Psalms 2:5

To start with I have to make a correction. I have, in the introduction to each Psalm, been calling them chapters, which they are not. They are not one continuous book but a collected volume of individual Psalms. Interestingly enough Calvin hypothesizes it might have been Ezra that collected them together although we do not know for sure who did so and he concedes as much. I call them chapters from habit because of the rest of the books of the bible and will correct that going forward.

In vs. 5 we see a break from what has been happening to this point. Specifically we see the word “then”. So that in 1-3 we see their plans and conspiracy against the Lord; in vs. 4 we are assured the Lord has noticed and scoffs at them; and now, in vs. 5, we see the Lord begin His judgment upon them for their wicked inclinations and plans and the revealing of His own will and plans. We see a comparison between the wicked’s plans which they are ultimately unable to accomplish and the Lord’s plans which are sure to be accomplished. Once again the two are held in a balance one against the other. The bible uses this idea of comparison and balance often. It did it in Psalm 1. The righteous were defined and blessed and then the wicked were defined and cursed. The balance tips in favor of God and the righteous He has set aside for Himself.
I looked up, as an example, the word “better” in my KJV. And it is used 116 times, 20 of them in Proverbs alone; which, the whole book of Proverbs is written as a series of comparisons. And if you were to search other words such as “compare” and “compares” and the like you would find even more instances such as in Ro 8:18 “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” It is not a tool that is employed in vain but brings our attention to what the opposite of God actually is. What the reality of sin produces, the bleak outlook of those that are not of God, wicked desires versus godly desires, etc. So, here too, we have seen what their opposition has failed to accomplish against what God’s plans will undoubtedly accomplish. This is the pivot verse for this Psalm.

Note: John Gill seems to view this on the micro level with specific application to the Jews and their treatment of Christ and that is reflected in what he writes. I don’t believe he is wrong in his application but perhaps too narrow and this should have a larger application to all who have ever set themselves against the Lord. So, what he says is right; but, can and should be applied to a much, much larger crowd as well as the Jews specifically.

“then”
• By the adverb then, he points to the fit time for exercising judgment, as if he had said, after the Lord shall have for a time apparently taken no notice of the malpractices of those who oppose the rule of His Son, He will suddenly change His course, and show that He regards nothing with greater abhorrence than such presumption. JC
• After He has laughed He shall speak; He needs not smite; the breath of His lips is enough. At the moment when their power is at its height, and their fury most violent, then shall His word go forth against them. CHS

“He speaks”
• Moreover, he ascribes speech to God, not for the purpose of instructing His enemies, but only to convict them of their madness; indeed, by the term speak, he means nothing else than a manifestation of God’s wrath, which the ungodly do not perceive until they feel it. The Psalmist here, then, refers to speaking by actions, by which the Lord, without uttering a single word, makes manifest His purpose. In like manner, whenever He defends the kingdom of His Son against the ungodly, by the tokens and inflictions of His wrath, although he does not speak a single word, yet in effect He speaks enough to make Himself understood. JC
• What is it that He says? – it is a very galling sentence – “Yet despite your malice, despite your tumultuous gatherings, despite the wisdoms of your counsels, despite the craft of your lawgivers, “yet I have set My King upon my holy hill of Zion” (Ps 2:6). Is not that a grand exclamation! He has already done that which the enemy seeks to prevent. While they are proposing, He has disposed the matter. Jehovah’s will is done, and man’s will frets and raves in vain. God’s anointed is appointed, and shall not be disappointed. CHS
• [He] shall not only silently despise their furious and concerted opposition to him and his Messiah, but shall at last speak out unto them, not in His word, but in His providences; and not in love, as to His own people, when He chastises them, but in great wrath, inflicting severe and just punishment. John Gill
• They are justly punished. Though God despises them as impotent, yet He does not therefore wink at them, but is justly displeased with them as impudent and impious, and will make the most daring sinners to know that He is so and to tremble before Him. Their sin is a provocation to Him. He is wroth; He is sorely displeased. If He but speaks to them in His wrath, even the breath of His mouth will be their confusion, slaughter, and consumption (Isa. 11:4; 2 Th. 2:8). MH
• “Breath of His mouth”. There will not be a long drawn out conflict, with victory now apparently with the lawless one, then with the Christ, this “round” going to Satan, that to the Christ. The issue will be settled in a moment. The Lord Jesus will summarily and decisively put an end to antichrist and his program. The Lord will merely blow on him, so swift will be his destruction. William Hendriiksen on 2 Th. 2:8

“And distress (vexes) them in His deep displeasure”
• The sum is this: wicked men may now conduct themselves as wickedly as they please, but they shall at length feel what it is to make war against heaven. JC
• [As with the Jews] destruction by the Romans; then it was they howled for vexation of spirit, the wrath of God came upon them to the uttermost; they were filled with trouble and confusion, with terror and consternation, as the word used signifies; they were vexed to see themselves straitened and pent in on every side by the Roman armies, oppressed with famine and internal divisions, rapine and murder; to see their temple profaned and burnt, their city plundered and destroyed, and themselves taken and carried captive: and what most of all vexed them was, that their attempts against Jesus of Nazareth, the true Messiah, were fruitless; and that, notwithstanding all their opposition to Him, His name was famous, His interest increased, His kingdom was enlarged, through the spread of His Gospel among the Gentiles; and what Jehovah says, though it is to the comfort of his people, was to their terror and vexation. John Gill
• The enemies rage, but cannot vex God. God sits still, and yet vexes them, puts them into a consternation, and brings them to their wits’ end: His setting up this kingdom of His Son, in spite of them, is the greatest vexation to them that can be. They were vexatious to Christ’s good subjects; but the day is coming when vexation will be recompensed to them. MH

Personal Summary:

How amazing God is! When we think all is lost He knows what will come to past. But more than that, it is a thing already accomplished in the mind of God! Futurity is a purely human condition. Waiting for something to happen is an exclusive chore given to those that are bound by time. Not an eternal God that knows no limits and sees all things at once. As Herman Bavinck says, “[In] God there is no difference of time with Him. He calls the things that are not as if they were, and sees what is not as if it already existed. Can anything be future to God, who is exalted by every measure of time? For if God’s knowledge comprehends these very events, then they are not future but present to Him. However much the times may roll along, with Him is an eternal present.” So, that the end of evil is assured and an accomplished fact in the eyes of God.
And how mighty God is! With a word He takes vengeance on the wicked, with the breath of His mouth He destroys their mighty fortresses and brings them to ruin. Who can stand against God? The answer is no-one… ever! What an assurance and comfort this is for us as believers. As Paul tells us in Rom 8:31, “If God be for us, who can be against us?” We should give praise that God is omnipotent; that nothing more powerful exists than God Himself. Recently I watched a video clip that made me ill. It was so intensely evil that I felt my heart literally move within me. I was scared for having heard it; I was scared for him having said it. It was a man that called Himself a Christian pastor proclaiming proudly that man’s will was more powerful than God. I am glad he was wrong. I am glad that we all sit under an incomprehensibly powerful God. His power is so great that we cannot adequately compare it to anything else. I am glad that this life does not depend on you and me but that all things are within His power and control. What chaos would ensue if God removed His power and control from creation for even one second of time! Even the Greek philosophers understood this and led by Heraclites gave us the idea of “logos” (which we see in John 1 as “Word”), although they did not accurately ascribe it to THE God as they should have. But they understood that the world would be in ruin if there was not an all powerful God controlling everything. No, I do not need to overcome my Lord’s power, I blissfully sit under it and relish that it is there.