Psalms 2:7 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

I will declare Or publish, that all people concerned may take notice of it and submit to it, if they would escape the divine judgments which will be executed on the refractory and disobedient; the decree The will and appointment of God concerning my advancement to the throne of Judah and Israel, and that of the Messiah, my seed, to universal empire over all mankind, and concerning the submission and obedience which must be paid thereto. The Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son These words, in some sort, might be said to, or of David, not only because kings in general, and magistrates, are, styled gods, and sons of the Most High; but because when God, who was properly king of Israel, fixed David on the throne of that kingdom, and made it hereditary in his family, he did, as it were, cede and transfer the government, and thereby the rights of primogeniture to him, hereby making him, as it were, his son and successor in the kingdom, according to Psalms 89:27, I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth. But certainly the words much more properly belong to Christ, who is commonly known by this title, Son of God, both in the Old and New Testament, and to whom this title is expressly appropriated by the Holy Ghost, who is the best interpreter of his own words, Acts 13:33; Hebrews 1:5; Hebrews 5:5. This day have I begotten thee This also is applied by some to David, understanding, by this day, the day of his inauguration, when he might be said to be begotten by God, inasmuch as he was then raised and delivered from all his calamities and troubles, which were a kind of death, and brought forth and advanced to a new kind of life, of royal state and dignity: and so this was the birth-day, though not of his person, yet of his kingdom; as the Roman emperors celebrated a double birth-day, first the day on which they were born, and then the day when they were advanced to the empire. But this, it must be acknowledged, is a far-fetched and doubtful sense: and therefore not to be allowed by the rules of legitimate interpretation, since the words may, much more properly, be applied to Christ. And, so applied, may be understood, either, 1st, Of what has been termed his eternal generation, or sonship, this day, signifying from all eternity, which may be considered as well described by this day, there being no succession, no yesterday, no to-morrow, in eternity; but all being as one continued day, or moment without change or flux: or, 2d, Of the manifestation of Christ's eternal sonship in time; which was done both in his birth and life, when his being the Son of God was demonstrated by the testimony of the angel, Luke 1:32, by that of God the Father, Matthew 3:17; Matthew 17:5; and by his own words and works; and in his resurrection, which seems to be here chiefly intended, of which day this very place is expounded, Acts 13:33; when Christ was, in a most solemn manner, declared to be the Son of God with power, Romans 1:4. And at this day, or time, Christ might very well be said to be begotten by God the Father, 1st, Because the resurrection from the dead is in Scripture called a regeneration, or second birth, Matthew 19:28, as well it may, being a restitution of the very being which man received by his first birth: 2d, Because in this respect Christ is called, The first-begotten and firstborn from the dead: and, 3d, Because of that common observation, that things are often said to be done in Scripture when they are only declared, or manifested, to be done: see Genesis 41:13; Jeremiah 1:10; Ezekiel 43:3.