Bibliography

Outline of Series

ESV Psalm 2:1 Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?

2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying,

3 “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.”

4 He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.

5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying,

6 “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.”

7 I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.

8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.

9 You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”

10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth.

11 Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.

12 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.

 

I. Content

A. Psalm 1 gives a portrait of Christ the righteous Man; Psalm 2 presents Christ as divine–God’s “begotten” Son (Reardon, 4).

7 I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.

Translations which say “today I have become your Father” (NIV, NET, NLT) are emphasizing the Old Testament context in which kings became ceremonially adopted into sonship by God.

Translations which say “today I have begotten you”(ESV, NAU, RSV, NKJ) follow a literal approach that points to the Anointed Messiah’s actual begetting by God the Father. The Hebrew language itself favors “begotten.”

The choice of one over the other indicates the editorial bias of the translators:

1. “Today I have become your Father,” favors emphasis on the original setting and audience in which New Testament statements of the verse are quotations, or “applications.”

2. “Today I have begotten you,” is preferable when the original OT statement is considered as prophetic, pointing directly at a later fulfillment in Christ the Messiah.

Christ’s Baptism: ESV Matthew 3:16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Transfiguration: ESV Matthew 17:5 He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

3. Question: Does it seem more likely that very God himself would be quoting the Old Testament, or that the Old Testament prophetically would be quoting God?

Remember that according to testimony in the New Testament, including that of Jesus himself (Mark 12:36), a) David was a prophet, and b) all Scripture is “breathed out” by God (2Timothy 2:16).

ESV Hebrews 1:5 For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you” [Psalm 2:7]?Or again, “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son”?

ESV Hebrews 5:5 So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”; [The author of Hebrews states that God in Psalm 2 spoke directly to Christ his Son. This implies that the author perceives Psalm 2 in its original intent and context as referring to Christ. This means that the author of Hebrews views Psalm 2 as prophecy.]

B. Psalm 1 shows what obedience to God’s law looks like at an individual level and demonstrates that the one who seeks God by following the roadmap of his law will be rewarded.

Psalm 2 shows that God’s Anointed (God’s Christ) is King and has received final victory for the righteous and final defeat for the rebellious (vss 4-10).

C. Psalm 2 demonstrates the opposition of rebellious nations to God and to his Son (vss 1-3, 10-11).

1. Psalm 2: Opposition by the nations (nations, kings of the earth, peoples, rulers)

2. Psalm 3: Opposition from the king’s own people (psalm title, vss 1-2)

3. Psalms 4-7: Opposition from unspecified wicked men

D. God’s response to the rebellious nations.

1. God laughs at them in scorn as though they are so many small, ridiculous things (vs 4).

2. God then speaks in wrath (great, active anger) and terrifies in fury (vs 5).

3. God thinks nothing of the power of the nations, because he has installed his own King, his own begotten Son, on Zion, his holy hill (vs 6).

4. The Son receives and proclaims the decree of the Lord God and recounts the powers of judgment and retribution placed in his hand (7-9).

5. Warning and opportunity for repentance are extended to all rebellious rulers and all people generally (10-12).

E. Psalm 2 opens the possibility of the Lord’s salvation and blessing to all nations (vs 12).

The overarching theme of Psalm 2 is that all human history lies solidly within God’s dominance and control and that final, victorious rule has been given to his Son.

Because this Psalm was never fulfilled in Israel’s history, it came to be considered as eschatological in post-exilic times, having to do with the future and end times. Even today, final fulfillment of its statements awaits the Second Coming of Christ. 

Through the themes of divine royalty, opposition from the wicked, and the King’s victory, Psalm 2 stands as an introduction to Books 1 through 3 of Psalms (Psalms 2-89) (Bullock, 59). As a single unit, Psalms 1 and 2 stands as an introduction to the entire Psalter (more on this below).

 

II. Psalms 1 and 2 as a Unit

A. Why is it important to see Psalms 1 and 2 as a unit?

1. Psalms 1 and 2 taken together flesh out and expand the portrait of Christ as incarnated deity. We see him fulfill God’s nature and will both in the humiliated flesh of his humanity (Psalm 1) and in the power of his sovereign deity as God’s Son (Psalm 2).

2. Neither Psalm 1 nor 2 has a superscription, or title. Most agree that these psalms were written at different times in Israel’s long history and placed side by side at the head of the Psalter by an editor. Seeing them as a unit, as a whole piece of literature, supports the continuity of Scripture and demonstrates that God himself is their ultimate author.

3. Continuity and divine authorship in turn support Jesus’ and his early followers’ claims to his being the long-awaited Messiah.

4. Continuity and divine authorship support the New Testament writers’ practice of interpreting various Old Testament psalms as direct prophecies of Christ.

5. Continuity and divine authorship support justification for today’s readers to make application of the psalms as prophecies of Christ in ways not previously cited by New Testament authors. That is, by means of the same Holy Spirit present in the writers of the New Testament, we as modern readers can make scriptural connections between Old and New Testaments similar to those the NT authors made. If as John 21:25 states, Jesus performed many actions and miracles that could not be recorded in that gospel, then it seems plausible that there are many scriptural connections to be made between the Testaments, and especially between Psalms and the New Testament’s life of Christ, that could not be recorded in the letters and gospels of the New Testament, simply because of space considerations.

B. Internal Evidence that Psalms 1 and 2 Form a Unit (Waltke and Houston, The Psalms as Christian Worship, 160-161)

1. Neither Psalm 1 nor 2 has a superscription, while Psalms 3 through 41 all superscribe David as author, except for Psalm 33, which is anonymous.

2. Psalm 1 opens with, “Blessed is the man who…” and Psalm 2 closes with, “Blessed are all who…” In literature, this structure is called an inclusio.

3. Parallel Words and Phrases

a. The righteous meditates on God’s Word (1:2), while the wicked take counsel together against the Lord and against his Anointed…(2:1).

b. The last verses of both psalms speak of the wicked perishing in the way (1:6; 2:12).

c. In Psalm 1, the wicked scoff, or mock, the Lord and his way (1:1), while in Psalm 2, the Lord mocks (laughs at and holds in derision), the rebellious wicked (2:4).

4. Uniform Message: Both psalms proclaim the message that the righteous will prevail.

a. Psalm 1–the righteous prevail by faithfully following God’s way, his law.

    Psalm 2–the righteous prevail through the King.

b. Psalm 1–the righteous trust God to uphold his law.

     Psalm 2–the righteous trust God to uphold his King.

5. Psalms 1 and 2 taken as a whole, as a complete unit at the very front of the collection, encourage readers to view all the petitions, praises, and laments of the entire Psalter as having reference to both:

a. themselves as individuals within God’s kingdom

b. God’s King, his Son, his Anointed

In consequence of point 5 above, the psalms are highly prophetic. In other words, if the reader receives Psalms 1 and 2 together as a unit introducing the entire Psalter, then the reader can feel justified and free to see all the psalms as applying both to the individual, i.e., the reader herself (Psalm 1) and Christ (Psalm 2), since Psalm 2 plainly and boldly spells out that Christ is the referent. Again, if Psalm 2, along with Psalm 1, introduces the entire Psalter, then the entire Psalter is about Christ, viewed both as incarnate human (Psalm 1) and divine Son and King (Psalm 2).–cw

 

III. Structure

A. Hebrew Poetry

1. Psalm 2 marks itself off into four identifiable blocks of three couplets each: vss 1-3, 4-6, 7-9, and 10-12. The transition signals will be discussed below.

2. Hebrew poetic couplets in which the second line repeats the first with slight variation to expand, illustrate, explain, or reinforce by repetition the meaning of the first:

 

a. Verse 1

    Why do the nations rage

     and the peoples plot in vain?

b. Verse 3

    “Let us burst their bonds apart

    and cast away their cords from us.”

c. Verse 8

    “I will make the nations your heritage,

    and the ends of the earth your possession.”

 

B. Speech

1. The writer of this blog discovered 3 separate sections within this poem and 4 distinct speakers, as though the poem were intended to be a choral reading.

a. Narrator–verses 1-6 and 2 speakers whom the narrator quotes: Speaker 1 (the rebellious nations, vs 3) and Speaker 2 (God, vs 6)

b. The Son–verses 7-9. The Son, Speaker 3, immediately breaks in with the narrator’s quote of God’s statement in vs 6 functioning as transition and as his introduction. The Son speaks directly from his own experience (vs 7) and further quotes the speech of God to him (vss 7-9).

c. Narrator of Section 1 or, alternatively, a Chorus (Speaker 4)–verses 10-12. The last section differs from the first in that the narrator of the first section speaks omnisciently, not as a character within the psalm, whereas the narrator, or chorus, of the last section addresses the kings and rulers with direct speech (vss 10-12), with the last sentence delivered not as speech towards the rulers, but as a general statement to all readers and all humankind. It functions as a summary of the whole.

2. Waltke and Houston have discovered a “four-act play” in Psalm 2 (Waltke and Houston, Psalms as Worship, 161). The four acts correspond to the sequence of speakers discoverable in the psalm and follow the blocks that this writer describes in the section just above. Whereas this writer combines verses 1-6 into a single section, Waltke divides that block into two “acts.” His four acts and corresponding speakers follow:

a. Act 1: verses 1-3, the hostile kings

b. Act 2: verses 4-6, I AM

c. Act 3: verses 7-9, the King

d. Act 4: verses 10-12, the psalmist

 

C. Why Is Direct and Quoted Speech in Psalms Important?

1. In an Old Testament setting in which the Israelites believed in one God (Deuteronomy 6:4), two distinct divine voices indicate a first and second person of the Trinity.

2. Introduction of a distinct Son of God led directly to the eschatological hope of Messiah.

3. The presence of speech blocks with clearly defined transitions and multiple, identified speakers within a single psalm, such as those found in Psalm 2, establish a usage and pattern that can help interpret psalms whose change of speakers and speech blocks are not as clearly and directly marked. Psalm 102 is an example of such a psalm.

4. Speech highlights and emphasizes the prophetic nature of psalms.

5. Because Psalm 2, taken as a unit with Psalm 1, sets a precedence for the rest of the Psalter, and because the Son speaks prophetically in Psalm 2, there is good reason to suppose that many of the first person statements and prayers in the rest of the Psalter are also prophetic prayers and speech of Christ.

Previous in Psalms

Next in Psalms

 

Bibliography

Outline of Series

ESV Psalm 1:1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;

2 but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.

3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.

4 The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;

6 for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

 

I. Two Themes of Psalm 1

Psalm 1 stands at the head of the entire Psalter and introduces the whole. This occurred by design of God through the human editor (Bullock, 58-59).

A. The “blessed man” of Psalm 1 introduces the theme of Jesus Christ, God’s anointed, his Messiah.

B. The “law” (vs 2) stands as one of the most important factors about God, who gave it, and his people, who receive it.

II. A Word about Law

To the postmodern ear, the concept of “law” for the most part has extremely negative connotations. If someone were to ask, “How can I best relate to God?” and the given reply is, “By seeking to follow his law,” all kinds of negative thoughts, negative cultural memories, and images of cold harshness and stern, pleasureless persons would pursue.

Yet in the Old Testament, especially in Psalms, the law is benign; it’s a blessing; it’s a means of knowing God’s will and obtaining his favor.

ESV Psalm 19:7 The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; 8 the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; 9 the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether. 10 More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. 11 Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.

NIV Psalm 119:9 How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word. 10 I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands.

In the gospels of the New Testament, Jesus himself held the law of God in highest regard (remember, he is the blessed man of Psalm 1 who perfectly keeps the law.)

ESV Matthew 5:17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

ESV Matthew 5:18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.

Why the Law?

Why law? Why is law so central to all of the Bible?

ESV Genesis 1:1 In the beginning, God created…

ESV Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

God, as creator, created man in his own image for his own pleasure.

KJG Revelation 4:11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure [by your will] they are and were created.

 

 

According to the Bible, God’s desire is to bless humankind.

ESV Genesis 1:28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply…”

God blesses people with himself, since as God, he himself is the greatest possible blessing. To know God and to be in a good relationship with him is the greatest possible blessing a human being can ever have. God’s law, according to the scriptures quoted above and many like them, is the means to the greatest possible blessing of having a good relationship with God.

 

 

III. Tragedy Strikes

A. The Old Testament is the historical record of how humankind in general and one special, called people in particular, failed to follow God’s law and thereby failed to receive God’s blessing of an ongoing, fruitful relationship with himself.

B. In the Old Testament human will and raw obedience were the only means at people’s disposal for following God’s law. In spite of God’s gracious provision of a sacrificial system to make amends for people’s failures to follow the blueprint he gave them in order to build a blessed relationship with himself, they still failed.

The Old Testament can be summarized as: The Law and Humankind’s Failure to Follow It

IV. A New Way

The New Testament can be summarized as: The Law and Humankind’s Success in Following It

A. God didn’t quit: he gave people a new way to obey his principles and to come into a blessed relationship with himself.

B. He sent the perfect man who did follow his law, the blessed man of Psalm 1.

C. Jesus Christ fully obeyed God’s law and became the human sacrifice that opened the door to mankind’s restored relationship with God.

ESV 2 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

D. God provided that simply by believing in Christ–by saying yes to Christ–that Christ’s obedience to the Law would apply to everyone who accepts Christ as the solution to their lives.

E. God also gave his Holy Spirit to live on the inside of those who receive the solution of Christ. The Holy Spirit helps people to follow God’s law the way Christ did, which means pleasing God and being blessed in relationship with him.

ESV John 14:16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,

ESV John 15:26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.

NLT Romans 8:1 So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. 2 And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. 3 The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. 4 He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit. 5 Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. 6 So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.

Psalms is where the life of Christ–his obedience to the Law, his prayers of praise and supplication for help, his sacrificial death, his resurrection and final victory–is played out in Hebrew poetic prophecy.

 

 

 

 

Previous in Psalms 

Next in Psalms

 

Bibliography

Outline of Series

ESV Psalm 1:1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;

2 but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.

3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.

4 The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;

6 for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

I. Observations

• This psalm lends itself to study by phrases rather than individual words.
• Phrases indicate two contrasting categories.
• What are they?

II. Two Contrasting Categories

 

Psalm 1: the Righteous (Vs 6) – Positive			Psalm 1: the Wicked – Negative
blessed (1-2)			[synonyms:] wicked, sinners, scoffers
action: walks not	in the counsel of the wicked
action: stands not	in the way of sinners
action: sits not	in the seat of scoffers
action: delights	in the law of the Lord
action: meditates	on the Lord’s law day and night
the righteous is like (vs 3):			wicked are not like the righteous
a tree planted by streams of water			wicked are like: chaff
yields its fruit in season			the wind drives the chaff away
leaf does not wither			[results stated negatively:] will not stand in the judgment
[restatement:] in all that he does he prospers			will not stand in the congregation of the righteous
[conclusion:] (6) for the Lord knows the way of the righteous			[results stated positively:] the way of the wicked will perish
Paraphrase of final outcome for righteous: The righteous will prosper. They will live in the company of the Lord and in the company of the other righteous. Life, Inclusion			Paraphrase of final outcome for the wicked: The wicked will not prosper. They will die. They will be excluded from the Lord’s presence and from the collected gathering of the righteous. Death, Exclusion

III. Questions and Response

1. Verse 6 says, “for the Lord knows the way of the righteous.” What does it mean for the Lord to “know the way of”? What is involved here?

a. to see, be aware of, be intimately acquainted with: ESV  Psalm 31:7 I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love, because you have seen my affliction; you have known the distress of my soul,

b. to know something in its entirety from beginning to end; this includes the element of knowing the future: ESV  Psalm 37:18 The LORD knows the days of the blameless, and their heritage will remain forever;

c. to know in the sense of receiving and treating someone as a friend, to approve: ESV  Nahum 1:7 The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him.

d. Jesus uses the word in the sense of receiving, owning (as the shepherd a sheep), protecting, guarding, watching over carefully: ESV  John 10:14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me,

e. to be able to distinguish from among many others and to acknowledge this friendship publicly: ESV  2 Timothy 2:19 But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.” (quoted from NET Numbers 16:5)

f. “the way of”: “NET Notes: ‘way of the godly’ is not their behavior, but their course of life or destiny;”

g. “The Lord knows the way of the righteous,” could be paraphrased as, “The Lord is intimately acquainted with every detail of the heart and life of the righteous person from start to finish; he approves of this person, lays claim to him or her as his own, and promises to look after her in an all powerful, protective way, even up to and including eternity.”

2. What does “perish” mean in verse 6?

perish: to be ruined, broken, carried off, lost, destroyed, exterminated2. Do the categories seem black and white to you? How do you feel about that?

3. Does God’s word change because we don’t like it? What might be a wise course for us?

4. Do you think there might be a “fudge factor” within the categories? What might be a theological word to describe God’s “fudge factor?”

5. Reread verse 6: for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. Do you think this might be a good thematic summary of the entire Psalter? Why or why not? Do you think this one verse sums up the message of the entire Bible? Defend your position one way or the other.

IV. What other questions do you have? As we read more of Psalms, we will come to a better understanding of what the words “righteous” and “wicked” mean within the context of Psalms. In brief, these terms describe a person’s attitude (what is in a person’s heart, the person’s desires and motivations) toward the Lord God and his Word, rather than a person’s actions. Action follow attitude.

V. Christ in Psalm 1

While it cannot be “proven” academically that Christ is “the man” of Psalm 1, nothing prevents the Holy Spirit from revealing Christ as such in the hearts of believers.

ESV  Psalm 1:1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;

ESV  Psalm 80:17 But let your hand be on the man of your right hand, the son of man whom you have made strong for yourself!

ESV  Psalm 110:1 A Psalm of David. The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”

ESV  John 19:5 So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!”

Previous in Psalms 

Next in Psalms