40 Minutes In The Old Testament - Psalm 2 (Episode 376)

Episode Date: September 11, 2023

Chad and Daniel discuss Psalm 2. Have a listen! Show Notes: 1517 Podcast Survey Support 1517 1517 Podcasts The 1517 Podcast Network on Apple Podcasts 1517 on Youtube What's New from 1517: Faith and Reason Exchange @ 1517.org 2023 HWSS Conference Livestream Signup Join the 1517 Academy Faith in the Face of Tyranny More from the hosts: Daniel Emery Price Chad Bird

Welcome to the Psalm Companion to 40 Minutes in the Old Testament. As you know, if you listened to last week's episodes, we are doing a psalm a week and then a proverb a week for the foreseeable future. It's going to be a while that we're doing this. So last week we did Psalm 1. This week we are in Psalm 2, or as Chad, I mean, Psalm 1, Part 2, the second door. Is this what we're calling this? Yeah, I think so.

It's a good name for it, yeah, because Psalm 1 and 2 are really a unit. But you notice, if you happen to be looking in your Bible, that there is no title, there's no ascribed author at the beginning of Psalm 2. It just jumps right into it. That's different than, for instance, Psalm 3 says a psalm of David when he fled from Absalom. Psalm 4 to the choir master. Psalm 5 to the choir master, so on and so forth. Most of these psalms have a heading, and the lack of a heading here is suggestive, as are a number of other features of Psalm 1 and 2. suggestive of the fact that yeah you've got double swinging doors here you're walking into the house

of the psalms and as you do you put one your left hand on psalm one your right hand on psalm two and you push open those swinging doors and you walk right in i've talked about we talked about some of this last time uh just a couple of other features here that are worth pointing out that connects these two besides a lack of a heading in psalm two and one is that so uh let me see Various translations translate the first verse in different kinds of ways. The King James says, Why do the heathen rage, and the peoples imagine a vain thing? New Revised Standard Version has plot in vain,

or New American Standard has devise a vain thing. Now that word for plot or imagine is the same verb that we saw back in Psalm 1 for meditate. so the blessed man doesn't walk with the counsel of the wicked etc what does he do he meditates in the torah of of yahweh and so here you once more have meditation going on translated as plot or imagine except it's the opposite these these nations and peoples are meditating in vain which is a nice uh nice contrast to what the blessed man does and one more uh one more time between these these two psalms and that is the the closing line of psalm 2 says blessed are all who take refuge in him ashrae in hebrew and that hebrew word is exact same way that psalm 1 begins

blessed ashrae is the man so someone begins with a blessed individual whom as we talked about last time is messiah and psalm 2 ends with also the blessed except these are the blessed all the blessed who are taking refuge in this blessed man of someone so uh it's pretty i mean and this is by no means kind of my unique perspective it's uh at least among christian interpreters it's very very common to see psalm one and two as the swinging doors to the the house of the book of psalms and what's nice about that is it it orients us immediately to the fact that it's the messiah who is the central character in the book of Psalms. He's the blessed man.

He's the one who meditates in the Torah of his father. He's like a tree planted by streams of water. And all of that kind of very wisdom kind of images of the blessed man now are going to be supplemented by other kinds of images. So these are going to be regal. He's going to be a king. He's going to be filial. He's going to be a son.

so he's going to be the one who is the son of yahweh he's going to be the one who's the the king and he's the one who is the mashiach he's the one who is the messiah the anointed one of god so verse two i mean psalm two i'll just it's very short i'll just read it for for us why do the nations rage in the people's plot in vain the kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the lord and against his anointed saying let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us he who sits in the heavens laughs the lord holds them in derision then he will speak to them in his wrath and terrify them in his fury saying as for me i have set my king on zion my holy hill i will tell of the decree the lord said to me you are my son

today i have begotten you ask me and i will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession you shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel now therefore oh kings be wise be warned oh 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 so we're introduced right away then to the fact that the blessed man who is the king who is the son who is the anointed you have all four of those titles applied to the messiah he uh he's facing opposition you got the nations raging at the people's plotting in vain kings setting themselves rulers taking counsel

together against him now this of course applied historically in the time of king david as well as other kings of judah who faced opposition from philistines and a lot of other peoples as well but these words are quoted in the book of acts after peter's released from jail they're quoted about exactly what was happening in the life and ministry of our lord where the kings and the rulers are pontius pilate and the religious establishment they had set themselves against the lord against the father and against his messiah now i love god's response verse four he just laughs yeah What is it that just cracks up? There's a contrast here that's interesting because the—one, I do love, like, there's something that rings, like, still today.

I mean, this is probably true of all times, but this sort of statement slash question in verse one of why do the nations rage? You're like, yeah, why do they rage? Because they do rage. and that we know that this is what happens this is what nations do uh they they rage and then you have this contrast of god who's like both angry but laughing so that that god can have two things going on at once where he can be upset uh and angry about what it is that a nation or people are doing but also know that it's so ridiculous that they think that they have any power or any authority that he would laugh at it it is comical i mean anybody i don't care how powerful the

person is i don't care if they're the the ruler of the entire world to uh to lift a fist up and shake it at god that's nothing more than just this is laughable yeah because who yeah who are we i mean we're compared to god and to his power i mean it does does become quite laughable that the nations think that they can rage and set themselves against him and somehow stop his work, burst their bonds and cast away their cords from us. Yeah, this is why all that plotting is vanity, right? Like, so all of this plotting that is happening, God looks at this and says, this is all for nothing. Yeah, and we know from plenty of biblical history and just history in general how God is able to use what nations think is their rebellion against god and then getting their own way

god is able to use that to further his own his own will i mean it's the story of salvation works out by god using the the foolish antics of nations throughout history in order to push forward the salvation story i mean of course the crucifixion of jesus is the primary example of that you know Here you have Pontius Pilate doing what he did, a religious establishment doing what they did, thinking that they're getting their way. And all the while, this was according to the predetermined plan of God. It doesn't excuse their actions, but their actions actually were used by God to bring about that which was our salvation. Yeah, I mean, like all of human history is like Joseph's statement just played out over and over again, which is what you meant for evil, God meant for good. For good, yes.

So after God laughs and then speaks to them in his anger, he says, listen, I put my king on Zion, my holy hill. So the one that I want ruling, the nations can rage, the kings of the area can do whatever they want to do, but I've already put my guy in place, put my king there, and he is the anointed of God. And not only that, we find out verse seven, he is the son. You are my son, today i have begotten you now this applies in two different ways certainly the the israelite kings of old were as were a lot of kings were understood to be the smallest son of god and of course israel itself is called the god's son all of that is uh a comparison between what they were and then what the eternal son of god is and of course that is who this is ultimately talking about here

God begetting him, declaring him that he's not a creature, but instead he is the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, as John will later say. Yeah, this is what—so the author of Hebrews quotes this in Hebrews 5, right, where he quotes it as a way of saying that Christ did not make himself the great high priest, but he is the one of whom God said, you are my son today, I have begotten you. He was declared that. Yeah, yeah. So this isn't just a human individual working their way up to some sort of adoption by God.

No, no. This is the one who is eternally begotten by the Father. Verse 8 says, Ask me, and I'll make the nations your heritage, all the ends of the earth your possession. You're going to break him with a rod of iron and dash him in pieces like a potter's vessel. Because he's the king of kings, not like the Persians thought.

Of course, the Persians thought they were kings of kings, but Christ truly is the king of kings. And this universal dominion that he exercises is exactly what's been happening ever since Christ said to his disciples, take this message from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria to the uttermost ends of the earth. So the spread of Christ's kingdom is exactly what's been happening. verse 10 says now therefore oh kings of the earth oh kings be wise be warned of rulers of the earth so drop your raging and drop your plotting and instead serve the lord with fear and rejoice with trembling and kiss the sun this image of worship kiss the sun lest you be angry and you perish in the way for his wrath is quickly kindled so don't don't do all those things that you have

been doing repent and worship and believe and trust in him because you want to be you want to be among these described at the very end of psalm 2 the blessed blessed are all who take refuge yeah like in in verse 10 you have basically in light of this in light of uh me explaining to you exactly how all your raging is stupid and your plotting is in vain i have a i have a different option for you. It's wisdom. And the wise thing to do here would be to serve the Lord with fear, but to rejoice with trembling. That sounds weird, doesn't it? It does. Yeah. I love the image though. I mean, in three words, it perfectly captures exactly what we should fear and love God, right? Yeah.

Fear with trembling and love with rejoicing. And these things are not contradictory. I mean, they are fused into the worship of of every christian this is the way it works yeah you fear with trembling and you also rejoice with with love in other words you you remember that uh this isn't buddy jesus we're talking about here this is the only begotten of the father this is the king this is god himself so uh fear with trembling but he's also at the same time the one who is our brother in the flesh who's a friend of sinners who died and rose again for us so yeah also rejoice with love because he's what he's what he's done for us yeah well that is good and blessed are those who take refuge in him this is this remains true this isn't just true for the psalms this is this

is uh the case for all people right uh that if you if you're in christ if you're if that is where you uh find your safety that you're blessed yeah no condemnation for those who are in christ jesus nothing but blessing and refuge that's it well all right man well we'll leave it there we'll be back psalm 3 we'll see you then see you then