Commentary on Psalm 2. -Theodorit of Cyrus

“Not inscribed among the Hebrews.” Having concluded the first psalm with a mention of the ungodly, David begins the second psalm again with them, teaching that the foretold end of the ungodly will befall those who rise with fury against the Savior, both kings and princes, Jews and Gentiles. For in the second psalm, he foretells the sufferings of the Lord Christ in His human nature and His kingdom, while also proclaiming the calling of the Gentiles and lamenting the unbelief of the Jews. The words: “Why do the heathen rage” are fitting for one who grieves over their folly and condemns it. To explain this psalm, we need not many words, since the divinely wise Peter, the chief of the Apostles, provided its interpretation in the Book of Acts, naming Herod and Pontius Pilate as the kings and princes, along with the high priests and scribes. For Pilate was sent by the Roman emperor to exercise his authority, and Herod was at that time the ruler of the Jews; one had the Jews under his command, the other had soldiers from among the Gentiles. But, coming together and plotting the Lord’s death, they conspired in vain and to no purpose, being unable to make the Crucified One forgotten; for, rising on the third day, He became the ruler of the universe. The Prophet most aptly and justly joined the words: “and the people imagine a vain thing” with the term “people,” because the Jews devised a wicked plot against the Savior, as the Holy Gospel testifies, teaching that “the Pharisees went out and held a council against Him, how they might destroy Him” (Mark 3:6). Caiaphas also bears witness, saying: “It is better that one man should die, and not the whole nation perish” (John 11:49). The word “rage” was translated by Aquila as “make a tumult,” and by Symmachus as “are in commotion.” Since this word is applied to the Gentiles, it suggests that because the Jews presented Jesus to Pilate as if He were some usurper of royal authority, repeatedly saying that He must be put to death, Pilate, against his will, pronounced the death sentence, likely fearing that releasing Jesus might lead to accusations against himself. For, as the blessed Luke said: “They began to accuse Him, saying: We found this man perverting our nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that He Himself is Christ” (Luke 23:2). “Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?” “The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against His Christ.” The Prophet uses the word “heathen” without the article (ἔθνη), not with it (τὰ ἔθνη), so that you might not think it includes all, but rather points your mind to something particular. Since the Jews, having taken Jesus Christ, delivered Him to the Gentiles, David asks: What was the cause of this, or what happened that the people of God were moved against Him and handed Him over to the Gentiles? “Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their yoke from us.” For it is said: “He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father” (John 5:23). And not without reason, in rejecting the yoke of the Son, they cast off the yoke of the Father. But it seems to me that the Most Holy Spirit commands those who believe to say this: “Let us break their bands asunder,” that is, the bands of the ungodly Gentiles, and “cast away their yoke from us,” that is, the yoke of the lawless Jews, and let us take upon ourselves the good yoke of Christ; for such is the Lord’s word: “Take My yoke upon you: for My yoke is easy, and My burden is light” (Matt. 11:29–30). “He that dwelleth in the heavens shall laugh at them, and the Lord shall have them in derision.” For He who was nailed to the cross and delivered to death by them, as One dwelling in the heavens and holding all things, shall make their counsels vain and futile. His Father and the Lord of all shall deliver them to deserved punishment. “Then shall He speak unto them in His wrath, and vex them in His sore displeasure.” The fulfillment of these words teaches their interpretation; for the Roman army, invading the Jews, devastated the city, burned the temple, put many of them to death, and those who escaped slaughter were made captives and enslaved. Attention must be given to the fact that the Prophet here mentions two Persons one after the other: first, the Person of the Lord and His Christ, as it is said: “against the Lord, and against His Christ”; and then the Person of Him that dwelleth in heaven and the Lord, as it is said: “He that dwelleth in the heavens shall laugh at them, and the Lord shall have them in derision.” And in what follows, the Prophet maintains the same manner of presentation. “Yet have I been set as King by Him.” Here one must pause and then add: “upon Sion, His holy hill.” “Declaring the decree of the Lord.” For He reigns not only over the hill of Sion but over things visible and invisible, and over all creation. On the hill of Sion and in Judea, He offered His divine teaching to those who came to Him, and those who received this teaching, obeying His divine commandments, poured forth its streams into the whole universe. For it is said: “Go ye and teach all nations” (Matt. 28:19). This statement, “Yet have I been set as King by Him,” is spoken according to His human nature; for as God, He possesses the kingdom by His very nature; but as man, He receives anointing for the kingdom. That as God He holds eternal dominion, the same Prophet teaches, saying: “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy kingdom” (Ps. 44:7). The blessed Paul says that this psalm is spoken of the Son (Heb. 1:8). Yet, as God, He possesses the kingdom, but as man, He receives it. Similarly, being called the Highest as God, He is exalted as man. And David, proclaiming His divine height, says: “That they may know that Thy name is the Lord, Thou alone art the Highest over all the earth” (Ps. 82:19). And Zechariah says to John: “And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest” (Luke 1:76). Of His exaltation as man, the blessed Paul teaches, saying: “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name” (Phil. 2:9). And the name “only begotten Son” the Word-God had before the ages as inherent to His essence, yet, having the name of Son as God, He receives it also as man. Therefore, in this psalm, the Prophet adds, saying: “The Lord hath said unto Me, Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee.” Let every believer in the teaching of the Divine Spirit not apply this saying to the divinity of the Lord Christ; for concerning that, as we hear, the God of all speaks through David: “From the womb before the morning star have I begotten Thee” (Ps. 109:3). Therefore, as man, He receives what was said above, and as man, He hears what is added: “Ask of Me, and I shall give Thee the heathen for Thine inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Thy possession.” For as God, He is the Creator of all: “All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made” (John 1:3); and: “By Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible” (Col. 1:16). And if He is the Lord and Creator of all, then He is the Lord and Master of what He has created. Yet, being Lord by nature as God, He receives dominion over all as man. And since in former times He seemed to care only for the Jews, as it is said: “For the Lord’s portion is His people; Jacob is the lot of His inheritance” (Deut. 32:9); but the Jewish people were rejected, having profited little from God’s care for them; therefore, He justly turns His providence to the Gentiles, not as one who neglected them before, but as fulfilling the prophecy of Moses; for this is the saying of Moses: “Rejoice, ye nations, with His people” (Deut. 32:43). And one can find the event corresponding to the prophecy. For the believers from among the Jews—not only the twelve Apostles, but the seventy disciples, and the hundred and twenty gathered together, to whom the blessed Peter spoke (Acts 1:16), and the five hundred to whom, according to the divine Paul, the Lord appeared at once after His resurrection (1 Cor. 15:6), and the three thousand, and the five thousand, whom the chief of the Apostles caught in the net of his preaching (Acts 2:41; Acts 4:4), and the many tens of thousands, of whom the great James said: “Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe” (Acts 21:20)—all these, and beyond them all the Jews who believed throughout the whole universe, being called His holy people, and through them catching all nations, the Lord fulfills the prophecy that says: “Rejoice, ye nations, with His people,” and beyond that, He fulfills His own saying, which He spoke to the Jews: “And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd” (John 10:16). This is also said in the present psalm: “Ask of Me, and I shall give Thee the heathen for Thine inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Thy possession.” But it moves me to weep for the unbelief of the Jews, who, hearing the prophecy that clearly speaks of the ends of the earth, and knowing that, apart from the one Lord Christ who came from David according to the flesh, none of their kings acquired such dominion, yet blind themselves with the eyes of their mind, as the prophecy says of them: “They shall grope as the blind grope for the wall, and as those without eyes shall they feel” (Isa. 59:10). Therefore, the prophetic word threatens them: “Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” That is, Thou shalt break them by the Roman kingdom, which Daniel’s prophecy figuratively calls iron, for its strength and indestructibility. He breaks them as vessels made of clay. For when they refused to have Him alone as their king and loudly cried out, saying: “We have no king but Caesar” (John 19:15), He set over them the Caesar they demanded, and from the armies of the Caesars they received punishment for their impiety. But if anyone thinks this is spoken not of the Jews but of the Gentiles, it must be understood thus: He shall rule the Gentiles with a rod of iron, His strong and unbreakable kingdom, and shall break them as a potter’s vessel, dissolving and remaking them through the “washing of regeneration” (Titus 3:5), imparting to them strength by the fire of the Spirit. Thus, having foretold this, the blessed David finally exhorts both kings and their subjects to flee to the Savior, to accept His saving laws with love, and to find benefit for themselves in studying and teaching them. For he says: “And now, O ye kings, be wise: be instructed, all ye that judge the earth.” For He is king over us all, whom they of old thought ruled only over the Jews. “Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice in Him with trembling.” For we must not hope only in His lovingkindness, but while rejoicing and being glad in salvation, we must fear and tremble at the justice joined with His lovingkindness. For it is said: “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall” (1 Cor. 10:12). When, having the fear of the Lord, we do what is right, we shall have more cause for joy in what we have done; for we shall gain a good conscience, which will bring us great joy. It is said “with trembling,” that is, with contrition, so that the joy of God does not turn into worldly joy. “Take hold of instruction, lest at any time the Lord be angry, and ye perish from the way of the righteous.” For perfection is not achieved by acquiring knowledge of God alone, but one must also practice active virtue, clinging to which, you shall walk the unerring path. “When His wrath is kindled but a little, blessed are all they that put their trust in Him.” For at the time of judgment, when your vices, like easily kindled material, ignite the divine wrath as fire, you shall be far from the path of the righteous, bearing punishment for what you sinned in this life. But those who truly and firmly place their hope in God shall then receive the fruit of their hope—blessedness. For the Prophet says: “Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him.” If those who strive in virtue are blessed even in this present life, how much more surely shall they receive blessedness in that day when those who lived in wickedness draw upon themselves God’s wrath.