The Psalms(Volume 2, Psalms 1–50) E-Book

Christopher Ash

• Herausgeber: Crossway
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 1217

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

Commentary from Christopher Ash Sets Out a Deeply Christian Study of Psalms 1–50 While reading Psalms, it is common for commentaries to focus on Old Testament meaning, without connecting it deeply to Christ's fulfillment in the New Testament. By studying Scripture this way, believers miss out on the fullness of God's word. The key to experiencing authentically Christian worship is learning a Christ-focused approach to praying and singing the Psalms. In this thorough commentary, Christopher Ash provides a careful treatment of Psalms 1–50, examining each psalm's significance to David and the other psalmists, to Jesus during his earthly ministry, and to the church of Christ in every age. Ash includes introductory quotations, a deep analysis of the text's structure and vocabulary, and a closing reflection and response, along with selected quotations from older readings of the Psalms. Perfect for pastors, Bible teachers, and students, this commentary helps readers sing and pray the Psalms with Christ in view. - Exhaustive: Christopher Ash's exegesis explores how the Psalms are quoted and echoed throughout the New Testament - Applicable and Heartfelt: Explains how a Christ-centered approach to reading the Psalms influences doctrines of prayer, prophecy, the Trinity, ecclesiology, and more - Ideal for Pastors and Serious Students of Scripture: Written for Bible teachers, Sunday school and youth leaders, and small-group leaders

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“These wonderful volumes on the Psalms place the whole church of Christ in their author’s debt. To have carried to completion the vision of such a project is a breathtaking accomplishment. And to have done it with the author’s characteristically loving and careful approach to the text of Scripture, coupled with richness of exposition, humility of spirit, and wise personal and pastoral application, stimulates our admiration and gratitude. In an era when the evangelical church in the West has, by and large, turned its back on the wisdom of two millennia of Christian praise dominated by the Psalms, these four magnificent volumes provide both the equipment and the inspiration needed to discover what our Lord and Savior himself experienced. They deserve to become—indeed, are surely destined to be—the go-to resource for multitudes of preachers, teachers, and students for decades to come. We are richer because of their publication.”

Sinclair B. Ferguson, Chancellor’s Professor of Systematic Theology, Reformed Theological Seminary; Teaching Fellow, Ligonier Ministries

“Since the Enlightenment, it has become fashionable to hypercontextualize the Psalms, thereby repudiating eighteen centuries of Christ-centered preaching, teaching, and scholarship. In this magisterial commentary, Christopher Ash returns to the old paths by displaying Christ and his glory in all 150 psalms. The Reformers and the Puritans would have loved this warm, devotional, and accessible work, for herein Ash provides the kind of experiential, practical, and Christ-saturated exegesis that they so dearly treasured. With careful historical-theological reflection and a tender pastoral heart, Ash guides the people of God as they seek to better read, sing, meditate on, study, and preach the Psalms. This commentary will no doubt become a staple in the pastor’s library for many years to come.”

Joel R. Beeke, Chancellor and Professor of Homiletics and Systematic Theology, Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary

“Modern readers often gravitate toward the Psalms because in them they see a mirror for themselves and their own emotions. This is not wrong, but as Christopher Ash reminds us, it is insufficient. The writers of the New Testament and many throughout church history read the Psalms because in them they found Christ. Ash provides a comprehensive help to the church to read the Psalms afresh from that Christ-centered perspective, in a way that not only exercises our minds but feeds our souls.”

Iain M. Duguid, Professor of Old Testament, Westminster Theological Seminary

“How easy it is to quickly read ourselves into the center of the Psalms, and yet how important it is not to do this. Christopher Ash can be counted on to see a psalm in its real setting, grasp its proper culmination in Christ, and tell its rich implications to us. Few writers think with as much faithfulness or illumination as Ash does, and these volumes will be the new treasure chest in learning and psalmody.”

Simon Manchester, Former Rector, St. Thomas’ Anglican Church, North Sydney, Australia

“In this four-volume work, Christopher Ash casts a vision of the Psalter that is theologically centered on Christ, typologically related to Christ, and ultimately fulfilled in Christ—a book of the Old Testament that reveals, in type and shadow, through image of king and priest, prophet and teacher, supplicant and sufferer, the divinity and humanity of Christ, who in his humanity perfectly expressed the full range of human emotions and affections in the vicissitudes of his earthly humiliation as he awaited his heavenly exaltation. Therefore, he is the true and better singer of the Psalter, the one through whom and in union with whom the Christian and the church today can sing ‘the Psalms of Jesus’ with eyes unveiled. Encyclopedic in scope, enlightening in content, enthusing in purpose—this magnum opus ought to find a place in every pastor’s library, in every student’s book budget, and on every Christian’s bedside table. These volumes will hopefully change the way we read—and sing!—the Psalms for years to come.”

Jonathan Gibson, Associate Professor of Old Testament, Westminster Theological Seminary

“This is a landmark commentary that belongs in the library of every Bible teacher and scholar. Grounded in wide-ranging research, warmed by sincere devotion, and crafted with unusual elegance, this work offers the reader an exegetical and theological feast for both heart and mind. Any believer who has studied and taught the Psalms knows the challenge of handling them in faithfulness as truly Christian Scripture. In these pages Ash has pursued the compelling thesis that the Psalms are emphatically Christ centered from beginning to end, having Christ as their true subject and object. For those who wish to understand how and why this is so, this study is both a treasure and a delight.”

Jonathan Griffiths, Lead Pastor, The Metropolitan Bible Church, Ottawa, Canada

“How pleasing it is to find a modern, scholarly commentary that unashamedly leads us to Jesus the Messiah! The case for this Christ-centered work is carefully argued and applied to each psalm without ignoring original contexts or their relevance to believers. More controversially, Christopher Ash provides the most compelling defense to date for accepting every penitential and imprecatory line in the Psalter as appropriate on the lips of the sinless Savior, the Christian’s covenant head. Helpful quotations from early Christian writers, the Reformers, and contemporary authors add to the commentary’s appeal. I warmly recommend it.”

Philip H. Eveson, Former Principal and Old Testament Tutor, London Seminary; author, Psalms: From Suffering to Glory

“To simply call this resource a commentary seems too mundane. What Christopher Ash presents us with here is an extensive and detailed exploration of the verdant theological landscape of the Psalter, with Jesus the Messiah as the lodestar. These remarkable volumes are weighty but not burdensome, erudite but not arid. Ash’s pastoral insights into the Psalms reflect a maturity and wisdom that can be cultivated only over a lifetime spent in the full counsel of Scripture and ministry in the church. What a tremendous achievement this is, what a blessing it is sure to be to the church, and what a testament to the beauty and transforming power of the true and final King, Jesus Christ.”

William A. Ross, Associate Professor of Old Testament, Reformed Theological Seminary, Charlotte

“With historical breadth, exegetical finesse, rhetorical care, and a deeply doxological thrust, Christopher Ash’s commentary brings the Psalms closer to the center of Christian devotion—and Jesus Christ to the very center of the Psalter. These wonderful volumes have helped me grasp, more deeply than ever before, just why Dietrich Bonhoeffer called the Psalms an ‘incomparable treasure.’ More than that, they have revealed the incomparable treasure himself who sings in every psalm yet whose voice we so often fail to hear.”

Scott Hubbard, Editor, Desiring God; Pastor, All Peoples Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota

“This new commentary—in which ‘the person of Christ is central to the meaning and force of every psalm’—is theologically rich, spiritually refreshing, and carefully assembled to understand Old and New Testament themes in the light of Christ. Here is a commentary that will be rewarding in the study as the minister prepares to teach the Psalms or, indeed, the many New Testament passages that reference them. This is also great material for personal devotions. Thank you, Christopher Ash, for such a rich resource to help us know Christ.”

Nat Schluter, Principal, Johannesburg Bible College

“A masterful balance of being thoughtfully Christ centered and warmly devotional at the same time. A blessing for my personal quiet time and my sermon preparation.”

Denesh Divyanathan, Senior Pastor, The Crossing Church, Singapore; Chairman, Evangelical Theological College of Asia; President, Project Timothy Singapore

The Psalms

A Christ-Centered Commentary

Other Crossway Books by Christopher Ash

The Heart of Anger: How the Bible Transforms Anger in Our Understanding and Experience, coauthored with Steve Midgley (2021)

Job: The Wisdom of the Cross (2014)

Married for God: Making Your Marriage the Best It Can Be (2016)

Trusting God in the Darkness: A Guide to Understanding the Book of Job (2021)

The Psalms

A Christ-Centered Commentary

Volume 2

Psalms 1–50

Christopher Ash

The Psalms: A Christ-Centered Commentary, Volume 2, Psalms 1–50

© 2024 by Christopher Brian Garton Ash

Published by Crossway 1300 Crescent Street Wheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law. Crossway® is a registered trademark in the United States of America.

Portions of this work are adapted from Christopher Ash, Bible Delight: Heartbeat of the Word of God; Psalm 119 for the Bible Teacher and Bible Hearer (Fearn, Ross-shire, Scotland: Christian Focus, 2008); Ash, Psalms for You: How to Pray, How to Feel, and How to Sing (Epsom, UK: Good Book, 2020); and Ash, Teaching Psalms: From Text to Message, 2 vols. (Fearn, Ross-shire, Scotland: Christian Focus, 2017–2018). Used by permission of the publishers.

Cover design: Jordan Singer

First printing 2024

Printed in the United States of America

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.

Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible. Public domain.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible®, copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Scripture quotations marked NRSV are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked REB are taken from the Revised English Bible, copyright © Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press, 1989. All rights reserved.

All emphases in Scripture quotations have been added by the author.

Hardcover ISBN (vol. 2): 978-1-4335-6389-8ePub ISBN (vol. 2): 978-1-4335-6392-8PDF ISBN (vol. 2): 978-1-4335-6390-4Hardcover ISBN (4-vol. set): 978-1-4335-6388-1ePub ISBN (4-vol. set): 978-1-4335-8843-3PDF ISBN (4-vol. set): 978-1-4335-8841-9

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023938846

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

2025-02-11 01:43:30 PM

To Tyndale House, Cambridge,

a fellowship of delight

in the Scriptures (Ps. 1:2).

Jesus, my shepherd, brother, friend,my prophet, priest, and king,my Lord, my life, my way, my end,accept the praise I bring.

John Newton

“How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds”

Contents

Preface

Abbreviations

Commentary on Psalms 1–50

Book 1

Psalm 1

Psalm 2

Psalm 3

Psalm 4

Psalm 5

Psalm 6

Psalm 7

Psalm 8

Psalm 9

Psalm 10

Psalm 11

Psalm 12

Psalm 13

Psalm 14

Psalm 15

Psalm 16

Psalm 17

Psalm 18

Psalm 19

Psalm 20

Psalm 21

Psalm 22

Psalm 23

Psalm 24

Psalm 25

Psalm 26

Psalm 27

Psalm 28

Psalm 29

Psalm 30

Psalm 31

Psalm 32

Psalm 33

Psalm 34

Psalm 35

Psalm 36

Psalm 37

Psalm 38

Psalm 39

Psalm 40

Psalm 41

Book 2

Psalms 42–43

Psalm 44

Psalm 45

Psalm 46

Psalm 47

Psalm 48

Psalm 49

Psalm 50

Epigraph Sources

Bibliography

Subject Index

Name Index

Scripture Index

Preface

The Nature and Purpose of This Commentary

I am persuaded that the Psalms belong to Jesus Christ. I believe that the Psalms themselves point to a fulfillment only possible in the divine-human person of Christ. Through its quotations and echoes of the Psalms, the New Testament bears witness to a textured understanding in which Christ is central. For the larger part of church history, this has broadly been the way Christians have read the Psalms. This commentary is therefore a Christ-centered commentary, in which I seek to see Christ front and center when reading the Psalms. I have attempted to explain and argue my case in volume 1, Introduction: Christ and the Psalms.

Since the so-called “Enlightenment” in the eighteenth century, Christ has been eclipsed in much Psalms scholarship and preaching. With a few notable exceptions, recent commentaries tend either to omit Christ from many or all of the Psalms or mention him as little more than an afterthought. But I have become persuaded that Jesus Christ is the subject and object of the Psalms, that his majestic divine-human person is woven into the warp and woof of the Psalter, and that he is the preeminent singer of psalms, the focus of the Psalter, and the one without whom the Psalms cannot be understood aright. I therefore want to place Christ in the foreground of our reading of every psalm and to do so in ways that are shaped by the New Testament. I want to set before us what the Psalms might look and feel like if in truth they do belong to Christ.

There is much you will not find in this commentary. My background is that of a preacher and pastor rather than a trained biblical scholar. I have sought to interact with a representative sample of writers across the centuries (surveyed in volume 1, Introduction: Christ and the Psalms) but have not, for the most part, attempted to interact with the voluminous and ever-growing secondary literature. I hope I am sufficiently aware of the more significant debates, but for a full study of these things, readers should consult one or more of the recent technical commentaries. I have worked from the Hebrew text but have no particular expertise in the language, especially as regards Hebrew poetry, translation of tense forms, and poetic parallelism. Much scholarly debate surrounds theories of the dating, possible contexts of origins, and putative redaction histories of various psalms. Too often it seems to me that scholars construct theories on the basis of inadequate evidence; furthermore, I am not persuaded that these debates are always useful to Christian disciples seeking to weave the Psalms into their lives of prayer and praise.

This commentary is not, therefore, a substitute for technical, scholarly commentaries. What you will find here, I hope, is the Psalms read with the breadth of a whole-Bible perspective allied with the depth of a clear focus on Christ, the center of history and the fulcrum of the Bible story. I thus hope to do four things:

1. To help you understand the lyrics of these songs, what the words mean and what the poetry signifies

2. To assist us in feeling the “tune,” that is, the affectional and emotional dimensions of these songs

3. To point to the volitional commitment that is asked of disciples when we join in the Psalms—for to say the Psalms means moving from the audience, where we listen without commitment, to the choir, where commitment is expected

4. To motivate you to take that step and actively to make the Psalms a part of your lives of prayer and praise

I hope this commentary will prove useful to all kinds of Christian people—and especially to those who preach, teach, or lead studies on the Psalms.

How Each Psalm Is Treated

After one or more chapter epigraphs of quotations from other writers, each psalm is considered in three sections.

The orientation section involves consideration of how we ought to view the psalm in the light of Jesus Christ. This includes reference to New Testament quotations and echoes and to the context of the psalm in history (if known) and in its canonical context, especially with reference to nearby psalms. I hope that setting this section first helps the reader engage in a manner that places Christ at the center, rather than on the periphery.

The text section begins with consideration of the structure. Since there is an extraordinarily wide variation in perceived structures, I have sought to be cautious and tentative except where the structure seems very clear. The text section continues with verse-by-verse commentary, taking into account the orientation section and seeking to make clear the meaning of the words and lines as well as the flow of the poetry.

The reflection and response section points to what a Christian response might look like when appropriating this psalm.

Three Questions in Psalms Interpretation

Three questions are often asked when reading the Psalms that merit even concise mention at the outset of this commentary. For a fuller discussion, please see volume 1, Introduction: Christ and the Psalms. These questions, with my very brief conclusions, are listed below.

1. Who are “the righteous”? A careful analysis of the Psalms gives us a portrait of those who delight in the covenant God and find assurance of final vindication in him. This assurance is rooted in the righteousness of their covenant head. Because neither David nor his successors lived with perfect righteousness, they clearly foreshadow another covenant head who will. “The righteous” in the Psalms, then, are righteous by faith in the covenant God.

2. Can Jesus Christ be considered to be praying the Psalms when the psalmists confess their sins and plead for forgiveness? My conclusion is that he does so as the covenant head of a sinful people, just as he submitted to John the Baptist’s baptism of repentance. The shadow of the cross fell on him, who had no sin, as he prayed these psalms and our sin was imputed to him.

3. How are we to understand the prayers for God to punish the wicked in the Psalms? A study of the New Testament supports the conclusion that Jesus Christ prays these prayers from a pure heart, and so we pray them—cautiously and with trembling—in him. Every time we pray, “Your kingdom come,” in the Lord’s Prayer, we pray for this punishment on the finally impenitent, even as we pray for many to repent before it is too late.

The Superscriptions and the Shape of the Psalter

Much scholarly attention has focused in recent years on the canonical order of the Psalms and the ways in which the five books of the Psalms and the superscriptions may help us understand the significance of this order. I am persuaded that the canonical order is as much the fruit of the Holy Spirit’s direction as is the composition of the Psalms themselves. But I have sought to be cautious in making claims about discerning the meaning of this structure in detail. At the start of each book of the Psalter, I have included a very brief introduction to that book.

I accept the reliability of the superscriptions, while recognizing that we do not understand all the terms used in them. I have commented briefly on these terms (and the word Selah) the first time each appears. In particular, I accept that “of David” and similar expressions indicate authorship, and I have sought to argue this position (a minority among scholars) in vol-ume 1, Introduction: Christ and the Psalms.

Texts and Translations

I have followed the normal Jewish and Christian understanding that the Masoretic Text is the most reliable witness to the original form of the texts. Some modern translations give considerable weight to the Greek translations (and sometimes also to the Dead Sea Scrolls and the ancient Versions), but I have erred on the side of caution, except where there are overwhelming reasons for rejecting the Masoretic Text. I have indicated where there is significant uncertainty.

When quoting Hebrew or Greek, I provide both the original forms and the transliteration in the main text. In footnotes I provide only the original Hebrew or Greek.

I have used the English Standard Version (ESV) as my base text (though I have at times taken liberty to break stanzas differently from the ESV). I have found this an admirable translation for the purposes of detailed study. Where there are significant differences, I have sometimes referred to the Christian Standard Bible (CSB), the King James Version (KJV), the New American Standard Bible (NASB), the New International Version (NIV), the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), and the Revised English Bible (REB).

Hebrew Tense Forms

Scholars vary in the terminology they use for the two tense forms in Hebrew. One form may be called the perfect, the perfective, the suffix conjugation, or the qatal. The other may be called the imperfect, the imperfective, the prefix conjugation, or the yiqtol. For simplicity I use the traditional terminology perfect and imperfect, even though these do not translate simply into English perfect or imperfect tenses, especially in poetry. In general, it may be true that an imperfect form conveys an action that is continuing (typically but not always future), while a perfect form indicates an action that is completed (typically but not always past). But there are many exceptions (especially when following the vav consecutive).

The Divine Name “the Lord”

The Hebrew name יהוה‎, or YHWH, often written Yahweh and sometimes called the tetragrammaton (after its four consonants), is written “Lord” in quotations from the biblical text (in line with the usual convention for English translations). Outside quotations, I prefer to use the phrases covenant Lord or covenant God, rather than the word Yahweh, partly because we do not know for sure how it was pronounced but mainly because it captures the strong Old Testament context of covenantal lordship.

The Davidic King

When speaking of the Davidic king/King, I have generally capitalized King to encourage the reader to think toward the fulfillment of Davidic kingship in Christ, the final King. I have typically used the lowercase king when referring exclusively to an old covenant king, whether David or one of his successors.

Psalm Numbering

I have numbered the Psalms according to the Masoretic Text and all English translations throughout. Most patristic writers followed the Psalm chapter numbering in, or derived from, the Greek translations. This numbering differs from the Hebrew numbering as shown in table 1. So, for example, when commenting on what our English Bibles call Psalm 107, Augustine of Hippo (354–430) refers to it as Psalm 106. But even when referring to the Septuagint or Vulgate, I have translated into the Masoretic Text numbering.

Table 1 Psalm Numbering in English and Greek Versions

Psalm Number in English Versions

Psalm Number in Greek Versions

Pss. 1–8

Unchanged: Pss. 1–8

Pss. 9–10

Combined into Ps. 9

Pss. 11–113

One less: Pss. 10–112

Pss. 114–115

Combined into Ps. 113

Ps. 116

Split into Pss. 114 and 115

Pss. 117–146

One less: Pss. 116–145

Ps. 147

Split into Pss. 146 and 147

Pss. 148–150

Unchanged: Pss. 148–150

Verse Numbering

I have used English verse numbering throughout, with superscriptions labeled S. Where a psalm has more than a very short superscription, the Masoretic Text usually designates the superscription verse 1, increasing all subsequent verse numbers by one. Otherwise, the superscription forms the start of verse 1. I have noted this feature when commenting on each superscription.

Abbreviations

AB  Anchor Bible

AcBib  Academia Biblica

ACCS  Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. Edited by Thomas C. Oden. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1998–2010.

ACW  Ancient Christian Writers

AD  anno Domini, “in the year of the Lord,” often called the Common Era, CE

BC  before Christ, sometimes called before the Common Era, BCE

BCOTWP  Baker Commentary on the Old Testament Wisdom and Psalms

BDB  Brown, Francis, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs. A Hebrew Lexicon of the Old Testament. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906.

BECNT  Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament

ca.  circa, “approximately”

CBSC  Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

CC  Continental Commentaries

CFTL  Clark’s Foreign Theological Library

chap(s).  chapter(s)

CNTOT  Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament. Edited by G. K. Beale and D. A. Carson. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2007.

CSC  Crossway Short Classics

DSS  Dead Sea Scrolls

EBTC  Evangelical Biblical Theology Commentary

e.g.  exempli gratia, “for example”

esp.  especially

etc.  et cetera, “and so forth”

ExpTim  Expository Times

FC  Fathers of the Church

HALOT  The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament. Ludwig Koehler, Walter Baumgartner, and Johann J. Stamm. Translated and edited under the supervision of Mervyn E. J. Richardson. 4 vols. Leiden: Brill, 1994–1999.

HBM  Hebrew Bible Monographs

IBC  Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching

ICC  International Critical Commentary

i.e.  id est, “that is”

JBL  Journal of Biblical Literature

JSOTSup  Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series

KEL  Kregel Exegetical Library

lit.  literally

LXX  Septuagint (Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures)

MC  A Mentor Commentary

MT  Masoretic Text

NCB  New Century Bible

NCBC  New Cambridge Bible Commentary

NIBCOT  New International Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

NICNT  New International Commentary on the New Testament

NICOT  New International Commentary on the Old Testament

NIVAC  NIV Application Commentary

NSBT  New Studies in Biblical Theology

NT  New Testament

OT  Old Testament

OTL  Old Testament Library

OWC  Oxford World’s Classics

PG  Patrologiae Cursus Completus, Series Graeca. Edited by Jacques-Paul Migne. Paris, 1857–1866.

PTW  Preaching the Word

RCS  Reformation Commentary on Scripture. Edited by Timothy George and Scott M. Manetsch. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2011–.

SBLDS  Society of Biblical Literature Dissertation Series

SBT  Studies in Biblical Theology

SJT  Scottish Journal of Theology

SSLL  Studies in Semitic Languages and Linguistics

s.v.  sub verbo, “under the word”

TBST  The Bible Speaks Today

THOTC  Two Horizons Old Testament Commentary

TNTC  Tyndale New Testament Commentaries

TOTC  Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries

TynBul  Tyndale Bulletin

Vg.  Vulgate (Jerome’s Latin translation of the Bible)

VT  Vetus Testamentum

WBBC  Wiley-Blackwell Bible Commentaries

WBC  Word Biblical Commentary

WCS  Welwyn Commentary Series

WGRW  Writings from the Greco-Roman World

ZAW  Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft

Commentary on

Psalms 1–50

Book 1

Book 1 of the Psalms comprises Psalms 1–41. After Psalms 1 and 2, almost all the psalms in book 1 are ascribed to David. There are only two exceptions, each of which is closely connected with the preceding “of David” psalm (see on Pss. 10 and 33). Most of the psalms are individual and often intensely so. Alongside this resolute focus on the anointed King (foreshadowing the Messiah), there is an almost equally strong motif of the hostility of “the wicked” to the King and his people. The conflict between “the righteous” (both singular and plural) and “the wicked” is pronounced.

This statement [“Blessed is the man”] should be understood of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Augustine

Expositions of the Psalms

The first psalm speaks literally concerning Christ thus: Blessed is the man. He is the only blessed One and the only Man from whose fullness they have all received (John 1:16) that they might be blessed . . . [because Jesus is] the firstborn among many brethren (Rom. 8:29).

Martin Luther

First Lectures on the Psalms

Psalm 1

Orientation

“I would love to be like her.” “I wish I could live like him.” The Psalter begins with one who is doing life right. But who can this be? That is the critical question of Psalm 1.

Psalm 1 is, alongside Psalm 2, “the text upon which the whole of the Psalms make up a divine sermon.”1

There are suggestive links to Psalm 2:

1. Neither has a superscription.2

2. “Blessed” (אַשְׁרֵי‎, ashre) forms an inclusio (1:1; 2:12).

3. Each ends with a “way” that “perishes” (1:6; 2:12).

4. “Meditates” (1:2) and “plot” (2:1) translate the same Hebrew verb (הָגָה‎, hagah).

5. The godly man of Psalm 1 prospers in all he does (1:3); the anointed King of Psalm 2 conquers the world (2:8–9).

It seems that the final editor has deliberately juxtaposed these psalms—which stand in “a symbiotic relationship”3—at the start of the Psalter.

God promises Joshua success if he meditates on—and obeys—God’s word (Josh. 1:7–9); Moses exhorts future kings in similar terms (Deut. 17:14–20). Both these passages are echoed by Psalm 1. The kingly promises of Psalm 2 can be inherited only by a Psalm 1 man. This is seen later in the history of the kings, both positively (e.g., 2 Kings 18:6–7; 22–23) and negatively (e.g., Jer. 36).4 David says the same to Solomon (1 Kings 2:2–4). Psalms 1 and 2 will be fulfilled together when the ultimate Psalm 2 King is the flawless Psalm 1 believer.

Psalm 1 draws on the great Old Testament themes of covenant and wisdom. Success and perishing echo the blessings and curses of the covenant (e.g., Lev. 26; Deut. 27–28). The Wisdom Literature often sets before us two “ways” with opposite destinations (e.g., Prov. 9).

As we begin the Psalms, then, we seek the Psalm 2 King who will be the righteous man of Psalm 1, the covenant-keeping King who lives a life of wisdom. This King will be to his people their wisdom, their righteousness, and the guarantor of covenant blessing.

This connection with Psalm 2 guards us against three errors in reading Psalm 1. The first is a pharisaical self-righteousness, that hypocritical assurance that can say, “I thank you, God, that I am a Psalm 1 person, not like those terrible sinners over there.” Psalm 1 sets a higher standard than this, and superficial righteousness will not suffice (cf. Matt. 5:20). The second is the fleshly determination of the religious zealot utterly committed to becoming a Psalm 1 person by his or her own strength, for in this we always fail. The third is despair; I recognize that I will never attain the godliness of Psalm 1 and can therefore never hope to enjoy the success therein promised. This is true, but Psalm 2 directs my hopes to another who will do this on my behalf.

In the first three-quarters or more of Christian history, a prominent answer given to the question “Who is the Psalm 1 man?” is that it is Jesus of Nazareth. The psalm declares a blessing on anyone who fulfills Psalm 1:1–2 (in this sense the singular is generic, as Jer. 17:7–8 confirms). Indeed, in Psalm 1:5 there is a whole “congregation” of such. We are all exhorted to be such people. And yet only one man has fulfilled the conditions without spot or blemish. We need not suppose that the anonymous prophet who wrote Psalm 1 knew it would be Jesus of Nazareth or spoke in some conscious way of the Christ to come, for there is no immediate indication within the psalm of conscious messianic intent. Nevertheless, when the New Testament tells us of one who is our wisdom and our righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30) and who fulfills the covenant for us by his obedience (Rom. 5:12–21), we rightly discern the filling out of the sketched-out figure of Psalm 1.

If Jesus Christ is the man of Psalm 1, then who makes up “the congregation of the righteous” (1:5)? This is the overflow of both godliness and blessing from the anointed King to his people, who inherit the blessings he won (Eph. 1:3), are righteous by faith in him, learn wisdom by his indwelling Spirit, and become Psalm 1 men and women by grace. In Christ we hear Psalm 1 not as a manifesto for self-righteousness or as a sentence of miserable moralism but rather as glorious gospel.

The Text

Structure

Although there is no agreement on the most natural divisions,5 I consider the psalm in three couplets.

1:1–2 Descriptions: What the Blessed Man Is and Is Not

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;

Blessed is a cheerful exclamation: “This is the best way to live!”6 There will be sadness (e.g., Matt. 5:4; 2 Cor. 6:10)—and thus “happy” as a translation must be used with care—but here is one who enjoys the favor of God.7The grammatical masculine man (אִישׁ‎, ish) can include any human being, male or female. Nevertheless, the singular ought to be kept in translation, not only because it guards the rhetorical picture of one righteous man surrounded by many wicked but also because it leaves open the possibility that one particular man will fulfill this portrait.

Three emphatic negatives paint the picture.

1. He walks not (his way of life) in the counsel of the wicked (plural), a word that refers to people who are outside the covenant, not believers.8 Nearly half the Psalm references to the wicked are in book 1; they show a passionate restlessness (cf. the troubled sea in Isa. 57:20), tossed to and fro by violent desires.9 They proffer counsel, with the appearance of wisdom. They are persuasive, persistent, and plural. This blessed man is bombarded with their messages, as—with relentless intensity—was Jesus of Nazareth. They fill the air we breathe today, telling Christ’s disciples what is plausible, “normal,” acceptable.10

2. The verb stands may imply something more rooted than a “walk.” This is “where I stand, my identity” (as in identity politics). Here is “a stiff neck . . . a more incorrigible godlessness.”11This broad way is full of sinners, all sure of where they “stand.”12 The word sinners puts the spotlight on their evil actions: “The intensive form of the Hebrew word may indicate that their straying from the right path has become a habit and is no longer an accidental error.”13

3. First they walk; then they stand; finally they sit. A seat also means a dwelling or a “session” or “assembly.”14 Here is somewhere to belong, for this is no solitary seat. This Righteous One is invited to join what C. S. Lewis (1898–1963) famously called “the Inner Ring.”15 Being seated may have connotations of authority (e.g., Ruth 4),16 and especially teaching authority (e.g., Matt. 5:1; 23:2; Luke 4:20). In “a dark parody of the gathering of the elders at the city gate,”17 they invite him to join them. From there they mock, for this is the seat ofscoffers. They are very sure they are right. It makes them feel better about their sin.18 This man becomes the object of their scorn, as do his disciples after him (1 Pet. 4:4; 2 Pet. 3:3).

As covenant loyalty involves a loyal walking and sitting (Deut. 6:7), surrender to evil entails the opposite.19 Just as there is probably a crescendo in the verbs (walk, stand, sit), so there may be an intensification in the nouns: counsel, shaping an evil mindset; the way, a sinful lifestyle; and scoffing, the final degradation. For while “the seat of the scoffer may be very lofty, . . . it is very near to the gate of hell”; now they “have taken their degrees in vice, and as true Doctors of Damnation they are installed, and are looked up to by others as Masters in Belial.”20 Some may even hold academic chairs.

The power of evil is irresistible—or so it seems. And yet Psalm 1:2 shows us the only way by which it may be repelled. We might expect three simple opposites: he walks in the counsel of the wise, stands in the way of the righteous, sits in the seat of those who fear God. But godliness must arise from the heart, to which 1:2 turns our attention.

2    but his delight is in the law of the Lord,

    and on his law he meditates day and night.

His delight is what he most deeply desires. The law is fronted for emphasis in both lines (1:2a reads, lit., “and in the law of the Lord [is] his delight”). Only torah can keep him from the dangers of 1:1 (cf. Pss. 19; 119).21 Primarily referring to the law of Moses (as in Josh. 1:7–8), this torah extends to the whole scriptural instruction of God (and just possibly to the Psalter itself).22 All this is the revealed character of the covenant God he loves. On this law he meditates, a word that suggests a low audible reading;23 this includes memorization, consideration (to develop understanding), responsive prayer, and self-exhortation.24 He does this day and night; it is the background music of his life. Here is both the nourishment and the outflow of the delight of his heart.

Here is a precious window into the soul of a man in whom there is unsullied delight in the law of God. We have to wait until the coming of Jesus Christ to see this King in his perfection. As Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg writes, “Perfect delight in the law presupposes perfect union of the human with the divine will, . . . perfect holiness.”25 It is striking that both “blessed” (אַשְׁרֵי‎, ashre) and the verbal root of the word “delight” (חָפַץ‎, khaphats) appear also in Psalm 40:6 and 8 (NIV: “I desire”), in a psalm explicitly applied to Christ in Hebrews 10:5–7.26 He came to do not his own will but the will of him who sent him (John 6:38).

1:3–4 Comparisons: What the Blessed Man and the Wicked Are Like

Psalm 1:3–4 moves from the portrait of this blessed one to two comparisons: what he is like (1:3) and what the wicked (of 1:1) are like (1:4).

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.

This Righteous One is given four rich lines of comparison. Imagery of a tree is widespread in Scripture, beginning with Genesis 2–3 and culminating in Revelation 22:2 (cf. Jer. 17:8; Ezek. 47:12); it speaks of vibrant and resilient life. The tree is sometimes associated with a king (e.g., Ezek. 31:3–9), and that may be a particular focus here.27 This tree is plantedby streams of water, that is, irrigation channels supplying fresh water all year round (cf. Isa. 32:2).28It yields its fruit, a metaphor of righteousness (e.g., Isa. 5:7; Gal. 5:16–26), in its season, each virtue evident at the appropriate time (cf. Prov. 15:23; Eccl. 3:11). Unlike the wicked (cf. Ps. 37:2, using the same word), it does not wither. This blessed one is stable, constant, and beautiful. From roots in God’s life grows fruit to bless the world.

The climax comes in the last line: In all that he does, he prospers. The prosperity of the wicked (e.g., Job 21; Ps. 73) will not last (e.g., Pss. 10:5; 37:7). In an Ecclesiastes world full of frustrations, he achieves all he purposes. Counter to our intuitions, the Bible teaches that lasting prosperity comes through suffering because suffering shapes a person in godliness (even for the sinless Jesus, who was made “perfect through suffering,” Heb. 2:10).

In contrast with these four lines, the wicked get just one short line of comparison after they are introduced:

4    The wicked are not so,

    but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

How much is compressed in those words not so!29 The wicked, who were so weighty, so numerous, so plausible, and so scornful (Ps. 1:1)—the poet can scarcely bother to describe them! Not lasting, not fruitful, not beautiful. Nothing. The comparison is almost brutally brief. They are not even given the dignity of being the subject of a verb: like chaff (cf. Ps. 35:5; Isa. 17:13; Luke 3:17),30the wind (רוּחַ‎, ruakh, the word also used for the Spirit of God) drives them away. They are unstable and erratic, blown around by their conflicting desires.31 From rooted to rootless, from organic to disintegrated, the contrast could not be more stark.

The powerful imbalance between these comparisons further motivates us to desire the blessing of the blessed one.

1:5–6 Expectations: What the Blessed and the Wicked May Expect

5    Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,

    nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;

Therefore (in consequence of Ps. 1:4) the wicked (who “stood” so confidently in 1:1) will not stand where it matters, in the judgment. While it is possible that the judgment means “in a place where they can give judgment over others” (i.e., as leaders in the congregation), as indeed they will not,32 the reference to perishing in 1:6 suggests that judgment means judgment by God; they may think their place is in the judge’s seat (namely, scoffers), but they find themselves in the dock. Climactically, this points to final judgment but probably includes the interim judgments of God throughout history.

The congregation of the righteous is the assembly or church of God, righteous by faith.33 The blessed one (1:1–3) is not alone. If this blessed man points to the King of Psalm 2, then he is not simply a generic or representative member of the congregation of the righteous but rather its leader. In this great gathering in the age to come, there will be no impenitent sinners.

6    for the Lord knows the way of the righteous,

    but the way of the wicked will perish.

For—in the most significant line of the psalm, we are given the climactic reason why both sides of this psalm are true—the Lord knows the way of the righteous, those who have entered the covenant by faith (e.g., Gen. 15:6) and live out that faith with righteous deeds.34 To know here must refer to something more than cognitive knowledge, for God is omniscient, cognizant of all things and all people. It must mean something like a personal knowledge and care, a watchful knowledge (hence CSB, NIV, NRSV: “watches over”); it is a knowledge that saves, the opposite of perishing (cf. Luke 13:27; John 10:14).35Most famously, the verb is used in Genesis 4:1 of Adam’s union with Eve. The covenant God who gave his law as a gift of grace to his people now watches over those who trust him so that they walk this way under his protection and with his guidance.

By terrible contrast, the way of the wicked comes to a short end and will perish.

Reflection and Response

1. This psalm preaches to us. As we say it, we add our Amen! The truth it declares is counterintuitive and deeply countercultural. And yet this really is the best way to live, for the law of God is rooted in the very structure of the created order.

2. Psalm 1:1 helps us feel the power of all-pervasive wickedness. The wicked were and are many, plausible, and mocking. “Who can refute a sneer?”36 There is a “wide” gate and an “easy” way that leads to destruction, and “those who enter by it are many.” But “the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Matt. 7:13–14). From the school playground to the senior-living home, we instinctively want to say the same things as the wicked, to laugh at the same jokes, to share the same values, to make the same life decisions.

3. We flee afresh with urgency to Christ, our only hope. If wickedness can be resisted only when our heart delights in God’s law, we have an insuperable problem. For we cannot control the affections of our hearts.37 We may try to live rightly, but we cannot help wanting to walk with sinners, and we fear the mockery of scoffers. Outside faith in Christ, writes Luther, “you . . . should tremble at these words.”38 Once we belong to Christ, there is no condemnation (cf. Rom. 8:1; 1 John 4:18). And yet still there should be within us the stirrings of a fresh desperation for Christ, an urgent desire for the salvation only he can bring. Psalm 1 drives us to Christ.

4. We ought to be thrilled as the darkness of works religion is swept away by the light of the gospel. Jesus is the blessed man of Psalm 1. In him all blessedness is ours, for the God who has given us Jesus gives us with him all things we can ever need for life and godliness (cf. Eph. 1:3; 2 Pet. 1:3). Old covenant believers trusted in the Christ to come, for they knew that they could never have within themselves the resources to fulfill Psalm 1.

5. In Christ the desires and delights of this psalm become ours, not as an unattainable works religion (“I must stir myself up to try to be more like the good person and less like the wicked”) but as the fruit of the Spirit. From being “under the law,” we become glad walkers in God’s ways.39 As we sing Psalm 1:1, Christ gives us a godly determination to reject the persuasive counsel of wickedness in our culture, not to align our identity (where we stand) with any way that contradicts the law of God and never either to teach others in wrong ways or mock those who persist in piety. And then, as we sing Psalm 1:2, a heart delight for God’s beautiful character expressed in his perfect law wells up in our hearts. This delight will lead to daily and nightly meditation on that word of instruction, and in its turn, these healthy habits of meditation will nourish the delight of our hearts.

Our response as we sing Psalm 1 in Christ will therefore be a fragrant gospel blend of at least two tunes. We rejoice that Jesus Christ is the blessed one and wonder at his marvelous righteousness. And then, stirred by the Spirit of Christ within us, we resolve, under grace and with joy, to walk with him in the way of Psalm 1.

1  Charles H. Spurgeon (1834–1892), The Treasury of David, 3 vols. (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2016), 1.1:1.

2  Pss. 1 and 2 are unique in this respect. Only four others in books 1 and 2 have no superscription. Each is closely tied to an adjacent psalm with a superscription (Pss. 10 with 9; 33 with 32; 43 with 42; and 71 with 70).

3  O. Palmer Robertson, The Flow of the Psalms: Discovering Their Structure and Theology (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2015), 54. See also Jamie A. Grant, The King as Exemplar: The Function of Deuteronomy’s Kingship Law in the Shaping of the Book of Psalms, AcBib 17 (Atlanta: SBL Press, 2004); J. L. Mays (1921–2015), “The Place of the Torah-Psalms in the Psalter,” JBL 106, no. 1 (1987): 8; Robert L. Cole, Psalms 1–2: Gateway to the Psalter, HBM 37 (Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix, 2012), chap. 1; Bruce K. Waltke and James M. Houston, The Psalms as Christian Worship: A Historical Commentary, with Erika Moore (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2010), 145–46; Philip Eveson, Psalms: From Suffering to Glory, 2 vols., WCS (Darlington, UK: EP Books, 2014–2015), 1:34–35.

4  Grant, King as Exemplar.

5  The CSB and NIV divide the psalm into three different sections: Ps. 1:1–3 (the blessed man), 1:4–5 (the wicked), and 1:6 (conclusion).

6  Hans-Joachim Kraus (1918–2000), Psalms, trans. Hilton C. Oswald, 2 vols., CC (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993), 1:115; Willem A. VanGemeren, Psalms, vol. 5 of The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, ed. Tremper Longman III and David E. Garland, rev. ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2008), 78.

7אַשְׁרֵי‎ comes twice here at the start of book 1, twice at the end (Pss. 40:4; 41:1), and in other, possibly significant, places. See VanGemeren, Psalms, 81.

8  For the meaning of “wicked,” see Allen P. Ross, A Commentary on the Psalms, 3 vols., KEL (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 2011), 1:185n14.

9  E. W. Hengstenberg (1802–1869), Commentary on the Psalms, trans. P. Fairbairn and J. Thomson, 3 vols., CFTL 1–2, 12 (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1845), 1:9; F. Delitzsch (1813–1819), Biblical Commentary on the Psalms, trans. Francis Bolton, CFTL, 4th ser., vols. 29–31 (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1892), 1:110.

10  The word עֵצָה‎ may sometimes also have the sense of a “council,” a group gathered with authority to give “counsel,” linking what they say to the peer pressure they exert. See the discussion in Peter C. Craigie (1938–1985), Psalms 1–50, WBC 19 (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1983), 57; John H. Eaton, Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom: A Conference with Commentators, JSOTSup 199 (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1995), 41.

11  Martin Luther (1483–1546), Luther’s Works, ed. Jaroslav Pelikan (Saint Louis, MO: Concordia, 1958), 14:289.

12  The verb “to sin” (חָטָא‎) means to miss the mark or way, that is, God’s standard. See Ross, Psalms, 1:186n15.

13  A. A. Anderson (1924–2021), The Book of Psalms, 2 vols., NCB (London: Oliphants, 1972), 1:59.

14  Anderson, Psalms, 1:59.

15  C. S. Lewis, “The Inner Ring,” in The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses (New York: HarperOne, 1980), 141–57. Given as his Memorial Lecture at King’s College, University of London, 1944.

16  See Christopher Ash, Teaching Ruth and Esther: From Text to Message (Fearn, Ross-Shire, Scotland: Christian Focus, 2018), 114.

17  John Goldingay, Psalms, 3 vols., BCOTWP (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006–2008), 1:82.

18  Fourteen out of sixteen occurrences of the word “scoffers” (לֵצִים‎) come in Proverbs to indicate those whose pride makes them very sure they are right and who despise those who will not agree with them (e.g., Prov. 1:22; 3:34; 9:7–8).

19  Gunnel André, “‘Walk,’ ‘Stand,’ and ‘Sit’ in Psalm 1:1–2,” VT 32, no. 3 (1982): 327. For a king who did the opposite, see 2 Chron. 22:3–5.

20Spurgeon, Treasury, 1.1:2.

21  I am grateful to James Hely Hutchinson for this observation.

22  See Michael LeFebvre, “Torah-Meditation and the Psalms: The Invitation of Psalm 1,” in Interpreting the Psalms: Issues and Approaches, ed. David Firth and Philip S. Johnston (Leicester, UK: Inter-Varsity Press, 2005), 213–17. See the discussion in R. N. Whybray, Reading the Psalms as a Book, JSOTSup 222 (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1996), 38–42; Geoffrey W. Grogan (1925–2011), Psalms, THOTC (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2008), 42n2. For the meaning of torah, see Ross, Psalms, 1:188n18.

23  LeFebvre, “Torah-Meditation”; Whybray, Reading the Psalms, 38–39; Craigie, Psalms 1–50, 58; Delitzsch, Psalms, 1:112.

24Ross, Psalms, 1:189.

25  Hengstenberg, Psalms, 1:12.

26  Noted by Patrick D. Miller, “The Beginning of the Psalter,” in The Shape and Shaping of the Psalter, ed. J. Clinton McCann Jr., JSOTSup 159 (Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1993), 86.

27  E.g., Isa. 11:1; Jer. 23:5; Zech. 3:8; 6:12. “In both biblical and ancient Near Eastern tradition, . . . the individual most typically identified with a tree is a person of royalty.” William P. Brown, Seeing the Psalms: A Theology of Metaphor (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2002), 69.

28  VanGemeren, Psalms, 82.

29  The LXX, followed by the Vg., doubles this for emphasis: “Not so, not so!” (οὐχ οὕτως . . . οὐχ οὕτως).

30  There is a play on words between “tree” (עֵץ‎) and “chaff” (מֹץ‎).

31  Robert Alter, The Art of Biblical Poetry, rev. ed. (New York: Basic Books, 2011), 143–46.

32  Augustine, Expositions of the Psalms, trans. Maria Boulding, ed. John E. Rotelle and Boniface Ramsey, 6 vols. (New York: New City Press, 2000), 1:70; William H. Brownlee, “Psalms 1–2 as a Coronation Liturgy,” Biblica 52, no. 3 (1971): 328–29; Craigie, Psalms 1–50, 61.

33עֵדָה‎ (Vg. congregatione) is more or less synonymous with קָהָל‎.

34  For the meaning of “righteous” in the Psalms, see Ross, Psalms, 1:193n26.

35  Delitzsch, Psalms, 1:115; Kraus, Psalms, 1:120; Alter, Art of Biblical Poetry, 145; Ross, Psalms, 1:192.

36  Graham A. Cole, “‘Who Can Refute a Sneer?’ Paley on Gibbon,” TynBul 49, no. 1 (1998): 57–58.

37  Luther (following Augustine) expounded this truth with peculiar force in The Bondage of the Will.

38  Luther, Luther’s Works, 14:305.

39Augustine, Psalms, 1:67–68.

The Holy Spirit . . . teaches and consoles us in this psalm so that we cling bravely to this King and think of Him much more than the tumults. . . . For it is a condition of His kingdom that it cannot exist without tumults . . . because Satan and the godless world cannot tolerate this King.

Martin Luther

Lecture in 1532

Psalm 2

Orientation

We live in a dangerous world. The paradox of Psalm 2 is that safety and blessing are to be found (paradoxically) by surrendering my autonomy to the gracious authority of Jesus the Messiah.

Where there is life, there is power. I may not have any formal position of authority, but I have agency. I make decisions, and the choices I make impact others. Whether I am a president, a prime minister, a local leader, a celebrity, a blogger, a school principal, a manager, a parent, or simply a living being, I make a difference in the world. There is a power that comes from position, a power from good looks, a power from a magnetic personality, a power entrusted to pastoral leaders, even paradoxically a strange power of victimhood.

The question is this: Will I use my power for what I desire or submit to God and his Messiah? Psalm 2 counsels me that to Jesus Christ is given all authority (cf. Matt. 28:18). If I am wise, I will bow the knee to him. If I am threatened by those who choose what they want, Psalm 2 comforts me; if I want to choose what I want, it warns me.

We should read Psalm 2 alongside Psalm 1, for the Psalm 2 Messiah will be the blessed man of Psalm 1.1 Although Psalm 2 has no superscription, Acts 4:25–26 ascribes it to David speaking as a prophet (Acts 2:30) by the Spirit of God, who is the Spirit of Christ. We do not know when he wrote it, but it reflects the covenant of 2 Samuel 7:4–17.2 In his “last words,” David calls this “an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and secure,” in which God will “cause to prosper” all that he desires (2 Sam. 23:1, 5).3

Psalm 2 may have been used at coronations or other festivals for David’s successors; we cannot know. There are many echoes of this covenant in the Old Testament (notably Pss. 89:1–37; 132:11–12; cf. 2 Kings 11:12; 1 Chron. 22:10; 28:6–7).

The New Testament teaches that the anointed King here spoken of will finally be Jesus Christ, with echoes at his baptism (Matt. 3:17; Mark 1:11; Luke 3:22), his transfiguration (Matt. 17:5; Mark 9:7; Luke 9:35), and elsewhere (Acts 4:25–27; 13:33; Heb. 1:5; 5:5; Rev. 12:5; 19:15, 19—and probably also 2 Pet. 1:17).4 Psalm 2 is the only Old Testament scripture in which the three titles “Son of God,” “Messiah” (or “anointed one”), and “God’s King” appear together. The historical kingdom of David was “merely a shadow” of that of Christ.5 The victory of this Messiah overflows to his followers (Rev. 2:26–27).

The Text

Structure

Psalm 2 includes four groups of three verses each (albeit of slightly differing lengths), with a concluding line of blessing (2:12d). Apart from the final line, there is a dramatic symmetry. The kings of the earth speak at the start (2:1–3) and are spoken to at the end (2:10–12c); while they speak vanity, what they hear is wisdom. In the middle we hear the words of God in heaven (2:4–6) and what he has said to his Messiah on earth (2:7–9).6

2:1–3 One Pointless Riot

After the calm certainties of Psalm 1, Psalm 2 begins with a dramatic uproar that summarizes human history in seven vivid lines. And yet the first verse begins and ends with words that calm our fears.

1    Why do the nations rage

    and the peoples plot in vain?

Why? Why do you bother? It is in vain (empty/emptiness),7 bound to fail. These “two little words” calm the fears aroused by the terrifying uproar of 2:1–3.8 When Christ fulfills Psalm 1, whatever he does will most certainly prosper (1:3).9

And yet the rebellion is frightening, driven by a passionate, shared desire for “freedom.” In all humankind the nations . . . and the peoples are filled with rage, the word suggesting the restless commotion of a worldwide hostile crowd (Acts 19:23–24 catches the feel of the scene).10 The verb plot (הָגָה‎, hagah) is translated “meditate” in Psalm 1:2. In an ironic twist, the meditation here is on rebellion rather than submission.11

2    The kings of the earth set themselves,

    and the rulers take counsel together,

    against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,

The camera closes in on the ringleaders, kings (not merely kings but emphatically kings of the earth) and rulers, people who carry weight.12 These are “influencers,” whether through political or military force or through the all-pervasive power of culture; they set the agenda for public discourse, and they determine—perhaps through literature, blogs, movies, or newsfeeds—the “defender beliefs” of a culture. They include, to some degree, any man or woman who can make a difference to the world. These set themselves: they take their stand (probably like marshaling forces for battle; cf. 1 Sam. 17:16; Jer. 46:4).13 They are determined to make their own choices and will fight to ensure they can.14 And they take counsel together, like a powerful conclave, secure and strong. “The rapid lively rhythm” here “suggests the stir and tumult of the gathering host.”15

All this is against the Lord and against his Anointed. The anointed King (מָשִׁיחַ‎, mashiakh; χριστός, christos)16 is so closely identified with his covenant Lord that hostility to him is enmity to God (cf. John 15:23). This is later vividly illustrated by the words “Then Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord as king” (1 Chron. 29:23).17

3  “  Let us burst their bonds apart

    and cast away their cords from us.”

Psalm 2:3 makes explicit the goal of this rebellion: it purports to be a freedom movement. They long to burst . . . apart (snap) and cast away the bonds and cords by which God’s Messiah claims the right to direct their wills.18 The goal of this noisy, restless worldwide rebellion is autonomy: “I want to be a king, and having become a king, I want to exercise my power as I choose. If I have little power, I long for power; if I have power, I want to hold on to it. The one thing I will not do is bow the knee to God’s anointed King” (cf. Luke 19:14). The more power we have, the more we want to be free of God’s Christ. Normally, those with power are in rivalry with one another; the strange paradox is that the one thing that unites them is their shared refusal to bow to God’s Messiah (cf. Luke 23:12; Acts 4:27).

Every human being is by nature a participant in this great riot of human rebellion. Thus it will be to the very end of time (e.g., Rev. 19:19). But frightening though this is, it will come to nothing. There is a play on the upcoming reversal in the Hebrew suffix “(of) them.” They say, literally, “Let us burst apart the bonds of them and cast away the cords of them [i.e., the Lord