Psalms 1:4

The ungodly [are] not so: but [are] like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

Ver. 4. The ungodly are not so] Not like any such tree before described, but rather like the cypress tree, which, the more it is watered, is the less fruitful; or like the cyparit tree, whereof Pliny writeth that it is good for nothing, no, not for show, shadow, or smell. St Jude saith, they are trees indeed, but such as are twice dead, pulled up by the roots, Judges 1:12. Twice dead they are said to be, 1. Because a spiritual death is so great a death that it may well go for two. 2. Because those ungodly ones were dead, both in regard of fruit and leaves, truth of grace and any outward actings of grace. Their fruit, if any, is but hedge fruit, their leaves of formal profession wither and come to nothing; if they prosper in the world (as Sigonius observeth of Pope Zechariah that he died rebus non tam pie quam prospere gestis, not overly pious, and yet very prosperous) it is that they may be cut down for ever, Psalms 37:2 : such a temporary prosperity plus deceptionis habet quam delectationis, saith Lactantius, is more deceitful than delightful, and is, therefore, well called by Bernard, Misericordia omni indignatione crudelior, a giftless gift, &c.

But are like the chaff] Not so they are, but much worse in many respects, as it is fit they should be. God will surely set a difference, Malachi 3:18. See Trapp on " Mal 3:18 " A profane soldier at the siege of a town, passing a place of danger, was heard swearing; and when one that stood by warned him, saying, Fellow soldier, do not swear, the bullets fly; he answered, They that swear come off as well as they that pray. But what came of it? Soon after a shot hit him, and down he fell. "The wicked is" (as chaff) "driven away in his wickedness: but the righteous hath hope in his death," Proverbs 14:32. The word here rendered chaff is Palea tenuissima et minutissime contrita chaff beaten to dust, and, therefore, good for nothing, but apt to be whiffied up and down with every wind of doctrine, with every puff of temptation. A good man is, as a tree, stedfast, and unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, 1 Corinthians 15:58. An evil man is, as chaff, light and worthless, Religionem habens ephemeram, constant in nothing so much as in his inconstancy, serves God by fits and starts, flies in his face when afflicted, as chaff doth in the face of the winnower, while the weightier grain falls low at his feet. See Job 21:18 Psalms 55:5 Hos 13:3 Matthew 3:12. See Trapp on " Job 21:18 " See Trapp on " Psa 55:5 " See Trapp on " Hos 13:3 " See Trapp on " Mat 3:12 "