Mystical Psalter: Psalm 2

Psalm 2
1 Why do the nations rage, and the people plan vain things?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against Yahweh, and
against His Christ, saying,
3 "Let us burst their bonds asunder, and cast away their yoke from us!"
4 He who sits in the heavens shall laugh: Yahweh shall have them in derision.
5 Then shall He speak to them in His wrath, and vex them in His fury.
6 But I was established king by Him upon Zion, His holy hill
7 by declaring the decree of Yahweh. He has said to me, "You are My Son; today have I begotten you.
8 "Ask of Me, and I shall give you the nations for your inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession.
9 ‘You shall shepherd them with a rod of iron; you shall dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel."
10 Be wise now therefore, O kings: be instructed, O judges of the earth.
11 Serve Yahweh with fear, and rejoice in Him with trembling. 12 Seize upon instruction, lest He be angry, and you perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that trust in Him!

This psalm is one of the so-called "Royal Psalms", celebrating the royal House of David and the glorious destiny God had promised it (see 2 Sam. 7). In its original context, it pictures all the pagan nations of the earth united against the rule of the Davidic king of Israel, intent on throwing off the yoke of submission to it. The Psalmist pictures the nations of the earth subject to the rule of Israel, just as they would later be subjected to the (more tyrannical) rule of Assyria and Babylon. They chafe under Israel’s yoke, however, and rage against it, entering into a grand alliance to overthrow Israel.

In those days, it was understood that a nation’s victories came ultimately as a gift from their god (see Judges 11:24), and so Israel’s international supremacy was understood as the work of their God Yahweh. The nations imagined that, supported by their own gods, they could burst the bonds imposed by Yahweh and His Anointed King (Hebrew: mashiah; Greek: Christos, English: Christ) and cast away their yoke.
Such a hope was futile. Yahweh was the One who sits in the heavens, sovereign not only over Israel, but over all the earth. He laughs contemptuously at the thought of such imagined folly, and then speaks to the nations in His wrath, to vex them in His fury. This divine anger is manifested on earth through the victories of Israel’s King, as the Lord’s Anointed triumphs over his foes on the field of battle.

The Psalmist then brings that Davidic King to the fore. The King says, "I was established king by Him upon Zion, His holy hill, by declaring the decree of Yahweh. He has said to me, ‘You are My Son; today have I begotten you. Ask of Me, and I shall give you the nations for your inheritance’". That is, the King declares that Yahweh has adopted him as His Son ("begotten" him), even as kings in those days were often poetically regarded as the adopted sons of the national god. (The "today" refers to the day of the King’s anointing as King, when he was "crowned", as we would say, as leader of God’s people.) The King boasts that victory over the nations and even over the uttermost parts of the earth was God’s gift to him as King. Thus all resistance to him was futile.

The Psalmist therefore exhorts all the kings, those judges of the earth, to be wise. Let them acknowledge that rebellion against the House of David was futile, and serve Yahweh (i.e. Yahweh’s Anointed King) with fear, and rejoice in Him with trembling, gratefully serving Him with humility. Let them seize upon and keep this wise instruction, lest Yahweh be angry at their rebellion and they perish. Blessed are they that trust in Yahweh—let the nations learn this trust and know the joy of serving Him!

For Christians, the prophesied Davidic King in whom all God’s glorious promises to David would be fulfilled was Jesus of Nazareth. He was the Meshiah, the Messiah, the Christ, and the glory spoken of in the royal psalms belonged to Him. The Kingdom, however, was not of this world (Jn. 18:36), and so had nothing to do with politics or nationalisms. The nationalistic tinge in these royal psalms (as in the Old Testament prophecies of the Kingdom generally) were simply part of the poetic back-drop, the poetic packaging of the true and essential message. For these prophecies were not ultimately about Israel’s glory, but about the glory of the Messiah.

Thus the Church saw that the prophesied alliance of the kings of the earth and its rulers was fulfilled not in any international coalition, but in the alliance of Pontius Pilate (and the Gentile Romans) with Herod (and some of the Jewish people)—see Acts 4:25-28. These had set themselves in opposition and taken counsel together against the Lord God and against His Christ, Jesus. But this too was all in vain, for God had decreed victory for His Christ, and He would raise Him from the dead and exalt Him to His right hand in heaven. From there, He would rule over all the nations (Greek ethne; the Gentiles), even to the uttermost parts of the earth.

This psalm therefore declares the glory of Jesus, the Christ of God, who rules from His heavenly Zion over all the world. Our wisdom is serve Him with joy, rejoicing with humble fear and trembling. He is the Fullness of the Father, and we are blessed when we trust in Him.