Psalm 2

August 7, 2015

Serve Yahweh (Ps 2:10-2:12)

“Now therefore,

O kings!

Be wise!

Be warned!

O rulers of the earth!

Serve Yahweh with fear!

Serve Yahweh with trembling!

Kiss his feet!

He will be angry.

You will perish in the way.

His wrath is quickly kindled.

Happy are all who take refuge in him.”

The rebellious kings were warned to fear Yahweh and his king. They should be wise. They have been warned. All rulers should have fear and trembling before Yahweh. They were to kiss his feet. Yahweh did not have feet, but his King David would have feet. If you got Yahweh angry, you would perish because he was quick to anger. However, those who took refuge in Yahweh would be happy and blessed. Thus we have a royal psalm about Yahweh as the real national and international king. However, he wanted his son David, and by extrapolation, a future king, the anointed one to be king of the earth. Anyone who got in his way would be in trouble. Yahweh was quick to anger and ready to destroy if he saw fit.

August 7, 2015

The son to come (Ps 2:7-2:9)

“I will tell of the decree of Yahweh.

He said to me.

‘You are my son.

Today I have begotten you.

Ask of me!

I will make the nations your heritage.

The ends of the earth shall be your possession.

You shall break them with a rod of iron.

You shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.’”

Yahweh had given his decree to the psalmist. Obviously this is an allusion to David, or the psalmist as it is a singular personal pronoun with “I” and “me.”. The reference to the son of Yahweh can also be found in 2 Samuel, chapter 7, where Yahweh said that he would be the father of David. There is also an explicit mention of this particular psalm and verse in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 13, and The Letter to the Hebrews, chapter 1, where it was a reference to Jesus not David. Thus the Christians changed this original meaning from David to Jesus as the fulfillment of this psalm. Getting back to David, the other nations from the ends of the world would become the possession of David. He would break them with an iron rod like he would destroy a clay vase. Even in a messianic future sense, this king would be an armed king destroying other nations.

August 6, 2015

The nations against Yahweh and his anointed (Ps 2:1-2:3)

“Why do the nations conspire?

Why do the peoples plot in vain?

The kings of the earth set themselves.

The rulers take counsel together.

They are against Yahweh

And his anointed.

Saying,

‘Let us burst their bonds asunder.

Let us cast their cords from us.’”

Psalm 2 is about the universal kingdom of Yahweh and his anointed one who will rule the world until the end of the kingdom. Once again, there is no introduction. Christians have picked up on the anointed one as the messianic king of Israel, which of course they see as Jesus the anointed one, the Christ. This psalm was even cited as a psalm of David in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 4, although there is no notation as such on this psalm. This work about Yahweh and his anointed king is considered a royal psalm. If written during the time of the captivity in the 6th century BCE, it would be about an ideal anointed king to come, not a current king. The various nations and people of the earth, the non-Israelites, took counsel, conspired, and plotted in vain against Yahweh and his anointed king. They were trying to figure out how to burst their bonds apart. They wanted to be rid of the yoke of the great King Yahweh.