Psalms 1 - Introduction

Book I.

Psalms 1 has generally been regarded as a kind of preface or introduction to the rest of the Psalter. The absence of an inscription favours this view, since this absence is rare in the first book. (See General Introduction.) It is still further favoured by the traditional arrangement which left the psalm without a number, combining it with Psalms 2 — a tradition supported by the reading of some MSS. in Acts 13:33 (see New Test. Com.). There are also some slight similarities of phraseology between the first two psalms, but no resemblance of style or matter, such as would be found if they had been originally one composition. At the came time, the two psalms seem to have been placed side by side by the compilers of the collection in order to form together such a general introduction. In the one we see the blessing attending the loyal fulfilment of the covenant of Jehovah in the case of the individual; in the other in the case of the nation at large, under its ideal prince. Just as the righteous man in Psalms 1 is contrasted with the wicked individuals, so in Psalms 2 the chosen Israel is contrasted with the surrounding nations who do not submit voluntarily to Jehovah; and, combined, the two strike the key-note of the whole Psalter, the faithfulness of God’s dealings with men, whether in their individual or national relation to Him, and the indissoluble connection between righteousness and blessing. It is true that in Psalms 2 the word “wicked” in connection with the heathen does not occur, but throughout the Psalter the two ideas are inseparable, and are undoubtedly implied there. It must be noticed too that Psalms 1 presents the contrast of the just and the wicked in the I same view which meets us in almost every psalm: not so much a moral as a religious view; the covenant relation is always presupposed. The just or righteous is the Israelite faithful to Jehovah and His Law; the ungodly or wicked is the Jew who makes light of his legal duties, whether in thought, act, or talk. (See Note 1.)

For determining the date, there is not only the indication of a comparatively late composition afforded by the growing reverence for the written Law (tôrah), but also the extreme probability that Jeremiah 17:8 is founded on this psalm, which approximately fixes the furthest limit to which it may be brought down. The use of the word “scorners,” a word of frequent use in the Book of Proverbs (and actually defined in Proverbs 21:24), but not found anywhere else in the Psalter, connects this psalm with the period which produced that book. It harmonises also with the dominant feeling of the later period of the monarchy. The conjecture that Solomon wrote it is interesting, but rests on insufficient ground.

In character, the psalm is simple and didactic, with an easy flowing style, not rising to any great height of poetry, either in its thought or diction. The parallelism is regular but varied.