Bellarmine on Psalm 2 : Verse 3

Verse 3

Let us break their bonds asunder: and let us cast away their yoke from us.

Dirumpamus vincula eorum, et projiciamus a nobis jugum ipsorum.

The Prophet gives a reason why the kings and the princes, along with the gentiles and the people, raged and met together against Christ. The reason is lest they be forced to keep Christ’s law against following the desires of the flesh and merely human wisdom. Accordingly, these words are spoken in the person of the wicked kings and princes, as though he were to say: “The kings of the earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against his Christ,” saying to one another : “Let us break their bonds asunder,” that is, let us not allow ourselves to be subject to the rule and laws of the Messiah. For their yoke, St. Jerome has their snares; the Hebrew word signifies ropes; it seems the Prophet wanted to repeat the same word, as it was his wont to say things twice. Accordingly, the Septuagint translators and St. Jerome focused not so much on the word as on the sense. The words are all metaphorical, whether you call the law chains, or ropes, or snares or a yoke. These metaphors explain the nature of the law in terms of what it is in the judgement of the wicked. For the wicked, the law of the Lord is a most grievous yoke and seems to be a deadly snare, but for holy men this same law is sweeter than honey, and more desirable than gold and precious stones, as we see in Psalm XVIII.1

[1] More to be desired than gold and many precious stones: and sweeter than honey and the honeycomb. Desiderabilia super aurum et lapidem pretiosum multum; et dulciora super mel et favum. [Psalm XVIII]

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

Bellarmine on Psalm 2 : Verse 2

Verse 2

The kings of the earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against his Christ.

Astiterunt reges terrae, et principes convenerunt in unum adversus Dominum, et adversus Christum ejus.

Having made the general ,statement that the gentiles and the people raged with indignation and devised vain things; he now explains the particulars of who these gentiles and people are, and against whom they feel indignation, and he says that the rage has not come from the people but from their leaders, that is, from the kings and princes. The first to rage was king Herod who, as we see in Matthew II,was born in a foreign land and could be reckoned as one of the Gentiles. The princes and people of the Jews followed him.  For Herod was troubled, “and all Jerusalem with him.”[1] Later, at the time of Our Lord’s passion, another Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Jewish princes and people, rose up against Christ. Finally, after the passion and resurrection of Christ, the persecutions continued still to be fomented, by kings or emperors, and by peoples following their leaders. Although the indignation and rage was strictly speaking against Christ, not against God, but rather under a banner proclaiming the glory of God and zeal for divine honour, in reality they who opposed Christ opposed the true God. For Christ, through His divine works, showed Himself to be the Son of the true God, and he who 

hates the Son, hates the Father. As for the words used, astiterunt / stood up, in Hebrew properly signifies se constituerunt / drew themselves up, that is, they stood up like a wall to resist the coming Messiah; convenerunt in unum / met together, in Hebrew properly signifies consultaverunt / consulted one another, or came together unto the taking of counsel : which is what we read in the Gospel that Herod and the leaders of the Jews did. So clear is this prophecy that not only did the Apostles, in Acts IV, understood this verse applied literally to Jesus Christ our Lord, but also the ancient Rabbis, as witnessed but Rabbi Salomon in his commentary on this Psalm, explained that it was a reference to the true Messiah, whom the blind and deluded Jews still await.

[1] Matthew II 3.

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.