Psalm 2

2:4-6 — ⁴ The One enthroned in heaven laughs;
the Lord scoffs at them.
⁵Then he rebukes them in his anger
and terrifies them in his wrath, saying,
⁶ "I have installed my King^c
on Zion, my holy hill." T

We experience an abrupt change of scene as we begin this new stanza. The light dims suddenly on the "kings of the earth" (v2) and switches on to blaze on "the One enthroned in heaven" (v4). Since the rebellion was "against the Lord and his Anointed One," it is His response that matters, and to this the psalmist now turns.

Yahweh is here referred to by two appellations, "the One enthroned in heaven" and "the Lord" (v4). Yahweh's enthronement in heaven is a recurring image in the Old Testament, and used in such a way that it embraces a number of assertions about Him, foremost of which is His omnipotence, as is evidenced in the following examples from the Psalms:

Psm 11:4 - The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord is on his heavenly throne. He observes the sons of men; his eyes examine them.

Psm 103:19 - The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all.

Psm 115:3-4 - Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him. But their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.

Psm 119:89-90 - Your word, O Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens. Your faithfulness continues through all generations; you established the earth, and it endures.

Psm 135:6 - The Lord does whatever pleases him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths.

The other title "the Lord" is not to be confused with "the Lord" or YHWH (Yahweh), the ineffable name of God (though this is what happened in the RSV, NRS, NKJ). It is simply 'adonay, "the Sovereign One," which sums up neatly who and what "the One enthroned in heaven" is. At the same time, of course, this Sovereign One is the very same "the Lord" of v2 against whom the nations and kings are rebelling.

Yahweh's response to the rebellion is first to laugh, yischaq. There are, of course, differing tones of laughter. Here, so suggest the NRSV and NKJV, it is the laughter of "derision," of a king, e.g., laughing at the four-year old child charging the fortress with a broomstick for sword in hand thinking to usurp the throne. Yahweh "scoffs" at them. But His scoff is not that of the "mockers," letsim of Psm1:1, who do not know the emptiness of their own moral bankruptcy, but the knowing humour of one who understands everything as they trully are and will be. He "speaks against" them in His anger. There is a great deal of misunderstanding in the Church about God's anger. Some Christians can only think of God as an angry God and they are the helpless victim on the sharp end of the stick. The biblical picture of God, and the countless testimonies of those who have walked with Him, is not like that. Like laughter, there are differing tones (and Hebrew words) for anger. However the tone of His anger, it is never a hysterical explosion of frayed emotions but always a measured decision in response to mindless sin.

God's anger is never a hysterical explosion of frayed emotions but always a measured decision in response to mindless sin.

The incredulity expressed by the rhetorical question of the first stanza is now heightened by the steel in the voice of Yahweh's assertion that He has installed His king on Zion in v6. English translations of this verse do not quite catch the drama or the emphatic tone reflected in the text. The transition from v5 to v6 in almost all English versions is dampened by the addition of "saying" on the tail-end of v5 to introduce Yahweh's speech; such an introduction is missing in the Hebrew text. Yahweh's declaration appears suddenly in v6 and catches us by surprise and we are startled into the fact that He is here in our midst, not far off in heaven. Secondly, the construction of His declaration is emphatic, making use of the independent pronoun wa'ani, "I," at the beginning of the sentence. The form of a Hebrew verb usually contains enough information to indicate who the actor is, and sometimes also who is acted upon, so that there is no need for such an independent pronoun. Its addition to the sentence is indicative of particular emphasis. Here it has the force of "It is I — I have installed my king on Zion, my holy hill!" And that, really, is all that needs to be said!