Psalms 2:6

Psalms 2:6

A king the prophet of Christ's kingdom.

The Hebrew monarchy presents a clear and unmistakable prophecy of a Divine and everlasting kingdom. We have to trace two distinct lines of thought rising in different ages, and gradually growing into one, till both are fully realised in that kingdom which embraces earth and heaven, and links time with eternity. The first thought is that God alone is the King of Israel, the second that David shall not want a man to sit upon his throne for ever.

I. The former belief is by far the more ancient; it was born with the people in their deliverance from Egypt, and became the one enduring foundation of the national polity. Out of this truth grows the national life, and on it are based morality, religion, and law.

II. Hardly less wonderful was the second thought, which sprang up in a later age: that in the little State of Israel a King should be born of the seed of David according to the flesh who should extend His dominion from one end of the earth to the other, and reign as long as the sun and moon endure. To bring this new hope into harmony with the ancient creed that seems so utterly opposed to it, to reconcile the perpetual reign of David's seed with the exclusive sovereignty of Jehovah, is the new task upon which prophecy now enters.

III. The first advance is clearly marked when the title "Messiah," hitherto applied only to "the priest that is anointed," is transferred to the promised King. Hannah is the first that so uses it, in her song of thanksgiving (1 Samuel 2:10). Observe how carefully the great truth of God's sole sovereignty is guarded in this first announcement of an earthly King. It is still Jehovah that shall judge the ends of the earth; He shall give strength to the rising monarchy; He shall anoint, and in anointing choose and consecrate, the human king as His viceroy on earth.

IV. In David we have a soul conformed to the ideal of a true king a soul ready to be quickened and illuminated by the Holy Spirit of prophecy, until, amid the kindling glow of thought, there should shine forth the image of a King like David himself, but fairer than the children of men, One in whom all gifts and graces of which man is capable should be combined with the perfections that belong to God only.

E. H. Gifford, Voices of the Prophets,p. 195.

References: Psalms 2:6. Preacher's Monthly, vol.vi., p. 341; Clergyman's Magazine,vol. x., p. 151; W. Cunningham, Sermons,p. 351; Bishop Moorhouse, The Expectation of the Christ,p. 40. Psalms 2:6; Psalms 2:7. J. H. Pott, Sermons for the Festivals and Fasts,p. 295.Psalms 2:8; Psalms 2:9. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xxvi., No. 1535.