Psalms 2:1-3

The Nations In Rebellion Against YHWH and Against His Anointed One

Psalms 2:1

‘Why do the nations rage,

And the people imagine a vain thing?

The kings of the earth set themselves,

And the rulers take counsel together,

Against YHWH and against his anointed.'

Saying, Let us break their bands asunder,

And cast away their cords from us.'

The first reference is probably to a proposed confederation of nations under his rule planning to overthrow the king of Israel, the Davidic king, of which the king had become aware. David would ever be aware of such plots and schemes They began from the moment when David took ‘the bridle of the mother city' (the right to rule others) out of the hands of the Philistines and took over their subject nations, who did not, however, want to exchange tribute to the Philistines with tribute to this upstart king of Israel, and thus fought for their freedom (2 Samuel 8:1). The plots would continue in later simmerings of rebellion of which we are not told, plots and schemes that finally came to nought. In all cases they would be seen as an attempt to avoid being under the rule of YHWH.

But if so it is described in words that look beyond local nations to the world situation of David's dreams. While David may partly have had the local situation in mind, it also looks forward to the greater vision, the vision of the world as required to be subject to YHWH and His anointed. YHWH was King over all the earth (Genesis 18:25; 1 Chronicles 29:11; Psalms 22:28; Psalms 47:2; Psalms 47:7; Jeremiah 10:10; Zechariah 14:9). But people did not want to be under His yoke. They wanted to be free to do exactly what they wanted. So he saw the wider world also as constantly simmering in its rebellion against God. He knew that not only the local nations, but all the nations of the world would one day be called to be subject to YHWH, but would plan rebellion against Him and thus would need to be brought into subjection to Him or summarily dealt with.

This demonstrates David's great vision, and may well have been the result of David's dreams at that time. He possibly felt that that was his destiny, or the destiny of his son to whom he would hand over a powerful empire, world submission to YHWH. His vision of world empire was not thus just totally selfish. And he spoke better than he knew. For unknowingly he spoke of One Who would come as God's Anointed, Who would indeed be rejected and spurned, but Who would then lay claim to the submission of the world to His Father. He spoke of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The stress is on the nations as being at odds with YHWH. The nations rage (definite tense) because they do not want to be in subjection to Him. The thought infuriates them. The people go on imagining (indefinite tense) folly by thinking that they do not have to obey Him. It was like that then. It is the same today. Men seek to throw off His restraints, they do not want Him to tie them down.

The kings and rulers of the earth are also involved. They too seek ways of escaping from YHWH's grip. They try every way to avoid His rule. They are at enmity with YHWH and with His anointed. They are constantly setting themselves (indefinite tense) against Him, and thus take counsel together (definite tense) with this in mind. The world and its rulers are in it together.

David may well have seen himself like this as the supreme anointed of YHWH (1 Samuel 16:13; Psalms 89:20). He laid great stress on what it meant to be ‘the anointed one', chosen by YHWH. That is why he spared Saul so often (1 Samuel 24:6; 1 Samuel 24:10; 1 Samuel 26:9 etc). To him being ‘the anointed of YHWH', the one chosen and called out by YHWH and empowered by Him, was the greatest privilege a man could have. And it contained within it a world view. Thus their refusal to submit to him was itself a sign of their rebellion against YHWH.

So he saw in these local nations, simmering in their rebellion, a picture of the whole world unwilling to submit to God and His anointed one, a world that he wanted to conquer, a world that should submit to YHWH's rule. What he did not at that time know was that his dream for himself would never be fulfilled. But he would have been quite content to know that it would be fulfilled in his descendants, and, had he known of Him, in the greater Anointed One yet to come. It was then recognised that a promise from God was often to a man and his seed, so that David would be satisfied to think that what he had begun Another would take up. But they would reject Him too. 

‘Against YHWH and against His anointed.' We can almost hear David's scandalised tone. To David the two were one. The one who was anointed with oil had been set aside as the servant of YHWH. He was YHWH's anointed and expressing YHWH's will. Thus when the nations rebelled against God's anointed, they rebelled against God (2 Kings 19:22). It was the greatest of crimes, a crime that deserved only judgment.

And his world would constantly consider rebellion against David. It was hardly possible to hold together an empire of the kind he ruled without it being so. But the attempts would be futile. He would bring them in subjection to his feet, because YHWH was on his side. The world would also similarly reject the greater Anointed One, the greater David, when He came, even though He came as the prince of peace. Indeed, the New Testament reveals how they constantly raged against Him. How they imagined vain things against Him. The rulers came together to take counsel against Him, and ‘kings' like Herod and Pilate set themselves against Him. All this was to be literally fulfilled. But it was a hopeless cause. They could not get rid of YHWH's Anointed. And they rage against Him and rebel against Him still, and still try to get rid of Him. But their attempts are in vain.

‘Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.' The subject nations saw David's rule as being like a yoke fitted on oxen ready for the use of the plough. The bands bound the yoke to the oxen so that they could not be rid of it. The cords may have been similar to reins. They chafed at being guided by someone else's reins. The more David conquered, the more it would be so. And the nations did not want to see themselves as oxen.

And today the world still seeks to throw off God's yoke, and to rid themselves of His reins. For the truth is that obedience can always be looked on in two ways. One as glad obedience to a Father, the other as submission to a tyrant. And the latter was the view here.

The world ever sees God as making demands that are too great. They do not want to submit to Him or His anointed servant. They want to be free of restraint, free to do what they like. They want to rid themselves of what they see as His chains. So ‘the bands' are what ties the yoke to the shoulders of the oxen, and they do not want to be subjected to His yoke. The ‘cords' can be seen as the reins for directing the oxen, but they do not want to be guided by YHWH. And because they could not attack YHWH directly they attacked His Anointed, and still do. It is an irony that the One Who offers perfect freedom is accused of bringing chains and ropes. But that is how they see His demands.