This article will be permanently flagged as inappropriate and made unaccessible to everyone. Are you certain this article is inappropriate? Excessive Violence Sexual Content Political / Social
Email Address:
Article Id: WHEBN0025564895 Reproduction Date:
Psalm 2 is the second Psalm of the Bible. It tells us that people can either defy God and perish, or submit to him and be blessed. Psalm 2 does not identify its author with a superscription, but Acts 4:24-26 in the New Testament clearly attributes it to David.[1]
Psalm 2 is considered Messianic by many rabbis.[2]
In Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary (1708-12), verses 1-6 are viewed as threats against Christ's kingdom, verses 7-9 as promise to Christ as the head of this kingdom, and verses 10-12 as counsel to all to serve Christ.[11]
In Adam Clarke's commentary, verses 1-3 are viewed as opposition raised against the kingdom of Christ; verses 4-6 as Christ's victory, and the confusion of his enemies; verses 7-9 as the promulgation of the Gospel after his resurrection; and verses 10-12 as a call to all to accept it, because those who reject it will perish.[12]
English-speaking Protestant Christians commonly (but not always) translate verse 12 as "Kiss the son", as in the King James Version. The most common Jewish interpretation is "Embrace purity", an interpretation close to that of Catholics, who traditionally, following the Vulgate, have translated the phrase as "Embrace discipline". To translate as "Kiss the son", the word "bar" must be read as Aramaic ("son", while in Hebrew "son" is "ben") rather than Hebrew (purity) or Septuagint and Vulgate "discipline", "training", "teaching". (The New American Bible somehow combines verses 11 and 12 of the other Bibles into a whole new verse 11.[13]) Some Jewish authors have accused Protestant Christians of arbitrarily choosing to interpret the word as in a different language, in order to give the text a meaning more favourable to Christians ("son", understood as Christ). In defence, Protestants point to other places in the Bible where isolated Aramaic words are found in Hebrew (e.g. the same word "bar" occurring in Proverbs 31:2), and say that the word "son" is also used in verse 7 of the same Psalm, that "son" is used to refer to Messiah in both Jewish and Christian traditions, and that even in a Jewish interpretation the Psalm is considered messianic.[14][15][16]
Verses 8 and 9 are also regarded as a controversial call for genocide by some.[17]
In 1567, Thomas Tallis set Psalm 2, "Why fum'th in fight", for 9 Psalm Tunes for Archbishop Parker's Psalter.
Psalm 2 is one of the psalms used in Messiah, where it is featured prominently towards the end of Part II. There is a long-standing custom of standing after verse 9 in Handel's Messiah.
Psalm 2 is pitted against Psalm 23 in Leonard Bernstein's second movement of Chichester Psalms.
Verse 8 of Psalm 2 is used in the song "Reuben Morgan.
Solomon, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Islam, Psalms
Judaism, Christianity, Hebrew Bible, Biblical canon, Torah
Theism, Atheism, Judaism, Islam, Christianity
Judaism, New Testament, Jesus, Trinity, Christianity
Psalms, Wikisource, Hebrew language, Biblical apocrypha, Deuterocanonical books
David, Psalms, Wikisource, Hebrew language, Biblical apocrypha