God’s anointed ruler tells of how God decreed Him as the authority over the earth. God adopted this Anointed person to be His Son, the One who will rule over the earth as a reward from God. This Anointed Son, Jesus, will rule over the earth with complete authority. Nothing will be in rebellion against Him when He takes His earthly throne.
In Psalm 2:7-9Psalm 2:7-9 commentary, commentary the Messiah is rewarded as “Son” to reign over all; His rule will be absolute, and unbreakable. The speaker’s point of view shifts from the psalmist to the enthroned Messiah who now lifts His voice: I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You (v. 7).
The Messiah now tells what the LORD said to Him. This pronouncement You are My Son, today I have begotten You is not a biological beginning but an anointing to reign. Jesus is the Son and has been from the beginning (John 1:1John 1:1 commentary, commentaryColossians 1:17Colossians 1:17 commentary). All things were created by Him and for Him (Colossians 1:16Colossians 1:16 commentary). Jesus is from everlasting as the Son of God. But He was crowned with the glory and honor of being the Son over the world as a human because of the suffering of death (Philippians 2:8-9Philippians 2:8-9 commentary, commentaryHebrews 2:9Hebrews 2:9 commentary).
Just as David was anointed king many years prior to his actual installation as physical king over Israel, so it is with Jesus. Jesus was anointed as Son because of the “suffering of death.” Hebrews 1:5Hebrews 1:5 commentary quotes Psalm 2:7Psalm 2:7 commentary and commentary applies it to Jesus. Hebrews 1:8Hebrews 1:8 commentary quotes Psalm 45:6Psalm 45:6 commentary and commentary says:
“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom” (Hebrews 1:8Hebrews 1:8 commentary).
Taken together, Hebrews 1:5Hebrews 1:5 commentary, 88 commentary make clear that Jesus is not only fully God but also fully human; He is God and human king all rolled into one. His anointing as Son reflects the ancient custom of a superior king adopting a subordinate ruler as a “son” and rewarding his faithful service by appointing him to have authority to rule over a realm. In Jesus’s instance, the realm over which He is appointed as Son to reign over is the entire earth (Matthew 28:18Matthew 28:18 commentary).
The Apostle Paul cites Psalm 2:7Psalm 2:7 commentary during a sermon he gave while in Pisidian Antioch to prove that the resurrection certified Jesus as the Son of David who is the rightful ruler over the earth (Acts 13:33Acts 13:33 commentary). Philippians 2:7-10Philippians 2:7-10 commentary also insists that Jesus was elevated above all other authorities because He willingly took on the form of humanity and “learned obedience even to death on a cross.”
Amazingly, Jesus’s restoration extends the promise of complete redemption from the Fall of Man to all who will follow. Romans 8Romans 8 commentary reveals that all believers are children of God unconditionally, but only those who “suffer with Him” will also share in His inheritance as joint-heirs (Romans 8:17-19Romans 8:17-19 commentary). Hebrews 2Hebrews 2 commentary insists that Jesus is “bringing many sons to glory.” This verse invites believers to live as faithful disciples in order to gain the incredible reward of sharing in His reign, serving in His “administration.”
Psalm 2Psalm 2 commentary therefore sets the pattern for a family of overcomers who follow the Firstborn into a regal privilege of reigning as a team of servant leaders. God now speaks to the Messiah, Father to Son, saying, Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance and the very ends of the earth as Your possession (v.8).
The Father promises the nations as well as the ends of the earth to the Messiah. Jesus reflects Psalm 8:8Psalm 8:8 commentary when He gives the “Great Commission” in Matthew. Many believers familiar with the “Great Commission” miss that Jesus’s first statement of His command to His disciples is “All Authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.”
It is because Jesus was crowned with the glory and honor of having dominion over the earth, restoring the original commission God gave to humanity, that Jesus can issue this new commission to all believers:
“And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age’" (Matthew 28:18-20Matthew 28:18-20 commentary).
A prequel to Jesus returning to take up His throne on “Zion,” God’s holy mountain on earth, is for His disciples to go to the ends of the earth to make disciples of all nations (Psalm 2:6Psalm 2:6 commentary, commentaryMatthew 24:14Matthew 24:14 commentary). Jesus desires there to be many “sons” to serve with Him in His administration, and these “sons” will come from all the nations from the ends of the earth.
We might consider Jesus’s prayer recorded in John 17:1-12John 17:1-12 commentary as the Messiah’s request of the Father to give Him the nations as His inheritance and the very ends of the earth as His possession. There Jesus requested that His Father “glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory I had with You before the world was.”
In asking to thus be glorified, it would seem that Jesus requests that He be elevated to the right hand of His Father as a human just as He was at His Father’s right hand before the world was founded. We can view Jesus as asking, according to His Father’s request in Psalm 8Psalm 8 commentary, and commentary that this was awarded some time between John 17:1John 17:1 commentary and commentaryMatthew 28:18Matthew 28:18 commentary, commentary after Jesus was raised from the dead.
That the nations are a part of Jesus’s inheritance means all Gentiles will be an integral part of His kingdom. This fulfills God’s promise to Abraham, that in him “all the families of the earth will be blessed.”
The psalmist then records the Father’s assertion that the Messiah’s power to reign over all the earth will be absolute: You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware (v. 9).
The iron rod is the royal scepter. That it is a rod of iron pictures a reign of absolute authority. Iron is incredibly hard and durable. The opposing picture is of kings that resemble fragile pottery. The power of Jesus’s reign will be like a sledgehammer on a glass vase; the power of the nations is one blow away from crumbling to dust. The them in verse 9 refers to the nations, and in particular their rulers.
We see in Revelation 19:11 - 20:5Revelation 19:11 - 20:5 commentary the predicted return of Jesus to earth to establish His messianic reign. There, the “kings of the earth and their armies” are “assembled to make war” against the Christ. In doing this, the nations reflect Psalm 2:1-2Psalm 2:1-2 commentary, commentary where they are “devising a vain thing” in taking up arms against the Messiah, the Lamb who is also the Lion (Revelation 5:5Revelation 5:5 commentary, 88 commentary). It is like a piece of earthenware vainly declaring war against a rod of iron.
Revelation 12:15Revelation 12:15 commentary also says that the male child who is the Christ and Messiah is destined to “rule all the nations with a rod of iron” (Revelation 12:5Revelation 12:5 commentary). Jesus is pictured as riding on a white horse to conquer the earth at His return (Revelation 19:15-16Revelation 19:15-16 commentary). He who will reign with the rod of iron promises those who overcome that they will share in the promise of reigning with Him:
“He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, TO HIM I WILL GIVE AUTHORITY OVER THE NATIONS; AND HE SHALL RULE THEM WITH A ROD OF IRON, AS THE VESSELS OF THE POTTER ARE BROKEN TO PIECES, as I also have received authority from My Father” (Revelation 2:26-27Revelation 2:26-27 commentary).
We see in this passage from Revelation 2Revelation 2 commentary that Jesus quotes Psalm 2:9Psalm 2:9 commentary. It is because He, as the anointed Messiah, the Christ who is the Son of God, who has been given all authority in heaven and on earth, that He can in turn promise to believers that He will give them the reward of authority that He also received for His faithfulness (Matthew 28:18Matthew 28:18 commentary, commentaryHebrews 2:9-10Hebrews 2:9-10 commentary, commentaryRevelation 3:21Revelation 3:21 commentary).
Handel’s “Messiah” uses six of Psalm 2Psalm 2 commentary’s twelve verses in its captivating presentation of Jesus as the Christ. The song that captures the drama quoting, “Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron”—immediately precedes the famous “Hallelujah Chorus” that pronounces the advent of Jesus’s kingdom upon the earth. This is appropriate because it is because Jesus was rewarded to be the Son over all the earth, and was accordingly given authority over all the earth, that He will reign over all. And He will reign forever and ever with an unbreakable authority, as of a rod of iron.
Revelation 2:26-28Revelation 2:26-28 commentary quotes this promise to reward believers who “keep My works until the end.” This is a call to remain faithful to the very end of our lives. The Christian walk is a stewardship that ends only when the full term of our lives on earth is fulfilled.
In a format which historians label “suzerain-vassal treaties,” superior kings rewarded loyal servants by adopting them as “sons” and granting them an inheritance to reign over an assigned realm. Deuteronomy is structured as a treaty after that manner, wherein God is the superior king. However, the format was modified because God made His treaty with the people of the nation rather than directly with their leader, Moses.
In this manner, God made obedience to Him a decision for each person. Accordingly, it remains for each person to decide whether to obey God and follow in His ways. To those who are faithful witnesses, in spite of rejection, loss, or even death, Jesus desires to lead us to share in His reward of being sons, and reign under Him in His coming kingdom (Revelation 3:21Revelation 3:21 commentary, commentaryHebrews 2:9-10Hebrews 2:9-10 commentary, commentaryMatthew 25:21Matthew 25:21 commentary).
In Psalm 2:7Psalm 2:7 commentary, commentary the Father pledges dominion to Jesus, the Son, as a reward for His faithful service. Then in the book of Revelation, He promises that victorious disciples will share in His iron-scepter rule (Revelation 2:26-27Revelation 2:26-27 commentary). Resistance, then, is properly viewed as self-sabotage. When we rebel against God’s design to seek our own way, we forfeit the very glory humanity was designed to enjoy. Jesus admits that it is a difficult path to choose to overcome rejection, loss, and perhaps death in this world. But He advises that we choose that path because it leads to life (Matthew 7:13-14Matthew 7:13-14 commentary).
Life is connection, while death is separation, as in James 2:26James 2:26 commentary where physical death is described as a separation of spirit from body. When we walk the difficult path marked out by Jesus, we connect to God’s design for us. When we follow His will and are sanctified by separating from the ways of the world, we connect with God’s good design and thus gain the reward and experience of life.
Together, verses 7-9 unveil the Father’s eternal decree, the Son’s royal adoption, the scope of His inheritance, and the certainty of His victory. They summon every listener to move from opposition to allegiance—first by trusting the King for salvation, then by sharing His sufferings so that we may also share in serving Him in His administration of the new earth.
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Psalm 2:7-9 meaning
In Psalm 2:7-9Psalm 2:7-9 commentary, commentary the Messiah is rewarded as “Son” to reign over all; His rule will be absolute, and unbreakable. The speaker’s point of view shifts from the psalmist to the enthroned Messiah who now lifts His voice: I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You (v. 7).
The Messiah now tells what the LORD said to Him. This pronouncement You are My Son, today I have begotten You is not a biological beginning but an anointing to reign. Jesus is the Son and has been from the beginning (John 1:1John 1:1 commentary, commentary Colossians 1:17Colossians 1:17 commentary). All things were created by Him and for Him (Colossians 1:16Colossians 1:16 commentary). Jesus is from everlasting as the Son of God. But He was crowned with the glory and honor of being the Son over the world as a human because of the suffering of death (Philippians 2:8-9Philippians 2:8-9 commentary, commentary Hebrews 2:9Hebrews 2:9 commentary).
Just as David was anointed king many years prior to his actual installation as physical king over Israel, so it is with Jesus. Jesus was anointed as Son because of the “suffering of death.” Hebrews 1:5Hebrews 1:5 commentary quotes Psalm 2:7Psalm 2:7 commentary and commentary applies it to Jesus. Hebrews 1:8Hebrews 1:8 commentary quotes Psalm 45:6Psalm 45:6 commentary and commentary says:
“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever;
A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom”
(Hebrews 1:8Hebrews 1:8 commentary).
Taken together, Hebrews 1:5Hebrews 1:5 commentary, 88 commentary make clear that Jesus is not only fully God but also fully human; He is God and human king all rolled into one. His anointing as Son reflects the ancient custom of a superior king adopting a subordinate ruler as a “son” and rewarding his faithful service by appointing him to have authority to rule over a realm. In Jesus’s instance, the realm over which He is appointed as Son to reign over is the entire earth (Matthew 28:18Matthew 28:18 commentary).
The Apostle Paul cites Psalm 2:7Psalm 2:7 commentary during a sermon he gave while in Pisidian Antioch to prove that the resurrection certified Jesus as the Son of David who is the rightful ruler over the earth (Acts 13:33Acts 13:33 commentary). Philippians 2:7-10Philippians 2:7-10 commentary also insists that Jesus was elevated above all other authorities because He willingly took on the form of humanity and “learned obedience even to death on a cross.”
Amazingly, Jesus’s restoration extends the promise of complete redemption from the Fall of Man to all who will follow. Romans 8Romans 8 commentary reveals that all believers are children of God unconditionally, but only those who “suffer with Him” will also share in His inheritance as joint-heirs (Romans 8:17-19Romans 8:17-19 commentary). Hebrews 2Hebrews 2 commentary insists that Jesus is “bringing many sons to glory.” This verse invites believers to live as faithful disciples in order to gain the incredible reward of sharing in His reign, serving in His “administration.”
Psalm 2Psalm 2 commentary therefore sets the pattern for a family of overcomers who follow the Firstborn into a regal privilege of reigning as a team of servant leaders. God now speaks to the Messiah, Father to Son, saying, Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance and the very ends of the earth as Your possession (v.8).
The Father promises the nations as well as the ends of the earth to the Messiah. Jesus reflects Psalm 8:8Psalm 8:8 commentary when He gives the “Great Commission” in Matthew. Many believers familiar with the “Great Commission” miss that Jesus’s first statement of His command to His disciples is “All Authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.”
It is because Jesus was crowned with the glory and honor of having dominion over the earth, restoring the original commission God gave to humanity, that Jesus can issue this new commission to all believers:
“And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age’"
(Matthew 28:18-20Matthew 28:18-20 commentary).
A prequel to Jesus returning to take up His throne on “Zion,” God’s holy mountain on earth, is for His disciples to go to the ends of the earth to make disciples of all nations (Psalm 2:6Psalm 2:6 commentary, commentary Matthew 24:14Matthew 24:14 commentary). Jesus desires there to be many “sons” to serve with Him in His administration, and these “sons” will come from all the nations from the ends of the earth.
We might consider Jesus’s prayer recorded in John 17:1-12John 17:1-12 commentary as the Messiah’s request of the Father to give Him the nations as His inheritance and the very ends of the earth as His possession. There Jesus requested that His Father “glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory I had with You before the world was.”
In asking to thus be glorified, it would seem that Jesus requests that He be elevated to the right hand of His Father as a human just as He was at His Father’s right hand before the world was founded. We can view Jesus as asking, according to His Father’s request in Psalm 8Psalm 8 commentary, and commentary that this was awarded some time between John 17:1John 17:1 commentary and commentary Matthew 28:18Matthew 28:18 commentary, commentary after Jesus was raised from the dead.
That the nations are a part of Jesus’s inheritance means all Gentiles will be an integral part of His kingdom. This fulfills God’s promise to Abraham, that in him “all the families of the earth will be blessed.”
The psalmist then records the Father’s assertion that the Messiah’s power to reign over all the earth will be absolute: You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware (v. 9).
The iron rod is the royal scepter. That it is a rod of iron pictures a reign of absolute authority. Iron is incredibly hard and durable. The opposing picture is of kings that resemble fragile pottery. The power of Jesus’s reign will be like a sledgehammer on a glass vase; the power of the nations is one blow away from crumbling to dust. The them in verse 9 refers to the nations, and in particular their rulers.
We see in Revelation 19:11 - 20:5Revelation 19:11 - 20:5 commentary the predicted return of Jesus to earth to establish His messianic reign. There, the “kings of the earth and their armies” are “assembled to make war” against the Christ. In doing this, the nations reflect Psalm 2:1-2Psalm 2:1-2 commentary, commentary where they are “devising a vain thing” in taking up arms against the Messiah, the Lamb who is also the Lion (Revelation 5:5Revelation 5:5 commentary, 88 commentary). It is like a piece of earthenware vainly declaring war against a rod of iron.
Revelation 12:15Revelation 12:15 commentary also says that the male child who is the Christ and Messiah is destined to “rule all the nations with a rod of iron” (Revelation 12:5Revelation 12:5 commentary). Jesus is pictured as riding on a white horse to conquer the earth at His return (Revelation 19:15-16Revelation 19:15-16 commentary). He who will reign with the rod of iron promises those who overcome that they will share in the promise of reigning with Him:
“He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, TO HIM I WILL GIVE AUTHORITY OVER THE NATIONS; AND HE SHALL RULE THEM WITH A ROD OF IRON, AS THE VESSELS OF THE POTTER ARE BROKEN TO PIECES, as I also have received authority from My Father”
(Revelation 2:26-27Revelation 2:26-27 commentary).
We see in this passage from Revelation 2Revelation 2 commentary that Jesus quotes Psalm 2:9Psalm 2:9 commentary. It is because He, as the anointed Messiah, the Christ who is the Son of God, who has been given all authority in heaven and on earth, that He can in turn promise to believers that He will give them the reward of authority that He also received for His faithfulness (Matthew 28:18Matthew 28:18 commentary, commentary Hebrews 2:9-10Hebrews 2:9-10 commentary, commentary Revelation 3:21Revelation 3:21 commentary).
Handel’s “Messiah” uses six of Psalm 2Psalm 2 commentary’s twelve verses in its captivating presentation of Jesus as the Christ. The song that captures the drama quoting, “Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron”—immediately precedes the famous “Hallelujah Chorus” that pronounces the advent of Jesus’s kingdom upon the earth. This is appropriate because it is because Jesus was rewarded to be the Son over all the earth, and was accordingly given authority over all the earth, that He will reign over all. And He will reign forever and ever with an unbreakable authority, as of a rod of iron.
Revelation 2:26-28Revelation 2:26-28 commentary quotes this promise to reward believers who “keep My works until the end.” This is a call to remain faithful to the very end of our lives. The Christian walk is a stewardship that ends only when the full term of our lives on earth is fulfilled.
In a format which historians label “suzerain-vassal treaties,” superior kings rewarded loyal servants by adopting them as “sons” and granting them an inheritance to reign over an assigned realm. Deuteronomy is structured as a treaty after that manner, wherein God is the superior king. However, the format was modified because God made His treaty with the people of the nation rather than directly with their leader, Moses.
In this manner, God made obedience to Him a decision for each person. Accordingly, it remains for each person to decide whether to obey God and follow in His ways. To those who are faithful witnesses, in spite of rejection, loss, or even death, Jesus desires to lead us to share in His reward of being sons, and reign under Him in His coming kingdom (Revelation 3:21Revelation 3:21 commentary, commentary Hebrews 2:9-10Hebrews 2:9-10 commentary, commentary Matthew 25:21Matthew 25:21 commentary).
In Psalm 2:7Psalm 2:7 commentary, commentary the Father pledges dominion to Jesus, the Son, as a reward for His faithful service. Then in the book of Revelation, He promises that victorious disciples will share in His iron-scepter rule (Revelation 2:26-27Revelation 2:26-27 commentary). Resistance, then, is properly viewed as self-sabotage. When we rebel against God’s design to seek our own way, we forfeit the very glory humanity was designed to enjoy. Jesus admits that it is a difficult path to choose to overcome rejection, loss, and perhaps death in this world. But He advises that we choose that path because it leads to life (Matthew 7:13-14Matthew 7:13-14 commentary).
Life is connection, while death is separation, as in James 2:26James 2:26 commentary where physical death is described as a separation of spirit from body. When we walk the difficult path marked out by Jesus, we connect to God’s design for us. When we follow His will and are sanctified by separating from the ways of the world, we connect with God’s good design and thus gain the reward and experience of life.
Together, verses 7-9 unveil the Father’s eternal decree, the Son’s royal adoption, the scope of His inheritance, and the certainty of His victory. They summon every listener to move from opposition to allegiance—first by trusting the King for salvation, then by sharing His sufferings so that we may also share in serving Him in His administration of the new earth.