"I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee" (Psalms 2:7). David had been established as the king of the united people of Judah and Israel after the death of King Saul. Some did not receive his Kingship, and thereby raged, and imagined vain things.

In melancholy, David composed this wonderful Messianic song. David would reason that all would be happy with his reign, seeing that God's prophet, Samuel, had anointed him to be the next king. But the heathen did rage, and brought battle against David and God's host. As predicted in the Psalm, David's army was victorious.

In the midst of this wonderful Psalm, these two affirmations are made! While David was the shadow, the prophecy was concerning God's Son, Jesus Christ. This Psalm is applied to Christ in Acts 4:25-26; Acts 13:33; and Hebrews 5:5.

Thou art my Son! What a wonderful affirmation of the Deity of Jesus Christ. Yet, He was made of a woman, made under the law (Gal. 4:4). He became man in order to die for sinful creatures (Heb. 2:14). Had Jesus come in the form of God or angels, He could not have died, for Deity is eternal. But, Jesus came in the form of mankind in order to sympathize with the feelings of mankind, and to suffer as does man. He came to die for our sins!

This day have I begotten thee. This passage is quoted relative to the resurrection of Jesus from the dead (Acts 13:33) and concerning His being a priest (Heb. 5:5). Jesus could not be priest on earth, due to the ordination of the Levitical priesthood. Jesus' priesthood was after the order of Melchizedec, which required a change of law (Heb. 7:12) in order for Him to reign, and He did not reign until after the resurrection.

This day refers to the resurrection of Jesus from the grave, and not to His birth of Mary. Begotten (from the Hebrew, yalidti) is used in the sense of manifesting, exhibiting, or declaring (consult Adam Clarke, Commentary, Vol. 3, p. 223).

Psalms 2 refers to the time when God declared Jesus to be His Son. In Romans 1:4, the Apostle Paul affirms, "And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead."

Christ's death proved that the atonement had been made for lost mankind. Christ's resurrection proved that the atonement has been accepted by the God of Heaven. Therefore, the final chorus of Psalms 2 affirms, "Blessed are all they that put their trust in them. " This is the assurance that will bear one through any of life's difficulties with the greatest of confidence!

Guardian of Truth XXVIII: 18, p. 559
September 20, 1984