Let us break their bonds asunder, and cast away their yokes from us. (Psalms 2:3)

This is a curious verse to highlight in an oratorio composed in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and first performed in 1742.

The "Glorious Revolution" that had overthrown the Catholic King James II was not yet fully confirmed. Not until the 1745 failure of the Second Jacobite Rebellion was the succession of William and Mary and Mary's German cousins largely secure.

Charles Jennens was a "non-juror." These were Anglicans who did not accept the succession to William and Mary, nor - by implication - to the contemporary German-born King George II.

Is including this verse a bit of pious subversion? Would Handel have noticed? Did the King when he attended the London performance?

Christianity is, in any case, profoundly subversive. Religious leaders sometimes reach an accommodation with political power. But Jesus and scripture are not so easy to tame. Here we find constant encouragement to break asunder the bonds of earthly pretence to power.

Learn more about the non-jurors courtesy of the Internet Archive. You may listen to Let us Break the Bonds Asunder from the Messiah performed by the Academy of St. Martin's in the Fields (following Why do the Nation's so Furiously Rage).