Attributed commentary excerpt
John Gill's Exposition on Psalms 2:1
A historical reference excerpt for this verse. Read it alongside the biblical text and other available sources.
Exposition of the Old and New Testament
John Gill (1697–1771) · 18th-century historical commentary
Source: BibleWord.ai's local reference edition of this named work.
Why do the Heathen rage, etc.] Or “the nations”; which some understand of the Jews, who are so called, (<011705>Genesis 17:5 <260203>Ezekiel 2:3 *marg); because of their various tribes; and of their rage against the Messiah there have been many instances; as when they gnashed upon him with their teeth, and at several times took up stones to stone him, and cried out in a most furious and wrathful manner, crucify him, crucify him, (<420428>Luke 4:28,29 <430859>John 8:59 10:31 19:6,15); though it is best to interpret it of the Gentiles, as the apostles seem to do in (<440427>Acts 4:27). The Hebrew word translated “rage” is by one Jewish writer f24 explained by wrbj, “associate” or “meet together”; and which is often the sense of the word in the Syriac and Chaldee languages, in which it is more used; and another f25 says, that it is expressive of “gathering together, and of a multitude”; it intends a tumultuous gathering together, as is that of a mob, with great confusion and noise f26; and so the Gentiles, the Roman soldiers, gathered together, even multitudes of them, and came out with Judas at the head of them, with swords and staves, to apprehend Christ and bring him to the chief priests and elders, (<402647>Matthew 26:47); these assembled together in Pilate’s hall, when Christ was condemned to be crucified, and insulted him in a most rude and shocking manner, (<402602>Matthew 26:2 27:22,23,26); and many are the instances of the Gentiles rising in mobs, and appearing in riotous assemblies, making tumults and uproars against the apostles to oppose them, and the spread of the Gospel by them; to which they were sometimes instigated by the unbelieving Jews, and sometimes by their own worldly interest; (see <441350>Acts 13:50 14:5,19 17:5,6 19:23-32), to which may be added, as instances of this tumult and rage, the violent persecutions both of the Pagan emperors and of the Papists, which last are called Gentiles as well as the other; for this respects the kingdom of Christ, or the Gospel dispensations, from the beginning to the end; and the people imagine a vain thing? by “the people” are meant the people of Israel, who were once God’s peculiar people, and who were distinguished by him with peculiar favours above all others, and in whom this prophecy has been remarkably fulfilled; they imagine it and meditated a vain thing when they thought the Messiah would be a temporal King, and set up a kingdom, on earth in great worldly splendour and glory, and rejected Jesus, the true Messiah, because he did not answer to these their carnal imaginations; they meditated a vain thing when they sought to take away the good name and reputation of Christ, by fixing opprobrious names and injurious charges upon him, for Wisdom has been justified of her children, (<401119>Matthew 11:19 <420735>Luke 7:35); and so they did when they meditated his death, with those vain hopes that he should die and his name perish, and should lie down in the grave and never rise more, (<194105>Psalm 41:5,6,8); for he not only rose from the dead, but his name was more famous after his death than before; they imagined a vain thing when they took so much precaution to prevent the disciples stealing his body out of the sepulchre, and giving out that he was risen from the dead, and more especially when he was risen, to hire the soldiers to tell a lie in order to stifle and discredit the report of it; they meditated vain things when they attempted to oppose the apostles, and hinder…
This public page shows a contextual excerpt from the locally available source text.
How to use this source
This excerpt is attributed to its named commentary. It is included as a historical study resource and should be evaluated in light of Scripture and other relevant evidence.
