Psalms 2

Iyer@brahminbeliever.com | | Updated on Wed 24 July 2019

The version used is KJV

Language and Words study

  • Synonymous parallelism

    • 4 laughs & derision, as the word used for laugh is synonymous to mocks and related to root word in derision
    • 9 dash and break

  • Developmental parallelism

    • 1 can be seen as development (although its more illustrative) from raging to imaginging vain things
    • 2 kings set themselves, gather together and take counsel and go against YAH and His Massiyach
    • 3 develops on 2
    • 5 develops on 4
    • 7 decree and the details of it
    • 8 inheritence is given even the ends of the earth
    • 10 be wise and be instructed
    • 11 serve and rejoice
    • 12 the whole verse build

  • Illustrative parallelism

    • 1 rage is illustrated by imaging vain things
    • 5 wrath is illustrated by His sore displeasure

  • Contrastive parallelism

    • 12

  • Simile

    • None

  • Personification/Zoomorphism

    • 1 nation as a person

  • Cause & effect

    • 12

  • Hyperbole

    • 9 break/dash

  • Metaphor

    • 3 bands and cords

Psalm 1 & 2

Reading Psalms 1 & 2 provide a nuanced view of the language and word plays. Psalm 1 is a personal/individual one, while Psalm 2 is applied to nation/group of people.

The word meditate [Psa1:2] is same as imagine [Psa2:1]. One is used positive and other negative, providing a great contrast. If we meditate the Law/Torah, we dont have to imagine vain things or murmur vain things.

Similarly, the mocking and scorning in Psalm 2 is done by YAH while its done by the unbeliever in Psalm 1.

But the best part are how Psalm 1 opens and Psalm 2 ends, using how blessed, with the first Psalm focusing on the individual and the second Psalm focusing on peoples.

Psalm 2 Setup

The first third of the Psalm 2 can be broken down as follows

- 1 is about the nation/peoples and what they do with their imaginations
- Which results in setting themselves up in 2 and exalting themselves in 3
- To which in 4, we see what YAH thinks

LORD, Lord, He, His, Son, Anointed, King

Verses [Psa2-12] introduces various proper and pro nouns including the author of the Psalm that we need to unpack. Before we do that we need to see who the speakers are in the setup verses.

Psalm author states 1 & 2 with introduces the voice of the kings in 3 and switches to stating YAH's response.

  • 2 his, is the possesive of YAH
  • 3 their is the perceived joint bondage under YAH and His Anointed
  • 4 He refers to YAH but it could also be the royal He, which could be attributed to both YAH and His Anointed. The reason for this is that, there is no pronoun in the original script, it just starts with yashav and the subject is inferred in the translation. It gets even more challenging due to
  • 4 what follows as Lord (Adonai) who has them in deirision. Typical usage of Lord is attributed to Lord God, YAH, who we know dwells in the heavens.
  • 4 them is clearly the kings and the rulers from 2 and the nations that rage in 1
  • 5 He and his are then attributed to Lord in 4, Adonai, which would be YAH
  • 5 them is the same as in 4, the kings and rulers and the nations that rage
  • 6 I, my must be YAH via reference to who is speaking, which is YAH. This is further confirmed from [Psa9:11] where YAH sits in Zion and Zion being the city of David from [1Ch11:5,2Ch5:2,1Ki8:1]
  • 7 I here is YAH, as its followed by YAH hath said unto me.
  • 7 then the tone changes to referencing me which could be the author of the Psalm or the one who is being setup as a king upon the hill of Zion. If its the author and if its David, then it might make some sense so far, but it falls apart in verse 12; but if we use it as another person who is the Anointed, who is also the King upon YAH's Holy Hill of Zion, which could point to Jesus, since salvation come out of Zion (Psa14:7). We get more cluses here that this me is a son of YAH. The word for son is ben which is different than in verse 12. This word literally means, builder of the family name. That word is the same used all through Genesis and Chronicles for begat, bore, bear etc.
  • 8 me and I are YAH and thine, thy refers to the begotten son of YAH, from 7
  • 9 thou again refers to the begotten son of YAH, and them refers to the nations, kings, rulers we saw earlier
  • 10 ye refers to the kings, rulers and judges of earth
  • 12 Son used here is bar which can be translated as rightful heir. So why did the author not use ben as in verse 7?
  • 12 his wrath refers to the Son's wrath, which might be a throwback to verse 5, which refers to the one who sits in heavens, the Lord, Adonai.
  • 12 putting trust in him further signifies this is no ordinary human, as [Pro3:5-6] makes it clear to trust in YAH.

Who then is the son ben and bar? I can think of 3 options - its YAH, its our Messiah, or its the author (and by extension each of us).

If its the author (and by extension each of us), that holds water till we get to 12, and fails to hold logically. The reason is the use of words used that is only used for YAH.

If its YAH, then how can YAH be also the Son, who sits as king and deals with humans in human form.

So it has to be our Messiah (literally from translation of Anointed, Moshiyach). This then would make the most sense, knowning what we know of the later parts of the Holy Scriptures, where we know there is a Savior whom YAH will send, who will rule and judge and be the salvation for nations. He will be referred to as begotten of YAH in [Jhn1:14], [Jhn1:18] and [Jhn3:16]. We also know from [Rev2:27] the power to rule the nation with a rod of iron is given by Jesus to us, who are to over come and keep His works unto the end.

Contrasts in Psalm 2

  • Use of kings who have made themselves in [Psa2:2] vs the king setup by YAH [Psa2:6]
  • The kings want to break free [Psa2:3] buts its the Anointed who breaks them [Psa2:9]
  • Nations are raging in agner [Psa2:1] buts its YAH [Psa2:5] and His Son [Psa2:12] whose anger will destroy the nations
  • The kings dont want to be bound [Psa2:3] while YAH tells them to be bound by the instructions of YAH [Psa2:10]

Kiss the Son

As we have already seen, the word for son used bar in [Psa2:12] is different than ben used earlier. The word used for kiss is nashaq (H5401) which is a sign of respect [2Sa20:9], being under authority and tutelege [Gen41:40] and closeness [Eze3:13]. Hence this phrase Kiss My Heir (which is derived from the word bar) has this rich meaning with that simple phrase.

Application

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