Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 2:7

"I will tell of the decree: Jehovah said unto me, Thou art my son; This day have I begotten thee." — Psalms 2:7 (ASV)

I will declare. —The anointed king himself now speaks, recalling the covenant made with him by Jehovah at his coronation.

I will tell. —Better, Let me speak concerning the appointment. The word rendered decree in our version is derived from a root meaning to engrave, and so stands for any formal agreement, but it is usually an ordinance clearly announced by a prophet or some other commissioned interpreter of the Divine will, and consecrated and legalised by mutual adoption by king and people.

The Lord has. —Better, Jehovah said to me: that is, at that particular time, the day which the great event made the new birthday, as it were, of the monarch, or perhaps of the monarchy.

From the particular prince, of whose career this would be the noblest historical memorial if we could identify him with certainty, the Psalmist—if, indeed, any one historic personage was in his thought at all—let his thoughts and hopes range, as we certainly may, to a larger and higher fulfilment.

The figure of an ideal prince who was always about to appear, but was never realised in any actual successor on the throne, may possibly, by the time of this psalm, have assumed its great place in the nation’s prophetic hopes. Certainly the whole line of tradition claims the passage in a Messianic sense. (See Note, Psalms 2:2; and in New Testament Commentary, Note to Acts 13:33; Hebrews 1:5; Hebrews 5:5. For the king, spoken of as God’s son, see Psalms 89:26-27, and compare to 2 Samuel 7:14.)