Psalm 2/Context
Context
Cultural background
The following is an excerpt from an article by Peter Gentry,[1] concerning the cultural context of kingship in the ANE.
"The ANE and Canaanite cultural context is significant. In Egypt, from at least 1650 BC onwards, people perceived the king as the image of god because he was the son of god. The emphasis was not on physical appearance. For example, a male king could be the image of a female goddess. What is stressed is that the behavior of the king reflects the behavior of the god. The king as the image of god reflects the characteristics and essential notions of the god.[2]
From Ugarit we have the story of King Kirtu, who is described as the son of El.[3] His excellent health must indicate his divine origin.[4]
The OT records an Aramean king of Damascus known as Ben-Hadad.[5] By his name, he is the son of his god. The prosopography of the Amarna Correspondence and also at Ugarit show a number of people from various levels of society whose names are of the format 'son of Divine Name.'[6] Thus we do not know if the name Ben-Hadad proves that he considered himself as the representative of Ba‘al to his people. It might depend upon whether the name was a birth name from his parents or a name taken upon accession to the throne.[7]
The Canaanite and ANE culture shows that the notion of the king as a son of god was well established.[8] The meaning may have differed in Egypt, Canaan, and Mesopotamia, but the common denominator is the idea that the king represents the character of the god in some way to the people.",
Reference/allusions
- 2 Samuel 7. אֲנִי֙ אֶהְיֶה־לּ֣וֹ לְאָ֔ב וְה֖וּא יִהְיֶה־לִּ֣י לְבֵ֑ן,
Alluded to in NT
Anderson lists the following "direct quotations or specific allusions" of Psalm 2 in the NT:[9]
- Ps. 2:1-2 – Acts 4:25-26
- Ps. 2:1, 5 – Rev. 11:18
- Ps. 2:7 – Acts 13:33; Heb. 1:5; 5:5
- Ps. 2:8-9 – Rev. 2:26-27; 12:5; 19:15
To these may be added the words of the Father spoken at Jesus' baptism (Matt. 3:17; Mk. 1:11; Lk. 3:22) and transfiguration (Matt. 17:5; Mk. 9:7; Lk. 9:35), all of which allude to Ps. 2:7.,
Other
Canonical Context
Along with Psalm 1, this provides the introduction to the entire Psalter. It particularly includes the additional theme of kingship.
- ↑ Peter Gentry, "A Preliminary Evaluation and Critique of Prosopological Exegesis," SBJT 23.2 (2019): 113.
- ↑ See P. E. Dion, “Ressemblance et image du Dieu,” Suppléments aux Dictionnaire de la Bible X, ed. H. Cazelles and A. Feuillet, 55:365–403.
- ↑ See Gregorio del Olmo Lete and Joaquín Sanmartín, A Dictionary of the Ugaritic Language in the Alphabetic Tradition (trans. W. G. E. Watson; 2 vols.; Handbook of Oriental Studies I: The Near and Middle East 67; Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 2003), 226. Also noteworthy: K. A. Kitchen, "The King List of Ugarit," Ugarit Forschungen 9 (1977): 131–142; T. Kleven, “Kingship in Ugarit (KTU 1.16 I 1–23),” in Ascribe to the Lord: Biblical and Other Studies in Memory of Peter C. Craigie (ed. L. Eslinger and G. Taylor; JSOTSup 67; She eld, UK: She eld Academic Press, 1988), 29–53.
- ↑ Cf. also P. Kyle McMarter, Jr., “Two Bronze Arrowheads with Archaic Alphabetic Inscriptions,” Eretz-Israel 26 (1999): 124*–128*.
- ↑ 1 Kings 15:18, 20; 2 Chronicles 16:2, 4. See M. Cogan, 1 Kings (Anchor Bible 10; New York: Doubleday, 2000), 399–400.
- ↑ For a listing of all names in texts from Amarna and Ugarit of the type, “son of DN,” see excursus in Peter J. Gentry and Stephen J. Wellum, Kingdom through Covenant: A Biblical-Theological Understanding of the Covenants (2nd ed.; Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2018), 252-254.
- ↑ Some argue that this is a dynastic name, but there is no clear evidence to support this. See K. Lawson Younger, Jr., “Shalmaneser III and Israel,” in Israel—Ancient Kingdom or Late Invention? Archaeology, Ancient Civilizations, and the Bible (ed. Daniel I. Block; Nashville, TN: B&H, 2008), 225–256.
- ↑ See especially Ivan Engnell, Studies in Divine Kingship in the Ancient Near East (2nd ed.; Oxford: Blackwell, 1967), 80.
- ↑ Bernhard Anderson and Steven Bishop, Out of the Depths: The Psalms Speak for Us Today, third edition (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2000), 225.