Psalms 2:9

2:7-9 The kingdom of the Messiah is founded upon an eternal decree of God the Father. This our Lord Jesus often referred to, as what he governed himself by. God hath said unto him, Thou art my Son, and it becomes each of us to say to him, Thou art my Lord, my Sovereign'. The Son, in asking the heathen for his inheritance, desires their happiness in him; so that he pleads for them, ever lives to do so, and is able to save to the uttermost, and he shall have multitudes of willing, loyal subjects, among them. Christians are the possession of the Lord Jesus; they are to him for a name and a praise. God the Father gives them to him, when, by his Spirit and grace, he works upon them to submit to the Lord Jesus.

Psalm 2:9 . Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron — Those people that will not quietly submit to thee shall be crushed and destroyed by thy mighty power, which they shall never be able to resist. This was in part fulfilled when the Jews, who persisted in unbelief, were destroyed by the Roman power: and in the destruction of the pagan power when the Christian religion came to be established. But it will not be completely fulfilled till all opposing power and principality be put down.

(9) Thou shalt break. —The LXX. translated, “thou shalt pasture them,” understanding by the rod (Heb., shevet ) , as in Leviticus 27:32 , a shepherd’s crook. (Comp. Ezekiel 20:37 ; Micah 7:14 .) Elsewhere the rod is a sceptre ( Psalm 125:3 ); in Proverbs 22:15 it is a rod of correction. The use to be made of it— to dash the nations in pieces, as one breaks a potter’s vessel —points to the latter of these significations here. “Then shalt thou bring full low With iron sceptre bruised, and them disperse Like to a potter’s vessel shivered so.” (Milton’s trans.) Psalm 2:10 begins the fourth section of the poem. Subject princes are warned to be wise in time, and, as a religious duty as well as a political necessity, to submit to Jehovah. Rejoice with trembling.—Literally, quake, referring to the motion of the body produced by strong emotion, and therefore used both of joy and terror. Our version follows the LXX.; most of the old versions paraphrase the word: Chaldean, “pray”; Syriac,” cleave to him”; Arabic, “praise him.” It is historically interesting to remember that the words of this verse—et nunc reges intelligite—formed the legend of the medal struck in England after the execution of Charles I.

Verse 9. - Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron . It is said that these words, and those of the next clause, "cannot describe the mild rule of Christ" (Rosenmuller, Do Wette, Hupfeld, etc.). But the objectors forget that there is a severe, as well as a mild, side to the dealings of God with his human creatures. St. Paul notes in the same verse both the "severity" and the "goodness" of God ( Romans 11:22 ). Christ, though "the Prince of Peace," "came to send a sword upon the earth" ( Matthew 10:34 ). As the appointed Judge of men, he takes vengeance on the wicked, while he rewards the righteous ( Luke 3:17 ; Matthew 25:46 ). Nay, St. John, in the Apocalypse, declares that "out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations. and " ye shall rule them with a rod of iron" ( Revelation 19:15 ; comp. 2:27; 12:5). So, with respect to the other clause of the verse - Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel - it is to be noted that there is a similar threat made by the Lord of hosts against Jerusalem in the Book of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 19:11), and that under the new covenant the same is threatened in the Revelation (Revelation 2:27). In truth, both covenants are alike in denouncing the extreme of God's wrath on impenitent sinners, such as those here spoken of. Psalm 2:9

9 . Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron ] A figure for the severity of the chastisement that awaits rebels. Or perhaps, ‘an iron sceptre ’ ( Psalm 45:6 ), symbol of a stern and irresistible rule. But the word rendered break them , if read with different vowels, may mean rule (lit. shepherd ) them . so the LXX (and after it Revelation 2:27 ; Revelation 12:5 ; Revelation 19:15 ), Syriac, and Jerome. In this case rod will mean a shepherd’s staff ( Micah 7:14 ), and the phrase will be an oxymoron. a potter’s vessel ] An emblem of easy, complete, irreparable destruction. The confederacy is shattered into fragments which cannot be reunited. Cp. Jeremiah 19:11 ; Isaiah 30:14 ; Proverbs 6:15 .

Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron - That is, evidently, thine enemies, for it cannot be supposed to be meant that he would sway such a scepter over his own people. The idea is that he would crush and subdue all his foes. He would have absolute power, and the grant which had been made to him would be accompanied with authority sufficient to hold it. That dominion which was to be conceded to him would be not only one of protection to his friends, but also of punishment on his enemies; and the statement here is made prominent because the former part of the psalm had respect to rebels, and the Messiah is here represented as being invested with power sufficient to punish and restrain them. The Vulgate renders this "thou shalt rule;" the Septuagint, "thou shalt feed - ποιμανεῖς poimaneis; that is, thou shalt feed them as a shepherd does his flock; thou shalt exercise over them the care and protection of a shepherd. This rendering occurs by a slight change in the pointing of the Hebrew word, though the most approved mode of pointing the word is that which is followed in our common translation. DeWette, Hengstenberg, Alexander, Horsley, adopt the common reading. What is said in this verse has been urged as an objection to referring it to the Messiah. The remark of DeWette on this matter has been quoted in the introduction to this psalm, Section 4 (3).

But it may be observed, while it is everywhere represented that the scepter of the Messiah over the earth will be a mild scepter, it is also everywhere stated that he will ultimately crush and overthrow all his foes. Thus, in Isaiah 11:4 : "He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked." So Psalm 110:6 : "He shall judge among the heathen; he shall fill the places with the dead bodies." So, likewise, Revelation 19:15 : "And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God." So also in Matthew 25, and elsewhere, it is said that he will come to judgment, and will consign all his foes to appropriate punishment. While it is said that the reign of the Messiah would be a mild reign, and that his kingdom would not be of this world, and while he is represented as the Prince of peace, it is also said that he would be invested with all the authority of a sovereign. While he would have power to protect his friends, he would also have power to humble and crush his foes. The expression "with a rod of iron" refers to the scepter which he would bear. A scepter was sometimes made of wood, sometimes of gold, sometimes of ivory, and sometimes of iron. The idea, when the past was the case, was, that the dominion was absolute, and that there was nothing that could resist it.