The Psalter may be regarded as the heart’s echo to the speech of God, the manifold music of its windswept strings as God’s breath sweeps across them. Law and Prophecy are the two main elements of that speech, and the first two psalms, as a double prelude to the book, answer to these, the former setting forth the blessedness of loving and keeping the law, and the latter celebrating the enthronement of Messiah.
Psalm 1: The character and fate of the lover of the law are sketched in 1-3, and that of the wicked in 4-6.
Psalm 2: The conspiracy of banded rebels is set before us with extraordinary force in 1-3. The scene transitions to heaven in 4-6 where lower half of the picture is all eager motion and strained effort; the upper is full of Divine calm. Another speaker is next heard in 2:7-9, the Anointed King, who bears witness to Himself and claims universal dominion as His by a Divine decree. Now, in 10-12, the poet speaks in solemn exhortation to serve the Lord and take refuge in the Messianic Son of God.