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Ver. 5. Then shall he speak unto them, &c.] Heb. He shall tell them, viz. a piece of his mind, to their small comfort. As a great prince sitting on a lofty throne berateth his rebels when once he hath brought them before him, and pronounceth sentence upon them in fierce wrath, see Jeremiah 52:9, so will the King of heaven do by his sturdy refractories. Whether he will speak unto them by his words or by his rods, Job 33:14,19-21, and when he will do it he hath reserved in his own power and pleasure, Acts 1:7, but sooner or later he will not fail to do it; and Poena venit gravior, quo mage sera venit. And vex them] Or trouble them, as he did the builders of Babel, Pharaoh, Sennacherib, others; either by horror or conscience or corporal plagues, one way or the other he will have his penny worth of them, as he had of the old and late persecutors of his people.
Ver. 6. Yet have I set my king] Heb. And I have set. Heb. I have anointed; where the sign of his inauguration, or entrance into his kingdom, is put for the possession and enjoying thereof. David was anointed by God’s appointment; Christ was also anointed and appointed by his Father to the office and work of a mediator; and is therefore here called his king. And, is here a sign of indignation stirred. Upon mine holy hill of Zion] David’s strong hold, and a figure of the Church, Hebrews 12:22 Re 14:1 Isa 60:14, as being the seat of the kingdom, a sanctuary. Out of Zion also went forth the law, and the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem, Isaiah 2:3: it signifieth a watch tower. In the Church Christ, angels, ministers, common Christians, watch against enemies visible and invisible.
Ver. 7. I will declare the decree] That irrevocable decree of the Father, for the setting up of his Son’s sceptre contra gentes, point blank opposite to that decree of theirs, Psalms 2:3. This ordinance or decree of his Christ is still declaring in his Church by the ministers of the gospel, whose office it is to set forth Christ to the world in all his offices and efficacies, and to bring as many as may be to the obedience of the faith. Thou art my Son] David was so by adoption and acceptation, Psalms 89:26,27; but Christ, 1. By eternal generation, Proverbs 8:22,23 Heb 1:5 2. By hypostatical union, and so God had one only Son (as Abraham had his Isaac), though otherwise he were the Father of many nations. This day have I begotten thee] Understand it either in the day of eternity, or else of the fulness of time wherein God brought his first begotten Son into the world, and afterwards mightily declared him to be the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead, Romans 1:3 Ac 13:33, whence he is called the first begotten of the dead, Colossians 1:18 Re 1:5.
Ver. 8. Ask of me, and I will give thee] All things are conveyed to Christ by asking; shall we think to have anything without asking? Or, are we not worthily miserable that will not make ourselves happy by asking? Now, through Christ’s passion and intercession, it is but ask and have; open thy mouth, and I will fill it. If at any time we ask and miss, it is for the most part because we ask amiss, James 4:2,3. The heathen for thine inheritance] The kingdom of grace (the object whereof are all nations) Christ hath by donation from his Father; for his natural kingdom he hath as God coequal with his Father from all eternity.
Ver. 9. Thou shalt break them, &c.] sc. Those that will not bend thou shalt thus break. Thou shalt roughly rule them (Ainsworth). Christ’s gracious government of his obedient people, though not so fully expressed here, yet it is to be necessarily understood; and in the last words of the psalm it is plainly held forth, “Blessed are they that trust in him.” Thou shalt dash them in pieces (or, scatter them abroad, being already broken) as a potter’s vessel] i.e. Without any hope of repair and recovery. It is a fearful thing to fall into the punishing hands of the living God, Hebrews 10:31 He that will not be warned in hearing shall be crushed to pieces in feeling, said that martyr, Aut faciendum aut patiendum. God will be obeyed either actively or passively. Look to it.
Ver. 10. Be wise now therefore, O ye kings] Redeem your own sorrows by trembling at God’s judgments, while they hang in the threatenings; this is a high point of heavenly wisdom. Ergo Dei tandem verbo subscribite reges: Ne rapiant Stygiae vos Acherontis aquae. These kings were not without wit and learning. Julian the apostate, for instance (who said unto the King Christ, Apostate), but they wanted, godly wisdom, and are therefore here called upon to behave themselves prudently, and to play the wise men. For as wicked men are fools in print; so, on the contrary, in our old English books a righteous man is printed a right wise man, and righteousness right wiseness. For it is the only true both wisdom, Psalms 111:10 Pr 1:7, and honour: for the righteous are princes in all lands, Psalms 45:16; yea, they are kings. Compare Matthew 13:17 Lu 10:25. Many righteous, saith the one, many kings, saith the other evangelist. Be instructed, ye judges] Be nurtured, ye sages; submit to Christ’s discipline, acknowledge his prophetic office, here, his priestly, Psalms 2:11, his kingly, Psalms 2:12. Estote ligati, so Aben-Ezra rendereth it, Be ye bound, in opposition to that evil decree of theirs, Psalms 2:3, “Let us break their bonds,” &c. And this they are advised to do forthwith, while it is called today. Now, therefore, before God the Father vex you, God the Son bruise you, with his iron mace.
Ver. 11. Serve the Lord with fear] Timore non servili sed amicali, with reverence and godly fear, Hebrews 12:28. Say to Christ, as the people did to Joshua, Joshua 1:16, and as the rulers and elders of Israel did to Jehu, 2 Kings 10:5, “We are thy servants, and will do all thou shalt bid us.” And rejoice before him with trembling] A strange mixture of contrary passions (for base fear hath torment, 1 John 4:18), but such as is usual with God’s servants, whose task it is to work out their salvation with fear and trembling, Philippians 2:12. Agreeable whereunto is that of Bernard, Laeti simus sed non securi; gaudentes in Domino sed caventes a recidivo. Those good women went from Christ’s sepulchre with fear and great joy. We should come to him in his ordinances similarly affected.
Ver. 12. Kiss the Son] That Son of God, Psalms 2:7. Bar is a Hebrew word also, [see Proverbs 31:2] as R. Abraham confesseth, though other Rabbis deny it; and therefore render this text, Osculamini pure, Kiss purely, and Osculamini eum qui selectus est, Kiss him who is selected, or set apart. Christ is God’s elect, Isaiah 42:1 Mt 12:14. Him men must kiss with a kiss of adoration and subjection, with a kiss of faith and love, 1 Peter 5:14. Osculo homagii, as Samuel kissed Saul, 1 Samuel 10:1 Ge 48:10. Kiss his holy wounds, as Constantine did the eye of Paphnutius, that was bored out in Maximinus the tyrant’s time; so shall he kiss us with the kisses of his mouth, Song of Solomon 1:2, and with his kisses suck out the sting of death, and take away our souls with a kiss, as the Rabbis, from Deuteronomy 34:5, say he did Moses’s soul. Mortuus, est Moses ad os Iehovae. Maimonides. Th e ancient patriarchs saluted Christ afar off, and were interchangeably saluted by him, ασπασαμενοι, Hebrews 11:13, for they saw by faith him who is invisible, Hebrews 11:27. Oh get a patriarch’s eye, study Moses’s optics; for here the northern proverb is found true, Unkent unkist. Men know not the Son of God, and therefore love him not, kiss him not, unless it be Osculo Iscariotico, as the traitor kissed him. See a lofty and lively description of him Hebrews 1:2,3. Lest he be angry] For meek though he be as a lamb, and will not break the bruised reed, yet so angry he can be, that the kings and great ones shall be glad to flee from the wrath of this lamb, Revelation 6:16, who hath feet like burning brass and eyes like flaming fire, Revelation 1:14,15 Plato saith of the king of bees, that although he hath no sting, yet he ruleth and governeth his commonwealth with great severity and justice. So doth the Lord Christ; and every good soul is ready to say as the poet did, Ut mala nulla feram nisi nudam Caesaris iram, Nuda parum nobis Caesaris ira mali est? (Ovid.) And ye perish from the way] Or, in the way; that is, in medio studio, before ye come to your journey’s end, to the full accomplishment of your purposes and practices, destruction shall suddenly seize you, 1 Thessalonians 5:3. When his wrath is kindled but a little] It is sometimes let out in minimums, as Hosea 5:12, but if timely course be not taken, it grows to a great matter, as thunder doth, and as fire, that at first burns a little within upon a few boards, but, if not quenched, bursteth out in a most terrible flame. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him] That is, in Christ, John 14:1. Now to trust in him is so to be unbottomed of thyself and of every creature, and so to lean upon Christ, that if he fail thee thou sinkest; it is to rely upon him alone for safety here and salvation hereafter. This is to secure a man’s title to true blessedness; and with this grave sentence the prophet shutteth up the whole psalm, showing the different condition of the godly from the wicked. [See Trapp on “Ps 2:9”] A Psalm of David] Tremellius addeth, Quem cecinit, which he sang when he fled, &c. As birds in the spring tune most sweetly when it rains most sadly. This was better yet than that black sanctus (as they call it) sung by our Henry II in like case, and for like cause. For when, as some few hours before he died, he saw a list of their names who conspired with the king of France and Earl Richard (his son and successor) against him, and found therein his son John (whom he had made earl of Cornwall, Dorset, Somerset, Nottingham, Derby, and Lancaster, &c.), to be the first; he fell into a grievous passion, both cursing his sons and the day wherein himself was born; and in that distemper departed the world, which so often himself had distempered. When he fled from] Heb. From the face of Absalom, which he had too much admired, and was now afraid of. Then when he went up Mount Olivet weeping, 2 Samuel 15:30, made he this psalm, say the Rabbis. So in the sack of Ziklag he comforted himself in the Lord his God, 1 Samuel 30:6. A Christian is never without his cordial. Absalom his son] His darling, his tidling, his one eye. Such another good son was Barabbas, which signifies his father’s son, his white boy, as we say, like as Absalom signifieth his father’s peace, but it proved otherwise; as it likewise befell Eve, when she called her firstborn Cain, and thought she had got a great boon from the Lord. But Fallitur augurio spes bona saepe suo, David was disappointed: for Absalom proved like the sea Pacific or calm, so it is called; but Captain Drake found it rough and troublous above measure (Heyl. Geog.). Absalom would have done by David, if he could have come at him, as afterwards Amidas did with his father Muleasses, king of Tunis, in Africa, whom he first dethroned, and afterwards put out his eyes (Turk. Hist.). In Absalom was nothing good but his name. That may have a good name the nature whereof is so ill that it is not to be named; like as, Leviticus 20:17, abominable incest between brother and sister is called chesed, or kindness, per antiphrasin.