Church of Christ Studies

 

Psalm 2.
The Wrong Path and Its Consequences

 

There is a debate among Old Testament scholars as to whether Psalm 2 can be considered messianic. That is, does it speak specifically of Jesus Christ? This is a complicated question with which we will deal again in the expositions of other psalms. But I say at the outset that if any psalm can rightly be regarded as messianic, it is this one. Psalm 2 speaks of the rebellion of the world's rulers against God's Anointed—the actual word is Messiah —and of the Father's decree to give him dominion over them. This determination, plus the psalm's ready and obvious application to the hostile circumstances of their day, made Psalm 2 one of the psalms most quoted by the writers of the New Testament.

 

In the most extensive New Testament reference, the first two verses were cited by the earliest Christians in a thanksgiving prayer following the release of Peter and John by the Sanhedrin: "Sovereign Lord,... You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David:

 

'Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?

The kings of the earth take their stand

and the rulers gather together against the Lord

and against his Anointed One.'"

 

In the next verse they identified this rebellion with the conspiracy of "Herod and Pontius Pilate... with the Gentiles and the people of Israel... against... Jesus" (Acts 4:24-27).

 

The author of Hebrews applied verse 7 to Jesus twice, saying, "For to which of the angels did God ever say,

 

'You are my Son; today I have become your Father'?" (Heb. 1:5).

 

And again, "So Christ also did not take upon himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him,

 

'You are my Son; today I have become your Father.'" (Heb. 5:5).

 

Psalm 2 is referred to frequently in Revelation. Examples: "Jesus Christ... the ruler of the kings of the earth" (Rev. 1:5); "He will rule them with an iron scepter; he will dash them to pieces like pottery" (Rev. 2:27); "She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter" (Rev. 12:5); and other less specific references.

Augustine called Jesus iste cantator psalmorum (himself, the singer of the psalms). That is explicitly true of Psalm 2, since this psalm is not only about Jesus, but he himself speaks in it.

A Second Introductory Psalm

The specifically messianic psalms are not numerous. They include Psalms 22, 45, 72, 110, and some others. But among even this relatively small number Psalm 2 stands out dramatically. That is probably why it has been placed where it is, as the second introductory psalm to the Psalter.

 

There is some evidence in both Jewish and Christian traditions that Psalm 2 was at one time joined to Psalm 1, both psalms together being considered the first psalm. In the Jewish tradition Rabbi Johanan is quoted in the Talmud as having said: "Every chapter that was particularly dear to David he commenced with 'Happy' and terminated with 'Happy.' He began with 'Happy,' as it is written, 'Happy is the man,' and he terminated with 'Happy,' as it is written, 'Happy are all they that take refuge in him'" (Ber. 9b). These references are to Psalm 1:1 and Psalm 2:12, which indicates that the two psalms were at that time considered a single literary unit.

 

Similarly, in the oldest Greek texts of Acts 13:33, Psalm 2:7 is referred to as being from Psalm 1. Modern versions change the reference to Psalm 2, which is appropriate in view of the psalms' present numbering. But the fact that the oldest texts called Psalm 2, Psalm 1 indicates that at one time the two were together.

 

This throws light on how Psalm 2 should be taken. For if the psalm is messianic, and if it was originally linked with Psalm 1, then the doctrine of the two ways introduced in Psalm 1 is here carried forward but at a higher pitch. On the one hand, the way of sinners in Psalm 1 now becomes a cosmic revolt of the nations against God and his Anointed. It becomes an unfolding of the wrong path and its consequences. On the other hand, the righteous man of the opening psalm is now explicitly seen to be God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, which I suggested at the close of the previous chapter. It is by taking refuge in Jesus that the judgment awaiting the wicked can be avoided by them.

Part One: The Narrator Speaks

The outline of Psalm 2 is straightforward. It divides into four nearly equal parts, each uttered by a different speaker or speakers. In the first section, verses 1-3, the speakers are the rebellious rulers of this earth, introduced by the narrator. He asks why they engage in anything as useless as trying to throw off the rule of God's Anointed.

 

Since the earlier years of this century, when European scholars such as Hermann Gunkel, Sigmund Mowinckel, and Artur Weiser published their influential studies on the psalms, it has been customary to look at Psalm 2 as a "royal" or a "coronation psalm" of Israel. This means that scholars consider the psalm to have been written on the occasion of the ascension of a Jewish king, either David or one of his successors, to the throne. Accordingly, it is only in a remote or a secondary sense that the psalm can be thought of as messianic.

 

But is this so? Is the one against whom the nations, people, and kings of the earth rage so furiously really David?

The chief arguments for this scholarly view are of two kinds. First, there have been studies of the coronation literature of other ancient peoples, and it has been argued that Psalm 2 matches this other material and must therefore be written of an earthly king, as the other poems have been. But that does not follow. The form of a psalm does not predetermine its meaning. In fact, nothing would be more natural than that the form of a hymn written to praise an earthly monarch should be taken over to praise one who is the King of Kings. What verse form could be more appropriate?

 

The second type of argument is based on the supposed similarity between Psalm 2 and the promises given to David through Nathan's oracle recorded in 2 Samuel 7:5-16. But the parallels are not great. And what is of maximum significance is that the oracle itself makes a distinction between the promises made to David, which are what might be expected of a merely human monarch (vv. 5-11a), and the promises that concern David's great future descendant whose kingdom will be established forever (vv. 11b-16). Indeed, all the real parallels to Psalm 2 occur in this second section, which itself proves that the psalm is not written of David or his merely human descendants but of the future divine Messiah. Promises of an eternal reign are false if they concern human beings only, as David himself recognized (cf. v. 19).

 

This means that we cannot understand this psalm until we realize that it is an expression of the rebellion of the human heart against God and not a limited revolt of some merely human Near Eastern king or kings against David or his successors. There is danger in reading too many Christian allusions into strictly Jewish psalms. They are not all about Jesus. Nevertheless, in this case, we are right in saying that the righteous one of Psalm 1, who is the Lord Jesus Christ, is not wanted by these rulers. And since Jesus is God's Son, their rebellion against him is actually a rebellion against God the Father.

 

Charles Haddon Spurgeon was right when he said, "We have, in these first three verses, a description of the hatred of human nature against the Christ of God."

 

Part Two: God the Father Speaks

In the second section of the psalm, verses 4-6, the speaker is God the Father, though the narrator sets up his words, just as in the opening section he set up the arrogant words of the rebelling monarchs.

 

What is God's reaction to the haughty words of these pygmy human rulers? God does not tremble. He does not hide behind a vast celestial rampart, counting the enemy and calculating whether or not he has sufficient force to counter this new challenge to his kingdom. He does not even rise from where he is sitting. He simply "laughs" at these great imbeciles.

 

This is the only place in the Bible where God is said to laugh, and it is not a pleasant laugh. It is a laugh of derision, as the next verb shows: "the Lord scoffs at them" (v. 4). This is what human attempts to throw off the rule of the sovereign God deserve. It is understandable that sinners should want to reject God's rule. That is what sin is: a repudiation of God's rule in favor of one's own will. But although it is understandable, the folly of this attempt surpasses belief. How can mere human beings expect to get rid of God?

 

After laughing at such foolishness, God speaks to rebuke and to terrify these rulers. He tells of the appointment of his Son to be King in Zion and foretells his triumph.

 

Spurgeon pointed out that in the late third and early first centuries the emperor Diocletian (a.d. 245-313), a great foe of Christianity, struck a medal which bore the inscription: "The name of Christianity being extinguished." Diocletian extended the frontier of the empire westward into Spain, where he erected two monuments proclaiming:

 

Diocletian Jovian Maximian Herculeus Caesares Augusti

for having extended the Roman Empire in the east and the west

and for having extinguished the name of Christians

who brought the Republic to ruin

 

and

 

Diocletian Jovian Maximian Herculeus Caesares Augusti

for having everywhere abolished the superstition of Christ

for having extended the worship of the gods.

 

But Diocletian had not abolished Christianity. On the contrary, at the time Christianity was growing stronger than ever, and eventually it triumphed over Caesar's throne.

Spurgeon quotes an earlier preacher, William S. Plumer:

Of thirty Roman emperors, governors of provinces and others in high office, who distinguished themselves by their zeal and bitterness in persecuting the early Christians, one became speedily deranged after some atrocious cruelty, one was slain by his own son, one became blind, the eyes of one started out of his head, one was drowned, one was strangled, one died in a miserable captivity, one fell dead in a manner that will not bear recital, one died of so loathsome a disease that several of his physicians were put to death because they could not abide the stench that filled his room, two committed suicide, a third attempted it but had to call for help to finish the work, five were assassinated by their own people or servants, five others died the most miserable and excruciating deaths, several of them having an untold complication of diseases, and eight were killed in battle, or after being taken prisoners.

Among these was Julian the Apostate. In the days of his prosperity he is said to have pointed his dagger to heaven, defying the Son of God whom he commonly called the Galilean. But when he was wounded in battle, he saw that all was over with him, and he gathered up his clotted blood and threw it into the air, exclaiming, 'Thou has conquered, O thou Galilean."

So has it been throughout history. So will it be to the end.

 

Part Three: The Son Speaks

The third section of the psalm, verses 7-9, contains the words of God's Anointed, the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Scholars who see Psalm 2 chiefly as a psalm of coronation for a Davidic king take the words 'You are my Son; today I have become your Father" (v. 7) as a formula for the symbolic adoption of the Jewish king by God at the time of his inauguration. But aside from the fact that nothing like this is ever said or suggested in the Old Testament, the Bible's own handling of the words is always in regard to Jesus. The words "You are my Son" or 'This is my beloved Son" were spoken of Jesus by the Father twice during his earthly ministry: once at his baptism and once at the transfiguration. At the baptism a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased" (Matt. 3:17; cf. Mark 1:11; Luke 3:22). At the transfiguration God said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!" (Matt. 17:5; cf. Mark 9:7; Luke 9:35).

 

The other part of the verse in Psalm 2—"today I have become your Father"—is used by Paul in a way consistent with the Gospels' use of the first part. In the first of his sermons recorded in Acts, he refers it to Jesus' resurrection (Acts 13:33). That is, he refers "today" not to Jesus' eternal begetting by the Father, which is wrapped up with the doctrine of the Trinity, but with God's raising him from the dead by which he became what is elsewhere called "the firstborn from among the dead" (Col. 1:18).

 

Verses 8 and 9 have special bearing upon our obligation to tell others about Jesus Christ today. This is because, although verse 6 speaks of God having established his King on Zion (past tense), verses 8 and 9 speak in a future sense, saying,

 

Ask of me,

and I will make the nations your inheritance,

the ends of the earth your possession.

You will rule them with an iron scepter;

you will dash them to pieces like pottery (italics added).

 

This is an acknowledgment of what the author of Hebrews says in applying another psalm to Jesus. In chapter 2, he quotes Psalm 8:4-6, noting that the Father has placed everything under Jesus' feet. But he says, "At present we do not see everything subject to him" (Heb. 2:8). Jesus is Lord. But there are still many, like the rulers of the psalm's opening lines, who resist him.

Here is the great missionary challenge of the church. It is for us, the grateful subjects of Jesus' divine kingdom, to make his name known among the nations, until every ear shall hear and every knee shall bow. Harry Ironside wrote, "I never come to a missionary meeting but I feel as though there ought to be written right across the entire platform, 'Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.'" He continued, "It is the will of God that his Son should have a great heritage out of the heathen world, the godless Gentiles." Our assignment is to carry the message of God's decree and Christ's rule to them. It is to proclaim the rule of King Jesus.

 

Part Four: The Narrator Speaks Again

In the final section of this psalm, verses 10-12, the narrator speaks again, uttering words of warning and entreaty to those who have not yet bowed before God's Son. Since the author of the psalm is not specifically identified, it is perhaps not overly whimsical to follow Ironside at this point too, since he speaks of "four voices" in the psalm: those of the world, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. It is the role of the Holy Spirit to draw us to Jesus, which is what the individual I have called the narrator is doing here. Ironside calls his "a very gentle, a very loving, a very tender voice."
 

What does this gentle, loving, and tender voice call on these rebellious human beings to do? A number of things: to "be wise," to "be warned," to "serve the Lord with fear," to "rejoice with trembling" (vv. 10-11). But chiefly they are to "kiss the Son" in grateful, loving submission.
 

That is what these rulers will not do, of course. It is why they are in danger of a final, fierce destruction. Make sure you are not among them. The rulers of the world rage against Christ. But why should you? The hands he holds forth for you to kiss are hands that were pierced by nails when he was crucified in your place. One day he is coming as the great judge of all. On that day the wicked will be punished, but today is the day of his grace. He invites you to come to him. The final verse says, "Blessed are all who take refuge in him." It is a reminder that the only refuge from the wrath of God is God's mercy unfolded at the cross of Jesus Christ.