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PSALM 2

1. Why are the nations tumultuously assembled, and why do the peoples meditate a vain thing?
2. The kings of the earth have set themselves together, and the rulers have consulted together, against jehovah, and against his anointed.
3. We will burst to pieces their bonds, and cast away from us their cords.
4. He that sits in the heavens shall laugh; the lord [adonai] shall have them in derision.
5. Then shall he speak to them in his anger, and in his wrath shall he terrify them.
6. Yet have I anointed my king upon Zion, the mountain of my holiness.
7. I will proclaim the decree: jehovah has said to me. You are my son; today have I begotten you.
8. Ask of me, and I will give the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession.
9. You shall bruise them with a rod of iron, as a potter's vessel shall you break them in pieces.
10. Be intelligent now, O you kings; be instructed, O you judges of the earth.
11. Serve jehovah with fear, and exult with trembling.
12. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way; for his anger will shortly kindle. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

Verse 1, 2, 6, 7, 12. That by the anointed of jehovah is meant the lord as to the divine human [Essence,] is evident, for it is said, jehovah said to me. You are my son, today have I begotten you. - Kiss the son, lest you perish. - Blessed are all that put their trust in him. These things, indeed, in the literal sense, are said in relation to David; but by David, in the Word, is meant the lord as to Divine Truth, or as a King. It is likewise evident, that the subject here treated of is the coming of the lord; then, the last judgement executed by him, and, afterwards, his kingdom over all things of the world. The spiritual things which lie concealed in every expression, and which are signified by them, are these: The nations are tumultuously assembled, and the peoples have meditated a vain thing, signifies the state of the church and of the former heaven, as being to pass away: the nations are they who are in evils, and the people they who are in falsities. The kings of the earth have set themselves together, and the rulers have consulted together, against jehovah, and against his Anointed, signifies the falsities of the church and its evils, as being altogether opposed to Divine Good and Divine Truth, and thus to the Lord. The kings of the earth are the falsities of the church, and the rulers are its evils; and jehovah is the lord as to the Divinity Itself, thus as to Divine Good, and his Anointed is the lord as to the Divine Humanity, thus as to Divine Truth. I have anointed my king upon Zion, the mountain of my holiness, signifies the Humanity of the lord as to Divine Truth proceeding from the Divine Good of his Divine Love, and hence his kingdom over all things of heaven and of the church: Zion and the mountain of holiness, are heaven and the church, consequently, all things of heaven and of the church. I will proclaim the decree, signifies an arcanum of providence and of the Divine will. jehovah said to me you are my Son, today have I begotten you, signifies the lord as the Anointed, the Messiah, the Christ, and King, thus as to his Humanity, conceived and afterwards born from the Divinity Itself, or jehovah: today signifies what was ordained from eternity, and has respect thence to the conjunction and union effected in time. Ask of me, and I will give the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession, signifies his kingdom and dominion over all things belonging to heaven and to the church, which will be his. Kiss the Son signifies conjunction with the lord by love; to kiss signifies conjunction grounded in love. Lest you be angry, and you perish in the way, signifies lest evils invade you, and you be condemned: for to be angry, when predicated of the lord, signifies the turning away of men from him, thus their anger, and not the lord's; and evils are what turn themselves away, and thence are angry. For his anger will shortly kindle, signifies the last judgement, and the casting down of the evil into hell. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him, signifies salvation by love and faith in the lord. AE 684.

Verses 2, 6. The kings of the earth are falsities, and the rulers are evils, which come from the hells, against which the lord fought when he was in the world, and which he conquered and subdued. The Anointed of jehovah is the lord as to the divine humanity, for he fought from there, Zion the mountain of holiness, upon which he is said to be anointed as king, is the celestial kingdom, which is in the good of love; this kingdom is the inmost of heaven and the inmost of the church. AC 9954.

Verse 7. Today have I begotten you. In the Divine idea there is no time, but a presence of all things which have been and shall be; wherefore it is said in David, A thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday (Psalm 90:4.) And again: I will proclaim the decree jehovah has said to me. You are my Son; today have I begotten you (Psalm 2:7) Today is the presence of the lord's coming. Hence also it is that an entire period is called, in the Word, a day; its first state, twilight and morning, and its last, evening and night. AR 4. Today is not from eternity, but is in time. Doctrine of the lord, DL 19

Verse 9. You shall bruise them with a rod of iron. A rod of iron denotes the power of spiritual truth in the natural, for all natural truth, in which there is spiritual truth, has power. Iron is natural truth. AC 4876.

Verses 10, 11, 12. Be intelligent now, O you kings, be instructed, you Judges of the earth; serve jehovah with fear, and exult with trembling. Kiss the son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way. Kings denote those who are in truths; who, also, from truths, are everywhere called the sons of a king: the Son here denotes the lord, who is called a Son, because he is the Truth Itself, and all truth is from him. AC 2015.

Verse 12. Kiss the Son. - Speaking of the lord, whose Divine Humanity is the Son. To kiss him is to be conjoined to him by the faith of love. AC 3594.

The Translator's Notes and Observations

In almost every verse of the above Psalm a reference is made to the heavenly marriage of the good and the true, which pervades the holy word throughout, and distinguishes it from all human writing whatever. Thus in the first verse, mention is made of the nations being tumultuously assembled, and of the peoples meditating a vain thing: where nations denote those who are opposed to what is good, and peoples those who are opposed to what is true; whilst the former are said to be tumultuously assembled, and the latter to meditate a vain thing. So likewise in the second verse, the kings of the earth are said to set themselves together, and the rulers are said to consult together, against jehovah and against His anointed: where a similar two-fold opposition is marked against the divine good, which is here called jehovah, and against the divine truth, which is here called His anointed. We next read, at verse 3, of bursting to pieces their bonds, and casting away from us their cords: and also, at verse 4, of Him that sits in the heavens laughing, and of adonai having them in derision: and, at verse 5, of his speaking to them in his anger, and terrifying them in his wrath: where it is evident that bonds and cords, laughing and having in derision, anger and wrath, are expressions which have a distinct reference to the two opposing principles of evil and error, which are ever at work to separate and destroy the union, or marriage, of the Divine principles of the good and the true. The same observation will apply to verse 10, where it is written, Be intelligent now, O you kings; be instructed you judges of the earth.

Verse 12. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, etc. - Nothing can be more evident than that by the son is here meant the manhood, or humanity, which God assumed in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and which he afterwards made divine, by exalting it to an eternal union with himself. Nothing also can be more evident, than that by kissing this Son is meant the affectionate application of all our powers of will and understanding, thus of all our powers of love and of faith, to this glorified humanity, as to the consecrated residence of the supreme deity, in which, through which, and by which, he now communicates himself and all the blessings of his salvation to all his penitent and believing children. The anger here spoken of is the terrible effect resulting to man from the non-acknowledgement, and consequently from the non-adoration and worship of god in this glorified humanity; since, in this case, man can have no communication with the supreme fountain of all that is good, and wise, and happy, and, of course, must perish in his own evils; which evils will always represent god to him as an angry Being, when yet there is no anger in him, but the purest love, and the anger, though ascribed to god in the Sacred Scriptures, is nothing else but the mistaken conception and idea of him, as necessarily existing in the mind of every impenitent and unregenerate man.