. "Now therefore, O kings, be wise," for if the Son's wrath kindles, all will be over with you. This has nothing to do with the gospel of God's grace. The kings of the earth are not in relationship with the Father and the Son, but in rebellion against Jehovah and His Christ. It is a direct question of judgment — the closing scene.
The verse is prophecy, not history yet. So the psalm's closing lines still offer men a way out.
Psalm 2 is a prophecy. What does it say? It says that the kings of the earth and the rulers are going to plot together against Jehovah and His Anointed. It says Jehovah will "speak to them in His wrath, and terrify them in His fury." If men do not "kiss the Son," they will perish "when His wrath is quickly kindled."
Older translations end that line "when His wrath is kindled but a little."
- Silence — God has been quiet through long ages of rebellion. That silence is grace, not indifference. He has kept account of every hard word spoken against Him.
- Speech — God speaks at last. He speaks from heaven as Lord of all the earth, and terror leaves men silent.
- Timing — "then" is not now. Between heaven's laughter and heaven's wrath, His grace sends the gospel to all nations.
- Judgment — the Son enforces government by His wrath. This scene is not the gospel of grace; it is the closing scene.
- Refuge — the "then" is still future, so the psalm's own answer stands open: kiss the Son before His wrath kindles.
And *I* have anointed my king upon Zion, the hill of my holiness.
God answers a world in revolt with one sentence. It is not an argument but an announcement: the throne is already given. Three questions follow. Who is this King? Why Zion? And how can God call a thing done that no one can yet see?
Verses 1–3 describe nations and rulers plotting to throw off God's authority. This verse is the reply, and its force is that the plotting changes nothing.
The rage, the plotting, and the plans that kings and rulers make all come to nothing, and God's counsel stands. His purposes are not delayed one hour, and He sets His King exactly as intended on Zion, His holy hill... The rulers and the kings will depart in judgment. The shouting and the uproar will die away. And Jehovah will anoint His King, just as the decree said.
The word "set" really means "anointed," and man's opposition to God cannot defeat His purpose. How puny man is — all his efforts to dethrone God will come to nothing. The rightful king of Israel will reign in Zion.
The word "my" is deliberate. It sets God's choice against the king the people chose for themselves.
Jehovah loves to say "My King." He is the true David, the man after God's own heart, whom He chose to feed His people. Saul was the opposite. Saul was the people's own choice, made when they had rejected Jehovah as their king. God has a king in store, and He will show Him at the right time. He will take everything out of the usurper's hand and give it to the One whose right it is.
Zion was not a neutral address. God chose this hill at the lowest point in Israel's history.
No mountain in the Old Testament stood in such formal contrast with Sinai as Zion. Sinai was the unforgettable scene where the nation was put under responsibility to the law. Zion was where Jehovah stepped in with grace for His king, at a time when everything lay in ruins. People and priests alike were wicked. The Philistines had taken the ark. Ichabod was confessed. Israel's king and his sons were killed. And the Jebusite was not only in the centre and stronghold of Jerusalem but defiant and insulting. Then it was that Jehovah, as He chose David, so also chose the mount Zion which He loved. And there He will set His king, on Zion, His holy hill.
So what does that hill hold? Another writer lists it plainly.
"You have come to Mount Zion." What do you get there? What is said of Mount Zion is that it is the hill of grace. It is where God finds His rest. It says, God will dwell there forevermore. He loves it. Blessing is there; there God commands blessing, life forevermore. It is the hill on which He places His king. And why do you think He has set His king there? It is for blessing. If God raises up a king, it is for blessing, not for the destruction of man... No doubt the rebellious must suffer judgment, but God's thought in a kingdom is salvation.
Zion is one hill, but the psalm does not stop there. It goes on to give this King the nations, and it describes a rule unlike the gospel that goes out now.
Two things are set forth here. First, God anoints the Son as King on Zion, His holy hill. Then He gives Him the nations as His inheritance. Zion is His throne; the nations, His inheritance. Second, His way of dealing with the nations is the opposite of the gospel — "You shall break them with a rod of iron." In the gospel, the rod of Christ is a rod of goodness and love. It is everything that is sweetest and strongest in His love. It is not a rod of iron.
Commentators read the past tense as certainty, not as something already visible. The world rejected this King, and His throne is still ahead.
In Psalm 2 you find Christ spoken of as come to this world, and rejected... In that character as King in Zion, and Son of God, as born into this world, He was utterly rejected; yet God will set Him on His holy hill in Zion.
Why then can God speak of it as finished?
God's counsels will prevail so surely that He can speak of them as already done — "I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill." Divine power carries out divine counsels.
- As for me. God speaks for Himself: kings plot, and His counsel is not delayed one hour.
- Set. The word means "anointed" — the King men reject is the King God commissions.
- My. God's own choice, the true David, over against the king people choose for themselves.
- Zion. The hill of grace, chosen when everything else had collapsed, where God sets a king for blessing.
- Done. Spoken in the past tense because divine power always accomplishes divine counsels.
I will declare the decree Jehovah hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; *I* this day have begotten thee.
The kings of the earth plot against the LORD and against His Anointed, and God answers by setting His King on Zion. Now the King speaks for Himself, and the words He repeats raise the psalm's deepest question: who is this King, and when was He begotten?
One writer asks why this King can stand against all opposition, and ties the answer to the courage of the first believers who prayed this psalm back to God:
Why is it that the King in Zion can stand against all the hatred and opposition of the enemy? Think of the day of His rejection. His followers were only a few weak Jews. Yet soon after Pentecost they could take up this second psalm and quote it back to God. They used it as an argument for why He should give them all boldness to speak the Word without fear. It was because that King in Zion was His Son. "I will declare the decree," says the Son; and then He declares it. "You are My Son," God had said to Him; "today I have begotten You." He is in His kingly place as Son of God, and who dares stand against the Son of God and succeed?
One writer reads the Son title as belonging to Christ come into the world as Israel's promised King:
The New Testament quotes Psalm 2:7 for Christ as Son of God in this world. It is not His eternal Sonship, as some early Christian writers thought. It is not His resurrection either, which others taught by misreading Acts 13:33. His birth in time as Messiah is the point: "You are My Son: today I have begotten You."
The same writer notes that this changes nothing about what He always was:
Becoming man in no way lowered His Sonship. He is Son of God eternally. He was still, and no less, Son of God when born of the virgin, just as He is Son of God in resurrection and forever in glory.
The verse has two clauses, and writers read them as covering two different spans:
In the next sentence we pass from eternity to time. "Day" is a measure of time, not of eternity: "today I have begotten You." Now we undoubtedly have the incarnation of the Son. It is the Old Testament description that matches the New Testament ones. "The Word became flesh." The "Son born of a woman." "That holy child who will be born of you will be called the Son of God."
Another writer calls the first of the two expressions timeless:
There are two important expressions in this verse. One is a timeless expression, "You are my Son" — what the Messiah is to God who is His Father. We can carry this expression back into eternity. It expresses the divine intimacy and pleasure resting in the Father's heart towards this blessed Man.
Commentators differ over whether "today" points to the birth of Christ or to His resurrection. One writer traces where the New Testament takes up the psalm's Son title, and where it does not:
Here Messiah speaks, and we learn more about Him. He is not only King but Son. This is one of the Scriptures quoted in Hebrews 1 to establish the deity of Christ. Some have thought this verse refers to resurrection because of the way Acts 13:33 uses the passage, but this is a mistake. Look at Acts 13 carefully and you will see that it deals with resurrection in verse 34, not 33. The word "again" should be left out.
The decree does not stop at a name. It hands the King the nations, and calls the kings of the earth to submit:
The decree of God is that His Son shall be anointed — that is, declared King over all the earth — and He invites the kings of the earth to submit to Him. He says to them, "I am about to speak in my wrath. I give the inheritance of the nations to Christ. He will bruise you with a rod of iron; He will break you in pieces. Now then, submit yourselves to Him, to my Son, King in Zion." These kings follow their own ways. Yet God has decreed His reign surely and beyond recall, and He will bring it to pass despite the kings of the earth.
- Decree — the King does not argue with the world's plotting. He publishes a decree. His right rests on God's word, not on man's consent.
- Son — the decree names Him: the King in Zion is God's Son, and that is why no opposition can stand against Him.
- Today — "today" is a time word. Most writers here read it of His birth in time as Messiah. Others tie it to resurrection through Acts 13:33.
- Unchanged — becoming man never lessened His Sonship. He is Son eternally, Son born of the virgin, Son in resurrection and in glory.
- Inheritance — the same decree grants Him the nations. God warns the kings to submit before the rod of iron falls.
Ask of me, and I will give thee nations for an inheritance, and for thy possession the ends of the earth
Verse 7 gave the decree: "You are my Son; today I have begotten you." Verse 8 carries it on. Jehovah now invites His King to ask. His answer to a world in revolt is a grant of the whole earth to the One that world rejected. So when does the Son claim it, and how?
Verse 6 has already set God's King on Zion. This verse tells how far His rule reaches.
This sets out two things. First, God anoints the Son as King upon Zion, His holy hill, and gives Him the nations for His inheritance: Zion is His throne; the nations, His inheritance. The decree of God is that His Son shall be anointed, that is, declared King over all the earth.
The grant runs past the borders of one nation. It reaches the ends of the earth. And His rejection has delayed the day He takes it:
When He asks, He will receive more than Judea. He will receive the nations for His inheritance and the ends of the earth for His possession. But judgment marks this, and He carries it out in public. He breaks them with a rod of iron and dashes them to pieces like a potter's vessel. Unbelieving Jews and lawless Gentiles rejected Him, and that has postponed it.
The word "ask" matters. Power and glory could have come to Him another way, without asking. He would not take them that way.
He could truly think of everything there — the beauty of nature, the power of rule — as one day subject to Himself. But even that drew Him for one reason only: to bring all things under His Father's authority. And He would remember — He never could forget for a moment — that it was to be the Father's gift to Him: "Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession." His Father would then put them in His hands, in His time and way. He will not seize them ahead of time, and He will not accept a lie, whatever show of power and glory it carries.
The gift waits on the asking. So the timing of that asking decides everything. Right now Christ asks for something else.
Christ does not as yet ask of God the world for His own; His requests now only apply to the church. When He claims the earth, it is for judgment; but there are warnings for the kings of the earth. The question there is not whether people recognise the Son as the Saviour, but as the King who has a right to own the earth. Christ has not only the right to gather souls for heaven, but also to receive the earth as His own.
When the believers in Acts 4 quoted it against the rulers who had crucified Jesus, they quoted only the opening lines.
Christ has not yet carried out the judgment of verse 9. That is no proof that He will not; it is the solemn assurance that He will. Those who apply this Psalm to the uprising against the Messiah stop short there. They say nothing of His asking Jehovah for the nations as His inheritance and the ends of the earth as His possession. Christ is busy now with His heavenly relations and offices. He will ask for the earth when He is about to come and execute judgment on the living and the dead.
How the nations come into His hand is not how souls come to Him now. Verse 9 gives the method, and it is nothing like the gospel.
To break the nations with a rod of iron is quite another thing from the gospel. He has the nations, not as His bride, but as His inheritance. Jesus has received power from His Father, not only to secure the church, but also to break the nations. And the church shall be with Jesus. Jesus has not yet asked for the inheritance. He is praying that His own may be kept. He is the sovereign High Priest, not of the world, but of the church.
What the Son receives, He passes on. He promises authority over the nations to the one who overcomes. That promise rests on this grant.
The Lord encourages the overcomer by announcing that He is coming again. Then He Himself shall reign over the nations in public, and He says, "As I also have received from My Father." The Crucified shall reign, and that by His Father's just decree. So He will give, along with Himself then, to the overcomer, "authority over the nations."
- Decree — God answers a rebelling world by decree. Zion is the Son's throne, and the nations are His inheritance.
- Gift — the kingdoms come to Christ as the Father's gift, in the Father's time. He will not take them early or by a lie.
- Delay — He has not yet asked. His requests now are for His own, and He claims the earth later.
- Reach — the grant covers not one land but the ends of the earth, and He takes it by judgment, not by the gospel.
- Sharing — He receives this authority from His Father, and He promises to share it with those who overcome.
Thou shalt break them with a sceptre of iron, as a potter's vessel thou shalt dash them in pieces.
God has just promised the Son the nations. This verse tells Him how He will take them — not by persuasion, but by force that shatters. Two questions follow. When does this happen? And how does an iron rod fit the same Christ the gospel presents today in grace?
Verse 8 names the inheritance. Verse 9 names the method. Commentators draw a sharp line between that method and the message going out now.
His way of dealing with the nations is completely opposed to the gospel: "You shall break them with a rod of iron." In the gospel, the rod of Christ is a rod of goodness and love. It is everything most sweet and most powerful in His love. It is not a rod of iron.
Grace comes first and the rod afterwards, because the Son has not yet asked.
"Ask of Me," Jehovah says, and He has not asked — He is still sitting in patience... His long-suffering is now salvation. When it is over, and delay would be, not blessing, not long-suffering, but weakness, it is with the rod of iron that He takes the ends of the earth for His possession — not, as people imagine, with the gospel. Isaiah 26 shows that grace has been tried and found ineffective. The gospel has gone out for centuries and has not converted the mass of mankind.
Some read the iron rod as a picture of Christ's influence spreading quietly through hearts today. One writer rejects that reading, because of who these nations are.
"You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel," Psalm 2:9. We do not think that this is the gentle influence of His Spirit in the hearts of His people... These nations are not Zion at all, and this display of power is quite a different thing, still to come.
The verse holds two images. Iron speaks of a rule that will not bend.
The firm, unyielding rod of iron points to the stern and unbending rule He will exercise over the rebellious nations... Their determined will must be broken and their power shattered to pieces.
The clay supplies the other half. What the rod strikes is not strong; it is brittle.
This common pottery of the East is very fragile, and Scripture often refers to it for that reason. The Lord Jesus will subdue all His enemies: will dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.
The rod and the love of Christ are not in conflict.
That ruling, though with a rod of iron, is really shepherding... Where He rules with a rod of iron, that is still a shepherd's care and love. Love, if need be, can strike. The rod of iron is for preservation no less than for destruction; in fact, preservation is the end in view. It is to destroy those who destroy the earth, and to make even the earth a place where peace will flourish as the result of righteousness.
Christ does not keep this authority to Himself.
It is striking that the psalm grants authority over the nations to Christ alone (Ps. 2), but the same unlimited authority and dominion awaits the conqueror who presses on to the end. The overcomers will share the public place and portion of the Son.
The verse is not a bare threat. The psalm follows it with an appeal.
He will rule them with a rod of iron and break them in pieces like a potter's vessel — breaking with power nothing can resist, ruling in judgment all who rise up against His throne without reverence and without strength. But this judgment has not been carried out yet. The psalm itself invites the kings and judges to submit and humbly own the Son.
That appeal is not vague. God states the terms Himself.
The decree of God is that His Son shall be anointed — that is, declared King over all the earth — and He invites the kings of the earth to submit to Him. He says to them: "I give the heritage of the nations to Christ. He will bruise you with a rod of iron; He will break you in pieces. Now then submit yourselves to Him, to My Son, King in Zion."
- Inheritance — verse 8 gives the Son the nations. Verse 9 tells how He takes them: by breaking, not by persuading.
- Delay — the rod waits because the Son has not yet asked. The present pause is deliberate patience, and that patience is salvation.
- Instrument — iron will not bend, and clay will not hold. One image shows a rule that never gives way. The other shows resistance that shatters at a blow.
- Shepherd — ruling with the iron rod is still shepherding. Love can strike, and preservation is the goal.
- Invitation — the psalm answers its own verse. It calls the kings to submit and own the Son before the rod falls.
And now, O kings, be ye wise, be admonished, ye judges of the earth.
This verse turns from judgment to advice: God tells the rulers who oppose Him to be wise while there is still time. Who is He speaking to, why does He say "be wise" rather than "repent," and does anyone listen?
Psalms 1 and 2 deal with God's rule over the earth. One writer points out what is missing from them.
God will finally make righteousness triumph and will put down all ungodliness for the earth. That is the theme of these two Psalms, and it declares the righteousness of God in government. So the grace preached in the gospel is not found here. There is no call to repentance (Ps. 2:10 is a warning instead). There is no promise of forgiveness to the guilty when he confesses, and none of restoration to a failing saint. Righteousness goes with reward, and ungodliness with judgment.
Another writer compares this call with the gospel preached today.
"Now therefore, O kings, be wise… Blessed are all who take refuge in Him" (Ps. 2:10-12). This is very different from the gospel now, but it is just as much of God in its own season, and it will surely go out when God begins to deal with man in judgment.
The verse speaks to men who hold power — kings and rulers, called "judges of the earth" in older translations. One writer contrasts that with the way the gospel reaches them today.
The teaching here applies, in principle, at all times, and so it applies today too. But the full meaning of this call will appear only when the King sits on His own throne… Now the gospel message does not address kings and judges as kings and judges, but as ruined sinners. God preaches the free gospel of His grace to them, as to everyone else… Then kings of nations will be called to hold their thrones as subjects of Jehovah's Christ.
"Be wise" has a deadline attached. One writer says what wisdom means for a ruler, and what waiting costs.
So the warning word still goes out to the kings of the earth. Wisdom for them will be to submit to Jehovah before the blow comes that will humble them for good — too late for blessing to them then! Even those who do submit may well "rejoice with trembling" at the great danger they have come so near to.
The verse opens with a word of timing. One writer says what that moment offers the great men of the world, and how fear and joy belong together.
Now, while there is still opportunity for repentance, let the great men of the world weigh God's declared testimony that the Lord Jesus will certainly reign over all. If only men would "serve the Lord with fear," then they would also "rejoice with trembling" — rejoice because it is the Lord they trust. They would tremble because they must give account to the God of heaven and earth.
Another writer names the person to whom that submission must be shown.
The hour of His public glory has not yet come — the hour when all human opposition and pretension will be overthrown. So God gives a word of warning to the kings and judges of the earth, and to all others too. There is still time to offer submission to the Lord and to serve Him… Anyone who wants to offer submission must do so by honouring the Son.
One writer points to God's settled way of dealing before judgment falls.
It is according to God's ways to give warning. Every lost soul, at least in the lands where the Christian message has gone, has heard at some time the warning voice of Him who must punish the wicked. So all are without excuse.
But the psalm does not end with rulers taking the advice. One writer traces the conflict back to where it began.
When did the conflict between the powers of earth and Jehovah begin? Acts 4:25-28 supplies the answer. It began at the Cross. It continues still, and will break out in even more determined opposition when Revelation 19:19 is fulfilled… Meanwhile God would plead with those who oppose Him to be wise and submit to the King, kissing the Son as a sign of submission (Ps. 2:10-12). But, as we shall see further on, the plea achieves little.
- Warning — This is a caution, not the gospel. The psalm holds out no call to repentance and no promise of pardon. It ties righteousness to reward, and ungodliness to judgment.
- Warned — God's settled way is to give notice before He strikes. Those who ignore that notice have no excuse.
- Wisdom — For a ruler, wisdom means submitting before the blow lands. Afterwards the blow forces submission, and no blessing comes with it.
- Window — The verse turns on "now." The King's public glory has not yet come, so there is still time to serve Him — by honouring the Son.
- Wilful — God pleads with kings and judges as rulers, and the psalm shows them refusing. Today the gospel meets them as sinners, and offers them the same free grace as everyone else.
Serve Jehovah with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
Psalm 2 has just announced God's decree, with its warnings to the nations. Verse 11 asks earth's rulers for their answer before Christ comes to reign: service marked by fear, and joy that trembles.
The call to serve follows a warning of judgment, and it comes while there is still time to bow.
The warnings of the decree are the ground of this appeal to the great ones of the earth. Before Christ comes out to reign in righteousness, the invitation goes out to the nations to submit to Christ and be reconciled to the Son. Otherwise they will perish when His anger is kindled even a little. Judgment is indeed coming for the nations. But some among them will put their trust in the Lord, and they will be blessed.
The verse joins two things we tend to keep apart. One writer ties both to the same Person: the Lord we trust is the Lord we must answer to.
There is still time to repent. So let the great men of the world weigh God's declared testimony: the Lord Jesus will certainly reign over all. If only men would "serve the LORD with fear," they would also "rejoice with trembling" — rejoice because it is the Lord they trust, and tremble because they must give account to the God of heaven and earth.
To "serve" here is to submit. One writer sets the trembling and the rejoicing on different objects — His might, and His coming vindication.
The hour of His public glory has not yet come, when He will overthrow all human opposition and pride. So a word of warning goes out to the kings and judges of the earth, and to everyone else. There is still time to offer submission to the Lord and to serve Him. Then, though trembling at the memory of His might, one may rejoice at the coming vindication and glory of the Son.
One writer presses a difference: these rulers are in open revolt, and the issue put to them is judgment, not the gospel of grace.
Psalm 2 is the time when judgment is ending, and the Son sets government right by the power of His wrath. "Now therefore, O kings, be wise," for if the Son's wrath is kindled, all will be over with you. This has nothing to do with the gospel of God's grace. The kings of the earth are not in relationship with the Father and the Son, but in rebellion against Jehovah and His Christ. It is a direct question of judgment — the closing scene.
Yet the delay carries a lesson for us now.
Here kings are called on to submit before the coming judgment of the earth. But this is not yet executed, and we have to learn our own lesson in patience. This the Psalms will teach us.
Fear can sound like the opposite of peace. But dread and reverence are not the same: one goes, the other grows.
But though dread is gone from the believing soul, reverence remains. It deepens as we come to know God and His Word better. So comes the call to "offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe" (Heb. 12:28). With it grows an inward horror of sin in every form, and a strong desire to walk in complete separation from it. "The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil" (Prov. 8:13). He who wallows in sin, whatever his religious profession, has never known our God.
A letter to a believer newly at peace turns this pairing into daily counsel. It names the danger the trembling guards against.
It is a serious thing, whatever the goodness of God may be, to find peace with a God of holiness. Christ has made peace; but He would have us feel what it is to need it, so that we may know it. Our hearts are so subtle and wicked that carelessness follows peace. We feared sin before, and now that we are freed from this heavy burden, we go forward not only more easily, but often, sadly, carelessly. Rejoice before God, and not without God, for the peace He has given you; rejoice in trembling. It is the means of preserving peace, by grace.
- Decree first. The command to serve rests on the warnings of God's decree, already announced.
- Fear next. Fear here is not dread, but the awe of those who must give account to the God of heaven and earth.
- Service means bowing. To serve is to offer submission now, before the hour of His public glory comes — the rebel lays down his claim before it is broken.
- Joy alongside. The rejoicing looks forward to the coming vindication and glory of the Son; the trembling looks up at His might. Both rest on the same Lord.
- Not today's gospel — yet not silent. Here the issue is judgment on rulers in revolt, not the gospel of grace. Yet "rejoice in trembling" still guards peace, by grace.
Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish in the way, though his anger burn but a little. Blessed are all who have their trust in him.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.