Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 1:5
Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
5. Therefore ] The real character of the wicked will be manifested in the judgement. Since they are thus worthless and unstable, destitute of root and fruit, the wicked will not hold their ground in the judgement, in which Jehovah separates the chaff from the wheat (Mat 3:12).
stand ] So Lat. causa stare, and the opposite causa cadere. Cp. Psa 5:5; Psa 130:3; Nah 1:6; Mal 3:2; Wis 5:1 .
in the judgment ] Not, before a human tribunal: nor merely in the last judgement, (as the Targum and many interpreters understand it): but in every act of judgement by which Jehovah separates between the righteous and the wicked, and vindicates His righteous government of the world. Cp. as an illustration Numbers 16. Each such ‘day of the Lord’ is a type and pledge of the great day of judgement. Cp. Isa 1:24 ff; Isa 2:12 ff.; Mal 3:5; Ecc 12:14.
in the congregation of the righteous ] The ‘congregation of Israel,’ which is the congregation of Jehovah,’ is in its true idea and ultimate destination, the ‘congregation of the righteous’ (Psa 111:1). It is the aim of each successive judgement to purify it, until at last the complete and final separation shall be effected (Mat 13:41-43).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Therefore – Because they are thus worthless.
The ungodly – See the notes at Psa 1:1. The wicked in general; the wicked of any kind or degree.
Shall not stand – Compare the notes at Psa 1:1. The idea is, that they will not be found among those who are acquitted by the Judge, and approved by him. The idea seems to be derived from the act of standing up to be tried, or to receive a sentence.
In the judgment – The Aramaic Paraphrase renders this, in the great day – understanding it of the day of judgment. The Septuagint and Vulgate render it, the wicked shall not rise – anastesontai – resurgent – in judgment. Most of the Jewish interpreters, following the Aramaic Paraphrase, understand this as referring to the last judgment. Rosenmuller, in loc. The truth stated, however, seems to be more general than that, though that is probably included. The meaning is, that they would not share the lot of the righteous: in all places, and at all times, where character is determined, and where the divine estimate of human character is manifested, it would be found that they could not stand the trial, or abide the result, so as to have a place with the righteous. Their true character would in all such cases be shown, and they would be treated like the chaff that is driven away. This would be true alike in those situations of trial in the present life when character is determined, and at the last judgment, when the sentence will be pronounced which will determine the final doom of mankind.
Nor sinners – See the notes at Psa 1:1.
In the congregation of the righteous – Be reckoned or regarded as belonging to the righteous. That is, in all the places where the righteous, as such, are assembled, they will have no place: where they assemble to worship God; where they meet as his friends; where they unitedly participate in his favor; when, in the last day, they shall be gathered together to receive their reward, and when they shall be assembled together in heaven. The sinner has no place in the congregations of the people of God.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 1:5
The ungodly shall not stand in the judgment.
The day of judgment
1. None will deny that the law of God, which is holy, just, and good, explicitly condemns the sinner, and consigns him to the second death. By the law can no man be justified. It contains no provision for pardon.
2. He will not be able to stand in the last trial, because all the witnesses will be against him. His companions in sin will testify against him. The example of the righteous will testify against the impenitent. The sinners own awakened conscience and memory will testify against him. So will the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ.
3. The eternal Judge will be inflexibly strict in interpreting and upholding the law. And
4. The impenitent sinner at Gods bar will have no advocate. (A. Dickinson,.)
The ungodly rising to judgment
They shall not rise in the judgment, this is more than St. Paul would have said himself if he had been in the prophets place, for who ever thought the ungodly should rise in the judgment, who are sure to fall in the judgment, seeing their judgment shall be to condemnation and not to deliverance? To rise to the judgment is to be brought to public trial, and this is the general resurrection that we believe; but to rise in the judgment is upon trial to come off with credit, and, by the sentence of the Judge, not only to be justified, but advanced. And who ever believed this rising to belong to the wicked? (Sir Richard Baker.)
A congregation in which sinners cannot stand
And as there shall be a general judgment, in which the ungodly shall not rise, so, after the judgment, there shall be a particular congregation of the righteous, in which sinners shall not stand. And, indeed, what society can there be between a tree and chaff? or who can think it fit that trees and chaff should be made companions? And as there is no reason that the ungodly, having made others by their counsel to fall here, should rise themselves in judgment hereafter, so there is no reason, seeing the righteous could not be suffered to stand here in the way of sinners, that sinners should be suffered to stand hereafter in the congregation of the righteous. And here now a multitude of reasons seem assembled, as it were, to make it good, that sinners neither can nor ought to stand in this assembly. It is a congregation which none can make but the righteous; for sinners are all rebels, and would make it a rout. It is a court where all must be neat and clean; and so are none but the righteous; for sinners are all lepers, and would make it a spital. It is a company that makes a communion, and that can none do but saints, for sinners seek everyone their own, and are all for themselves. They must be all Gods friends; at least, such as He knows; and such are only the righteous, for sinners are all mere strangers and aliens from God. (Sir Richard Baker.)
Failure in judgment
And now let the great men of the world please themselves, and think it a happiness that they can rise in honours, can rise in riches and estimation in the world; yet, alas! what is all this, if they fail of rising in the judgment to come? (Sir Richard Baker.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 5. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand] This refers to the winnowing mentioned in the preceding verse. Some of the versions have, The ungodly shall not arise in the judgment – they shall have no resurrection, except to shame and everlasting contempt. But probably the meaning is, When they come to be judged, they shall be condemned. They shall have nothing to plead in their behalf. That the impious were never to have any resurrection, but be annihilated, was the opinion of several among the Jews, and of some among Christians. The former believe that only the true Israelites shall be raised again; and that the souls of all others, the Christians not excepted, die with their bodies. Such unfounded opinions are unworthy of refutation.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Therefore, to wit, because they are ungodly; or because, as this particle is sometimes used, as Gen 38:26; Num 10:31; 14:43; Psa 42:6; for this verse is added to enforce or prove what he said in the former.
Shall not stand, i.e. not subsist or endure the trial; or not be justified, or carry his cause, as this word is oft used; being opposed to falling, as Psa 18:38; 20:8; Mal 3:2; Luk 21:36; Rom 14:4; Eph 6:13.
In the judgment; either,
1. In the time of temporal calamities, when God shall arise to judge and punish them; for then the hearts of the wicked fail, and their consciences are filled with horror. Or,
2. In that great and general judgment of the whole world, called here
the judgment emphatically; in that solemn and general congregation of all mankind, as the next words express it. In the congregation of the righteous, i.e. In that society which shall consist of none but righteous persons, or amongst the righteous ones on Christs right hand, Mat 25:32.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
5. stand in the judgmentbeacquitted. They shall be driven from among the good (Mat 25:45;Mat 25:46).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,…. Neither in temporal judgment, when God comes forth in a way of wrath and sore displeasure; for who can stand before him when he is angry? what are chaff and stubble, thorns and briers, to consuming fire? nor in the last and great day of judgment, so the Targum and Kimchi interpret the words; for that day will burn like an oven the wicked, who will be as stubble, and leave neither root nor branch, Mal 4:1: when the great day of the Lamb’s wrath is come, who will be able to stand? Ro 6:16; there will be no standing for the wicked when he appears; they will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, to take their trial and hear their sentence, 2Co 5:10; but they shall not stand in the same place with the righteous, not at Christ’s right hand, but at his left; they shall not stand with an holy confidence, with intrepidity, and without shame, as the blessed man will; they will not stand, but fall in judgment; they will not be acquitted and discharged, but be condemned to everlasting punishment, Mt 25:30; and this sense the Targum on the place expresses, “the ungodly shall not be justified in the great day”; the Vulgate Latin and Septuagint versions render the words, “the ungodly shall not rise again in judgment”; from whence some have concluded there will be no resurrection of the wicked: which seems, to be the sense of Kimchi and other Jewish writers; who assert that the souls of the wicked perish with their bodies at death, and that the latter rise not, contrary to Ec 12:7; but that the wicked will, rise may be concluded from the justice of God, which requires that the bodies which have sinned should be punished; and from the general judgment of good and bad, and from the account of the punishment of hell, which will be inflicted on the body as well as on the soul: besides, the contrary doctrine is a licentious one, and is calculated to harden wicked men in their sins, and is directly repugnant to the assertions of Christ, and the Apostle Paul, Joh 5:28; nor has it any foundation in this text, even admitting such a version; which does not absolutely affirm that the wicked shall not rise again, but that they shall not rise again in, judgment, in the first resurrection, the resurrection of the just, and so as to be acquitted and discharged, but they shall rise to the resurrection of damnation;
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; who are made righteous by the righteousness of Christ imputed to them, and have a work of grace and holiness wrought in them; and who, under the influence of grace, live soberly, righteously, and godly; these are the same with the blessed man, Ps 1:1; and who at the day of judgment will be perfectly holy, and free from all sin; and they will be all gathered together by the holy angels; the dead saints will be raised, the living ones will be changed, and both will be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air, and will make up one general assembly and church of the firstborn; and among these, and in this assembly, there will not be a single sinner; there are now sinners in Zion, foolish virgins with the wise, chaff and tares among Christ’s wheat, and wolves and goats among his sheep; but then there will be an eternal separation, and no mixing together any more.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
In the fifth verse, the prophet teaches that a happy life depends on a good conscience, and that, therefore, it is not wonderful, if the ungodly suddenly fall from the happiness of which they fancied themselves in possession. And there is implied in the words a kind of concession; the prophet tacitly acknowledges that the ungodly please and enjoy themselves, and triumph during the reign of moral disorder in the world; just as robbers revel in the woods and caves, when beyond the reach of justice. But he assures us, that things will not always remain in their present state of confusion, and that when they shall have been reduced to proper order, these ungodly persons shall be entirely deprived of their pleasures, and feel that they were infatuated when they thought themselves happy. We now see how the Psalmist pronounces the ungodly to be miserable, because happiness is the inward blessing of a good conscience. He does not deny, that before they are driven to judgment, all things succeed well with them; but he denies that they are happy unless they have substantial and steadfast integrity of character to sustain them: for the true integrity of the righteous manifests itself when it comes at length to be tried. It is indeed true, that the Lord daily executes judgment, by making a distinction between the righteous and the wicked, but because this is done only partially in this life, we must look higher if we desire to behold the assembly of the righteous, of which mention is here made.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(5) Therefore.Notice contrast with Psa. 1:1. Those who had deliberately chosen the assembly of the scornful will have no place in that of the good.
Shall not stand.Properly, shall not rise. Probably like our phrase, shall not hold up his head. Will be self-convicted, and shrink away before Gods unerring scrutiny, like the man without a wedding garment in our Lords parable (Mat. 22:12). The LXX. and Vulg. have rise again, as if with thought of an after state.
The congregation of the righteous.A phrase repeating itself in different forms in the Psalms. It implies either Israel as opposed to the heathen, or faithful Israel as opposed to those who had proved disloyal to the covenant. In theory all the congregation was holy (Num. 16:3), but we meet in the Psalms with the feeling expressed in the Apostles words, They are not all Israel that are of Israel.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
5. Not stand in the judgment “Judgment” is strictly a forensic term: “God will bring every work into judgment.” Ecc 12:14. The declaration that “the ungodly shall not stand,” is equal to they shall be overthrown; as in Nah 1:6, “Who can abide [Hebrew, stand up ] in the fierceness of his anger?” and Exo 15:7, “Thou hast overthrown them that rose up [or, stood up ] against thee.” See also Deu 28:7, and 2 Samuel 20:40, 49. The wicked have “risen up,” or “stood up,” against God and his Church. They shall be judged, and shall not stand, and their overthrow shall be as opposite to the blessings of the godly man as their character is opposite.
Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous This forms a parallelism with the previous hemistich, and so means essentially the same. “Congregation of the righteous” must be understood in the true Hebraistic sense, as including not simply the upright, but those only whose names were on the genealogical records of the covenant people. See Eze 13:10; Neh 7:5; Neh 7:61; Ezr 2:62. From this figure arose the New Testament description, “general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven.” Heb 12:23. See also Luk 10:20; Rev 21:27. The words in the text refer us to the final trial, by which sinners, who now mix with the righteous like tares among the wheat, shall be sifted out and separated from the assembly whose names are written in the book of life.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 1:5. Shall not stand in the judgment That is, “They shall have nothing to allege in their defence, but shall be condemned without remission.” The Syriac renders it, They shall not be acquitted.
REFLECTIONS.1st, This Psalm opens with the description of the holy and truly happy man. Blessed is the man, or, O the blessedness of the man! how great, how unutterable, in time and eternity! His character is strongly marked; and by his fruits he may be known. He walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly; does not take his maxims from the world, which lieth in wickedness, nor fashion his conduct after their destructive ways; nor standeth in the way of sinners, though himself was once such; nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful; however high their pretences to superior wisdom, and however much they affect to treat with contempt the revealed will of God: such children of pride shall not have his ear for a moment; their company he will shun as a plague, and their breath as infectious. But his delight is in the law of the Lord. This sacred clue the man of God with delight follows, and in his law doth he meditate day and light: his Bible is his companion, he wishes no better entertainment; the glorious truths engage his deep meditation, are the matter of his daily converse; and if by night his eyes are kept waking, his thoughts are pleasingly occupied in God’s word: in this best course his soul prospers in every divine disposition, and consequently partakes of true and lasting felicity; for holiness and happiness are inseparable. And he shall be, or then shall he be, like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season. When, by divine grace, he is thus enabled to delight and meditate in God’s word, the gracious effects of it will be evident; his leaf of profession continues green and flourishing, and his holy fruits of righteousness abound. The Lord, whose planting he is, waters him every moment; conveys to his soul the living streams of divine grace, from Jesus the living fountain; and thus he grows tall as the cedar, and fruitful as the vine: nor is his state fading, his leaves withering, or his fruit blasted like the untimely fig’s: no, His leaf also shall not wither. Preserved by Almighty grace, decay shall not tarnish his beauty, nor apostacy lay the axe to the root; but whatsoever he doeth shall prosper; every prayer shall receive an answer of peace; every labour shall be attended with success; every providence be sanctified; and, in short, all things work together for his good. Such is the blessed, holy, happy man. May my soul bear the divine impression, and correspond more to this amiable character!
2nd, The very contrast to those above described, is the character of the ungodly; they are not so; sin is their way; the company they keep is, like themselves, ungodly; their opinions are erroneous, as their practice is perverse. They abide in the paths of wickedness, and sit down content with their own deceivings; negligent of God’s word, never consulting it in secret; and if they sit under it, what a weariness is it? Their thoughts, dissipated in pursuits of worldly vanity, or fleshly indulgences, never fix on the sacred volume; nor day nor night are they occupied therein. Like a blasted tree their leaf is withered, and, instead of yielding fruit, is only fit fuel for the flames: the curse of God is upon them in all the labour of their hands, and misery follows them closer than their shadow. They are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Vanity is stamped on all their enjoyments; they are driven before the breath of every temptation; light and despicable, in God’s account, as the dust of the balance, and ready to suffer the eternal blasting of the breath of his displeasure; when, with his fan in his hand, he shall thoroughly purge his floor, and the chaff shall be burnt with fire unquenchable. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment: in that dreadful day, when God shall summon to his bar the guilty sons of Adam, to receive their eternal doom, then shall confusion cover them, every plea be silenced, every mouth be stopped. Though, with hypocrisy, perhaps, they once joined in the assembly of God’s saints, their place shall be no more found; nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous: an awful, an eternal separation shall be made; these shall go into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal: For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous; they walk by faith in Christ the living way, and they are accounted righteous, as accepted in him; and are really righteous; as they derive a divine nature from him; God knows them, sees and approves the way in which they go, and will soon everlastingly reward them. But the way of the ungodly shall perish: they have chosen their delusions, and must perish in their own deceiving; their way is alway grievous, and the end thereof is misery and death eternal. Lord, shut not up my soul with sinners!
Let the righteous rejoice; let the sinner tremble. In a moment this dread eternity opens, and their everlasting state is determined: oh! that it might awaken the fears of the ungodly, and quicken the diligence of the faithful!
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
What an awful decision that day of judgment shall be when God shall winnow his floor, and while he gathers the wheat into his garner, burn the chaff with unquenchable fire. Mat 3:12 . Reader, do not forget: here, the Lord saith, let both grow together unto the harvest. But there, tares will be bound up in bundles, and burnt. Mat 13 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 1:5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
Ver. 5. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment ] i.e. Causa cadent et damnabuntur, at the great assizes they shall be cast and condemned. Vix steteris (Terent.). Rev 6:17 , “For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” “If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and sinner appear?” 1Pe 4:18 . Surely nowhere, but in hell, their own place, Act 1:25 : not before God, for he is a consuming fire, Heb 12:29 , and they chaff or stubble, fully dried, see Isa 33:14 ; not before Christ, for he shall come in flaming fire, rendering vengeance, &c., 2Th 1:7 ; not in heaven, for it is an undefiled inheritance, neither may any dirty dog trample on that golden pavement, Rev 22:15 ; not any longer on earth, defiled by their iniquities, and, therefore, to be purged by the fire of the last day; for the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burnt up, 2Pe 3:10 . R. David Kimchi by judgment here understandeth the day of the wicked man’s death; and indeed his death’s day is his doom’s day, when he must take a fearful farewell, and breathe out his soul and hope together with the breath of the same dying groan, Job 27:8 ; Job 11:20 . Hinc illae lachrymae, hence that lothing to depart, though some set a good face upon it when to die, as Sir Thomas Moore, who died for the pope’s supremacy with a light jest in his mouth. Vespasian likewise died with a jest, and Augustus in a compliment. This was but the hypocrisy of mirth; for death is the king of terror to a natural man. See Heb 2:15 1Sa 15:32 ; 1Sa 28:20 . Saul, at the message of death, swooned quite away, and fell all along, Quantus quantus erat, as Peter Martyr phraseth it; yea, good Hezekiah wept when sentenced to death, and the approach of it was to him Mar mar, bitter bitterness, Isa 38:3 ; Isa 38:17 . He must have his faith at his fingers’ ends, as one saith, that will die actively. But all men have not faith, 2Th 3:2 , and those few that have are not always assured that their hearts shall live for ever, as Psa 22:26 , and that death, the devil’s sergeant, to drag wicked men to hell, shall be to them the Lord’s gentle usher, to conduct them to heaven, as Mr Brightman expresseth it.
Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous
a Gr. Antiq. A general assembly; esp. a festal assembly in honour of a god.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
stand = rise. No part in first resurrection. Rev 20:5, Rev 20:6. Compare Psa 49:14.
congregation = assembly.
righteous = justified.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
shall: Psa 5:5, Psa 24:3, Luk 21:36, Jud 1:15
sinners: Psa 26:9, Mal 3:18, Mat 13:49, Mat 25:32, Mat 25:41, Mat 25:46
Reciprocal: 1Ki 2:9 – hold him Psa 36:12 – shall Dan 2:35 – like Dan 12:13 – stand 1Pe 4:18 – where
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 1:5. 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 escape these, it is certain they shall not stand, nor escape condemnation and wrath in the great and general judgment of the whole world. Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous That is, in that society which shall consist of none but righteous persons. At present, as Dr. Horne observes, wheat and chaff lie in one floor; wheat and tares grow in one field; good and bad fishes are comprehended in one net; good and bad men are contained in the visible church; but let us wait with patience Gods time of separation. The husbandman will appear, with his fan in his hand, and will thoroughly purge his floor; the harvest will come, and the tares shall be gathered up, and bound in bundles to be burned; the net shall be drawn to shore, and, while the good fishes are gathered into vessels, the bad shall be cast away. In other words, at His command who is the governor of his church, and to whom the Father hath committed all judgment, the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, and then not one sinner shall be found in the congregation of the righteous.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1:5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the {e} judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
(e) But tremble when they see God’s wrath.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
3. The judgment 1:5-6
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
In the future there will be a winnowing judgment of people in which God will separate the righteous from the wicked (cf. Mat 13:30). Then He will blow the wicked away (cf. Isa 2:10-21).