The Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 2:2

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

The kings of the earth set themselves; or, draw themselves up in array (comp. Jeremiah 46:4). Such kings as Herod the Great, Herod Agrippa, Nero, Galerius, Diocletian, Julian the Apostate, etc. There is always a warfare between the world and the Church, in which kings are apt to take a part, most often on the worldly side.

And the rulers take counsel together. "Rulers" are persons having authority, but below the rank of kings Such were the ethnarchs and tetrarchs of the first century, the governors of provinces under the Roman emperor, the members of the Jewish Sanhedrin, and the like.

These last frequently "took counsel against the Lord" (see Matthew 26:3-5; Matthew 27:1; Acts 4:5, Acts 4:6; Acts 5:21-41). Against the Lord, and against his Anointed, saying. In David's time the recognized "anointed of the Lord" was the divinely appointed King of Israel (1 Samuel 2:10; 1 Samuel 12:3, 1 Samuel 12:5; 1 Samuel 16:6; 1 Samuel 24:6,1 Samuel 24:10; 1 Samuel 26:7, 1 Samuel 26:16; 2 Samuel 1:14, 2 Samuel 1:16 : 2 Samuel 19:21; 2 Samuel 22:51; Psalms 17:1-15 :50; Psalms 20:6; Psalms 28:8)—first Saul, and then David; but David here seems to designate by the term a Greater than himself—the true theocratic King, whom he typified.

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