He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh
At the rage and tumult of the Heathen; at the vain imaginations of the people; at the opposition of the kings of the earth; at the mad counsel of the rulers, against him and his Messiah; and at their proposal to one another to throw off the yoke and government of them both. This is a periphrasis of God, "who dwells in the heavens", and sits there enthroned; though he is not included and comprehended in them, but is everywhere; and his being there is mentioned in opposition to the kings of the earth, and the people in it; and to show the vast distance there is between them, and how they are as nothing to him, ( Isaiah 40:1 Isaiah 40:5 Isaiah 40:17 Isaiah 40:22 ) ( Job 4:18 ) ; and how vain and fruitless their attempts must be against him and his Messiah: and his sitting there still and quiet, serene and undisturbed, is opposed to the running to and fro, and the tumultuous and riotous assembling of the Heathen. Laughing is ascribed unto him, according to the language of men, as the Jewish writers speak F4, by an anthropopathy; in the same sense as he is said to repent and grieve, ( Genesis 6:6 ) ; and expresses his security from all their attempts, ( Job 5:22 ) ( 41:29 ) ; and the contempt he has them in, and the certain punishment of them, and the aggravation of it; who will not only then laugh at them himself, but expose them to the laughter and scorn of others, ( Proverbs 1:26 ) ;
the Lord shall have them in derision;
which is a repetition of the same thing in other words; and is made partly to show the certainty of their disappointment and ruin, and partly to explain who is meant by him that sits in the heavens. The Targum calls him, "the Word of the Lord"; and Alshech interprets it of the Shechinah.