Ancient Near Eastern Kingship and the Royal Son of Psalm 2

For modern people, kingship belongs to the misty realms of ancient history, or theatrical presentations of British monarchs such as Victoria, Elizabeth, or even King Henry VIII. But kings and their kingdoms permeate the pages of Scripture from the small warring kings of Genesis 14 with whom Abraham fought to the empire-wide authority of such figures as Ashurbanipal and Nebuchadnezzar to maniacal despots such as Antiochus Epiphanes IV and King Herod the Great. We must look closely at the role of kings in the ancient world to understand our Bible and the hope we maintain for the kingdom of God. In this paper, we will look at Psalm 2, one of the great royal, Messianic psalms. We will look at it within its cognitive environment and the practices of ancient Near Eastern kingship.