Serve the Lord, a Reflection on Psalm 2:8-12

When the psalm was first sung, the reference to the king actually meant the king. According to the Jerusalem Study Bible, "adoption language expresses the close kinship between God and the king, and is common in the ancient Near East, and "Some biblical passages may suggest that some groups in ancient Israel viewed the king as divine."

Christians now read the son of God as the Son of God, Christ.

We recognize the power that the Lord has over the earth. And we can call on people who hold earthly power to recognize the instruction offered to us by the Lord.

Doing what God wants us to do will have the best result for us. Not doing so brings problems.

Walter Brueggemann, in Texts for Preaching, A Lectionary Commentary based on the NRSV--Year A reminds us that since we want to use this psalm as a praise to Jesus, the true Son of God, we need to also remember what God's rule is like:

One model for this "translation" may be found in Isaiah 11:1-9, where he who "strikes the earth with the rod of his mouth" (11:4) presides over the peaceable kingdom where "the wolf shall live with the lamb" (11:6).