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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Psalms 2:7 - 2:7
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The Anointed One himself now speaks and expresses what he is, and is able to do, by virtue of the divine decree. No transitional word or formula of introduction denotes this sudden transition from the speech of Jahve to that of His Christ. The psalmist is the seer: his Psalm is the mirrored picture of what he saw and the echo of what he heard. As Jahve in opposition to the rebels acknowledges the king upon Zion, so the king on Zion appeals to Him in opposition to the rebels. The name of God, יְהֹוָה, has Rebia magnum and, on account of the compass of the full intonation of this accent, a Gaja by the Shebâ (comp. אֱלֹהִי Psa 25:2, אֱלֹהִים Psa 68:8, אֲדֹנָי Psa 90:1).
(Note: We may observe here, in general, that this Gaja (Metheg) which draws the Shebâ into the intonation is placed even beside words with the lesser distinctives Zinnor and Rebia parvum only by the Masorete Ben-Naphtali, not by Ben-Asher (both about 950 a.d.). This is a point which has not been observed throughout even in Baer's edition of the Psalter so that consequently e.g., in Psa 5:11 it is to be written אֱלֹהִים; in Psa 6:2 on the other hand (with Dechî) יְהֹוַה, not יְהֹוָה.)
The construction of סִפֵּר with אֶל (as Psa 69:27, comp. אמר Gen 20:2; Jer 27:19, דִּבֵּר 2Ch 32:19, הודיע Isa 38:19): to narrate or make an announcement with respect to... is minute, and therefore solemn. Self-confident and fearless, he can and will oppose to those, who now renounce their allegiance to him, a חֹק, i.e., an authentic, inviolable appointment, which can neither be changed nor shaken. All the ancient versions, with the exception of the Syriac, read חק־יהוה together. The line of the strophe becomes thereby more symmetrical, but the expression loses in force. אֶל־חֹק rightly has Olewejored. It is the amplificative use of the noun when it is not more precisely determined, known in Arabic grammar: such a decree! majestic as to its author and its matter. Jahve has declared to Him: בְּנִי אַתָּה,
(Note: Even in pause here אַתָּה remains without a lengthened ā (Psalter ii. 468), but the word is become Milel, while out of pause, according to Ben-Asher, it is Milra; but even out of pause (as in Psa 89:10, Psa 89:12; Psa 90:2) it is accented on the penult. by Ben-Naphtali. The Athnach of the books תאם (Ps., Job, Prov.), corresponding to the Zakeph of the 21 other books, has only a half pausal power, and as a rule none at all where it follows Olewejored, cf. Psa 9:7; Psa 14:4; Psa 25:7; Psa 27:4; Psa 31:14; Psa 35:15, etc. (Baer, Thorath Emeth p. 37).)
and that on the definite day on which He has begotten or born him into this relationship of son. The verb יָלַד (with the changeable vowel i)
(Note: The changeable i goes back either to a primary form יָלֵד, יָרְשׁ, שָׁאֵל, or it originates directly from Pathach; forms like יְרֵשׁוּהָ and שְׁאֵלְךָ favour the former, ē in a closed syllable generally going over into Segol favours the latter.))
unites in itself, like γεννᾶν, the ideas of begetting and bearing (lxx γεγέννηκα, Aq. ἔτεκον); what is intended is an operation of divine power exalted above both, and indeed, since it refers to a setting up (נסך) in the kingship, the begetting into a royal existence, which takes place in and by the act of anointing (משׁח). Whether it be David, or a son of David, or the other David, that is intended, in any case 2 Sam 7 is to be accounted as the first and oldest proclamation of this decree; for there David, with reference to his own anointing, and at the same time with the promise of everlasting dominion, receives the witness of the eternal sonship to which Jahve has appointed the seed of David in relation to Himself as Father, so that David and his seed can say to Jahve: אָבִי אַתָּה, Thou art my Father, Psa 89:27, as Jahve can to him: בְּנִי אַתָּה, Thou art My son. From this sonship of the Anointed one to Jahve, the Creator and Possessor of the world, flows His claim to and expectation of the dominion of the world. The cohortative, natural after challenges, follows upon שְׁאַל, Ges. §128, 1. Jahve has appointed the dominion of the world to His Son: on His part therefore it needs only the desire for it, to appropriate to Himself that which is allotted to Him. He needs only to be willing, and that He is willing is shown by His appealing to the authority delegated to Him by Jahve against the rebels. This authority has a supplement in Psa 2:9, which is most terrible for the rebellious ones. The suff. refer to the גֹּויִם, the ἔθνη, sunk in heathenism. For these his sceptre of dominion (Psa 90:2) becomes a rod of iron, which will shatter them into a thousand pieces like a brittle image of clay (Jer 19:11). With נִפֵּץ alternates רָעַע (= רָעַץ frangere), fut. תָּרֹעַ; whereas the lxx (Syr., Jer.), which renders ποιμανεῖς αὐτοὺς ἐν ῥάβδῳ (as 1Co 4:21) σιδηρᾷ, points it תִּרְעֵם from רָעָה. The staff of iron, according to the Hebrew text the instrument of punitive power, becomes thus with reference to שֵׁבֶט as the shepherd's staff Psa 23:4; Mic 7:14, an instrument of despotism.