The author of the Second Psalm is one of Israel’s poet laureates. Commissioned to write a poem for the coronation of a king, his name - like that of the sovereign for whom he writes - has been lost in the swirl of events. Nor are the international happenings to which he addresses himself identifiable. Thus, we have no way of knowing who he is, when he writes, or for which monarch.

One thing is clear, however, concerning the psalm. It is as much prophecy as it is poetry. For it is built upon dreams rather than facts. He speaks of Israel as if she were a world empire, which, of course, she is not. Nor has she ever been. In addition, he pictures her newly ascendant king as possessing all the powers and rights of dominion that the prophets ascribe to the Messiah, and understandably so.

In th…