Why Do The Heathen Rage: An Exposition Of The Second Psalm

Why Do the Heathen Rage?

Psalm 2:1–12 NKJV

Why do the nations rage,

And the people plot a vain thing?

The kings of the earth set themselves,

And the rulers take counsel together,

Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying,

“Let us break Their bonds in pieces

And cast away Their cords from us.”

He who sits in the heavens shall laugh;

The Lord shall hold them in derision.

Then He shall speak to them in His wrath,

And distress them in His deep displeasure:

“Yet I have set My King

On My holy hill of Zion.”

“I will declare the decree:

The Lord has said to Me,

‘You are My Son,

Today I have begotten You.

Ask of Me, and I will give You

The nations for Your inheritance,

And the ends of the earth for Your possession.

You shall break them with a rod of iron;

You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’ ”

Now therefore, be wise, O kings;

Be instructed, you judges of the earth.

Serve the Lord with fear,

And rejoice with trembling.

Kiss the Son, lest He be angry,

And you perish in the way,

When His wrath is kindled but a little.

Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.

One thing which characterizes the world today is summed up in the word “rage.” Hate and division are everywhere. One nation is taught to fear and hate another nation. People of one race rage against another. There are wars and rumors of wars everywhere. The whole world is on fire. We find ourselves distressed. The rage of the world becomes personal when the world rages against the Christians,

One thing we learn from the Bible is that “rage” is not new. We look today at the 2nd Psalm written by King David about 3000 years ago. David lived in a world filled with rage and intrigue. The Philistines raged against Israel. Wars were fought with Amalekites, Moabites, Edomites, Ammonites, and other nations which surrounded Israel. If this was not enough, there was rage within the camp of Israel. Saul raged against David, David, to his credit, did not rage back at Saul. But after the death of Saul, there was still a civil war between Saul’s descendants and David.

Since there were so many incidents of rage, it would be hard to define precisely what occasion caused David to write this psalm. This psalm seems to fit the life of David in general. David was chosen by Yahweh to be king over Israel. The struggle to ascend to the throne was long and dangerous. But God’s will that David should rule over Israel came to pass, in spite of the rage of the nations. The Lord scorned and laughed at these feeble attempts to overthrow His will. He held these attempts with contempt. They had conspired against the LORD’s anointed, but their plans had come to naught. Even his son, Absalom, tried to break the familial bonds and rose up in rebellion against his father, David.

Yahweh response beyond scorning the heathen was to let the world know that He had established David to be the king. He was as a Father to David. The LORD had promised that these heathen (nations) would become part of David’s inheritance. David then advises the judges and rulers to consider these things and take instruction. The Psalm calls these heathen to come with reverence before David’s throne which had been given to him by the LORD.

When looking at this psalm from Christian eyes, we are led to someone greater than David. Whatever can be said of a father-son relation between Yahweh and David, we see that this Son is greater than David. We can read of David’s many failures as a king. He was a man of blood. He desired to build a house for Yahweh but could not. In 2 Samuel 7 we learn that the building of this house would have to be done by one of David’s descendants. At first, that son seemed to be Solomon, but after a good start, Solomon failed as a king. Even though his name means “peace”, the peace was broken by his intrigues with foreign women, his trust in his army, and becoming arrogant. A greater Prince of Peace was needed. The same could be said of Solomon’s descendants.

If this psalm is not about David in its greatest sense, then who is it about? We remember that Peter in his Pentecost sermon reminds us that David was not just a king but a prophet. Peter in this sermon was noting that the 16th Psalm that Yahweh would not let the body of His Holy One suffer decay. This was obviously not true of David. One could enter his tomb and see his remains. Peter identifies this Holy One as none other than Jesus. It is to Jesus we see the fulfillment of this psalm.