A psalm for coronation—and a warning for the nations round about.
The second psalm, Lammá ragšú goyím/“For what reason rage the nations?” (Latin, Quare fremuerunt gentes) is considered a Messianic psalm ’cause it’s about Israel’s king, and one of the king’s titles is of course Messiah. And it’s considered a Messianic prophecy ’cause Jesus is Messiah, so Christians are gonna look for ways in which it gets fulfilled in the present day—kinda like the apostles did when they quoted it.
Acts 4.23-28 KWL - 23 Once released, the apostles went to their own people
- and brought news of whatever the head priests and elders told them.
- 24 Those who heard it unanimously lifted their voices to God and said, “Master,
- you who made the heavens, earth, sea, and everything in them,
- 25 who said through the Holy Spirit, by the mouth of our ancestor David your child,
- ‘Why are the nations furious?—the people practice stupidity?
- 26 The earth’s kings stand forth, and rulers gather themselves together,
- against the Lord and against his Messiah.’
Ps 2.1-2 - 27 For truly they gathered together in this city against your holy child Jesus, whom you anointed—
- Antipas Herod and Pontius Pilate, with gentiles and Israeli people—
- 28 to do whatever your hand and your will predecided to happen.”
After all, if the psalmist (who’s not identified, though you notice the apostles figured it was David) was speaking of Herod, Pilate, and the head priests conspiring against Jesus, it sure does look like the first lines of this psalm.
Why was it composed? We figure it’s for coronations. When a new king was anointed, they’d sing this. The first book in Psalms appears to be from the kingdom of southern Israel (“Judah”), so likely it was sung by and to the kings of Jerusalem. The original doesn’t rhyme or have meter, but I rendered it in trochaic heptameter anyway.
Psalm 2 KWL - 1 For what reason is the uproar of the nations?
- Or the people found in useless meditations?
- 2 Kings of earth and rulers take a stand, consulting
- on the L
ORD and his Messiah—thus resulting - 3 in, “Let’s tear their chains off; throw away their bindings.”
- 4 Seated in the heavens, my Lord mocks their findings.
- 5 Then he speaks, with nostrils flaring, to their hubris.
- In his burning rage he terrifies them senseless.
- 6 “On my holy Zion hill, I poured out my king.”
- 7 Let me now instruct you on the L
ORD God’s ruling. - “You’re my son,” he told me, “on this day I birthed you.
- 8 Ask me and I grant the wealth of nations to you.
- Your inheritance extends to earth’s horizon.
- 9 Shatter with your iron staff; like jars you’ll break them.”
- 10 Now kings, think it through. Earth’s judges, heed this warning.
- 11 Serve the L
ORD in fear. Rejoice, but do it trembling. - 12 Kiss the son lest he destroy your path in anger.
- Small things make him burn. Bless all who seek his shelter.
“Our king is better than your kings.”
Absolute monarchies aren’t stable countries. That’s because they stand or fall depending on who’s king. A new king means a new lawmaker, new executive, new judge—and new backbone. If he’s got no backbone, he won’t be much of any of those things.
Nowadays we’re not as familiar with absolute monarchs ’cause most monarchies are constitutional. The king and nation live under law. Often their parliaments really run things. Their constitution makes ’em stable, because the kings may change, but the laws don’t. And in ancient times, Israel was just about the only constitutional monarchy in existence, thanks to the Law. (That is, unless the kings ignored the Law and followed the Baals.)
Anyway, whenever a new leader steps up (and this is also true of presidents and bosses), the nearby competitors figure it’s time to test the new guy. Especially in ancient times, when nearby vassal states like Edom, Moab, and Ammon might wanna shake off their Israeli masters. So… is the new king a warrior like his dad was? Or is he some weak-willed capitulating pansy whom they can easy push around? Even overthrow?
Fr’instance Hanun of Ammon.
2 Samuel 10.1-4 KWL - 1 This happened afterwards: Benei-Ammon’s king died. His son Khanún was made king after him.
- 2 David said, “I’ll show love to Khanún ben Nakhaš, like his father showed love to me.”
- David sent gifts in his slaves’ hands, to comfort Khanún about his father.
- David’s slaves came to the land of Benei-Ammon.
- 3 Benei-Ammon’s chiefs told their master Khanún,
- “Is David honoring your father in your eyes, because he sent you comforters?
- Isn’t David sending slaves to you an excuse to check out the city, to spy, to overthrow it?”
- 4 Khanún took David’s slaves and shaved half their beards.
- He cut off half their kilts at their buttocks, and sent them back.
That’s how you start a war, which took the next couple chapters (with a break for David stealing Bathsheba) before it ended with a lot of dead Syrian mercenaries, and Ammon in slavery making bricks.
Likewise the goyím/“nations” were making plans to “tear their chains off; throw away their bindings.”
It’s striking how belligerent this psalm is. It’s almost like the psalmist is daring the nations to try something, and let the L
’Cause if Messiah wanted to, he could ask God to let him take over the whole world, and bend it to his will.
Yeah, this psalm applies to Jesus too. He’s Messiah, remember? But a much better Messiah than the ancient kings of Jerusalem: The king of New Jerusalem is free of the vengeful, petty human behavior that was in the minds of the kings who originally sang this psalm. He’s already conquered the world,
How it’s fulfilled in Acts. And in our future.
If you’re gonna nitpick (and sometimes I do), you’re gonna notice the historical context of Psalm 2 doesn’t precisely match what was happening in Acts 4. The apostles clearly had in mind how the Judeans and Romans colluded to kill Jesus. Not how the Edomites and Moabites plotted to revolt against Jerusalem.
This just goes to show the difference between a prophetic prediction and a fulfilled scripture. Psalm 2 wasn’t about the plot against Jesus. But it’s like the plot against Jesus. The idea of the nations fomenting plans against Messiah? Well, the nations did make plans against Messiah when Jesus was killed. Him being Messiah was their entire case against him, you might recall. They condemned him because he said he was Messiah and Son of Man; they handed him over to the Romans because being Messiah made him king of Judea, and Tiberius Caesar was already their king.
Once Jesus returns, he’s likewise gonna get opposition from people who don’t want him to take over the world. But he’s gonna. The world is his inheritance. In this sense, Jesus’s return fulfills this psalm way better than the death of Jesus.
Yes, this is a prophecy: It was written by a Spirit-inspired author, and reflects God’s thinking. But not all prophecies predict the future. This one doesn’t even try to. That’s not its point nor purpose. It’s to declare God’s will about his anointed kings of Jerusalem. Since God’s will about them is similar to his will about Jesus, of course history’s gonna repeat itself. Time and again.
But again: This psalm isn’t a prophetic prediction of the second coming. Nor of Jesus’s death. It was simply to tell Israel’s neighbors their revolutions would go nowhere. God’s chosen his Messiah, and ain’t nothing they could do about it. And similarly, God’s chosen Jesus, and still ain’t nothing they could do about it. They did try killing him, and God simply undid that. So that’s not gonna work. God will get his way in the end.
