The Song of the Anointed Son

The first line of the psalm sets up the situation with a question: “Why? Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?” It has the tone of astonishment because the kings and rulers of the earth reject God’s authority. The word “plot” is the same Hebrew word that in Psalm 1 was translated “meditates” (hagah). It means to speak or growl under your breath, which gives us a mental picture of rebels speaking in low-voiced murmurs in shadowy back rooms, muttering about how good it would be if they could cast off God’s rule and be their own rulers. “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” These kings say that God has them chained up, bound, like a straitjacket. Their demand is to rule themselves, to cast off any commands or law. And it’s not just a political problem; the psalmist names the people too, so this is a universal human problem. We are meant to imagine the entire world in confusion, madness, and mess (which is not too difficult to imagine), and the psalmist is saying that all the issues of the world stem from one thing: we are all following the pattern of Adam and Eve, rejecting God’s authority as the ruler of all things. The serpent in the garden slyly asked, “Did God really say…?” and this psalm echoes the same challenge to God’s sovereignty. “Who really is in charge here?” So according to Psalm 2, the human dilemma is that we were made by God to be in a relationship with him, but we’d prefer to rule our own lives, thank you very much. But if we believe that God is the righteous Creator of everything, we will always be in the wrong if we go against him. True freedom is not found in casting off the rule of God but in living under a good authority. What we need is a good king who will bring order and justice, who will save us from our wayward path and bring us back to God.

There are only three times in the Psalms when God laughs, and all of them have to do with evil people who think that they’ve beaten God. “He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.” God gets the last laugh. He gives a mocking chuckle to those delude themselves, and then he appoints a king. “As for me, I have set [or installed, coronated, enthroned] my King on Zion, my holy hill.” In response to the kings of the earth forming an insurgent alliance, God sets his own king over them (a king of kings, if you will). Earlier this person was called “the Anointed,” which is the Hebrew word mashiach, Messiah. In ancient Israel, the king was anointed with oil, and the title “Messiah” came to mean a future king who will embody all the ideals of kingship and bring all of God’s promises to fulfillment. Suddenly, in verse 7, the point of view changes so that we get to hear this Anointed king speak for himself, “I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, ‘You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.’” This language is a poetic meditation on a very important passage of Scripture: 2 Samuel 7. God came to King David and said that he would appoint a king from David’s line who would rule forever. Even more than that, God promised that this king would be a member of his own family: “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son.” His throne would be on Zion, a reference to the high mountain in Jerusalem and a symbol of the high rule of God and his chosen king. This king would rule over the chaos and anarchy of the world and bring it under God’s authority, and he would also be given power to judge evildoers. Verse 9: “You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” Some will submit to the king’s good rule, but those that won’t bend the knee will be broken and scattered. This is constructive destruction, removing rebellion for the stability of the rest of the kingdom. At this point in the psalm, we’re asking, “Well, how is the story going to end? Will human beings lay down their arms and follow this King of Kings? What can bring us back under the banner of God’s good rule?”

Psalm 2 concludes in this way: “Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.”  The only hope for rebels and mutineers like us is full surrender and submission to the King. First, be wise; be aware of this history of spiritual rebellion. Second, be warned, because God’s judgment is certainly coming for those who don’t listen. Third, serve the LORD and rejoice with trembling, meaning reverent fear and joy mingled together, both worship and trembling, security and reverence. Fourth, “kiss the son,” paying homage to a king in humble submission. There’s a warning here about the just wrath of this king that blazes up at wrongdoing where others might have just let evil slide. God’s anger is always proportional, always measured, and always for the sake of his glory and the good of his people. Finally, we receive a beatitude, a blessing. “Blessed are all who take refuge in him.” Happiness, freedom, and flourishing is given to all, any, and everyone who takes refuge, who finds shelter, who runs into the fortress of God’s King. The safest place in all of the world is not a location but a person, the Anointed Son who will execute rebels but offers them amnesty and immunity if they would run to him. There is no refuge from him; there is only refuge in him.

So the choice is put before us: what will we choose? Will we go our own way or will we follow God’s ways? Just like Psalm 1, this is the basic human decision that all of us must make. It’s likely that Psalms 1 and 2 were both composed as an introduction to the book of Psalms; they were intentionally placed here and linked through verbal cues, repeated words and phrases. I already mentioned that the words “meditate” and “plot” are the same word in Hebrew, but there are other connections, the clearest one being the repeated word, “blessing.” Psalm 1 begins, “Blessed is the man,” and Psalm 2 ends, “Blessed are all who take refuge in him.” Notice how the themes of these psalms set up the themes of the whole book: this book of prayers will center on God’s way of life according to his torah instructions and on God’s kingdom rule. When taken together, these two psalms summarize “the good life,” the core of what the life of a worshiper of God looks like. In Psalm 1, the good life is found by being rooted in the words of God, and in Psalm 2, the good life is found by taking refuge in the Anointed Son of God.