TEHILLIM LIGHT

Commentaries

Mizmor 002, Verse 007

אֲסַפְּרָ֗ה אֶֽ֫ל חֹ֥ק יְֽהוָ֗ה אָמַ֘ר אֵלַ֥י בְּנִ֥י אַ֑תָּה אֲ֝נִ֗י הַיּ֥וֹם יְלִדְתִּֽיךָ׃

ʾasappero ʾel chok ʾadonoy ʾomar ʾeylay beniy ʾatto ʾaniy hayyom yelidtiycho

Let me tell of the decree: the LORD said to me, “You are My son, I have fathered you this day."

MIDRASH TEHILLIM

1.....(2.9)
Let me tell of the decree...“You are My son..."
The children of Israel are declared to be sons in the decree of the Torah, in the decree of the Prophets, and the decree of the Writings.
In Torah - "My firstborn son is Israel" (Exodus 4:22).
In Prophets - "Behold My servant shall prosper; he shall be exalted and lifted up, and he shall be very high" (Yeshayahu - Isaiah 52:13), and its also written - "Behold My servant, I will support him, My chosen one, in whom My soul delights" (Yeshayahu - Isaiah 42:1)
In Writings - "I saw in the visions of the night, and behold with the clouds of the heaven, one like a man was coming, and he came up to the Ancient of Days and was brought before Him. And He gave him dominion and glory and a kingdom, and all peoples, nations, and tongues shall serve him..." (Daniel 7:13-14).
2.
Another word on You are My son
God does not say I have a son, but You are a son to Me, as when a master wishing to give pleasure in his slave, says to him, You are as dear to me as a son.

RASHI

1.
Let me tell of the decree...
Said David, “This is an established decree, and [one] that I have received to tell this and to make known.”
2.
...the LORD said to me...
through Nathan, Gad, and Samuel.
3.
You are My son...
The head over Israel, who are called “My firstborn son.” And they will endure through you, as is stated concerning Abner (II Sam. 3:18): “for God said, etc., ‘By the hand of My bondsman David shall I deliver… Israel.’” And for their sake, you are before Me as a son because they are all dependent upon you.
4.
...this day
for I have enthroned you over them.
5.
...I have fathered you...
to be called My son and to be beloved to Me as a son for their sake, as it is stated (II Sam. 7:14) concerning Solomon: “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to Me a son.” We find further concerning David (Ps. 89:27) “He shall call Me, ‘You are my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation.’”

RADAK

1.
Let me tell of the decree...
This is the utterance of David, who says, I will make this declaration a decree and rule.
2.
...the LORD said to me, “You are My son"...
And the kingdom has come to me from Him, and therefore let no man stir up strife against it, for the Lord hath chosen me for a son, as He said to Samuel (1 Sam. 16:1): "For I have provided among his sons a king for Myself."
It is as though to say, "This king is Mine and he is My son and servant and obeys Me" - for everyone who is obedient in the service of God He calls His son, just as a son obeys his father and is ready for his service. And so (in the verse) "ye are sons of the Lord your God" (Deut. 14:1), and "I will be his Father and he shall be My son" (2 Sam. 7:14); and it says (Hos. 2:1), "the sons of the living God."

Rabbi HIRSCH

1.
[אֲסַפְּרָ֗ה אֶֽ֫ל חֹ֥ק] (Let me tell of the decree)
[סָפַר] (saphar)
Is primarily the mere “recounting" of facts, but not the “proclamation” of laws.
[אֵל] (el)
Denotes the movement toward a goal.
The thought expressed here is: “Therefore I wish to recount it so long until a basic principle of life for all nations shall be formed from it..."
He did not become king by inheritance or by his own action, nor had he attained the throne merely through election by men. God Himself had chosen and appointed him king; his kingship was brought about directly by God—it was a proclamation of God's will.
2.
I have fathered you this day
Unlike other events, your kingship is not merely a consequence of a combination of world circumstances, created and set up by Me, so that it can be attributed to Me, so that it can be attributed to Me indirectly: “Today I have begotten you.”

WORDS