John Calvin Commentary Psalms 2:4-6

"He that sitteth in the heavens will laugh: The Lord will have them in derision. Then will he speak unto them in his wrath, And vex them in his sore displeasure: Yet I have set my king Upon my holy hill of Zion." — Psalms 2:4-6 (ASV)

After David has told us of the tumult and commotions, the counsels and pride, the preparation and resources, the strength, and efforts of his enemies, in opposition to all these he places the power of God alone. He concludes that this power would be brought to bear against them because they attempt to frustrate God's decree.

And, just as a little before, by calling them kings of the earth, he expressed their feeble and perishable condition, so now, by the lofty title of He that dwelleth in heaven, he extols the power of God. It is as if he had said that God's power remains intact and unimpaired, whatever humans may attempt against it.

However much they exalt themselves, they will never be able to reach heaven. Indeed, while they think to throw heaven and earth into confusion, they resemble so many grasshoppers, and the Lord, meanwhile, undisturbed, beholds their deluded schemes from on high.

And David ascribes laughter to God for two reasons: first, to teach us that He does not need great armies to suppress the rebellion of wicked people, as if this were an arduous and difficult matter. On the contrary, God could do this whenever He pleases with the most perfect ease.

Second, he wants us to understand that when God permits the reign of His Son to be troubled, He does not stop intervening because He is busy elsewhere, or unable to provide help, or because He is neglectful of the honor of His Son. Instead, He purposely delays inflicting His wrath until the proper time—namely, until He has exposed their deluded rage to general ridicule.

Let us, therefore, assure ourselves that if God does not immediately stretch out His hand against the ungodly, it is now His time of laughter. And although, in the meantime, we should weep, let us soothe the bitterness of our grief, indeed, and wipe away our tears, with this reflection: God does not overlook the wickedness of His enemies as if out of laziness or weakness, but because for the time being, He confronts their insolence with quiet contempt.

With the adverb then, he points to the appropriate time for exercising judgment. It is as if he had said that after the Lord has, for a time, apparently taken no notice of the wrongdoings of those who oppose the rule of His Son, He will suddenly change His course and show that He holds nothing in greater abhorrence than such presumption.

Moreover, David ascribes speech to God, not to instruct His enemies, but only to convict them of their madness. Indeed, by the term speak, he means nothing other than a manifestation of God’s wrath, which the ungodly do not perceive until they feel it.

David’s enemies thought it would be the easiest thing in the world for them to destroy someone who, coming from a humble shepherd’s cottage, had, in their view, presumptuously taken sovereign power.

The prophecy and anointing of Samuel were, in their estimation, mere ridiculous pretenses. But when God finally overthrew them and established David on the throne, He, by this act, spoke not so much with His tongue as with His hand, to show Himself as the founder of David’s kingdom.

So then, the Psalmist refers to speaking by actions, by which the Lord, without uttering a single word, makes His purpose clear. Similarly, whenever He defends the kingdom of His Son against the ungodly by the signs and inflictions of His wrath, although He does not speak a single word, He effectively speaks enough to make Himself understood.

David afterwards, speaking in the name of God, shows more clearly how his enemies were guilty of wickedly fighting against God Himself in the hatred they bore towards the one whom God had made king. The sum is this: Wicked people may now behave as wickedly as they please, but they will eventually feel what it means to make war against heaven.

The pronoun I is also emphatic, by which God signifies that He is so far exalted above the people of this world that all of them together could not possibly obscure His glory in the slightest. So, whenever human power appears formidable to us, let us remember how much it is transcended by the power of God.

These words set before us God's unchangeable and eternal purpose to effectively defend, even to the end, the kingdom of His Son, of which He is the founder. This can indeed support our faith amid the turbulent storms of the world.

Therefore, whatever plots people may devise against it, let this one consideration be enough to satisfy us: they cannot make God's anointing ineffective.

Mention is here made of mount Sion in express terms, not because David was first anointed there, but because finally, in God’s own time, the truth of the prophecy was revealed and actually established by the solemn rite of his consecration.

And although David in these words was mindful of God's promise, and drew his own attention and that of others to it, at the same time, he meant to signify that his own reign is holy and inseparably connected with the temple of God.

But this applies more appropriately to the kingdom of Christ, which we know to be both spiritual and joined to the priesthood; and this is the principal part of the worship of God.