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Cell Notes on Psalm 2
As this week's notes are about our response to a Psalm, maybe you want to do this ahead of singing songs together as the exercise is likely to influence your worship...
Those of you who were at church on Sunday will have started this exercise already but hte chances are that you didn't get the time to be creative with your response - so take the opportunity at cell:
Psalm 2
Psa. 2:1 ¶ Why do the nations conspire
and the peoples plot in vain?
Psa. 2:2 The kings of the earth rise up
and the rulers band together
against the LORD and against his anointed, saying,
Psa. 2:3 “Let us break their chains
and throw off their shackles.”
Psa. 2:4 ¶ The One enthroned in heaven laughs;
the Lord scoffs at them.
Psa. 2:5 He rebukes them in his anger
and terrifies them in his wrath, saying,
Psa. 2:6 “I have installed my king
on Zion, my holy mountain.”
Psa. 2:7 ¶ I will proclaim the LORD’s decree:
¶ He said to me, “You are my son;
today I have become your father.
Psa. 2:8 Ask me,
and I will make the nations your inheritance,
the ends of the earth your possession.
Psa. 2:9 You will break them with a rod of iron;
you will dash them to pieces like pottery.”
Psa. 2:10 ¶ Therefore, you kings, be wise;
be warned, you rulers of the earth.
Psa. 2:11 Serve the LORD with fear
and celebrate his rule with trembling.
Psa. 2:12 Kiss his son, or he will be angry
and you and your ways will be destroyed,
for his wrath can flare up in a moment.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
(TNIV)
Group Work
[Spend 10 minutes working through these questions on your own, then 10 minutes together in your group discussing your own questions and responses. Spend time at the end thanking God together].
Do you understand what the Psalm was saying to the original audience? (see notes below)
How might that original message be applied to us today, living in London in 2008?
What does the Psalm reveal to us about Jesus?
[Christianity (and Judaism) understood many passages in the Psalms to be Messianic - predictions or foreshadowings of the Christ]
How do you respond to these truths in your own words?
(might be a song, might be a poem, might be a prayer - ask the Holy Spirit to help you!
Witness:
Discuss together how you would feel about undertaking some 'cold evangelism' together in the summer (possibly with the Brazilian YWAMers who are coming over in July). Pray into this.
Notes
Comments from NIV New Study Bible
Psalm 2
Ps 2 Author and date unknown (Peter and John ascribed it to David in Ac 4:25—possibly in accordance with the Jewish practice of honoring David as the primary author of the Psalter). A royal psalm, it was originally composed for the coronation of Davidic kings in light of the Lord’s covenant with David (see 2Sa 7). Later, prophetic words of judgment against the house of David and announcements of God’s future redemption of his people through an exalted royal son of David highlighted the Messianic import of this psalm. As the second half of a two-part introduction to the Psalms, it proclaims the blessedness of all who acknowledge the lordship of God and his anointed and “take refuge in him” (v. 12; see introductions to Ps 1-2 and Ps 1; see also note on 1:1)—as does the godly piety that speaks in the Psalms. This psalm is frequently quoted in the NT, where it is applied to Christ as the great Son of David and God’s Anointed.
2:1-3 The nations rebel. In the ancient Near East the coronation of a new king was often the occasion for the revolt of peoples and kings who had been subject to the crown. The newly anointed king is here pictured as ruler over an empire.
2:1-2 For a NT application see Ac 4:25-28.
2:1 Why ... ? A rhetorical question that implies “How dare they!”
2:2 LORD ... his Anointed One. To rebel against the Lord’s Anointed is also to rebel against the One who anointed him. Anointed One. See NIV text notes here and on vv. 6-7. The psalm refers to the Davidic king and is ultimately fulfilled in Christ. The English word “Messiah” comes from the Hebrew word for “anointed one,” and the English word “Christ” from the Greek word for “anointed one” (see NIV text note on Mt 1:17).
2:4-6 The Lord mocks the rebels. With derisive laughter the Lord meets the confederacy of rebellious world powers with the sovereign declaration that it is he who has established the Davidic king in his own royal city of Zion (Jerusalem).
2:4 See 59:8.
2:5 anger ... wrath. God’s anger is always an expression of his righteousness (see 7:11; see also note on 4:1).
2:6 holy hill. The site of the Jerusalem temple (see 2Ch 33:15); see also 3:4; 15:1; 43:3 (“holy mountain”); 99:9 (“holy mountain”).
2:7-9 The Lord’s Anointed proclaims the Lord’s coronation decree. For NT application to Jesus’ resurrection see Ac 13:33; to his superiority over angels see Heb 1:5; to his appointment as high priest see Heb 5:5.
2:7 Son ... Father. In the ancient Near East the relationship between a great king and one of his subject kings, who ruled by his authority and owed him allegiance, was expressed not only by the words “lord” and “servant” but also by “father” and “son.” The Davidic king was the Lord’s “servant” and his “son” (2Sa 7:5, 14).
2:8 your inheritance. Your domain—just as the promised land was the Lord’s “inheritance” (Ex 15:17; see Jos 22:19; Ps 28:9; 79:1; 82:8). ends of the earth. Ultimately the rule of the Lord’s Anointed will extend as far as the rule of God himself.
2:9 According to Rev 12:5; 19:15-16 this word will be fulfilled in the triumphant reign of Christ; in Rev 2:26-27 Christ declares that he will appoint those who remain faithful to him to share in his subjugating rule over the nations. dash them to pieces like pottery. See Jer 19:11.
2:10-12 The rebellious rulers are warned.
2:11 rejoice. Hail the Lord as King with joy. trembling. Awe and reverence.
2:12 Kiss. As a sign of submission (see 1Sa 10:1; 1Ki 19:18; Hos 13:2; see also note on Ge 41:40). Submission to an Assyrian king was expressed by kissing his feet. he ... his ... him. Most likely the reference is to “the LORD” (v. 11), who anointed “the Son.” destroyed in your way. See 1:6 and note. Blessed. See 1:1 and note. take refuge. See 5:11; 34:8; 64:10; cf. 104:18.
Comments from the IVP Old Testament Commentary
2:6. deity installing king. The term to anoint or install has been found as a Ugaritic root in a mythological text. The office of king was a divine appointment in ancient Israel and other areas of the Near East. Sargon of Akkad (c. 2300 B.C.) claims to have been installed by Ishtar, while the Sumerian King List (compiled sometime after 2000 B.C.) claims that towns received their monarchs by divine appointment. This ideology continued into the Israelite period. Kings of Assyria and Babylon celebrated yearly enthronement festivals in which the chief deity was celebrated as king and the whole enthronement process for both god and king was reenacted. Mesopotamian kings saw themselves as established on the throne by means of a divine decree. In Egypt Horus installed the kings in a coronation ceremony that involved consecration and purification rites.
2:7. king as son of deity. In the ancient Near East kings were commonly understood as having a filial relationship to deity and were often considered to have been engendered by deity. Egyptian kingship was particularly strong on this point, since the kingship of the pharaoh was seen as derived from the divine realm. More particularly he was conceived as the son of Re, the sun god. In Ugaritic literature, Keret, king of Khubur, is identified as the son of El, the chief god of the Canaanites. Furthermore, iconographic evidence shows two princes suckling the breasts of the goddess Anat. Among the Aramean kings the designation was even included in their throne names (Ben-Hadad means son of Hadad). In Mesopotamia, from Gilgamesh in the mid-third millennium through kings such as Gudea, Hammurabi, Tukulti-Ninurta and Ashurbanipal, just to name a few, it was part of the royal prerogative to claim divine heritage. The Israelite kings, however, were sons of the deity on the basis of a covenant and not sons by nature (see Ps 89:26; 2 Sam 7:14).
2:9. iron scepter. The scepter was representative of kingship, and iron was symbolic of strength. Egyptian rulers as early as the Narmer palette are portrayed as striking enemies with a rod/scepter. Of particular interest is the fact that the evidence from the execration texts (see next entry) suggests that the pots were smashed with a mace.
2:9. dashed to pieces like pottery. Egyptian kings celebrated their rule by writing the names of their enemies on pots and symbolically smashing them. These are referred to as the execration texts. Assyrian kings likewise used the metaphor of smashed pottery to assert their supremacy over enemies.
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Robin Plummer, 03/06/2008 |
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