_A.M. 2957. B.C. 1047._ This Psalm was put first as a preface to all the rest, as a short summary of the whole book, and a powerful persuasive to the study of it, and of the rest of the Holy Scriptures, taken from the blessedness which attends upon the study and practice of them. The subject of it... [ Continue Reading ]
_Blessed is the man_ The Hebrew words are very emphatical: _Blessedness belongs to that man;_ or, _O the blessedness of that man!_ Blessedness here means happiness. And the character of the truly happy man is described in this Psalm both negatively, in his abstaining from sin; and positively, in his... [ Continue Reading ]
_But his delight is in the law of the Lord_ In the study and practice of it, as appears from the context. Having described the character of the truly blessed man _negatively_, in the preceding verse, he, in this, speaks of it _positively._ The _law of God_ may be here understood of the whole doctrin... [ Continue Reading ]
_And_, or _For, he shall be like a tree_, &c. This is the proof of that blessedness of a good man which he had only asserted, Psalms 1:1. He shall be fruitful and flourishing. By his meditations on the law of God, his graces and virtues shall be nourished and increased, and he shall be thoroughly fu... [ Continue Reading ]
_The ungodly are not so_ Their condition is far different; _but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away_ Withered and worthless, restless and unquiet, without form or stability, blown about by every wind, and, at length, finally dispersed from the face of the earth, by the breath of God's dis... [ Continue Reading ]
_The ungodly shall not stand in the judgment_ Shall not endure the time of trial, which will assuredly come. It may be that God will arise, and judge, and punish them by temporal calamities, and that these will fill their consciences with horror, and cause their hearts to fail. But if not, if they e... [ Continue Reading ]
_For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous_ As he searcheth the reins and the heart, and perfectly knows all his people, so he approves, loves, and delights in them, and in their conduct and conversation, and therefore will recompense them; _but the way of the ungodly shall perish_ All their des... [ Continue Reading ]