“his Anointed.” God’s anointed is the reigning king, and ultimately, the Messiah Jesus Christ. Psalm 2 has two levels of meaning. One is that it is an exaltation of the Davidic kings who reigned in Jerusalem. Psalm 2 was included in the Psalms that were recited (or sung) at the coronation of Judah’s king. For example, God called Solomon a “son” in 2 Sam. 7:14. God chose David from among his brothers and worked behind the scenes to give him the position of king. He then made a covenant that the Messiah would reign upon David’s throne, and the Messiah is called “the son of David.” In typical hyperbolic fashion, the Davidic king is exalted and grandiose things are said about him, such as that he could rule to the ends of the earth.

On another level, however, we see that the Davidic king is only a shadow of the real subject of the Psalm, the Messiah. The New Testament shows us that the primary and intended subject of the psalm was the Messiah (Acts 4:25-26; 13:33; Heb. 1:5; 5:5). Furthermore, only the Messiah will actually fulfill the text of the psalm and reign over the whole earth and all the nations. No other king of Israel did anything close to that. James Mays writes: “The second psalm is a poetic speech by the Messiah. It is the only text in the Old Testament that speaks of God’s king, Messiah, and son in one place, the titles so important for the presentation of Jesus in the Gospels.”^a

Mays also points out that Psalm 2 is a psalm that deals with the question of power: “Where does power to control the powers at work in world history ultimately reside?” In Psalm 2 we see that ultimate power resides with Yahweh, and He then delegates that power to the Messiah.

Psalm 2 is one of the great sections of Scripture that points out how magnanimous God is and how great His Messiah is. God elevated His Messiah, Jesus Christ, to be His king, reigning on the earth; and Jesus Christ lived a sinless life in obedience to God and deserves his elevated position as God’s king, along with all the authority and adoration we give him.

Psalm 2 is also one of the many sections of Scripture that gives evidence that the doctrine of the Trinity is not correct. The Messiah is portrayed as being Yahweh’s choice and under Yahweh’s control and direction. The Messiah is “Yahweh’s Anointed” (Ps. 2:2), Yahweh’s king (Ps. 2:6), and “today” begotten of Yahweh, which means he is not eternal like Yahweh is.

[For more on Jesus Christ being the Son of God, not God the Son, and there being no Trinity, see Appendix 10, “Jesus Christ is the Son of God, Not God the Son.”]