Psalm 2

Another psalm. I could use them at the moment.

vs 1

It's a rhetorical question, which gets answered in the rest of the song. Very poetic.

vs 2

The TNIV here is far less wordy than the NIV. It does make it clear that kings and rulers together are against God and his anointed, which the other translations all struggle with a little. Who is God's anointed? I am guessing it is the king of Israel.

Of course, the messianic reference cannot be escaped here either.

vs 3

So the kings and rulers of earth are under the dominion of God and his anointed, but they want to rebel, break free.

vs 4

God actually scoffs at such talk. We don't often think of God laughing and scoffing at the foolishness of mankind. But he does. Or at least according to Psalm 2 he does. I don't think people like the idea of God mocking them. But Jesus mocked the Pharisees when they said stupid things.

vs 5

It's not a gentle "oh look at the silly children" laughter, it is an angry scoffing "Ha Ha Ha! You will never defeat me fools!" laughter. It rebukes them, it scares them. And so does his actual message, which is...

vs 6

Why is this such a scary message? Because for all these kings and rulers, leadership is what they have. They are in charge. But God says to them "you're not in charge at all. I place kings. And I have a chosen king, and I have placed him on my holy place".

vs 7

To this king, God makes a promise of relationship - a father/son relationship, which is probably the most important relationship in that culture - it is the relationship of inheritance.

vs 8

The other rulers have a right to be afraid, if God is promising this king the whole earth. What's left for them?

vs 9

Not only will they not rule, but it sounds like they are going to be subservient to yet another under God. Not attractive to kings.

I remember in youth group Cynthia misreading this verse as 'dashed them with pottery', so now God forever rains down earthen jugs on the disobedient in my mind.

vs 10

So now the rulers are warned. They are warned to be wise. The ultimate wisdom of the OT (and NT) is the fear of the Lord. Not just terror at him taking away their power. Instead, the righteous awe of God for him being God.

vs 11

What did I say about fear? Here it is. Serving with fear and celebrating with trembling. It's not about being afraid because the king is going to kill you (sometimes that might be the case - say if your king was Josef Stalin). Instead, it is fearing the king purely because it is the king - a person of such great might and authority, that you are cowed just by their reputation.

But it's not a bad thing. It is a thing to celebrate. God in charge is the best thing we can hope for. Better than any of us in charge.

vs 12

I like how the TNIV puts this, because the 'lest he be angry' of the NIV is a holdover from the KJV, which is even worse, because you 'perish from the way' (whatever that means). In the NIV you are destroyed 'in your way' (I choose death by chocolate). In the TNIV 'you and your ways are destroyed' - ok, that holds the gravity I am looking for!

'Kiss the son' means swear fealty to him, like kissing his pinky ring. I don't know that they did the ring thing back then, but they did do the kiss thing.

Notice two more things. God's wrath - or the wrath of his son - can flare up in a moment. Sometimes you wonder whether God is ever going to punish someone for their evil. Well, he is incredibly patient, but you can't let that be your guiding principe. Angry stuff is all the more angry when it flares up suddenly. Much better to be blessed by taking refuge in the son - a very interesting NT allusion.