God & Jesus
Psalm 2 and the anointed king
“Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.” These words from Psalm 2 are quoted in the New Testament about Jesus. But in the psalm itself, who is speaking, to whom, and on what day?
1The question
Who is “my Son” in Psalm 2:7, and what does “begotten” mean there?
2What Christians believe
Christians read Psalm 2 as a prophecy of Jesus. The New Testament quotes it about him: Paul in Acts 13:33 and the letter to the Hebrews (Hebrews 1:5). Christians see the anointed king of the psalm fulfilled in Jesus, the Messiah.
Many Christians understand “this day have I begotten thee” as pointing to the eternal relationship of the Son to the Father, or to the resurrection, when Jesus was shown to be the Son with power.
3What the texts say
The king is crowned
The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,
Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.
I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.
David as God’s firstborn
I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him:
He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation.
Also I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth.
The New Testament reading
God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.
For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?
4What scholars say
Peter C. Craigie (Psalms 1–50, 1983) reads Psalm 2 as a royal psalm used at the crowning of a king of Judah. On that day God declares the new king his son, a way of saying that the king rules with God’s authority.
James D. G. Dunn (Christology in the Making, 1980) notes that Acts 13:33 links “this day have I begotten thee” to God raising Jesus from the dead, an event at a point in time, which he sees as an early way of speaking about Jesus’s sonship.
Scholars agree that in its first setting the psalm speaks of the anointed king of Israel, and that the New Testament writers applied it to Jesus.
5The Islamic perspective
Muslims read the psalm in its own setting: God speaks to his anointed king and calls him son on the day he is crowned. Being chosen by God, even in a wonderful way, does not make anyone divine. The Qur’an says the same of Jesus’s wonderful birth:
Lo! the likeness of Jesus with Allah is as the likeness of Adam. He created him of dust, then He said unto him: Be! and he is.
He spake: Lo! I am the slave of Allah. He hath given me the Scripture and hath appointed me a Prophet,
In Psalm 89 David calls God “my father, my God”. A king who calls God his father in the same breath as his God is a servant who knows his place, and Muslims see Jesus’s sonship in the same light.
6Objections and responses
“Hebrews 1:5 asks to which angel God ever said ‘Thou art my Son’, so the Son is above all creation.”
Response: God said it to a human king in Psalm 2, and said of Solomon, “he shall be my son” (2 Samuel 7:14). Being honoured above the angels does not make someone God. In the Qur’an God commanded the angels to bow before Adam (2:34).
“‘This day have I begotten thee’ describes the Son’s eternal generation.”
Response: The psalm links “this day” to the king’s crowning on Zion (Psalm 2:6), and Acts 13:33 links it to God raising Jesus. Both are events in time. Neither verse speaks of a birth from God’s own being.
7Conclusion
Both sides agree that Psalm 2 first spoke of the anointed king of Israel, and that the New Testament applies it to Jesus. Christians see it fulfilled in the eternal Son. Muslims see a king honoured by God on his coronation day, and read the title “son” as honour, not divinity.
Read Psalm 2 and Psalm 89:19–29 together and ask who God is speaking to.
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Sources
- Bible, King James Version:Psalm 2:2Psalm 2:6Psalm 2:7Psalm 89:20Psalm 89:26Psalm 89:27Acts 13:33Hebrews 1:5
- Qur’an, translated by M. Pickthall:Qur’an 3:59Qur’an 19:30
- Peter C. Craigie, Psalms 1–50 (1983)
- James D. G. Dunn, Christology in the Making (1980)