earth to strive with the glorious Majesty of Heaven.
David Pitcairn.
Verse 4. "The Lord," in Hebrew, Adonai, mystically signifieth my stays,
or my sustainers—my pillars. Our English word "Lord" hath much the same
force, being contracted of the old Saxon word "Llaford," or "Hlafford,"
which cometh from "Laef," to sustain, refresh, cherish.
Henry Ainsworth.
Verse 4. "He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh at them: the Lord
shall have them in derision." This tautology or repetition of the same
thing, which is frequent in the Scriptures, is a sign of the thing being
established: according to the authority of the patriarch Joseph (Genesis
41:32), where, having interpreted the dreams of Pharaoh, he said, "and for
that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is
established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass." And therefore,
here also, "shall laugh at them," and "shall have them in derision," is
a repetition to show that there is not a doubt to be entertained that all
these things will most surely come to pass. And the gracious Spirit does
all this for our comfort and consolation, that we may not faint under
temptation, but lift up our heads with the most certain hope; because, "he
that shall come will come, and will not tarry." Hebrews 10:37.
Martin Luther.
Verse 5. "Vex them;" either by horror of conscience, or corporal
plagues; one way or the other he will have his pennyworths of them, as he
always has had the persecutors of his people.
John Trapp.
Verses 5, 9. It is easy for God to destroy his foes. . . . . Behold
Pharaoh, his wise men, his hosts, and his horses plouting and plunging, and
sinking like lead in the Red sea. Here is the end of one of the greatest
plots ever formed against God's chosen. Of thirty Roman emperors, governors
of provinces, and others high in office, who distinguished themselves by
their zeal and bitterness in persecuting the early Christians, one became
speedily deranged after some atrocious cruelty, one was slain by his own
son, one became blind, the eyes of one started out of his head, one was
drowned, one was strangled, one died in a miserable captivity, one fell dead
in a manner that will not bear recital, one died of so loathsome a disease
that several of his physicians were put to death because they could not
abide the stench that filled his room, two committed suicide, a third
attempted it, but had to call for help to finish the work, five were
assassinated by their own people or servants, five others died the most
miserable and excruciating deaths, several of them having an untold
complication of diseases, and eight were killed in battle, or after being
taken prisoners. Among these was Julian the apostate. In the days of his
prosperity he is said to have pointed his dagger to heaven defying the Son
of God, whom he commonly called the Galilean. But when he was wounded in
battle, he saw that all was over with him, and he gathered up his clotted
blood, and threw it into the air, exclaiming, "Thou hast conquered, O thou
Galilean." Voltaire has told us of the agonies of Charles IX. of France,
which drove the blood through the pores of the skin of that miserable
monarch, after his cruelties and treachery to the Hugenots.
William S. Plumer, D.D., L.L.D., 1867.
Verse 6. "Yet have I set my King." Notice—1. The royal office and
character of our glorious Redeemer: he is a King, "This name he hath on his
vesture and on his thigh." Revelation 19:16. 2. The authority by which he
reigns; he is "my King," says God the Father, and I have set him up from
everlasting: "The Father judgeth no man; but hath committed all judgment
unto the Son." The world disowns his authority, but I own it; I have set
him, I have "given him to be head over all things to the church." 3. His
particular kingdom over which he rules; it is over "my holy hill of Zion"
— an eminent type of the gospel church. The temple was built upon Mount
Zion and therefore called a holy hill. Christ's throne is in his church,
it is his head-quarters, and the place of his peculiar residence. Notice
the firmness of the divine purpose with respect unto this matter. "Yet
have I set" him "King;" i.e., whatever be the plots of hell and earth
to the contrary, he reigns by his Father's ordination.
Stephen Charnock, 1628-1680.
Verse 6. "Yet have I set my KING," etc.—Jesus Christ is a threefold
King. First , his enemies' King; secondly , his saints' King; thirdly ,
his Father's King.
First , Christ is his enemies' King, that is, he is King over
his
enemies. Christ is a King above all kings. What are all the mighty men,
the great, the honourable men of the earth to Jesus Christ? They are but
like a little bubble in the water; for if all the nations, in comparison to
God, be but as the drop of the bucket, or the dust of the balance, as the
prophet speaks in Isaiah 40:15, how little then must be the kings of the
earth! Nay, beloved, Christ Jesus is not only higher than kings, but he is
higher than the angels; yea, he is the head of angels, and, therefore, all
the angels in heaven are commanded to worship him. Colossians 2:12; Hebrews
1:6. . . . . He is King over all kingdoms, over all nations, over all
governments, over all powers, over all people. Daniel 7:14. . . . . The
very heathen are given to Christ, and the uttermost parts of the earth for
his possession. Psalm 2:8.
Secondly. Jesus Christ is his saints' King. He is King of
the bad,
and of the good; but as for the wicked, he rules over them by his power and
might; but the saints, he rules in them by his Spirit and graces. Oh! this
is Christ's spiritual kingdom, and here he rules in the hearts of his
people, here he rules over their consciences, over their wills, over their
affections, over their judgments and understandings, and nobody hath
anything to do here but Christ. Christ is not only the King of nations, but
the King of saints; the one he rules over, the other he rules in.
Thirdly. Jesus Christ is his Father's King too, and so his
Father
calls him: "I have set my King upon my holy hill of Zion." Well may he be
our King, when he is God's King. But you may say, how is Christ the
Father's King? Because he rules for his Father. There is a twofold kingdom
of God committed to Jesus Christ; first , a spiritual kingdom, by which he
rules in the hearts of his people, and so is King of saints; and,
secondly , a providential kingdom, by which he rules the affairs of this
world, and so he is King of nations.
Condensed from William Dyer's Christ's Famous Titles, 1665.
Verse 6. "Zion." The name "Zion" signifies a "distant view"
( speculam ). And the church is called "a distant view" ( specula ), not
only because it views God and heavenly things by faith (that is, afar off),
being wise unto the things that are above, not unto those that are of the
earth; but also, because there are within her true viewers, or seers, and
watchmen in the spirit, whose office is to take charge of the people under
them, and to watch against the snares of enemies and sins; and such are
called in the Greek bishops ( episkopoi ), that is, spyers or seers; and you
may for the same reason give them, from the Hebrew, the appellation of
Zionists or Zioners.
Martin Luther.
Verse 7. The dispute concerning the eternal filiation of our Lord betrays
more of presumptuous curiosity than of reverent faith. It is an attempt to
explain where it is far better to adore. We could give rival expositions of
this verse, but we forbear. The controversy is one of the most unprofitable
which ever engaged the pens of theologians.
C. H. S.
Verse 8. "Ask of me." The priesthood doth not appear to be settled
upon Christ by any other expression than this, "Ask of me." The Psalm
speaks of his investiture in his kingly office; the apostle refers this to
his priesthood, his commission for both took date at the same time; both
bestowed, both confirmed by the same authority. The office of asking is
grounded upon the same authority as the honour of king. Ruling belonged to
his royal office, asking to his priestly. After his resurrection, the
Father gives him a power and command of asking.
Stephen Charnock.
Verse 8. As the limner looks on the person whose picture he would take,
and draws his lines to answer him with the nearest similitude that he can,
so God looks on Christ as the archtype to which he will conform the saint,
in suffering, in grace, in glory; yet so that Christ hath the pre-eminence
in all. Every saint must suffer, because Christ suffered: Christ must not
have a delicate body under a crucified head; yet never any suffered, or
could, what he endured. Christ is holy, and therefore so shall every saint
be, but in an inferior degree; an image cut in clay cannot be so exact as
that engraved on gold. Now, our conformity to Christ appears, that as the
promises made to him were performed upon his prayers to his Father, his
promises made to his saints are given to them in the same way of prayer:
"Ask of me," saith God to his Son, "and I shall give thee." And the
apostle tells us, "Ye have not, because ye ask not." God hath promised
support to Christ in all his conflicts. Isaiah 42:1. "Behold my servant,
whom I uphold;" yet he prayed "with strong cries and tears," when his feet
stood within the shadow of death. A seed is promised to him, and victory
over his enemies, yet for both these he prays. Christ toward us acts as a
king, but toward his Father as a priest. All he speaks to God is by prayer
and intercession. So the saints, the promise makes them kings over their
lusts, conquerors over their enemies; but it makes them priests toward God,
by prayer humbly to sue out these great things given in the promise.
William Gurnall, 1617-1679.
Verse 8. It will be observed in our Bible that two words of verse eight
are in italics, intimating that they are not translations of the Hebrew, but
additions made for the purpose of elucidating the meaning. Now if the
"thee" and the "for" are left out, the verse will read thus, "Ask of me,
and I shall give the heathen, thine inheritance, and thy possession, the
uttermost parts of the earth." And this reading is decidedly preferable to
the other. It implies that by some previous arrangement on the part of God,
he had already assigned an inheritance of the heathen, and the possession of
the earth, to the person of whom he says, "Thou art my Son." And when God
says, "I will give," etc., he reveals to his Anointed, not so much in what
the inheritance consisted, and what was the extent of possession destined
for him, as the promise of his readiness to bestow it. The heathen were
already "the inheritance," and the ends of the earth "the possession," which
God had purposed to give to his Anointed. Now he says to him, "Ask of
me," and he promises to fulfil his purpose. This is the idea involved in
the words of the text, and the importance of it will become more apparent,
when we consider its application to the spiritual David, to the true Son
of God, "whom he hath appointed heir of all things."
Verse 9. The "rod" has a variety of meanings in Scripture. It might be
of different materials, as it was employed for different purposes. At an
early period, a wooden rod came into use as one of the insignia of royalty,
under the name of sceptre. By degrees the sceptre grew in importance, and
was regarded as characteristic of an empire, or of the reign of some
particular king. A golden sceptre denoted wealth and pomp. The right, or
straight sceptre, of which we read in Psalm 45:6, is expressive of the
justice and uprightness, the truth and equity, which shall distinguish
Messiah's reign, after his kingdom on earth has been established. But when
it is said in Revelation 19:15, that he, "whose name is called the Word of
God," will smite the nations, and "rule them with a rod of iron," if the rod
signifies "his sceptre," then the "iron" of which it is made must be
designed to express the severity of the judgments which the omnipotent "King