Once again we are in a time of great national unrest, which we pray will not boil over into international unrest as well. We have gone through a terribly contentious presidential election. Partisan emotions are intense on both sides of the isle and throughout the land. We have witnessed the unprecedented attack on the US Capitol building by a mob of out-of-control rioters, and now the equally unprecedented second impeachment of a US president, this time less than two weeks before the end of his term. Will all of these unsettling events cause us who belong to the Lord to quake in fear and succumb to anxiety in the days ahead? Hopefully not!
There are many hymns which we could sing, all of which point us to the immovable foundation we have in Christ, our Savior, who reigns supreme over all the affairs of mankind. It’s in the sovereign kingship of Jesus Christ that we take our stand. He is the solid rock on which the kingdom of God is built and will prevail (Matthew 16:17-19), the solid rock on which we build our lives in contrast to the shifting sand of unbelief (Matthew 7:24-27), and the solid rock that is the foundation stone that becomes a stone of stumbling to those who do not believe (1 Peter 2:7-8). And to these we could add the vision in the prophecy of Daniel 2:34 in which a great rock will arise to smash the kingdoms of the world which Satan had corralled to mount a futile attack on the kingdom of God.
In addition to these, and wonderfully reassuring and comforting, we have countless passages in the Psalms that call us to peace in the confidence that the Lord reigns. As a former fellow seminary professor and friend of mine, the late Dr. Bob Reymond, used to say, if we were to hook up a seismograph to the throne of God, in the midst of all these political earthquakes, it would not register even the slightest tremor, because the one on the throne is in complete control, working out His perfect design, a plan that includes even the wicked designs of Satan and sinful mankind. As Joni Eareckson Tada frequently writes, “God even uses what He hates to accomplish what He loves.”
And what Psalm best points us to the absurdity of human governors raising their defiant fists against the God of heaven and earth? It is, of course, Psalm 2, one of the most powerful Messianic Psalms. It is more than futile, it is suicidal for such opposition to be mounted again the Lord of hosts, the Lord of the armies of heaven, regardless of the numbers which are brought together in an alliance against Him. The Psalm tells us that God laughs at such puny rebellion before terrifying them in His holy wrath. The only way to be safe is to “kiss the Son” (vs. 12), which we have done by faith in the Lord Jesus.
A number of hymnals include settings of Psalm 2. Most are from the Presbyterian 1912 Psalter. But in this hymn study, we’re using a new metrical setting from the brand new (2018) Trinity Psalter Hymnal, published as a joint effort of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) and the United Reformed Churches in North America (URCNA). This cooperative effort has produced a collection that includes all 150 Psalms along with many hymns, as well as appendices that include the Presbyterian “Westminster Standards” and also the Reformed “Three Forms of Unity.”
One might ask if it’s legitimate to apply this Psalm to the United States. Are we one of the heathen nations addressed in this Psalm and hymn text? The word “heathen” doesn’t refer exclusively to primitive idol-worshipping tribes in the jungles. It refers even to highly civilized nations that may have made great strides in education and literature and culture, but which have turned their backs on God’s precepts and authority. Can anyone doubt that with America’s pursuit of abortion on demand, her attack on religious freedom, and her embrace of all kinds of sexual and marital distortion, we are perhaps even more “heathen” than one of those jungle tribes?
And so we turn to this metrical setting of Psalm 2, one which follows very closely the actual inspired (God-breathed) words of the biblical text. In singing as well as in reading, one must listen careful to identify who is speaking at every point in the Psalm in order to understand it correctly.
In stanza 1, the speaker is the psalmist, the inspired author of the Psalm. We join our voices with his in questioning why there is this angry, defiant alliance of human rulers seeking to overthrow God’s reign by declaring war on the Lord and His Anointed (the Messiah, Jesus Christ). We listen in amazement as we hear them urging one another to break the cords and chains in which they see God as having bound them.
Why do heathen nations rage? Why do peoples plot in vain?
Kings and rulers join to wage war against God’s royal reign.
Speaking out against the LORD, His Anointed they defy:
“Let us break apart their cords, cast away their chains,” they cry.
In stanza 2, the speaker is God Himself, first as described by the psalmist, and then in His own words. God’s reaction to this aggressive, militant coalition of human forces is first to laugh at them, in the way an elephant would react to an ant that refuses to let him pass. But then God’s response turns to terrifying anger that causes fear and dread to fall on His foes. He issues the proclamation that He has set His Anointed as His King on Zion’s hill. As a mighty general, this King Jesus will reign unchallenged forever.
He who sits in heaven laughs; God derides and mocks them all.
Then to them He speaks in wrath, fear and dread on them do fall:
“Yet according to My will, I have set My king to reign;
fixed on Zion’s holy hill, My Anointed will remain.”
In stanza 3, the speaker is that Anointed one Himself, King Jesus, the Messiah. He reminds all the world that the Lord has affirmed that He, King Jesus, is God’s beloved Son. And in the following lines, He tells us what the Lord has said of Him. So it is the Lord once more whose words we sing. The Lord, God the Father, has promised that Jesus will own the nations by virtue of His having conquered them. He will break them with a rod and dash them like a potter’s jar, utterly smashing them in their rebellious plot.
I will tell of His decree: this to Me the LORD did say,
“You are My beloved Son, I have brought you forth this day.
Ask for all the earth abroad; You shall own the nations far.
You will break them with a rod, dash them like a potter’s jar.”
In stanza 4, the speaker is the psalmist once more, this time not merely commenting on what he observes, but issuing a dire warning and wise counsel to those who still foolishly think that they can successfully overthrow the Lord God Omnipotent. Satan tried it and failed, and those who follow his course will likewise be damned. There is still time to bow in submission, kissing the Son. This is what we have done when we have bowed to Christ’s lordship, mingling joy with trembling fear. How blessed are we who trust Him.
Therefore kings, be wise, be warned; rulers of the earth, give ear.
Come with awe and serve the LORD; mingle joy with trembling fear.
Kiss the Son, His anger turn, lest you perish in the way,
for His wrath will quickly burn. All who trust Him—blest are they!
Just as there are a number of metrical settings of this Psalm in various hymnals and psalters, so also are there a number of different musical settings. In the 2018 Trinity Psalter Hymnal, the tune SALZBURG is one of two settings (2A and 2B). It was written in 1687 by Jakob Hintze (1622-1702). He was born in Bernau, near Berlin, the son of the town musician. After studying in various towns near the Baltic (and also in Denmark) during his youth, he became the town musician at Stettin. In 1666 he became Court Musician to the Elector of Brandenburg. A Berlin publisher invited him to edit successive editions of Johann Crüger’s Praxis Pietatis Melica (“The Practice of Piety in Song), which was the most successful and widely known Lutheran hymnal of the seventeenth century From 1666 to 1698 he produced editions 12 to 28, in which he added 65 of his own original tunes.
Here you can hear the hymn being played. In this, and in the Trinity Psalter Hymnal, it is presented as harmonized by Johann Sebastian Bach.