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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Psalms 2:4 - 2:4
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Above the scene of this wild tumult of battle and imperious arrogance the psalmist in this six line strophe beholds Jahve, and in spirit hears His voice of thunder against the rebels. In contrast to earthly rulers and events Jahve is called יֹושֵׁב בַּשָּׁמַיִם: He is enthroned above them in unapproachable majesty and ever-abiding glory; He is called אֲדֹנָי as He who controls whatever takes place below with absolute power according to the plan His wisdom has devised, which brooks no hindrance in execution. The futt. describe not what He will do, but what He does continually (cf. Isa 18:4.). לָמֹו also belongs, according to Psa 59:9; Psa 37:13, to יִשְׂחָק (שׂחק which is more usual in the post-pentateuchal language = צחק). He laughs at the defiant ones, for between them and Him there is an infinite distance; He derides them by allowing the boundless stupidity of the infinitely little one to come to a climax and then He thrusts him down to the earth undeceived. This climax, the extreme limit of the divine forbearance, is determined by the אָז, as in Deu 29:19, cf. שָׁם Psa 14:5; 36:13, which is a “then” referring to the future and pointing towards the crisis which then supervenes. Then He begins at once to utter the actual language of His wrath to his foes and confounds them in the heat of His anger, disconcerts them utterly, both outwardly and in spirit. בָּהַל, Arab. bhl, cogn. בָּלַהּ, means originally to let loose, let go, then in Hebrew sometimes, externally, to overthrow, sometimes, of the mind, to confound and disconcert.
Psa 2:5-6
Psa 2:5 is like a peal of thunder (cf. Isa 10:33); בַּֽחֲרֹונֹו, Psa 2:5, like the lightning's destructive flash. And as the first strophe closed with the words of the rebels, so this second closes with Jahve's own words. With וַאֲנִי begins an adverbial clause like Gen 15:2; Gen 18:13; Psa 50:17. The suppressed principal clause (cf. Isa 3:14; Ew. §341, c) is easily supplied: ye are revolting, whilst notwithstanding I.... With וַאֲנִי He opposes His irresistible will to their vain undertaking. It has been shown by Böttcher, that we must not translate “I have anointed” (Targ., Symm.). נָסַךְ, Arab. nsk, certainly means to pour out, but not to pour upon, and the meaning of pouring wide and firm (of casting metal, libation, anointing) then, as in הִצִּיג, הִצִּיק, goes over into the meaning of setting firmly in any place (fundere into fundare, constituere, as lxx, Syr., Jer., and Luther translate), so that consequently נָסִיךְ the word for prince cannot be compared with מָשִׁיחַ, but with נְצִיב.
(Note: Even the Jalkut on the Psalms, §620, wavers in the explanation of נסכתי between אמשׁחתיה I have anointed him, (after Dan 10:3), אתיכתיה (I have cast him (after Exo 32:4 and freq.), and גדלתיו I have made him great (after Mic 5:4). Aquila, by rendering it καὶ ἐδιασάμην (from διάζεσθαι = ὑφαίνειν), adds a fourth possible rendering. A fifth is נָסַךְ to purify, consecrate (Hitz.), which does not exist, for the Arabic nasaka obtains this meaning from the primary signification of cleansing by flooding with water (e.g., washing away the briny elements of a field). Also in Pro 8:23 נִסַּכְתִּי means I am cast = placed.)
The Targum rightly inserts וּמְנִיתֵיהּ (et praefeci eum) after רַבַּיתִי (unxi), for the place of the anointing is not עַל־צִיֹּון. History makes no mention of a king of Israel being anointed on Zion. Zion is mentioned as the royal seat of the Anointed One; there he is installed, that He may reign there, and rule from thence, Psa 110:2. It is the hill of the city of David (2Sa 5:7, 2Sa 5:9; 1Ki 8:1) including Moriah, that is intended. That hill of holiness, i.e., holy hill, which is the resting-place of the divine presence and therefore excels all the heights of the earth, is assigned to Him as the seat of His throne.