Psalm 2/Participant Analysis/Notes

Notes

vv. 1-6, 10-12: Who is the primary speaker?

• In v. 7, the first-person "I" is clearly the king. For this reason, some argue that the king is probably the speaker in the rest of the psalm as well. For example, Eaton writes, "There seems no cause to assume... any change of speaker in the psalm. With Gunkel and Mowinkcel (GT), therefore, we should consider the Davidic king as the speaker throughout, referring to himself in the third as well as the first person."
• But there are at least two problems with this view.
  • (1) There is nothing in vv. 1-6 itself to suggest that the king is the primary speaker. Thus, even if he is the speaker in these verses, this does not become clear until v. 7. Someone reading or hearing the psalm for the first time would not likely identify the speaker of vv. 1-6 as the king.
  • (2) Outside of vv. 7-9, the king is consistently referred to in the third person (v. 2: "his anointed," v. 12: "the son... he become angry... his anger... in him"). In biblical Hebrew, speakers will sometimes refer to themselves in third person, so the use of the third-person does not necessarily mean that the king is not the speaker. But the fact that the third person is used consistently and exclusively for the king in vv. 1-6, 10-12, suggests that the king is not the speaker in these verses.
• For these reasons, others think that in v. 7 "a new speaker is now abruptly introduced, namely, the king of v. 6. Such alternations in speech are common in the Song of Songs and in other poetic Scriptures." We would agree with this interpretation and thus, for the most part, with Craigie's summary: "Although it is possible that the whole psalm should be viewed as containing the words spoken by the Davidic king..., it is perhaps better to note the change of speakers throughout the psalm. From a literary perspective, the psalmist or poet presents a variety of persons, each of whom speaks. First, he presents foreign nations and kings (2:1-2) who speak their words of arrogance (2:3). Second, he presents the Lord (2:4-5) who speaks concerning the chosen king (2:6). Third he presents the words of the king, who in turn proclaims the divine words of royal proclamation (2:7-9). Fourth, he addresses his own words of advice to the foreign nations and their rulers. Thus, the whole psalm has a dramatic character." The only minor change we would make to Craigie's summary is that the psalmist does not present the king as the speaker in v. 7; rather, the king becomes the main speaker at this point in the psalm. In this sense, the psalm is polyphonic, like Ps 118 (see notes there).

v. 12: YHWH or the king?

• The subject of the verb "become angry" in v. 12 is ambiguous, and so is the antecedent of the pronouns in the phrases "his anger" and "those who take refuge in him." Are these third-person references to YHWH or to the king?
• If we are correct that בַר in v. 12 means "son" (The Text and Meaning of Psalm2:12a), then the king is the participant most recently mentioned and thus the most likely candidate for the 3ms verb and pronoun in the subsequent clauses. "Kiss the son, or else he will become angry..." Furthermore, v. 9 has already said that it is the son who will crush the nations with an iron scepter.
• Nevertheless, even those who agree that בַר means "son" have argued that the 3ms verbs and pronouns in v. 12 refer to YHWH. E.g., Ibn Ezra commenting on יאנף: "It returns to [YHWH] who was mentioned in the previous verse." One argument for this view is that the verb יאנף elsewhere refers exclusively to divine anger. Another argument is that the pronoun in the phrase "all who take refuge in him" most naturally refers to YHWH. Also, the same phrase "his anger" occurs in v. 5 where it refers to YHWH's anger. (Note also that LXX explicitly identifies the subject of the 3ms verb in v. 12 as "the Lord" [κύριος].)
• But the application of divine attributes to the king makes sense in this context where the king is described as YHWH's son, for sons are the image and likeness of their fathers (cf. Gen 5:3; cf. the image metaphor in Ps 2:6). Psalm 110 ends with a similar blurring of the identities of God and king. Thus, there is no good reason not to take the son, who was the most recently mentioned participant, as the referent of the 3ms language in v. 12.