Psalm 2:11

Amongst my commentaries there was one small difference of opinion as to what trembling actually entails in the latter part of this verse. All were in agreement save John Gill. I have not included his commentary on this part simply because I think he is wrong and doesn’t do the text justice on that part of this verse. He says in regards to trembling, “not with a fearful looking for of judgment, but with modesty and humility.” As you will see this stands in opposition to what the other commentators say here. Furthermore, the word used here in the Hebrew is ra’ad (דער) which is “shuddering or to tremble with fear”. This is why you will see some of the other commentaries using “fear and trembling” or as Calvin says “with fear”.

“Serve the Lord with fear”
• [The Psalmist] declares the manner in which they are to be wise (from vs. 10), by commanding them to serve the Lord with fear. By trusting to their elevated station, they flatter themselves that they are loosed from the laws which bind the rest of mankind; and the pride of this so greatly blinds them as to make them think it beneath them to submit even to God. The Psalmist, therefore, tells them, that until they have learned to fear Him, they are destitute of all right understanding. JC
• Not the creature, neither more, nor besides, nor with the Creator; God and mammon cannot both be served; nor any fictitious and nominal deities, the idols of the Gentiles, who are not gods by nature; but the true Jehovah, the one and only Lord God, He only is to be worshipped and served, even Father, Son, and Spirit. This is to be done "with fear", not with fear of man, nor with servile fear of God, but with a godly and filial fear, with a reverential affection for Him, and in a way agreeable to His mind and will; with reverence and awe of Him, without levity, carelessness, and negligence. JG
• We must serve God in all ordinances of worship, and all instances of godly conversation, but with a holy fear, a jealousy over ourselves, and a reverence of Him. Even kings themselves, whom others serve and fear, must serve and fear God, there is the same indefinite distance between them and God that there is between the meanest of their subjects and Him. MH
• Let reverence and humility be mingled with your service. He is a great God, and ye are but puny creatures; bend ye, therefore, in lowly worship, and let a filial fear mingle with all your obedience to the great Father of the Ages. CHS
• The fear of God promotes spiritual joy; it is the morning star which ushers in the sunlight of comfort. “Walking in the fear of God, and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit.” God mingles joy with fear, that fear may not be slavish. Thomas Watson

“Rejoice with trembling”
• To prevent them from supposing that that the service to which He calls them is grievous, He teaches them by the word rejoice how pleasant and desirable it is, since it furnishes matter of true gladness. But lest they should, according to their usual way, wax wanton, and, intoxicated with vain pleasures, imagine themselves happy while they are enemies to God, He exhorts them farther by the words with fear to a humble and dutiful submission. The… prophet… implies that so long as the proud profligately rejoice in the gratification of the lusts of the flesh, they sport with their own destruction, while, on the contrary, the only true and salutary joy is that which arises from resting in the fear and reverence of God. JC
• Very excellently is “rejoice” added, lest “serve the Lord with fear” should seem to tend to misery. But again, lest this same rejoicing should run on to unrestrained inconsiderateness, there is added “with trembling,” that it might avail for a warning, and for the careful guarding of holiness. It can also be taken thus, “And now ye kings understand;” that is, And now that I am set as King, be ye not sad, kings of the earth, as if your excellency were taken from you, but rather “understand and be instructed.” For it is expedient for you, that ye should be under Him, by whom understanding and instruction are given you. And this is expedient for you, that ye lord it not with rashness, but that ye “serve the Lord” of all “with fear,” and “rejoice” in bliss most sure and most pure, with all caution and carefulness, lest ye fall therefrom into pride. Augustine
• To reverence God and to stand in awe of Him… this is the great duty of natural religion. God is great, and infinitely above us, just and holy, and provoked against us, therefore we ought to fear Him and tremble before him; yet He is our Lord and Master, and we are bound to serve Him, our friend and benefactor, and we have reason to rejoice in Him; and these are very well consistent with each other. We must rejoice in God, and, in subordination to Him, we may rejoice in other things, but still with a holy trembling. We ought to rejoice in the setting up of the kingdom of Christ, but to rejoice with trembling, with a holy awe of Him, a holy fear for ourselves, lest we come short, and a tender concern for the many precious souls to whom His gospel and kingdom are a savor of death unto death. MH
• There must ever be a holy fear mixed with the Christian’s joy. This is a sacred compound, yielding a sweet smell, and we must see to it that we burn no other upon the altar. Fear, without joy, is torment; and joy, without holy fear, would be presumption. CHS

Personal Summary:

We are here coming out of verse 10 which gives us an exhortation to repent. Here we are told how to repent. We must come in fear and serve Him. We must prostrate ourselves before Him and beg of Him to forgive us our sins. In all lowliness and humility knowing that we have been arrogant in opposing Him, arrogant in breaking His laws, knowing we have offended God to His very core and that a holy God cannot look down upon us, seeing that we are so contrary to His nature, and sit idly by forever. We must confess our sins and fear knowing that our very nature, our entire being, has sinned against Him and that wrath will undoubtedly follow. But, when we repent,

“He will not only pardon, but subdue your sins. If you will hear Him, hear then, that your soul may live. Hear the call of Christ Jesus, behold He calleth thee, “Come to me, ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). All who were in debt and distress came to David; you are such an one, come to this David, for so Christ is called, take His counsel and you will do well. You shall live, and sin shall die.” Ralph Venning, “The Sinfulness of Sin”, pg. 217

Christ is calling you to Him and in full recognition of your sin you must come before Him, repent, and serve Him; which is His due.

But God doesn’t leave us quivering masses of fear either. He could, it would be well within His right to do so. Perhaps more quivering heaps of men overwhelmed and disgusted by their sin would do this world some good. But the fact is He does not. There is a beautiful lead up through all of this. Remember in vs. 8 that Christ asked for us as His inheritance? That is the precursor to all of the rest that follows; the call to repent, the fear and trembling as we approach God and ask for forgiveness, all of it. And this was accomplished by His death on the cross. So, then, the fear is only a part of the picture and the rest is accomplished by Christ both in asking for us and paying the price for our sins. Because of this we can approach this throne not merely fearful but confident. And when we do we are given yet another beautiful piece to the puzzle, and that is the joy we receive when we do this. Yes, joy is tempered with fear; that is true. But joy it is and joy it will remain. We are refreshed by Him and nourished by His Word. We grow in love and obedience to His will. We are no longer enemies of God but true sons! Fear keeps our eyes focused on God in dependence on Him, it gives us a healthy reverence of who He is and the infinite distance that lies between His holiness and our sinfulness, it makes us loathe the idea of sinning against Him, and it rightfully causes us to cherish Him and to dread the thought of ever being separated from Him again. All of this leads back to joy. For when we walk with God we find true happiness. The two elements of our walk compliment each other in godly harmony; glorifying Him, yet still allowing our souls to feast at the table of grace, forever gorging ourselves on His love.

What a wonderful God we serve and how wondrously incomprehensible is the salvation He has given to us. It is perfect in every way, every element is perfectly fit to glorify God and edify His people; until He, according to the hope we have been given, calls us home and the work is finally and fully completed in true perfection.