James Trimm’s Nazarene Commentary on Psalm 2

2:1-2

1 Why are the nations in an uproar: and why do the peoples mutter in vain?
2 The kings of the earth stand up, and the rulers take counsel together against YHWH, and against His anointed:
(Psalm 2:1-2 HRV)

Rashi admits our sages understood this Psalm to speak of the Messiah, but he rejects the sages of old for his own interpretation:

Why have nations gathered: Our Sages (Ber. 7b) expounded the passage as referring to the King Messiah, but according to its apparent meaning, it is proper to interpret it as referring to David himself, as the matter is stated (II Sam. 5:17): “And the Philistines heard that they had anointed David as king over Israel, and all the Philistines went up to seek, etc.,” and they fell into his hands. Concerning them, he says, “Why have nations gathered,” and they all gathered.

However this Psalm not only speaks of Messiah, but these opening verses were fulfilled in his arrest and crucifixion, as we read in Acts:

25 And it is You who spoke through the Ruach HaKodesh by the mouth of David Your servant, Why do the nations rage, and the people consider vanity?
26 The kings of the earth, and all magistrates have risen up, and have deliberated as one, against YHWH and against His Messiah.
27 For truly, Herod and Pilate, with the Goyim and the congregation of Yisra’el, were gathered together in this city against the Set-Apart-One, Your Son Yeshua, whom You anointed,
28 To do all that Your hand, and Your will, before marked out to be.
(Acts 4:25-28 HRV)

It will be fulfilled a second time in the last days (Rev. 11:18)

2:7

I will tell of the decree. YHWH said unto me: You are My son: this day have I begotten you.
(Psalm 2:7)

Rabbi Tzvi Nasi, a 19th Century Orthodox Rabbi who became a believer in Yeshua as the Messiah, wrote of this verse:

Having penetrated thus far the mystery of the nature of God, and seen what the faith of my fathers had been at that time when the candlestick was burning in all its effulgent glory in the sanctuary, I took up the second Psalm, which speaks of no other than of Metatron, the Son of God. Consider the 7th and 12th verses: “I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto Me, Thou art My son; this day have I begotten Thee. (Ps. 2:7) Kiss the Son lest He be angry and ye perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him.” (Ps. 2:12)

I first searched out the manner in which the word yom (this day) is used by the sacred writers, and found that it sometimes expresses eternity, as in Isaiah 43:10, “Yea, before the day was, I am He,” that is, from Eternity, as Jonathan ben Uziel translates, “I am also from Eternity.

Thus is yom (this day) used in the second Psalm in the sense of day of eternity, so that He who is here called by God My Son, must be from Eternity.
(The Great Mystery 4:1)

This verse was fulfilled by Yeshua (see Acts 13:32-33; Heb. 1:4-5; 5:5) The 4th Century “Church Father” Epiphanius quoted the Gospel according the Hebrews, where this is fulfilled at Yeshua’s immersion:

When the people were baptized, Jesus also came and was baptized by John. And as he came up from the water, the heavens was opened and he saw the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove that descended and entered into him. And a voice sounded from Heaven that said: “You are my beloved Son, in you I am well pleased. ” And again: ” I have this day begotten you”. And immediately a great light shone round about the place. When John saw this, it is said, he said unto him : “Who are you, Lord?” And again a voice from Heaven rang out to him: “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” And then, it is said, John fell down before him and said: “I beseech you, Lord, baptize me.” But he prevented him and said: “Suffer it; for thus it is fitting that everything should be fulfilled.”
(Epiphanius, Panarion 30.13.7-8)

2:8-9

8 Ask of Me, and I will give the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession.
9 You shall break them with a rod of iron; you shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.
(Psalms 2:8-9 HRV)

This will be fulfilled in the last days and with Messiah’s second coming (Rev. 2:5, 26-27; 19:15)

2:11

Serve YHWH with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
(Psalm 2:11 HRV)

As Paul writes:

10 That at the Name of Yeshua, every knee will bow, that is in heaven and on earth and that is under the earth,
11 And every tongue will confess, that Yeshua the Messiah is YHWH, to the glory
of Eloah His Father.
12 Therefore my beloved, as at all times you have been obedient: not only when I was near to you, but also now that I am far from you; increasingly work the work of your life with fear and with trembling.
(Phil. 2:10-12 HRV)

2:12

Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish, in the way, when suddenly His
wrath is kindled. Happy are all they that take refuge in Him.
(Ps. 2:12 HRV)

In his deceptive anti-Missionary tape set titled (wrongly) “Lets Get Biblical” Tovia Singer refers to Psalm 2:12 saying “The word BAR in Hebrew does not quite mean ‘son’.”

Tovia goes on to say:

“What we do is we look at all the other places where the word BAR exists and what I did for you is I did you a favor. I showed you every single place where the word BAR appears in the Book of Psalms and you will notice that isn’t it odd that the King James Bible everywhere that the word appears in all its forms is always translated cleanliness or purity? Why if that word truly means son or sonship why isn’t it translated that way in other places?”

Notice here that Singer plays a shell game. He starts out suggesting “we look at all the other places where the word BAR exists” then he leads you to believe that he has done this for you, but he has played a switch on you for what he actually has done instead is “showed you every single place where the word BAR appears in the Book of Psalms”. Then he switches back claiming to have shown that “everywhere that the word appears in all its forms is always translated cleanliness or purity”. And then poses the question “Why if that word truly means son or sonship why isn’t it translated that way in other places?”.

So he begins by telling you that we need to look at EVERY passage where the word appears, he then shows you ONLY the passages where the word appears in Psalms, then he CLAIMS to have proven that BAR is always translated “cleanliness or purity” and never as “son”.

The reason for this deception is that Singer knows full well that if we were to enlarge the search by even looking at the neighboring book of Proverbs we would find Proverbs 31:2 where we read:

“What, my son? And what, O son of my womb? And what, O son of my vows?”
(Proverbs 31:2 Jewish Publication Society version)

Every translation I have ever seen, be it Jewish, Christian or Secular renders BAR as “son” in this verse. So now you see why Singer plays the shell game. He has to tell you that he is showing you “all the other places where the word BAR exists” while he really only looks at the book of Psalms, and then he pretends to have shown you “everywhere where the word appears” for the sole purpose of deceiving you, because he cannot honestly look at all of the passages, or even to the neighboring book of Proverbs or you could plainly see that the word BAR can be and is translated from Hebrew as “son”, even in Jewish sources.

In fact Jewish sources attest to “son” as a meaning of BAR in Hebrew even though Singer claims “The word BAR in Hebrew does not quite mean ‘son’.” In the Student’s Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary to the Old Testament by Alexander Harkavy published by the Hebrew Publishing Company in 1914, we read “In Heb. BAR [as Aramaic for “son”] occurs only in poetry Pr. 31,2.” (p. 68 column 8). The reader may notice that Psalms is also poetry, so Singer is plain wrong when he declares “The word BAR in Hebrew does not quite mean ‘son’.”.

In fact the tenth century Jewish scholar Abraham Ibn ‘Ezra writes in his commentary on this very passage:

“Serve YHWH” (Ps. 2:7) refers to YHWH’ and “kiss the son (BAR)” (Ps. 2:12) refers to His Messiah; and behold the presence of BAR, is like that of “What, my son (BAR)…”
(Prov. 31:2)”

Notice Ibn ‘Ezra not only understands BAR here to mean “son” but identifies this “son:” as the Messiah!

BAR in Psalm 2:12 is also understood to mean “son” in the Zohar:

All the keys of faith dangle from this Israel, and He glorifies Himself, saying YHWH said to me, ‘You are My son’ (Psalm 2:7). Certainly so, for Father and Mother have crowned Him and blessed Him with many blessings, and commanded aa: Kis the son (ibid., 12) kiss the hand of this Son.
(Zohar 3:191b)

Why are they called Sephirot?
Because it is written (Psalm 19:2),
“The heavens declare (me-SaPRim) the glory of God.”
(Bahir 125)

Tovia Singer’s argument is deceptive and dishonest. When the Psalm says “Kiss the Son (BAR), lest he be angry…” (Ps. 2:12) the word BAR definitely means “son”.