Chapter Two

In the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin Bibles, this psalm does not have the name of David in its inscription; the existing inscription of this name in the Russian Bible is confirmed by the testimony of the Book of Acts (Acts 4:25), where the Apostle Peter, citing the words of verses 1 and 2 of this psalm, calls them words of God spoken “by the mouth of our father David, Your servant.”

In Ps 2:1-4 verse, the failure of the enemies’ assault on God’s anointed one is predicted. The cause of this failure is the great protection afforded to him by God and the promise that the power of this anointed one will extend even throughout the entire world (Ps 2:5-9); therefore his present reign over the holy Zion (Ps 2:6) will be unshakable. The holiness of Mount Zion depends on God’s presence upon it, the visible sign of which was the presence of the Ark of the Covenant upon it. Therefore one may think that the psalm was written after David’s removal of the Ark to Zion from Kiriath-Jearim.

David’s reign was a time of constant wars. The most powerful rebellion against him was the uprising of the combined forces of the Syrians and Ammonites. It is reasonable to think that the uprising of the peoples against David depicted in the psalm occurred during his war with the Syrians and Ammonites. The main content of the psalm is devoted to revealing the promise that was given by God to David about his future worldwide power over the world. Such a promise, as is evident from the historical books (2 Sam 7:12-16), was given to David through the prophet Nathan about his Descendant, whose kingdom will be eternal. From all that has been said, one can conclude that this psalm was written after the removal of the Ark to Zion, on the occasion of the promise given to David about the Descendant, during the war with the Syrians and Ammonites.

In the first part of the psalm (1-9), David expresses perplexity and regret that the kings of the earth have risen up against God and His anointed one, when such an uprising in its very nature cannot end successfully, like a rebellion of the weak against the strong (1-5). The power of the anointed one will remain unshakable, for he has received from God the promise not only to be king over Zion, but also over the entire world (6-9). Therefore the kings would have done more prudently if, instead of fighting against God and His son, they submitted to Him to avoid bringing complete destruction upon themselves from the Lord (10-12).

Psalm 2:1. Why do the peoples rage, and the tribes devise what is futile? Psalm 2:2. The kings of the earth rise up, and the princes take counsel together against the Lord and against His Anointed One. “Rage”—are disturbed, “devise what is futile”—devise what cannot be accomplished; “kings”—the highest rulers of a state, “princes”—military commanders. By the Anointed One, David could understand himself, for he received power over the Hebrew people from God through his anointing by the prophet Samuel.

Psalm 2:3. “Let us burst their bonds asunder, and cast off their cords from us. “To burst the bonds” and “to cast off the cords” clarify the goal of the uprising. David’s power had grown to a high degree. To put an end to its further development, the remaining independent neighboring pagan peoples stirred up against David the tribes already conquered by him and joined with them to break his spreading power by their combined forces. Such was the uprising of the Ammonites (2 Sam 10:6-13), who stirred up the Syrians against David (2 Sam 10:6), who had been conquered by David earlier (2 Sam 8:5-6).

Psalm 2:4. The One who dwells in the heavens will laugh; the Lord will mock them. Psalm 2:5. Then He will speak to them in His anger and terrify them in His wrath: “The One who dwells in the heavens”—by the will of the Lord and with the direct help afforded by Him to David, this undertaking of the enemy, instead of bringing glory, will bring them shame and ridicule, that is, will end in failure, which indeed happened and was bound to happen, since the enemies were entering into struggle with God, David’s protector, an omnipotent being.

Psalm 2:6. “I have set My King on Zion, My holy mountain. Psalm 2:7. I will declare the decree: the Lord said to Me, “You are My Son; today I have begotten You; David contrasts the unshakable stability of his throne with the failure of the enemies’ undertaking; the latter “voluntarily” rose up against him, while David is “anointed” by the Lord. The enemies must perish, for David has received such a promise from God: “You are My Son; today I have begotten You.” In the connection of the speech and in keeping with David’s historical situation in the struggle with the Syrians and Ammonites, this promise can be understood as David’s expectation of help from God precisely in this case, for he is God’s son, that is, he is under His special protection, and naturally a father protects his son, whom he has begotten (7).

Psalm 2:8. Ask of Me, and I will give the nations as Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth as Your possession; Psalm 2:9. You will break them with a rod of iron; You will shatter them like a potter’s vessel. God promises David the expansion of his power over all the earth (8), while his enemies before him will be as powerless as weak clay vessels are before an iron rod. “Rod”—a staff, as a necessary attribute of shepherds. Under the staff they would pass sheep for counting, and the staff in their hands was a sign of their power over the flocks. “The iron rod” is an image of the indestructibility of this power. Since the psalm was written because of the uprising of enemies against David, the shattering here must be understood as the destruction of those who would rise up against him.

Psalm 2:10. Now therefore, O kings, be prudent; receive instruction, judges of the earth! Psalm 2:11. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice [before Him] with trembling. Psalm 2:12. Honor the Son, lest He become angry, and you perish in your way, for His wrath will quickly ignite. Blessed are all who trust in Him. The enemies of David, “judges of the earth”—the highest officials, can also be understood as kings, who possessed judicial power, should come to their senses (“be prudent and receive instruction”), that it is necessary for them not to fight against God, but with reverence to work before Him, that is, to serve Him, and for the mercies received from Him to rejoice before Him with reverent “trembling,” with humility, not with proud consciousness of their own merits and strength. Their continued resistance to God will provoke His anger and their destruction. We have shown the connection of thoughts in this psalm and its content as it applies to the circumstances of its origin and the reasons for its composition. But the entire content of the psalm cannot be applied with precision to the person of David and his time. For example, 1) in verse 1, the uprising against the anointed one of all the peoples of the earth is depicted, but there was no such universal uprising against David. 2) the begetting by God of David “now” (verse 7) obviously cannot be understood literally. 3) in verses 9-10, the spread of David’s power throughout the world is predicted, which did not historically come to pass for him. All this indicates that the content of the psalm cannot be confined within the historical limits of David’s time and the person of David. We have already indicated that a promise was given to David about the coming of a Descendant from him, whose power will be indestructible, eternal. This Descendant was the promised Messiah, and the words of verse 7, according to Acts 13, and according to the epistle to Heb 1:5, refer to the incarnation of the Son of God. The first two verses, according to the Book of Acts 4:27-28, according to the explanation of the apostles, are applied to the depiction of the uprising against Christ both by representatives of the power of the Hebrew people and by the Roman power, in the person of Pilate; at that time the Roman monarchy was worldwide; and the uprising against Christ by the Romans was the uprising of the entire world at that time. Thus the historical circumstances that gave occasion to the composition of the psalm also served as the occasion for David’s depiction of the future messianic times, and therefore this psalm is a prophetically messianic one. * * * Notes According to the translation of the Seventy: I am set by Him as King upon Zion, His holy mountain.