Psalm 2:12

Note: There is some conflict over the translation of this verse. It seems the main split would come from modern translations and the Septuagint. In most modern translations it says, “Kiss the Son, lest He be angry” and in the Septuagint it says “Embrace (or lay hold) of discipline, lest the Lord be angry.” It seems the main cause for this comes from the word we are using as “kiss” which is nashaq (Strong’s 5401) and can be both used as kiss or to handle or be equipped with. In my New Geneva Study Bible it does note that the phrase “kiss the Son” was not a Hebrew term but rather an “unexpected Aramaic term”; this, then, may be why we see the two differences. The exception in the modern translations can be found in both the NASB and the RSV which seem to be aiming more at the message of the passage than the actual translation of it. Both focus on the idea of paying homage with one saying it directly and one saying kiss His feet. Of course the RSV doesn’t use 2:12 anyway being that they have included it in 2:11. Both the Septuagint and modern translations basically convey the same idea; but, perhaps, at least in my opinion, the modern texts promote the spirit of this verse more capably than does the Septuagint. Especially if we consider the next word which is bar and is translated as son or heir. In some of the older commentaries they relied on the Septuagint and formed their studies accordingly.

“Kiss the Son”
• The term kiss refers to the solemn token or sign of honor which subjects were wont to yield to their sovereigns. The sum is, that God is defrauded of His honor if He is not served in Christ. Christ was truly chosen of the Father, who has given Him all power, that He alone should stand preeminent above both men and angels. Some interpreters expound it, kiss or embrace what is pure (or instruction; discipline), which is a strange and rather forced interpretation. For my part, I willingly retain the name of Son, which answers well to a former sentence, where it was said, “Thou art my Son, this day I have begotten thee.” JC
• To make peace with the Father, kiss the Son. Let us kiss Him – that be our endeavor. Indeed, the Son must first kiss us by His mercy, before we can kiss Him by our piety. Lord grant in these mutual kisses and interchangeable embraces now, that we may come to the plenary wedding supper hereafter; when the choir of heaven, even the voices of angels, shall sing… nuptial songs, at the bridal of the spouse and the Lamb. Thomas Adams.
• Our duty to Christ is here expressed figuratively: Kiss the Son, not with a betraying kiss, as Judas kissed Him, and as all hypocrites, who pretend to honor Him, but really affront Him; but with a believing kiss. (1) With a kiss of agreement and reconciliation. (2) With a kiss of adoration and religious worship. (3) With a kiss of affection and sincere love. (4) With a kiss of allegiance and loyalty. MH

“lest He be angry”
• [There is a] certain ruin we run upon if we refuse and reject Christ. (1) It will be a great provocation to Him. Do it, lest He be angry. The Father is angry already; the Son is the Mediator that undertakes to make peace; if we slight Him, the Father’s wrath abides upon us (Jn. 3:36), and not only so but there is an addition of the Son’s wrath too, to whom nothing is more displeasing than to have the offers of His grace slighted and the designs of it frustrated. Unbelief is a Sin against the remedy. MH
• Though He is a Lamb, He has wrath in Him, and when the great day of His wrath comes in any form on earth, there is no standing before Him; and how much less when He shall appear as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and shall be revealed from heaven in flaming fire; then kings and freemen will call to the rocks to fall upon them, and hide them from Him. JG
• “Lest at any time the Lord be angry,” is expressed with a doubt, not as regards the vision of the prophet to whom it is certain, but as regards those who are warned; for they, to whom it is not openly revealed, are wont to think with doubt of the anger of God. This then they ought to say to themselves, let us “lay hold of discipline, lest at any time the Lord be angry, and we perish from the righteous way.” Augustine

“and you perish in the way”
• [This] is a warning to those who despise Christ, that their pride shall not go unpunished; as if He had said, As Christ is not despised without indignity being done to the Father, who hath adorned Him with His own glory, so the Father Himself will not allow such an invasion of His sacred rights to pass unpunished. JC
• [The] way of righteousness, salvation and eternal life by Jesus Christ, which being missed by persons, they are eternally lost and undone. […] because of their sinful course of life; for the way of the ungodly shall perish itself, and therefore they that pursue it shall perish also. Lest they perish in the midst of their course of sin, in their own evil way, they have chosen and delighted in, or, to use the words of Christ, "die in their sins", (John 8:21; John 8:24) , and everlastingly perish; for this perishing is to be understood not of corporeal death, in which sense righteous men perish, but of everlasting destruction: or the word which is rendered "from the way" may be translated "suddenly", "immediately", or "straightway", and our English word "directly" is almost the same; and so may design the swift and sudden destruction of such persons who provoke the Son to wrath and anger. JG
• Now, how “the Lord be angry” is to be taken, has been said above. And “ye perish from the righteous way.” This is a great punishment, and dreaded by those who have had any perception of the sweetness of righteousness; for he who perisheth from the way of righteousness, in much misery will wander through the ways of unrighteousness. Augustine
• It will be utter destruction to yourselves: Lest you perish in the way; or in the way so some, in the way of your sins, and from the way of your vain hopes; lest your way perish (Ps. 1:6), lest you prove to have missed the way to happiness. Christ is the way; take heed lest you be cut off from Him as your way to God. MH

Note: There is yet another point of contention here in regards to the translation of this verse. Most translations say something in regards to a moment using terms like quickly kindled, soon be kindled, suddenly burn, or even moment itself. These all denote time. The others, namely the KJV and NKJV, use little which denotes a measure. Even among the commentaries they are split. Calvin is adamantly in favor of time and Augustine would agree with him. Henry and Gill are in favor of measure, although Gill leaves room for both as he does with most of this verse’s disputed meanings. Once again the original word in the Hebrew is the cause for the debate. The word used is me’at which can be used in both contexts as little; few or soon (Strong’s 4592). I will share what the different commentaries say and you may decide for yourself which is appropriate and keeping in context with the rest of the Psalm.

"His wrath is kindled in a moment”
• To teach them to beware of vainly deceiving themselves with the hope of a lengthened delay, and from their present ease indulging themselves in vain pleasures, they are plainly told that His wrath is kindled in a moment. For we see, when God for a time connives at the wicked, and nears with them, how they abuse His forbearance, by growing more presumptuous, because they do not think of His judgments otherwise, than according to sight and feeling. Some interpreters, I know, explain the Hebrew word, Camoat, which we have rendered, in a moment, in a different way, namely, that as soon as God’s wrath is kindled in even a small degree, it will be all over with the reprobate. But it is more suitable to apply it to time, and to view it as a warning to the proud not to harden themselves in their stupidity and indifference, nor flatter themselves from the patience of God, with the hope of escaping unpunished. The prophet, therefore, with great propriety, threatens that when they shall say, Peace and safety, reckoning themselves at a great distance from their end, they shall be cut off by a sudden destruction. JC
• Now the meaning of “shortly” I suppose to be this, that it will be something sudden, whilst sinners will deem it far off and long to come. Augustine

“His wrath is kindled but a little”
• When his wrath is kindled, though but a little, the least spark of that fire is enough to make the proudest sinner miserable if it fasten upon his conscience; for it will burn to the lowest hell: one would think it should therefore follow, “When His wrath is kindled, woe be to those that despise Him.” MH
• Either to a small degree, or but for a little while; for the least degree and duration of it are intolerable, and who then can dwell in everlasting burnings, or abide the devouring flames? or when it is kindled "suddenly", in a moment, as Jarchi interprets it; and so sudden wrath brings sudden destruction. JG

The benediction: “Blessed are all those that put their trust in Him”
• The concluding sentence of the psalm qualifies what was formerly said concerning the severity of Christ; for His iron rod and the fiery wrath of God would strike terror into all men without distinction, unless this comfort had been added. Having, therefore, discoursed concerning the terrible judgment that hangs over the unbelieving, he now encourages God’s faithful and devout servants to entertain good hope, by setting forth the sweetness of grace. As believers might have applied to themselves the severity of which he makes mention, he opens to them a sanctuary of hope, whither they may flee, in order not to be overwhelmed by the terror of God’s wrath. JC
• Not in horses and chariots, in riches and honors, in their own wisdom, strength, and righteousness; but in the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, and who is truly and properly God; or otherwise faith and trust would not be required to be put in Him: and happy are those who betake themselves to Him as to their strong hold and place of defense; who look to Him and believe in Him for pardon, peace, righteousness, every supply of grace and eternal life; these are safe and secure in Him, nor shall they want any good thing needful for them; and they have much peace, joy, and comfort here, and shall have more grace as they want it, and hereafter eternal glory and happiness. JG
• […] when the vengeance shall come which is prepared for the ungodly and for sinners, not only will it not light on those “who put their trust in” the Lord, but it will even avail for the foundation and exaltation of a kingdom for them. For he said not, “When His anger shall be shortly kindled,” safe “are all they who put their trust in Him,” as though they should have this only thereby, to be exempt from punishment; but he said, “blessed;” in which there is the sum and accumulation of all good things. Augustine
• Blessed will be those in the day of wrath, who, by trusting in Christ, have made Him their refuge and patron; when the hearts of others fail them for fear they shall lift up their heads with joy; and then those who now despise Christ and His followers will be forced to say, to their own greater confusion, “Now we see that blessed are all those, and those only, that trust in Him.” In singing this, and praying it over, we should have our hearts filled with a holy awe of God, but at the same time borne up with a cheerful confidence in Christ, in whose mediation we may comfort and encourage ourselves and one another. We are the circumcision, that rejoice in Christ Jesus (Php 3:3). MH

Personal Summary:
This verse is quite wonderful to study. We have the carry over from vs. 11 which tells us how we are to repent (perhaps why the RSV combines the two). The verse opens with such beautiful language, Kiss the Son. It reminds me of the great love we, the church, have in Christ; for Him and from Him. The great affection He displays for us as His bride. Re. 19:7 says it well, “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready.” As Thomas Adams put it, “the Son… first kisses us by His mercy, [and we] kiss Him by our piety.” Through this we repent, we worship Him, we are reconciled to Him, and He is the focus of our greatest affection. What a beautiful love story Christ has given to us; doubly so because we are chief characters in the plot.

Those that have refused Him will only be successful in doing so for a very short time. We know that Christ Himself has said. “As I live… every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” (Ro. 14:11) They may in vain think that God’s wrath will never reach them and that their obstinacy will go unnoticed. They may have ignored the warnings that the ungodly will perish and that He will break them with a rod of iron and dash them to pieces. But in the end they will perish because of the great offense of their sin and in but a moment His longsuffering will end. Oh! The fear they will feel in that day! The bravado will melt away like snow on a summer street. They had been told to fear and tremble; now they will have no choice. Even the most pious men crumbled in the sight of God, and they were righteous men, godly men, justified saints awaiting glory. If Isaiah and John could not stand before God how will the wicked fair? God’s mighty hand brandishing a full measure of His wrath will, in the end, be their reward. I cannot fathom the pain and suffering they will endure for having rejected God. Thanks be to Him for having saved His children from their ranks.

Once again, the Lord does not leave us quaking with fear. The threat is tempered with His love for those that are His elect children. Lest we be saved with a spirit of bondage again to fear, He reassures us with this beautiful blessing. We are blessed; we are saved with a Spirit of adoption, whereby, we cry Abba, Father. We are true sons and we are blessed as such. We have total comfort and blessing in our lives because He has adopted us, engrafted us, secured us with the seal of the Spirit of God that we are His, never to be forsaken again! Our God is so great that He saves us even though we have sinned against Him; plotted against Him, hated Him, murdered and spat on Him, we have loathed the sound of His name in our ears, yet He has loved us from eternity, He has called us from the same and has always known that in spite of all of this we are HIS!

The Son asked for us! I cannot fathom something more beautiful than this. The more I contemplate this from vs. 8 the more heartbreaking it is to me that mankind treated Him as we did and do. What He did for us was not forced upon Him. He knew full well what He would have to do for us and asked for us anyway. He knew full well that we would revile Him, yet He asked for us anyway. Oh! The pain my sin has caused! But not just physical pain, for He also suffered spiritual pain. Christ hung on the cross for me, after being beaten and tortured and spit on; He then cried out to God, in the most poignant moment in all of history, My God, My God why hast thou forsaken me. He loved me so much that He was willing to be separated from God the Father for the only time in eternity, a pain far beyond anything else He endured for us… and He did so willingly, asking that the Father would grant us to Him. This blessing is more than incomprehensible, it is baffling. We don’t deserve it; we know that. But by the grace and mercy of God it is ours just the same. It is to be cherished more than anything we have ever gotten in our lives and over anything we are yet to receive. It is more secure than anything mankind has ever dreamed of. Thanks be to God “that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom. 8:38-39)

“This psalm flows from the first commandment, in which God promises to be our God, who will help us in every trouble and will work all good for us – just as He has, through Christ, delivered us from sin, death, and hell and brought us to eternal life. This blessing is what we pray for in the second petition of the Our Father: that His kingdom come.” (With thanks to Vaughn Hathaway for giving me this quote from “Psalms, With Introductions” by Martin Luther translated, edited and compiled by Bruce A. Cameron. [Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, 1993.]) What more can I say about this beautiful verse and indeed this entire psalm? God is so beautiful and how blessed we are that He has left His Word to reveal Himself to us as He has done so wonderfully during this study. Praise His holy name! Amen.