Psalm 2

Why do the nations rebel?

Why are the countries devising plots that will fail?

2 The kings of the earth form a united front;

the rulers collaborate

against the Lord and his anointed king.

3 They say, “Let’s tear off the shackles they’ve put on us.

Let’s free ourselves from their ropes.”

4 The one enthroned in heaven laughs in disgust;

the Lord taunts them.

5 Then he angrily speaks to them

and terrifies them in his rage, saying,

6 “I myself have installed my king

on Zion, my holy hill.”

7 The king says, “I will announce the Lord’s decree. He said to me:

‘You are my son. This very day I have become your father.

8 Ask me,

and I will give you the nations as your inheritance,

the ends of the earth as your personal property.

9 You will break them with an iron scepter;

you will smash them like a potter’s jar.’”

10 So now, you kings, do what is wise;

you rulers of the earth, submit to correction.

11 Serve the Lord in fear.

Repent in terror.

12 Give sincere homage.

Otherwise he will be angry,

and you will die because of your behavior,

when his anger quickly ignites.

How blessed are all who take shelter in him!

NET

So I’m already way behind on my attempt to do one chapter of the Bible per day. I have read on through Psalm 4 but just haven’t had a chance to publish anything. I find some of these Psalms challenging because the context is that of David, King of Israel, facing some trials or under duress from conflict with surrounding peoples. My opinion is that the church has a tendency to want to make every part of the Bible somehow relatable to what we’re going through today, but I think that’s asking too much of the text. The Bible is a collection of history, poetry, law, narrative, personal letters, and more.

Is a prayer of David, a King of a nation, directly relevant to me, a relatively powerless person in the United States in 2023? While I believe God wants to say something to us through every piece of scripture, I just hesitate to try to find too much in common between trials that I face vs what David faced.

Anyway, back to Psalm 2. The way it reads, David frames the hostility of enemy nations as being spiritual–that their leaders are intentionally inciting war with God himself and his people. I don’t know enough about the historical context to know if that’s actually true–is this just David’s point of view or was the conflict between nations motivated by differing allegiances to a higher power?

And bringing it forward to 2023–do any “kings of the earth” intentionally conspire “against the Lord”? The obvious situation whether people likely still use this framing is with the Israel/Palestine conflict.

I think it’s dangerous for any head of state or people group to believe that God is “on their side”. At the same time, my one take away from this passage is that even if you are a head of state or person in high authority, there is blessing from being obedient to God and recognition that he still has authority over you, regardless of how powerful you feel. “Happy are all who take refuge in him”–regardless of whether you’re president of the most powerful nation in the world or struggling with homelessness and poverty.