Bellarmine on Psalm 2 : Verse 5

Verse 5

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

Tunc loquetur ad eos in ira sua, et in furore suo conturbabit eos.

He now explains the way in which Christ’s persecutors will be ridiculed, for He spoke to them not with words but with scourges, admonishing them with most grievous punishments, as when Herod was struck by the Angel,1] when Maximinus was eaten by worms and other cases. It is not strictly speaking (a case of of) anger or fury in God, because he always judges in tranquillity : but He is said to be angry and furious by way of metaphor, when He punishes severely, especially when the punishment does not advance them to eternal salvation; for thus are those wont to do who are angry and furious  and do not, like physicians, inflict pain in order to heal but who hurt for the sake of it. And so David says: “Rebuke me not, O Lord, in thy indignation; nor chastise me in thy wrath.”[1] He asks to be rebuked and chastised as a father would, not an enemy; for his salvation and not for his destruction.

[1] And upon a day appointed, Herod being arrayed in kingly apparel, sat in the judgment seat, and made an oration to them. And the people made acclamation, saying: It is the voice of a god, and not of a man. And forthwith an angel of the Lord struck him, because he had not given the honour to God: and being eaten up by worms, he gave up the ghost. Statuto autem die Herodes vestitus veste regia, sedit pro tribunali, et concionabatur ad eos. Populus autem acclamabat : Dei voces, et non hominis. Confestim autem percussit eum angelus Domini, eo quod non dedisset honorem Deo : et consumptus a vermibus, expiravit. [Acts xii 21-23]

[2]  Rebuke me not, O Lord, in thy indignation; nor chastise me in thy wrath. Domine, ne in furore tuo arguas me, neque in ira tua corripias me; [Ps xxxii 2]

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.