Psalms 1:1-6
1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly,a nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither;b and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
4 The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
6 For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.
BOOK THE FIRST
DESCRIPTIVE TITLE
The Righteous Man and the Lawless Contrasted.
ANALYSIS
The Righteous man DescribedPsalms 1:1-3: by what he Does NotPsalms 1:1; by what he DoesPsalms 1:2; and by what he is LikePsalms 1:3. The Lawless man described, as a Contrast, and by what he is LikePsalms 1:4; also by his Doom, negatively expressedPsalms 1:5. Jehovah's relation to the Two WaysPsalms 1:6.
(Nm.)
1
How happy[8] the man
[8] Note that the Psalms open with a word of emotion. See Intro., Chap. III., How happy.
Who hath not walked in the counsel of the lawless,[9]
[9] Cp. Isaiah 13:11; Isaiah 14:5. The use of r-sh- in allusion to Israelites implies disloyal association with the heathen, the impious outsiders (Psalms 25:5). The term is opposed to -the righteous-': cp. Exodus 9:27, Habakkuk 1:4; Habakkuk 1:13, Proverbs 3:33; Proverbs 28:1-4; Proverbs 28:12; Proverbs 28:28; Proverbs 29:2 (also cp. hoi anomoi in Macc. 2:24, Psalms 3:5-6)Thirtle, O.T.P. 106.
and in the way of sinners hath not stood,
and in the seat of scoffers hath not sat,[10]
[10] Note tenses. The perfects in Psalms 1:1 describe what he all along has never doneDel.
2
But rather in the law[11] of Jehovah is his delight,
[11] Or: instruction. Cp. Psalms 19:7-14; Psalms 119 passim.
and in his law doth he talk with himself[12] day and night.
[12] Heb. hagah; synonymous w. siach, soliloquise. Note throughout.
3
So doth he become like a tree planted[13] beside channels of waters,
[13] So Dr., Per., Del., Carter, Leeser; but transplantedO.G., Br.
that yieldeth its fruit in its season,
whose leaf also doth not wither,
And whatsoever he doeth he causeth to prosper.[14]
[14] Ver. evidently expanded in Jeremiah 17:8.
4
Not so the lawless!
but rather as chaff which the wind driveth away.
5
For this cause shall the lawless not rise in the vindication,[15]
[15] That is, in the resurrection which takes place in the judgment, at the end of the age of the worldBr. Cp. Isaiah 26:14; Isaiah 26:19, Luke 14:14, 1 Corinthians 15.
nor sinners enter into the congregation of the righteous.[16]
[16] Cp. Psalms 111:1.
6
For Jehovah does acknowledge[17] the way of the righteous,
[17] Ml.: know; but sometimes, know w. approval, recognise, acknowledge. Cp. Psalms 37:18, Matthew 7:23, Romans 8:29, 2 Timothy 2:19.
but the way of the lawless shall vanish.[18]
[18] Ml.: perish; but when a way perishes, it disappears; leading to nowhere, it is lost, is no longer a way. Cp. Psalms 112:10.
(Nm.)
PARAPHRASE
Oh, the joys of those who do not follow evil men's advice. who do not hang around with sinners, scoffing at the things of God:
2
But they delight in doing everything God wants them to, and day and night are always meditating on His laws and thinking about ways to follow Him more closely.
3
They are like trees along a river bank bearing luscious fruit each season without fail. Their leaves shall never wither, and all they do shall prosper.
4
But for sinners, what a different story! They blow away like chaff before the wind!
5
They are not safe on Judgment Day; they shall not stand among the godly.
6 For the Lord watches over all the plans and paths of godly men, but the paths of the godless lead to doom.
PSALM ONE
EXPOSITION
This Psalm is a commendation of the godly life. It opens with an expression of admiration for the man who lives that life: which it proceeds to describe in a simple and engaging manner, by telling us what such a man avoidswhat he delights inand what he resembles. He avoids the downward course by not beginning it; he delights in Jehovah's law, and shows his pleasure in it by diligent study; and he thereby resembles a tree planted in a spot where it is well-watered. Each of these points is enlarged sufficiently to make it impressive. The man described avoids three things: he walks not in the counsel of the lawlessthat is, he does not take the advice of those who care not how they live; he stands not in the way of sinnersin other words, he declines bad men as his companions; and he sits not in the seat of scoffershe refuses to form one of a circle who spend their time and wit in ridiculing religion. The things to be avoided are thus presented in the form of a double climax: worse and worse companions, and more and more submission to their influence. The unprincipled may prepare you for the immoral, and the immoral for the contemptuous: you may take bad advice, then seek bad company, and at last scoff at all goodness. Happy the man who does none of these things! Thrice happy he who has not begun to do them!
But life cannot thrive on negations. He that would hate wickedness must love goodness. Now, as the law, or instruction, of Jehovah, the holy and loving God, affords guidance to a good and holy life, it follows that he who would shun evil will take so much pleasure in divine guidance that he will look out for it, learn it, linger over it. The laws of nature he will revere and observe: the laws of revelation he will welcome and obey. If he is so happy as to know Christ, he will find in him the spirit and sum of all law (1 Corinthians 9:21). Christ will be the law of his being. As The Christ rejoiced that Jehovah's law of righteousness was enshrined in his deepest affections (Psalms 40:8), so will Christ's follower make it his greatest joy to do his Master's will, The newspaper, the novel, will be less highly esteemed than the Bible. He may be compelled, or find it serviceable, to consult the first; he may be able to choose and utilise the second; but it is to the third that his mind will gravitate, from the third that he will store his memory, in the third that he will discover his songs of immortal hope; and thoughnot being an Orientalhe may not be heard literally soliloquising out of the Holy Scriptures, yet will he count every day lost in which he does not gain clearer insight into its wisdom, and will feel every wakeful night-hour soothed which lights up any of its great and precious promises.
His best life, thus thrives. He is like a well-planted treetransplanted that it might be well-planted. He comes directly under the care of the Divine Husbandman, whose well-planned and well-watched irrigation keeps him constantly supplied with the waters of life through the channels of appropriate means coducive of spiritual growth and fruitfulness. Seasonable fruit is the glory of fruit-bearing trees: learning and liveliness in youth, steady work and sturdy endurance in middle life, patience and serene hope in old age as the better-land draws nearthese are the fruits to be looked for in the garden of Jehovah. Everything is beautiful in its season (Ecclesiastes 3:11): yea, even the leaf that does not wither: the ornamental as well as the useful has place, and the ornamental conceals and shields the useful, as the leaf does the fruit; and so even beauty is not to be despisedespecially that of modesty; even the leaf that hides the fruit may help its growth. But, as a man is better than a sheep (Matthew 12:12), so also is a man better than a tree: no tree being fit adequately to symbolise a man, made in the image of God (James 3:9). Therefore the psalmist, returning from the manlike tree to the tree-like man, and leaving the tree behind, as unable to bear the weight of such a clause as whatsoever he doeth, says of the man with his multifarious capacities, of the man under Divine culture, who soliloquises day and night in the law of Jehovah,And whatsoever he doeth prospereth; and so it does, sooner or later: if not during the night when Weeping has come to lodge, then in the morning when Jubilation appears (Psalms 30:5): then shall we be made glad according to the years Jehovah had humbled usthe years we had seen misfortune; and discover that, after all, the work of our hands had been established upon us (Psalms 90:15).
Not so the lawless: very much not so! Surprise, therefore, need not be felt that the Septuagint repeats the negative, both for feeling and for filling out the line: Not so the ungodly, not so; even though it must be confessed that the half line in Hebrew is still more effective, and more symmetrically answers to the half-line at the commencement of the psalm, But rather as chaff which the wind driveth awayas of no worth and no further account. For this cause shall the lawless not rise in the vindication; and, from the Old Testament, scarcely could we learn that they will rise at all: certainly not in the vindication, a well-sustained rendering, which anticipates the distinction made by our Lord when he spake of the resurrection of the righteous (Luke 14:14). Sinners shall not enter the congregation of the righteous: whose way, life, character will NOT vanish, but continue evermore. For Jehovah doth acknowledgeknow, approve, perpetuatethe way of the righteous; but the way of the lawless shall vanishlike a track lost in the waste, where no footsteps can make a path. Only the way of the righteous is derek olam (a way age-abiding) (Psalms 139:24), a way that issues in eternal lifeDel.
This psalm and the next are anonymous, and without any superscribed or subscribed lines. They are admirably adapted for the purpose they were manifestly intended to serve: namely, as introductory to the whole Book of Psalmsthe former penned from a purely ethical point of view, and the latter from a national, Davidic, and Messianic standpoint. One or both of these psalms may have been placed here by Ezra; but each may have been first brought into use as introductory to a smaller and earlier collection. Though probably placed here by Ezra, this first psalm was almost certainly composed by Hezekiah, whose spirit it breathesas may be seen by a comparison if it with the latter half of Psalms 19 and the whole of Psalms 119,a conclusion confirmed by the fact that it was expanded by Jeremiah (Jeremiah 17:8) and therefore must have already been in existence.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1.
By considering this whole Psalm give three reasons the godly are blessed or happy and three reasons the ungodly are not.
2.
How can all men be thus divided?
3.
Discuss the progression and culmination of sin.
4.
Could Biblical examples be found and discussed which exemplify the three stages of ungodliness?
5.
How shall we cultivate the capacity to delight in the law of God?
6.
What is involved in the act of meditating?
7.
In what way is the godly man like a tree?
8.
No fruitor little fruit and withered leaves is an indication of a lackwhat is it?
9.
Many ungodly men prosperhow shall we account for this?
10. Since we are all sinners what comfort is there in God's knowledge of our ways?