2:10 In view of the inevitability of judgment for rebellion David exhorted the nations to submit before the wrath of the great King led Him to smite them. The leaders of these nations would be wise to bow in submission not only to David, but what is more important to the King behind him in heaven.
2:11 They should respond like the righteous by worshipping (serving), reverencing (fearing), rejoicing, and trembling before Him.
2:12 "Kissing"the son (NIV) is an act of submissive homage to the king (cf. 1 Kings 19:10; Hos. 13:2).24The custom of kissing the Pope's ring pictures the same thing. The human king and the Lord enjoy close association in this whole psalm. Their wrath and their pleasure are different only in the spheres in which they operate, the local and the cosmic. The nations would serve the Lord as they served His son, the king of Israel. Only by taking refuge in His anointed, rather than rebelling against him, could they avoid the wrath of God.25
The Apostle Peter saw in the opposition of Israel's leaders to Jesus a parallel with the refusal of the nations' leaders in David's day to submit to David's authority (Acts 2:25-26). The writer to the Hebrews also saw a fulfillment of the coronation of God's "son"in Jesus' resurrection and ascension (Heb. 1:5; cf. Heb. 5:5). By that exaltation, he wrote, Jesus was declared to be the Son of God (cf. Rom. 1:4).26When God instructs His Son to ask for His inheritance He will then bring Jesus back into the world (i.e., back to earth; Heb. 1:6). Then the Anointed One will smash His enemies and rule over them with absolute control, but those who submit to Him will experience His protection and great joy.
