Bible Heaven/Bible Heaven.iso/spurgeon/ps2.7

Text File | 1993-03-15 | 11KB | 197 lines

                           EXPOSITION.

        This Psalm wears something of a dramatic form, for now
another person is introduced as speaking. We have looked into the
counsel-chamber of the wicked, and to the throne of God, and now
we behold the Anointed declaring his rights of sovereignty, and
warning the traitors of their doom.

        God has laughed at the counsel and ravings of the wicked,
and now Christ the Anointed himself comes forward, as the Risen
Redeemer, "declared to be the Son of God with power, according to
the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." #Ro
1:4|. Looking into the angry faces of the rebellious kings, the
Anointed One seems to say, "If this sufficeth not to make you
silent, '_I will declare the decree_.'" Now this decree is
directly in conflict with the device of man, for its tenour is
the establishment of the very dominion against which the nations
are raging. "_Thou art my Son_." Here is a noble proof of the
glorious Divinity of our Immanuel. "For unto which of the angels
said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten
thee?" What a mercy to have a Divine Redeemer in whom to rest our
confidence! "_This day have I begotten thee_." If this refers to
the Godhead of our Lord, let us not attempt to fathom it, for it
is a great truth, a truth reverently to be received, but not
irreverently to be scanned. It may be added, that if this relates
to the Begotten One in his human nature, we must here also
rejoice in the mystery, but not attempt to violate its sanctity
by intrusive prying into the secrets of the Eternal God. The
things which are revealed are enough, without venturing into vain
speculations. In attempting to define the Trinity, or unveil the
essence of Divinity, many men have lost themselves: here great
ships have foundered. What have we to do in such a sea with our
frail skiffs?

        "_Ask of me_." It was a custom among great kings to give
to favoured ones whatever they might ask. (See #Es 5:6; Mt
14:7|.) So Jesus hath but to ask and have. Here he declares that
his very enemies are his inheritance. To their face he declares
this decree, and "Lo! here," cries the Anointed One, as he holds
aloft in that once pierced hand the sceptre of his power, "He
hath given me this, not only the right to be a king, but the
power to conquer." Yes! Jehovah hath given to his Anointed a rod
of iron with which he shall break rebellious nations in pieces,
and, despite their imperial strength, they shall be but as
potters' vessels, easily dashed into shivers, when the rod of
iron is in the hand of the omnipotent Son of God. Those who will
not bend must break. Potters' vessels are not to be restored if
dashed in pieces, and the ruin of sinners will be hopeless if
Jesus shall smite them.

        "Ye sinners seek his grace,
        Whose wrath ye cannot bear;
        Fly to the shelter of his cross,
        And find salvation there."

              EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.

        Verse 7.--The dispute concerning the eternal filiation of
our Lord betrays more of presumptuous curiosity than of reverent
faith. It is an attempt to explain where it is far better to
adore. We could give rival expositions of this verse, but we
forbear. The controversy is one of the most unprofitable which
ever engaged the pens of theologians.--^C. H. S.

        Verse 8.--"Ask of me_." The priesthood doth not appear to
be settled upon Christ by any other expression than this, "_Ask
of me_." The Psalm speaks of his investiture in his kingly
office; the apostle refers this to his priesthood, his
commission, for both took date at the same time; both bestowed,
both confirmed by the same authority. The office of asking is
grounded upon the same authority as the honour of king. Ruling
belonged to his royal office, asking to his priestly. After his
resurrection, the Father gives him a power and command of
asking.-- ^Stephen Charnock.

        Verse 8.--As the limner looks on the person whose picture
he would take, and draws his lines to answer him with the nearest
similitude that he can, so God looks on Christ as the archetype
to which he will conform the saint, in suffering, in grace, in
glory; yet so that Christ hath the pre-eminence in all. Every
saint must suffer, because Christ suffered: Christ must not have
a delicate body under a crucified head; yet never any suffered,
or could, what he endured. Christ is holy, and therefore so shall
every saint be, but in an inferior degree; an image cut in clay
cannot be so exact as that engraved on gold. Now, our conformity
to Christ appears, that as the promises made to him were
performed upon his prayers to his Father, his promises made to
his saints are given to them in the same way of prayer: "_Ask of
me_," saith God to his Son, "_and I shall give thee_." And the
apostle tells us, "Ye have not, because ye ask not." God hath
promised support to Christ in all his conflicts. #Isa 42:1|.
"Behold my servant, whom I uphold; " yet he prayed "with strong
cries and tears," when his feet stood within the shadow of death.
A seed is promised to him, and victory over his enemies, yet for
both these he prays. Christ towards us acts as a king, but
towards his Father as a priest. All he speaks to God is by prayer
and intercession. So the saints, the promise makes them kings
over their lusts, conquerors over their enemies; but it makes
them priests towards God, by prayer humbly to sue out those great
things given in the promise.--^William Gurnall, 1617--1679.

        Verse 8.--It will be observed in our Bible that two words
of verse eight are in italics, intimating that they are not
translations of the Hebrew, but additions made for the purpose of
elucidating the meaning. Now if the "_thee_" and the "_for_" are
left out, the verse will read thus, "Ask of me, and I shall give
the heathen, thine inheritance, and thy possession, the uttermost
parts of the earth." And this reading is decidedly preferable to
the other. It implies that by some previous arrangement on the
part of God, he had already assigned an inheritance of the
heathen, and the possession of the earth, to the person of whom
he says, "Thou art my Son." And when God says, "I will give,"
etc., he reveals to his Anointed, not so much in what the
inheritance consisted, and what was the extent of possession
destined for him, as the promise of his readiness to bestow it.
The heathen were already "the inheritance," and the ends of the
earth "the possession," which God had _purposed_ to give to his
Anointed. Now he says to him, "Ask of me," and he _promises_ to
fulfil his purpose. This is the idea involved in the words of the
text, and the importance of it will become more apparent, when we
consider its application to the _spiritual_ David, to the true
Son of God, "whom he hath appointed the heir of all things."

        Verse 9.--The "_rod_" has a variety of meanings in
Scripture. It might be of different materials, as it was employed
for different purposes. At an early period, a wooden rod came
into use as one of the insignia of royalty, under the name of
sceptre. By degrees the sceptre grew in importance, and was
regarded as characteristic of an empire, or of the reign of some
particular king. A golden sceptre denoted wealth and pomp. The
right, or straight sceptre of which we read in #Ps 45:6|, is
expressive of the justice and uprightness, the truth and equity,
which shall distinguish Messiah's reign, after his kingdom on
earth has been established. But when it is said in #Re 14:15|,
that he, "whose name is called the Word of God," will smite the
nations, and "rule them with a rod of iron," if the rod signifies
"his sceptre," then the "iron" of which it is made must be
designed to express the severity of the judgments which this
omnipotent "King of kings" will inflict on all who resist his
authority. But to me it appears doubtful whether the "rod of
iron" symbolizes the royal sceptre of the Son of God at his
second advent. It is mentioned in connection with "a sharp
sword," which leads me to prefer the opinion that it also ought
to be regarded as a weapon of war; at all events, the "rod of
iron" mentioned in the Psalm we are endeavouring to explain, is
evidently not the emblem of sovereign power, although represented
as in the hands of a king, but an instrument of correction and
punishment. In this sense the word "rod" is often used ... When
the correcting rod, which usually was a wand or cane, is
represented, as in the second Psalm, to be of "iron" it only
indicates how weighty, how severe, how effectual the threatened
chastisement will be--it will not merely bruise, but it will
break. "_Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron_."

        Now it is just such a complete breaking as would not
readily be effected excepting by _an iron rod_, that is more
fully expressed in the following clause of the verse, "Thou shalt
dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." The completeness of
the destruction, however, depends on two things. Even an iron rod
if gently used, or used against a hard and firm substance, might
cause little injury; but, in the case before us, it is supposed
to be applied with great force, "Thou shalt _dash_ them;" and it
is applied to what will prove as brittle and frangible as "_a
potter's vessel_"-- "Thou shalt dash them _in pieces_." ... Here,
as is other respects, we must feel that the predictions and
promises of this Psalm were but very partially fulfilled in the
history of the literal David. Their real accomplishment, their
awful completion, abides the day when the spiritual David shall
come in glory and in majesty as Zion's King, with a rod of iron
to dash in pieces the great antichristian confederacy of kings
and peoples, and to take possession of his long-promised and
dearly-purchased inheritance. And the signs of the times seem to
indicate that the coming of the Lord draws nigh.--^David
Pitcairn.

                       HINTS TO PREACHERS.

        Verse 7.--The divine decree concerning Christ, in
connection with the decrees of election and providence. The
Sonship of Jesus.

        This verse teacheth us faithfully to declare, and humbly
to claim, the gifts and calling that God hath bestowed upon
us.--^Thomas Wilcocks.

        Verse 8.--Christ's inheritance.--^William Jay.

        Prayer indispensable.--_Jesus must ask_.

        Verse 9.--_The ruin of the wicked_. Certain,
irresistible, terrible, complete, irretrievable, "like a potter's
vessel."

        _The destruction of systems of error and oppression to be
expected_. The gospel an iron rod quite able to break mere pots
of man's making.