Psalm 2 · a question people ask
Did Psalm 2 speak first of David or a king of his line, or of Jesus directly?
Psalm 2 has no title. The New Testament names David once in connection with it: the believers pray to God, "who by the mouth of your servant David, said" (Acts 4:25), and go on with the psalm's first words. The psalm itself names no king. It speaks of "his Anointed" (Psalm 2:2), "my King on my holy hill of Zion" (Psalm 2:6) and the one the LORD calls "my son" (Psalm 2:7). The New Testament applies it to Jesus three ways: the rulers' plot (Acts 4:25-27), the raising of Jesus (Acts 13:33), and the Son (Hebrews 1:5, 5:5). Christians read how the psalm speaks of him in two main ways. Both read it with the New Testament as speaking of Jesus, and both take Acts 4:25-27 and 13:33 as its words applied to him.
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
First of David or a king of his line, fulfilled in Jesus
Those who read it this way take the King set on Zion (Psalm 2:6) as David or a king of his line first. The LORD's promise about David's offspring speaks of a father and a son too: "I will be his father, and he will be my son" (2 Samuel 7:14). A psalm says of David, "I have found David, my servant. I have anointed him with my holy oil" (Psalm 89:20), and goes on, "He will call to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, and the rock of my salvation!’" (Psalm 89:26). On this reading the psalm spoke of the anointed king on Zion, and the New Testament says its words are fulfilled in Jesus: "God has fulfilled this to us, their children, in that he raised up Jesus. As it is also written in the second psalm" (Acts 13:33).
Psalm 2:6-7 · 2 Samuel 7:12-14 · Psalm 89:20 · Psalm 89:26 · Acts 13:32-33
Of Jesus directly
Those who read it this way note that Acts names David as the one through whom God spoke, "by the mouth of your servant David" (Acts 4:25), and take the Anointed, the King and the Son of the psalm as Jesus from the first. They point to the believers' own reading of Psalm 2:1-2: "For truly, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed" (Acts 4:27). And they point to Hebrews, which speaks of the Son "whom he appointed heir of all things" (Hebrews 1:2), and asks, "For to which of the angels did he say at any time" (Hebrews 1:5) the words of Psalm 2:7: "You are my Son. Today I have become your father" (Hebrews 1:5).
Acts 4:25-27 · Hebrews 1:2 · Hebrews 1:4-5 · Psalm 2:1-2 · Psalm 2:7
The verses
“who by the mouth of your servant David, said, ‘Why do the nations rage, and the peoples plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth take a stand, and the rulers plot together, against the Lord, and against his Christ.’ “For truly, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed,”
“that God has fulfilled this to us, their children, in that he raised up Jesus. As it is also written in the second psalm, ‘You are my Son. Today I have become your father.’”
“For to which of the angels did he say at any time, “You are my Son. Today I have become your father?” and again, “I will be to him a Father, and he will be to me a Son?””
“So also Christ didn’t glorify himself to be made a high priest, but it was he who said to him, “You are my Son. Today I have become your father.””