Psalm 2:3

3 saying, Let us break through their bonds, and cast away their yoke from us.

Psalm 2:3 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 2:3

Let us break their bands asunder
These are not the words of the apostles, nor of the saints in Gospel times, encouraging one another, notwithstanding the rage and opposition of Jews and Gentiles against their Master and his interest, to break asunder the bands of wickedness, the idolatrous customs and practices of the Heathens, and to throw off the insupportable yoke of bondage, of Jewish traditions and ceremonies, see ( Isaiah 58:6 ) ; but of the Heathen, the people, and kings of the earth, and rulers who, with one voice, say this and what follows,

and cast away their cords from us;
with relation to the Lord and his Anointed, whose laws, ordinances, and truths, they call "bands" and "cords"; so Arama interprets them of the law, and the commandments; or a "yoke", as the Vulgate Latin, Septuagint, Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions render the last word; and the phrases in general express their irreverence of God and the Messiah, their rejection Christ and his religion; their non-subjection to him, and their refusal to have him to rule over them; and their disesteem and contempt of his Gospel, and of the ordinances of it, and of the laws and rules of his government in his churches: and also they show the wrong notion that carnal men have of these things that whereas Christ's yoke is easy, and his burden light, ( Matthew 11:30 ) ; his Gospel and the truths of it make men free from the slavery of sin and Satan, and from a spirit of bondage, ( Romans 8:15 ) ; and true Gospel liberty consists in an observance of his commands and ordinances; yet they look upon these things as bands and cords, as fetters and shackles, as so many restraints upon their liberty, which are not to be bore: when, on the other hand, they promise themselves liberty in a disengagement from them, and in the enjoyment of their own lusts and sinful pleasures; whereas thereby they are brought into bondage, and become the servants of corruption. Some render it "cast away from him" ^F3; either from Christ, or everyone from himself.

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FOOTNOTES:

F3 (wnmm) "a nobis, sive ab illo", Nebiensis.

Psalm 2:3 In-Context

1 Wherefore did the heathen rage, and the nations imagine vain things?

2 The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers gathered themselves together, against the Lord, and against his Christ;

3 saying, Let us break through their bonds, and cast away their yoke from us.

4 He that dwells in the heavens shall laugh them to scorn, and the Lord shall mock them.

5 Then shall he speak to them in his anger, and trouble them in his fury.

6 But I have been made king by him on Sion his holy mountain,

7 declaring the ordinance of the Lord: the Lord said to me, Thou art my Son, to-day have I begotten thee.

8 Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the ends of the earth for thy possession.

9 Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces as a potter’s vessel.

10 Now therefore understand, ye kings: be instructed, all ye that judge the earth.

11 Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice in him with trembling.

12 Accept correction, lest at any time the Lord be angry, and ye should perish from the righteous way: whensoever his wrath shall be suddenly kindled, blessed are all they that trust in him.