When I was a freshman in college, I was tasked with composing a piece of music “with no rules.” Charged with this chaotic assignment, I decided to write a piece with three male vocalists and a bassoon, setting the words to Psalm 2. I told my professor when he asked me about my Psalm choice that he wanted something that seemed crazy to me, and Psalm 2 was also pretty confusing to me, so it seemed like a natural choice. My professor laughed at me, and I don’t blame him. Thankfully, my musical and biblical knowledge has grown substantially since my freshman year, and Psalm 2 is less of a bassoon-inspiring mystery.
Much like Psalm 1, Psalm 2 is an introduction to the Psalms as a book. This second psalm, though, is the introduction on the cosmic scale. Rather than describing a singular man and a tree by flowing streams, Psalm 2 takes on the raging nations and Mount Zion. The ungodly may scoff at God in Psalm 1, but the heathen in Psalm 2 take up arms. In Psalm 1, God is nigh to his chosen people: to the blessed man who walks in his statutes. In Psalm 2, God is breaking the rebellious nations with a rod of iron. The comfort found in this Psalm is not that God is near to his people (though that is still true) but rather that God has set his King on the holy hill of Zion.
The comfort found in this Psalm is that God has set his King on the holy hill of Zion.
The quotes in this Psalm are not exactly clear in my Bible, and I have seen a couple of variations because the ancient Hebrew text does not use quotation marks. As best as I can tell, God is speaking the following: “Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.” Then David jumps in again. (Though this, “I will declare the decree…” is sometimes still in quotes, I think it makes the most sense structurally that David is speaking here, once again saying that he is quoting God.) God once again speaks: “Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. I will give the the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron, thou shalt dash them in pieces like the potter’s vessel.”
God’s words here bring us back to the cosmic nature of this psalm. This phrase “thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee.” This passage is directly quoted twice in the New Testament: in Acts 13 and in Hebrews 2. The author of Hebrews uses this passage to argue that mankind has a special place in God’s plan: God did not put the angels in charge of the world, after all, but he put man in dominion over the earth. He asks rhetorically, “for to which of the angels said [God] at any time, “Thou art my son, today have I begotten thee?” This author is using David’s words to speak about humanity in general, pointing out that God chose mankind to be “weaker than the angels,” but that he also chose mankind for a special role: to be called the children of God. God purposed for Jesus to be the true human so that “both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren.” (Hebrews 2:11) This is emphasized in one of Paul’s discourses in the synagogue where he quotes Psalm 2 explicitly. He says, “And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.” Again, the New Testament authors use this psalm to speak on a cosmic level: God is able to make humans his children because he chose to be a human. God “begets” the children through his own son, Jesus.
God chose mankind for a special role: to be called the children of God.
Though not a direct cross-reference, this passage also reminds me of Jesus’ baptism, when the heavens open and the Holy Spirit descends on Jesus “like a dove.” The Father speaks from heaven, “This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matt. 3:17) Because God’s son, Jesus, is fully man and fully God, he is able to fulfill Psalm 2. He is begotten and his work on the cross bestows on other humans the right to be children of God. He is given "the heathen for his inheritance and the utmost parts of the earth for his possession." This is fulfilled because God’s kingdom is made of people from every tribe and every nation. Jesus is the one who is currently seated on the right hand of the throne of God (Colossians 3:1), fulfilling the word from the Father, "sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool."
The psalm ends with a little less “adoption” and a little more “judgement.” While we often think of Jesus bringing together the whole world under his kind and rule, we must remember that Jesus will also judge the earth in righteousness. Jesus himself claims, “I came not to bring peace, but a sword” (Matt. 10:34). This Psalm shows the plan of God not for the individual righteous or wicked man, but for the whole world. God promises that through his son, he will bring redemption and adoption, and he will also bring judgment and justice.
Comments