Psalm 2:9

Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(9) Thou shalt break.—The LXX. translated, “thou shalt pasture them,” understanding by the rod (Heb., shevet), as in Leviticus 27:32, a shepherd’s crook. (Comp. Ezekiel 20:37; Micah 7:14.) Elsewhere the rod is a sceptre (Psalm 125:3); in Proverbs 22:15 it is a rod of correction. The use to be made of it—to dash the nations in pieces, as one breaks a potter’s vessel—points to the latter of these significations here.

“Then shalt thou bring full low

With iron sceptre bruised, and them disperse

Like to a potter’s vessel shivered so.” (Milton’s trans.)

Psalm 2:10 begins the fourth section of the poem. Subject princes are warned to be wise in time, and, as a religious duty as well as a political necessity, to submit to Jehovah.

Rejoice with trembling.—Literally, quake, referring to the motion of the body produced by strong emotion, and therefore used both of joy and terror. Our version follows the LXX.; most of the old versions paraphrase the word: Chaldean, “pray”; Syriac,” cleave to him”; Arabic, “praise him.” It is historically interesting to remember that the words of this verse—et nunc reges intelligite—formed the legend of the medal struck in England after the execution of Charles I.

Benson Commentary

Psalm 2:9. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron — Those people that will not quietly submit to thee shall be crushed and destroyed by thy mighty power, which they shall never be able to resist. This was in part fulfilled when the Jews, who persisted in unbelief, were destroyed by the Roman power: and in the destruction of the pagan power when the Christian religion came to be established. But it will not be completely fulfilled till all opposing power and principality be put down.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

2:7-9 The kingdom of the Messiah is founded upon an eternal decree of God the Father. This our Lord Jesus often referred to, as what he governed himself by. God hath said unto him, Thou art my Son, and it becomes each of us to say to him, Thou art my Lord, my Sovereign'. The Son, in asking the heathen for his inheritance, desires their happiness in him; so that he pleads for them, ever lives to do so, and is able to save to the uttermost, and he shall have multitudes of willing, loyal subjects, among them. Christians are the possession of the Lord Jesus; they are to him for a name and a praise. God the Father gives them to him, when, by his Spirit and grace, he works upon them to submit to the Lord Jesus.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron - That is, evidently, thine enemies, for it cannot be supposed to be meant that he would sway such a scepter over his own people. The idea is that he would crush and subdue all his foes. He would have absolute power, and the grant which had been made to him would be accompanied with authority sufficient to hold it. That dominion which was to be conceded to him would be not only one of protection to his friends, but also of punishment on his enemies; and the statement here is made prominent because the former part of the psalm had respect to rebels, and the Messiah is here represented as being invested with power sufficient to punish and restrain them. The Vulgate renders this "thou shalt rule;" the Septuagint, "thou shalt feed - ποιμανεῖς poimaneis; that is, thou shalt feed them as a shepherd does his flock; thou shalt exercise over them the care and protection of a shepherd. This rendering occurs by a slight change in the pointing of the Hebrew word, though the most approved mode of pointing the word is that which is followed in our common translation. DeWette, Hengstenberg, Alexander, Horsley, adopt the common reading. What is said in this verse has been urged as an objection to referring it to the Messiah. The remark of DeWette on this matter has been quoted in the introduction to this psalm, Section 4 (3). But it may be observed, while it is everywhere represented that the scepter of the Messiah over the earth will be a mild scepter, it is also everywhere stated that he will ultimately crush and overthrow all his foes.

Thus, in Isaiah 11:4 : "He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked." So Psalm 110:6 : "He shall judge among the heathen; he shall fill the places with the dead bodies." So, likewise, Revelation 19:15 : "And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God." So also in Matthew 25, and elsewhere, it is said that he will come to judgment, and will consign all his foes to appropriate punishment. While it is said that the reign of the Messiah would be a mild reign, and that his kingdom would not be of this world, and while he is represented as the Prince of peace, it is also said that he would be invested with all the authority of a sovereign. While he would have power to protect his friends, he would also have power to humble and crush his foes. The expression "with a rod of iron" refers to the scepter which he would bear. A scepter was sometimes made of wood, sometimes of gold, sometimes of ivory, and sometimes of iron. The idea, when the past was the case, was, that the dominion was absolute, and that there was nothing that could resist it. Perhaps the idea of justice or severity would be that which would be most naturally suggested by this. As applicable to the Messiah, it can only mean that his enemies would be crushed and subdued before him.

Thou shalt dash them in pieces - The same idea is here expressed in another form, but indicating more particularly the ease with which it would be done. The word rendered "dash them in pieces" means to break in pieces as an earthen vessel, Judges 7:20; Jeremiah 22:28. It is used to denote the crushing of infants on stones, Psalm 137:9. The word "shiver" would well express the idea here - "thou shalt shiver them."

Like a potter's vessel - A vessel or instrument made by a potter; a vessel made of clay. This is easily broken, and especially with a rod of iron, and the idea here is that he would crush and subdue his enemies as easily as this could be done. No image could more happily express the ease with which he would subdue his foes; and this accords with all the representations of the New Testament - that with infinite case - with a word - Christ can subdue his enemies, and consign them to ruin. Compare Matthew 25:41, Matthew 25:46; Luke 19:27. The sense here is, simply, that the Messiah would be absolute; that he would have power to quell all rebellion against God, and to punish all those that rise up against him; and that on those who are incorrigibly rebellious he would exercise that power, and take effectual means to subdue them. This is merely what is done by all just governments, and is by no means inconsistent with the idea that such a government would be mild and gentle toward those who are obedient. The protection of the righteous makes the punishment of the wicked necessary in all governments, and the one cannot be secured without the other. This verse is applied to the Messiah in the Book of Revelation, Revelation 2:27, note; Revelation 19:15, note; compare Revelation 12:5, note (see the notes at these passages).

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

9. His enemies shall be subject to His terrible power (Job 4:9; 2Th 2:8), as His people to His grace (Ps 110:2, 3).

rod of iron—denotes severity (Re 2:27).

a potter's vessel—when shivered cannot be mended, which will describe utter destruction.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Thou shalt break them, i.e. those people that will not quietly submit to thee, shall be crushed and destroyed by thee.

With a rod of iron; with thy mighty power, which they shall never be able to resist.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron,.... Not his inheritance and possession among the Gentiles, the chosen ones given him by the Father; these he delights in, takes care of, protects, and preserves: but the stubborn and rebellious ones among the Heathen, and in each of the parts of the world, who will not have him to reign over them; who treat his person with contempt, reject his government, disobey his Gospel, and despise his commands; towards these Christ will use severity, and will exert his power and break them in pieces. The Vulgate Latin, Septuagint, Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions, render it, "shall feed" or "rule them"; and so it is cited in Revelation 2:27; and applied to Christ, the Word of God, and King of kings; and must be understood, as it is in those places, of the severity of his government over them, of the strictness of his justice, without the least display of mercy; and then the sense is the same with those versions which render it, "shall break them:" as the word used is interpreted by the Targum, and the Jewish commentators on the place; and which is confirmed by what follows:

thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel; which is very easily done with a bar of iron; and, when it is done, the pieces can never be put together again: so that by the metaphor is signified the easy and irreparable ruin of the wicked; see Isaiah 30:14. The word signifies that they should be so crumbled into dust, that they should be scattered about as with the wind; which, so far as it relates to the Jews, was fulfilled in their destruction by the Romans, and will have its accomplishment in the antichristian nations at the latter day; see Revelation 2:26.

Geneva Study Bible

Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

9. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron] A figure for the severity of the chastisement that awaits rebels. Or perhaps, ‘an iron sceptre’ (Psalm 45:6), symbol of a stern and irresistible rule. But the word rendered break them, if read with different vowels, may mean rule (lit. shepherd) them. so the LXX (and after it Revelation 2:27; Revelation 12:5; Revelation 19:15), Syriac, and Jerome. In this case rod will mean a shepherd’s staff (Micah 7:14), and the phrase will be an oxymoron.

a potter’s vessel] An emblem of easy, complete, irreparable destruction. The confederacy is shattered into fragments which cannot be reunited. Cp. Jeremiah 19:11; Isaiah 30:14; Proverbs 6:15.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 9. - Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron. It is said that these words, and those of the next clause, "cannot describe the mild rule of Christ" (Rosenmuller, Do Wette, Hupfeld, etc.). But the objectors forget that there is a severe, as well as a mild, side to the dealings of God with his human creatures. St. Paul notes in the same verse both the "severity" and the "goodness" of God (Romans 11:22). Christ, though "the Prince of Peace," "came to send a sword upon the earth" (Matthew 10:34). As the appointed Judge of men, he takes vengeance on the wicked, while he rewards the righteous (Luke 3:17; Matthew 25:46). Nay, St. John, in the Apocalypse, declares that "out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations. and "ye shall rule them with a rod of iron" (Revelation 19:15; comp. 2:27; 12:5). So, with respect to the other clause of the verse - Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel - it is to be noted that there is a similar threat made by the Lord of hosts against Jerusalem in the Book of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 19:11), and that under the new covenant the same is threatened in the Revelation (Revelation 2:27). In truth, both covenants are alike in denouncing the extreme of God's wrath on impenitent sinners, such as those here spoken of. Psalm 2:9

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The Anointed One himself now speaks and expresses what he is, and is able to do, by virtue of the divine decree. No transitional word or formula of introduction denotes this sudden transition from the speech of Jahve to that of His Christ. The psalmist is the seer: his Psalm is the mirrored picture of what he saw and the echo of what he heard. As Jahve in opposition to the rebels acknowledges the king upon Zion, so the king on Zion appeals to Him in opposition to the rebels. The name of God, יהוה, has Rebia magnum and, on account of the compass of the full intonation of this accent, a Gaja by the Sheb (comp. אלהי Psalm 25:2, אלהים Psalm 68:8, אדני Psalm 90:1).

(Note: We may observe here, in general, that this Gaja (Metheg) which draws the Sheb into the intonation is placed even beside words with the lesser distinctives Zinnor and Rebia parvum only by the Masorete Ben-Naphtali, not by Ben-Asher (both about 950 a.d.). This is a point which has not been observed throughout even in Baer's edition of the Psalter so that consequently e.g., in Psalm 5:11 it is to be written אלהים; in Psalm 6:2 on the other hand (with Dech) יהוה, not יהוה.)

The construction of ספּר with אל (as Psalm 69:27, comp. אמר Genesis 20:2; Jeremiah 27:19, דּבּר 2 Chronicles 32:19, הודיע Isaiah 38:19): to narrate or make an announcement with respect to... is minute, and therefore solemn. Self-confident and fearless, he can and will oppose to those, who now renounce their allegiance to him, a חק, i.e., an authentic, inviolable appointment, which can neither be changed nor shaken. All the ancient versions, with the exception of the Syriac, read חק־יהוה together. The line of the strophe becomes thereby more symmetrical, but the expression loses in force. אל־חק rightly has Olewejored. It is the amplificative use of the noun when it is not more precisely determined, known in Arabic grammar: such a decree! majestic as to its author and its matter. Jahve has declared to Him: בּני אתּה,

(Note: Even in pause here אתּה remains without a lengthened ā (Psalter ii. 468), but the word is become Milel, while out of pause, according to Ben-Asher, it is Milra; but even out of pause (as in Psalm 89:10, Psalm 89:12; Psalm 90:2) it is accented on the penult. by Ben-Naphtali. The Athnach of the books תאם (Ps., Job, Prov.), corresponding to the Zakeph of the 21 other books, has only a half pausal power, and as a rule none at all where it follows Olewejored, cf. Psalm 9:7; Psalm 14:4; Psalm 25:7; Psalm 27:4; Psalm 31:14; Psalm 35:15, etc. (Baer, Thorath Emeth p. 37).)

and that on the definite day on which He has begotten or born him into this relationship of son. The verb ילד (with the changeable vowel i)

(Note: The changeable i goes back either to a primary form ילד, ירשׁ, שׁאל, or it originates directly from Pathach; forms like ירשׁוּה and שׁאלך favour the former, ē in a closed syllable generally going over into Segol favours the latter.))

unites in itself, like γεννᾶν, the ideas of begetting and bearing (lxx γεγέννηκα, Aq. ἔτεκον); what is intended is an operation of divine power exalted above both, and indeed, since it refers to a setting up (נסך) in the kingship, the begetting into a royal existence, which takes place in and by the act of anointing (משׁח). Whether it be David, or a son of David, or the other David, that is intended, in any case 2 Samuel 7 is to be accounted as the first and oldest proclamation of this decree; for there David, with reference to his own anointing, and at the same time with the promise of everlasting dominion, receives the witness of the eternal sonship to which Jahve has appointed the seed of David in relation to Himself as Father, so that David and his seed can say to Jahve: אבי אתּה, Thou art my Father, Psalm 89:27, as Jahve can to him: בּני אתּה, Thou art My son. From this sonship of the Anointed one to Jahve, the Creator and Possessor of the world, flows His claim to and expectation of the dominion of the world. The cohortative, natural after challenges, follows upon שׁאל, Ges. 128, 1. Jahve has appointed the dominion of the world to His Son: on His part therefore it needs only the desire for it, to appropriate to Himself that which is allotted to Him. He needs only to be willing, and that He is willing is shown by His appealing to the authority delegated to Him by Jahve against the rebels. This authority has a supplement in Psalm 2:9, which is most terrible for the rebellious ones. The suff. refer to the גּוים, the ἔθνη, sunk in heathenism. For these his sceptre of dominion (Psalm 90:2) becomes a rod of iron, which will shatter them into a thousand pieces like a brittle image of clay (Jeremiah 19:11). With נפּץ alternates רעע ( equals רעץ frangere), fut. תּרע; whereas the lxx (Syr., Jer.), which renders ποιμανεῖς αὐτοὺς ἐν ῥάβδῳ (as 1 Corinthians 4:21) σιδηρᾷ, points it תּרעם from רעה. The staff of iron, according to the Hebrew text the instrument of punitive power, becomes thus with reference to שׁבט as the shepherd's staff Psalm 23:4; Micah 7:14, an instrument of despotism.