Psalm 2 Discourse

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Psalm Overview

Emotions

Emotional Profile

Emotions involve thoughts, feelings, and actions. The following visual shows the "emotional profile" of Psalm 2 in terms of what the psalmist is thinking, feeling, and doing. Psalm 2 - Emotional Profile - Psalm 2.jpg

Think-Feel-Do Chart

Psalm 2 - think feel do.jpg

Notes

vv. 1-3

  • THINK: According to the speech-act analysis, the Psalm opens with rhetorical questions. Rhetorical questions acquire their force through the obviousness of the implication.[1] In this case, there is no justification for the rebellion. This is also expressed through the use of the (adverbial?) noun rīq ‘emptiness’. This obvious implication demonstrates the anointed one's evaluation of the rebellion as a failure. This is true because he believes that anything that challenges YHWH/His anointed is doomed to fail. This belief is reflected by the selection of the Divine Name and the word ‘anointed one’. The Divine Name invokes the promises of God to uphold His covenant (and thus not allow the anointed one to be defeated). The choice of the word ‘anointed one’ reflects the ‘belief in the sacred status of the anointed and his enjoyment of divine favour.’[2]
  • FEEL: The cluster of code-switching in these opening verses reflects an elevated style (perhaps an ‘epic’ style.[3] The רג׳׳שׁ verb and the יס׳׳ד/סו׳׳ד verbs are Aramaisms and the long form of the 3mp object suffix (מו) is used. These features give the passage a solemn tone that only makes sense if the Anointed One is certain and confident of the rebuke he is about to issue. Yet, the elevated style is also in the mouths of the rebels. The anointed one thus recognises their pride and, given the tacit rebuke, grows impatient with the rebels.
  • DO: See speech-act analysis.

vv. 4-6

  • THINK: This section tells us how the Psalmist knows the rebellion will fail: (1) The fronted item that opens the section indicates the reason—God's superiority (2) The evaluation of God's superiority is highlighted by the designation ‘one who reigns in heaven’ in contrast with the rebels on earth. Likewise, adonay (lit., ‘master’) profiles God's superiority. This distinction in height is also at work in that the king is ‘higher’ than the rebels—he is on a mountain. The choice of metaphor is also evaluative. God's laughter—whether semantic or pragmatic—is always followed by (see Psa 37:13; Psa 59:9) confidence on the Psalmist's part that enemies will be destroyed).
  • FEEL: Closely follows from the ‘think’. Some other features reflect confidence The -מו suffixes are meant to answer the pride of the rebels (which also had מוֹ– suffixes). According to the anointed one, God does not laugh/get angry at the rebellion, but directly at them. Thus, the Psalmist knows the danger that the rebels are in and has no reason to fear it. The implications of the anointed one being an image of God would naturally leave him untroubled. Finally, notice the Psalmist describes the resulting physical symptoms of the rebels by using the factitive of the root meaning ‘dismay’ (בה׳׳ל). They are trembling; he has no reason to fear. Finally, this forceful language reflects impatience or frustration, which is the necessary pre-cursor to the rebuke entailed in the ‘DO’.
  • DO: The devices that contribute to the ‘feel’ component may also serve as rhetorical devices.

vv. 7-9

  • FEEL/THINK: These components are closely intertwined in this verse, and so I treat them together. The modality on the verb encodes the Psalmist's insistence on the event ‘I will tell’. Why is he insistent? Because he knows what God has promised him true and is confident in this fact. These are also reflected in the word ḥōq; the word cataphorically refers to God's propositions in vv.7b–9, but characterises them as ḥōq—something fixed and unmoveable. This sense of immovability is also suggested by the fronting of the divine name for focus. None other than Yahweh—the covenant God who will keep what he promises in vv. 7b–9—says to him the following words.
  • DO: Specified by the verb of speaking ‘declare’. The reason is specified by the discourse, to afford weight to the warning that follows.

vv. 10-12

  • KNOW: Drawing on the macrosyntax, the Psalmist states the implications of the preceding section. By definition, the justification for the following speech acts must be based on the same ‘thought process’. Poetically, there is (deliberate) ambiguity concerning how some features of this section can be said of an earthly king. There is no doubt in the Psalmist's mind that if they rebel against him, they rebel against God.
  • FEEL: Both the confidence and increased frustration are the result of a number of features: (1) Poetically, this section corrects the rebellion in the beginning, (2) There is a sudden cluster of imperatives here. In this context, the speaker obligates the addressee to the events stated in the predicates on pain of consequences, specifically, an outburst of anger. The repetition reflects increased intensity towards that anger.
  • DO: On the particle pen ("lest") ‘In most cases, a directive speech act is suggested in the matrix clause in order to prevent an undesirable event from happening.’[4]

Speech Acts

Speech Act Summary

Psalm 2 - Speech Act Summary.jpg

Speech Act Chart

Psalm 2 Speech Act Analysis.jpg

Word Order

References

  1. ↑ Adina Moshavi, “What Can I Say? Implications and Communicative Functions of Rhetorical ‘WH’ Questions in Classical Biblical Hebrew Prose1,” Vetus Testamentum 64, no. 1 (January 20, 2014): 93–108.
  2. ↑ ([www.sahd.div.ed.ac.uk/_media/lexeme:pdf:htg-mashiach-salvesen_a-oxf-1999.pdf SAHD]]
  3. ↑ See Ian Young, “Starting at the Beginning with Archaic Biblical Hebrew,” Hebrew Studies 58 (2017): 99–118.
  4. ↑ BHRG 2017:468