Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 1:1

Blessed [is] the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

1. More exactly:

Happy the man who hath not walked in the counsel of wicked men,

Nor stood in the way of sinners,

Nor sat in the session of scorners.

Blessed ] Or, happy: LXX . Cp. Mat 5:3 ff. The righteous man is first described negatively and retrospectively. All his life he has observed the precept, ‘depart from evil’ (Psa 34:14).

the ungodly ] Rather, wicked men: and so in Psa 1:4-6. It is the most general term in the O.T. for the ungodly in contrast to the righteous. If the primary notion of the Hebrew word rsh is unrest (cp. Job 3:17; Isa 57:20-21), the word well expresses the disharmony which sin has brought into human nature, affecting man’s relation to God, to man, to self.

sinners ] Those who miss the mark, or go astray from the path of right. The intensive form of the word shews that habitual offenders are meant. Cp. Pro 1:10 ff.

the scornful ] Better, as the word is rendered in Proverbs, scorners: those who make what is good and holy the object of their ridicule. With the exception of the present passage and Isa 29:20 (cp. however Isa 28:14; Isa 28:22, R.V.; Hos 7:5) the term is peculiar to the Book of Proverbs. There ‘the scorners’ appear as a class of defiant and cynical freethinkers, in contrast and antagonism to ‘the wise.’ The root-principle of their character is a spirit of proud self-sufficiency, a contemptuous disregard for God and man (Pro 21:24). It is impossible to reform them, for they hate reproof, and will not seek instruction (Pro 13:1; Pro 15:12). If they seek for wisdom they will not find it (Pro 14:6). It is folly to argue with them (Pro 9:7-8). They are generally detested (Pro 24:9), and in the interests of peace must be banished from society (Pro 22:10). Divine judgements are in store for them, and their fate is a warning to the simple (Pro 3:34; Pro 19:25; Pro 19:29; Pro 21:11).

The three clauses of the verse with their threefold parallelism (walk, stand, sit: counsel, way, session: wicked, sinners, scorners) emphasise the godly man’s entire avoidance of association with evil and evil-doers in every form and degree. They denote successive steps in a career of evil, and form a climax: (1) adoption of the principles of the wicked as a rule of life: (2) persistence in the practices of notorious offenders: (3) deliberate association with those who openly mock at religion. With the first clause and for the phrase counsel of the wicked cp. Mic 6:16; Jer 7:24; Job 10:3; Job 21:16; Job 22:18: for stood &c., cp. Psa 36:4. For both clauses cp. the concrete example in 2Ch 22:3-5. With the third clause cp. Psa 26:4-5.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

1 3. The happiness of the righteous.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Blessed is the man – That is, his condition is a happy or a desirable one. The word used here, ‘esher means properly, happiness or blessedness. It is found, however, only in the plural form and in the construct state, and takes the nature and force of an interjection – O the happiness of the man! or O happy man! Deu 33:29 : happy art thou, O Israel! 1Ki 10:8 : happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants! Job 5:17 : happy is the man whom God correcteth! Psa 2:12 : blessed are all they that put their trust in him! See also Psa 32:1-2; Psa 33:12; Psa 34:8; Psa 40:4; Psa 41:1; Psa 65:4; Psa 84:4-5, Psa 84:12, et al., where it is rendered blessed. The word is of the most general character, and, in itself, would embrace all that is supposed to constitute real happiness. The particular kind of blessedness referred to here, as explained in the subsequent part of the psalm, consists in the fact that he avoids the companionship of the wicked; that he has pleasure in the law of the Lord; that he will be prospered in this world; and that he will not perish at lasts. The word man here, also, is of the most general character, and is designed to include all people, of all times and of all conditions, who possess the character referred to. The term is applicable to the poor as well as to the rich; to the low as well as to the exalted; to the servant as well as to the master; alike to the aged, the middle-aged, and the young. All who have the character here described come under the general description of the happy man – the man whose condition is a happy and a desirable one.

That walketh not – Whose character is that he does not walk in the manner specified. Prof. Alexander renders this, Who has not walked. But it implies more than this; it refers to more than the past. It is the characteristic of the man, always and habitually, that he does not thus walk; it has not only been true in the past, but it is true in the present, and will be true in the future. It is that which distinguishes the man. The word walk is often used in the Scriptures to denote a way of life or conduct – since life is represented as a journey, and man as a traveler. Psa 15:2 : who walketh uprightly. Compare 1Ki 9:4; Deu 19:9; Deu 28:9; Psa 81:12-13; Isa 33:15.

In the counsel – After the manner, the principles, the plans of this class of men. He does not take counsel of them as to the way in which he should live, but from the law of the Lord, Psa 1:2. This would include such things as these: he does not follow the advice of sinners, 2Sa 16:20; 1Ki 1:12; he does not execute the purposes or plans of sinners, Isa 19:3; he does not frame his life according to their views and suggestions. In his plans and purposes of life he is independent of them, and looks to some other source for the rules to guide him.

Of the ungodly – The wicked. The word used here is general, and would embrace all kinds and degrees of the unrighteous. It is not so specific, and would, in itself, not indicate as definite, or as aggravated depravity, as the terms which follow. The general sentiment here is, that the man referred to is not the companion of wicked men.

Nor standeth – This indicates more deliberation; a character more fixed and decided.

In the way – The path where they are found, or where they usually go. His standing there would be as if he waited for them, or as if he desired to be associated with them. Instead of passing along in his own regular and proper employment, he stations himself in the path where sinners usually go, and lingers and loiters there. Thus, he indicates a desire to be with them. This is often, in fact, illustrated by men who place themselves, as if they had nothing to do, in the usual situation where the wicked pass along, or where they may be met with at the corners of the streets in a great city.

Of sinners – chatta’iym. This word means literally, those who miss the mark; then, those who err from the path of duty or rectitude. It is often used to denote any kind or degree of sin. It is more specific than the former word rendered ungodly, as denoting those who depart from the path of duty; who fail in regard to the great end of life; who violate positive and known obligations.

Nor sitteth – This implies still greater deliberation and determination of character than either of the other words employed. The man referred to here does not casually and accidentally walk along with them, nor put himself in their way by standing where they are ordinarily to be found; but he has become one of them by occupying a seat with them; thus deliberately associating with them. He has an established residence among the wicked; he is permanently one of their number.

In the seat – The seat which the scornful usually occupy; the place where such men converse and sit together – as in a ball-room, or in a club, where wicked men hold their meetings, or where infidels and scoffers are accustomed to assemble.

Of the scornful – letsiym. This word properly means those who mock, deride, scoff; those who treat virtue and religion with contempt and scorn. Pro 1:22; Pro 3:34; Pro 9:7-8; Pro 13:1; Pro 15:12, et saepe. It denotes a higher and more determined grade of wickedness than either of the other words employed, and refers to the consummation of a depraved character, the last stage of wickedness, when God and sacred things are treated with contempt and derision. There is hope of a man as long as he will treat virtue and religion with some degree of respect; there is little or none when he has reached the point in his own character in which virtue and piety are regarded only as fit subjects for ridicule and scorn. We have here, then, a beautiful double gradation or climax, in the nouns and verbs of this verse, indicating successive stages of character. There is, first, casual walking with the wicked, or accidentally falling into their company; there is then a more deliberate inclination for their society, indicated by a voluntary putting of oneself in places where they usually congregate, and standing to wait for them; and then there is a deliberate and settled purpose of associating with them, or of becoming permanently one of them, by regularly sitting among them.

So also it is in regard to the persons with whom they associate. They are, first, irreligious men in general; then, those who have so far advanced in depravity as to disregard known duty, and to violate known obligations; and then, those who become confirmed in infidelity, and who openly mock at virtue, and scoff at the claims of religion. It is unnecessary to say that, in both these respects, this is an accurate description of what actually occurs in the world. He who casually and accidentally walks with the wicked, listening to their counsel, will soon learn to place himself in their way, and to wait for them, desiring their society, and will ultimately be likely to be feared identified with open scoffers; and he who indulges in one form of depravity, or in the neglect of religion in any way, will, unless restrained and converted, be likely to run through every grade of wickedness, until he becomes a confirmed scoffer at all religion. The sentiment in this verse is, that the man who is truly blessed is a man who does none of these things. His associations and preferences are found elsewhere, as is stated in the next verse.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Psa 1:1-6

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly.

The 1st Psalm, introductory

This Psalm seems to have been placed first in the collection because, from its general character and subject, it formed a suitable introduction to the rest. It treats of the blessedness of the righteous and the misery of the wicked, topics which constantly recur in the Psalms, but it treats of them as if all experience pointed only in one direction. The moral problem which, in other Psalms, troubles the ancient poets of Israel, when they see the evil prospering and the good oppressed, has here no place. The poet rests calmly in the truth that it is well with the righteous. He is not vexed with those passionate questionings of heart which meet us in such Psalms as the 37th and 73rd. Hence we may probably conclude that his lot was cast in happier and more peaceful times. The close of the Psalm is, however, as Ewald remarks, truly prophetical, perpetually in force, and consequently descriptive of what is to be expected at all times in the course of the worlds history. In style the Psalm is simple and clear. In form it is little more than the expansion of a proverb. (J. J. Stewart Perowne, B. D.)

The felicity of the godly man, and infelicity of the wicked

Verse 1. Teacheth a godly man.

1. To beware of the ungodly mans persuasions;

2. Of their order of life; and,

3. Of their society and company keeping.

Verse 2. Teacheth him by the contrary what he must do.

1. Take delight and pleasure in Gods Word; because we do hardly profit by those things which we take no pleasure in;

2. Use all the means whereby we may be builded up in knowledge; for so generally do I take these words, meditate day and night.

Verse 3. A promise annexed for our better encouragement, which expresseth Gods wonderful goodness, and our dulness and heaviness, that have need of such spurs. By which also we may see the right use of Gods promises, namely, to provoke us to all well-doings (1Co 7:1).

Verse 4. Doth not only contain judgments against the wicked, but also teacheth, yea, spurreth forward the godly, by beholding their punishments, to more heedy walking; and whereas the Holy Ghost resembleth the wicked to chaff tossed before the wind, it teaches us, that though the wicked think themselves glorious, and of long continuance, yet they are neither the one nor the other.

Verse 5. Teacheth that God, with His fan, will make a separation between the good corn and the chaff (Mat 3:12).

Verse 6. Teacheth this, that God is the only judge to allow and disallow; men must not therefore stand upon themselves, or other mens judgments. For what are we that condemn another mans servant? He standeth or faileth to his own master. (Thomas Wilcocks.)

The godly man happy

The Prophet will maintain a godly man, against all comers, to be the only Jason, for winning the golden fleece of blessedness the other, that he will make it good upon the heads of all the wicked; that howsoever they make a show in the world of being happy, yet they of all men are most miserable. (Sir Richard Baker.)

The blessed man

Happiness is our natures end and aim, and David tells us here who finds it. He describes his character–

I. Negatively. But all this is negative; and in a world such as this, and with a nature such as ours, no small part of religion consists in avoiding evil. Still, a negative religion is not sufficient. Gods Word is, Cease to do evil, learn to do well. A man may not swear, but does he pray? He may not rob, but does he relieve the poor? Therefore we have the blessed man described–

II. Positively. His delight, etc. It is so, whether the law be the moral law or the Word of God. Much more may we say this who have the complete Bible. Day and night, our thoughts ever follow our affections. (W. Jay.)

The true Christian

1. He is set forth as a man. Sin un-mans, reduces the volume and value of manhood, until it brings its victim to a revolting animalism. The Christian is restored by grace to true manhood.

2. As a happy man. Happiness is the flower and fruit of piety. Misery, the natural child of sin. None are so happy as those whom God makes happy.

3. As avoiding unholy society. As oil will not mix with water, light cannot co-exist with darkness, so piety cannot live in the poisonous atmosphere of evil-doers. Where there is no affinity of nature there can be no sympathy and fellowship of spirit. The tropical plant will quickly die at the roots in the Arctic region; and the saint cannot pass over to the frigid zone of the worldlings society, but at the peril of his sainthood–his life.

4. As a student of Divine truth. Religion makes men thoughtful. He is a glad student. His delight is in; a diligent student. Day and night. It is not a nine days spell which novelty has thrown over him. He meditates ill it in the day of prosperity, and does not forget to do so in the night of adversity.

5. Under a beautiful and suggestive figure. Like a tree. He does not grow up a Christian, he is planted as such. Religion is not natural, but engendered:–He is well positioned. By the rivers of water. As a consequence he is fruitful. No fruit in the life is a proof of no grace in the heart. He is always in season. There are special times for the manifestation of suitable graces. Liberality when riches increase. Humility when cheered by others. Patience in suffering. Resignation in bereavement. Faith in trial. He is evergreen. His leaf also shall not wither. The beauty of the believer is holiness, the communicated beauty of the Lord our God. The sap of grace is always in circulation, hence his leaf does not wither.

6. Prosperous in all his undertakings. There is no lack to them that walk uprightly. Godliness is great gain.

7. As divinely known. Knoweth the way of the righteous (Psa 1:6). His knowledge covers the minutiae of his life as well as the particulars of the road. This Divine knowledge is comforting, stimulating, faith-embolding, etc. Such is the inspired portrait of the happy or godly man. In contrast we have the ungodly man. He is like chaff, without worth, or use, or root; the sport of the wind of circumstances, passions, frivolities, worldliness, sensuality, etc., devoid of true manliness, decision of character, etc. Verse 5 sets him forth as morally incapacitated to stand in the Court of Justice; and also as morally disqualified to associate with the holy. Both he and his way shall perish. (J. O. Keen, D. D.)

A certain prescription for happiness

There is a very beautiful story told of a king who, when he came to his throne a young man, had a silver bell made and placed in a high tower of his palace. Then the announcement was set forth that whenever the king was happy his subjects would know it by the ringing of this bell. It was never to be rung except when the king was perfectly happy, and then by no hand but his own, Days passed into weeks, and weeks into months, and the months into years; but no sound of the bell rang out either day or night to tell that the king was happy. At last the king, grown old and grey in his palace, lay on his death bed. His weeping subjects gathered around him, and he learned how through all the years his people had loved him; and then he was happy, and in his joy, with dying hands, he rang out the silver bell. How many years of wasted happiness because the king did not come to know and appreciate the love of his people! The little story may suggest to us a still greater loss in ourselves. Only the consciousness of Gods love can make us perfectly happy. Many people go through life from childhood to youth, from youth to manhood, from manhood to age, and the lines of care deepen in their faces, and the silver bell of happiness never rings out, because all the while they are getting further from God, and there is no consciousness of that Divine love which alone can give perfect happiness and peace to the human heart. We have in this Psalm the thought of a keen-brained and spiritually instructed man as to what is required to make a happy man. We have here the testimony of a man of broad experience. David sets forth, at the beginning, that there are three things which it is important that we shall not do if we are to lead happy lives. The first of these is walking in the counsel of the ungodly. I do not understand that he intended to teach that to come under this head it is necessary for a man to seek out ungodly people and ask their advice as to how he shall live. The danger is far more insidious than that. The trouble is that ungodly people are always ready to speak their counsels of evil and lead others astray by them. Eve did not send for the devil to come and advise her, but he came of his own accord and spit forth his lying sophistries about the Lord. Many young men and women come to the city from Christian homes, expecting to live a frank Christian life; but in the boarding house, or the store or shop where they work, they are thrown into touch with ungodly people, who are ready at every turn with sceptical and insinuating remarks about the Church and about Christianity. Their counsels are for laxity of faith and conduct. Rev. W.L. Watkinson, in a recent sermon, recalls the fact that while we are careful to do our utmost to protect great buildings from fire and tempest, yet all the while those buildings are liable to another peril, certainly not less severe–the subtle decay of the very framework of the structure itself. The tissue of the wood silently and mysteriously deteriorates, and a calamity dire as a conflagration is precipitated. Many people think they are all right because they are not committing outbreaking sins, while the counsels to which they are listening, and the associations to which they are lending themselves, are really undermining all their spiritual strength. The fibre of will and conscience and feeling is secretly eaten away, and some day they awake to find they no longer possess the faith, the sensibility, and the resolution of other days. No swift and violent assault of world or flesh or devil has torn or stained them, but it has been like a moth fretting a garment. In the physical world sunshine is the sure antidote to the dry rot. So the only antidote to the counsels of the ungodly is to turn from them to the beams which fall from the Sun of Righteousness. Prosperous looking trunk. It was strongly made, and, although not very heavy, the speculators who examined its exterior concluded that it contained articles of value. One of them finally secured it for fifty-five dollars, and promptly prised it open, when he found within it only a disjointed human skeleton, which had probably been the property of some medical student. It is easy to understand the chagrin of the purchaser who, instead of gold and jewels, found only those relics of death. Multitudes have experienced a similar disappointment, but one infinitely more sorrowful, when they have discovered the real nature of the prizes which they gained by sin. There is still another place that a man if he will be really happy must avoid, and that is, the seat of the scornful. God have mercy on the boy who has gone so far that he can make a joke of his mothers religion, that he can make a sneer about his fathers God, that he can scorn the voice of Gods Word that calls him to repentance! The sarcasm and cynicism and scorn of a sharp wit is often very fascinating to young people, but I assure you that the man who exercises it is never happy. It is a blossom which grows on a tree that is bitter at the heart. I have seen many scornful men and women, but I have never yet seen one who was happy. Well, we have been looking at some of the things one must not do if he is to be happy; let us turn to the brighter side, and see what one may do to ensure happiness. The prescription is given here, and is very plain. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in His law doth he meditate day and night. But, you say, How can I delight in the law of the Lord, and how can I begin to think about Him, if I am taken up with other things? It is all very simple. You have been breaking Gods law, and therefore you cannot delight in it. Stop breaking it. Turn right about and begin to obey the law of the Lord, and then you will have a chance to delight in it. God has made happiness and obedience to go together. As you obey the Lord, and as you feel the warmth of His smile on your face, you will take delight in Him. All this is perfectly natural. The man who has committed a crime, and has broken the law of the land, and is fleeing from justice like a hunted animal or has been caught and is being punished, takes no delight in that law. But the man who obeys the law and finds its strong arm of protection thrown around him, and rejoices in its security, delights in it, and in the consciousness of the presence of the law he finds rest and peace And what a glorious result is assured from such delight in the law of the Lord: He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, etc. What a beautiful picture that is! Ah, but, you say, Does God live up to that? Do not many Christians have hard experiences, and trying difficulties like other people? Certainly, the hot sun beats down on the tree planted by the river just the same as it does on the one that is planted on the gravelly, sandy upland. But the one by the river runs its roots down into the refreshing streams beneath, and when the upland tree withers and turns brown the tree by the river is as green as ever. Christians meet the troubles of life like other people, but if they give themselves up whole heartedly to do Gods will, and delight in the law of the Lord, they have peace and content in the midst of the sorest trouble. You want happiness. There is only one certain prescription for happiness, and that is to obey God. (L. A. Banks, D. D.)

The happy man

The opening words of this Psalm furnish its title Ashrey ha-ish, O the happiness of that man! If ever a man pursued happiness under the most favourable conditions, it was King Solomon; yet this was his conclusion of the whole matter, Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. John Trapp said quaintly, The Psalmist hath said here more to the point respecting happiness than all the philosophers; for while they beat the bush, he hath put the bird into our hand.

I. As to the character of this happy man. He walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly. We must needs be in the world–not dreamers among the shadows, but men among men. The world has need of us. The workshop and the office demand us. The secular cares of this world are, of necessity, upon us. But the secret of true happiness is moral nonconformity. Being in the world, we should not be of it. While our associations must needs be in some measure with the ungodly, their counsels, their ways, their seats are not for us. Gods people go to their offices and their workshops just like other men, but their affections are not set upon this world; they are ever mindful of their noble birth, their Divine inheritance, their glorious destiny.

II. His attitude towards the Divine law. The Law of the Lord was a Jewish phrase for the Scriptures. The happy man possesses a right estimate of the importance of the Word of God.

1. He is a reader of the Scriptures. Thomas a Kempis said, I am never so happy as when in a nook with the Book.

2. He reads with delight. We are much given in these times to a critical study of the Word. The way to appreciate the beauty of Murillos picture of the Immaculate Conception is not to approach it with spatula and ammonia for purposes of minute analysis, but to gaze upon it until we are filled with the mighty thoughts that went surging through the soul of the master genius who painted it.

3. He meditates in them. St. Augustine renders the word chattereth. So in these spring days we hear the sparrows chattering with their hearts full of the prophecy of bloom and fruitfulness. So glad and happy are the souls that meditate with delight in the Divine law.

III. The outcome of this happy life. Fruitfulness. Like a tree. This life is rooted well. Its leaf shall not wither. The leaf shows the character of the tree. The man whose soul is full of truth and righteousness need not be saying perpetually, I am a Christian, for his walk and conversation declare it. He bringeth forth fruit in his season. We shall be ever doing good as we have opportunity. There is an obverse to this picture. The ungodly are not so.

1. As to his life–it is chaff. There is no profit in it.

2. As to his death–it is like a furrow in the sea.

3. After death, he shall not stand in judgment. Most of us have been disappointed in our pursuit of happiness. There is, however, a right way and a sure way to pursue it. (D. J. Burrell, D. D.)

The way of the righteous

I. A striking description of the character of the righteous. Among the evil, as well as the good, there are classes and gradations. Here we have forgetters of God, overt and habitual sinners, and settled scorners. How graphically is the progressive tendency of sin here exhibited! Observe the indication we here have of the tendency of sin to fixedness. Walking, standing, sitting; wrong principles, then sinful habits, and last settled scorn. But the righteous man is not simply one who keeps aloof from the ways described. His character has its positive side. It is needful to discriminate with respect to the kind of delight the righteous man takes in the law. How much there is in the Bible of valuable history! Its truths and precepts kindle the intellect, feed the imagination, and commend themselves to mans natural sense of what is true and good. The delight of the Psalmist is, however, something deeper and other than this. It is delight in the law as Gods law, and because it is His. It is the delight of a mind in sympathetic accord with it and with its Author. Even in the Old Testament saint there was much of this spirit. Here is the difference between a truly righteous man and one who is only outwardly so. The latter obeys slavishly, and against his own will. The former serves joyfully, and in love. The interest the one takes in the Bible is intellectual; that of the other is also practical and spiritual.

II. A delightful picture of the condition of the righteous. Like a tree. The tree draws a portion of its nourishment from the surrounding atmosphere, but relatively this is small. Vastly the greater portion is taken up with the moisture at its root. Hence where there is little moisture the life of the tree is feeble, its growth is slow, its fruit is uncertain, its leaf withers. So it is doubtless true that the godly man derives material for growth, usefulness, enjoyment, and moral beauty from whatever surrounds him. He learns from nature, society, books; he derives profit and adornment from studies, companionship, and experience; but for that which is highest and best, whether of comfort, attainment, or serviceableness to his generation, he is indebted to revealed truth. It is this which sustains his true inner life. In Psa 1:3 there is a change of figure. Of the righteous it is said, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The meaning doubtless is that he shall prosper in all his godly doings; in the things to which the Divine will and word may prompt him; in those righteous undertakings by which he is distinguished. In other ages, if not now, it shall appear that nought of such labour was lost. It would be a mistake to understand, by the fruit here spoken of, external works only, or chiefly. The fruit of the spirit is in all goodness, and righteousness, and truth. It is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. First of all, it is inward, then outward. It would be equally a mistake to suppose that the leaf, which does not wither, is the symbol only of the honour and beauty which crown the character of the godly. Doubtless it stands for this. But the leaf is also useful. And that, too, not only in the pleasure it ministers to the beholders eye, or the shade it affords to the passing traveller. Its benefits may reach very far. The fresh air we quaff from the hills has been purified and made healthy for us by the foliage of the trees, not merely those of our own country, but even the pines of Norway and the palms of India. And so the godly man is blessed in what he is and what he does.

III. A cheering intimation of the happy end which awaits the righteous. As is so often the case in the Bible, thought abruptly passes from time to eternity. Indeed, to the eye of faith, these are one: the latter is but the continuation of the former. Naturally, therefore, the characters contrasted in the Psalm are now made to appear for judgment. (Monday Club Sermons.)

The blessed mans likeness

Notes on verses.

Verse 1. Ignorance is often bliss. All the characters mentioned here may have their excellence. The ungodly may be rich, the sinners convivial, the scornful brilliant, yet blessed is the man that has nothing to do with them. Blessed is the man who knows not the language or the masonry of the wicked.

Verse 2. The idea is that of the man who sees the law of the Lord in all nature, history, and life, and delights to trace it out. The Law of the Lord is Lot simply so much letter press, it is a life, a presence, a government.

Verse 3. Where God is there is no famine. The likeness to a tree is full of suggestion. A tree is permanent, fruitful, beautiful; its branches are for refreshment, its shadow is for rest. It responds to the sun and the rain. It waits for God, and puts forth life at His bidding. Prosper. In no mean or narrow sense, but really and ultimately If you say that, as a fact, the good man does not always prosper, remember that you may say the same thing about God Himself.

Verse 4. Some ungodly men seem to be well established; they have more than heart can wish. But these are appearances only. At a distance chaff might be mistaken for wheat. The distinction is a vital one. To know where the wicked are, you must know where the wind is–the wind of popularity, success, Divine visitation.

Verse 5. There is a judgment, a true and final test of character. Where are the ungodly of the last generation?

Verse 6. Mark the three characters. The godly, ungodly, the Lord. The question is not what is the relation of the godly and the ungodly to each other; but what is that of each to the Lord? Are you blessed? Are you merely transiently happy? What is your fruit? (Joseph Parker, D. D.)

The blessed man

1. He is partly described by negatives. We begin with children by teaching them what they must not do. The man who walketh in the counsel of the ungodly is not a happy man. Nowhere in the devils territories can you find the happy man. Men who have run the whole round of so called enjoyment unite to say, If you want to be happy, avoid our footprints. And yet it seems as if every young man must go and try for himself. He will not take the experience of others; or follow the directions of the caution board.

2. He is partly described by what he should do. God does not destroy our powers, but turns them in a right direction. How can we be happy? Study. He who thinks grows. Meditate in the Law of the Lord. We are not a Bible reading people. The old-fashioned people in the Church were. Note the consequences of this delight in the Law of the Lord. Beauty. Righteous men should have beauty of character. Whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. When we fail the fault is ours, or if it be not, then the failure is for the sake of the success it shall lead to. The ungodly are not so. The sinner has a brief day. It may not seem so now; but God says, he is like the chaff. But we should not seek happiness as an end. Seek goodness, and the happiness will come. (Joseph Parker, D. D.)

The character of the pious and profane

I. A certain course described. Here is a two-fold gradation implied, the one relating to the characters referred to, and the other to the intercourse maintained.

II. A sacred exercise described. In His law doth he meditate. The godly man delights in the Law of the Lord for many reasons.

1. Because it enriches his mind.

2. It cheers his heart.

3. It sanctifies his nature.

III. An encouraging assurance given. He shall be like a tree. Note the connection between loving the Scriptures and spiritual prosperity.

IV. A solemn contrast drawn. The ungodly are like the chaff. Chaff is a thing that is–

1. Unsightly. There is nothing to excite pleasurable emotions in the ungodly.

2. Worthless. Chaff cannot be turned, even in our inventive age, to any beneficial purpose.

3. Light and unsubstantial. There is no stability in the ungodly. They are tossed to and fro with every wind of temptation; and, being influenced by caprice rather than principle, no confidence can be placed in them. The Psalmist adds, therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment. To stand is a forensic term, and denotes to stand acquitted, and with those who live and die ungodly such cannot be the case.

V. A conclusive reason adduced. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous; but the way of the ungodly shall perish. (Expository Outlines.)

The refusals of godliness

But negatives in this case could not be denied; for if he had left out negatives, he had left out a great part of the worth and praise of godliness–for a godly man cannot always run in smooth ground–he shall sometimes meet with rubs; he cannot always breathe in sweet airs–he shall sometimes meet with ill savours; he cannot always sail in safe seas–he shall sometimes meet with rocks; and then it is his praise that he can pass over those rubs, can pass through those savours, can pass by those rocks, and yet keep himself upright and untainted, and untouched of them all. Besides, negative precepts are in some eases more absolute and peremptory than affirmatives: for to say, That hath walked in the counsel of the ungodly, might not be sufficient; for he might walk in the counsel of the godly, and yet walk in the counsel of the ungodly too; not both indeed at once, but both at several times; where now this negative clears him at all times. And may it not also be a cause of using negatives, because it seems an easier way of showing what a thing is, by showing what it is not, than by using only affirmative marks; especially where a perfect induction may be made. (Sir Richard Baker.)

Things marred by ungodliness

We must yet go further, and the next word we come to is ungodly, and now certainly we shall have a full negative, for ungodliness is the herb that marreth all the broth, it poisons all the company that it comes in,–not only walking, a thing in itself indifferent, but even counsel, a thing in its own nature most sovereign: they are both marred by this one ingredient of ungodliness. Walking in counsel had been a safe proceeding, if the ungodly had not given it; standing in the way had been a lawful calling, it sinners had not made it; sitting in a chair had been an easy posture, if scorners had not framed it; but if the ungodly, or sinners, or scorners have any hand at all in our actions, have anything to do in our doings, both safety, and lawfulness, and ease, and all are utterly overthrown. (Sir Richard Baker.)

The counsel of ungodly men

But have, then, ungodly men counsel? One would think it were want of counsel that makes them ungodly, for who would be ungodly if he had counsel to direct him? Certainly, counsel they have, and wise counsel too; that is, wise in the eye of the world, and wise for the works of the world: but wise in the sight of God, and wise for the works of godliness, they have not; and in that kind of wisdom ungodly men are your greatest counsellors–greatest in the ability of counsel, and greatest in the busying themselves with counselling. The poison of asps is under their lips. It serves not their turn to do wickedly in their own persons, but they must be drawing others into wickedness by poisoning and infecting them with wicked counsel. (Sir Richard Baker.)

Stages in sin

They which think it an ascent, conceive it thus, that he which walketh in the counsel of the ungodly is yet but wavering, as misled by opinion, and makes but an error; he that stands in the way of sinners, stands out with obstinacy, and makes a heresy; but he that sits in the chair of scorners is at defiance with God, and makes an apostasy. They who think it a descent do thus conceive it: he which walks in the counsel of the ungodly, delights and takes a pleasure in his sin; he which stands in the way of sinners, stands in doubt, and is unresolved in his sin; but he who sits in the seat of the scornful, sits down and sins but for his ease, as being unable to suffer persecution. They who think it an ascent, conceive that the ungodly are but beginners in ill; that sinners are proficients in ill; but the scorners are graduates and doctors of the chair in ill. They who think it a descent, conceive that the ungodly are opposite to the godly, and offend generally; that sinners offend, though actually, yet but in particulars; that scorners might be sound at heart, if they did not set themselves to sale, and sin for promotion. The ascent may be briefly thus: that walking expresseth less resolution than standing, and standing than sitting, but in sin, the more resolute, the more dissolute therefore sitting is the worst. The descent thus: that walking expresseth more strength than standing, and standing than sitting; for a child can sit when he cannot stand, and stand when he cannot walk; but the stronger in sin, the worse; therefore walking is the worst. Many such ways there are of conceiving diversity, either in ascending or descending; but it needs be no question which is the worse, because, without question, they are all stark nought: they are three rocks, whereof the least is enough to make a shipwreck; they are three pestilential airs, whereof the best is enough to poison the heart. This only may be observed, that howsoever the case alter with walkers and sitters, yet standers in the way of sinners keep their standing still; and whichsoever is first or last, yet they are sure to be the second. But is it not that we mistake the Prophet, and make his words a gradation, when, perhaps, he meant them for level ground? And for such, indeed, we may take them, and do as well, and then there will not be either ascent or descent in the sins themselves, but only a diversity in their causes; as that the first is a sin caused by ill counsel; the second, a sin caused by ill example; the third, a sin caused by the innate corruption of our own hearts. Or is it that the Prophet alludes here to the three principal ages of our life, which have every one of them their proper vices, as it were, retainers to them?–and therefore the vices of youth, which is the vigour of life, and delights most in motion and society, he expresseth by walking in the counsel of the ungodly; the vices of the middle age, which is the steadfast age, he expresseth by standing in the way of sinners; the vices of old age, which, being weak and feeble, is scarce able to go, he expresseth by sitting in the chair of scorners, and it is as if he had said, Blessed is the man that hath passed through all the ages of his life, and hath kept himself untainted of the vices that are incident unto them. (Sir Richard Baker.)

The way of sin dangerous

But a godly man is wiser than so; though he know that the way is large and broad, yet he knows also that the press is great; a man cannot stand here, but he shall be shouldered and thrust forward in spite of his teeth. (Sir Richard Baker.)

Walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly.—

Companions

We are all of us naturally of such a social tendency that the influence of companionship is necessarily great. And this is so especially in youth. Moralists, like Cicero, have made friendship the theme of some of their purest teaching and counsel. Scripture tells us of Jonathan and David, and this Psalm gives a hint of the insidious gradations by which companionship attains its mastery over habit and character. Like a skilful angler playing a fish, so does a congenial associate attach us to his company. He draws the glamour of his power about us, till we become wholly his. At first we meet him from time to time, walking in his counsels; then we protract the interview, and invite ascendency as we stand in his way; and at length we capitulate to his domination as we sit down in his seat. Now, if it be good to resist such influence in the case of the ungodly, it is equally good to yield to it in the ease of the upright. Nothing more important than the choice of associates. Avoid such as–

I. Desire you rather as their prey than their friend. They protest vehement friendship; there is nothing they will not do for you; all that they have is at your service. These are not safe men who overact their part in this way.

II. The fop and rou. The plucking of pigeons has been an art studied and perfected by knaves of fashion in every age, and has flung filth upon escutcheons which had known no shame, and blasted many a prospect of a noble future.

III. The extravagant. We find it easy to declare that poverty is no disgrace; yet it is rare to find amongst the young the moral hardihood which can say, I cant afford it. In humbler life it is by tens of thousands, not by ones or twos, that you may count the well born and the well trained who have fallen, some into suicide, some into prisons, some to the gallows, all into disgrace by becoming companions of those who have tempted them into extravagance.

IV. Betting men. The slowly rising pittance of the clerk will not let him keep pace with the expensive pleasures of his rich associate, and fraud and forgery are led up to by the sure pathway of the betting ring.

V. The flatterer, the sponge, who desires only to exhaust your purse. The cynic too. He is a flatterer who has established his ascendency so completely that he can afford to be rude. You cannot make a friend of a bully.

VI. And let both young men and maidens be very careful of the companionships which they form, one with the other. A young man will do well who makes an honourable union the goal of his industry; and let her whose troth is challenged have nought to do with one whose life is stained with an unmanly taint. Choose Christian friendships, for companionship is the leaven of our lives and solitude their bane. But there is no solitude to him who has learned to cancel it with pure thought and spiritual communion. Healthy literature, taste, art, music, come with votive offerings to him who lingers by their chastened altars. But the best friendship is that of those whose Master is Christ. When the disciples were let go they went to their own company. Go you to yours, and let it be the company which gathers round the Lord. (Arthur Mursell.)

Avoiding evil doers

Like the Sermon on the Mount, this description of the way of the righteous begins with a blessed. Those who go down into the busy streets day by day are in constant contact with those who are without God in the world. Not necessarily bad men in the common phrase, but possibly high-minded, free-hearted, companionable men, who yet have left God out of their lives. They do nothing to please Him. A part of the testing of our characters comes out in the fact that we do not always know we are walking in the counsel of the ungodly when we are really doing so. It is a hard tiring not to adopt the way in which people around us look at things, and the way of looking at things accounts in large measure for what we do. An atmosphere, intangible and still real, is thrown around all characters, and the moment we come into this atmosphere it affects us. If it is the atmosphere of prayer, and faith, and high endeavour, we feel without realising it, even when nothing is said to show the trend of thought. Nor standeth in the way of sinners. We note the advance in wrong. Sinners is a stronger characterisation of bad associates than the phrase ungodly, and standing is a more thorough committal to them than walking. It implies more deliberation. Naturally, he who stands with sinners and gives his leisure to their friendship is fast reaching the day when he will sit with the scorners. What makes the scorner the worst case to reform? It is because a radical change has come over him, and evil has become his good. Embittered against the way which he has lost, he makes virtue a mockery. One who is in daily association with evil may not realise the loss he is meeting, may not see the bloom fade from the ripe peach, or from the hanging cluster of grapes, but the scorner is in a hell of his own. He has lost the childhood of the heart to which he must come back before he can see and enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Coming to the positive marks of the way of the righteous, we find that he delights in the law of the Lord, and meditates upon it day and night. This marks a high and almost perfect stage of moral attainment, and creates a certain loveableness in its possessor which a mere determination to do right never can do. We love those who love to do right and sing in the ways of the Lord, whose moral movements are not the working of bands and pulleys, but the curves of the bird in the free air or the bending of the tender grasses under the breeze. Effort pains us, but ease charms us. What a rare and wonderful thing it is to find joy in a rule–the law of God. We must get the law into the heart and say it without thinking, and live it by a second nature. And never since the Bible was given to men has there been so much study upon its form and details. Is there a corresponding meditation upon it? Meditation is to thought and study what autumn is to summer–the ripe fruitage of past toil. (E. N. Packard.)

The triads of transgression

I. Three classes of transgressors. Shun them!

1. Ungodly.

Generally those who are

(a) ignorant of God,

(b) deny, or

(c) defy God. Here means restless people.

2. Sinners.–The restless missing his way.

3. Scorners.–Mockers, pests, impostors (Psa 26:4-9).

II. Three inducements to transgress. Resist them.

1. Counsel.–Flattering and deceptive. Satan in Eden and the wilderness.

2. Way.–Broad and attractive (Mat 7:13-14).

3. Seat.–Boisterous and popular. My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.

III. Three degrees of transgression. Avoid them!

1. Walking.–Initiatory.

2. Standing.–Secondary.

3. Sitting.–Grand Lodge degree in iniquity.

The way of transgressors is hard (Pro 4:14-18). Wherefore come out from among them (2Co 6:17). (Homiletic Review.)

Getting used to an ungodly atmosphere

To make my meaning clearer, suppose a person steps out of pure air into a rather close room: the air is at first disagreeable and oppressive, he does not breathe freely, but in a little while he gets more used to it, and after a while he hardly is aware that the room is close, and that he is breathing impure air. Suppose also that then he goes into another room, which is much closer, the air of it much more impure: it will not seem to him, coming as he does from the first room, to be worse than the first room seemed when he came from the pure air. This just describes the way in which the man who is beginning to walk in the counsel of the ungodly, allowing himself to be influenced by them, soon learns to breathe at ease in an ungodly atmosphere. Probably his conscience is uneasy as he steps from his place of safety, but he soon accustoms himself to his new position, and then he is ready for the next step, and there is every prospect of his taking it.

Nor standeth in the way of sinners.–

Counsels to the young

I. The infectious nature of sin, and the danger of walking in the counsel of the ungodly. These warnings have been so often repeated and are now commonplace, not because they are unimportant, but because the good and wise of all ages have felt the necessity of them.

1. We are all prone to sin.

2. And the young are ignorant and unsuspicious.

3. Vice is usually baited with pleasure.

4. The difficulty of bearing ridicule, which in corrupt society the young are exposed to.

II. The hardening nature of sin.

1. Its progress is gradual and insensible.

2. The strength and power of inveterate habit.

III. The finishing stage of wickedness. To be of the scornful. On which note–

1. The sin and danger of it to the scornful themselves. It is an audacious attack upon the majesty of the living God, and must strike every thinking person with horror. And this is not a sudden sin, but deliberate. Such contempt of sacred things shows an entire victory over conscience: all reluctance is gone. Also, over shame, and they design to destroy it in the minds of others.

2. Its sad influence. For it is public and intended to be so. It is an open advocacy of sin and an endeavour to break the restraints of conscience in others as well as themselves. Its malignant influence is seen in the fear that most persons have in opposing fashionable crimes. It lays hold on some human weakness that has been accidentally associated with religion, and ridicules religion as if it also were weak. Socrates was certainly the wisest and best of the men of Greece. His behaviour was such as demanded the esteem of all who knew him; yet was this worthy man successfully turned into ridicule by one whose writings are to the last degree contemptible. But yet this ridicule paved the way for the enmity which was raised against him, and which brought him to death. So ridicule often slays religion in the soul. Therefore let the young beware of evil company. Let parents strive to train their children in religion, and let all Christian men stand up boldly against profanity and vice and deal with these sins as they deserve. (J. Witherspoon, D. D.)

True and false friendship

False friendship is like the gaudy but scentless sunflower, that will bloom only in the sunshine of prosperity. True friendship, planted in mutual love and nourished by Christian principles, is like the sweet but modest violet that will flourish even in the dark shade of adversity, and will yield only fresh odours when trampled on by unkindly tread. (R. Venting.)

Association with sinners

The unhappy bids to associate with the profane arise from two causes.

1. That rigorousness and austerity which some gloomy-minded Christians attach to their religion. God and nature have established no connection between sanctity of character and severity of manners. To rejoice evermore is not only the privilege, it is also the duty of a Christian. The votaries of vice put on the mask of mirth, they counterfeit gladness amidst the horrors of guilt.

2. The opinion that wickedness, particularly some kinds of it, are manly and becoming; that dissoluteness, infidelity, and blasphemy are indications of a sprightly and a strong mind. Those who have shone in all ages as the lights of the world, with a few exceptions, have been uniformly on the side of goodness, and have been as distinguished in the temple of virtue as they were illustrious in the temple of fame. (J. Logan.)

Nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.–

A happy retrospect

Sir Walter Scott near the end of his life said, I have been the most voluminous author of the day. It is a comfort to me to think that I have tried to unsettle no mans faith, to corrupt no mans principles. (Quiver.)

The fear of ridicule

As the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of a fool, and he is a poor invertebrate creature who allows himself to be laughed down when he attempts to stick to his principles and tries to do what he believes to be right. Learn from the earliest days, says Sydney Smith, to insure your principles against the perils of ridicule; you can no more exercise your reason if you live in the constant dread of laughter, than you can enjoy your life if you are in constant terror of death. No coward is greater than he who dares not to be wise because fools will laugh at him. (Quiver.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

THE BOOK OF PSALMS

Chronological Notes relative to the Psalms written by David, upon the supposition that they were all composed in a period of about forty-seven years. See the Introduction.

-Year from the Creation, 2942-2989.

-Year before the birth of Christ, 1058-1011.

-Year before the vulgar era of Christ’s nativity, 1062-1015.

-Year since the Deluge, according to Archbishop Usher, and the English Bible, 1286-1333.

-Year from the destruction of Troy, according to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, 123-170.

-Year before the first Olympiad, 286-239.

-Year before the building of Rome, 309-262.

-Year of the Julian Period, 3652-3699.

-Year of the Dionysian Period, 460-507.

PSALM I

The blessedness of the righteous shown, in his avoiding every

appearance of evil, 1.

In his godly use of the law of the Lord, 2.

This farther pointed out under the metaphor of a good tree

planted in a good well-watered soil, 3.

The opposite state of the ungodly pointed out, under the

metaphor of chaff driven away by the wind, 4.

The miserableness of sinners, and the final happiness of the

godly, 5, 6.

NOTES ON PSALM I

Verse 1. Blessed is the man] This Psalm has no title, and has been generally considered, but without especial reason, as a preface or introduction to the whole book.

The word ashrey, which we translate blessed, is properly in the plural form, blessednesses; or may be considered as an exclamation produced by contemplating the state of the man who has taken God for his portion; O the blessedness of the man! And the word haish, is emphatic: THAT man; that one among a thousand who lives for the accomplishment of the end for which God created him.

1. God made man for happiness.

2. Every man feels a desire to be happy.

3. All human beings abhor misery.

4. Happiness is the grand object of pursuit among all men.

5. But so perverted is the human heart, that it seeks happiness where it cannot be found; and in things which are naturally and morally unfit to communicate it.

6. The true way of obtaining it is here laid down.

That walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly] There is a double CLIMAX in this verse, which it will be proper to note:-

There are here three characters, each exceeding the other in sinfulness.

1. The UNGODLY reshaim from rasha, to be unjust; rendering to none his due; withholding from God, society, and himself, what belongs to each. Ungodly – he who has not God in him; who is without God in the world.

2. SINNERS, chattaim, from chata, “to miss the mark,” “to pass over the prohibited limits,” “to transgress.” This man not only does no good, but he does evil. The former was without God, but not desperately wicked. The latter adds outward transgression to the sinfulness of his heart.

3. SCORNFUL, letsim, from latsah, “to mock, deride.” He who has no religion; lives in the open breach of God’s laws, and turns revelation, the immortality of the soul, and the existence of an invisible world, into ridicule. He is at least a deist, and endeavours to dissolve, as much as he can, the bonds of moral obligation in civil society. As the sinner exceeds the ungodly, so the scornful exceeds both.

The second climax is found in the words,

1. Walk;

2. Stand;

3. Sit:

which mark three different degrees of evil in the conduct of those persons.

Observe,

1. The ungodly man – one uninfluenced by God.

2. The sinner – he who adds to ungodliness, transgression.

3. The scornful – the deist, atheist, c., who make a mock of every thing sacred.

The UNGODLY man walks, the SINNER stands, and the SCORNFUL man sits down in the way of iniquity.

Mark certain circumstances of their differing characters and conduct.

1. The ungodly man has his counsel

2. The sinner has his way; and,

3. The scorner has his seat.

The ungodly man is unconcerned about religion; he is neither zealous for his own salvation, nor for that of others: and he counsels and advises those with whom he converses to adopt his plan, and not trouble themselves about praying, reading, repenting, c., c. there is no need for such things live an honest life, make no fuss about religion, and you will fare well enough at last. Now, “blessed is the man who walks not in this man’s counsel” who does not come into his measures, nor act according to his plan.

The sinner has his particular way of transgressing; one is a drunkard, another dishonest, another unclean. Few are given to every species of vice. There are many covetous men who abhor drunkenness; many drunkards who abhor covetousness; and so of others. Each has his easily besetting sin; therefore, says the prophet, let the wicked forsake HIS WAY. Now, blessed is he who stands not in such a man’s WAY.

The scorner has brought, in reference to himself, all religion and moral feeling to an end. He has sat down-is utterly confirmed in impiety, and makes a mock at sin. His conscience is seared; and he is a believer in all unbelief. Now, blessed is the man who sits not down in his SEAT.

See the correspondent relations in this account.

1. He who walks according to the counsel of the ungodly will soon,

2. Stand to look on the way of sinners; and thus, being off his guard, he will soon be a partaker in their evil deeds.

3. He who has abandoned himself to transgression will, in all probability, soon become hardened by the deceitfulness of sin; and sit down with the scorner, and endeavour to turn religion into ridicule.

The last correspondency we find is: –

1. The seat answers to the sitting of the scornful.

2. The way answers to the standing of the sinner; and

3, the counsel answers to the walking of the ungodly.

The great lesson to be learned from the whole is, sin is progressive; one evil propensity or act leads to another. He who acts by bad counsel may soon do evil deeds; and he who abandons himself to evil doings may end his life in total apostasy from God. “When lust has conceived, it brings forth sin; and when sin is finished, it brings forth death.” Solomon the son of David, adds a profitable advice to those words of his father: “Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men; avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away;” Pr 4:14-15.

As the blessedness of the man is great who avoids the ways and the workers of iniquity, so his wretchedness is great who acts on the contrary: to him we must reverse the words of David: “Cursed is the man who walketh in the counsel of the ungodly; who standeth in the way of sinners; and who sitteth in the seat of the scornful.” Let him that readeth understand.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

The Hebrew words are very emphatical, Blessedness belongs to that man, or, Oh the blessedness of that man Thrice blessed is that man; who is here described negatively, and in the next verse positively.

That walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, i.e. that doth not lead his life according to their counsel, or course, or manner of living; that doth not associate himself with them, nor follow their evil instigations or examples. Walking notes choice of it, and continuance or process in it; otherwise good men do sometimes step aside into an evil action. For the explaining of the phrase, see Gen 49:6; 2Ch 22:3-5; Pro 1:15; 4:14; Mic 6:16.

Nor standeth; which notes a more settled abode, hardness, and obstinacy in it.

In the way, i.e. in their course or manner of conversation; in the practice of those things which they choose and use to do; which is called a man’s way, Psa 5:8; 25:4; 2Pe 2:2,15.

Of sinners; emphatically so called here, as also Psa 26:9; Ecc 9:2; Mat 26:45; Luk 7:37; Joh 9:16,31, who give up themselves to the power and practice of sin, making it their great business and their delight.

Nor sitteth in the seat; which notes their association or incorporation of themselves with them; a constant and resolved perseverance in their wicked courses, with great content and security; and a great proficiency and eminency in the school of wickedness, and an ability and readiness to instruct others therein. Of the scornful; of those who are not only diseased, but reject, despise, and scorn all remedies; who make a mock of sin, and of God’s threatenings and judgments against sinners; who deride all wholesome reproofs and counsels, and make it their trade to scoff at goodness and good men. Divers have observed a gradation in this verse; the following clause still exceeding the former, for standing is more than walking, and sitting more than standing. And

the way or course may seem to be worse than the counsel or design, and the seat is worse than the way; and sinners, in Scripture use, are worse than the ungodly, and the scornful are the worst of sinners. But I would not lay great stress upon such observations.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

1. Blessedliterally, “oh,the happiness”an exclamation of strong emotion, as ifresulting from reflecting on the subject. The use of the plural maydenote fulness and variety (2Ch9:7).

counsel . . . way . . .seatWith their corresponding verbs, mark gradations of evil,as acting on the principles, cultivating the society, and permanentlyconforming to the conduct of the wicked, who are described by threeterms, of which the last is indicative of the boldest impiety(compare Psa 26:4; Psa 26:5;Jer 15:17).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Blessed [is] the man,…. This psalm begins in like manner as Christ’s sermon on the mount, Mt 5:3; setting forth the praises and expressing the happiness of the man who is described in this verse and Ps 1:2. The words may be rendered, “O, the blessednesses of the man”, or “of this man” l; he is doubly blessed, a thrice happy and blessed man; blessed in things temporal and spiritual; happy in this world, and in that to come. He is to be praised and commended as a good man, so the Targum:

“the goodness, or, Oh, the goodness of the man;”

or as others,

“Oh, the right goings or happy progress, or prosperous success of the man m,”

who answers to the following characters; which right walking of his is next observed, and his prosperity in Ps 1:3. Some have interpreted this psalm of Christ, and think it is properly spoken of him n;

that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly: all men are by nature and practice ungodly, without God, without the true knowledge, fear, and worship of God and are at enmity against him. It is a character that belongs to God’s elect as well as others, while in a state of nature; and is sometimes used illustrate the love of Christ in dying for them, and the grace of God in the justification of them, Ro 4:5. But here it describes not such who are wicked in heart and life in common only, but the reprobate part of mankind, profligate and abandoned sinners, such as Jude speaks of, Jude 1:4; and for whom the law is made, and against whom it lies, 1Ti 1:9. The word o here used signifies such who are restless and continually in mischief; who are like the troubled sea, which cannot rest, ever casting up mire and dirt: they are always disquieted themselves, and are ever disquieting others; nor do they cease from being so till they are laid in their graves. And to these “counsel” is ascribed, which supposes capacity and wisdom; as, generally speaking, such are wise and prudent in natural and civil things, and are wise to do evil, though to do good they have no knowledge: and counsel implies consultation and deliberation; they act deliberately in sinning, they cast about in their minds, form schemes, and contrive ways and means how to accomplish their vicious purposes; and sometimes they enter into a confederacy, and consult together with one consent, and their counsel is generally against the Lord, though it does not prosper and prevail; and against his Christ, his people, truths and ordinances: it takes in both their principles and practices; and the sum of their counsel is to indulge themselves in sin, to throw off all religion, and to cast off the fear and worship of God, Job 21:14. Now “not to walk” herein is not to hearken to their counsel, to give into it, agree with it, pursue it, and act according to it; and happy is the man, who, though he may fall in the way of it, and may have bad counsel given him by ungodly men, yet does not consent to it, take it, and act upon it. This may be applied to the times of the Messiah, and the men of the age in which he lived; and the rather, since the next psalm, in which mention is made of the counsel of the ungodly, manifestly belongs unto them. The men of that generation were a set of ungodly men, who consulted against Christ to take away his life; and blessed is the man, as Joseph of Arimathea, who, though he was in that assembly which conspired against the life of Christ, did not walk in, nor consent unto, their counsel and their deeds, Lu 23:51;

nor standeth in the way of sinners; all men are sinners through Adam’s disobedience, and their own actual transgressions, and such were the elect of God, when Christ died for them; and indeed are so after conversion, for no man lives without sin. But here it intends notorious sinners, who are open, bold, and daring in iniquity; the word p signifies such, who in shooting miss the mark, and go aside from it, as such sinners do from the law of God; proceed from evil to evil, choose their own ways, and delight in their abominations. Now their “way” is not only their “opinion”, as the Syriac version renders it, their corrupt sentiments, but their sinful course of life; which is a way of darkness, a crooked path, and a road that leads to destruction and death: and happy is the man that does “not stand” in this way, which denotes openness, impudence, and continuance; who, though he may fall into this way, does not abide in it; see Ro 6:1. The Pharisees in the time of Christ, though they were not openly and outwardly sinners, yet they were secretly and inwardly such, Mt 23:28; and the way they stood in was that of justification by the works of the law, Ro 9:31: but happy is the man, as the Apostle Paul and others, who stands not in that way, but in the way Christ Jesus, and in the way of life and righteousness by him;

nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful; by whom may be meant proud and haughty persons, in opposition to the humble and lowly, as in Pr 3:34; such who are proud of their natural abilities, knowledge, and wisdom, of their honours and riches, or of their own righteousness, and despise others; or such who are desperate in wickedness, of whom there is no hope; see Pr 9:7; and Deists and atheists, who scoff at divine revelation, and mock at a future state, at death, hell, and judgment, as in Isa 28:14. Now happy is the man that does not sit or keep company with such persons; who comes not into their secret and into their assembly; does not associate himself with them, nor approve of their dispositions, words, principles, and actions; see Ps 26:4. Such were the Scribes and Pharisees in Christ’s time; they derided him and his doctrines, scoffed at him when he hung upon the cross, and despised him and his apostles, and his Gospel; but there were some that did not join with them, to whom he, his ministers, and truths, were precious and in high esteem, and to whom he was the power and wisdom of God.

l “beatitudines illius viri”, Montanus, Vatablus, Gejerus. m “Recti incessus, felices progressus, ac prosperi successus”, Michaelis; so Piscator. n Justinian. in Octapl. Psalt, in loc. Romualdus apud Mabillon. Itinerar. Ital. p. 181. o “significat eos qui sine quiete et indesinenter impie degunt”, Vatablus. p “qui longissime aberrant a scopo legis”; Gerjerus.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

The exclamatory , as also Psa 32:2; Psa 40:5; Pro 8:34, has Gaja (Metheg) by the Aleph, and in some Codd. even a second by , because it is intended to be read ash e re as an exception, on account of the significance of the word (Baer, in Comm. ii. 495). It is the construct of the pluralet. (from , cogn. , , to be straight, right, well-ordered), and always in the form , even before the light suffixes (Olsh. 135, c), as an exclamation: O the blessedness of so and so. The man who is characterised as blessed is first described according to the things he does not do, then (which is the chief thought of the whole Ps.) according to what he actually does: he is not a companion of the unrighteous, but he abides by the revealed word of God. are the godless, whose moral condition is lax, devoid of stay, and as it were gone beyond the reasonable bounds of true unity (wanting in stability of character), so that they are like a tossed and stormy sea, Isa 57:20.;

(Note: Nevertheless we have not to compare , , for , but the Arabic in the two roots Arab. rs’ and rsg shows for the primary notion to be slack, loose, in opposition to Arab. tsdq, to be hard, firm, tight; as Arab. rumhun tsadqun, i.e., according to the Kamus Arab. rmh slb mtn mstwin , a hard, firm and straight spear. We too transfer the idea of being lax and loose to the province of ethics: the difference is only one of degree. The same two primary notions are also opposed to one another in speaking of the intellect: Arab. hakuma , wise, prop. thick, firm, stout, solid, and Arab. sachufa , foolish, simple, prop. thin, loose, without stay, like a bad piece of weaving, vid., Fleischer’s translation of Samachschari’s Golden Necklace pp. 26 and 27 Anm. 76. Thus means the loose man and indeed as a moral-religyous notion loose from God, godless comp. Bibl. Psychol. p. 189. transl.].)

(from the sing. , instead of which is usually found) sinners, , who pass their lives in sin, especially coarse and manifest sin; (from , as from ) scoffers, who make that which is divine, holy, and true a subject of frivolous jesting. The three appellations form a climax: impii corde, peccatores opere, illusores ore , in accordance with which (from figere, statuere ), resolution, bias of the will, and thus way of thinking, is used in reference to the first, as in Job 21:16; Job 22:18; in reference to the second, mode of conduct, action, life; in reference to the third, which like the Arabic mglis signifies both seat (Job 29:7) and assembling (Psa 107:32), be it official or social (cf. Psa 26:4., Jer 15:17). On , in an ethical sense, cf. Mic 6:16; Jer 7:24. Therefore: Blessed is he who does not walk in the state of mind which the ungodly cherish, much less that he should associate with the vicious life of sinners, or even delight in the company of those who scoff at religion. The description now continues with ( imo si, Ges. 155, 2, 9): but (if) his delight is, = (substantival instead of the verbal clause:) he delights ( cf. Arab. chfd f . i . with the primary notion of firmly adhering, vid., on Job 40:17) in , the teaching of Jahve, which is become Israel’s , rule of life; in this he meditates profoundly by day and night (two acc. with the old accusative terminations am and ah ). The perff. in Psa 1:1 describe what he all along has never done, the fut. , what he is always striving to do; of a deep (cf. Arab. hjj , depressum e sse ), dull sound, as if vibrating between within and without, here signifies the quiet soliloquy (cf. Arab. hjs , mussitando secum loqui ) of one who is searching and thinking.

With ,

(Note: By the Sheb stands Metheg (Gaja), as it does wherever a word, with Sheb in the first syllable, has Olewejored, Rebia magnum , or Dech without a conjunctive preceding, in case at least one vowel and no Metheg -except perhaps that standing before Sheb compos . – lies between the Sheb and the tone, e.g., (with Dech) Psa 2:3, Psa 91:15 and the like. The intonation of the accent is said in these instances to begin, by anticipation, with the fugitive e .)

in Psa 1:3, the development of the now begins; it is the praet. consec.: he becomes in consequence of this, he is thereby, like a tree planted beside the water-courses, which yields its fruit at the proper season and its leaf does not fall off. In distinction from , according to Jalkut 614, means firmly planted, so that no winds that may rage around it are able to remove it from its place ( ). In , both and the plur. serve to give intensity to the figure; (Arab. fal’g, from to divide, Job 38:25) means the brook meandering and cleaving its course for itself through the soil and stones; the plur. denotes either one brook regarded from its abundance of water, or even several which from different directions supply the tree with nourishing and refreshing moisture. In the relative clause the whole emphasis does not rest on (Calvin: impii, licet praecoces fructus ostentent, nihil tamen producunt nisi abortivum ), but is the first, the second tone-word: the fruit which one expects from it, it yields (equivalent to it produces, elsewhere), and that at its appointed, proper time (= , for is = or , like , , from ), without ever disappointing that hope in the course of the recurring seasons. The clause is the other half of the relative clause: and its foliage does not fall off or wither ( like the synon. Arab. dbl, from the root ).

The green foliage is an emblem of faith, which converts the water of life of the divine word into sap and strength, and the fruit, an emblem of works, which gradually ripen and scatter their blessings around; a tree that has lost its leaves, does not bring its fruit to maturity. It is only with , where the language becomes unemblematic, that the man who loves the Law of God again becomes the direct subject. The accentuation treats this member of the verse as the third member of the relative clause; one may, however, say of a thriving plant , but not . This Hiph. (from , Arab. tslh, to divide, press forward, press through, vid., Psa 45:5) signifies both causative: to cause anything to go through, or prosper (Gen 34:23), and transitive: to carry through, and intransitive: to succeed, prosper (Jdg 18:5). With the first meaning, Jahve would be the subject; with the third, the project of the righteous; with the middle one, the righteous man himself. This last is the most natural: everything he takes in hand he brings to a successful issue (an expression like 2Ch 7:11; 2Ch 31:21; Dan 8:24). What a richly flowing brook is to the tree that is planted on its bank, such is the word of God to him who devotes himself to it: it makes him, according to his position and calling, ever fruitful in good and well-timed deeds and keeps him fresh in his inner and outward life, and whatsoever such an one undertakes, he brings to a successful issue, for the might of the word and of the blessing of God is in his actions.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

The Happy Man.

      1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, 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; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

      The psalmist begins with the character and condition of a godly man, that those may first take the comfort of that to whom it belongs. Here is,

      I. A description of the godly man’s spirit and way, by which we are to try ourselves. The Lord knows those that are his by name, but we must know them by their character; for that is agreeable to a state of probation, that we may study to answer to the character, which is indeed both the command of the law which we are bound in duty to obey and the condition of the promise which we are bound in interest to fulfil. The character of a good man is here given by the rules he chooses to walk by and to take his measures from. What we take at our setting out, and at every turn, for the guide of our conversation, whether the course of this world or the word of God, is of material consequence. An error in the choice of our standard and leader is original and fatal; but, if we be right here, we are in a fair way to do well.

      1. A godly man, that he may avoid the evil, utterly renounces the companionship of evil-doers, and will not be led by them (v. 1): He walks not in the council of the ungodly, c. This part of his character is put first, because those that will keep the commandments of their God must say to evil-doers, Depart from us (Ps. cxix. 115), and departing from evil is that in which wisdom begins. (1.) He sees evil-doers round about him the world is full of them; they walk on every side. They are here described by three characters, ungodly, sinners, and scornful. See by what steps men arrive at the height of impiety. Nemo repente fit turpissimus–None reach the height of vice at once. They are ungodly first, casting off the fear of God and living in the neglect of their duty to him: but they rest not there. When the services of religion are laid aside, they come to be sinners, that is, they break out into open rebellion against God and engage in the service of sin and Satan. Omissions make way for commissions, and by these the heart is so hardened that at length they come to be scorners, that is, they openly defy all that is sacred, scoff at religion, and make a jest of sin. Thus is the way of iniquity down-hill; the bad grow worse, sinners themselves become tempters to others and advocates for Baal. The word which we translate ungodly signifies such as are unsettled, aim at no certain end and walk by no certain rule, but are at the command of every lust and at the beck of every temptation. The word for sinners signifies such as are determined for the practice of sin and set it up as their trade. The scornful are those that set their mouths against the heavens. These the good man sees with a sad heart; they are a constant vexation to his righteous soul. But, (2.) He shuns them wherever he sees them. He does not do as they do; and, that he may not, he does not converse familiarly with them. [1.] He does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly. He is not present at their councils, nor does he advise with them; though they are ever so witty, and subtle, and learned, if they are ungodly, they shall not be the men of his counsel. He does not consent to them, nor say as they say, Luke xxiii. 51. He does not take his measures from their principles, nor act according to the advice which they give and take. The ungodly are forward to give their advice against religion, and it is managed so artfully that we have reason to think ourselves happy if we escape being tainted and ensnared by it. [2.] He stands not in the way of sinners; he avoids doing as they do; their way shall not be his way; he will not come into it, much less will he continue in it, as the sinner does, who sets himself in a way that is not good, Ps. xxxvi. 4. He avoids (as much as may be) being where they are. That he may not imitate them, he will not associate with them, nor choose them for his companions. He does not stand in their way, to be picked up by them (Prov. vii. 8), but keeps as far from them as from a place or person infected with the plague, for fear of the contagion, Pro 4:14; Pro 4:15. He that would be kept from harm must keep out of harm’s way. [3.] He sits not in the seat of the scornful; he does not repose himself with those that sit down secure in their wickedness and please themselves with the searedness of their own consciences. He does not associate with those that sit in close cabal to find out ways and means for the support and advancement of the devil’s kingdom, or that sit in open judgment, magisterially to condemn the generation of the righteous. The seat of the drunkards is the seat of the scornful, Ps. lxix. 12. Happy is the man that never sits in it, Hos. vii. 5.

      2. A godly man, that he may do that which is good and cleave to it, submits to the guidance of the word of God and makes that familiar to him, v. 2. This is that which keeps him out of the way of the ungodly and fortifies him against their temptations. By the words of thy lips I have kept me from the path of the deceiver, Ps. xvii. 4. We need not court the fellowship of sinners, either for pleasure or for improvement, while we have fellowship with the word of God and with God himself in and by his word. When thou awakest it shall talk with thee, Prov. vi. 22. We may judge of our spiritual state by asking, “What is the law of God to us? What account do we make of it? What place has it in us?” See here, (1.) The entire affection which a good man has for the law of God: His delight is in it. He delights in it, though it be a law, a yoke, because it is the law of God, which is holy, just, and good, which he freely consents to, and so delights in, after the inner man,Rom 7:16; Rom 7:22. All who are well pleased that there is a God must be well pleased that there is a Bible, a revelation of God, of his will, and of the only way to happiness in him. (2.) The intimate acquaintance which a good man keeps up with the word of God: In that law doth he meditate day and night; and by this it appears that his delight is in it, for what we love we love to think of, Ps. cxix. 97. To meditate in God’s word is to discourse with ourselves concerning the great things contained in it, with a close application of mind, a fixedness of thought, till we be suitably affected with those things and experience the savour and power of them in our hearts. This we must do day and night; we must have a constant habitual regard to the word of God as the rule of our actions and the spring of our comforts, and we must have it in our thoughts, accordingly, upon every occasion that occurs, whether night or day. No time is amiss for meditating on the word of God, nor is any time unseasonable for those visits. We must not only set ourselves to meditate on God’s word morning and evening, at the entrance of the day and of the night, but these thought should be interwoven with the business and converse of every day and with the repose and slumbers of every night. When I awake I am still with thee.

      II. An assurance given of the godly man’s happiness, with which we should encourage ourselves to answer the character of such. 1. In general, he is blessed, Ps. v. 1. God blesses him, and that blessing will make him happy. Blessednesses are to him, blessings of all kinds, of the upper and nether springs, enough to make him completely happy; none of the ingredients of happiness shall be wanting to him. When the psalmist undertakes to describe a blessed man, he describes a good man; for, after all, those only are happy, truly happy, that are holy, truly holy; and we are more concerned to know the way to blessedness than to know wherein that blessedness will consist. Nay, goodness and holiness are not only the way to happiness (Rev. xxii. 14) but happiness itself; supposing there were not another life after this, yet that man is a happy man that keeps in the way of his duty. 2. His blessedness is here illustrated by a similitude (v. 3): He shall be like a tree, fruitful and flourishing. This is the effect, (1.) Of his pious practice; he meditates in the law of God, turns that in succum et sanguinem–into juice and blood, and that makes him like a tree. The more we converse with the word of God the better furnished we are for every good word and work. Or, (2.) Of the promised blessing; he is blessed of the Lord, and therefore he shall be like a tree. The divine blessing produces real effects. It is the happiness of a godly man, [1.] That he is planted by the grace of God. These trees were by nature wild olives, and will continue so till they are grafted anew, and so planted by a power from above. Never any good tree grew of itself; it is the planting of the Lord, and therefore he must in it be glorified. Isa. lxi. 3, The trees of the Lord are full of sap. [2.] That he is placed by the means of grace, here called the rivers of water, those rivers which make glad the city of our God (Ps. xlvi. 4); from these a good man receives supplies of strength and vigour, but in secret undiscerned ways. [3.] That his practices shall be fruit, abounding to a good account, Phil. iv. 17. To those whom God first blessed he said, Be fruitful (Gen. i. 22), and still the comfort and honour of fruitfulness are a recompense for the labour of it. It is expected from those who enjoy the mercies of grace that, both in the temper of their minds and in the tenour of their lives, they comply with the intentions of that grace, and then they bring forth fruit. And, be it observed to the praise of the great dresser of the vineyard, they bring forth their fruit (that which is required of them) in due season, when it is most beautiful and most useful, improving every opportunity of doing good and doing it in its proper time. [4.] That his profession shall be preserved from blemish and decay: His leaf also shall not wither. As to those who bring forth only the leaves of profession, without any good fruit, even their leaf will wither and they shall be as much ashamed of their profession as ever they were proud of it; but, if the word of God rule in the heart, that will keep the profession green, both to our comfort and to our credit; the laurels thus won shall never wither. [5.] That prosperity shall attend him wherever he goes, soul-prosperity. Whatever he does, in conformity to the law, it shall prosper and succeed to his mind, or above his hope.

      In singing these verses, being duly affected with the malignant and dangerous nature of sin, the transcendent excellencies of the divine law, and the power and efficacy of God’s grace, from which our fruit is found, we must teach and admonish ourselves, and one another, to watch against sin and all approaches towards it, to converse much with the word of God, and abound in the fruit of righteousness; and, in praying over them, we must seek to God for his grace both to fortify us against every evil word and work and to furnish us for every good word and work.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

THE PSALMS

INTRODUCTORY ANALYSIS

WHO?

Because David was the chief writer or compiler of the Psalms they are properly referred to as “The Psalms of David,” inspired by the Lord, often quoted and sanctioned by the Lord Jesus Christ, Mat 27:46; Luk 23:46; Luk 24:44. Seventy three (73) Psalms are attributed to David; Twelve (12) to Asaph, his chief musician; Eleven (11) to the sons of Korah; Two (2) to Solomon (Psalms 72, 127); One (1) to Moses, (Psalms 90); One (1) to Ethan (Psalms 89); and Fifty (50) are anonymous. Of 283 New Testament quotations from the Old Testament 116 are from the books of the Psalms, attesting our Lord, the Apostles, and His church’s considering them to be inspired, trustworthy, and profitable. So must true men of God accept them today, Joh 5:39; Joh 10:35; Luk 24:25-27; Luk 24:44-45; Eph 5:19; Col 3:16; 2Ti 3:16-17; 2Pe 1:20-21; Rev 22:16; Rev 22:19.

TO WHOM?

As Psalms of personal address there are two primary classes of people addressed: 1) First, some are addressed directly, exclusively, and restrictedly to Israel, regarding her covenant relationship with Jehovah, Psa 20:1-3; Psa 149:1-9; Psa 149:2) Second, some are addressed to all “who have breath,” inclusive of Gentiles of this age, Psa 150:1; Psa 150:6; Eph 5:19; Col 3:16.

ABOUT WHAT?

Four tunes recur throughout the Psalms:
1) Trust, 2) Praise, 3) Rejoice, and 4) Mercy.

First, whatever the occasion of David’s experience, of joy, sorrow, pain, or loss, it drove him to trust in the living God. Second, he repeatedly asked God for help and strength, always following it with gratitude of praise, with all his soul. Third, he repeatedly rejoiced, even in the midst of what seemed to be unending trouble. He would “sing and shout for joy,” in spite of life’s cares and burdens and disappointments. And Fourth, he marveled at the mercy that God’s grace gave him. Tho he wrote much about God’s righteousness and wrath, he never ceased glorying in His mercy!

WHEN?

From Moses to Ezra, a period of about one thousand years, the various Psalms were written. They were written and compiled beginning with Moses’s successful crossing of the Red Sea, as recounted Exodus 14, 15, to the restoration of the order of Temple worship, after Israel’s exile, as recounted Neh 12:45-47.

WHAT WAS THE OCCASION?

Various Psalms were written, as inspired, for special occasions and special purposes as follow:

1)Moses wrote, sang and taught the people to sing for victory, Exodus 15; Deuteronomy 32.

2)Israel sang on her Promised Land Journey, Num 21:17.

3)Barak and Deborah sang praise to God for their battle triumph, Judges 5.

4)David sang psalms with “all his heart,” Psa 104:33.

5)Hezekiah’s singers played music and sang the words of David, 2Ch 29:28-30.

6)Nehemiah’s singers sang loudly, Neh 12:42.

7)Jesus and the disciples sang at the last supper, Mat 26:30.

8)Paul and Silas sang in prison, Act 16:25.

9)Members of the Corinth church sang Psalms, 1Co 14:26.

10)At Creation’s dawn “The morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy,” Job 38:7.

11)In heaven all redeemed creation 10,000 times 10,000 join in singing the mighty redemption chorus, Rev 5:11-13. In heaven everyone can and will sing, and none will grow tired of singing.

INTRODUCTION

1. Definitions.

(1) The word “Psalms” is derived from the Gr. “psalmoi” or “psallein” which means to play on a stringed instrument. The Psalms were written in poetic form to be sung in accompaniment with instrumental music in worshipping and praising Jehovah God.

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(2) The term “Selah,” frequently found in the Psalms, is an anglicized term that means “singers pause.” The word is not to be read aloud, as one reads the Psalms orally, any more than one would stop and say “quarter note, half note, or whole note” when he comes to such in singing. (3) The term “Higgaion-Selah” is another term found in the Psalms that, too, is to go unpronounced in reading aloud. The term means “instrumental interlude.”

2. Composition.

The Psalms were composed or written by at least seven writers over a period of some 1,000 years, from the time of Moses to Ezra. Known writers of various psalms were: Moses, Asaph, Etham, Heman, sons of Korah, Solomon, arid David. It is believed that the Book of Psalms, in its present form, was collected and arranged by Ezra in the 5th Century B.C.

3. Divisions.

According to the Hebrew, Septuagint, and Latin-Vulgate Bibles the Book of Psalms has five distinct divisions, often referred to as five books of the Psalms. Of the Psalms it is believed that Books I, and II were written and compiled by David; Book III was arranged by Hezekiah; and Books IV, and V were arranged by Ezra. Contents of the five books are: Book I, Psalms 1-41 (41); Book II, Psalms 42-72 (31); Book III, Psalms 73-89 (17); Book IV, Psalms 90-106 (17); Book V, Psalms 107-150 (44). Attention will be called to these five books of the Psalms in the following chapters as they are examined, psalm by psalm.

4. Subject Matter.

Every type of human problem and every phase of human life is discussed in the poetic psalms. Conflicts and struggles of human experiences of fear and frustration are here met. The poems are brief and colorful. A Divine Messianic solution for every human problem is presented through faith in and obedience to Jehovah God. Simple graces are described in language easy to be understood. This is a treasure house of rich gems for hours of fears and frustration. Its instructions followed will “calm every doubt and fear.” There are truly “Pearls In the Psalms.”

All of the 150 psalms are inspired of the Lord. There are 70 direct quotations of them in the New Testament; eleven references are made directly to them; and eight allusions are found also. All of the psalms but 33 have a definite title. These 33 are referred to in the Talmud as “orphan psalms.” All are inspired and God-speed you in a study of them. Col 3:16; Psa 119:160; Luk 24:25-27; Luk 24:44-45; 2Ti 3:16-17.

Special Beatitudes of David

1.Psa 1:1-2, “Blessed is the man’- whose delight is in the Law of the Lord.”

2. Psa 2:12, “Blessed are they that put their trust in Him.”

3. Psa 32:1, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven.”

4. Psa 33:12, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.”

5. Psa 34:8, “Blessed is the man that takes refuge in the Lord.”

6. Psa 41:1, “Blessed is he that considers the poor.”

7. Psa 84:4, “Blessed are they that dwell in the Lord’s House.”

8. Psa 84:5, “Blessed is the man whose strength is in the Lord.”

9. Psa 94:12, “Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord.”

10. Psa 112:1, “Blessed is he that fears the Lord.”

11. Psa 119:2, “Blessed are they that keep His testimonies, that seek Him with the whole heart.”

CHART

CLASSIFICATIONS (FIVE BOOKS)

ALLUDED TO Luk 24:44

IPsalms 1-41; (41 Psalms) – Genesis.

IIPsalms 42-72; (31 Psalms) – Exodus.

IIIPsalms 73-89; (17 Psalms) – Leviticus.

IVPsalms 90-106; (17 Psalms) – Numbers.

VPsalms 107-150; (44 Psalms) – Deuteronomy.

From ancient times this arrangement of five books of the Psalms has been indicated, both in the Hebrew and in the Septuagint. It has been compared with the five books of the Pentateuch, called “The Law of Moses.”

The Book was written and compiled from David to Ezra, for purposes of worship, teaching, and praise to Jehovah. The Psalms were both used in singing and chanting praises to God, by Divine command in connection with the use of mechanical musical instruments.

UNIVERSAL ACCEPTANCE OF THE PSALMS

These songs of trust and hymns of prayer and devotion were written for both private and public worship. They have been known as Israel’s Hymn and Prayer Book, called in the Hebrew the “Book of Praises.” They set forth an account of every human emotion of the musical scale, as experienced by Israel during her most glorious feats and her Golden age.

They were used both in vocal and in mechanical instrumental praise to God, in public and private worship and praise. David was an inventor of instruments, “to praise the Lord therewith.” At one time he had an orchestra of 4,000 musicians who accompanied vocalists in praising the Lord, as the glory of the Lord came down to sanctify the occasion and the people, 1Ch 23:5; Hezekiah also served the Lord in restoring such holy worship and praise to the House of the Lord, 2Ch 29:20; 2Ch 29:25-30. And Solomon dedicated the temple in an high hour of praise of songs of praise, accompanied with musical instruments, when the Shekinah glory of the Lord came over them, 2Ch 5:12-14.

There is no reputable anthology of great poetry of the ages in which the Psalms of David are not honored. Little wonder that Paul commanded and charged New Testament churches to use the Psalms and “the music of Psalms,” (instrumental music), in their worship, teaching, and praise, 1Co 14:26; Eph 5:19; Col 3:16.

Of their structure and subject matter some are historical; some are theocratic; some are acrostic; some are imprecatory; some are penitential; some are hallel; and others are hallelujah Psalms.

The 119th is the longest Psalm, with most verses in the Bible. The 117th is the shortest Psalms, with fewest verses, as well as the middle chapter of the Bible. While Psa 118:8 is the middle verse of the Bible.

MUSICAL TITLES AND LITURGICALS

Listed here are musical titles given to numerous Psalms and Liturgies. They are very ancient alphabetical titles, given prior’to the Septuagint, with their possible meanings.

1) Aije-loth-Shahar (Psalms 22): time note? Or, name of melody.

2) Alamoth (Psalms 46): a chorus of young women.

3) AI-tash-hith (Psalms 57-59, 79): Destroy not.

4) Gittith (Psalms 8, 81, 84): Musical instruments, or melody, of Gath.

5) Hig-gal-on (Psa 9:16): A meditation? Or interlude?

6) Je-du-thun (Psalms 39, 62, 77): One of David’s music leaders.

7) Jonath-elem-rechokin (Psalms 56): Name of melody?

8) Ma-ha-lath (Psalms 53): A melody tune?

9) Ma-ha-lath-loon-noth (Psalms 88): A song for sickness.

10) Mas-chit (Psalms 32), and other Psalms: of didactic, reflective nature.

11) Mich-tam (Psalms 16, 56-60): A jewel, or golden poem?

12) Muth-lab-bon (Psalms 9): Believed to be the name of a melody.

13) Negi-noth (Psalms 4, 6, 61): A stringed instrument.

14) No-hil-oth (Psalms 5): Probably a flute?

15) Selah (Psalms 32), used 71 times, means pause, rest, or interlude, for reflection, meditation, or heavy drama effect?

16) Shem-in-ith (Psalms 6, 12): Believed to be a male choir?

17) Shig-gai-on (Psalms 7): Wild and mournful melody?

18) Shu-shan-nim (Psalms 45, 69, 80): Lilies: A bridal song?

19) Shu-shan-eduth (Psalms 60, 80): Lily of testimony: A melody?

20) For the chief musician, heading of 55 of the Psalms.

THE 10 CHIEF MESSIANIC PSALMS

Many Psalms allude to Jesus Christ, the coming Messiah, that are wholly inapplicable to any other person in history. Some that mention David seem also to point to the coming King in David’s family lineage. In addition to the ten clearly Messianic Psalms listed below there are numerous veiled allusions that also refer to the coming Messiah.

1.His Deity and universal reign, Psalms 2.

2.Man through Him to become Lord of creation, Psalms 8.

3.His triumph over death and the grave, Psalms 16.

4.His suffering definitively foretold, Psalms 22, 69.

5.His royal wedding and eternal throne, Psalms 45.

6.The glory and eternality of His reign, Psalms 72.

7.The Messiah’s throne eternal (endless) upon God’s oath, Psalms 89.

8.The Messiah as eternal Priest and King, Psalms 110.

9.The Messiah was to be rejected by His own nation’s leaders, Psalms 118.

10.The Messiah is eternal inheritor of David’s throne, Psalms 132

THE MESSIAH OF THE PSALMS DECLARED:

(FROM PROPHECY TO FULFILLMENT)

Rev 19:10 c reads, “The testimony of Jesus is (exists as) the Spirit of prophecy,” certified as follows:

1. Psa 22:16, prophecy: “They pierced my hands and my feet.” Fulfilled Joh 20:25, “Except I see the print of the nails, I will not believe.”

2. Psa 69:9, prophesied: “The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.” Fulfilled Joh 2:17, “His disciples remembered it was written (of Him, the Messiah),” “The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.

3. Psa 40:6, prophesied: “Lo, I am come to do thy will, O God.” Fulfilled, Heb 10:7.

4. Psa 45:6, prophecy: “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever.” Fulfilled, Heb 1:8.

5. Psa 22:8, prophecy: “He trusted in God; Let God deliver him.” Fulfilled, Mat 27:43.

6. Psa 8:6, prophesied: “Thou hast put all things under His feet.” Fulfilled, Mat 27:46.

7. Psa 22:1, prophesied: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Fulfilled, Mat 27:46.

8. Psa 2:7, prophecy: “Thou art my Son: This day have I begotten thee?” Fulfilled, Mat 21:9.

9. Psa 118:26, prophesied: “Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord.” Fulfilled, Mat 21:9.

10. Psa 69:21, prophesied: “They gave me gall, in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” Fulfilled, Mat 27:34; Mat 27:48.

11. Psa 41:9, prophesied: “My own familiar friend, who did eat my bread, lifted up his heel against me.” Fulfilled, Joh 13:18.

12. Psa 22:18, prophesied: “They part my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.” Fulfilled, Joh 19:24.

13. Psa 110:4, prophecy: “God has sworn, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchisedek.” Fulfilled, Heb 7:17.

14. Psa 118:22, prophesied: “The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner.” Fulfilled, Mat 21:42.

15. Psa 110:1, prophecy: “The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool.” Fulfilled, asserted, Mat 22:44.

16. Psa 16:10, prophesied: “Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy one to see corruption.” Fulfilled, certified. Act 2:27.

Psalms 1

A COMMENTARY JOURNEY

Of world literature none excels the pearls and treasures to be found in a diligent study of the Inspired Psalms. The Hebrew name of this book is “Tehillim,” which means “Praises;” while the Greek (Septuagint) title is “Psalmoi,” meaning “Songs sung or odes chanted to the accompaniment of musical instruments.”

Like the fragrance of the rose and the honeysuckle, the sweet fragrance of Jehovah’s love, mercy, compassion, and redemption flow forth from each Psalm, to offer hope and help to every person who seeks the Lord. Life’s cares, sorrows, griefs, anxieties, fears, and times of despair, may be relieved and dispelled by faith and hope in the sure promises of David’s deliverer, Jehovah, even the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.

May this pilgrimage study help you, strengthen you, enrich you in pearls and treasures of Divine aid along life’s rugged ways, to ultimate victory and a warm “well-done-welcome-home,” at the end of the journey, to enter into the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Ways of the Blessed and Ungodly Men

Verses 1-6:

Verse 1 introduces a contrast between the way (course of life) of the godly and ungodly man. The Hebrew plural term “Blessed,” literally means “spiritually prosperous,” or “prosperous in many ways,” in many aspects, he is happy. The idea is “of the happiness of the man,” the godly man.

This godly man will not:

1) “Walk on,” or in a colleague, company, or counsel relation with the ungodly. The term “ungodly” is derived from the Heb word “rasha,” and the Gk. term “asefon,” each of which means a “restless or unstable” man, one out of touch with God, void of any peace in his soul, Isa 57:21; Rom 3:17. In union or company with such, the good, ideal, or godly man will not “walk on,” or continually associate himself, 2Co 6:17; Mic 6:16; Psa 81:12.

2) The blessed, godly man will neither “walk on” nor “stand around,” habitually, in the way (environment) of the wretched, restless, sinner (morally and ethically) lawless one. He will not veer, turn aside into the course of conduct of the sinner (Gk. hamartolon), the one out of harmony with God in his thoughts (continual) and deeds of evil, Gen 6:5; Jos 1:7. The blessed or spiritually prosperous one may go among sinners to witness but not just “stand there,” in their environment, as if to sanction their way of life, Rom 12:1-2.

3) He will not “habitually” sit in or keep company with, settle. down in the seat or sitting place of the scorner, scoffer, or the one who derides God, holy things, and holy people. In such is no happiness, peace, or spiritual prosperity, Isa 57:20-21; See also Pro 20:1; Isa 5:19; Jer 15:17; Jer 17:15; 2Pe 3:3. The three downward steps of a) walking, b) standing, and c) sitting in the course of evil must be avoided, shunned by the blessed or spiritually prosperous one, Rom 12:2; 1Jn 2:6.

Verse 2 asserts positively that this blessed or much prosperous spiritual man will experience delightful pleasure in the law (Heb torah) law-directory that points out the way of righteousness. The Heb word “yarah” here translated law of the Lord (Jehovah) means “to teach.” In the teaching of Jehovah he delightfully meditates, day and night, making his life blessed or prosperous thereby, as described Jos 1:8; Psa 119:16; Psa 119:35; Psa 119:47; Rom 7:22. Meditating on the word of God is a parallel to digesting food that has been eaten. As digestion of the food feeds the body with gradual nourishing, so meditation on the word of God nourishes, refreshes, and empowers the soul of man, to a fruitful life.

Verse 3 declares that this blessed man who meditates in the law (teachings) of Jehovah (who is now what He will always be), shall be like a fruitbearing tree planted by rivers or oasis of water, that sustain it in continually bearing fruit in its seasons, like the date palm that grows by rivers and oasis. The ideas is that the godly, blessed man draws continually from the well that will never go dry, Joh 4:14. His life so rooted, as a plant in the garden (family) of God, survives with vigor, the storm and the heat, without withering, and never ceases in bearing fruits of righteousness, so that whatever he does shall prosper! Jos 1:7-8. As one is a “doer of the word,” not a “hearer only,” he shall have spiritual prosperity, be a blessed man in this life, and be rewarded for services, when the judgment hour of rewards shall come, Jas 1:22; 1Co 3:8; Rev 22:12, 2Ti 4:8.

Verse 4 uses an Hebrew “double-negative” adversative to contrast the vanity and doom of the ungodly with the spiritual prosperity of the righteous. Literally the phrase says, “not so! not so! the ungodly (the one out of touch with or who has never known God).” He shall not, in his ungodly state have happiness, spiritual prosperity, or a good fruitbearing life. Neither in character nor in destiny shall he be blessed, in a spiritual sense. He is rather like wind-blown chaff, carried away by the storm of God’s wrath, to find his eternal doom in hell, Pro 29:1; Heb 9:27-28; 2Th 1:6-10. See also Job 21:18; Hos 13:3; Mat 3:12.

Verse 5 concludes that because of the obstinate, sin-following way of the ungodly one, who is out of harmony with God, in nature and in deed, he shall not be able to stand, (stand up) to be justified, in the day of judgment, Rom 14:12; Joh 12:48. Nor shall this habitual offender of God who veered away from God, rebelled against Him all his life be able to appear any more in the congregation of the righteous. The hypocrites may hide what they are at heart, appear in the church as deceivers today, they can not beyond death, for their doom is then sealed.

They who are unrighteous among the people of God down here will be eternally separated from them in death, “to be damned forever,” Mar 16:16; As Korah and his company were destroyed from the holy congregation of Israel, and as Ananias and Saphira were destroyed from the congregation at Jerusalem, so shall all who die in impenitence be separated from the fellowship of the redeemed of God, to spend their conscious eternity in hell, separated from God, His Son, Holy people, and the Holy angels; A judicial sifting of the chaff awaits every sinner, Ecc 12:14; Num 16:13; Act 5:1-11; Mat 25:46; 2Th 1:6-10.

Verse 6 finally affirms that the living, omniscient God knows, comprehends the way, course of life, of the righteous, to reward him, 1Co 3:8; 2Co 5:10-11; Psa 101:6; Joh 10:14; 2Ti 2:19. He knows His own, tho their nature may be hidden from man’s observation. He marks out, keeps record of His own for special favors, Psa 133:3; Gen 18:17-19; He also knows, keeps a record of the ungodly, for their due punishment, Ecc 12:14; Isa 3:10-11.

He who builds a life on sinking sand shall come to a fateful end, to damn himself in cries and torments of fire forever and ever, Mat 7:24-27; Rev 14:1; Luk 16:25. He comes to the end of this life, to endure conscious, self-accusing torments of remorse and regrets in eternity, with no anchor, no rest, no peace, no hope, no light, and no God, forever. Relief from such doom may be found so long as there is life here, even now for those who seek righteousness through repentance toward God and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Only in such a chosen way may one live and die as a blessed, ideal, or spiritually prosperous one, Rom 10:8-13; Pro 3:3-5.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

1. Blessed is the man. (19) The meaning of the Psalmist, as I have stated above, is, that it shall be always well with God’s devout servants, whose constant endeavor it is to make progress in the study of his law. The greater part of mankind being accustomed to deride the conduct of the saints as mere simplicity, and to regard their labor as entirely thrown away, it was of importance that the righteous should be confirmed in the way of holiness, by the consideration of the miserable condition of all men without the blessing of God, and the conviction that God is favorable to none but those who zealously devote themselves to the study of divine truth. Moreover, as corruption has always prevailed in the world, to such a degree, that the general character of men’s lives is nothing else but a continual departure from the law of God, the Psalmist, before asserting the blessedness of the students of the divine law, admonishes them to beware of being carried away by the ungodliness of the multitude around them. Commencing with a declaration of his abhorrence of the wicked, he teaches us how impossible it is for any one to apply his mind to meditation upon God’s laws who has not first withdrawn and separated himself from the society of the ungodly. A needful admonition surely; for we see how thoughtlessly men will throw themselves into the snares of Satan; at least, how few comparatively there are who guard against the enticements of sin. That we may be fully apprised of our danger, it is necessary to remember that the world is fraught with deadly corruption, and that the first step to living well is to renounce the company of the ungodly, otherwise it is sure to infect us with its own pollution.

As the prophet, in the first place, enjoins the godly to beware of temptations to evil, we shall follow the same order. His affirmation, that they are blessed who have no fellowship with the ungodly, is what the common feeling and opinion of mankind will scarcely admit; for while all men naturally desire and seek after happiness, we see how securely they can indulge themselves in their sins, yea, that those of them who have departed farthest from righteousness, in the gratification of their lusts, are accounted happy, because they obtain the desires of their heart. The prophet, on the contrary, here teaches that no man can be duly animated to the fear and service of God, and to the study of his law, until he is firmly persuaded that all the ungodly are miserable, and that they who do not withdraw from their company shall he involved in the same destruction with them. But as it is no easy matter to shun the ungodly with whom we are mingled in the world, so as to be wholly estranged from them, the Psalmist, in order to give the greater emphasis to his exhortation, employs a multiplicity of expressions.

In the first place, he forbids us to walk in their counsel; in the second place, to stand in their way; and, lastly, to sit in their seat

The sum of the whole is, that the servants of God must endeavor utterly to abhor the life of ungodly men. But as it is the policy of Satan to insinuate his deceits, in a very crafty way, the prophet, in order that none may be insensibly deceived, shows how by little and little men are ordinarily induced to turn aside from the right path. They do not, at the first step, advance so far as a proud contempt of God but having once begun to give ear to evil counsel, Satan leads them, step by step, farther astray, till they rush headlong into open transgression. The prophet, therefore, begins with counsel, by which term I understand the wickedness which does not as yet show itself openly. Then he speaks of the way, which is to be understood of the customary mode or manner of living. And he places at the top of the climax the seat, by which metaphorical expression he designates the obduracy produced by the habit of a sinful life. In the same way, also, ought the three phrases, to walk, to stand, and to sit, to be understood. When a person willingly walks after the gratification of his corrupt lusts, the practice of sinning so infatuates him, that, forgetful of himself, he grows hardened in wickedness; and this the prophet terms standing in the way of sinners. Then at length follows a desperate obstinacy, which he expresses by the figure of sitting. Whether there is the same gradation in the Hebrew words רשעים, reshaim, חטאים, chataim, and לצים, letsim, that is to say, a gradual increase of evil, I leave to the judgment of others. (20) To me it does not appear that there is, unless perhaps in the last word. For those are called scorners who, having thrown off all fear of God, commit sin without restraint, in the hope of escaping unpunished, and without compunction or fear sport at the judgment of God, as if they would never be called to render up an account to him. The Hebrew word חטאים, chataim, as it signifies the openly wicked, is very properly joined with the term way, which signifies a professed and habitual manner of living. (21) And if, in the time of the Psalmist, it was necessary for the devout worshippers of God to withdraw themselves from the company of the ungodly, in order to frame their life aright, how much more in the present day, when the world has become so much more corrupt, ought we carefully to avoid all dangerous society that we may be kept unstained by its impurities. The prophet, however, not only commands the faithful to keep at a distance from the ungodly, from the dread of being infected by them, but his admonition farther implies, that every one should be careful not to corrupt himself, nor abandon himself to impiety. (22) A man may not have contracted defilement from evil examples, and yet come to resemble the wicked by spontaneously imitating their corrupt manners.

(19) In the Septuangint, the reading is μακαριος ἀνηρ, blessed is the man. Both Calvin and our English translators have adopted this rendering. But the Hebrew word אשרי, rendered blessed, is in the plural number, and האיש, ha-ish, the man, in the singular. Accordingly, the words have been considered as an exclamation, and may be literally rendered, O, the blessedness of the man! A beautiful and emphatic form of expression.

(20) C’est a dire, un accroissement de mal comme par degrez. — Fr.

(21) Il est bien conjoint avec le verbe signifiant une profession de vivre et un train tout accoustume. — Fr.

(22) Et s’adonner de soy-mesme a impiete. — Fr.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

THE BLESSED MAN

Psa 1:1-6

IN entering upon the discussion of this Book, and in giving an exposition of this first Psalm, we propose extreme brevity, little more than an outline.

Our reasons for so doing are these:

To set out for our readers such an outline as will be suggestive, leaving to the individual student, or the preacher or layman, the personal work of filling in, a procedure that is always profitable.

The Psalm itself amounts to a plain statement of facts with which every observing man is familiar. All human history illustrates the first Psalm, for history is made up of two classes, the godly and the godless; and history recites two effects, blessings for the first and judgment for the second. The Psalm was written to recite the virtues of the first, and incidentally involves the vices of the second. Concerning the blessed man, it gives

HIS NEGATIVE VIRTUES

He walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly. This plainly means that he does not company with them, confer with them, nor accept counsel from them. Paul, writing to the Corinthians (1Co 15:33), states a uniform principle, Evil communications corrupt good manners. To the Ephesians (Eph 4:29) he further said, Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth. James somewhat fully discusses the further evil of bridling not the tongue, and the evil results of that iniquitous practice (Jas 3:2-16), and then turns about and contrasts that with the wisdom which is from above (Jas 3:17-18).

He standeth not in the way of sinners. Most men have their particular paths. They travel them daily; they are well beaten. The sinner has hisit leads by the dance hall, the gambling hole, the lewd theatre, the house of ill fame; in fact, it winds past multiplied places of iniquity. The righteous shun that path and the companionship of the people who are in it; they know the peril of both. The hospitals, the prisons, the insane asylums, they are filled with proofs of this statement and are eloquent with warnings against the way of the sinners

He sitteth not in the seat of the scornful. There is always hope of salvation for the sinner. It matters not how scarlet have been his sins; but the scornful give one the impression of hopelessness. There is an old report that the scoffers of the Apostle Peters time were never converted. When Jude writes of the scoffers of the last days he presents them as a company who will never believe the Gospel. Christ faced such in His time and frankly told them that publicans and harlots would go into the kingdom ahead of them (Mat 21:31); while Peter, in his second Epistle, speaks of scoffers of the last days as men who will walk after their own lusts, contemptuously treat the promised Second Coming, and declared them willingly ignorant of the Word (2Pe 3:3-5). It is almost an evident fact that the scoffers state is the lowest possible even in a sinners life, and if all knowledge were ours, it would probably be seen that the scoffer is the Spirit-deserted man.

HIS SPIRITUAL VICTORIES

This Psalm does not stop with the negative side; it presents also the positive life.

The blessed man truly loves Gods Word. He is more than a reader of the same; he is better even than a student; he indulges in that deepest of student experiences, meditation (Psa 1:2).

John Foster tells us that in the Royal Gallery at Dresden might often be seen a group of connoisseurs who stood for hours before a single painting. They came one day and returned the next, and for weeks they stood before that masterpiece of Raphaels. Lovers of art could not enjoy it to the full until they had made it their own by constant communion with its matchless forms.

It is so with the study of the Word, but it is a bit different; the artist studies the form with the thought of copy; the saint studies the Word, knowing its changing, clarifying, cleansing, keeping power. It is through the Word that men are regenerated; it is by the Word that men are instructed; it is in consequence of the Word that souls are cleansed; and the Word is spirit and life to them who meditate therein.

Such a man lives a fruitful life. He is like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither (Psa 1:3).

The figure here is the figure of a tree that stands on the banks of a brook or river and pushes its root down to the very stream itself so that its veins are daily filled with the life-giving fluid and its leaves and fruit are brought to the full. There is a vast deal in being rooted at the right place. Some years since a bird must have carried to the top of my house in Linden Hills a pumpkin seed. It dropped down through the drain pipe and went into the ground under the sidewalk. There was but a tiny crack in the cement, and up through the same this new shoot pushed itself. When we saw its leaf we thought at first that it was a hollyhock, but shortly it put on such proportions as to disprove that idea. In the course of time my son began to tack supports against the side of the house. In a few weeks its three branches reached fifteen to twenty feet each and the multiplied blossoms gave promise of a pumpkin harvest. But we knew that pumpkins could not be supported in the air and we clipped all away but one blossom, and tied a towel under that to permit it to come to the full.

That growth was an amazement to every visitor to the home and in a long lifetime on the farm I never saw so luxuriant a one. The reasons for that growth were twothe rich soil in which it rooted and the constant water from the drain pipe. It is an illustration of a godly man. His luxuriant growth is not in consequence of inherent virtues, but rather the result of the waters of salvation; and the fruitfulness of his life the product of the soil to which the Spirit, in regeneration, transplanted him.

His influence wanes not! He bringeth forth his fruit in his season, his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper (Psa 1:3).

It is great to mark the growth of the godly. His path leads upward and onward. The circle of his influence increases; the fruits of his life multiply; the sacred effect upon his associates is growingly felt; and all flow from the favor of God.

HIS CONTRASTED DESTINY

He is stable; the weak are unstable. The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away (Psa 1:4). Paul knew in whom he had believed, and that trust resulted in his own stability and rendered him a wise counsellor to others concerning the same, hence his concluding words in the fifteenth chapter of First Corinthians: Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

We have theological chameleons, and even chameleons in conduct as well as convictions. Such always leave behind them a question mark; were they ever converted?

Again, he is secure; the wicked are insecure. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous (Psa 1:5). This is not merely the arbitrary judgment of God upon the second and the Divine assistance lent to the first; it is the establishment of a principle; sin unsettles, salvation establishes.

He is saved; the wicked are lost. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish (Psa 1:6). The Lord not only knoweth the way of the righteous but He has declared its end. The path of the just shineth more and more unto the perfect day. The Lord not only knows the way of the wicked, but He has fixed its terminus also, the ungodly shall perish!

There is a way that seemeth right unto a man but the ends thereof are the ways of death,

Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley

INTRODUCTION

This psalm seems to have been placed first in the collection, because, from its general character and subject, it formed a suitable introduction to the rest. It treats of the blessedness of the righteous, and the misery of the wickedtopics which constantly recur in the psalms, but it treats of them as if all experience pointed only in one direction. The moral problem which in other psalms troubles the ancient poets of Israel, when they see the avil prospering and the good oppressed, has here no place. The poet rests calmly in the truth that it is well with the righteous. He is not vexed with those passionate questionings of heart which meet us in such psalms as the 37th and 73d. Hence we may probably conclude that his lot was cast in happier and more peaceful times.Perowne.

THE BLESSED LIFE

(Psa. 1:1-3.)

Consider:

I. The secret of the blessed life.

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, &c. (Psa. 1:1.)

Wherever blessedness is to be found, it is not in these directions. What a direct contradiction is this first verse to the worlds philosophy! To keep the law may be safe, but it is to walk in the common light of day; to follow ones own counsels is to dwell in the purple light of pleasure. So argues the natural man; and here the Psalmist gives a flat denial to his argument. The world is wrong; the Psalmist is right. Blessed is the man who abstains from ungodly policy, iniquitous action, scornful use of things divine and holy. According to a custom which is generally recognised in Central Africa, whenever a caravan mistakes its way, and is obliged to retrace its steps and return to a road from which it has deviated, a bough is thrown across the wrong path, and a furrow is scratched in the ground by means of the feet, so that no succeeding caravan may fall into the same error. Thus the generations which have gone astray have declared that the ways of ungodliness and sin are ways of bitterness and disappointment, and they have left their emphatic and sorrowful testimonies as boughs and furrows across these false ways, to admonish us to seek another and a truer path.
But a merely negative goodness will not ensure us true blessedness, therefore the Psalmist proceeds to lay down the grand secret of blessedness in profound spiritual words. But his delight is in the law of the Lord. How truly profound! How superior to the superficial theories of happiness which human moralists have from time to time put forth! Whichcote truly says: Duty and happiness are vital acts, and must be put forth from vital principles. The vital principle is here declared. The philosophers discourses of this subject are but learned dotages. David saith more to the point in this short psalm than any or all of them put together; they did but beat the bush. God hath put the bird into our hands.Trapp.

The secret of bliss is the right attitude of the soul to the truth of God.

1. A right relation of the will to the law of God. But his will is in the law of the Lord.Luther. The bias of the will is toward Divine truth. The ungodly are self-willed, and walk after their own counsel; the blessed man consults the Divine will, and is ever longing for the path of Gods commandments. The will which is here signified is that delight of heart, and that certain pleasure, in the law, which does not look at what the law promises, nor at what it threatens, but at this only, that the law is holy, and just, and good. Hence it is not only a love of the law, but that loving delight in the law which no prosperity, nor adversity, nor the world, nor the prince of it, can either take away or destroy; for it victoriously bursts its way through poverty, evil report, the cross, death, and hell, and in the midst of adversities shines the brightest.Luther, quoted by Spurgeon.

2. A right relation of the affections to the law of God. His delight. The law is more than a mere rule, after which the man is to frame his outward life.Perowne. It fills with admiration and delight. But can the law of God thus excite the affections and rejoice the heart? Yes; for, as Festus sings

Law is love defined.

The godly man beholds in the spiritual law the declaration of the Divine nature, which is essential love, and he delights in that law after the inner man.

3. A right relation of the intelligence to the law of God. He meditates on the law day and night. We must know the law if we are to perceive its beauty and appreciate its worth, and the more we know of it, the greater shall be our joy in it. Many skim the Bible as a novel, when they should ponder it, and master it, line by line, like a grammar. He who is ignorant of the Divine law, or misconceives it, cannot know true freedom and blessedness; but he whose eyes are opened to the deep things of the law, walks at liberty, and knows peace unspeakable.

Let us not seek bliss in things of time and sense, but let us labour to know the will of God, and to have our hearts harmonised with that will, and we shall find rest to our souls.
Consider:

II. The picture of the blessed life.

He shall be like a tree planted, &c. (Psa. 1:3.)

1. The security of this blessedness. Planted by the rivers of water. Planted means firmly planted. Rivers, indicate unfailing refreshment of spirit; the streams of Divine truth and influence. Carnal joys flourish and wither with changing circumstances, but his joy abides whose life is rooted in God. His soul, watered by the streams of Paradise, knows not the parched season of the sunburnt heath.Sutcliffe. By the side of the streams in the East may be seen trees, at all seasons covered with luxurious verdure, blossoms, or fruit; whilst at a distance, where no water is, may be seen dwarfish and unhealthy trees, with scarcely a leaf to shake in the winds of heaven.Roberts. Thus, drinking supplies from the living streams of Gods truth, our life is ever strong and blessed, whilst we faint and fade where no such water is.

2. The manifestation of this blessedness. The godly man is known by the beneficence of his life. Bringeth forth his fruit in his season. The truly blessed life is a life of beneficence; and if we delight in Gods law, it shall perfect our individual character, fit us for the sphere and season in which we live, and make us a blessing to our generation. As with a palm-tree, all that is in it is profitableleaves, wood, and fruitso also with the Christian, all that he does is to redound to the honour of the Divine name and the benefit of his neighbour.Starke. The godly man is known by the beauty of his character. His leaf also shall not wither. As the foliage of the tree is its beauty and glory, so shall delight in the law of the Lord give grace and majesty to the character. In inner rectitude is the secret of all true and high visible excellence; out of a heart right with God spring all the poetry and utilities of life.

3. The perpetuity of this blessedness. The tree by the watercourses abides in bloom and fruition, and the joy and glory which spring in the heart and life of the lover of Gods Word are perennial and permanent. Our scientific gardeners enthusiastically anticipate the day when, through special culture, all our roses will have evergreen foliage, brilliant and fragrant flowers, and the habit of blooming for a greater part of the year. He whose life is grounded in the Divine truth and goodness, who draws daily vitality from the river of Gods pleasure, is an evergreen, and blooms all the year long, all life long, and death itself cannot blight his glory, or destroy his joy.

4. The universality of this blessedness. And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. He shall prosper in whatsoever he doeth.Wordsworth. Deference to the law of God secures universal prosperity. Gods blessing is on all the handiwork of the godly, and directs it to blessed and prosperous issues.

Oh! the blessednesses of the man who delights in the law of the Lord. As we long for the beatitudes, let us put ourselves in Gods hands. Planted by the river. This is properly used of a transplanted tree. He is not left to the efforts of nature, but taken beneath the gardeners care, and placed in a favourable soil.Kay. Man is righteous, not by birth or nature, or through his own power, skill, or activity, but by the Divine agency, through the means of grace which Divine mercy has established for us, as a tree planted by an abundant and flowing brook, if he, like the tree, take up into his own life, from the means afforded him by God, that which is necessary to his life and growth.Moll.

May God take us from the wilds of nature, graft us into Christ, nourish us by the influence of the Holy Spirit, and thus shall we bear our fruit unto holiness, and in the end everlasting life.

THE PROGRAMME OF EVIL

Psa. 1:1

A climax is to be noted here in the choice of expressions. Thus we have, first, three degrees of habit, in the verbs walked, stood, sat; next, three degrees of evil in the character, the wicked, the sinners, and the mockers; lastly, three degrees of openness in the evil-doing, counsel, way, seat.Perowne.

We see here:

I. The evil life in its inception.

Walketh in the counsel of the ungodly.
The word used in the original for ungodly signifies the loose man, the man loose from God.Delitzsch. We see here that ungodliness is the source of all evil; becoming loose to God, is the point of departure to positive and universal unrighteousness. This great truth is often forgotten; and where actual sin would be denounced, ungodliness is often regarded with in dulgence. Indeed, that temper of mind which is loose from God is by many considered the most philosophic and desirable condition of the mind; the morality loose from God, the truest morality; the science loose from God, the wisest science; the character loose from God, the most sound and noble character. The Psalmist in this place indicates the profound error of such reasoning. Looseness from God, ungodliness, is the original and fertile source of all transgression. Enmity with God is enmity with righteousness. The Psalmist teaches this same doctrine of the connection of atheism with transgression in Psa. 14:1 : The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. Beware of ungodly thoughts! Beware of a morality not built upon theology! Beware of an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God!

And this ungodliness seeks to justify itself. The counsel of the ungodly. Men are anxious that their opinions and conduct should have the sanction of reason, and so they seek to justify their ungodliness to their understanding. No one sins without making some excuse to himself for sinning. He is obliged to do so: man is not like the brute beasts; he has a Divine gift within him which we call reason, and which constrains him to give an account to it for what he does. He cannot act at random; however he acts, he must act by some kind of rule or some sort of principle, else he is vexed and dissatisfied with himself. Not that he is very particular whether he finds a good reason or a bad, when he is very much straitened for a reason, but a reason of some sort he must have.Newman. Reason is never used in a more unnatural, ignoble, hopeless task, than when it is pressed into the service of atheism and irreligion: but it is pressed into such service, tortured and perverted, until the godless theory of life is sicklied oer with the pale cast of thought, and looks a very clever and plausible thing. The maxims which are used to justify a godless science and a godless life are essentially stupid and false, yet how frequently they wear a most philosophic air! Here, then, is the beginning of evilan irreligious, ungodly way of thinking.

II. The evil life in its development.

1. Standeth in the way of sinners. By sinners are intended those who pass their lives in sin, especially coarse and manifest sin.Delitzsch. Open and avowed offenders, habitual transgressors.Kay. Here sinful thought has passed into conduct, action, life. We cannot hold unbelieving theories with impunity. Ideas rule men, ideas rule the world, and ideas fundamentally false, as are those of atheism, must soon work disaster, both in individual and national life. He who in thought lingers on the forbidden ground of scepticism, next takes his place with actual offenders against the law. Nothing is more evident than that loose thinking and loose living go together.

2. Sitteth in the seat of the scornful. The scornful are the men who deride the thought of religious obligation.Kay. They delight in the company of those who scoff at religion. This state, and it is soon reached, argues the most desperate wickedness. There is something so exalted in reverence, that some commentators have expressed a sentiment of respect for Jacob, who buried his false gods with tenderness; but how utterly dead to every noble quality is the man who can blaspheme the true God and His Word! Here the poison-seed of unbelief has opened into the full-blown flower of wickedness. The beginnings of sin are modest, the issues of it are impudent.Whichcote.

III. The evil life in its consummation.

The man is blessed who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly; it follows that he is cursed who does follow ungodly counsels and conduct. Cursed in his counsels, cursed in his actions, cursed in his end.Clarke. The further he goes, the further he is from blessedness.

We are reminded in this verse:

1. Of the insinuating nature of sin. It glides stealthily into the heartstealthily into the life.

2. Of the prolific nature of sin. One sin leads to another sin; one sin leads to a darker sin; one sin leads to many sins. It is a travellers tale which tells that the Indian spiders weave webs so strong that men are sometimes imprisoned by them; but it is no fable that from the gossamer threads of ungodly thoughts, and slender transgressions, come at length dark convictions and habits which hold men in most cruel bondage.

3. Of the accursed nature of sin. It fills with misery; it ends in death. What God curses withers away. Let us pray, then, that we enter not into the path of the wicked.

RESULTS

(Psa. 1:4-6.)

I. The destinies of men are various.

The godly flourish evermore: The ungodly are not so. The pious and the wicked are together in this world, but the text indicates that a separation will be effected. They are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. This allusion describes the instability of the principles of the ungodly, rather than of their fortunes. Their want of principle is opposed to the good mans steady meditation of Jehovahs law, which is the foundation of his prosperity. On the other hand, because the ungodly want this principle, therefore they shall not stand in the judgment.Horsley. The ungodly have instability of principle, and therefore instability of fortune. Their glory shall not descend after them.

II. The destinies of men are decided by their moral character and conduct.

Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment. Because they are like chaff, without root below, without fruit above, without spiritual vitality; therefore, on account of their inner worthlessness and instability, they do not stand.Delitzsch. Although the ungodly are in similar circumstances with the righteous, yet they derive no profit from this favourable circumstance. They are spiritually dead and withered. That which has matured in them has faded prematurely; for they have not appropriated to themselves the nourishment of life, and they have not formed in themselves the faculty for this appropriation. Without root and without sap, they have not attained any vigour, nor brought forth any fruit (Mat. 21:19). Thus they have ripened only for destruction; unsubstantial and worthless as chaff, the sport of the wind until scattered by the storm, they go to destruction, and leave no trace behind.Moll. And the righteous stand because they are righteous. Not chance, not social rank, not birth, not intellectual culture, not religious profession, not Divine decrees, shall determine our destiny, but our spirit and course of life.

III. The destinies of men are as widely contrasted as their character.

The righteous bloom for ever in the paradise of God; the wicked are driven away as chaff in the whirlwind of the Divine anger. Whose fan is in His hand, and He will throughly purge His floor, and gather His wheat into the garner; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire (Mat. 3:12). And this teaching of the Scriptures commends itself to reason. Nothing is more credible than that mens states shall differ as much as their spirits and tempers do differ.Whichcote.

Blessed is the man whose will and life are thoroughly identified with the Divine law; for the law shall stand for ever, and none shall suffer loss who enjoy its shelter!

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

BOOK THE FIRST

Psalms 1

DESCRIPTIVE TITLE

The Righteous Man and the Lawless Contrasted.

ANALYSIS

The Righteous man DescribedPsa. 1:1-3 : by what he Does NotPsa. 1:1; by what he DoesPsa. 1:2; and by what he is LikePsa. 1:3. The Lawless man described, as a Contrast, and by what he is LikePsa. 1:4; also by his Doom, negatively expressedPsa. 1:5. Jehovahs relation to the Two WaysPsa. 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. Isa. 13:11; Isa. 14:5. The use of r-sh in allusion to Israelites implies disloyal association with the heathen, the impious outsiders (Psa. 25:5). The term is opposed to the righteous: cp. Exo. 9:27, Hab. 1:4; Hab. 1:13, Pro. 3:33; Pro. 28:1-4; Pro. 28:12; Pro. 28:28; Pro. 29:2 (also cp. hoi anomoi in Macc. 2:24, Psa. 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 Psa. 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. Psa. 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 Jer. 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. Isa. 26:14; Isa. 26:19, Luk. 14:14, 1 Corinthians 15.

nor sinners enter into the congregation of the righteous.[16]

[16] Cp. Psa. 111:1.

6

For Jehovah does acknowledge[17] the way of the righteous,

[17] Ml.: know; but sometimes, know w. approval, recognise, acknowledge. Cp. Psa. 37:18, Mat. 7:23, Rom. 8:29, 2Ti. 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. Psa. 112:10.

(Nm.)

PARAPHRASE

Psalms 1

Oh, the joys of those who do not follow evil mens 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 Jehovahs 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 (1Co. 9:21). Christ will be the law of his being. As The Christ rejoiced that Jehovahs law of righteousness was enshrined in his deepest affections (Psa. 40:8), so will Christs follower make it his greatest joy to do his Masters 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 (Ecc. 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 (Mat. 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 (Jas. 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 (Psa. 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 (Psa. 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 (Luk. 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) (Psa. 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 (Jer. 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 Gods knowledge of our ways?

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(1) Blessed.The Hebrew word is a plural noun, from the root meaning to be straight, or right. Literally, Blessings to the man who, &c.

Walketh . . . standeth . . . sitteth.Better, went, stood, sat. The good man is first described on the negative side. In the short summary of evil from which he has been saved, it is the custom of commentators to see an epitome of the whole history of sin. But the apparent gradation was a necessity of the rhythm. The three terms employed, however, for evil have distinctive significations. (1) The ungodly. Properly, restless, wanting in self-control, victims of ungoverned passion, as defined in Isa. 57:20. (2) Sinners. General term for wrong-doers. (3) Scornful. A proverbial word, defined in Pro. 21:24 : Aquila has mockers; Symmachus impostors; the LXX. pests; Vulgate pest. The words expressing the conduct and the career, counsel, way, are aptly chosen, and correspond with went, stood. Possibly seat should be assembly. (Comp. Psa. 107:32.) It has an official sound, and without unduly pressing the language, we think of the graduation in vice which sometimes ends in deliberate preference for those who despise virtue. (Comp. Psa. 26:4-5.)

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

1. Blessed Hebrew, blessings. The plural may stand for intensity, as “O, the exceeding happiness of the man!” etc., or for the variety of blessings belonging to such a character. It is treated simply as an idiom in our version, and translated ad sensum. The blessing, (Psa 1:1-3,) is followed by the cursing, (Psa 1:4-6,) as the voice from Gerizim was by that from Ebal. Deu 26:12-13; compare Mat 7:24-27. See note on Joh 4:5.

Walketh not “Walking” figuratively denotes the habit of daily life. The description begins with negatives and advances to the positive, in order that by contrast the picture may be the more imposing.

Ungodly The word is usually translated wicked, and may denote any degree of moral turpitude; but as a rhetorical climax is indicated in the verse, it is supposed to denote simply a man devoid of true piety, though in other respects moral.

Standeth The idea is that of to persist, to abide, to persevere in, as Ecc 8:3; 2Ki 23:3.

Sinners A generic term for all who have missed the mark, wandered out of the way transgressors.

Sitteth in the seat A phrase indicating a finished work of unbelief. The description given of the scorner everywhere in the book of Proverbs is the best comment on the word. His iniquity is full; there is but a step between him and eternal death. The word “seat” is translated assembly in Psa 107:32, and its radical sense would justify that rendering here, though in both cases “seat” gives a better sense.

Of the scornful Those who treat the divine law, and all godly obligation, with contempt and derision utter mockers. This is about the farthest point in sin to which the transgressor can go. Heb 10:29; Mat 12:31. Noticeable is the threefold parallelism of “ungodly,” “sinner,” “scornful;” further severally distinguished by “counsel,” “way,” and “seat;” through which the unwary soul passes by “walking,” “standing,” “sitting.”

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

The Way of the Righteous.

‘Blessed is the man,

Who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,

Or stand in the way of sinners,

Or sit in the seat of the scornful.

But his delight is in the law of YHWH,

And in his law he meditates day and night.’

The psalmist first declares that the righteous are blessed. To be righteous means to be in a right relationship with God, having a heart that responds to Him and His word, and walking in His ways, using the provided means of mercy and forgiveness from a true heart. To be blessed means to prosper in the right way, to prosper in spirit. It is to enjoy God’s approbation. And it is to enjoy the exultancy that comes from it. We might translate this as ‘O the multiple blessednesses’. It is plural and emphatic, and speaks of great joy.

And then he explains why such a person is blessed, first negatively and then positively. Firstly he declares that the righteous are blessed because of what they do not do. They do not live in a way that results from following the counsel and advice of the wicked, they do not align themselves with the behaviour of the sinful and wrongdoers, who come short of the mark, and they do not reveal themselves as those who associate with the scornful, the ungodly, those who mock at the ways of YHWH, by sitting among them and seeming to be one of them. They stand up for truth.

So the first negative is that they do not ‘walk in the counsel of the wicked’. To walk is to go deliberately along in a certain way. It is to have an attitude that determines the direction that you take, and then to follow that attitude through continually. Thus the righteous do not listen to the advice and planned purpose of the wicked, that is, of those who choose to disobey God’s laws, who behave ‘wickedly’, and who are willing to do anything to advance themselves or to find enjoyment at the expense of others, and who counsel others to do the same. Such men say ‘you have to look after yourself in this life’ and ‘this is business’. They point out that those who are too fussy will not ‘get on’. They advise us that a little bit of sin is fun and does no one any harm. They will even go so far as to say that it is bad for us to repress our feelings and that we should express our natural desires, meaning simply by this that we should ‘let ourselves go’. (There is of course sometimes some truth in some of this in some instances, but they take it to excess). ‘The wicked’ is the most common expression in the Old Testament for those whose lives are contrary to God’s ways. They are those who are not in harmony with God.

But the righteous will close their ears to such advice. They will refuse to take the way of such people (Job 21:16; Job 22:18), and will reject the very way such people plan their lives (see the use of ‘counsel’ in Exo 18:19; Mic 6:16). They will reject the whole attitude which lies behind it. For they know that it is selfish and inconsiderate, harmful to others and displeasing to God.

So while the wicked are set on a determined course which means ignoring God’s commandments, thinking that it will result in prosperity, power, freedom and fun, the righteous take up another position. The righteous take up the position of obedience to God. They walk with God, knowing that this will bring them blessing, spiritual power, true freedom and fullness of joy. Each of us has to choose which way we walk.

‘Stand in the way of sinners’. The first phrase described the walk of the sinner. This describes his stance. The sinner takes his stance in the way that sinners, those who ‘come short of the mark’, take, with the full intention of joining them. This is a matter of deliberate choice. He takes his stance on refusing to love his neighbour, and instead puts himself and his desires first. He fails to show compassion and mercy, and instead fights to ensure that he gets his rights, and that no one interferes with his liberties or his pleasures. He takes his stance on easy living. He chooses ‘the broad way’ (Mat 7:13).

But the righteous do not take their stance in the way of sinners. They take their stance on the word of God, and on obedience to that word. They take their stance in the way of His instruction. They study His word and seek to live it out. Each of us has to choose our stance, and that will very much determine what we are and what we become.

Thirdly, the righteous do not ‘sit in the seat of the scornful’. There are always those who are scornful of right living, of being particular to obey God’s commands, and of adherence to the word of God. They are often supercilious and scornful of anyone who does not see things as they do. It is the most difficult thing for the godly person to fight. It is not opposition or persecution, it is simply contempt. And that is hard to bear.

In the twenty first century it includes those who are scornful of reliance on the word of God. They make clear their contempt of anyone who dares to really believe that the Bible is the word of God, even though men with powerful minds do believe it. They reveal their contempt of those whom they see as ‘narrow-minded’, those who put God’s will first. They consider it foolish and old-fashioned. Their view is often that rules and regulations do not matter. That what matters is to do our own thing, to be free. Others do the opposite and make rules and regulations everything. But they too scorn the way of faith and trust. The righteous, however, do not join with these people or take up their position. Nor do they sit among them as though they are one with them. They stand out and make their position clear. They recognise that the freedom that these people seek can lead to scepticism and bondage.

Being scornful is elsewhere connected with those who are at ease and enjoy over-excess of wine, with the attitude of those who consider themselves superior (Hos 7:5). Scorners pride themselves on what they are and deride others (Psa 119:51). They are in contrast with the wise who seek to live rightly and gladly accept criticism (Pro 9:8). They refuse to listen to rebukes (Pro 13:1; Pro 15:12). They consider themselves right all the time. They are in an entrenched position.

‘The seat of the scornful’ can be contrasted with ‘the seat of the elders’ which was occupied by those who praised YHWH for His goodness (Psa 107:32). Here too, in the seat of the scornful, we often have learned and important men (compare Isa 28:14), but their learning has taken them in the wrong direction. They are self-satisfied. They are scornful of God’s word. They are scornful of God’s ways. They are scornful of simple faith.

The problems were not basically different in the psalmist’s day from our own day. They are the problems that men continually face. They simply often express them in a different way.

So the psalmist has dealt with a man’s walk and what advice he listens to, his stance and what position he takes up, and whom he takes up company with, and how he views things, and points out that the way of the world, the path of the wicked and the unrighteous, and the position of the scornful are to be avoided.

The righteous man takes the high road. He rises above what is wrong. He keeps himself clear of anything that can taint his life. He delights in the law of God. In contrast the very sinful take the low road. They are the ultra wicked. They are mixed up in everything that is unpleasant. But most take the middle road, the way of ease and non-exertion, of compromise and self-consideration. They come short of God’s requirements. They come short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23). That is ‘the way of sinners’.

‘But his delight is in the instruction of YHWH, and in his instruction he meditates day and night.’ This is the positive side. The righteous man delights in God’s ways, in the ways of YHWH, the covenant God whom he sees as being his Deliverer and Saviour. He longs to know God’s will, he wants to know the Lawgiver Himself. So he meditates day and night in His ‘instruction’ (torah – Law), His word.

This is what lifts him above the world and its ways, this is what sets him on the high road, for he lives in the rarified atmosphere of God’s revelation of Himself. He listens to the word of God (Isa 1:10; Isa 2:3). He goes into a private place to meet with God. He comes to know God and the ways of God, and thus he knows that there is no other way worth following.

He does not make lists of rules he has to follow, although he carefully studies God’s word in order to obey it. He rather fixes his eye on his Creator, on the great Deliverer of Israel (as many psalms will make clear). He reads of His wondrous ways and doings, of how He defeated the power of Egypt, of how He brought them to Sinai where He revealed Himself in splendour and made His covenant with them, of how He brought His people through the wilderness in spite of their weakness and failure, and how He established them in the promised land. And he worships and honours God and gladly responds to His commands, which he sees are good and right, recognising with joy the special relationship he has with God through His gracious covenant. Indeed he is so full of God’s revelation that he cannot put it down. The instruction of his God is in his heart (Psa 37:31; Psa 40:8). He meditates on it and thinks about it day and night (compare Jos 1:8). It is not a hardship, it is a joy (Psa 112:1; Psa 119:35).

Today we can add to this that he reads the word of God as revealed in the New Testament. He rejoices in the life and death of Jesus Christ and all that it has accomplished for us. He constantly studies the life and teaching of Jesus. He studies in order to understand all that Christ is and what He has done for us, and can be to us. And he responds to that word.

The Hebrew word translated “meditate” is used of a young lion standing over his prey and roaring his defiance (Isa 31:4), of the moaning of a dove (Isa 38:14), as meaning to think over and imagine (Psa 2:1), as meaning to speak righteousness and wisdom (Psa 35:28; Psa 37:30; Psa 71:24). Thus it contains within it both the idea of careful thought and of effective declaration to others. A man meditates so that he may speak.

We should note the change in tenses. In Psa 1:1 the verbs are ‘definite’. The righteous man has taken up a definite attitude towards these things. He is set in his ways. In Psa 1:2 the verbs are ‘indefinite’, indicating continuous action, he continually delights in, and continually ponders, God’s law.

The Reward of the Righteous ( Psa 1:3 ).

Psa 1:3

‘And he will be like a tree planted by the streams of water,

Which produces its fruit in its season,

Whose leaf also does not wither,

And in whatever he does he will prosper.’

Here the word of God is likened to streams of water, providing the unfailing and multiplied means of life and growth. It is life-sustaining. And the one who meditates on it is like a tree, drawing through its roots on those streams of water, and thus becoming fruitful and abounding with life. Nothing about his life withers; all who see his life behold his fresh green leaves, they observe the abundance of his life. And he prospers in all he does. The thought is not of prospering physically in the sense of becoming rich, but of achieving God’s ends (Jos 1:8), of doing well what he sets his hand to (Gen 39:3), so that God causes it to prosper for the advantage of all (Gen 39:23). It is of having a fulfilled life, a worthwhile life, contributing to the good of mankind. He is like a fruitful tree. He prospers in fruitfulness. And like a tree drawing water from a river he draws in to himself the word of God, and lives by it. As Jesus Himself declared, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’ (Mat 4:4 citing Deu 8:3).

Note also that the tree is ‘planted’ there. It did not arrive there on the wind, it did not grow there wild and by chance, it was deliberately ‘planted’. It was selected and chosen. It is God’s tree, and He is the planter. For all who delight in the word of God finally do so because the Father has drawn them (Joh 6:44; Deu 7:6-8). They hear His word and respond to it because He has chosen to plant them. He gives them “a festive garland instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, a garment of praise instead of the spirit of heaviness, so that they may be called ‘trees of righteousness, the planting of YHWH’ so that He might be glorified” (Isa 61:3). Moreover the streams of water are probably to be seen as artificial canals. They too are not there accidentally. They are God’s provision. They have been prepared in order to water the tree, so that it will not wither in the burning heat of the sun (compare Ecc 2:6, ‘I made myself pools of water that I might water from them the forest where trees were reared’).

We should also note that the tree ‘bears its fruit in its season’. Just as water does not produce instantaneous growth or instant fruit in a tree, so the word of God does not immediately bring us to maturity and fruitfulness (see Mar 4:28). God has ordained that this is a process which takes time. Thus we should not grow impatient or doubting because our progress is not as fast as we would like it to be. In due time we will come to full fruitfulness if we faint not. But we should certainly become concerned if some fruit does not at some stage become visible.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

BOOK ONE

Psalms 1

Theme (Predestination) The theme of Psalms 1 is that the Lord has predestined mankind to live under His divine blessings if we will meet the condition of desiring and obeying God’s word. The book of Psalms is written from the perspective of the passions of the heart. Thus, note how Psalms 1 emphasizes the condition of the heart in order to receive these blessings. Man is to delight in, or to become passionate about, the Word of God. Within the book of Psalms, we have been predestined to be conformed to the image of God’s Son by delighting in His Word (Rom 8:29-30). Jesus Himself was passionate about God’s Word. At the age of twelve, he was in the Temple discussing the Word with the priests (Luk 2:46). After His resurrection He explained the prophecies of Scripture that He fulfilled to the disciples (Luk 24:45-46). Throughout His ministry, Jesus continually discussed God’s Word to those who would hear.

Luk 2:46, “And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions.”

Luk 24:45-46, “Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:”

Psalms 1 is followed by Psalms 2, which emphasizes God’s call to the nations to repent and bow down to His Son, exalted as King over all nations. Thus, Psalms 1, 2 serve as an introduction to the book of Psalms in that they give us the first two phases of God’s plan of redemption for mankind, which are predestination and divine calling. The rest of the psalms in book 1 will express David’s cry for righteousness to be established upon the earth through judgment upon the sinner, and deliverance to the upright.

Our passion for God’s Word opens the book of Psalms, and it seems to reach a climax in Psalms 119.

Summary of Psalm One There is a clear progression in the life of the righteous in Psalm One. The man who shuns bad counsel and ungodly fellowship (Psa 1:1) finds his delight in God’s Word (Psa 1:2). As God’s Word takes priority in this man’s life, his character becomes strong, symbolized as a tree (Psa 1:3). His prosperity is reflected in the illustration of the tree being planted by the river bearing an abundance of fruit (Psa 1:3). The ungodly are contrasted by their instability and ultimate, illustrated as chaff blown by the wind and eventually burned (Psa 1:4).

Psa 1:1  Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

Psa 1:1 Comments – Man is a three-fold creature. He is a spirit, he has a soul, or mind, and he lives in a body and he fulfills God’s commission with prosperity. Thus, the word “blessed” that opens and closes Psalm One involves wholeness in the four areas of man’s life: spiritual, mental, physical and financial. We see this three-fold pattern of man’s make-up in Psa 1:1.

“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly” – Comments – When a person walks in the counsel of the ungodly, he is giving his mind over to such thoughts, and experimenting with such counsel. He hears the words of the ungodly and observes their lifestyle of greed through the sense gates of his eyes and ears. He is making decisions to follow the ungodly.

“nor standeth in the way of sinners” – Comments – When a man stands in the way of sinners, he begins to practice those ungodly acts by giving his body as a servant to sin.

“nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful” – Comments – When a man sits in the seat of the scornful, he gives place in his heart, or spirit, to such a lifestyle. Then who is the scorner despising? If he is walking with the ungodly, it is not them. The scorner is despising the law of God, yes, even God himself, and all of those who fear God. He is lifted up with pride against God and the children of God.

Psa 1:1 shows us that when we meditate upon evil counsel, or suggestions, we open the door to developing evil desires. Ungodly desires produce evil desires. Evil desires give birth to sinful acts. Sinful acts result in death, in the judgment of God (Jas 1:13-16).

Jas 1:13-16, “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren.”

Therefore, a man must be careful who he befriends, who he takes counsel from, who he follows and ultimately who he serves. Psa 1:1 gives us a pattern of how sin envelops our lives so subtly. If we give our thoughts to ungodly counsel, we will consider those ways. Then we begin to practice those ways. Finally, our heart accepts those ways, and they become a part of our lifestyle. This is how a person becomes a scorner, despising, or scorning, the things of God.

Illustration – An illustration of how a person gives place to sin through his sense gates is given by Kenneth Hagin. The Lord gave him a vision of a person who was being tempted by demons. In this vision, he saw the demons sitting on someone’s shoulder, whispering thoughts into her mind. This Christian resisted the demons for a while. One day this person meditated on those evil thoughts, and acted on them. Hagin saw a black spot form in this person’s head. As this person continued in this sin, the Holy Spirit would deal with him. Finally, this person rejected the Holy Spirit’s conviction, and gave himself over to this evil lifestyle. At this point, Bro. Hagin saw this black spot move from his head to his heart. This showed that the person had given himself, his heart over to the sinful habit, and willingly rejected the will of God. [15]

[15] Kenneth Hagin, I Believe In Visions (Tulsa, Oklahoma: Faith Library Publications, c1984, 1986), 76-7.

Psa 1:1 Comments – I woke up in the early afternoon with these words in my spirit, “I have raised you up to stand among the elders of the land, who also have the Word of God in them, and I have raised you up to sit as a king and decree judgments, and I have raised you up to walk in victory.” (August 19, 2007)

Psa 1:1 Scripture References – Note a similar passage in Psa 26:4-5.

Psa 26:4-5, “I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers. I have hated the congregation of evil doers; and will not sit with the wicked.”

Note a similar verse:

Pro 12:26, “The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour: but the way of the wicked seduceth them.”

Psa 1:2  But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

Psa 1:2 “But his delight is in the law of the LORD” Comments – Everyone who is born again has a divine desire to know more about the Lord, to know His Word. A new believer must begin to feed this desire with God’s Word. He must protect this holy desire, lest they become quenched by the cares of this world.

The phrase “the law of the Lord” is not limited to the Mosaic Law, or to the Pentateuch. It is a summary of writings of the entire Old Testament. We see an example of this in Neh 9:3, when it is called “the Book of the Law of the Lord.” The Jews who returned from the Babylonian captivity had been reading from the Book of the Law for days. What Old Testament books were included in the phrase, “Book of the Law of the Lord”” Since the entire Old Testament history of Israel is reflected in the prayer that they prayed in chapter 9, it is proper to assume that most of the Old Testament books were being read to the Jews under the description “Book of the Law.” No single Old Testament book would give them this much history of Israel. This prayer is a summary of what the Jews had been learning during the past month of assemblies.

In Joh 10:34, Jesus quotes from the book of Psalms by calling it the “Law.”

Joh 10:34, “Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?”

At other times, Jesus groups the Old Testament into the Law, the writings, and the prophets (Luk 24:44).

Luk 24:44, “And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms , concerning me.”

It appears that the Jews in the Old Testament referred to the entirety of their sacred writings as “the Law.” By New Testament times, these books were grouped into three categories, the Law, the Writings and the Prophets. Yet, the term “the Law” is still used in the New Testament to refer to all the Scriptures, being carried over from the Old Testament. The Law is an abbreviated form of the three categories that are sometimes used.

Therefore, the Psalmist is referring to the entire Old Testament. In light of this fact, the Lord spoke to me one morning, as I had been meditating on this Psalm, that a person who delights in the law of the Lord is a person who is also looking to the hope of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice that the people that Jesus taught in the Gospels were eagerly awaiting the Messiah.

The purpose of the Law was to lead us to Christ (Gal 3:24).

Gal 3:24, “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.”

Psa 1:2 “and in his law doth he meditate day and night” – Comments – In contrast to the counsel of the ungodly in Psa 1:1 that entraps our minds, the Psalmist instructs us to protect our thought life by meditating on God’s Word. The books of Psalms, by their very nature as poetic literature, require meditating in order to understand their meanings. This is more true for the Hebrew poetic literature than for the books of the Law, history and prophecy.

Illustration – When people are trained to detect counterfeit money, they are not exposed to numerous fake bills, but instead, they carefully study a genuine bill, so that they might be able to recognize any thing that is not genuine.

Psa 1:2 Comments – Through the purity and passion of a man’s heart for the ways of God (Psalms 1:2s), a man allows God’s Word to enter his mind through the sense gates of his eyes and ears. As he meditates upon the Word of God, his mind is renewed and he makes decisions base upon the divine principles of the Word (Psa 1:2 b). As the Word guides his decision, he follows a path that leads to prosperity (Psa 1:3).

Psa 1:2 Illustration – While meditating on Psa 1:2, “But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night,” Evaluating my life, I began to realize that everything I had done since rededicating my life to the Lord at the age of twenty-one was for the purpose of having time to read study God’s Word. I remember in 1980, I injured my leg on a construction job and had to set out of work for one week. It was one of the most exciting weeks of my life as I read the word day and night for several days. This experience only made me hunger for God’s word even more. I soon enrolled in Seminary and was in class by August 1980. I spent every free moment studying God’s Word, and took as many classes on the Bible as the school curriculum would allow. I remember one day while reading the book of Isaiah, how the words became so powerful and overwhelming that I had to shut the Bible and stand back. I stood in awe at the power of God’s Word. Within three years of beginning my theological studies, I embraced the Full-Gospel message of divine healing and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. This compelled me to leave the Southern Baptist seminary and take an opened door to pastor a Charismatic church. I later returned to Seminary and finished my Master’s degree, but always loved to study the Bible. In 1997 my wife and I were sent to the African mission field. I was able to get a laptop computer, and spent the rest of my spare time gathering digital commentaries and reference books and studying the Word of God on the computer. Each time I set down with the Word of God in a quiet place, it comes alive. I take notes as quickly as possible, and return for more, as long as time allows. It is such a passion that I find it difficult to think about or talk about other topics. Of course, I do struggle to balance this desire with my wonderful wife and family. (10 April 2010)

Psa 1:3  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; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

Psa 1:3 “And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water” – Comments – In nature, there is nothing that illustrates stability and longevity more than a tree growing strong and standing tall in a fertile, watered land.

Psa 1:3 “that bringeth forth his fruit in his season Comments – Just as plants and animals are guided by the seasons of nature, so does mankind have seasons of life. The blessings of the one who delights in the law of the Lord have seasons as well. If the Lord blessed us in certain areas before we are mature enough to manage these blessings, then the blessings could become a hindrance to our spiritual growth. Thus, we are to continue to walk in the Word of God knowing that He will orchestrate our seasons of blessings for us. We need not be anxious nor envy the wicked in their prosperity (Psalms 37, 73).

Psa 1:3 “his leaf also shall not wither” – Comments – A tree that is planted by a constant source of water will always be green and flourishing, despite the dry, harsh environment around it. The arid, dry land of the Middle East is a great example of how a tree can stay green and healthy in a dry land. It symbolizes the fact that a bless man will walk in blessings even when adverse circumstances befall those around him.

Psa 1:3 Comments – Trees are often symbolic of men throughout the Scriptures (Psa 92:12-14, Isaiah 44; Isaiah 4, Jer 17:8, Eze 17:7-8; Eze 19:10, Jud 1:12). Psa 1:1-3 clearly uses this simile.

Psa 92:12-14, “The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing;”

Isa 44:4, “And they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses.”

Jer 17:8, “For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.”

Eze 17:7-8, “There was also another great eagle with great wings and many feathers: and, behold, this vine did bend her roots toward him, and shot forth her branches toward him, that he might water it by the furrows of her plantation. It was planted in a good soil by great waters, that it might bring forth branches, and that it might bear fruit, that it might be a goodly vine.”

Eze 19:10, “Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood, planted by the waters: she was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters.”

Jud 1:12, “These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;”

While every species of tree is unique in its characteristics, they all have the common trait of seasonal fruit, for this is what they have been created to do, which is to bear fruit each season. Besides their genetic traits that determine their fruit-bearing seasons, the environment plays an important role in determining their potential of fruitfulness. Water is the single most important ingredient for a tree’s prosperity. In a similar way, Psalm One tells us that God’s Word is our source of “watering,” causing us to prosper. Although we are all unique in our genetic make-up and gifts and callings, we all must continually feed our spirits upon God’s Word in order to bear fruit, which is what we were also created to do.

Psa 1:4  The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

Psa 1:4 Comments In contrast to the righteous meditating upon God’s Word, the ungodly do not “water” their lives with the same. However, they do bear the fruit of unrighteousness, so that God, in accordance with His divine nature, judges their evil works. As the wind purges the winnowing of the grain harvest, so does the Lord judge the works of the unrighteous.

The chaff is the empty husk of grain that is perishable, and blown to and fro by the wind. There is no better illustration in nature of instability and destructibility than the chaff of grain. Its purpose is fleeting and short lived. Once the grain of seed matures in the field, it is harvested and threshed. The purpose of chaff is ended. It is only to be discarded. John the Baptist used chaff to illustrate God’s judgment (Mat 3:12). The psalmist refers to the judgment of sinners in Psa 1:5 alongside the simile of chaff in Psa 1:4.

Mat 3:12, “Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

Scripture Reference – Note a similar verse:

Psa 35:5, “Let them be as chaff before the wind: and let the angel of the LORD chase them.”

Psa 1:5  Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

Psa 1:5 “Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment” – Comments – On the great Day of Judgment, the righteous will still be able to stand before God, but the sinner will be taken away to destruction. The children of God will be saved, so as by fire (1Co 3:13-15).

1Co 3:13-15, “Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.”

Psa 1:5 “nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous” – Comments – Just as chaff does not stay in the gathering of the grain basket, so does the sinner not stand with the congregation of the righteous. Psa 1:5 suggests that the righteous will be a part of the judgment, referring to the Great White Throne Judgment. In fact, Paul tells us that the saints shall judge the world (1Co 6:2).

1Co 6:2, “Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?”

Psa 1:5 Comments – Psa 1:5 uses poetic Hebrew parallelism to equate “the congregation of the righteous” with divine judgment. We can conclude that judgment upon depraved humanity can proceed from God’s people. In other words, God judges the sinner through His people. We find many biblical examples of this in the Scriptures, as God raises up prophets, priests, and kings as instruments of His divine judgment, so that the men in these offices represent and serve as the voice of the congregation of the righteous.

Psa 1:6  For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Psa 1:6 Comments – Through God’s omniscience He blesses and curses mankind. His divine law of blessing and cursing has been predestined upon every man since the time of the fall. This law is reflected throughout the book of Psalms. God knows the righteous man’s ways because they have been ordained by God himself. The righteous have followed His way in obedience and walk in the laws of divine blessing. In contrast, the ungodly are subjected to the laws of divine judgment.

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

The Difference Between the Righteous and the Ungodly.

All men are sinners: all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, Rom 3:23. No man is able to stand before God, by virtue of his own righteousness, Isa 64:6; Dan 9:7. But all believers have the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ, appropriated to them by faith, Php_3:9 . And so all true believers are righteous in the eyes of God, while all unbelievers are unrighteous and ungodly in His sight.

v. 1. Blessed is the man, literally, “blessednesses, or happinesses, of the man,” that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, making the plans of the wicked his concern, making it his business to follow out their godless undertakings, nor standeth in the way of sinners, making it a point to linger in the company of those whom he should shun, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful, those who scorn the belief in God in the sense of mocking and sneering at true religion. Note the climax in the verse: first comes the meditating of evil, then a wilful performance of that which is sinful, then the suppressing of a good conscience and the mockery of everything sacred; and, on the other hand, first the seeking of the society of the godless, then a somewhat uncertain standing at the outside of their circle, then a deliberate participation in their mockery.

v. 2. But his delight is in the Law of the Lord, in the meditation and study of the Law, of the Word of Jehovah, he finds full inner satisfaction and happiness; and in His Law doth he meditate day and night, reflecting upon its injunctions, applying its instructions always and in all circumstances. Just how the blessings of Jehovah come upon such a person is now described.

v. 3. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, where his roots reach deep down to the hidden reservoirs of moisture, where he has a never-ending supply of vitality and power, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season, as the result of a faith grounded deep in the power of Jehovah, which never disappoints the hopes of the great Gardener above, Luk 13:7; his leaf also shall not wither, not be affected by the drought of hostility or adversity; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper, with a prosperity at least in the sight of God, no matter how little the world thinks of his success. Not an outward good fortune in amassing the riches of this earth counts in the sight of Jehovah, but the possession of a trusting faith abounding in real good works.

v. 4. The ungodly are not so, either in conduct or happiness, and therefore both their condition and their destiny in the sight of God differ widely and radically from that of the believers; but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away, they have been weighed and found wanting, and therefore utter destruction comes upon them in consequence of their emptiness and vanity, just as the chaff on the open threshing-floors of the Orient is scattered to the four winds, while the heavier grain remains.

v. 5. Therefore the ungodly, the wicked unbelievers, shall not stand in the Judgment, will not be acquitted before the tribunal of God, will not be able to stand up and hold their own in the last great investigation, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous, they will not be placed with the blessed of the Father at the right hand of the Judge, Mat 3:12; Psa 35:5; Zep 2:1-2.

v. 6. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, He knows them and is known of them, He is united with them by the closest band of union, in the most intimate fellowship, Joh 10:14-15, and therefore their path through life is sure to lead to God, certain to reach the goal of everlasting bliss in Him; but the way of the ungodly shall perish, it leads into the abyss of everlasting destruction and damnation. Thus is the foolishness of the wicked punished and the hope of the believers rewarded.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

EXPOSITION

IT is remarkable that neither the first nor the second psalm has any title. Titles are so much the rule in the first and second books of the Psalter, that, when they are absent, their absence requires to be accounted for. As thirty-eight out of the forty-one psalms in this section are distinctly assigned to David, we must suppose that the compiler did not view this psalm as his. Perhaps he did not know the author. Perhaps, if he was himself the author, he shrank from giving himself the prominence which could not but have attached to him if his name had, in a certain sense, headed the collection. Reticence would have specially become Solomon, if he was the author.

Commentators have generally recognized that this psalm is introductory and prefatory. Jerome says that many called it “the Preface of the Holy Ghost.” Some of the Fathers did not even regard it as a psalm at all, but as a mere preface, and so reckoned the second psalm as the first (in many manuscripts of the New Testament, the reading is “first psalm” instead of “second psalm” in Act 13:33). The composition is, as Hengstenberg observes, “a short compendium of tile main subject of the Psalms, viz. that God has appointed salvatlon to the righteous, perdition to the wicked; this is the great truth with which the sacred bards grapple amid all the painful experiences of life which apparently indicate the reverse.”

The psalm divides naturally into two nearly equal portions. In Psa 1:1-3 the character and condition of the righteous are described, and their reward is promised them. In Psa 1:4-6 the condition of the wicked is considered, and their ultimate destruction predicted.

Psa 1:1

Blessed is the man; literally, blessings are to the man. But the Authorized Version exactly gives the sense (comp. Psa 2:12). That walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly. The margin gives, “or wicked,” and this is probably the best rendering of the word used (). The righteous man is first described negatively, under three heads.

(1) He “does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly:” i.e. he does not throw in his lot with the wicked does not participate in their projects or designs;

(2) he standeth not in the way of sinners; i.e. he does not take part in their actions, does not follow the same moral paths; and

(3) he sitteth not in the seat of the scornful; i.e. has no fellowship with them in the “scorn” which they cast upon religion. The word used for scornful () is Solomonian (Pro 1:22; Pro 3:34; Pro 13:1), but in the Psalter occurs only in this place.

Psa 1:2

But his delight is in the Law of the Lord. The righteous man is not described positively, under two heads.

(1) He delights in the Law (camp. Psa 109:16, 47, 77; Rom 7:22).

(2) He constantly mediates in it. The “Law” intended, not is probably not the mere Law of Moses, but God’s law, as made known to man in any way. Still, the resemblance of the passage to Jos 1:8 shows the Law of Moses to have been very specially in the writer’s thoughts. In his Law doth he meditate day and night; compare, besides Jos 1:8, the following: Psa 63:6; Psa 119:15, Psa 119:48, Psa 119:78, Psa 119:97. Constant meditation in God’s Law has characterized all saint.

Psa 1:3

And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. The comparison of a man to a. tree is frequent in the Book of Job (Job 8:16, Job 8:17; Job 14:7-10; Job 15:32, Job 15:33, etc.), and occurs once in the Pentateuch (Num 24:6). We find it again in Psa 92:12-14, and frequently in the prophets. The “rivers of water” spoken of () are undoubtedly the “streams” (Revised Version) or “canals of irrigation” so common both in Egypt and in Babylonia, by which fruit trees were planted, as especially date-palms, which need the vicinity of water. That such planting of trees by the waterside was known to the Israelites is evident, both from this passage and from several others, as Num 24:6; Ecc 2:5; Jer 17:8; Eze 17:5, Eze 17:8, etc. It is misplaced ingenuity to attempt to decide what particular tree the writer had in his mind, whether the palm, or the oleander, or any other, since he may not have been thinking of any particular tree. That bringeth forth his fruit in his season. Therefore not the oleander, which has no fruit, and is never planted in the East, but grows naturally along the courses of streams. His leaf also shall not wither. Compare the contrary threat of Isaiah against the wicked of his time, “Ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water” (Isa 1:30). And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper; rather, perhaps, in whatsoever he doeth he shall prosper.

Psa 1:4

The ungodly are not so; or, the wicked (see the comment on Psa 1:1. But are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. “Chaff” is used throughout Scripture as an emblem of what is weak and worthless (see Job 21:18; Psa 35:5; Isa 5:24; Isa 17:13; Isa 29:5; Isa 33:11; Isa 41:15; Jer 23:28; Dan 2:35; Hos 13:3; Zep 2:2; Mat 3:12; Luk 3:17). In ancient times it was considered of no value at all, and when corn was winnowed, it was thrown up in the air until the wind had blown all the chaff away.

Psa 1:5

Therefore the ungodly (or, the wicked) shall not stand in the judgment. “Therefore,” as being chaff, i.e. “destitute of spiritual vitality” (Kay), “the wicked shall not stand,” or shall not rise up, “in the judgment,” i.e. in the judgment of the last day. So the Targum, Rashi, Dr. Kay, Canon Cook, and others. It is certainly not conceivable that any human judgment is intended by “the judgment” (), and though possibly “all manifestations of God’s punitive righteousness are comprehended” (Hengstenberg), yet the main idea must be that the wicked shall not be able to “stand,” or” rise up,” i.e. “hold up their heads” (Aglen), in the last day. Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. Here the human judgment comes in. Sinners will be cast out, not only from heaven, hut also from the Church, or “congregation of the righteous,” if not before, at any rate when the “congregation” is finally made up.

Psa 1:6

For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous. God is said to “know” those of whom he approves, and. on whom he “lifts up the light of his countenance.” The wicked he does not “know;” he “casts them out of the sight of his eyes””casts them behind his back;” refuses to acknowledge them. God “knows the way of the righteous,” and therefore they live and prosper; he does not know the way of the wicked, and therefore the way of the (wicked, or) ungodly shall perish (compare the beginning and end of Psa 112:1-10.).

HOMILETICS

Psa 1:1, Psa 1:2

The godly man.

This psalm nobly fills the place of prologue to the whole Book of Psalms. It reminds us of our Saviour’s words when Nathanael drew near: “Behold an Israelite indeed!” With that marvellous, condensed fulness and graphic force which peculiarly mark the Scriptures, it, draws the portrait of the godly man. If we compare the Old Testament picture of an Israelite indeed with the New Testament picture of the true believers” a good man full of the Holy Ghost and of faith, “we find no discord, only a fulness, richness, tenderness, power, in the latter, Impossible before the Light of the world shone on human hearts and lives. The one is like a clear, perfect outline; the other, like the painting which adds to the outline colour, light, and shadow.

I. The godly man is described NEGATIVELY, in sharp contrast with the ungodly. They are as little to his mind as he to theirs. The Revised Version here gives a stricter rendering”wicked.” But our English word “ungodly” expresses the real essence of all wickedness, the secret spring of sin (comp. Psa 54:3; Psa 36:1; Jer 2:13).

1. He is not guided by this world’s maxims, walks not “in the counsel”by the rule, of those who leave God out of their reckoning. N.B.The chief thing in life is the counselplan, ruling principles, and maximsby which it is guided. E.g. one man’s aim in life is “to die rich;” another’s motto,” Short life and merry;” another’s, “To me to live is Christ.”

2. His conduct, therefore, openly contrasts. “Nor standeth,” etc. Closely associated, it may be, in business, society, public affairs; for else he “must needs go out of the world” (1Co 5:10); yet, as his aim is not theirs, so their means are not his means, nor their path his path (Pro 4:14, Pro 4:15). Business life has temptations from which recluse life is free, but also opportunities for witnessing for truth and Christ.

3. His chosen company corresponds with counsel and conduct. “Nor sitteth,” etc. Not frequenting their haunts, sharing their revels, making them his bosom friends (Pro 1:15; Pro 13:20). N.B.A steady progress in sin is indicatedwalking, standing, sitting. First, stepping aside from the right path into crooked ways in compliance with evil counsel; secondly, continuing a line of conduct conscience condemns; at last, sitting down at the banquet of sinful pleasure, conscience drugged or scared, God openly despised. A picture of how many lives once bright with hope!

II. POSITIVELY, by one unmistakable, distinguishing mark: delight in God’s Law.

1. The written Word is dear to him. The primary reference is, of course, to the Law of Moses, of which every letter was dear and sacred to the devout Israelite. How much dearer should the completed Scriptures be to the Christian (1Jn 1:1-10 :17)!

2. The deep spiritual truth of God’s Word engages his profound study, is “the rejoicing of his heart” (Jer 15:16; Col 3:16). Take Psa 119:1-176. as the consummate expression of the value of God’s Law to a mind taught by God’s Spirit. Note the great principles embodiedthat God rules by law; that each of us stands in direct relation to God, as subject to his Law; that this Law is plainly revealed, N.B.No Israelite, however ungodly, could call in question the fact that God spake to and by Moses, without pouring contempt on the law and constitution of his country; this was the cornerstone.

3. He loves God’s Law as the practical guide of his life (comp. Joh 8:12, Joh 8:31, Joh 8:32).

CONCLUSION. This picture is realized in ideal perfection in our Lord Jesus. All the severity of Psa 119:4-6 is found in his denunciations of the impenitent cities, of guilty Jerusalem, of the hypocritical scribes and Pharisees, of wilful unbelievers (Joh 12:48). But joined to this is the tender, sympathizing compassion, gracious humility, Divine love and forgiveness which made him “who knew no sin” the “Friend of sinners””able to be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,” as well as “able to save to the uttermost” (Heb 7:25, Heb 7:26; Heb 4:15; Mat 9:10-13).

Psa 1:3

He shall be like a tree, etc.

Among the costly works in which King Solomon exercised his wisdom and displayed his magnificence were gardens rich in fruit trees and watered by channels and reservoirs (Ecc 1:5, Ecc 1:6). Among these would be citrons and oranges, with their lustrous evergreen leaves and golden fruit; palms also, which love water and soil free from all foul decay and refuse. Some have fancied the similitude taken from the oleanders abounding by the streams of Canaan; but its fruit is poison; no one cares to plant it. An evergreen, fruit-bearing tree is here the bright image of the prosperous soul. (Solomon very possibly the author.)

I. THE SECRET OF A GODLY LIFE. Source and sustenance. “Planted,” not self-sown, not dropped into its place by chanceplanted by God’s own hand (Jas 1:18). “By the waters,” drawing life and freshness from an unfailing source (Isa 4:1-6 :14; 7:37-39; Isa 15:4). Some lives that make a fair show are like trees whose roots run near the surfacethe storm uproots them. The soul “rooted” in Christ (Col 2:7) is as the pine, sending down so strong a tap-root that the avalanche may break the trunk, but cannot uproot it.

II. ITS FRUITFULNESS. “Bringeth forth,” etc.. Good deeds are fruitful deeds. “The season” may tarry, but it will come (Jas 5:7; Gal 6:9, Gal 6:10). But if we “abide in Christ,” our fruit will be always in season, like the orange, covered with fragrant flowers, green fruit and ripe fruit all at oncefull of beauty and hope, as well as food.

III. ITS SECURITY AND VIGOUR. “Its leaf shall not wither.” Evergreen. The primary reference may be to outward prosperity, like Joseph’s (Gen 39:2-5, Gen 39:23; see 1Ti 4:8). Sickness, accident, hard times, losses through the failure or dishonesty of others, may befall the child of God as well as the child of the world; but the natural tendency of thorough integrity, of the diligence of one who does everything with his might as unto the Lord, and of the wisdom, courage, and good temper which are among the fruits of the Spirit, and the guidance of God’s providence in answer to prayer, is to bring prosperity (Psa 37:4-7; Php 4:4-7). Yet observe, the Old Testament, as fully as the New, teaches the need and benefit of adversity (Pro 3:11, Pro 3:12; Psa 34:17-19). But there is prosperity that fears no change, glory that fades not, labour that cannot be lost (3Jn 1:2; 1Pe 1:4; 1Pe 5:4; 1Co 15:58).

HOMILIES BY C. CLEMANCE

Psa 1:1-6

The title: The Book of Psalms: the Psalms-their variety and value.

In the Book of Psalms, or, strictly speaking, in the five Books of Psalms, we have illustrations of most of the varied kinds of documents of which the entire Bible is made up. In their entirety the collection forms the Hebrews’ ‘Book of Praise,’ or, as Professor Cheyne puts it, ‘The Praises of Israel.’ It is probable, however, that very few, in their private devotions, read all the Psalms with equal frequency or delight. There are some “favourites,” such as Psa 23:1-6; Psa 46:1-11; Psa 145:1-21; etc. The fact is that spiritual instincts are often far in advance of technical definitions, and the heart finds out that which is of permanent value over and above its historic interest, far more quickly than the intellect defines the reason thereof. Ere we pursue the study of the Psalms one by one, it may be helpful to note the main classes into which they may be grouped, as such classification will enable us the better to set in order the relation which each one bears to “the whole counsel of God.” In the last of the Homiletics on Deuteronomy by the present writer, there is a threefold result indicated of communion between the Spirit of God and the spirit of man. When such fellowship is in the devotional sphere, it subserves the life of religion; when the Spirit of God impels to the going forth on a mission or the writing of a record, that is inspiration; when the Spirit of God discloses new truth or forecasts the future, that is revelation. These three divisions indicate three main groups under which the Psalms may be classified. For the most part, each one speaks for itself, and with sufficient clearness indicates to which of the three groups it belongs; and according to the group in which it is found will be the value and bearing of the psalm on the believer‘s experience, faith, and life.

I. MANY OF THE PSALMS ARE THE OUTCOME OF PRIVATE OR PUBLIC DEVOTION. It is in these that we get a priceless glimpse into the heartwork of Old Testament saints, and see how constant was their habit of pouring out their souls to God. Psa 3:1-8; Psa 4:1-8; Psa 5:1-12; Psa 7:1-17; Psa 8:1-9; Psa 10:1-18; Psa 13:1-6, et alii, are illustrations of this. Whether the soul was elated by joy or oppressed with care, whether bowed down with fear or rejoicing over a great deliverance, whether the presence of God was enjoyed or whether his face was hidden, whether the spirit was soaring in rapture or sinking in dismay,amid all changes, from the overhanging of the blackest thundercloud to the beaming of the brightest sunshine, all is told to God in song, or plea, or moan, or plaint, or wail, as if the ancient believers had such confidence in God that riley could tell him anything! Many of these private prayers bear marks of limited knowledge and imperfect conception, and are by no means to be taken as models for us. But no saint ever did or could in prayer rise above the level of his own knowledge. Still, they knew that God heard and answered, not according to their thoughts, but according to his loving-kindness; hence they poured out their whole souls to God, whether in gladness or sadness. And so may we; and God will do exceeding abundantly for us above all that we ask or think.

II. ANOTHER GROUP OF PSALMS CONSISTS OF THOSE WHICH ARE THE PRODUCTS OF ANOTHER FORM OF DIVINE INSPIRATION. These are not necessarily addresses to God; they are, for the most part, an inspired and inspiriting rehearsal of the mighty acts of the Lord, and a call to the people of God to join in the song of praise. Psa 33:1-22; Psa 46:1-11; Psa 48:1-14; Psa 78:1-72; Psa 81:1-16; Psa 89:1-52; and many others, are illustrations of this. At the back of them all there is a revelation of God known, accepted, and enjoyed. And according to this great and glorious redemption are the people exhorted to join in songs of praise. There is, moreover, this distinction, for the most part, between the first group and the secondthe first group reflects the passing moods of man; the second reflects the revealed character and ways of God. The first group is mostly for private use, as the moods of the soul may respond thereto; the. second group is also for sanctuary song, and indicates the permanent theme of the believer’s faith and hope, even “the salvation of God.” With regard to the first group we may say, “As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man.” As to the second, the motto might be, “The Lord hath made known his salvation: therefore with our songs we will praise him.” Under this head may also be set those calmly and sweetly meditative psalms, such as Psa 23:1-6; Psa 32:1-11; in which God’s revelation of his works and ways gives its own hue to the musings of the saint. These are now the delight of believers, in public and in private worship, as the expression of an experience which is renewed in regenerate hearts age after age. None of them could possibly be accounted for by the psychology of the natural man; they accord only with the pneumatology of the spiritual man.

III. THE THIRD GROUP OF PSALMS CONSISTS OF THOSE IN WHICH THERE IS A DIRECT OR INDIRECT MESSIANIC REFERENCE AND FORECAST. Of these there are three kinds.

1. There are those directly and exclusively Messianic, such as Psa 2:1-12; Psa 45:1-17; Psa 47:1-9; Psa 72:1-20; Psa 110:1-7. Of all these, the second psalm is, perhaps, throughout, as much as any of the psalms, clearly and distinctly applicable to the Coming One, and to him only. For the purpose of seeing and showing this, it may well be carefully studied. Every verse, every phrase, every word, tells; in fact, even the glorious fifty-third chapter of Isaiah is scarcely more clearly Messianic than the second psalm. Even Professor Cheyne is compelled to admit its Messianic reference, and he tells us that Ibn Ezra does so likewise. And that some of the psalms apply to the Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord himself assures us (Luk 24:44). And in an age like this, when destructive criticism is so popular, it is needful for the believing student to be the more accurate, clear, and firm.

2. Some psalms point to the era rather than to the Person of the Messiah. Such are the fiftieth and the eighty-seventh psalms. They are prophetic expositions of truths which pertain to the Messianic times, and receive their full elucidation from the developed expositions of the apostles and prophets of the New Testament; they cover the ground of the Messianic age.

3. Other psalms refer immediately to the writer himself, and have come to be regarded as Messianic because some of the words therein were quoted the Lord Jesus Christ and adopted as his own. Such a one is the twenty-second psalm, in which the writer bemoans his own sufferings and (according to the LXX.)his own transgressions. But it is not possible to apply every verse of this psalm to the Lord Jesus. He, however, being in all things made like unto his brethren, was “in all points tempted like as we are;” hence the very groans of his brethren fitted his own lips. He came to have fellowship with us in our sufferings that we might have fellowship with him in his! Thus there is established a marvellously close sympathy between Jesus and his saints, since his temptations, sorrows, and groans resembled theirs, To this discriminating and believing study of the first fifty psalms, the writer ventures to invite the Christian student and expositor. We must avoid the extreme of those who, with Home, would reheard most, if not all, the psalms as Messianic; and also the extreme of those who would regard none as such. Because our Lord said that all things must be fulfilled that were written in the Psalms concerning him, we may not infer that words which were written concerning him filled up all the Psalms; nor, with the unbeliever, may we regard the claim of prophecy as invalid through any repugnance to the supernatural. Intelligent discernment and loving faith are twin sisters; may they both be our attendants during our survey of these priceless productions of Hebrew pens! And may the Spirit of God be himself our Light and our Guide!C.

HOMILIES BY W. FORSYTH

Psa 1:1-6

The happy man.

The word “blessed” means” happy.” The phrase used might, indeed, be rendered, “Hail to the man,” etc.! The psalm itself may be called “a psalm of congratulations,” for the psalmist regards the man whom he here describes as one who has great reason for gladness, and who therefore may be fittingly congratulated. Ages ago the heathen said, “Call no man happy till he is dead.” But we have before us the picture of one who is certainly happy even now; who has a joy, of which neither crosses nor losses can deprive him; who will be happy as long as he lives; and who has still more happiness in store for him when death is past. It may be asked whether it is the highest kind of virtue to aim at being happy, or whether it is the noblest inducement to it to assure us that to be virtuous is to be happy? Perhaps not. But such a question could scarcely be asked unless the point of the psalm is altogether missed; for the psalmist is not speaking of the good man as happy because he is aiming at happiness, but as being so because he follows the Law of God, and finds joy therein, without seeking for joy for its own sake. And, anyway, if it be so that God has annexed joy to a life of loyalty to him, it cannot make such loyalty less desirable if it is crowned with gladness of heart. But, as we hope to point out shortly, the personal happiness is but a very small part of the “blessedness” which the good man possesses. Let us consider

I. THE LIFE HERE DESCRIBED. Several marks are furnished to us here of “the Messed man.”

1. Negative. He is wisely careful not to have evil companionship. He knows that “he that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.” Hence he shuns

(1) the ungodlythose who have no fear of God before their eyes, and are perpetually restless in their self-will;

(2) the sinnersthose who indulge in open sin;

(3) the scornfulthese who ridicule religion and. laugh at such as fear the Lord. His separation from such is complete.

He will neither

(1) follow their counsel; nor

(2) sit in their seat; nor even

(3) stand in their way.

Note: If ever a man is to become wise, he must not mix promiscuously with others. We know well, in penning these words, that we are liable to the remark from some readers, “How commonplace!” We admit it. But it is just by non-attention to commonplace truth that millions are undone. We cannot reiterate too frequently, “Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men.”

2. Positive. In avoiding evil, he does not throw himself upon a blank. But it is remarkable that, as the antitheses of “ungodly,”” sinners,” “scornful,” we do not get “godly” “pure; “reverent.” The fact is, the man whom this psalm describes will not be supremely anxious to have any companions. If he cannot have the right ones, he will do without them. And yet he will not be lonely. For the Law of Jehovah, the revealed covenant of God, wilt be before his eyes and in his heart. And herein he will have a safe guide for the pathway he should follow. In thus following God’s Law, he will have:

(1) Ample material for thought. “In his Law doth he meditate day and night” (Psa 1:2). “The Hebrew word torah has a much wider range of meaning than “law,” by which it is always rendered in the Authorized Version. It denotes

(a) teaching, instruction, whether human (Pro 1:8) or Divine;

(b) a precept or law; a body of laws, and in particular the Mosaic Law, and so, finally, the Pentateuch. It should be taken to include all Divine revelation as the guide of life.” We do not understand the psalmist as meaning that such a man will always be thinking of one topic.

But that

(a) by day he will use the Law of God as a direction-post to point the way;

(b) by night he will use it as a pillow on which to rest his head. For in the Law there are revealed to him mercy, forgiveness, sacrifice, intercession, grace, strength. He will enthrone the Word of God in the place of honour, above all other books in the world. Some may raise a difficulty hers, saying, “Yes; in the psalmist’s time that might have been so. Then the sacred books of the Hebrews comprised their national history and their religious literature. There was not so much to call off men’s thoughts from the Bible as there is now.” That is so. But, nevertheless, the following facts remain: That in the Bible is the only authoritative revelation of the mind and will of God; that our Scriptures are to us a far richer treasure than the Scriptures of the psalmist’s time; that therein we have the only guide through life to immortality. Other books may inform the mind. The Bible still retains its supremacy as the book to regulate the life. Hence in the Bible the believer has:

(2) Rich nutriment for character. Hence he is described as “a tree planted by the rivers of water” (see also Jer 17:8). Psalmist and prophet agree. The Scriptures reveal God. In God the believer puts his trust. So that the study of the book makes him like a fruitful tree, because it leads up to God. Thus there will be

(a) unfailing supplies;

(b) fruit in season;

(c) a fadeless leaf;

(d) entire success. “Whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”

II. SUCH A LIFE HAS ITS OWN OUTLOOK AND DESTINY. As the man is now, so is his uplook and outlook here and hereafter.

1. There is now Divine approval. “The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous.”

2. His work and way will be influential for good long after he has ceased to live below. (Psa 1:6.)

3. He will be approved at the judgment-day. (Psa 1:5.) He will be found “in the congregation of the righteous.” And all this is sot forth even more strikingly by the hints here given of the destiny of those with whom he would not be associated. As the Vulgate most touchingly has it, “Non sic impii, non sic.” As he would not mingle with them here, he shall not be thrown with them hereafter. They will be as “chaff which the wind driveth away.” Their quality, as chaff. Their destiny, as chaff. Terrible! How blessed to have a different destiny separately assigned, as the result of a course separately chosen!

III. THE BLESSEDNESS OF SUCH A LIFE IS HERE DECLARED AND DEFINED. If we put the question, “By whom is this blessedness pronounced?” the answer is:

1. They are intrinsically blessed, ipso facto, in being what they are. The), are right, good, glad, strong, full of living hope.

2. In the judgment of all good men they are blessed, and even men who are not godly know that a life spent in accordance with the will of God is the truly right one.

3. The Lord Jesus Christ declares them to be so now. (Mat 5:1-11.)

4. At the last judgment the King will confirm the blessing. Note: The purposes to be served by such a psalm as this are manifold.

They are independent of its author, age, or land.

1. To parents this psalm is a treasure of infinite value, as giving them in outline

(1) what they may well desire their children to be; and

(2) the place of honour the Bible should occupy in their children’s hearts.

2. To teachers. It discloses to them the life to be urged on their scholars, and tells them whence alone the nutriment for such a life can be drawn.

3. To children. It shows them that true happiness, in the highest sense, is attained only through true goodness; that true goodness can only be attained by feeding on the truth of Cod; and that to such a God-like character there is ensured everlasting life, an ever-during home. “Light is sown for the righteous.”C.

HOMILIES BY W. FORSYTH

Psa 1:1-6

The blessedness of the true.

“God is Love.” He must, therefore, seek the happiness of his creatures. Man is the highest of his earthly creatures, and his happiness must be of the highest kind, not only fit for him to receive, but worthy of to bestow. Such is the happiness here depicted. It does not come anyhow, but in accordance with law. It does not depend upon what a man has, but upon what he is. It is inward, not outward. It is of the spirit, not of the flesh. Happiness is blessednessthe blessedness of the true in character.

I. MARK THE FOUNDATION. Sin is self-will. This implies separation from God; and this separation must be final, unless God himself prevent. But the godly man has been brought back into a right relation to God. God’s will is his will. To know and to love and to obey God is his delight. His life is centred in God. Thus he is able to receive the blessing in its fulness, which God is ready freely to bestow. His character is founded upon the rock of the eternal, and not upon the shifting sands of time.

II. Mark next THE HARMONIOUS DEVELOPMENT. This is shown under the figure of a tree, fair and flourishing.

1. The situation is choice. It stands, not in the desert, but in a fit place. “Planted.” The hand of God is seen in the godly man’s life. This is his security. Where God has put him, God can keep him.

2. The environment is favorable. From the heavens above sad the earth beneath nourishment is provided. The supply is rich and sure. Though worldly supplies may cease, and the waters of earth fail (Isa 19:5), the river of God will still run free (1Ki 18:5; Isa 55:1-3).

3. The progress is appropriate. There is the power of assimilating. Life develops according to its own order. What the plant does unconsciously, subject to the law of its being, the godly man does freely and consciously, under the benign rule of Christ.

III. Lastly, mark THE CONSUMMATION. God’s work always tends to completeness. Every advance is an approach. Every fulfilment is a prophecy of the perfect end. In the life of the godly there is the truest pleasure, the noblest usefulness, the heavenliest beauty. And the charm of all is permanence. There is not only moral freshness, as where there is real soundness of health, but there is enduringness. This is brought out vividly by contrast. “The ungodly are not so.” With them there is no reality. Separated from the true life, everything is unstable and uncertain. There may be a kind of prosperity, but it is false and delusive. The pleasures of sin are but for a season; but the love of God is for ever. In the day of trial the just shall stand, accepted and blessed; but the wicked shall be winnowed out of the society of the true Israel, and swept away, as the worthless chaff, by the swift and resistless judgment of God.W.F.

Psa 1:1-6

Character.

This psalm supplies us with

I. TEST OF CHARACTER. A man is known by the company he keeps. What doest thou, O my soul? With whom dost thou “walk” and “sit’ (Psa 119:63)?

II. RULE OF LIFE. What should we do? Surely the right thing is to ask counsel of God, and to submit ourselves to his holy and blessed rule. Let us do this, and we shall not only have life (Psa 40:8), but food (Joh 4:44); and not only food, but society (Mat 12:50); and not only society, but education (Psa 143:10); and not only education, but joy unspeakable and full of glory (Psa 119:65; 1Pe 1:8). “He that doeth the will of God abideth for ever” (1Jn 2:16, 1Jn 2:17).

III. FORESHADOWING OF DESTINY. Acts fix habits, habits settle character, and character determines destiny. “The wind” may represent the various trials which meet us, and which so far show what we are and whither we are going. By conscience, by public opinion, by experience of the results of conduct, we am premonished of the coming end and the perfect judgment of God. Thus, not in an arbitrary way, but by our own deeds and life, our destiny for weal or woe is being settled. Eternity is the harvest of time. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”W.F.

Psa 1:1-6

Greatness, happiness, prosperity.

We learn here the true ides of

I. GREATNESS. It is not mere intellectual power, but moral worth. Greatness is goodnessthe being like God.

II. HAPPINESS. It is living together with God, doing his will, in the light and joy of his love.

III. PROSPERITY. It is of the soulthe true health of the soul (3Jn 1:2). Its measure is personal activity. Deeds carry social influence. The weak and the unfortunate are too often despised, but let a man be true, let him stand up for the right, let him honestly serve God in his day and generation, and he will not only have peace within, but he wilt be “blessed in his deed.” His influence will work for good, and will live and move others to noble ends when he himself is gone.

“Our many thoughts and deeds, our life and love,
Our happiness, and all that we have been:
Immortally must live, and burn, and move,
When we shall be no more.”

W.F.

Psa 1:1-6

Blessedness.

The word “blessed’ might Be rendered “blessings.” God’s people are blessed (Num 6:24; Mat 5:1 – 10).

I. There is the blessing of PEACE. The fruit of righteousness is peace. The heart is right with God.

II. The Messing of a TRUE PURPOSE. Not gain, nor pleasure, nor merely to save the soul, but to do God’s will. This is the supreme thing. This gives strength to the heart and unity to the life.

III. The blessing of the NOBLEST SOCIETY. Into what a goodly fellowship do we enter as we join the company of God’s people! The saints are our brethren; holy angels are our ministers; Christ is our abiding Friend.

IV. The blessing of MORAL ADVANCEMENT. Our path is onward. The more good ,a man does the nobler he becomes. By every act of self-denial and virtue he rises in dignity and strength.

V. The blessing of SPIRITUAL USEFULNESS. Only the good can do good. To augment the happiness of others is the sweetest pleasure.

VI. The blessing OF A BRIGHT FUTURE. Life’s interests are secured. The outlook, though at times clouded, ends in light.

VII. The BLESSING OF GOD‘S ETERNAL LOVE. (Psa 1:6, “knoweth.”) “There is nothing in the world worth living for, but doing good and finishing God’s workdoing the work Christ did” (Brainerd).W.F.

HOMILIES BY C. SHORT

Psa 1:1-6

A contrast.

This psalm is introductory to all the rest, perhaps written after the finding of the “book of the Law” in Josiah’s time, in an age of revival, when men were roused to consider the conflict between good and evil, and who were the truly Messed, and on what their blessedness was grounded. There is a contrast drawn in it between the righteous and the wicked.

I. THE CHARACTER AND PRIVILEGES OF THE RIGHTEOUS.

1. They have no sympathetic relations with the wicked. (Psa 1:1.) They cannot help having some associations with them; but they do not walk with them, nor stand with them, nor sit with them, as they do with congenial friends. This description suggests the progress of the wicked. Walking only with a man we may soon part from him; but if we stand with him we linger in his company, and at last come to sit with him, scorning all goodness.

2. Irresistibly attracted to the Divine Law. (Psa 1:2.) He is “in” it with all his affection and with his unceasing thought, rather than the Law is “in” him. Though both are true, i.e; it solicits, commands, and absorbs him, and rules the world of thought, affection, and imagination.

3. They are fruitful according to the time and circumstances of their lives. (Vet. 3.) In youth, mature manhood, and ripe age. Patient in affliction, constant in trial, grateful in prosperity, and zealous when opportunity of work offers itself.

4. Unfading freshness of heart and experience (Psa 1:3.) His life is progressive, his faith grows deeper, and his power of achievement increase, and his hope becomes brighter, and his affections purer, and he blossoms with a green freshness for ever.

5. He prospers in hi, undertakings. (Psa 1:3.) As a general rule, because he deserves it; for he aims at only right and lawful things, and employs only right and lawful means.

II. CHARACTER AND DESTINY OF THE WICKED.

1. Intrinsic wothlessness. (Psa 1:4.) Dead, unserviceable, without substance, and easily carried away”dispersed by the wind. This is only s negative description, as a contrast with the living tree and its fruit. It says nothing of such a man’s poisonous influence.

2. Unable to endure the scrutiny of the great Lawgiver. (Psa 1:5.) One inquiring glance of God shatters the whole structure of his life. God does not “know” his way. “I never knew you.”

3. Their relation to the Church only an outward one. (Psa 1:5.) Though they mingle with the congregation, they do not really “stand with them.”

4. Their habits of life are destructive. (Psa 1:6.) Their “way” is not the way everlasting, but leads to perdition, if it be not forsaken.S.

Psa 1:1-3

True blessedness.

“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful,” etc.

I. THE NATURE OF TRUE BLESSEDNESS.

1. Vigorous life of the soul. “Like a tree planted,” etc. The blessedness of the body is vigorous health.

2. Productiveness. Bringeth forth his fruit in his season. It must grow before it becomes fruitful.

3. Perpetuity of life. “His leaf also shall not wither.”

4. Success in his undertakings. “Whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” Success in the greatest undertaking, the true blessedness.

II. THE MEANS OF BLESSEDNESS.

1. To shun the company and the counsels of the ungodly. Standing in their way, partaking in their designs.

2. Delight in Divine truth.

3. Persevering study of it. Converting it into juice and blood.S.

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

The happiness of the godly; the unhappiness of the ungodly. Psa 1:1. Blessed is the man This Psalm is generally supposed to have been designed as a preface to the rest, and as a short luminary of the whole book. The subject of it is, the difference between pious and ungodly men, both in this life and in that which is to come: it was compared either by the collector of this book of Psalms, or by David himself, as Apollinarius and others think. Fenwick, in his introduction to this Psalm, thinks that the subject of it, as of the whole book, is the Messiah; who seems, says he, to be THE Man, (for the Hebrew is emphatical,) whom the prophet here meant to describe as a Blessed One: and so judged St. Augustin. He came to give us an example and to fulfil all righteousness, and is, for that reason, represented as never walking in the counsel of the wicked, but placing his whole delight in the law of the Lord. The character of this Blessed One appears to be drawn here by way of climax. He does not walk after the counsel of the wicked; he does not stand, or even take a step in the way of sinners; he does not even sit in company, so as to have any intimacy or familiar correspondence with such scorners of God and his law, though occasionally, and for their good, he converses with them. Thus, I have not sat with vain persons,I will not sit with the wicked, Psa 26:4-5 plainly mean, “I will not make them my familiars or chosen companions;” and, thus taken, it seems most naturally to lead to the character of one whose whole delight is in the law of the Lord, and who, for that reason, will be so far from doing evil himself, that he will never enter into any familiarity with evil men. See Fenwick’s Psalter in its original form, and Bishop Hare.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

THE PSALTER
FIRST BOOK

Psalms 1-41

_______________

Psalms 1

1Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly,

Nor standeth in the way of sinners,
Nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

2But his delight is in the law of the Lord;

And in his law doth he meditate day and night.

3And 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;
And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

4The ungodly are not so:

But are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

5Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,

Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

6For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous;

But the way of the ungodly shall perish.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Division and Composition. Four Codd. Kennic., and 3 De Rossi, as many of the Jews and the Fathers take the first and second Psalms together as one whole; comp. Wetstein on Act 13:33, where the Apostle Paul cites a passage from our second Psalm as from the first Psalm (according to the corrected reading). This however does not decide, for two Codd. De Rossi do not number our Psalm at all, and the Apostle Paul may have shared that conception, in accordance with which Basil calls it a short preface which the compiler placed before as an introduction (Calvin, Amyrald [Hupfeld, Riehm, Hitzig, et alii]). Besides some similarity in the structure of the strophes, there are, it is true, turns in the closing verse of the 2d Psalm which are strikingly similar in part to the beatitude with which the 1st Psalm begins, and in part to the threatening with which the 1st Psalm closes; and in the hagah, Psa 2:1, there is an antithetical reference to Psa 1:2. These facts cannot be overlooked. But with the diversity of subject and treatment which otherwise prevails, they do not even justify the conclusion of one and the same author, whom Hengstenberg supposes to be David, Hitzig the compiler of the Psalms. These are not without predecessors. Nevertheless, design may be acknowledged at any rate only with reference to the arrangement, and not with reference to the poetry. This is clear from the following facts: (1) that two Psalms, without titles, should stand at the beginning of a group of Psalms which have Davids name in their titles, the second of which carries out into a concrete historical situation the truth expressed in Psalms 1 in general terms; (2) that the entire first book is opened (1:1; 2:12) as well as closed (40:4; 41:1) by two Psalms, with ashr. But Psalms 32 of the same book likewise begins with ashr, so also Psalms 112; Psalms 119; Psalms 128 in a later book.

Again, the mention of David as the author by some of the Fathers and of the MSS. of the Septuagint has no historical foundation. The historical application of the subject to the persecution of David by Saul (Venema) or to the rebellion of Absalom, is a false use of history. So likewise the explanation from the circumstances of the Maccabean age (Rdinger, Olshausen,1Hitzig). We would urge against so late a composition not so much the simplicity and freshness of the Psalm (Kster) as the following considerations: 1) The designation of the scorner leads to the sententious style of the age of Solomon, to which also the loose structure of the strophes points [Delitzsch]. 2) Psa 1:2 decidedly looks back to Jos 1:8, whereas Psa 1:3 is carried further out in Jer 17:5-8. Ezech. 19:10, 11 expresses only a corresponding thought in a similar form [Riehm]. The same idea is particularized, Psa 92:12. There is a possible allusion, 2Ch 22:5.

[Ewald supposes this Psalm to be an introduction to a more ancient and smaller collection of Psalms, giving the pith of many of them, the disposition with which an ancient poet selected and grouped them, and the spirit with which he would have them read. Delitzsch says that the collections of the prophecies of Isaiah and the Psalms are alike in that they both begin with a prologue. Barnes considers it as a general introduction to the book of Psalms, stating the general principle of the Jewish theocracy, that a righteous life will be attended with prosperity and happiness, and that the life of the wicked will be followed by sorrow and ruin.2 The true view is this: The Psalm was probably composed as an introduction to the earlier collection of the Davidic Psalms, made in the age of Solomon, perhaps under his direction, retaining its place at the head of the entire collection after it had been formed.C. A. B.]

Of the three verses of the 1st strophe, two are of many members; those of the 2d strophe are all of two members, but they run along entirely parallel in their subject, that is: the description of the righteous and the wicked according to their respective behaviour and destiny.

Str. I. Psa 1:1. = Ashr, etymologically, from the signification of the straight and direct course, gives the idea of welfare, grammatically, it is an exclamation of congratulation, or rather a declaration of recognition and of praise: beatitudines illius viri.3 The substantive renders the language more emphatic than the verb fin., Psa 41:2, or the partic, Pro 3:18. Luther aptly: The prophet, when he sees that there are few such people on earth, suddenly bursts forth and says, Blessed is the man.

The use of the plural to mark the abstract with emphasis is ancient, especially in the Hebrew (Ewald, Ausfhrliches Lehrbuch VII. Ausg. 179).

Walkethstandethsitteth,etc.The three perfects in Psa 1:1, the change of the verbal into a nominal sentence in Psa 1:2 a, the future (correctly called imperf. by Ewald) in Psa 1:2 b give a shading to the thought. This shading cannot be entirely expressed in translation owing to an entire difference between the Hebrew and the English conjugations. It is effaced by the remark of Aben Ezra that the Hebrew authors used for the present partly the preterite and partly the future. [The perfect is used to give the abstract present of our language, indicating an already long-continued and still enduring condition or characteristic, vid.Ges.Heb. Gram., edit. Rdiger XX. Auf. 126. Ewald, 135. Barnes: It is the characteristic of the man, always and habitually that he does not thus walk.C. A. B.]

It is questionable whether the three members of Psa 1:1 form only three parallel clauses of like signification as poetical variations of the thought that we must have no intercourse at all with evil in any way (Musculus, Rosenm., De Wette, Hengst., Hupf.), or whether there is not illustrated in the choice of expression an intensification of the possible participation in the chief forms of iniquity (Aben Ezra, Stier, Delitzsch, Hitzig [Barnes)] somewhat after the type impii corde, peccatores opere, illusores ore. By the former view we are usually referred to the assertion of David Kimchi, that going, standing, and sitting are the three chief conditions of the human body when awake. The latter view is not shaken by the fact that we cannot ascribe to rsha, etymologically the meaning of wild restlessness, and passionate agitation, whence follow disturbances of the peace (Geier et alii). Hitzig supposes from the thiopic that the fundamental meaning is forgetfulness (of God). Bttcher (Neue exeget. crit. Aehrenlese, II. 220), likewise from the thiopic interprets it as greasy, stained, soiled, and hence derives the idea of guilty. Hupfeld finds in the idiomatic use of the word a simple contrast to . This general meaning, extending far beyond the idea of guilty (Sachs), suits very well the use of the word in the 2d strophe of the Psalm. In any case the characteristics of rashaim, given in Isa 57:20, remain essentially indisputable, and the statement is of a = council of these same persons who might serve as a model and measure for the walk of others. This is shown by the construction of halach with . This expression always refers to the sphere of sinful emotions of the heart whether we are to think of the resolutions of the will formed within the heart or the counsel imparted to others. [Hupfeld states that , like the Latin consilium, has a twofold meaning: 1) absolutely, a resolution formed within the heart; 2) relatively, working upon another either as example or advice. He thinks that it is here used in the relative sense especially as example.C. A. B.] There is no occasion for the correction dah = congregation, company (Olsh.,Emendationen zum A. T., 1826). For there is no reference to place except in moshab, whether this word denotes dwelling (Kster), or seat (Sept., Vulg., Hengst., Schegg) as 1Sa 20:18; 1Sa 20:25, or session (Syriac, Arab. et al.) as Psa 107:32 [A. V., assembly.C. A. B.] For derech is a figurative designation of manner of acting, conduct.

We cannot see why amad, with , should not retain the meaning of stand fast, persevere in, the more since, according to Hupfeld, we need not infer with De Wette from the fundamental meaning of , slip, fall, that of evil from weakness or ignorance; but rather are brought to that of sinning habitually.

Moreover the description of the scorner in the proverbs of Solomon (appropriately explained by Hupfeld) reaches the climax of wickedness. In the pictorial description, however, we are not to take every expression as dogmatic. The translation of by pestilence, which expression Schegg applies to the influence of the devil, has no support in the language. Neither is the fundamental meaning that of turning (Paulus), but partly of lisping and stammering, partly of laughing and mocking. [Hupfeld: This is not a scorner of religion in our sense, nor one who says there is no God, because the religion of the Old Testament was not theory, but essentially disposit on, practice. He is one who is frivolous, disregarding the Almighty, making sport of all things, of the worst class of the wicked. Barnes: We have here a beautiful double gradation or climax, in the nouns and verbs of this verse, indicating successive stages of character; walking, standing, sitting; irreligious men in general, those who disregard known duty and violate human obligation, and those who openly mock at virtue and scoff at the claims of religion. Hengstenberg says that scorners of religion are as old as the fall. Isa 5:19; Jer 18:15. Ewald: He who meditates evil is already a , one driven by passion, he who does the advised evil is , a sinner, he who is already so accustomed to suppress a good conscience that he scorns and perverts good in society, is , a scorner.C. A. B.]

Psa 1:2. On the contrary. , literally, but if, after negative sentences introduce the contrast with emphasis (Ewald, 354 a). With Jos 1:8 in view, which is anticipated, Deu 6:6 sq.; Deu 11:18; Deu 17:19, we cannot doubt that the thrah (literally instruction) does not mean here the revelation in general (Michaelis, Stier) but the written law of Moses [De Wette, Hupfeld, Hengst., et al.] (Psa 40:7, the volume of the book). The repetition of this word in the second member of the verse is not tautological, so that we could be induced to regard thdah=praise (Paulus), and not the thrah, as the subject of the meditation.

The remarks of Geier: Repetitur denuo nomen legis ceu rei adeo car ac pretios cujus vel solo nomine intime delectantur pii, certainly misses the sense. Hagah might, in itself, be a poetical designation of discourse, Psa 35:28, especially as the etymology leads back to the idea of murmuring, and has formed the meaning of thinking, meditating, only from the point of view of discourse within the soul. But the latter signification is set aside, not so much by its connection with as by the phrase day and night; for there is no reason to understand the phrase as figurative of happy and unhappy times. But it does not mean a brooding over the letter in the sense of Judaism, nor any other kind of theoretical contemplation, as is shown partly by the mention of delight (literally inclination), partly from the context which is throughout practical (Clauss against De Wette) [Delitzsch beautifully: The quiet soliloquy of investigation and meditation.C. A. B.]

[Day and night.Hupfeld regards it as the usual formula for continual, perpetual, as in all languages, Psa 32:4; Psa 42:3.C. A. B.] The expression night has a special appropriateness here, in that among the Jews the night was from 6 oclock in the evening till 6 oclock in the morning.

Psa 1:3. And so he is like a tree planted by brooks of water.The perfect with vav consecutive shows that we have here not the reason of the beatitude, but a further expansion of it by a statement of the consequences of the conduct of the pious, just described. The etymology of (Alex. ) does not compel us (Hupfeld) to think of canals (De Wette). [Hupfeld: = cleave, divide. The usual name of brooks in Hebrew, as in Arabic and thiopic, for streams. Riehm: Because brooks and streams cleave and divide the surface of the earth.C. A. B.] The double plural refers partly to the abundance of water, which is very important in the Orient; partly to the rich distribution of brooks for the fructification of every tree of that kind.4 Luther reminds us of the ever green date palms in the Jordan valley at Jericho, Sir 24:18; Deu 34:3.5 [Delitzsch: In the relative clause the emphasis is not entirely upon (Calvin) but is the first and the second emphatic word. The fruit expected, it affords, and indeed at the proper time, without ever in the course of the seasons disappointing the hopes. The fresh foliage is a figure of faith, which changes the water of life of the divine word into sap and strength, and the fruit is the figure of works which gradually ripen and spread their blessings around.C. A. B.]

cannot be nominative, for the intransitive meaning of the following verb (Sept., Vulg., Vatabl., Rosenm.) rests only upon the doubtful pointing of Jdg 18:5. The subject of the sentence is either in the causative signification Jehovah, or since this is too distant, and the transitive signification is the usual one, the pious. Some suppose that tree is the subject because and are used with it, Isa 5:4; Isa 37:31; Ezech. 17:9, 10; but such a repetition would be feeble and cold [Hupfeld].

Str. II. Psa 1:4. Not so.These words are repeated at the end of the first member of Psa 1:4 by Sept., Vulg., and Syr. The following figure describes not only the destiny, but, at the same time, the condition of the wicked contrasted with the figure of the righteous, which likewise embraces both points. If this be overlooked, we mistake the close connection with Psa 1:5.

[Hupfeld, = drive, or chase away. In the East the threshing-floors are in the open air, upon heights (Isa 17:13), on which the winds more readily blow the chaff away. (De Wette and Barnes, in loco; also RobinsonBib. Researches, I. 550, II. 83; SmithBib. Dict. Agriculture.) Hence it is the usual figure of the rapid and traceless destruction of the enemies of God and the ungodly. Psa 35:5; Job 21:18; Hos 13:3; Mat 3:12. There is here also an illustration of their inner condition, their emptiness and nullity, in contrast with the good grain, which remains behind and abides.C. A. B.]

Psa 1:5. [Therefore. Hupfeld: not a consequence of the moral condition of the unrighteous, as indicated in the figure of the chaff, but rather a logical consequence from Psa 1:4. From the general statement of the destiny of the unrighteous follows the special: that they are by Divine judgment severed from the congregation of God.C. A. B.]

Many of the older interpreters suppose that there is in an exclusion of the wicked from the resurrection (Sept. ). But this is against the meaning of the word and the context. The judgment is not directly nor even exclusively the Messianic (Chald. and the Jewish exegetes), still less human judgment or judgment in civil cases (Rosenm.), but it is the Divine judgment, Psa 1:6. For it is made prominent in Jehovah, as well by the participle as the characteristic attribute, that He knoweth the way of the righteous. That this knowing is not only a theoretical knowledge, but a nosse cum affectu et effectu, is involved in the fact that it is Jehovah of whom this is declared. Therefore it gains the closer meaning of acknowledge in loving care. Yet this meaning is not to be brought into the vocabulary of the word (Kimchi, et al.). Since now the participle precedes, Psa 1:6 a merely confirms the consequences threatened before, the sure occurrence of which rests upon the fact that error and deception are excluded by the idea of Divine judgment. The most of the interpreters push inio the text itself that which should only be its consequences as a comforting application to the pious. Moreover, they often give to way, Psa 1:6, a different meaning from that of Psa 1:1, viz. (quite frequently), that of destiny, the way in which they are led. But they thereby sensibly weaken the last member of the verse, with its dreadful closing word, which leaves nothing for the way of the wicked but the prospect of Abaddon (Pro 15:11; Job 26:6; Job 28:22).

The Codd. and the ancient interpreters of the Vulgate do not read in Psa 1:5 in concilio, as the later editions corrected according to the Hebrew; but in consilio, according to the reading of the Septuagint, . The Vulgate follows the Sept. version likewise in Psa 1:4 b, only that, weakening the proper figure still more, it understands the dust; . According to our exegesis the verse does not treat of a sudden, still less of a premature, but rather of an inevitable ruin of the ungodly, bearing the character of just punishment brought on by Divine judgment; and the closing verse contains not only an expression embracing both sides of the fundamental thought, rounding off the Psalm, but it directs its glance to the inevitable and endless destruction of the wicked. [Delitzsch: This same fearful closes Psalms 112, which begins with .C. A. B.]

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. For ethical and religious consideration there is only one, yet a decided contrast among men, before which all other differences retire, that is: the contrast between the ungodly and the righteous. Their lot in time and eternity corresponds with their disposition towards God.

2. The ungodly, even, partially and for a while unite with one another, come together in societies, in which they converse about evil things to their hearts desire, plunge ever deeper into sin, and mutually strengthen one another in their wickedness by evil counsels, bad examples, and cunning wiles. Yet only the righteous form a congregation, that is: a people of God, organized according to Divine order, based on Divine institutions, governed according to the word of God.

3. As long as the congregation of God remains in this world it is opposed not only by external bands of the wicked, but it has sinners in its own midst, partly because its true and living members are not yet perfect and sinless saints, partly because there are false brethren, hypocrites, apostate and wicked men mingled with the congregation in its external appearance, as it presents itself in moral and human forms under the influence of its relations to this world.

4. On this account the external society, connections, and points of contact are more extensive than the internal membership relations and influences. Yet this does not cause a perplexity of conscience, or a suppression of the righteous, or an equality in the lots of the evil and the good. But there are characteristics which mark the ungodly and the righteous, as well as a Divine saving and sifting judgment, and a reward corresponding with the moral and religious conduct of men.

5. The marks of the righteous are negatively, principally, their turning away from the counsels, the walk, and the companionship of the wicked; positively, their joy in the revealed word and will of God, and their occupation in meditating upon the testimony of the Lord given as the rule and guidance for our faith and life, and this without regard to the changes of the hours. Contrasted with this are the counsels of the wicked, wherein they disclose the thoughts of their heart, as their walk is opposed to the manner of life ordained by the law of the holy God, and their assembly is the opposite of the assembly for the worship of God. They are to be earnestly avoided; for it is much easier and more frequent for men, when in the circle of the scorner, to be ruled by the prevailing tone of the company, and even to be carried away with it, than to withstand it, and witness against it, and confess the Lord as those who love His word and His way.

6. The ungodly are not always, and especially not immediately at the beginning, in the lowest grade of wickedness, in which the scorner is, who cannot be taught or improved, but in the overflow of haughty presumption (Pro 21:24; comp. 1:22; 9:7, 8; 13:1; 15:12, etc.) hates correction, and scorns discipline, and replies with scoff and persecution, and in the intoxication of boasting, treats everything except himself with petulance, and especially makes sport and scorn of holy things. But the gradations of evil pass ever into one another, and often tread closely upon one another. Even the first steps are already in opposition to the will of God, and evil thoughts are no less worthy of condemnation and dangerous than evil deeds. Those only can be called happy who do not associate in any way with the ungodly, or their practices, devices, or efforts.

7. Piety gives the righteous the power to withdraw from the society of the wicked, and to withstand their temptations. It nourishes him in the marrow of his life, and strengthens him by the supply of heavenly nourishment; whilst by his absorption in the holy law of God, it sinks the roots of his life into the revealed ground of salvation, and by his delight in the instruction of the Lord, affords the constant supply of the streams of grace, which make the man who belongs to God to grow and mature in fruits of righteousness.

8. Consequently man is righteous, not by birth, or nature, or through his own power, skill, or activity, but by the Divine agency, through the means of grace which Divine mercy has established for us; as a tree planted by an abundant and flowing brook, if he, like the tree, take up into his own life from the means afforded him by God, that which is necessary to his life and growth. Then he has the experience described in 1Ti 4:8, of the blessings of righteousness.

9. Although the ungodly are in similar circumstances with the righteous, yet they derive no profit from this favorable circumstance. They are spiritually dead and withered. That which has matured in them has faded prematurely; for they have not appropriated to themselves the nourishment of life, and they have not formed in themselves the faculty for this appropriation. Without root and without sap they have not attained any vigor, nor brought forth any fruit, (Mat 21:19). Thus they have ripened only for distruction; unsubstantial and worthless as chaff; the sport of the wind, until scattered by the storm they go to destruction, and leave no trace behind but the way on which they are whirled away to a ruin whose misery is inconceivable; for the way proves itself a lost way.

10. This sad condition of the ungodly, as well as their terrible fate, may be for some time concealed from themselves and others, but both will be disclosed by the divine judgment, which has its foundations in the ever ruling righteousness of the Almighty, its execution in the judgment of the world; yet its operation already appears in history, judging and sifting in theocratic acts, yea, according to the threatening (Lev 20:2) with respect to certain kinds of wickedness, already vindicates itself in bitter earnest in the regular administration of justice. If the Scriptures speak of the ungodly, then see to it that you do not refer it to the Jews, or the Heathen, or any other people, but tremble yourselves at this word, for it concerns you and means you. (Luther).

11. There is here a strong encouragement on the one side to turn away from all kinds of iniquity, and on the other to continue in righteousness by a conscientious use of the means of grace in the possession of the congregation. For God desires a pure and holy congregation (Lev 11:44; Eph. 6:27), and He knows the way of the righteous. There is no reference here to the well-known heathen maxim: that it must fare well with the good, and ill with the wicked; but the emphasis is upon this fact that Jehovah, the God of historical revelation, who has ordained and called His people to be a righteous congregation, is also the experienced Guardian of the purity of this congregation, and the infallible Judge and Rewarder. There is a striking parallel in the New Testament, 2Ti 2:19. Now, since no one except Jesus Christ is perfectly righteous, the most of the ancient interpreters have by direct Messianic interpretation, referred the first strophe to Him, as the ever green tree of life; and since no one is justified by fulfilling the law in his own strength but by faith in Jesus Christ, many, especially of the Evangelical interpreters (Calov. Bib. Illust.) have referred to the close connection between the first Psalm, the summa legis, with the second Psalm, the summa evangelii.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Either blessed or lostso Gods word declares, so Gods judgment warns.The pious and the wicked are together in the world; but their ways are entirely different from beginning to end.Mans lot is not determined by chance, but by righteous and infallible judgment.It is not enough to avoid this or that single sin, we must walk in the way of life.The Divine law shows the way in which the pious walk, and keeps God Himself in view as knowing that way.He who would remain in the congregation of the righteous must avoid the society of the wicked, whilst he must use diligently the means of grace entrusted to the congregation of God. All things finally redound to the salvation of the righteous and the destruction of the wicked. He who is planted where the waters of life flow, should appropriate them in order that he may grow as a tree of life, and bring forth fruit in his season.The lot of the pious is as delightful as that of the wicked is terrible.Tell me the way in which you walk and the company you keep, and I will declare to you the end which you will attain.The things in which you delight will either make you blessed or destroy you.Divine judgment comes certainly, strikes surely, judges righteously, and decides our everlasting weal or woe.He who diligently seeks communion with God, will earnestly avoid intercourse with the ungodly.How shall we distinguish between the righteous and the wicked? The one keeps Gods law with de-light, the other transgresses it with contempt: the one associates with scorners, the other remains in the congregation; the one prospers with Gods assistance, the other perishes by Gods judgment.True fear of God receives the noblest praise, the best blessing.

Starke: A Christian is not only to avoid the commission of sin, but as far as possible is to avoid temptation.Sin grows constantly: At first we pass it by, then we stand still, then we sit with seornera. Blessed are those who shun the beginning (Sir 21:2; Job 4:6).It is true, believers have their greatest pleasure in the Gospel, yet the law is likewise agreeable to them in Christ, for they are freed from its curse, and it is their joy by it to know Gods will, and to fulfil it with the power given unto them.Among other characteristics of a state of grace is this: that we have a heartfelt desire for the word of God, and indeed that we are no more tired of it than a sound body is of its daily bread. As with a palm tree, all that is in it is profitable, leaves, wood, and fruit, so also with the Christian, all that he does is to redound to the honor of the Divine name, and the benefit of his neighbors.It is as foolish to rely upon the ungodly as to fear themthey are like chaff.Choose in time, and prudently, the society in which you wish to remain forever.Luk. Osiander: To err and fall is human, but to continue in error and sin is the work of the devil.One thing is necessary; to hear and learn the word of God (Luk 10:42; Rom 1:16; 2Ti 3:16).Selnekker: Piety and the fear of God mean: (1) to avoid false doctrine and a scandalous life; (2) to desire the law of the Lord; (3) to freely and openly confess and speak of it.No one can know the nature and the will of God without the Divine word.Where there is no fear of God nor truth, talent and intellect are mere poison.We must, as the fig and palm trees, show the fruit before the leaves.Four promises are given to those who desire and love the word of God: 1) The grace of God; 2) fruitfulness and usefulness in their calling; 3) a sure and constant employment; 4) blessing and success.Geier: We all naturally seek happiness; but only those attain it, who seek it in the revealed word of God. All depends upon the way we choose (Mat 7:13).Renschel: Avoid evil and keep Gods word, then you will be happy in this world and the next.Frisch: Thou standest between two ways which lead to everlasting weal or woe. Open your eyes and choose the best.The Psalm begins with blessing and glory, but it ends with woe, in order that where the hope of blessedness is not strong enough to encourage us to the service of God and piety, the fear of the unhappiness and misery to be endured may deter us from wickedness.Rieger: The fear of God teaches the righteous to avoid evil, whether quiet as a counsel, or common as a way, or fixed as a seat.Without attachment to the good the hate of wickedness is not constant.What is there in an ungodly man? A counsel and trust in his deceit; a way and a defiance of the crowd which travel in it; a seat from which he will not be driven. But what will become of him? Because he has no weight of truth from the Divine word in himself, he will be driven away as chaff. Since he has made so light of it in his mockery, he will be obliged to experience how incapable he is of standing in the judgment. Since he has ever sought only the society of sinners he will not then remain in the congregation of the righteous when he most desires to retain a place with them. So long as they are in the way many may think that they are as good as those who are called righteous, who likewise have their faults; but the issue will be different from what they expectOtto von Gerlach: The ungodly maintain their position by chance because it is calm, and outward circumstances are favorable to them; but since they have no vital power, no support in God, the first misfortune drives them away.Tholuck: He who has nothing sure in heaven can have nothing firm on earth.Taube: He who has pleasure in Gods word, exercises himself therein without ceasing.

[Matt. Henry: The ungodly are forward to give their advice against religion; and it is managed so artfully that we have reasons to bless ourselves from it, and to think ourselves happy if we escape being tainted and ensnared by it.We must not only set ourselves to meditate upon Gods word, morning and evening, at the entrance of the day and the night, but these thoughts should be interwoven with the business and converse of every day, and with the repose and slumbers of every night.Barnes: If a man desires permanent prosperity and happiness, it is to be found only in the ways of virtue and religion.Spurgeon: Our worst things are often our best things. As there is a curse wrapped up in the wicked mana mercies, so there is a blessing concealed in the righteous mans crosses, losses, and sorrows. The trials of the saint are a divine husbandry, by which he grows and brings forth abundant fruit.The righteous man ploughs the furrows of earth, and sows a harvest there, which shall never be fully reaped till he enters the enjoyments of eternity; but as for the wicked he ploughs the sea, and though there may seem to be a shining trail behind his keel, yet the waves pass over it, and the place that knew him shall know him no more forever. The very way of the ungodly shall perish.C. A. B.]

Footnotes:

[1][This Olshausen is an entirely different person from the author of the well-known commentary on the New Testament.]

[2][Wordsworth regards the two first Psalms as distinct, and as constituting a general introduction to the whole book, and as addressed to the whole world; and as the whole book is a composite one, not due to David alone, these two Psalms, which are a prologue to it, are not identified with him. These two Psalms form a pair. The first of them looks backward to the law of Moses (Psa 1:2); the second looks forward to the Gospel of Christ. They join the two Testaments together. Both of them speak of the blessings of obedience, and of the malediction which is reserved for rebellion against God. They stand at the beginning of the Psalter, like a Gerizim and an Ebal;and they reveal the awful transactions of the Great day of Doom, when the Judge will gather all nations before Him, and place some on the right hand and others on the left.C. A. B.]

[3][Hupfeld: Like the formula of the beatitudes, Mat 5:8-11C. A. B.]

[4][Barnes supposes that there is an allusion to the Oriental method of making artificial rivulets to irrigate their land. He refers to the practice in Egypt and in the gardens of Damascus. This is, however, a great mistake The Psalmist alludes to those brooks or streams which, having their source in some perennial fountain, flow through the wadies and valleys, fertilizing the land. Wherever these brooks are found, as at Engedi and in the wady Urtas, their banks are crowded with a rich luxuriance of plans and trees. These were the favorite streams in the time of Solomon, and the Psalmist probably had them in mind, vid. Robinson Bib. Researches, l., 477, 505. Psa 46:4; Psa 65:9; Son 1:14; Son 4:12-16, etc. It is true these brooks were diverted into many channels in order that their blessing might be more widely diffused, as is the case with the Abana at the present day. Its waters are divided by art into a hundred water courses, using every drop of water to fertilize a hundred villages. But this is a derivative idea, and was not the Psalmists ideal, which was the living brooks from the perennial fountainan allusion to the garden of Eden with the river of life and the tree of life, frequently alluded to in the Psalms vid., Psa 36:8 sq.; Psa 46:4, etc.C. A. B.]

[5][The fertility of the plain of Jericho is caused by the large fountains of Es Sultn and Dk, with the streams they pour forth over the land, vid. Rob. Bib. Researches, I, 556.C. A. B.]

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

DISCOURSE: 494
CHARACTERS OF THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED

Psa 1:1-4. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful: but his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. 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; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so.

THE Psalms were chiefly, though not exclusively, written by David: some were written, one at least, many hundred years before him; and several many hundred years after him. It is supposed that Ezra reduced them to the order in which they stand. We are sure that, in the Apostles days, the Second Psalm occupied the same place that it does now; because it is quoted by him as the Second Psalm. They are quoted continually in the New Testament as inspired of God: and so fully do they speak of Christ, that an account of his life and death, his work and offices, might be compiled from them almost as clearly as from the Gospels themselves. The psalm before us seems properly placed, as a kind of preface to the whole; inasmuch as it contains a summary description of the righteous and the wicked, both in their character and end. We will consider,

I.

The description of the godly

We are not to expect in a composition of this kind a full and accurate delineation of mens characters, such as we might look for in a set discourse: nevertheless, in the brief notices here given us, we have what is abundantly sufficient to distinguish the saints from all other people upon the face of the earth. They are here described,

1.

In plain terms

[Two things we are told concerning them, namely, What company they affect, and, What employment they delight in. They have no pleasure in the society of ungodly men. They are aware that evil communications will corrupt good manners; and that the surest way to avoid infection, is, to come as little as possible in contact with those who are diseased. They see how fatal, and yet how common, is the progress of sin; that to walk, however occasionally, in the counsel of the ungodly (who are destitute of any religious principle), is a prelude to standing in the way of sinners (gross, open sinners), and, at last, to sitting in the seat of the scornful, who despise and deride all true piety. Hence, fearing lest, by unnecessarily associating with the wicked, they should be drawn to adopt their principles, and to imitate their conduct, they either withdraw from them altogether, or contract their intercourse with them, as much as will consist with a due discharge of their social and relative duties.

Privacy, and reading of the Holy Scriptures, are more congenial with their feelings, than the noise and vanity of the world. In the blessed word of God they see all the wonders of redeeming love: in that, they find the charter, by which they are entitled to an everlasting inheritance. There they behold thousands of exceeding great and precious promises, which are as marrow and fatness to their souls: there also they see marked out to them the way in which to please, and honour, and glorify their God: and, by meditating on these various precepts and promises, they find their souls cast, as it were, into the very mould of the Gospel, and gradually transformed into the image of their God. Hence they delight to ruminate on the word of God; yea, day and night they make it their meditation and their joy: like Job, they esteem it more than their necessary food.]

2.

By a beautiful comparison

[In consequence of thus eschewing evil and cleaving unto that which is good, they become like a tree planted by the canals in Eastern countries, which flourishes with incessant verdure and fruitfulness, whilst all that are less favourably situated, are parched and withered by drought. The godly are trees of righteousness, of the Lords planting: their roots are constantly watered by that river which makes glad the city of God: and by the fertilizing influences of the Spirit of God they bring forth in rich abundance the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ to the praise and glory of God. A diversity of seasons they doubtless experience: but never is their profession tarnished by openly visible decays, or by a want of such fruits as the peculiar season calls for. On the contrary, the winds and storms, and heat and cold, all tend to further their stability and fruitfulness; insomuch that whatsoever they do, or whatsoever is done to them, they prosper [Note: Rom 8:28.]. See them in the diversified seasons of prosperity and adversity, they shew by their conduct whose they are, even Christs, of whose fulness they continually receive, and of whom all their fruit is found.]

In perfect contrast with this is,

II.

The description of the ungodly

Exceedingly pointed is that expression, The ungodly are not so. No, indeed: they are not so,

1.

In their character

[The ungodly, instead of shunning the company of those who fear not God, prefer it; and would far rather associate with an avowed infidel, or a notorious libertine, than with one who was distinguished for the most exalted piety. They do not all proceed to the same extent of open profaneness; but all, without exception, love darkness rather than light; yea, they hate the light, and will not come to it, lest their deeds should be reproved.
And as they prefer the society of them that know not God, so they prefer any other book, whether of science or amusement, before the sacred volume. They may study the Holy Scriptures indeed with a view to head-knowledge; but not with any desire to imbibe the spirit of them in their hearts, or to have their lives conformed to them. In this there is an extremely broad line of distinction between the two characters: to the godly the Scriptures are sweeter than honey, or the honeycomb; but to the ungodly they are insipid, and are either not perused at all, or studied only for the purpose of exercising a critical acumen. There is nothing in the sacred volume that is suited to their taste: the wonders of redemption do not affect their minds; nor are the precepts of the Gospel palatable to their souls.
Would we but candidly examine ourselves by these two marks, we should soon discover to which of these parties we belong.]

2.

In their condition [Note: Nor in the blessedness of the saints have they any part or lot.]

[To such a tree as has been before described, the ungodly bear no resemblance: their root is fixed in the world: their fruit is no other than grapes of Sodom and clusters of Gomorrha. But there is an appropriate comparison for them also; they are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Truly, they are as light and worthless as chaff. No solid principle of piety is found in them; nor is there any thing in their character which God approves. To a superficial observer they may appear like wheat: but the fan or sieve will soon discover how empty and unsubstantial they are: or, if they continue mixed with the wheat in this world, the separation will speedily and infallibly take place in the world to come. The Judge of quick and dead will come, even He, of whom it is said, His fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire [Note: Mat 3:12.]. Amongst the wheat, not an atom of chaff will then be found; nor amongst the chaff, one grain of wheat [Note: Amo 9:9.]. This, divested of metaphor, is plainly declared in the psalm before us; The ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous [Note: Psa 1:5.]. Ah! what an immense difference is here in the conditions of the two parties! the one approved of their God, and made partakers of everlasting felicity; the other, abhorred of him, and plunged into everlasting perdition [Note: Psa 1:6.]!]

Address
1.

To young people

[To you it appears but a small matter whom you choose for your associates. But, if you consider how much we are influenced by the sentiments and examples of others, and what awful consequences will follow from the conduct we pursue, we shall see the necessity of selecting those only for our friends, who, we have reason to believe, are the friends of God. Let not then the rank or talents of men, and still less their gaiety and dissipation, attract your regards; but let the piety of their hearts and the holiness of their lives, be their highest recommendation to your friendship. As our blessed Lord was not of the world, so neither must ye be; but you must come out from among them, and be separate, and choose for your companions the excellent of the earth, and such as excel in virtue. [Note: Pro 4:14-15. Jam 4:4. 2Co 6:14-17.]]

2.

To those who profess godliness

[It is not by speculative notions that you are to judge of your state, but by your spirit, your temper, your whole conduct and conversation. The tree must be known by its fruit. Now, as the ungodly form a perfect contrast with the godly, so let your spirit and conduct be a perfect contrast with theirs. Are the ungodly following the course of this world, and minding only the things of the flesh? Let it be said of you, They are not so: their conversation is in heaven; their delight is altogether in spiritual things; and their fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. In a word, endeavour to be as different from the ungodly world around you, as a verdant and fruitful tree is from one which is withered and dead; and know, that, if you are looking to the Lord Jesus Christ for fresh supplies of his Spirit and grace, you shall receive from him such rich communications as shall be abundantly sufficient for you [Note: Hos 14:4-7.] ]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

CONTENTS

This Psalm is supposed by some to have been written by Ezra, but upon what authority is not said. It is a short, but beautiful description, of the different features which mark the godly man from the sinner.

Psa 1:1

This can be fully said of no one among the fallen sons of men, with strictness of truth! and therefore we must of necessity suppose, that it treats of the Lord Jesus Christ. That his people, as his people, have an interest in the blessedness here spoken of is as true, because they are part of himself. But here, as in every other instance, this ariseth only from their union with him, and their interest in him. I detain the Reader to remark, what a gradation is made use of in the description of the blessed man. He doth not walk in the counsel of bad men; much less stand still in their way, and never sits down by choice in their company. Precious Jesus! who but must be immediately directed to contemplate thee in this description, for thou wast holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens!

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

The Tree and the Chaff

Psa 1:1

There is a law to obey which is life; there is a King, to serve Whom is blessedness, and rebellion against Whom is destruction.

I. Note first the picture of a fair and fruitful life. If you have not learned to shelter your positive goodness behind a barrier of negative abstinence, there will be little vitality and little fruit in the weakling plants that are trying to blossom in the undefended open, swept by every wind. But then note further how in this abstinence there is a certain progress. It is quite clear, I think, that there is an advance in the prominence of association with evil, expressed by the three attitudes, walking, standing, sitting.

II. Then we come to the next step here. Abstinence is useless unless it be for something. There is no virtue in not doing so-and-so unless there be a positive doing something a great deal better. And now to the second part of this picture how it fares with lovers of God’s law. Such a life will be rooted and steadfast, for the word here translated ‘planted’ is not that ordinarily employed to express that idea, but conveys mainly the notion of fixity and steadfastness. If you want your life to have a basis then you must consciously and intelligently feel and pierce down through all superficial fleeting things, until you grasp the centre and wrap yourselves round that. Such a life shall be vigorous and fruitful. Such a life shall ‘prosper’. Now turn to the other dark picture of the rootless, fruitless life. The light and the shadow, the blackness and the glory, are put right against one another and each is heightened by the juxtaposition.

III. There comes next the disappearance of such a life in the winnowing wind as a consequence of its essential nullity. Nothing lasts but obedience to the will of God. That which God knows lasts. That which He does not know perishes. There are two roads before us. The one steep, rough, narrow, hard, but always climbing steadily upwards, and sure to reach its goal; the other broad, easy, flowery, descending, and therefore easier than the first. One is the path of obedience for the love of Christ. In that path there is no death, and those who tread it shall come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads. The other is the path of self-will and self-pleasing, which fails to reach its unworthy goal and brings the man at last to the edge of a black precipice over the verge of which the impetus of his descent will carry his reluctant feet. ‘The path of the just is as the shining light, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day. The way of the wicked is as darkness; they know not at what they stumble.’

Alexander Maclaren, The Freeman, 6 March, 1891, p. 147.

Psa 1:1

Tennyson was very grand on contemptuousness. It was, he said, a sure sign of intellectual littleness. Simply to despise nearly always meant not to understand. Pride and contempt were specially characteristic of barbarians.

Wilfrid Ward in The New Review (July, 1886).

Contempt is murder committed by the intellect, as hatred is murder committed by the heart Charity, having life in itself, is the opposite and destroyer of contempt as well as of hatred.

George MacDonald, David Elginbrod (pt. ii. chap. IX.).

References. I. 1. A. Mursell, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxvi. p. 269. C. Bosanquet, Tender Grass for the Lambs, p. 61. The International Critical Commentary, p. 3. E. C. Wickham, Wellington College Sermons, p. 203. C. C. Bartholomew, Sermons Chiefly Practical, p. 245. I. 1, 2. A. Maclaren, Sermons Preached in Manchester (3rd Series), p. 225. John Thomas, Myrtle Street Pulpit, vol. iii. p. 127. W. G. Pearce, Some Aspects of the Blessed Life, Phi 1:17 . E. C. Wickham, Wellington College Sermons, p. 209. I. 1-3. M. R. Vincent, Gates Into the Psalm Country, p. 3. I. 1-4. John Thomas, Myrtle Street Pulpit, vol. iii. p. 127. I. 1-6. C. Perren, Revival Sermons, p. 316.

A Tree Planted By Rivers of Water

Psa 1:3

I. The happy man of this Psalm is none other than the man who presents his body a living sacrifice unto God, and is not fashioned according to this world’s pattern and device, but is transformed by the renewing of his mind through an earnest pondering of God’s thoughts, and who thereby proves by a daily experience what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Wherein, then, does his happiness consist? Blessed is this man, for ‘he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water’. What is it that is contrasted with a tree in this Psalm? Chaff; and the contrast that is presented to us in this Psalm is this, as to whether our lives are to be like a tree or like the chaff. Now a tree viewed in contrast to the chaff provides a noble image of a rich, full, fruitful life. The special force of the image lies in this, that a tree perfectly portrays to us the connexion between thinking and working, between the roots of conduct and the fruits of conduct A tree derives its nourishment from hidden roots, and all the fruit that grows amid sunshine grows out of the hidden roots that have struck down into the earth, and have been drinking there of the lower streams. And the answering fact in human life is this that the roots of our life and conduct are inward and downward. Strong characters are not uncaused things. Strong characters are produced by strong thinking, by strong teaching. Good deeds are the outgrowth of great thoughts. It is quite true that men sometimes fail to put their best thoughts into action, and why is it? Is it not because their thoughts are not allowed to take full possession of them and of their feelings and minds? And hence men who sometimes have very good thoughts have very bad lives. The remedy for that is to think more. Yes, even though it be painful to think more, to think.

II. Two words here deserve special notice. The word ‘planted’ is significant in the text. It is equal to our word ‘transplanted’. Now of course, a literal tree never chooses its locality, but all emblems drawn from nature in Scripture fail to represent man’s power of will and of choice. The tree cannot transplant itself. But that is not so with man. Where God has given the stream of His Word, where God’s Word is known, men may choose to strike their roots into its fatness if they will. Then the word ‘streams’ or ‘rivers’ is specially significant. The Psalmist does not use the common word for a natural river here, a river which rises among the hills and flows down into the sea. He employs a term which represents those artificial channels which are so extensively used for the purpose of irrigation in the East. By diligence and by courage we are able to conquer barrenness in nature, so that the very wilderness rejoices and blossoms as the rose. In all such labour there is profit: and how foolish we are if our gardens are thirsting when the river of God is flowing down not far from any one of us, and we may make cuttings, we may open communications of God’s will and truth to refresh our hearts and fertilize and nourish our lives.

T. Vincent Tymms, The British Weekly Pulpit, vol. II. p. 141.

Christ in the First Psalm

Psa 1:3

Every delineation of the righteous is in the end a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, and of Him alone. God has somewhat against all His saints, against their own righteousness. None of them is righteous completely except in the righteousness of the Redeemer. The application of this principle gives a new life and power and message to the book of the Psalms. We take for an example the first Psalm. It is true in its integrity of one soul at least, and of none but one. Multitudes through grace have come near it. It blessedly recalls them, but for its full meaning we must look at the Name that burns behind the porcelain sheath and see Jesus, and Jesus only.

I. In Christ there was no scorn, no contempt, no insolence, no taunting. He did not despise our world. He did not despise our nature. He did not despise the meanest of His creatures. Nor did He despair of any human soul.

II. His life was nourished on the law. His delight was in the law of the Lord, and on His law did He meditate day and night. It was of Him alone that it could be said that He was utterly obedient.

III. This life, the life of the righteous, was beautiful and fruitful, He lived that life of true peace which is not fugitive but everlasting. His was a life of fruit. Every righteous life must end in fruit. The greenness and the beauty are but a form of promise. The inexorable condition on which life is given is that it should reach forward to fruit-bearing. He bore His fruit in due season God fixed, and He still fixes the season.

W. Robertson Nicoll, The Garden of Nuts, p. 111.

References. I. 3. C. Perren, Revival Sermons, p. 316. International Critical Commentary, p. 3. G. Orme, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lx. p. 334. E. Johnson, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xx. p. 347. G. Matheson, Moments on the Mount, pp. 79, 122. H. P. Liddon, Old Testament Outlines, p. 100. Homiletic Magazine, vol. vii. p. 73. I. 3, 4. H. Macmillan, Two Worlds are Ours, p. 203. A. Blomfield, Sermons in Town and Country, p. 313. I. 4. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. lv. No. 280. John Thomas, Myrtle Street Pulpit, vol. iii. p. 127. I. 4, 5. A. G. Brown, Penny Pulpit, No. 767. I. 4, 6. M. R. Vincent, Gates Into the Palm Country, p. 21.

Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson

“Handfuls of Purpose”

For All Gleaners

“Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble” Psa 41:1

The Psalmist is here talking experimentally. He recalls the treachery of some who professed to be his friends, and he pours a eulogy upon those whose honour and sympathy he had tested in a crucial hour. There is nothing to show who wrote the psalm, yet in its speech there is a tone that touches all hearts. By “the poor” we are not to understand in all cases the penniless. Poverty is a large word, and requires a large definition. Sickness, weakness, fear, sense of helplessness, sense of desolation all these may be brought under the definition of poverty. Some men are poor mentally, needing continual suggestion, direction, and recruital of mind. Want of money is the most superficial kind of poverty. It is by no means to be neglected either by the individual or by the state, because through want of money men often perish through lack of other things. When money is taken thus typically, then pennilessness becomes a manifold disorder and weakness. The word rendered “considereth” implies a kindliness of consideration. It is not only a statistical or economical view of social circumstances it is also a direct and earnest exercise of the heart. The word may also be rendered “he that understands,” then the text would read, “Blessed is he that understands the poor; “by understanding we are to bring in the idea of sympathy or fellow-feeling. We cannot understand the poor simply as an intellectual study. A man may intellectually concern himself with the condition of the poor without ever knowing what it is to suffer with them. We can only understand the poor by living with them, by making ourselves part of them, by admitting them to our confidence. No man understands hunger who has not been hungry. There are dictionary interpretations of words which help us but a short way towards their true comprehension. Think of turning to the dictionary to find the meaning of poverty, hunger, sorrow, death! All the words may be neatly and clearly defined in terms, but to understand any one of them we must pass through the experience which it indicates. The blessings of the Bible are always poured upon good-doing. Never, in a single instance, do we read of men being blessed simply because they are kingly, rich, mighty, or even intellectually wise. In the Beatitudes there is not a single blessing on merely social greatness. All the persons referred to in the Beatitudes might be extinguished to-morrow, and yet the world in all its higher social phases might not be conscious of any loss. How little the world knows of its own riches! How little we know to whom we are indebted for the preservation of our lives, and for the success of our enterprises! Some of us may today be reaping harvests which our fathers sowed in the fields of the poor. We do not know the harvests because they are so great. The actions done by our forefathers were so small that when we see them in their harvest form we exclaim, These actions have come up again, some thirty, some sixty, and some an hundredfold.

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

Psa 1

[Note. This is regarded as a concise introduction to a limited Psalter, and not as the introduction to the whole Book of Psalms. The authorship of the psalm is uncertain. In some MSS. it is regarded simply as a preface, and in others it is connected with the second psalm. According to some MSS., in Act 13:33 , the second psalm is quoted as the first. Some peculiarities of language, as well as the general tone of thought, are considered to point to Solomon as the author, whilst some words seem to bring it to a later period than David’s. Probably it was written before the disruption of Israel, or at least before the decadence of the kingdom of Judah.]

1. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, 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; 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.

The Trees of God

“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful” ( Psa 1:1 ).

We might suppose that this statement, both on the one side and on the other, amounted to nothing more than a mere assertion of individual opinion. It might be imagined, on a superficial examination of the circumstances, that some man had ventured to give it as his opinion that the godly man would be blessed, and that the ungodly man would fail of blessing. This is not matter of opinion; this is matter of law, matter of historical necessity. Moreover, the statement if it be only a statement is open to immediate contradiction if it be not confirmed and illustrated by the history of mankind. This gives us a very solid standing-ground in our study. Opinion is free, and opinion cannot raise itself above the line of discussion; it must always be subject to criticism and to controversy. But this is not matter of mere opinion; this is the result of the inductive process, this is the outcome of law, this is the upgathering of vast and minute experience. If it is not that, how easy the contradiction! how tempting the field of action, in which an infant may become a soldier, and the man of feeble speech may overwhelm with the evidence of fact all the sophisms of the most eloquent orator! Thus we are upon very solid ground. If the first psalm is not true, every one amongst us can disprove it. The appeal is to life, to fact, to actual circumstance and condition. The ungodly man, therefore, may stand up and say not in the individual instance or within narrow lines, but literally the ungodly humanity may stand up and say, The first psalm is a lie: I am happy, I am blessed; I am ungodly, and yet I thrive, in the best sense of the term; I fear not God, I regard not man, I am the centre of my own movement, I supply the motives of my own action, I give account only at the door of my own understanding and conscience, and I enjoy eternal midsummer in the soul: nature is to me one crystal beauty, one sparkling delight, one sufficing benediction; I know not God, and I am perfectly happy. If one ungodly man were foolish enough to make that speech, ten thousand of his race would instantly rise to modify his statement, if not positively to contradict it. The godly man will make his speech on the other side; he will not fail of emphasis, he will have no modification or reservation, but will say broadly, with sacred unction and telling firmness of tone, The first psalm is a truth; I have in some measure lived it, proved it, illustrated it: loving God, I am happy; living in God, I am safe; obeying God, I am at rest; any failure in result is traceable to failure in process. The first psalm, therefore, in its substance, meaning, purport, is a holy and incontrovertible declaration. We should look upon all the Scriptures from this point of view. The Scriptures are not filled with opinions. We may frankly admit that sometimes the mere construction of the sentence might suggest that an opinion was being adventured; but, as a matter of fact, there are no opinions in the Bible. The Bible, in its doctrines, is a book of facts. Everything that is theological in the Bible is first scientific, historical, actual. When the Scriptural writers talk about “the law of the Lord,” they speak about something they have been watching a long time: they have seen one instance, and have wondered if another instance like it would occur; the second instance has transpired, and a third, and a twentieth, and a hundredth instance of the kind, and again another hundredth; and as the instances have multiplied themselves in such continuity and confirmatory succession, the watchers have said, This is a law; and when they have written out what appears to he a matter of mere opinion, they have in reality set down with a steady hand the result of a lifetime of observation, confirmed by the experience of innumerable generations. The Book of Proverbs is not a book of opinions. When a proverb is written down a history is written down. We open the Book of Proverbs, and we find this sentence: “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging; and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.” That is not a matter of opinion, a matter of sentiment, some man’s conjecture about something he does not really understand. “Wine is a mocker,” that is history; “strong drink is raging,” that is a fact; “whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise,” a million hands are uplifted to carry the vote, and there is no reply. Open the Book of Proverbs where we may, we shall find that we are not reading an opinion in reading a proverb inspired. Here is one: “A foolish son is a grief to his father, and bitterness to her that bare him.” Why, it could be contradicted instantly if it were not true; but humanity stands up and says, Whoever told you that, told you in a sentence the history of innumerable broken hearts. So with all the Scriptures. If we suppose that in the Bible we have simply matters of opinion, then we are bound to controvert them, examine them, subject them to critical analysis to find out how much, if any, truth there is in them. If the text-book were a mere collection of miscellaneous opinions it would be useless to the preacher. When he opens the Bible he opens what is termed the law. He confirms it, or he could not preach it; his hearers confirm it, or they could not listen to it Mere opinions would either divert or distract the mind, would vex and torment the intellect; but words that come with the massiveness and the solemnity of history, and gather themselves up into all the sternness of actual law, come with a force which for the moment we may resist, but which in the long run we must accept. All these general observations we establish by the testimony and illustrate by the spirit of this first psalm. Let us read the word: the very reading of it may be an argument; it may compel such a tone in the very enunciation of it as shall itself accomplish all the work of formal reasoning.

“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night” ( Psa 1:1-2 ).

What say you? Do you write a negative verdict over the face of that decision? Is there a man who loves the darkness, serves the devil, pants for hell, who could deny that, a man so lost that he could deny the opening verses of the first psalm? We cannot tell what they feel who have gone over the brink and fallen into the fire and the brimstone, by which future punishment is at all events symbolised to our dull imagination; but one instance is given in parable from which large inferences may be drawn. The man who was tormented in the flames said: I have five brethren send to them; keep them out of this place, save them if it be possible! That was a parable, but it finds an answer in every human consciousness. The father says when he is most lost, Spare my child the sight of this shame! do not let my son follow my example! I have wasted my substance with riotous living may no child of mine follow his father’s evil example! That we have heard from human lips; that we have not read in some Jewish book five thousand years old: it is written in the journals of the day; it is to be met in the groans that rise from unhappy civilization at this moment; it is the testimony of humanity. What can the ungodly, the sinner, or the scornful have by way of blessing? Their position is a negative one, or a position of resistance; and their spirit is a spirit of blasphemousness and flippancy. There is no rest in blasphemy; there is no contentment in flippancy. The scorner is no friend of good men. Any man who could indulge a sneer at the Bible is a bad man. We can imagine men who have great intellectual difficulties and literary difficulties of many kinds reverently closing the old book and saying nothing more about it being dumb evermore; but the man who can turn the Bible into a subject for jesting and foolish speaking and sneering is in his heart bad. He may pay twenty shillings in the pound, he may have amongst citizens a good and honest name; but if he can sneer at the book which is the corner-stone of our best life, that sneer makes him a base man, and he will break down at some point and reveal himself as a child of the devil. We are not referring to intellectual doubt of real earnest difficulty; nor to those who are really anxious to have certain great questions solved; we refer only to the scornful, the sneering, the jibing, those who turn sacred mysteries into occasions of trifling; those who sneer at the little child on bent knees, with clasped hands, and with eyes that look up to the motherly heavens; it is of the man belonging to that class we speak, and speak solemnly, with tears in the heart, and without bitterness or resentment; and in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, whom we adore as one God, we pronounce him to be a bad man. Appearances shall not deceive us; occasional tones in the voice shall not divert the concentration of our inquiry and our judgment, he is a bad man. The drunkard may be nearer heaven’s kingdom than he can ever be: he has blasphemed against the Holy Ghost.

But the “blessed man” not only avoids and abandons, as it were with horror, the ungodly, the sinful, and the scornful; that is the negative aspect of the case. What is the affirmative? We find that in the second verse: “His delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.” We must have positive sustenance. It is not enough to shut up the bad book we must have the good book in its place; it is not enough to desist from eating bad food we must have the pure and honest bread to eat; it is not enough to abandon the seat of the scornful; it is not enough to give up drinking and to long for it all the time, because then in our very longing we may be a kind of drunkard still: we must be filled with the Spirit of God dispossession followed by possession; liberation followed by inspiration, the outcast devil finding his place occupied when he returns to reconquer his victim. Why have we such incertitude in Christian persuasion and such inconstancy in Christian life? Because we have lost the Bible. We do not read it: we glance at it; we read a verse or a paragraph now and then, but we do not eat it devour it consume it We have Bibles: we ourselves should be Bibles. Let the word of God dwell in you richly “it is written”: yes, and “it is written again,” and yet “again.” Who really knows the law of the Lord? Who meditates in it day and night? Who so does is a blessed man: he eats at the king’s table, he listens to the king’s music, he lives in the king’s light. It matters not that we may be able to quote large portions of the Bible for it is just possible that a man may recite the entire record from the first chapter of Genesis to the Amen of the Apocalypse, and know nothing about the Bible. We must get at the Bible that is in the Bible at the music that is in the notes; there stand the black and white notes: we know the name of each, we know the duration of each in music-time, we can speak learnedly about the notes; but where is the music itself the singing in the soul the resonance which only the spirit can hear? Where the all-spiritual realisation of the thought? It is not enough to be chapter-and-verse readers; it is not enough to be happy and rich in literal quotation; these gifts of memory we do not despise, we would rather covet them; but apart from the spiritual perception of meanings they are worse than useless. The Bible is not a text, the Bible is not a chapter, the Bible is not a book of chapters; the Bible is a revelation. And where” does a revelation begin? where human nature begins. Where does a revelation end? where Melchisedek ended. What is the measure or a revelation? it has none. Is it a fixed quantity? yes, as infinity is a fixed quantity. Does it acquire the weariness of a long monotony? never! What is it, then? a continual surprise. A man says, when you take him out upon a dull grey day to look at the landscape, and you tell him that he really cannot see it now, that he can imagine the light playing upon it, no! no man can imagine light. Could the sun at the moment of the man’s supposed imagining break forth from behind the cold grey cloud and leap upon the landscape, making it gleam and sparkle and awakening all the silent birds, then the man would find that his imagination was not equal to the mystery of God. So the Bible, being a revelation, is a continual surprise. It brightens upon the mind, charms the fancy; it satisfies all the innermost desires of the spirit; it fills the soul with sweet content; a surprise every morning, a benediction every night. It is impossible for me to convey any sense adequate to the occasion of the manner in which the book of God grows upon me every year of my life. It is my best friend. Would that I could tell you all it tells me! Would that some arrangement could be made by which a preacher could instantaneously summon his audience and preach when the fire stings him and all the angels stir him into the passion for preaching! Oh that men would simply make the law of the Lord their delight, and meditate in it day and night! What preaching we should have then! A word would be a sermon; a sermon would be a library; one hint would start the mind upon infinite ranges of thought and contemplation. A prepared pew would make a prepared pulpit; but a prepared pulpit can never make a prepared pew. Given an audience, earnest, longing, impatient of all process and detail, and then one spark one little spark falling on the prepared material, behold, the answer of the people would be as the blaze of an altar-fire, rising instantly to the great, watching, healing heavens! You cannot disturb permanently the man who is rooted in Biblical doctrine and Biblical thought. Many a man supposes that when he shakes a tree he is shaking the root. Sometimes it appears as if the wind would tear up the deep roots of the great trees. It is not so in all instances. The root is deeper than the strength of the wind can reach. What is true in many instances in the forest is true in many instances in the Church: if our roots are deep-struck into divine soil, we may be shaken: the branches may creak, a few leaves will be blown off ay, a few twigs may be splintered and shivered; but the tree the great life-tree is safe at the root, because the root is hidden in the wisdom and protected by the eternity of the living God.

“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; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper” ( Psa 1:3 ).

A man’s life should be rooted in God in God’s law, in God’s service. It should not be as a flower plucked, but as a flower unplucked, growing in the eternal stream. Where God is there is no famine. A life severed from God’s law cannot grow, cannot be at rest; it will be the victim of circumstances, affrighted by surprises, and disquieted by many fears. The good man the student and servant of God’s law is not only like a tree, he is like a tree planted by rivers of water. So long as the rivers run his roots are nourished; he lives in the great scheme and system of things; no vagrant is he, but a citizen and a householder. His likeness unto a tree planted by the rivers of water is full of suggestion: a tree is permanent, fruitful, beautiful; its branches are for refreshment, and its shadow for rest; it answers the sun and rain; it waits for God, and puts forth its life at his bidding. Notice the word “prosper”: that word is used in no mean or narrow sense, but refers to a prosperity that is real, ultimate, and unchangeable. If we say that the good man does not always prosper, we may say the same thing in effect about God himself. The good man prospers as God prospers. God complains that his law is slighted and his word disobeyed; yet he says that his law shall be set up in the earth, and that his word shall not return unto him void. Some adversities are temporary; they may indeed be part of a process; as truly as God prospers will the good man prosper, their purposes are identical. The circumstances which suggest that the good man’s prosperity is uncertain are like the hills and valleys which suggest to our limited vision that the earth cannot be a globe. We know, however, that all the hills and valleys fall under a higher law, an infinite astronomy. We have just said that where God is there is no famine. These words may be taken in their widest sense, as relating to the intellect, the imagination, and every faculty which belongs to manhood. When there is no bread in the field, yet is there a great feast in the heart. When the fig-tree ceases to bear, the hunger of the soul is satisfied with fruit from the tree of life. Jesus Christ said he had bread to eat that the world knew not of. He laid down the greatest possible doctrine of the sustenance of man when he said: “Man shall not live by bread alone,” God has a thousand ways of sustaining life: every word which proceedeth out of his mouth is a living word and a way of life to those who receive it. Thus in the deepest sense of the words we live and move and have our being in God; not a limited and stunted being, starved and hungered because of the spareness of God’s bounty, but a being as enduring as his own, and made secure by all the resources of his throne and Godhead.

A very practical lesson arises from the words “bringeth forth his fruit in his season.” We are not to look even in Christian life for what is ordinarily understood by “fruit” all the year round. Upon this point many Christians disquiet themselves unnecessarily. There is a time for rest, for recruital; and time spent in legitimate sleep is time made for larger and harder work. Let the tree be the symbol and image of our life. It has its season of fruitlessness, but not of fruitlessness in any blameworthy sense. The tree is part of the great course of things a speck in an infinite system and it keeps all the time and law of the stupendous universe. So it is with the Christian heart. There are times of abundant labour, of almost excessive joy, of hope above the brightness of the sun, and of realisations which transform the earth into heaven: there are times when our energy seems to be more than equal to all the exigencies of life: we can work without weariness, we can suffer without complaining; we are quite sure that the morning draweth nigh, and that in the end the victory will be with God. At other times there are seasons of depression, almost intolerable weariness, somewhat indeed of sickness of heart, as if a great pain had fixed itself within us; at other times we know that we are not bringing forth fruit to the glory of God or for the use of man, and in such times we call ourselves cumberers of the ground, and urge our idleness against ourselves with all the force of a criminal accusation. The Christian should deal with himself reasonably in all these things. The year is not one season, nor is human life one monotonous experience. A tree may be by the rivers of water, and may be planted even by the hand of God himself, and yet there will be portions of the year when not a leaf can be seen on its branches, and when no fruit is offered to the hunger of man. We are not to be judged by this or that one day or season, but by the whole scope and circumference of life. As to the promise “whatsoever he doeth shall prosper,” we come upon unwritten but inevitable assumptions and conditions. The character is the guarantee of the action. Read by itself, “whatsoever he doeth shall prosper” is marked by an apparent wildness, as if it would be impossible for a man to attempt anything that would not be instantly turned in the direction of his wishes. It is our reading, however, that would be wild, not the inspired words that would be without licence; we must remember that a certain quality of character is described in the psalm. The portrait is that of a “man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful;” but whose “delight is in the law of the Lord,” and in his law doth this man “meditate day and night;” we are therefore first of all to fix our attention upon the quality of the character described, and then we are to read “whatsoever he doeth shall prosper:” such a man cannot do anything wilfully wrong; such a man cannot tempt the providence of God; such a man cannot project himself into his plans so far as to exclude the general welfare and the honour of the divine throne; such a man is all but identical with God in thought and purpose and love, and therefore his personal prosperity is as secured as is the prosperity of every divine principle and purpose.

“The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away” ( Psa 1:4 ).

Who can gather again the chaff which has been driven away? Where is it? whose is it? who will claim it? who will buy it? who will care for it? But there are appearances to the contrary. Some ungodly men seem to be well-established: they have property, they have influence, their eyes stand out with fatness; they have more than heart can wish. What are we to make of such circumstances and realities, for realities they certainly appear to be to the casual observer? We are to remember that appearance is one thing, and reality is another. At a little distance the chaff might be mistaken for wheat We are to remember also that the Bible itself recognises what we mistake for realities: comments upon them, explains them, and makes them of no account in the measurement and valuation of God’s providence. The prosperity of the wicked has never escaped the attention of good men; it has made some of them stumble; it has been turned into an argument against a discriminating providence; nay, more, it has been used as an illustration to prove that if God is more than usually mindful of any of his creatures, he seems to have set the seal of his special approbation upon men of worldly mind. Here we are thrown back upon the quality of character. We must make the well-known distinction between character and reputation. Character is what a man really is in his very heart and thought; reputation is what the man is thought to be by those who are associated with him, or who observe his method of life, or estimate the success which may have attended his labours. The distinction between the godly and the ungodly must be vital. Such is the distinction between wheat and chaff; in wheat there are harvests for generations through all time, in chaff there is nothing but emptiness and rottenness. We do not always discover quality by a superficial inspection. Character must be put to the severest tests before its real value can be ascertained. We cannot regard painted ships as of any value for purposes of navigation. Not what a horse is upon the artist’s canvas, but what he is on the battlefield, must be the standard of value. Not in form but in power must be the continual rule of criticism and judgment. There may be a beauty of form without any beauty of inspiration; all merely formal beauty becomes monotonous and oppressive; it is the light within that makes day; it is the inspiration of the understanding that gives men clear discernment of the times and distinct mastery of events. The wheat and the chaff come very near to one another; they may at a little distance be mistaken one for the other. But every man’s character should be tried; every man’s work shall have the test of fire applied to it; and not until such final tests have been applied can we really tell, in some instances, which is good and which is bad. Driven by the wind, carried here and there, without soul or force of their own; to know whose they are we must know where the wind is the wind of popularity, the wind of success, the wind of divine visitation. What mocking words are applied to the ungodly man! The Bible everywhere treats him with contempt. It sees him in great power, spreading himself like a green bay tree, and then it declares that he cannot be found, yea though he be searched for in the soil where he grew, not a fibre of his roots can be discovered. The life of the hypocrite is described as a candle which has to be blown out, and which shall leave only an intolerable odour behind. The bad man’s house is represented as founded upon the sand, and its doom is foretold. Never do we find anything of solidity, real value, or true praise connected with the bad man’s name in all the Biblical record. Nor is this a merely metaphysical criticism on the part of the Bible; we know it of our own observation and experience to be a true judgment of fact. Who would employ a man who was known to be really bad at heart? Who would rely upon him? Who would trust him with property? Who would consult him in perplexity? The bad man may be used for temporary purposes: he may be turned into a mere convenience, but even the men who use him despise him, and as soon as the purposes of convenience have been completed the instrument is thrown away. The ungodly man can have no true friends. Though he form truces with his associates and enter into covenants signed and sealed and marked by all the appearance of solidity they will be as nothing in the day of temptation and trial. Ungodliness cannot stand; it has no virtue, strength, or pith; it is the creature of circumstances; it is an accident of the weather; it is driven about by the wind.

“Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous” ( Psa 1:5 ).

These are the true and final tests of character. Put into the hands of a sower a handful of chaff and a handful of wheat, and can the former “stand” in his judgment? Mark, there is a judgment! There is a congregation of the righteous! At present judgment is partial and uncertain, and at present society is mixed; but the time of judgment and separation is coming! Man soon comes to the end of his probation. Where are the ungodly of the last generation? What impression is produced by the recollection of their names, a recollection of self-will, self-indulgence, self-promotion; not a recollection of purity, wisdom, sympathy, or noble service? Words of this kind show that society is organised by its Creator, and is not left in tumultuousness, without order, direction, or final outcome. The words “judgment” and “congregation” point to conditions of an ultimate kind. Regard life as chaotic, without law, order, or purpose, and then verily the race will be to the swift and the battle to the strong. Everything depends upon the point of view from which life is surveyed. To the man who is without God in the world life is a scramble, or a series of chances, or a mere department of gambling, no one knowing who may be first to-morrow or who may win in the impending contest: principles go for nothing; convictions are laughed at; prayer is despised. But has history justified this view of life? Has our own personal history justified it? The answer is instantaneous, emphatic, and complete. Appearances notwithstanding, it is still clear to the observing mind that human history has shape, direction, and purpose; it is a marvellous unity; its very complexity cannot destroy its order; at the heart of things there is a thought, a determination, a divine decree. Taking, therefore, this view of the case, we see the high and solid reasoning of the text, “Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.” This outcome is noted as a simple sequence. It is not an arbitrary arrangement or a penalty inflicted without a cause; it is the logical outcome of certain moral processes; evil leads to disappointment, misery, and perdition; good leads to satisfaction, enjoyment, and heaven. If this were the voice of the Bible only men might quibble about it and propose certain difficult questions in relation to it; but we see the outworking of this law in social life, and are prepared to confirm it according to the variety and extent of our own experience. Let us not regard words of this kind merely as petty warnings or as having; in them any tone of vindictiveness, as if God simply by the exercise of his almightiness determined to have his own way at last. This is not a question of mere power at all. It is a question of moral force, moral quality, and moral triumph. Written all over the universe in every department of nature and providence and revelation is the sublime law that the wicked shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal, not an arbitrary division of classes, but a philosophical, moral, and sublime realisation of the mysterious processes which are known by the names of cause and effect.

“For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish” ( Psa 1:6 ).

The question is not whether the righteous is apparently stronger than the ungodly, but what is the relation of the Lord to them both? The final award is not with man but with God. The destiny of the righteous and the ungodly is as distinct as their characters. There is no blending of one into the other, the one lives, the other perishes. Consistently throughout the Bible life is always associated with obedience or righteousness, and death with disobedience or unrighteousness. Upon this point the Bible bears no equivocal or doubtful testimony. The voice of the Lord is one from the beginning to the end of his testimony. Great value attaches to a consistency of this kind. Consider that the records of the Bible extend over thousands of years and relate to every variety of human disposition and social circumstance; consider further that the Bible is the joint production of numerous writers who in many cases knew nothing of what the others had written, and then remember that from beginning to end the face of the Lord is represented as set against evil, and shining like a benediction upon good; and say if there be not in this very consistency itself, at least the beginning or suggestion of a noble argument. The consistency has a bearing upon the character of God himself. It is because he never changes in his own moral quality that he never changes in relation to the actions of men. In his first interview with man he spoke of life and death; in the final judgment of the world life and death will be the two categories under which the human race will be classified. That “the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous” is the good man’s supreme comfort. “He knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” At first it might appear as if the knowledge of the Lord were a terror to the good man, whereas, on the contrary, it is the noblest comfort which sustains him. Not that the good man challenges the divine scrutiny in the matter of his actions, but that he is able to invite the Lord to look into the secret purpose of his heart and understand what is the supreme wish of his life. The Apostle Peter represents this truth in a manner most pathetic: “Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee.” Peter was not here calling attention to his personal life, which was full of blunder and of shame, but was calling attention to the one purpose and uppermost desire of his life. That is a consolation always open to the good man. To know that the motive is right is to know that the end must be good. “When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path.” “I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.” The Apostle Paul has a noble figure upon this matter: “The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his.” The prophet Nahum bears testimony to this great truth, saying, “The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.” What we have to be supremely anxious about is the main purpose or desire of life; that being right, actions will adjust themselves accordingly, and, notwithstanding innumerable mistakes, the substance of the character shall be good, and a crown of glory shall be granted to the faithful servant.

The whole of this psalm suggests many inquiries of a practical kind. First of all, are we blessed? The psalm relates to the blessedness of a peculiar character, and we are entitled to ask how far we correspond to its lineaments. We may be blessed in many ways, and must be blessed in all if we follow the way that is divine. We know what it is to be blessed in human relations by associating ourselves with those who are of the right spirit and purpose. “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.” This is the law of blessing and destruction. To walk with God is to move constantly in an upward and heavenly direction. Another question which we may put is, Do we distinguish between blessedness and transient happiness? There is a great difficulty in this direction. We are so much the creatures of circumstances that we may interpret momentary emotions as indicative of solidity of character. Blessedness is a question of moral rectitude and not: a question of transient emotions. Being right we shall of necessity be blessed. Instead, therefore, of looking for the effect, let us steadfastly fix our minds upon the cause, knowing that it is impossible to have happiness from the outside, and that all blessedness expresses an inward and spiritual condition. We may well interrogate ourselves further in the matter of our own fruitfulness. What is the kind of fruit which we bring forth? What are our actions? How are our words regarded by those who are walking in darkness or are inquiring for the solution of great problems? “Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.” The root being right, the fruit shall be good. “Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.” Are we to be compared to the worthless chaff? We need not shrink from the question as if it could not be answered, for we well know that the reply is in our own hearts. Pitiable is the life of the ungodly. They are as stubble before the wind and as chaff that the storm carrieth away. Christ, the Saviour of the world, will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. However much appearances may be on the side of those who are ungodly, we read concerning them that “the world passeth away, and the lust thereof;” it is a momentary satisfaction, which perishes in the using. Whom God calls blessed can never be desolate; whom God calls cursed can never know true joy. Let us set it down as a fact in life, as a standard of judgment, that it is impossible for us to alter moral qualities and moral issues; we are called upon to accept the moral constitution of the universe as God has appointed it, to work out its laws, and either by obedience to enter into its heaven, or by disobedience to be flung away as sons of perdition.

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

PSALMS

XI

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF PSALMS

According to my usual custom, when taking up the study of a book of the Bible I give at the beginning a list of books as helps to the study of that book. The following books I heartily commend on the Psalms:

1. Sampey’s Syllabus for Old Testament Study . This is especially good on the grouping and outlining of some selected psalms. There are also some valuable suggestions on other features of the book.

2. Kirkpatrick’g commentary, in “Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges,” is an excellent aid in the study of the Psalter.

3. Perowne’s Book of Psalms is a good, scholarly treatise on the Psalms. A special feature of this commentary is the author’s “New Translation” and his notes are very helpful.

4. Spurgeon’s Treasury of David. This is just what the title implies. It is a voluminous, devotional interpretation of the Psalms and helpful to those who have the time for such extensive study of the Psalter.

5. Hengstenburg on the Psalms. This is a fine, scholarly work by one of the greatest of the conservative German scholars.

6. Maclaren on the Psalms, in “The Expositor’s Bible,” is the work of the world’s safest, sanest, and best of all works that have ever been written on the Psalms.

7. Thirtle on the Titles of the Psalms. This is the best on the subject and well worth a careful study.

At this point some definitions are in order. The Hebrew word for psalm means praise. The word in English comes from psalmos , a song of lyrical character, or a song to be sung and accompanied with a lyre. The Psalter is a collection of sacred and inspired songs, composed at different times and by different authors.

The range of time in composition was more than 1,000 years, or from the time of Moses to the time of Ezra. The collection in its present form was arranged probably by Ezra in the fifth century, B.C.

The Jewish classification of Old Testament books was The Law, the Prophets, and the Holy Writings. The Psalms was given the first place in the last group.

They had several names, or titles, of the Psalms. In Hebrew they are called “The Book of Prayers,” or “The Book of Praises.” The Hebrew word thus used means praises. The title of the first two books is found in Psa 72:20 : “The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.” The title of the whole collection of Psalms in the Septuagint is Biblos Psalman which means the “Book of Psalms.” The title in the Alexandrian Codex is Psalterion which is the name of a stringed instrument, and means “The Psalter.”

The derivation of our English words, “psalms,” “psalter,” and “psaltery,” respectively, is as follows:

1. “Psalms” comes from the Greek word, psalmoi, which is also from psallein , which means to play upon a stringed instrument. Therefore the Psalms are songs played upon stringed instruments, and the word here is used to apply to the whole collection.

2. “Psalter” is of the same origin and means the Book of Psalms and refers also to the whole collection.

3. “Psaltery” is from the word psalterion, which means “a harp,” an instrument, supposed to be in the shape of a triangle or like the delta of the Greek alphabet. See Psa 33:2 ; Psa 71:22 ; Psa 81:2 ; Psa 144:9 .

In our collection there are 150 psalms. In the Septuagint there is one extra. It is regarded as being outside the sacred collection and not inspired. The subject of this extra psalm is “David’s victory over Goliath.” The following is a copy of it: I was small among my brethren, And youngest in my father’s house, I used to feed my father’s sheep. My hands made a harp, My fingers fashioned a Psaltery. And who will declare unto my Lord? He is Lord, he it is who heareth. He it was who sent his angel And took me from my father’s sheep, And anointed me with the oil of his anointing. My brethren were goodly and tall, But the Lord took no pleasure in them. I went forth to meet the Philistine. And he cursed me by his idols But I drew the sword from beside him; I beheaded him and removed reproach from the children of Israel.

It will be noted that this psalm does not have the earmarks of an inspired production. There is not found in it the modesty so characteristic of David, but there is here an evident spirit of boasting and self-praise which is foreign to the Spirit of inspiration.

There is a difference in the numbering of the psalms in our version which follows the Hebrew, and the numbering in the Septuagint. Omitting the extra one in the Septuagint, there is no difference as to the total number. Both have 150 and the same subject matter, but they are not divided alike.

The following scheme shows the division according to our version and also the Septuagint: Psalms 1-8 in the Hebrew equal 1-8 in the Septuagint; 9-10 in the Hebrew combine into 9 in the Septuagint; 11-113 in the Hebrew equal 10-112 in the Septuagint; 114-115 in the Hebrew combine into 113 in the Septuagint; 116 in the Hebrew divides into 114-115 in the Septuagint; 117-146 in the Hebrew equal 116-145 in the Septuagint; 147 in the Hebrew divides into 146-147 in the Septuagint; 148-150 in the Hebrew equal 148-150 in the Septuagint.

The arrangement in the Vulgate is the same as the Septuagint. Also some of the older English versions have this arangement. Another difficulty in numbering perplexes an inexperienced student in turning from one version to another, viz: In the Hebrew often the title is verse I, and sometimes the title embraces verses 1-2.

The book divisions of the Psalter are five books, as follows:

Book I, Psalms 1-41 (41 chapters)

Book II, Psalms 42-72 (31 chapters)

Book III, Psalms 73-89 (17 chapters)

Book IV, Psalms 90-106 (17 chapters)

Book V, Psalms 107-150 (44 chapters)

They are marked by an introduction and a doxology. Psalm I forms an introduction to the whole book; Psa 150 is the doxology for the whole book. The introduction and doxology of each book are the first and last psalms of each division, respectively.

There were smaller collections before the final one, as follows:

Books I and II were by David; Book III, by Hezekiah, and Books IV and V, by Ezra.

Certain principles determined the arrangement of the several psalms in the present collection:

1. David is honored with first place, Book I and II, including Psalms 1-72.

2. They are grouped according to the use of the name of God:

(1) Psalms 1-41 are Jehovah psalms;

(2) Psalms 42-83 are Elohim-psalms;

(3) Psalms 84-150 are Jehovah psalms.

3. Book IV is introduced by the psalm of Moses, which is the first psalm written.

4. Some are arranged as companion psalms, for instance, sometimes two, sometimes three, and sometimes more. Examples: Psa 2 and 3; 22, 23, and 24; 113-118.

5. They were arranged for liturgical purposes, which furnished the psalms for special occasions, such as feasts, etc. We may be sure this arrangement was not accidental. An intelligent study of each case is convincing that it was determined upon rational grounds.

All the psalms have titles but thirty-three, as follows:

In Book I, Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 10 ; Psa 33 , (4 are without titles).

In Book II, Psa 43 ; Psa 71 , (2 are without titles).

In Book IV, Psa 91 ; Psa 93 ; Psa 94 ; Psa 95 ; Psa 96 ; Psa 97 ; Psa 104 ; Psa 105 ; Psa 106 , (9 are without titles).

In Book V, Psa 107 ; III; 112; 113; 114; 115; 116; 117; 118; 119; 135; 136; 137; 146; 147; 148; 149; 150, (18 are without titles).

The Talmud calls these psalms that have no title, “Orphan Psalms.” The later Jews supply these titles by taking the nearest preceding author. The lack of titles in Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; and 10 may be accounted for as follows: Psa 1 is a general introduction to the whole collection and Psa 2 was, perhaps, a part of Psa 1 . Psalms 9-10 were formerly combined into one, therefore Psa 10 has the same title as Psa 9 .

QUESTIONS

1. What books are commended on the Psalms?

2. What is a psalm?

3. What is the Psalter?

4. What is the range of time in composition?

5. When and by whom was the collection in its present form arranged?

6. What the Jewish classification of Old Testament books, and what the position of the Psalter in this classification?

7. What is the Hebrew title of the Psalms?

8. Find the title of the first two books from the books themselves.

9. What is the title of the whole collection of psalms in the Septuagint?

10. What is the title in the Alexandrian Codex?

11. What is the derivation of our English word, “Psalms”, “Psalter”, and “Psaltery,” respectively?

12. How many psalms in our collection?

13. How many psalms in the Septuagint?

14. What about the extra one in the Septuagint?

15. What is the subject of this extra psalm?

16. How does it compare with the Canonical Psalms?

17. What is the difference in the numbering of the psalms in our version which follows the Hebrew, and the numbering in the Septuagint?

18. What is the arrangement in the Vulgate?

19. What other difficulty in numbering which perplexes an inexperienced student in turning from one version to another?

20. What are the book divisions of the Psalter and how are these divisions marked?

21. Were there smaller collections before the final one? If so, what were they?

22. What principles determined the arrangement of the several psalms in the present collection?

23. In what conclusion may we rest concerning this arrangement?

24. How many of the psalms have no titles?

25. What does the Talmud call these psalms that have no titles?

26. How do later Jews supply these titles?

27. How do you account for the lack of titles in Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 10 ?

XII

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF PSALMS (CONTINUED)

The following is a list of the items of information gathered from the titles of the psalms:

1. The author: “A Psalm of David” (Psa 37 ).

2. The occasion: “When he fled from Absalom, his son” (Psa 3 ).

3. The nature, or character, of the poem:

(1) Maschil, meaning “instruction,” a didactic poem (Psa 42 ).

(2) Michtam, meaning “gold,” “A Golden Psalm”; this means excellence or mystery (Psa 16 ; 56-60).

4. The occasion of its use: “A Psalm of David for the dedication of the house” (Psa 30 ).

5. Its purpose: “A Psalm of David to bring remembrance” (Psa 38 ; Psa 70 ).

6. Direction for its use: “A Psalm of David for the chief musician” (Psa 4 ).

7. The kind of musical instrument:

(1) Neginoth, meaning to strike a chord, as on stringed instruments (Psa 4 ; Psa 61 ).

(2) Nehiloth, meaning to perforate, as a pipe or flute (Psa 5 ).

(3) Shoshannim, Lilies, which refers probably to cymbals (Psa 45 ; Psa 69 ).

8. A special choir:

(1) Sheminith, the “eighth,” or octave below, as a male choir (Psa 6 ; Psa 12 ).

(2) Alamoth, female choir (Psa 46 ).

(3) Muth-labben, music with virgin voice, to be sung by a choir of boys in the treble (Psa 9 ).

9. The keynote, or tune:

(1) Aijeleth-sharar, “Hind of the morning,” a song to the melody of which this is sung (Psa 22 ).

(2) Al-tashheth, “Destroy thou not,” the beginning of a song the tune of which is sung (Psa 57 ; Psa 58 ; Psa 59 ; Psa 75 ).

(3) Gittith, set to the tune of Gath, perhaps a tune which David brought from Gath (Psa 8 ; Psa 81 ; Psa 84 ).

(4) Jonath-elim-rehokim, “The dove of the distant terebinths,” the commencement of an ode to the air of which this song was to be sung (Psa 56 ).

(5) Leannoth, the name of a tune (Psa 88 ).

(6) Mahalath, an instrument (Psa 53 ); Leonnoth-Mahaloth, to chant to a tune called Mahaloth.

(7) Shiggaion, a song or a hymn.

(8) Shushan-Eduth, “Lily of testimony,” a tune (Psa 60 ). Note some examples: (1) “America,” “Shiloh,” “Auld Lang Syne.” These are the names of songs such as we are familiar with; (2) “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” and “There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood,” are examples of sacred hymns.

10. The liturgical use, those noted for the feasts, e.g., the Hallels and Hallelujah Psalms (Psalms 146-150).

11. The destination, as “Song of Ascents” (Psalms 120-134)

12. The direction for the music, such as Selah, which means “Singers, pause”; Higgaion-Selah, to strike a symphony with selah, which means an instrumental interlude (Psa 9:16 ).

The longest and fullest title to any of the psalms is the title to Psa 60 . The items of information from this title are as follows: (1) the author; (2) the chief musician; (3) the historical occasion; (4) the use, or design; (5) the style of poetry; (6) the instrument or style of music.

The parts of these superscriptions which most concern us now are those indicating author, occasion, and date. As to the historic value or trustworthiness of these titles most modern scholars deny that they are a part of the Hebrew text, but the oldest Hebrew text of which we know anything had all of them. This is the text from which the Septuagint was translated. It is much more probable that the author affixed them than later writers. There is no internal evidence in any of the psalms that disproves the correctness of them, but much to confirm. The critics disagree among themselves altogether as to these titles. Hence their testimony cannot consistently be received. Nor can it ever be received until they have at least agreed upon a common ground of opposition.

David is the author of more than half the entire collection, the arrangement of which is as follows:

1. Seventy-three are ascribed to him in the superscriptions.

2. Some of these are but continuations of the preceding ones of a pair, trio, or larger group.

3. Some of the Korahite Psalms are manifestly Davidic.

4. Some not ascribed to him in the titles are attributed to him expressly by New Testament writers.

5. It is not possible to account for some parts of the Psalter without David. The history of his early life as found in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1and 2 Chronicles, not only shows his remarkable genius for patriotic and sacred songs and music, but also shows his cultivation of that gift in the schools of the prophets. Some of these psalms of the history appear in the Psalter itself. It is plain to all who read these that they are founded on experience, and the experience of no other Hebrew fits the case. These experiences are found in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles.

As to the attempt of the destructive critics to rob David of his glory in relation to the Psalter by assigning the Maccabean era as the date of composition, I have this to say:

1. This theory has no historical support whatever, and therefore is not to be accepted at all.

2. It has no support in tradition, which weakens the contention of the critics greatly.

3. It has no support from finding any one with the necessary experience for their basis.

4. They can give no reasonable account as to how the titles ever got there.

5. It is psychologically impossible for anyone to have written these 150 psalms in the Maccabean times.

6. Their position is expressly contrary to the testimony of Christ and the apostles. Some of the psalms which they ascribe to the Maccabean Age are attributed to David by Christ himself, who said that David wrote them in the Spirit.

The obvious aim of this criticism and the necessary result if it be Just, is a positive denial of the inspiration of both Testaments.

Other authors are named in the titles, as follows: (1) Asaph, to whom twelve psalms have been assigned: (2) Mosee, Psa 90 ; (3) Solomon, Psa 72 ; Psa 127 ; (4) Heman, Psa 80 ; (5) Ethem, Psa 89 ; (6) A number of the psalms are ascribed to the sons of Korah.

Not all the psalms ascribed to Asaph were composed by one person. History indicates that Asaph’s family presided over the song service for several generations. Some of them were composed by his descendants by the game name. The five general outlines of the whole collection are as follows:

I. By books

1. Psalms 1-41 (41)

2. Psalms 42-72 (31)

3. Psalms 73-89 (17)

4. Psalms 90-106 (17)

5. Psalms 107-150 (44)

II. According to date and authorship

1. The psalm of Moses (Psa 90 )

2. Psalms of David:

(1) The shepherd boy (Psa 8 ; Psa 19 ; Psa 29 ; Psa 23 ).

(2) David when persecuted by Saul (Psa 59 ; Psa 56 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 52 ; Psa 54 ; Psa 57 ; Psa 142 ).

(3) David the King (Psa 101 ; Psa 18 ; Psa 24 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 110 ; Psa 20 ; Psa 20 ; Psa 21 ; Psa 60 ; Psa 51 ; Psa 32 ; Psa 41 ; Psa 55 ; Psa 3:4 ; Psa 64 ; Psa 62 ; Psa 61 ; Psa 27 ).

3. The Asaph Psalms (Psa 50 ; Psa 73 ; Psa 83 ).

4. The Korahite Psalms (Psa 42 ; Psa 43 ; Psa 84 ).

5. The psalms of Solomon (Psa 72 ; Psa 127 ).

6. The psalms of the era of Hezekiah and Isaiah (Psa 46 ; Psa 47 ; Psa 48 )

7. The psalms of the Exile (Psa 74 ; Psa 79 ; Psa 137 ; Psa 102 )

8. The psalms of the Restoration (Psa 85 ; Psa 126 ; Psa 118 ; 146-150)

III. By groups

1. The Jehovistic and Elohistic Psalms:

(1) Psalms 1-41 are Jehovistic;

(2) Psalms 42-83 are Elohistic Psalms;

(3) Psalms 84-150 are Jehovistic.

2. The Penitential Psalms (Psa 6 ; Psa 32 ; Psa 38 ; Psa 51 ; Psa 102 ; Psa 130 ; Psa 143 )

3. The Pilgrim Psalms (Psalms 120-134)

4. The Alphabetical Psalms (Psa 9 ; Psa 10 ; Psa 25 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 37 ; 111:112; Psa 119 ; Psa 145 )

5. The Hallelujah Psalms (Psalms 11-113; 115-117; 146-150; to which may be added Psa 135 ) Psalms 113-118 are called “the Egyptian Hallel”

IV. Doctrines of the Psalms

1. The throne of grace and how to approach it by sacrifice, prayer, and praise.

2. The covenant, the basis of worship.

3. The paradoxical assertions of both innocence & guilt.

4. The pardon of sin and justification.

5. The Messiah.

6. The future life, pro and con.

7. The imprecations.

8. Other doctrines.

V. The New Testament use of the Psalms

1. Direct references and quotations in the New Testament.

2. The allusions to the psalms in the New Testament. Certain experiences of David’s life made very deep impressions on his heart, such as: (1) his peaceful early life; (2) his persecution by Saul; (3) his being crowned king of the people; (4) the bringing up of the ark; (5) his first great sin; (6) Absalom’s rebellion; (7) his second great sin; (8) the great promise made to him in 2Sa 7 ; (9) the feelings of his old age.

We may classify the Davidic Psalms according to these experiences following the order of time, thus:

1. His peaceful early life (Psa 8 ; Psa 19 ; Psa 29 ; Psa 23 )

2. His persecution by Saul (Psa 59 ; Psa 56 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 7 ; Psa 52 ; Psa 120 ; Psa 140 ; Psa 54 ; Psa 57 ; Psa 142 ; Psa 17 ; Psa 18 )

3. Making David King (Psa 27 ; Psa 133 ; Psa 101 )

4. Bringing up the ark (Psa 68 ; Psa 24 ; Psa 132 ; Psa 15 ; Psa 78 ; Psa 96 )

5. His first great sin (Psa 51 ; Psa 32 )

6. Absalom’s rebellion (Psa 41 ; Psa 6 ; Psa 55 ; Psa 109 ; Psa 38 ; Psa 39 ; Psa 3 ; Psa 4 ; Psa 63 ; Psa 42 ; Psa 43 ; Psa 5 ; Psa 62 ; Psa 61 ; Psa 27 )

7. His second great sin (Psa 69 ; Psa 71 ; Psa 102 ; Psa 103 )

8. The great promise made to him in 2Sa 7 (Psa 2 )

9. Feelings of old age (Psa 37 )

The great doctrines of the psalms may be noted as follows: (1) the being and attributes of God; (3) sin, both original and individual; (3) both covenants; (4) the doctrine of justification; (5) concerning the Messiah.

There is a striking analogy between the Pentateuch and the Psalms. The Pentateuch contains five books of law; the Psalms contain five books of heart responses to the law.

It is interesting to note the historic controversies concerning the singing of psalms. These were controversies about singing uninspired songs, in the Middle Ages. The church would not allow anything to be used but psalms.

The history in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles, and in Ezra and Nehemiah is very valuable toward a proper interpretation of the psalms. These books furnish the historical setting for a great many of the psalms which is very indispensable to their proper interpretation.

Professor James Robertson, in the Poetry and Religion of the Psalms constructs a broad and strong argument in favor of the Davidic Psalms, as follows:

1. The age of David furnished promising soil for the growth of poetry.

2. David’s qualifications for composing the psalms make it highly probable that David is the author of the psalms ascribed to him.

3. The arguments against the possibility of ascribing to David any of the hymns in the Hebrew Psalter rests upon assumptions that are thoroughly antibiblical.

The New Testament makes large use of the psalms and we learn much as to their importance in teaching. There are seventy direct quotations in the New Testament from this book, from which we learn that the Scriptures were used extensively in accord with 2Ti 3:16-17 . There are also eleven references to the psalms in the New Testament from which we learn that the New Testament writers were thoroughly imbued with the spirit and teaching of the psalms. Then there are eight allusions ‘to this book in the New Testament from which we gather that the Psalms was one of the divisions of the Old Testament and that they were used in the early church.

QUESTIONS

1. Give a list of the items of information gathered from the titles of the psalms.

2. What is the longest title to any of the psalms and what the items of this title?

3. What parts of these superscriptions most concern us now?

4. What is the historic value, or trustworthiness of these titles?

5. State the argument showing David’s relation to the psalms.

6. What have you to say of the attempt of the destructive critics to rob David of his glory in relation to the Psalter by assigning the Maccabean era as the date of composition?

7. What the obvious aim of this criticism and the necessary result, if it be just?

8. What other authors are named in the titles?

9. Were all the psalms ascribed to Asaph composed by one person?

10. Give the five general outlines of the whole collection, as follows: I. The outline by books II. The outline according to date and authorship III. The outline by groups IV. The outline of doctrines V. The outline by New Testament quotations or allusions.

11. What experiences of David’s life made very deep impressions on his heart?

12. Classify the Davidic Psalms according to these experiences following the order of time.

13. What the great doctrines of the psalms?

14. What analogy between the Pentateuch and the Psalms?

15. What historic controversies concerning the singing of psalms?

16. Of what value is the history in Samuel, 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles, and in Ezra and Nehemiah toward a proper interpretation of the psalms?

17. Give Professor James Robertson’s argument in favor of the Davidic authorship of the psalms.

18. What can you say of the New Testament use of the psalms and what do we learn as to their importance in teaching?

19. What can you say of the New Testament references to the psalms, and from the New Testament references what the impression on the New Testament writers?

20. What can you say of the allusions to the psalms in the New Testament?

XVII

THE MESSIAH IN THE PSALMS

A fine text for this chapter is as follows: “All things must be fulfilled which were written in the Psalms concerning me,” Luk 24:44 . I know of no better way to close my brief treatise on the Psalms than to discuss the subject of the Messiah as revealed in this book.

Attention has been called to the threefold division of the Old Testament cited by our Lord, namely, the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms (Luk 24:44 ), in all of which were the prophecies relating to himself that “must be fulfilled.” It has been shown just what Old Testament books belong to each of these several divisions. The division called the Psalms included many books, styled Holy Writings, and because the Psalms proper was the first book of the division it gave the name to the whole division.

The object of this discussion is to sketch the psalmist’s outline of the Messiah, or rather, to show how nearly a complete picture of our Lord is foredrawn in this one book. Let us understand however with Paul, that all prophecy is but in part (1Co 13:9 ), and that when we fill in on one canvas all the prophecies concerning the Messiah of all the Old Testament divisions, we are far from having a perfect portrait of our Lord. The present purpose is limited to three things:

1. What the book of the Psalms teaches concerning the Messiah.

2. That the New Testament shall authoritatively specify and expound this teaching.

3. That the many messianic predictions scattered over the book and the specifications thereof over the New Testament may be grouped into an orderly analysis, so that by the adjustment of the scattered parts we may have before us a picture of our Lord as foreseen by the psalmists.

In allowing the New Testament to authoritatively specify and expound the predictive features of the book, I am not unmindful of what the so-called “higher critics” urge against the New Testament quotations from the Old Testament and the use made of them. In this discussion, however, these objections are not considered, for sufficient reasons. There is not space for it. Even at the risk of being misjudged I must just now summarily pass all these objections, dismissing them with a single statement upon which the reader may place his own estimate of value. That statement is that in the days of my own infidelity, before this old method of criticism had its new name, I was quite familiar with the most and certainly the strongest of the objections now classified as higher criticism, and have since patiently re-examined them in their widely conflicting restatements under their modern name, and find my faith in the New Testament method of dealing with the Old Testament in no way shattered, but in every way confirmed. God is his own interpreter. The Old Testament as we now have it was in the hands of our Lord. I understand his apostle to declare, substantially, that “every one of these sacred scriptures is God-inspired and is profitable for teaching us what is right to believe and to do, for convincing us what is wrong in faith or practice, for rectifying the wrong when done, that we may be ready at every point, furnished completely, to do every good work, at the right time, in the right manner, and from the proper motive” (2Ti 3:16-17 ).

This New Testament declares that David was a prophet (Act 2:30 ), that he spake by the Holy Spirit (Act 1:16 ), that when the book speaks the Holy Spirit speaks (Heb 3:7 ), and that all its predictive utterances, as sacred Scripture, “must be fulfilled” (Joh 13:18 ; Act 1:16 ). It is not claimed that David wrote all the psalms, but that all are inspired, and that as he was the chief author, the book goes by his name.

It would be a fine thing to make out two lists, as follows:

1. All of the 150 psalms in order from which the New Testament quotes with messianic application.

2. The New Testament quotations, book by book, i.e., Matthew so many, and then the other books in their order.

We would find in neither of these any order as to time, that is, Psa 1 which forecasts an incident in the coming Messiah’s life does not forecast the first incident of his life. And even the New Testament citations are not in exact order as to time and incident of his life. To get the messianic picture before us, therefore, we must put the scattered parts together in their due relation and order, and so construct our own analysis. That is the prime object of this discussion. It is not claimed that the analysis now presented is perfect. It is too much the result of hasty, offhand work by an exceedingly busy man. It will serve, however, as a temporary working model, which any one may subsequently improve. We come at once to the psalmist’s outline of the Messiah.

1. The necessity for a Saviour. This foreseen necessity is a background of the psalmists’ portrait of the Messiah. The necessity consists in (1) man’s sinfulness; (2) his sin; (3) his inability of wisdom and power to recover himself; (4) the insufficiency of legal, typical sacrifices in securing atonement.

The predicate of Paul’s great argument on justification by faith is the universal depravity and guilt of man. He is everywhere corrupt in nature; everywhere an actual transgressor; everywhere under condemnation. But the scriptural proofs of this depravity and sin the apostle draws mainly from the book of the Psalms. In one paragraph of the letter to the Romans (Rom 3:4-18 ), he cites and groups six passages from six divisions of the Psalms (Psa 5:9 ; Psa 10:7 ; Psa 14:1-3 ; Psa 36:1 ; Psa 51:4-6 ; Psa 140:3 ). These passages abundantly prove man’s sinfulness, or natural depravity, and his universal practice of sin.

The predicate also of the same apostle’s great argument for revelation and salvation by a Redeemer is man’s inability of wisdom and power to re-establish communion with God. In one of his letters to the Corinthians he thus commences his argument: “For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? -For after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preach-ing to save them that believe.” He closes this discussion with the broad proposition: “The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God,” and proves it by a citation from Psa 94:11 : “The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.”

In like manner our Lord himself pours scorn on human wisdom and strength by twice citing Psa 8 : “At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight” (Mat 11:25-26 ). “And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children that were crying in the temple and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, and said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?” (Mat 21:15-16 ).

But the necessity for a Saviour as foreseen by the psalmist did not stop at man’s depravity, sin, and helplessness. The Jews were trusting in the sacrifices of their law offered on the smoking altar. The inherent weakness of these offerings, their lack of intrinsic merit, their ultimate abolition, their complete fulfilment and supercession by a glorious antitype were foreseen and foreshown in this wonderful prophetic book: I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices; And thy burnt offerings are continually before me. I will take no bullock out of thy house, Nor he-goat out of thy folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, And the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all of the birds of the mountains; And the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee; For the world is mine, and the fulness thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, Or drink the blood of goats? Psa 50:8-13 .

Yet again it speaks in that more striking passage cited in the letter to the Hebrews: “For the law having a shadow of good things to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshipers, once purged should have no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance made of sins year by year. For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, But a body didst thou prepare for me; In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hadst no pleasure: Then said I, Lo, I am come (In the roll of the book it is written of me) To do thy will, O God. Saying above, Sacrifice and offering and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou wouldst not, neither hadst pleasure therein, (the which are offered according to the law), then hath he said, Lo, I am come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second” (Heb 10:1-9 ).

This keen foresight of the temporary character and intrinsic worthlessness of animal sacrifices anticipated similar utterances by the later prophets (Isa 1:10-17 ; Jer 6:20 ; Jer 7:21-23 ; Hos 6:6 ; Amo 5:21 ; Mic 6:6-8 ). Indeed, I may as well state in passing that when the apostle declares, “It is impossible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins,” he lays down a broad principle, just as applicable to baptism and the Lord’s Supper. With reverence I state the principle: Not even God himself by mere appointment can vest in any ordinance, itself lacking intrinsic merit, the power to take away sin. There can be, therefore, in the nature of the case, no sacramental salvation. This would destroy the justice of God in order to exalt his mercy. Clearly the psalmist foresaw that “truth and mercy must meet together” before “righteousness and peace could kiss each other” (Psa 85:10 ). Thus we find as the dark background of the psalmists’ luminous portrait of the Messiah, the necessity for a Saviour.

2. The nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation to be wrought by the coming Messiah. In no other prophetic book are the nature, fullness, and blessedness of salvation so clearly seen and so vividly portrayed. Besides others not now enumerated, certainly the psalmists clearly forecast four great elements of salvation:

(1) An atoning sacrifice of intrinsic merit offered once for all (Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:4-10 ).

(2) Regeneration itself consisting of cleansing, renewal, and justification. We hear his impassioned statement of the necessity of regeneration: “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts,” followed by his earnest prayer: “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me,” and his equally fervent petition: “Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean; wash me and I shall be whiter than snow” (Psa 51 ). And we hear him again as Paul describes the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputes righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, And whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin Psa 32:1 ; Rom 4:6-8 .

(3) Introduction into the heavenly rest (Psa 95:7-11 ; Heb 3:7-19 ; Heb 4:1-11 ). Here is the antitypical Joshua leading spiritual Israel across the Jordan of death into the heavenly Canaan, the eternal rest that remaineth for the people of God. Here we find creation’s original sabbath eclipsed by redemption’s greater sabbath when the Redeemer “entered his rest, ceasing from his own works as God did from his.”

(4) The recovery of all the universal dominion lost by the first Adam and the securement of all possible dominion which the first Adam never attained (Psa 8:5-6 ; Eph 1:20-22 ; Heb 2:7-9 ; 1Co 15:24-28 ).

What vast extent then and what blessedness in the salvation foreseen by the psalmists, and to be wrought by the Messiah. Atoning sacrifice of intrinsic merit; regeneration by the Holy Spirit; heavenly rest as an eternal inheritance; and universal dominion shared with Christ!

3. The wondrous person of the Messiah in his dual nature, divine and human.

(1) His divinity,

(a) as God: “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever” (Psa 45:6 and Heb 1:8 ) ;

(b) as creator of the heavens and earth, immutable and eternal: Of old didst thou lay the foundation of the earth; And the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure; Yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; As a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed. But thou art the same, And thy years shall have no end Psa 102:25-27 quoted with slight changes in Heb 1:10-12 .

(c) As owner of the earth: The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof; The world, and they that dwell therein, Psa 24:1 quoted in 1Co 10:26 .

(d) As the Son of God: “Thou art my Son; This day have I begotten thee” Psa 2:7 ; Heb 1:5 .

(e) As David’s Lord: The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, Until I make thine enemies thy footstool, Psa 110:1 ; Mat 22:41-46 .

(f) As the object of angelic worship: “And let all the angels of God worship him” Psa 97:7 ; Heb 1:6 .

(g) As the Bread of life: And he rained down manna upon them to eat, And gave them food from heaven Psa 78:24 ; interpreted in Joh 6:31-58 . These are but samples which ascribe deity to the Messiah of the psalmists.

(2) His humanity, (a) As the Son of man, or Son of Adam: Psa 8:4-6 , cited in 1Co 15:24-28 ; Eph 1:20-22 ; Heb 2:7-9 . Compare Luke’s genealogy, Luk 3:23-38 . This is the ideal man, or Second Adam, who regains Paradise Lost, who recovers race dominion, in whose image all his spiritual lineage is begotten. 1Co 15:45-49 . (b) As the Son of David: Psa 18:50 ; Psa 89:4 ; Psa 89:29 ; Psa 89:36 ; Psa 132:11 , cited in Luk 1:32 ; Act 13:22-23 ; Rom 1:3 ; 2Ti 2:8 . Perhaps a better statement of the psalmists’ vision of the wonderful person of the Messiah would be: He saw the uncreated Son, the second person of the trinity, in counsel and compact with the Father, arranging in eternity for the salvation of men: Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:5-7 . Then he saw this Holy One stoop to be the Son of man: Psa 8:4-6 ; Heb 2:7-9 . Then he was the son of David, and then he saw him rise again to be the Son of God: Psa 2:7 ; Rom 1:3-4 .

4. His offices.

(1) As the one atoning sacrifice (Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:5-7 ).

(2) As the great Prophet, or Preacher (Psa 40:9-10 ; Psa 22:22 ; Heb 2:12 ). Even the method of his teaching by parable was foreseen (Psa 78:2 ; Mat 13:35 ). Equally also the grace, wisdom, and power of his teaching. When the psalmist declares that “Grace is poured into thy lips” (Psa 45:2 ), we need not be startled when we read that all the doctors in the Temple who heard him when only a boy “were astonished at his understanding and answers” (Luk 2:47 ); nor that his home people at Nazareth “all bear him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth” (Luk 4:22 ); nor that those of his own country were astonished, and said, “Whence hath this man this wisdom?” (Mat 13:54 ); nor that the Jews in the Temple marveled, saying, “How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?” (Joh 7:15 ) ; nor that the stern officers of the law found their justification in failure to arrest him in the declaration, “Never man spake like this man” (Joh 7:46 ).

(3) As the king (Psa 2:6 ; Psa 24:7-10 ; Psa 45:1-17 ; Psa 110:1 ; Mat 22:42-46 ; Act 2:33-36 ; 1Co 15:25 ; Eph 1:20 ; Heb 1:13 ).

(4) As the priest (Psa 110:4 ; Heb 5:5-10 ; Heb 7:1-21 ; Heb 10:12-14 ).

(5) As the final judge. The very sentence of expulsion pronounced upon the finally impenitent by the great judge (Mat 25:41 ) is borrowed from the psalmist’s prophetic words (Psa 6:8 ).

5. Incidents of life. The psalmists not only foresaw the necessity for a Saviour; the nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation; the wonderful human-divine person of the Saviour; the offices to be filled by him in the work of salvation, but also many thrilling details of his work in life, death, resurrection, and exaltation. It is not assumed to cite all these details, but some of the most important are enumerated in order, thus:

(1) The visit, adoration, and gifts of the Magi recorded in Mat 2 are but partial fulfilment of Psa 72:9-10 .

(2) The scripture employed by Satan in the temptation of our Lord (Luk 4:10-11 ) was cited from Psa 91:11-12 and its pertinency not denied.

(3) In accounting for his intense earnestness and the apparently extreme measures adopted by our Lord in his first purification of the Temple (Joh 2:17 ), he cites the messianic zeal predicted in Psa 69:9 .

(4) Alienation from his own family was one of the saddest trials of our Lord’s earthly life. They are slow to understand his mission and to enter into sympathy with him. His self-abnegation and exhaustive toil were regarded by them as evidences of mental aberration, and it seems at one time they were ready to resort to forcible restraint of his freedom) virtually what in our time would be called arrest under a writ of lunacy. While at the last his half-brothers became distinguished preachers of his gospel, for a long while they do not believe on him. And the evidence forces us to the conclusion that his own mother shared with her other sons, in kind though not in degree, the misunderstanding of the supremacy of his mission over family relations. The New Testament record speaks for itself:

Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them. How is it that ye sought me? Knew ye not that I must be in my Father’s house? And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them Luk 2:48-51 (R.V.).

And when the wine failed, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. And Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. Joh 2:3-5 (R.V.).

And there come his mother and his brethren; and standing without; they sent unto him, calling him. And a multitude was sitting about him; and they say unto him. Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee. And he answereth them, and saith, Who is my mother and my brethren? And looking round on them that sat round about him, he saith, Behold, my mother and my brethren) For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother Mar 3:31-35 (R.V.).

Now the feast of the Jews, the feast of tabernacles, was at hand. His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judea, that thy disciples also may behold thy works which thou doest. For no man doeth anything in secret, and himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou doest these things, manifest thyself to the world. For even his brethren did not believe on him. Jesus therefore saith unto them, My time is not yet come; but your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that its works are evil. Go ye up unto the feast: I go not up yet unto this feast; because my time is not fulfilled. Joh 7:2-9 (R.V.).

These citations from the Revised Version tell their own story. But all that sad story is foreshown in the prophetic psalms. For example: I am become a stranger unto my brethren, And an alien unto my mother’s children. Psa 69:8 .

(5) The triumphal entry into Jerusalem was welcomed by a joyous people shouting a benediction from Psa 118:26 : “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord” (Mat 21:9 ); and the Lord’s lamentation over Jerusalem predicts continued desolation and banishment from his sight until the Jews are ready to repeat that benediction (Mat 23:39 ).

(6) The children’s hosanna in the Temple after its second purgation is declared by our Lord to be a fulfilment of that perfect praise forecast in Psa 8:2 .

(7) The final rejection of our Lord by his own people was also clear in the psalmist’s vision (Psa 118:22 ; Mat 21:42-44 ).

(8) Gethsemane’s baptism of suffering, with its strong crying and tears and prayers was as clear to the psalmist’s prophetic vision as to the evangelist and apostle after it became history (Psa 69:1-4 ; Psa 69:13-20 ; and Mat 26:36-44 ; Heb 5:7 ).

(9) In life-size also before the psalmist was the betrayer of Christ and his doom (Psa 41:9 ; Psa 69:25 ; Psa 109:6-8 ; Joh 13:18 ; Act 1:20 ).

(10) The rage of the people, Jew and Gentile, and the conspiracy of Pilate and Herod are clearly outlined (Psa 2:1-3 ; Act 4:25-27 ).

(11) All the farce of his trial the false accusation, his own marvelous silence; and the inhuman maltreatment to which he was subjected, is foreshown in the prophecy as dramatically as in the history (Mat 26:57-68 ; Mat 27:26-31 ; Psa 27:12 ; Psa 35:15-16 ; Psa 38:3 ; Psa 69:19 ).

The circumstances of his death, many and clear, are distinctly foreseen. He died in the prime of life (Psa 89:45 ; Psa 102:23-24 ). He died by crucifixion (Psa 22:14-17 ; Luk 23 ; 33; Joh 19:23-37 ; Joh 20:27 ). But yet not a bone of his body was broken (Psa 34:20 ; Joh 19:36 ).

The persecution, hatred without a cause, the mockery and insults, are all vividly and dramatically foretold (Psa 22:6-13 ; Psa 35:7 ; Psa 35:12 ; Psa 35:15 ; Psa 35:21 ; Psa 109:25 ).

The parting of his garments and the gambling for his vesture (Psa 22:18 ; Mat 27:35 ).

His intense thirst and the gall and vinegar offered for his drink (Psa 69:21 ; Mat 27:34 ).

In the psalms, too, we hear his prayers for his enemies so remarkably fulfilled in fact (Psa 109:4 ; Luk 23:34 ).

His spiritual death was also before the eye of the psalmist, and the very words which expressed it the psalmist heard. Separation from the Father is spiritual death. The sinner’s substitute must die the sinner’s death, death physical, i.e., separation of soul from body; death spiritual, i.e., separation of the soul from God. The latter is the real death and must precede the former. This death the substitute died when he cried out: “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me.” (Psa 22:1 ; Mat 27:46 ).

Emerging from the darkness of that death, which was the hour of the prince of darkness, the psalmist heard him commend his spirit to the Father (Psa_31:35; Luk 23:46 ) showing that while he died the spiritual death, his soul was not permanently abandoned unto hell (Psa 16:8-10 ; Act 2:25 ) so that while he “tasted death” for every man it was not permanent death (Heb 2:9 ).

With equal clearness the psalmist foresaw his resurrection, his triumph over death and hell, his glorious ascension into heaven, and his exaltation at the right hand of God as King of kings and Lord of lords, as a high Driest forever, as invested with universal sovereignty (Psa 16:8-11 ; Psa 24:7-10 ; Psa 68:18 ; Psa 2:6 ; Psa 111:1-4 ; Psa 8:4-6 ; Act 2:25-36 ; Eph 1:19-23 ; Eph 4:8-10 ).

We see, therefore, brethren, when the scattered parts are put together and adjusted, how nearly complete a portrait of our Lord is put upon the prophetic canvas by this inspired limner, the sweet singer of Israel.

QUESTIONS

1. What is a good text for this chapter?

2. What is the threefold division of the Old Testament as cited by our Lord?

3. What is the last division called and why?

4. What is the object of the discussion in this chapter?

5. To what three things is the purpose limited?

6. What especially qualifies the author to meet the objections of the higher critics to allowing the New Testament usage of the Old Testament to determine its meaning and application?

7. What is the author’s conviction relative to the Scriptures?

8. What is the New Testament testimony on the question of inspiration?

9. What is the author’s suggested plan of approach to the study of the Messiah in the Psalms?

10. What the background of the Psalmist’s portrait of the Messiah and of what does it consist?

11. Give the substance of Paul’s discussion of man’s sinfulness.

12. What is the teaching of Jesus on this point?

13. What is the teaching relative to sacrifices?

14. What the nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation to be wrought by the coming Messiah and what the four great elements of it as forecast by the psalmist?

15. What is the teaching of the psalms relative to the wondrous person of the Messiah? Discuss.

16. What are the offices of the Messiah according to psalms? Discuss each.

17. Cite the more important events of the Messiah’s life according to the vision of the psalmist.

18. What the circumstances of the Messiah’s death and resurrection as foreseen by the psalmist?

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

Psa 1:1 Blessed [is] the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

The Book of Psalms ] So Christ calleth it, Luk 20:42 . The Hebrew word signifieth hymns, or praises, because the greater part of these psalms serve to set forth the praise of God. This title seemeth to be taken from Psa 145:1 , called David’s Hymn, or Psalm of praise; so highly prized by the ancient Hebrews that they pronounce him an heir of heaven who shall three times a day devoutly repeat it. The Greeks call this Book the Psalter (Athanas., Chrysost.); and deservedly give it many high commendations; as that it is the soul’s anatomy, the Jaw’s epitome, the gospel’s index, the garden of the Scriptures, a sweet field and rosary of promises, precepts, predictions, praises, soliloquies, &c.; the very heart and soul of God, the tongue and pen of David, a man after God’s own heart; one murmur of whose Michtam, or Maschil, one touch of whose heavenly harp, is far above all the buskin raptures, garish phantasms, splendid vanities, pageants, and landscapes of profaner wits; far better worthy to be written in letters of gold than Pindar’s seventh ode in the temple at Rhodes (though Politian judged otherwise, liken wretch as he was), and far more fit to have been laid up, as a rare and precious jewel, in that Persian casket, embroidered with gold and pearl, than Homer’s Iliad, for which it was reserved by Great Alexander. But that cock on the dunghill never knew the worth of this peerless pearl; as did our good King Alfred, who himself translated the Psalter into his own Saxon tongue; and as the Emperor Andronicus, who caused this Book to be bound up in a little volume by itself, to serve as his manual, and attend him in his running library (Turk. Hist.); for therein he found amulets of comfort, more pleasant than the pools of Heshbon, more glorious than the tower of Lebanon, more redolent than the oil of Aaron, more fructifying than the dew of Hermon, as one expresseth it. All the latitude of the Holy Scriptures may be reduced to the Psalms, saith Austin, after Athanasius. Luther calleth them Parva Biblia, et summarium utriusque Testamenti, a little Bible, a summary of both Testaments. The Turks disclaim both the Old and New Testament, and yet they swear as solemnly by the Psalms of David as by the Koran of Mahomet. Anciently they were sung in the temples, and in the primitive Christian Church happy was that tongue held that could sound out aliquid Davidicum, any part of a psalm of David. Nicephorus telleth us that as they travelled and journeyed they used to solace themselves with psalms, and that thereby there was at a certain time a Jew converted. St Paul calleth them spiritual songs, Col 3:16 , both because they were indited by the Holy Spirit, and for that they do singularly suit with men’s spirits; for they are so penned that every man may think they speak De se, in re sua, of himself, and to his particular purpose, as Athanasius observeth. And, lastly, because they do after a special manner spiritualize and sanctify those that sing them in the right tune; which is, Sing with grace in your hearts unto the Lord, as the apostle there setteth it; and elsewhere hinteth unto us that there is no small edification by the choice of a fit psalm, 1Co 14:26 .

Ver. 1. Blessed ] Heb. Oh the blessedness, the heaped up happiness, both of this life and a better, fitter to be believed than possibly could be discoursed. The Hebrew comes from a root that signifieth to go right forward, sc. in the way that is called holy, having Oculum ad metam, an eye upon the mark, viz. true and real happiness, such as all men pretend to, but he only attaineth to who is here described. Sulla was by his flatterers surnamed Felix, because high and mighty; and Metellus likewise, Quod bona multa bono modo invenerat, because rich by right means (Policrat. lib. 8, cap. 4). But he that first called riches Bona was a better husband than divine; and they that seek for a felicity in anything here below seek for the living among the dead. The philosophers’ discourses of this subject are but learned dotages; David saith more to the point in this short psalm than any or all of them put together; they did but beat around the bush, God hath here put the bird into our hands.

Is the man ] Heb. that man, with an article, with an accent, and by an excellency, as Jer 5:1 , that eminent and eximious man, who is rationally spiritual and spiritually rational; that man in Christ, 2Co 12:2 , who hath learned Christ, and doth live Christ, walking as he walked, 1Jn 2:6 , and “not in the counsel of the ungodly,” &c. “But his delight is in the law of the Lord,” &c. Magnus atque admirabilis vir, si modo viri nomine designare illum fas est, as Chrysostom saith of Babylas, the martyr, that is, a great and an admirable man, if a man we may call him, and not an earthly angel rather. He must indeed be content to pass to heaven as a concealed man, because the world knoweth him not, 1Jn 3:1 , but those that have senses exercised to discern good and evil may easily know him as he stands here described, 1. To depart from evil, Psa 1:1 Psa 1:2 . To do good, Psa 1:2 .

Walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly ] Or restless. The counsel of such should be far from us, Job 21:16 ; Job 22:18 . The Jews cast their whole nation or people into three ranks, Reshagnim (the word here used), that is, the profane rabble; Tsadichim, righteous men; and Chasidim, good, or gracious men. See Rom 5:7 . To these two latter are opposite here sinners and scorners; these last being the worst of wicked persons, and, therefore, set last in this gradation, as some will have it. The Septuagint here render them pests or botches, and elsewhere incorrigible, wicked (with a witness), proud, prevaricating, &c., ‘ A , Pro 20:1 ; , Pro 9:12 ; , Pro 3:34 ; , Psa 119:51 . Beware of this sin, saith Father Latimer; for I never knew but one scorner that repented; he who is sitting down in this chair of pestilence (as having tired himself in ways of wickedness, and will not be better advised, Pro 9:7-8 , but, with Lot’s sons-in-law, jeereth what he should fear) will not easily be raised out of it.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

The book begins with the beautiful picture of man blessed in dependence and obedience. His character is as marked as his happiness. He has not walked in the counsel of wicked men, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the seat of scorners (ver. 1). With evil in any form he has had no fellowship. But, positively (ver. 2), the law of Jehovah is his delight, and in it does he meditate day and night. In no way is this inconsistent with Gal 3:10 . For he was not “of the works of the law” for the principle of his standing before God: all such are and were “cursed.” These never repented and never believed. They which be of faith are blessed with the faithful Abraham, as they are truly his sons. No more in the O.T. than in the N.T. is a man justified with God in virtue of law; as the prophets prove only less clearly than the apostles. None but those who looked, by faith for the Messiah walked blamelessly in God’s ordinances. Still more evidently is it so with the Christian. “The law” here, as usually in the Psalms and elsewhere, means God’s word then revealed. This is ever the delight of the believer, as well as his directory: only the heterodox slight it.

Hence in ver. 3 we see the issue in the righteous government of God; and to this the book points as the rule. There is life, fruitfulness seasonably, abiding beauty, and unfailing prosperity. This will be manifest in the kingdom only; now it cannot be more than morally true.

The contrast appears in the second stanza of these verses. They are worthless and vanish under pressure. The N.T. adds the divine judgment as burning by unquenchable fire. When judgment comes (and the Book of Psalms as a whole contemplates it), the present mixed state will give place to a manifest severance, and an execution of God’s sentence on earth before the final one for eternity. This is no secret to faith which enters into His mind and will before that day. “For Jehovah knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked shall perish” (ver. 6).

Plainly then the Psalm describes in spirit rather than as a fact the just Israelite, is compared with the wicked mass. It is therefore the Spirit of Christ in the righteous remnant, not Christ personally, though He was the sole absolutely Righteous One. Thus is refuted at the starting-point – the fond and inveterate delusion of the people that every Jew had a good and true title in God’s sight. On the contrary not all are Israel which are of Israel. For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart, in spirit, not in letter, whose praise is not of men but of God.

Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)

Psalms

BLESSEDNESS AND PRAISE

Psa 1:1 – Psa 1:2 . – Psa 150:6 .

The Psalter is the echo in devout hearts of the other portions of divine revelation. There are in it, indeed, further disclosures of God’s mind and purposes, but its especial characteristic is-the reflection of the light of God from brightened faces and believing hearts. As we hold it to be inspired, we cannot simply say that it is man’s response to God’s voice. But if the rest of Scripture may be called the speech of the Spirit of God to men, this book is the answer of the Spirit of God in men.

These two verses which I venture to lay side by side present in a very remarkable way this characteristic. It is not by accident that they stand where they do, the first and last verses of the whole collection, enclosing all, as it were, within a golden ring, and bending round to meet each other. They are the summing up of the whole purpose and issue of God’s revelation to men.

The first and second psalms echo the two main portions of the old revelation-the Law and the Prophets. The first of them is taken up with the celebration of the blessedness and fruitful, stable being of the man who loves the Law of the Lord, as contrasted with the rootless and barren life of the ungodly, who is like the chaff. The second is occupied with the contemplation of the divine ‘decree’ by which the coming King is set in God’s ‘holy hill of Zion,’ and of the blessedness of ‘all they who put their trust in Him,’ as contrasted with the swift destruction that shall fall on the vain imaginations of the rebellious heathen and banded kings of earth.

The words of our first text, then, may well stand at the beginning of the Psalter. They express the great purpose for which God has given His Law. They are the witness of human experience to the substantial, though partial, accomplishment of that purpose. They rise in buoyant triumph over that which is painful and apparently opposed to it; and in spite of sorrow and sin, proclaim the blessedness of the life which is rooted in the Law of the Lord.

The last words of the book are as significant as its first. The closing psalms are one long call to praise-they probably date from the time of the restoration under Ezra and Nehemiah, when, as we know, ‘the service of song’ was carefully re-established, and the harps which had hung silent upon the willows by the rivers of Babylon woke again their ancient melodies. These psalms climb higher and higher in their rapturous call to all creatures, animate and inanimate, on earth and in heaven, to praise Him. The golden waves of music and song pour out ever faster and fuller. At last we hear this invocation to every instrument of music to praise Him, responded to, as we may suppose, by each, in turn as summoned, adding its tributary notes to the broadening river of harmony-until all, with gathered might of glad sound blended with the crash of many voices, unite in the final words, ‘Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.’

I. We have here a twofold declaration of God’s great purpose in all His self-revelation, and especially in the Gospel of His Son.

Our first text may be translated as a joyful exclamation, ‘Oh! the blessedness of the man-whose delight is in the law of the Lord.’ Our second is an invocation or a command. The one then expresses the purpose which God secures by His gift of the Law; the other the purpose which He summons us to fulfil by the tribute of our hearts and songs-man’s happiness and God’s glory.

His purpose is Man’s blessedness.

That is but another way of saying, God is love. For love, as we know it, is eminently the desire for the happiness of the person on whom it is fixed. And unless the love of God be like ours, however it may transcend it, there is no revelation of Him to our hearts at all. If He be love, then He ‘delights in the prosperity’ of His children.

And that purpose runs through all His acts. For perfect love is all-pervasive, and even with us men, it rules the whole being; nor does he love at all who seeks the welfare of the heart he clings to by fits and starts, by some of his acts and not by others. When God comes forth from the unvisioned light, which is thick darkness, of His own eternal, self-adequate Being, and flashes into energy in Creation, Providence, or Grace, the Law of His Working and His Purpose are one, in all regions. The unity of the divine acts depends on this-that all flow from one deep source, and all move to one mighty end. Standing on the height to which His own declarations of His own nature lift our feebleness, we can see how the ‘river of God that waters the garden’ and ‘parts’ into many ‘heads,’ gushes from one fountain. One of the psalms puts what people call the ‘philosophy’ of creation and of providence very clearly, in accordance with this thought-that the love of God is the source, and the blessedness of man the end, of all His work: ‘To Him that made great lights; for His mercy endureth for ever. To Him that slew mighty kings; for His mercy endureth for ever.’

Creation, then, is the effluence of the loving heart of God. Though the sacred characters be but partially legible to us now, what He wrote, on stars and flowers, on the infinitely great and the infinitely small, on the infinitely near and the infinitely far off, with His creating hand, was the one inscription-God is love. And as in nature, so in providence. The origination, and the support, and the direction of all things, are the works and the heralds of the same love. It is printed in starry letters on the sky. It is graven on the rocks, and breathed by the flowers. It is spoken as a dark saying even by sorrow and pain. The mysteries of destructive and crushing providences have come from the same source. And he who can see with the Psalmist the ever-during mercy of the Lord, as the reason of creation and of judgments, has in his hands the golden key which opens all the locks in the palace chambers of the great King. He only hath penetrated to the secret of things material, and stands in the light at the centre, who understands that all comes from the one source-God’s endless desire for the blessedness of His creatures.

But while all God’s works do thus praise Him by testifying that He seeks to bless His creatures, the loftiest example of that desire is, of course, found in His revelation of Himself to men’s hearts and consciences, to men’s spirits and wills. That mightiest act of love, beginning in the long-past generations, has culminated in Him in whom ‘dwelleth the whole fulness of the Godhead bodily,’ and in whose work is all the love-the perfect, inconceivable, patient, omnipotent love of our redeeming God.

And then, remember that this is not inconsistent with or contradicted by the sterner aspects of that revelation, which cannot be denied, and ought not to be minimised or softened. Here , on the right hand, are the flowery slopes of the Mount of Blessing; there , on the left, the barren, stern, thunder-riven, lightning-splintered pinnacles of the Mount of Cursing. Every clear note of benediction hath its low minor of imprecation from the other side. Between the two, overhung by the hopes of the one, and frowned upon and dominated by the threatenings of the other, is pitched the little camp of our human life, and the path of our pilgrimage runs in the trough of the valley between. And yet-might we not go a step farther, and say that above the parted summits stretches the one overarching blue, uniting them both, and their roots deep down below the surface interlace and twine together? That is to say, the threatenings and rebukes, the acts of retributive judgment, which are contained in the revelation of God, are no limitation nor disturbance of the clear and happy faith that all which we behold is full of blessing, and that all comes from the Father’s hand. They are the garb in which His Love needs to array itself when it comes in contact with man’s sin and man’s evil. The love of God appears no less when it teaches us in grave sad tones that ‘the wages of sin is death,’ than when it proclaims that ‘the gift of God is eternal life.’

Love threatens that it may never have to execute its threats. Love warns that we may be wise in time. Love prophesies that its sad forebodings may not be fulfilled. And love smites with lighter strokes of premonitory chastisements, that we may never need to feel the whips of scorpions.

Remember, too, that these sterner aspects both of Law and of Gospel point this lesson-that we shall very much misunderstand God’s purpose if we suppose it to be blessedness for us men anyhow , irrespective altogether of character. Some people seem to think that God loves us so much, as they would say-so little, so ignobly, as I would say-as that He only desires us to be happy. They seem to think that the divine love is tarnished unless it provides for men’s felicity, whether they are God-loving and God-like or no. Thus the solemn and majestic love of the Father in heaven is to be brought down to a weak good nature, which only desires that the child shall cease crying and be happy, and does not mind by what means that end is reached. God’s purpose is blessedness; but, as this very text tells us, not blessedness anyhow, but one which will not and cannot be given by God to those who walk in the way of sinners. His love desires that we should be holy, and ‘followers of God as dear children’-and the blessedness which it bestows comes from pardon and growing fellowship with Him. It can no more fall on rebellious hearts than the pure crystals of the snow can lie and sparkle on the hot, black cone of a volcano.

The other text that I have read sets forth another view of God’s purpose. God seeks our praise. The glory of God is the end of all the divine actions. Now, that is a statement which no doubt is irrefragable, and a plain deduction from the very conception of an infinite Being. But it may be held in such connections, and spoken with such erroneous application, and so divorced from other truths, that instead of being what it is in the Bible, good news, it shall become a curse and a lie. It may be so understood as to describe not our Father in heaven, but an almighty devil! But, when the thought that God’s purpose in all His acts is His own glory, is firmly united with that other, that His purpose in all His acts is our blessing, then we begin to understand how full of joy it may be for us. His glory is sought by Him in the manifestation of His loving heart, mirrored in our illuminated and gladdened hearts. Such a glory is not unworthy of infinite love. It has nothing in common with the ambitious and hungry greed of men for reputation or self-display. That desire is altogether ignoble and selfish when it is found in human hearts; and it would be none the less ignoble and selfish if it were magnified into infinitude, and transferred to the divine. But to say that God’s glory is His great end, is surely but another way of saying that He is love. The love that seeks to bless us desires, as all love does, that it should be known for what it is, that it should be recognised in our glad hearts, and smiled back again from our brightened faces. God desires that we should know Him, and so have Eternal Life; He desires that knowing Him, we should love Him, and loving should praise, and so should glorify Him. He desires that there should be an interchange of love bestowing and love receiving, of gifts showered down and of praise ascending, of fire falling from the heavens and sweet incense, from grateful hearts, going up in fragrant clouds acceptable unto God. It is a sign of a Fatherly heart that He ‘ seeketh such to worship Him’. He desires to be glorified by our praise, because He loves us so much. He commences with an offer, He advances to a command. He gives first, and then not till then He comes seeking fruit from the ‘trees’ which are ‘the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified.’ His plea is not ‘the vineyard belongs to Me, and I have a right to its fruits,’ but ‘what could have been done more to My vineyard, that I have not done in it?-judge between Me and My vineyard.’ First, He showers down blessings; then, He looks for the revenue of praise!

II. We may also take these passages as giving us a twofold expression of the actual effects of God’s revelation, especially in the Gospel, even here upon earth.

The one text is the joyful exclamation built upon experience and observation. The other is a call which is answered in some measure even by voices that are often dumb in unthankfulness, often broken by sobs, often murmuring in penitence.

God does actually, though not completely, make men blessed here. Our text sums up the experience of all the devout hearts and lives whose emotions are expressed in the Psalms. He who wrote this psalm would preface the whole book by words into which the spirit of the book is distilled. It will have much to say of sorrow and pain. It will touch many a low note of wailing and of grief. There will be complaints and penitence, and sighs almost of despair before it closes. But this which he puts first is the note of the whole. So it is in our histories. They will run through many a dark and desert place. We shall have bitterness and trials in abundance, there will be many an hour of sadness caused by my own evil, and many a hard struggle with it. But high above all these mists and clouds will rise the hope that seeks the skies, and deep beneath all the surface agitations of storms and currents there will be the unmoved stillness of the central ocean of peace in our hearts. In the ‘valley of weeping’ we may still be ‘blessed’ if ‘the ways’ are in our hearts, and if we make of the very tears ‘a well,’ drawing refreshment from the very trials. With all its sorrows and pains, its fightings and fears, its tribulations in the world, and its chastenings from a Father’s hand, the life of a Christian is a happy life, and ‘the joy of the Lord’ remains with His servants.

More than twenty centuries have passed since that psalm was written. As many stretched dim behind the Psalmist as he sang. He was gathering up in one sentence the spirit of the past, and confirming it by his own life’s history. And has any one that has lived since then stood up and said-’Behold! I have found it otherwise. I have waited on God, and He has not heard my cry. I have served Him, and that for nought. I have trusted in Him, and been disappointed. I have sought His face-in vain. And I say, from my own experience, that the man who trusts in Him is not blessed’? Not one, thank God! The history of the past, so far as this matter is concerned, may be put in one sentence ‘They looked unto Him and were lightened, and their faces were not ashamed,’ and as for the present, are there not some of us who can say, ‘This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles’?

Brethren! make the experiment for yourselves. Test this experience by your own simple affiance and living trust in Jesus Christ. We have the experience of all generations to encourage us. What has blessed them is enough for you and me. Like the meal and the oil, which were the Prophet’s resource in famine, yesterday’s supply does not diminish to-morrow’s store. We, too, may have all that gladdened the hearts and stayed the spirits of the saints of old. ‘Oh! taste and see that God is good.’ ‘Blessed is the man that trusteth in Him.’

So, too, God’s gift produces man’s praise.

What is it that He desires from us? Nothing but our thankful recognition and reception of His benefits. We honour God by taking the full cup of salvation which He commends to our lips, and by calling, while we drink, upon the name of the Lord. Our true response to His Word, which is essentially a proffer of blessing to us, is to open our hearts to receive, and, receiving, to render grateful acknowledgment. The echo of love which gives and forgives, is love which accepts and thanks. We have but to lift up our empty and impure hands, opened wide to receive the gift which He lays in them-and though they be empty and impure, yet ‘the lifting up of our hands’ is ‘as the evening sacrifice’; our sense of need stands in the place of all offerings. The stained thankfulness of our poor hearts is accepted by Him who inhabits the praises of eternity, and yet delights in the praises of Israel. He bends from heaven to give, and all He asks is that we should take. He only seeks our thankfulness-but He does seek it. And wherever His grace is discerned, and His love is welcomed, there praise breaks forth, as surely as streams pour from the cave of the glacier when the sun of summer melts it, or earth answers the touch of spring with flowers.

And that effect is produced, notwithstanding all the complaints and sighs and tears which sometimes choke our praise. It is produced even while these last; the psalms of thanksgiving are not all reserved for the end of the book. But even in those which read like the very sobs of a broken heart, there is ever present some tone of grateful acknowledgment of God’s mercy. He sends us sorrow, and He wills that we should weep-but they should be tears like David’s, who, at the lowest point of his fortunes, when he plaintively besought God, ‘Put Thou my tears into Thy bottle’-could say in the same breath, ‘Thy vows are upon me, O God: I will render praises unto Thee.’ God works on our souls that we may have the consciousness of sin, and He wills that we should come with broken and contrite hearts, and like the king of Israel wail out our confessions and supplications-’Have mercy upon me, O God! according to Thy loving-kindness.’ But, like him, we should even in our lowliest abasement, when our hearts are bruised, be able to say along with our contrition, ‘Open Thou my lips, and my mouth shall show forth Thy praise.’ Our sorrows are never so great that they hide our mercies. The sky is never so covered with clouds that neither sun nor stars appear for many days. And in every Christian heart the low tones of lamentation and confession are blended with grateful praise. So it is even in the darkest moments, whilst the blast of misfortune and misery is as a storm against the wall.

But a brighter hope even for our life here rises from these words, if we think of the place which they hold in the whole book. They are the last words. Whatever other notes have been sounded in its course, all ends in this. The winter’s day has had its melancholy grey sky, with many a bitter dash of snow and rain-but it has stormed itself out, and at eventide, a rent in the clouds reveals the sun, and it closes in peaceful clearness of light.

The note of gladness heard at the beginning, ‘Oh! the blessedness of the man that delights in the law of the Lord,’ holds on persistently, like a subdued and almost bewildered undercurrent of sweet sound amid all the movements of some colossal symphony, through tears and sobs, confession and complaint, and it springs up at the close triumphant, like the ruddy spires of a flame long smothered, and swells and broadens, and draws all the intricate harmonies into its own rushing tide. Some of you remember the great musical work which has these very words for its theme. It begins with the call, ‘All that hath life and breath, praise ye the Lord,’ and although the gladness saddens into the plaintive cry of a soul sick with hope deferred, ‘Will the night soon pass?’ yet, ere the close, all discords are reconciled, and at last, with assurance firmer for the experience of passing sorrows, loud as the voice of many waters and sweet as harpers harping with their harps, the joyful invocation peals forth again, and all ends, as it does in a Christian man’s life, and as it does in this book, with ‘Praise ye the Lord.’

III. We have here also a twofold prophecy of the perfection of Heaven.

Whilst it is true that both of these purposes are accomplished here and now, it is also true that their accomplishment is but partial, and that therefore for their fulfilment we have to lift our eyes beyond this world of imperfect faith, of incomplete blessedness, of interrupted praise. Whether the Psalmist looked forward thus we do not know. But for us, the very shortcomings of our joys and of our songs are prophetic of the perfect and perpetual rapture of the one, and the perfect and perpetual music of the other. We know that He who has given us so much will not stay His hand until He has perfected that which concerns us. We know that He who has taught our dumb hearts to magnify His name will not cease till ‘out of the lips of babes and sucklings, He has perfected praise.’ We know that the pilgrims in whose hearts are the ways are blessed, and we are sure that a fuller blessedness must belong to those who have reached the journey’s end.

And so these words give us a twofold aspect of that future on which our longing hopes may well fix.

It is the perfection of man’s blessedness. Then the joyous exclamation of our first text, which we have often had to strive hard not to disbelieve, will be no more a truth of faith but a truth of experience. Here we have had to trust that it was so, even when we could scarce cleave to the confidence. There, memory will look back on our wanderings through this great wilderness, and, enlightened by the issue of them all, will speak only of Mercy and Goodness as our angel guides all our lives. The end will crown the work. Pure unmingled consciousness of bliss will fill all hearts, and break into the old exclamation, which we had sometimes to stifle sobs ere we could speak on earth. When He says, ‘Come in! ye blessed of My Father,’ all our tears and fears, and pains and sins, will be forgotten, and we shall but have to say, in wonder and joy, ‘Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house; they will be still praising Thee.’

It is the perfection of God’s praise. We may possibly venture to see in these wonderful words of our text a dim and far-off hint of a possibility that seems to be pointed at in many parts of Scripture-that the blessings of Christ’s mighty work shall, in some measure and manner, pass through man to his dwelling-place and its creatures. Dark shadows of evil-the mystery of pain and sorrow-lie over earth and all its tribes. ‘We look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.’ And the statements of Scripture which represent creation as suffering by man’s sin, and participant in its degree in man’s redemption, seem too emphatic and precise, as well as too frequent, and in too didactic connections, to be lightly brushed aside as poetic imagery. May it not be that man’s transgression

‘Broke the fair music that all creatures made

To their great Lord, whose love their motion swayed,’

and that man’s restoration may, indeed, bring back all that hath life and breath to a harmonious blessedness-according to the deep and enigmatical words, which declare that ‘the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God’? Be that as it may, at all events our second text opens to us the gates of the heavenly temple, and shows us there the saintly ranks and angel companies gathered in the city whose walls are salvation and its gates praise. They harmonise with that other later vision of heaven which the Seer in Patmos beheld, not only in setting before us worship as the glad work of all who are there, but in teaching the connection between the praises of men, and the answering hymns of angels. The harps of heaven are hushed to hear their praise who can sing, ‘Thou hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood,’ and, in answer to that hymn of thanksgiving for unexampled deliverance and resorting grace, the angels around the throne break forth into new songs to the Lamb that was slain-while still wider spread the broadening circles of harmonious praise, till at last ‘every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them,’ join in the mighty hymn of ‘Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever.’ Then the rapturous exclamation from human souls redeemed,-’Oh! the blessedness of the men whom Thou hast loved and saved,’ shall be answered by choral praise from everything that hath breath.

And are you dumb, my friend, in these universal bursts of praise? Is that because you have not chosen to take the universal blessing which God gives? You have nothing to do but to receive the things that are freely given to you of God-the forgiveness, the cleansing, the life, that come from Christ by faith. Take them, and call upon the name of the Lord, And can you refuse His gifts and withhold your praise? You can be eloquent in thanks to those who do you kindnesses, and in praise of those whom you admire and love, but your best Friend receives none of your gratitude and none of your praise. Ignoble silence and dull unthankfulness-with these you requite your Saviour! ‘I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out!’

Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 1:1-3

1How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,

Nor stand in the path of sinners,

Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!

2But his delight is in the law of the Lord,

And in His law he meditates day and night.

3He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,

Which yields its fruit in its season

And its leaf does not wither;

And in whatever he does, he prospers.

Psa 1:1-3 There seems to be a progression of time elements in these opening verses. Hebrew verbs do not express time, only context. It is possible that

1. the perfect verbs of Psa 1:1 denote past time (i.e., how that person lived)

2. the imperfect verb of Psa 1:2 denotes current time (i.e., way the person lives every day)

3. Psa 1:3 starts out with a perfect verb with a waw (see Special Topic: Hebrew Grammar ) which could denote a future condition like blessedness (i.e., expected fruitfulness)

Psa 1:1 The word blessed is plural but the object is singular, the man. This could be explained by

1. the plural is a Hebrew way to denote all the blessings of God

2. the man is a singular plural denoting all men who know and obey God (i.e., Jas 1:2-23). This is how the term a tree is used in Psa 1:3 a.

This word (blessed, BDB 80) means happy, honored, or well off (cf. Mat 5:3-12).

No human can be happy apart from God. We were created by Him and for Him (cf. Gen 1:26-27; Gen 3:8). Until our relationship with our Creator is vibrant, all other areas of physical life cannot bring true, lasting happiness! This relationship has observable characteristics!

SPECIAL TOPIC: BLESSING (OT)

Notice the three Qal perfect verbs which denote characteristic actions and attitude (i.e., settled character).

1. does not walk in the counsel of the wicked

2. does not stand in the way of sinners

3. does not sit in the seat of scoffers

The blessed faithful follower is described by negations in Psa 1:1 and by their actions in Psa 1:2.

walk in the counsel of the wicked This speaks of one’s lifestyle associates. This emphasis on lifestyle is reinforced by the use of the verbs walk. . .stand. . .sit. We are affected by the group to which we belong, our peers (cf. 1Co 15:33).

The term wicked (BDB 957) refers not only to active law breakers (i.e., commission and omission) but also to those who leave God out of their lives (i.e., practical atheist).

Lord This is the covenant name for Israel’s Deity, YHWH.

SPECIAL TOPIC: NAMES FOR DEITY

path of sinners In the root meaning of the word path is way (cf. Psa 1:6 [twice]) and is another term used for lifestyle. NT faithful followers were first described as people of the Way (cf. Act 9:2; Act 19:9; Act 19:23; Act 22:4; Act 24:14; Act 24:22). This implies that biblical faith is more than assent to a doctrine or the participation in a ritual, but also lifestyle obedience and personal relationship (i.e., walk, cf. Eph 4:1; Eph 4:17; Eph 5:2; Eph 5:15).

the seat of scoffers We all have presuppositions about life. Scoffers (BDB 539, KB 529, Qal participle) represents the stereotype of an irreligious pessimist (i.e., Isa 5:19; Jer 17:15; Eze 12:22; Eze 12:27; Mal 2:17; 1Ti 4:1; 2Ti 3:1-5; 2Pe 3:3-4; Jude 1:18).

Psa 1:2 his delight is in the law of the Lord The term law (BDB 435) means teaching. In the Psalms the law always refers to the general teachings of God (cf. Psalms 119), not just the writings of Moses. The law was not a burden to the OT believer (cf. Psa 19:7-13), but the very revelation of YHWH for longevity, peace, security, joy, and abundance.

SPECIAL TOPIC: Terms for God’s Revelation (Using Deuteronomy and Psalms)

he meditates day and night This verb (BDB 211, KB 237, Qal imperfect) denotes a soft reading of YHWH-revealed truths. The ancients did not read silently, so it must refer to quiet reading.

Notice how this verb is used.

1. meditating on YHWH’s teachings Psa 1:2; Jos 1:8

2. meditating on YHWH Himself Psa 63:6

3. meditating on YHWH’s deeds Psa 77:12; Psa 143:5

4. meditating on terror Isa 33:18

What do you meditate on?

Our thought life is the seed bed for our actions (cf. Pro 23:7). This verse emphasizes the principle of continually (i.e., day and night) keeping God and His will in our consciousness. This was the original purpose symbolized in Deu 6:8-9. I have included the comment from these verses here.

Deuteronomy 6 Deu 6:8 you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead Originally this phrase seems to be used as a metaphor (cf. LXX). The context is lifestyle-teaching opportunities for God’s word. However, the rabbis took this verse very literally and they began to wrap a leather strap around their left hand with a small box (tefillin) attached which contained selected Scriptures from the Torah. The same kind of box was also strapped to their forehead. These phylacteries or frontals (BDB 377) are also mentioned in Deu 11:18 and Mat 23:5. Deu 6:9 And you shall write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates This again is a symbolic gesture that God is to have a part, not only in our home life, but in our social life (i.e., gate, cf. Deu 21:19; Deu 22:15; Deu 22:24). As the threshold (BDB 265) of the home was often seen as the place of the demonic in the Greek and Roman worlds, in the Jewish world it represented the presence of God (i.e., the place where the blood of the Passover was placed, cf. Exo 12:7; Exo 12:22-23). Your gates (BDB 1044) may refer to the place of social meeting and justice (i.e., like the city gates). Usually, these small boxes and door markers (mezuza) contained several set passages of Scripture: Deu 6:4-9; Deu 11:13-21 and Exo 13:1-16.

Psa. 1:3 like a tree There is a striking metaphor of this in Jer 17:5-8. For a desert community, the fruitful tree was a symbol of strength and prosperity.

The verb (BDB 1060, KB 1670, firmly planted, Qal passive participle) means transplanted (cf. Psa 92:14; Jer 17:8; Eze 17:10; Eze 17:22; Eze 19:10; Eze 19:13; Hos 9:13). This implies that this person, like all people, was not originally a fruitful believer. Maturity takes time, effort, and especially the grace of God. Paul uses a litany of OT texts to illustrate the initial evil of humans after the Fall (cf. Rom 3:10-18).

1. Rom 3:10-12 Psa 14:1-3; Psa 53:1-4

2. Rom 3:13 Psa 5:9; Psa 140:3

3. Rom 3:14 Psa 10:7

4. Rom 3:15-17 Isa 59:7-8

5. Rom 3:18 Psa 36:1

All of us are transplanted from rebellion into blessedness!

streams of water This is plural and speaks of an elaborate irrigation system.

yields its fruit in its season This is a biblical metaphor to describe a mature spiritual life (cf. Mat 7:15-27). The goal of faith is faithfulness! This same imagery has an eschatological setting in Revelation 22.

its leaf does not wither This is an eschatological theme (cf. Eze 47:12; Rev 22:2). Agricultural metaphors were very powerful for farmers and herders in semi-arid areas.

Psa 1:3-4 whatever he does, he prospers. . .the wicked are not so This is the OT view that temporal blessings and cursings were based on one’s spiritual life (cf. Deuteronomy 28, 30).

However, this must be balanced with the life of Job, Psalms 37, 73, and also NT revelation. The OT is a performance-based covenant but the NT is a grace-based covenant (cf. Jer 31:31-34; Eze 36:22-38; Eph 2:8-10). Both were meant to produce godly followers who demonstrate the character of YHWH.

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

TITLE, Psalms. See App-63and the Structures on pp. 720, 721. Compare Luk 20:42, Luk 24:44, Act 1:20.

BLESSED = How Happy. The first Psalm begins thus and Psalm 2ends thus. So does the last Psalm of Book I: Psa 41:1; Psa 41:13). Figure of speech Antiptosis (App-6). Compare Jer 17:7, Jer 17:8. See App-63. for the Beatitudes in the Psalms.

man. Hebrew ‘ish. Put by Figure of speech Synecdoche (of Species), App-6, for all of both sexes.

walketh, &c: i.e. who never did walk . . . stand . . . sit. Figure of speech Anabasis, three triplets: walketh counsel ungodly = continue in. standeth way sinners = carry out. sitteth seat scornful = settle down.

ungodly = lawless. Hebrew. rasha’. App-44.

sinners. Hebrew. chata’.

scornful = scoffers. Hebrew. luz.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Shall we turn to the Psalms, beginning tonight with the first psalm.

The Psalms are actually divided into five books. It was really the hymnbook for the nation of Israel. They were sung in their original forms. In the Psalms there is really much prophecy, because we are told by Peter that David was a prophet and that he spake by the Holy Spirit. And much of what he spake was prophecy in regards to the coming Messiah, and did have its fulfillment in Jesus Christ. There are many psalms that are known as Messianic psalms. That is, psalms that refer directly to Jesus Christ. We’ll get one of those tonight as we get into the second psalm. Each of the five books of the psalms end with a doxology. The first of the books is from Psa 1:1-6; Psa 2:1-12; Psa 3:1-8; Psa 4:1-8; Psa 5:1-12; Psa 6:1-10; Psa 7:1-17; Psa 8:1-9; Psa 9:1-20; Psa 10:1-18; Psa 11:1-7; Psa 12:1-8; Psa 13:1-6; Psa 14:1-7; Psa 15:1-5; Psa 16:1-11; Psa 17:1-15; Psa 18:1-50; Psa 19:1-14; Psa 20:1-9; Psa 21:1-13; Psa 22:1-31; Psa 23:1-6; Psa 24:1-10; Psa 25:1-22; Psa 26:1-12; Psa 27:1-14; Psa 28:1-9; Psa 29:1-11; Psa 30:1-12; Psa 31:1-24; Psa 32:1-11; Psa 33:1-22; Psa 34:1-22; Psa 35:1-28; Psa 36:1-12; Psa 37:1-40; Psa 38:1-22; Psa 39:1-13; Psa 40:1-17; Psa 41:1-13, the second is 42-72, the third is 73-89, the fourth is 90-106, and the fifth book of the psalms is from 107-150. The majority of them were written by David. Asaph was an author of some of them. Moses wrote some of them, but they were the songs of the children of Israel.

They speak of human nature. Man’s cry after God; man seeking to relate to God. And they cover all of the gamut of man’s feelings. They are poetry, but as we have pointed out, poetry to the Hebrew was not rhyming words or sentences, nor was it a rhythm, but it was a rhyming of ideas or a contrasting of ideas. Many of the psalms are known as acrostic psalms. We’ll point them out to you as we get to them. That is, that each verse begins with a succeeding letter of the Hebrew alphabet. We have several acrostic psalms. With the Psa 119:1-176 probably is the best example of an acrostic psalm, however, you find that about eight verses begin, each verse within the eight begins with the letter of the Hebrew alphabet successively, so that the first seven or eight verses begin with aleph, the next begin with beyth, and then daleth, and giymel and so forth. So you go through the Hebrew alphabet with 119 Psalm and it, of course, is the longest chapter in the Bible.

Psa 1:1-6

The first psalm deals with the godly man and the ungodly man. There is a contrast. And the contrast is probably best expressed by the first and the last words of the psalm. Concerning the godly: blessed. Concerning the ungodly: perished.

Blessed is the man ( Psa 1:1 ),

The word blessed in the Hebrew has as a meaning, “oh how happy” is the man. First of all, we see this happy man in a negative context. That is,

he is walking not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standing in the way of sinners, nor sitting in the seat of the scornful ( Psa 1:1 ).

And there does seem to be a progression here. First a person begins quite often just walking in the counsel of the ungodly. The next thing he finds he is standing around in the congregation of the sinners. And finally, he is settled down and is seated in the seat of the scornful. That is the negative side. The blessed man doesn’t do this, but contrariwise,

His delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate both day and night ( Psa 1:2 ).

So from a negative standpoint, the happy man is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, but from a positive standpoint, he is being directed by the counsel of God. He is meditating in the law of the Lord day and night. Now the effect or the results of this:

He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth its fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

So we see, first of all, “Like a tree planted by the rivers of water,” in contrast to a tree that is growing out in a barren wilderness. “Bringing forth fruit in his season.” An interesting thing about unseasonable fruit, it never matures; it never becomes ripe. You may plant watermelon seeds in August when you eat your watermelons, and the vine might grow and watermelons might come on it, but it is unseasonable. It will never get ripe. It will always be green.

There are some people who never mature, that is, really bring forth mature fruit. Jesus tells us that the seed planted on various types of soil result in various developments of fruition. Some planted by the wayside, immediately is plucked up. On the stony ground, may grow for a moment, but will never bear fruit, never develop because it lacks the depth. That which is thrown among the thorns will grow, but the thorns will choke out the fruitfulness of it ultimately. The cares of this life, deceitfulness of riches the desire for other things. It is only that which falls on the good ground that brings forth good fruit. In varying degrees, thirty, sixty, one hundred fold. Now Jesus said, “Herein is my Father glorified that you bring froth much fruit.” Then later on in that fifteenth chapter of John, He said, “You have not chosen Me, I have chosen you and ordained you that you should bring forth fruit. That your fruit should remain.” And so as children of God we should be interested in being fruitful, bringing forth fruit. And then we should also be interested in bringing forth fruit that remains, or lasting fruit in our lives.

So often the test of a ministry is the lasting fruit that is brought forth from that ministry. “So like a tree bringing forth fruit in his season, his leaf also shall not wither.” That is, there is a freshness to his life, a continual freshness. “And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”

Now, what is this man doing? He is meditating in the law of the Lord day and night. God has given to us the rules of happiness. God has given to us the rules of prosperity. They are there in His law. “Whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” Moses, when he turned the reigns over to Joshua, said unto Joshua, “This book of the law shall not depart from out of thy mouth but thou shalt meditate therein day and night that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein. For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and then thou shalt have good success” ( Jos 1:8 ). Meditate, stay in the Word, the law of the Lord, and then thou shalt be prosperous, you’ll have good success. So much the same is declared here in Psa 1:1-6 .

Now the contrast. And here is where the Hebrew poetry comes in, in contrasting ideas.

The ungodly are not so: but they are like the chaff which the wind driveth away ( Psa 1:4 ).

Now, this is contrasted to the tree planted by the rivers of water bringing forth fruit in his season, but the ungodly is like chaff, which the wind driveth away.

Now when they threshed their grain… of course, when you gather in your barley or your wheat, it has the hull on it. And so they would pick it up in their hands, and they would get in a place where there is a good stiff breeze. They would rub it in their hands, and they would throw it up in the air. And the wind would take the hulls, the chaff, and blow it away, and just the grain would fall back down. And that was their form of removing the hulls from the grain after they had harvested. Just rubbing it in their hands and then throwing it up into the air and the wind. So it was a very familiar sight to the people, the fellow standing on a windy ridge rubbing his hands, throwing the grain in the air, and watching the chaff just blow away and just the grain falling back down again. So the ungodly are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish ( Psa 1:5-6 ). “

Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary

Psa 1:1

BOOK I: Psalms 1-41

Psalms 1

THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED CONTRASTED

Psa 1:1

“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the wicked,

Nor standeth in the way of sinners,

Nor sitteth in the seat of scoffers.”

The word “blessed” may be read as “happy”; and the three words referring to the unrighteous are synonyms, all of them carrying the same basic meaning, namely, the people who do not love and serve God.

From Genesis to Revelation the Holy Bible recognizes only two classes of people – the same two classes that are identified in this verse, that is, the servants of God and the enemies of God.

In the New Testament especially this dual classification of all mankind appears many times, as in, the sheep and the goats, the wise and the foolish virgins, the builders upon the rock and the builders upon the sand, the faithful servant and the wicked servant, those upon the right hand and those upon the left hand, the wheat and the tares, the wheat and the chaff, doers of good and doers of evil, the fruitful tree and the unfruitful tree, etc.

Only in Jesus’ parable of the sower does there appear several classes of the unfruitful soil, but even there the two simple divisions of the unfruitful and the fruitful hearers of God’s Word are clearly visible.

Notice also that the happy man is described negatively as one who does not do certain things. Nothing could be farther from God’s truth than the notion that only the positive declarations are sufficient. Even in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount there are no less than ten negative commandments in Matthew 6 alone. Without any doubt whatever, serving God is eternally identified with not doing many things.

Another interesting revelation of this verse is the characteristic of wickedness that it is able to exercise an increasingly strong power over any person indulging the least toleration of it. Walking in the counsel of the wicked is soon followed by standing in the way of sinners, and that leads to sitting in the seat of scoffers.

Alexander Pope in his Essay on Man, line 217, described this characteristic of evil thus:

“Vice is a monster of so frightful mien,

As to be hated needs but to be seen;

Yet seen to oft, familiar with her face,

We first endure, then pity, then embrace.”

E.M. Zerr:

Psa 1:1 –In this verse we see the entire scope of human conduct classified under three heads; walking, standing and sitting. It would be impossible literally or physically to do all of them at the same time, hence we should look for the figurative sense of the words. Blessed is from ESHER and is rendered “happy” by Strong, Young and Moffatt. Walketh is from HALAK and has a variety of applications both figurative and literal. Perhaps its most outstanding thought is to “frequent a place.” Counsel has been translated from ETSAH and Strong defines it, “advice.” The whole statement means one who follows the advice of the ungodly. The last word is from RASHA, which Strong defines, “morally wrong; concretely an (actively) bad person.” Standeth is from AMAD and defined by Strong as follows: “A primitive root; to stand, in various relations (literally and figuratively, transitively and intransitively).” Way is from DEREK and defined, “A road (as trodden); figuratively a course of life or mode of action, often adver-bially.”–Strong. In the A. V. it has been rendered by conversation 2 times, custom 1, journey 23, manner 8 and way 1692. The thought is of a man who does not “stand for” the manner of sinners. Sitteth is from a word that has been rendered by dwell 434 times. Seat is from MOSHAB and Strong gives “session” as a part of his definition; Moffatt renders it “company.” Scornful is from LUWTS and Strong defines it, “to make mouths at, i.e. to scoff.” A man who cannot deny the truthfulness of God’s Word will try to weaken its force by making light of it.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

The master thought of this psalm is the law of Jehovah. The obedient and disobedient are placed in sharp contrast. This contrast is vividly seen by bringing together the first and last words of the psalm-“blessed,” “perish.” The former word describes the issue of obedience; the latter, the result of disobedience. The conditions of blessedness are stated negatively and positively. Negatively, there must be complete separation from fellowship with those who are disobedient. The graduation in description must not be omitted; “walketh,” “standeth,” “sitteth”; “counsel,” “way,” “seat”; “wicked,” “sinners,” ”scornful.” The positive condition is twofold delight and meditation in the Law. Moreover, this must be continuous, “day and night.”

The experience of the blessed is described under the figure of a tree bearing fruit, with evergreen leaf. Moreover such a man prospers in all he does. Then comes the contrast. Let the statement, “The wicked are not so,” be considered in the light of all that has been said, that is, in the former part of the psalm cancel the negations where they stand and insert them where they are not. The condition of the wicked is then summarized and the contrast is perfected. Instead of the tree planted, they are chaff driven away. They will be unable to stand the test of judgment, and therefore are excluded from the assembly of the righteous.

The psalm ends with a summary. “The way of the righteous” is known to Jehovah. “The way of the wicked” perishes, that is, runs out, and is lost in the desert.

Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible

the Two Ways and the Two Ends

Psa 1:1-6

Like a signpost, this psalm points the road to blessedness. The opening word may be read, Oh, the blessedness! The psalm begins with the same message as the Sermon on the Mount, Mat 5:1-48. Beneath the lintel of benediction we pass into the temple of praise.

Blessedness is obtainable in two ways: negatively, we may avoid the society of the irreligious; positively, we must enter the company of prophets and kings, of psalmists and historians, and especially of God Himself, speaking in Scripture. Do not simply read the Bible; meditate upon it. Better one verse really masticated than a whole chapter bolted.

The rewards are, to be planted by rivers, to bear fruit, and to prosper. See Gen 39:3-4; Gen 49:22. How blessed it is, also, to realize that God knows and loves! See Psa 56:8. The sinner begins with ungodliness, goes on to scorning, and ends as chaff, Mat 13:30.

Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

As we are about to enter upon the study of this book, I want to say first a few things of an introductory character. I suppose there is no portion of Holy Scripture that has meant more to the people of God, particularly to tried and afflicted believers down through both the Jewish and Christian centuries, than the book of Psalms. Of course the worship expressed in this book does not rise to the full character of Christian worship as in this present dispensation of the grace of God.

As we read the Psalms we need to remember that when they were written our Lord Jesus had not yet become incarnate; consequently, redemption had not been effected, and so the veil was still unrent. God, as it were, was shut away from man, and man was shut out from God; and so the worshiper of Old Testament times gives expression to certain things that would not be suitable from the lips of an instructed worshiper in this present age of grace.

David prays, Take not Thy Holy Spirit from me. No well instructed Christian would pray that today, for we know now that we have received the Holy Spirit to abide with us forever. We have been sealed by the Holy Spirit until the redemption of the purchased possession. And then there are a great many of the prayers in the book of Psalms that imply a hidden God. But today God has come out into the light, since our Lord Jesus, by His sacrificial death upon the Cross, has rent the veil and opened up the way into the immediate presence of God for poor sinners and enabled God to come out to man in all the perfection of His glorious Person.

There are some churches, and I do not speak now in any critical sense, that use the book of Psalms as the expression of their prayers and praise. Because this book is inspired they think of it as far superior, as a vehicle of prayer and praise, to any compilation of hymns or sacred songs written by uninspired men. But I am sure they are mistaken as to that, for since the coming of the Holy Spirit He has opened up truth to His people in this dispensation of grace that was utterly unknown to those in the days when the Psalms were written. But granting all that, we find a great deal that is precious and a great deal that is wonderfully helpful to feed the soul and uplift the spirit as we study these Old Testament Psalms.

It is a new thought to some people that we have not only one book of Psalms, but in reality there are five books. Our Bible begins with the Pentateuch, from Genesis to Deuteronomy; and the entire Bible, it has been pointed out by others, seems to be built upon that Pentateuchal foundation.

The book of Genesis is the book of life and the book of election; the book of Exodus is the book of redemption; Leviticus is the book of sanctification; Numbers is the book of testing and experience; Deuteronomy is the book of divine-government. It is a very interesting fact that the book of Psalms consists of five books also and that these five link perfectly with the five books of Moses. The first book of the Psalms is from Psalm 1 through 41, and you will notice how Psalm 41, verse 13, concludes the first book: Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting, and to everlasting. Amen, and Amen. The second book begins with Psalm 42 and goes on through Psalm 72. Notice how this book ends, Psa 72:18-20: Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things. And blessed be His glorious name for ever: and let the whole earth be filled with His glory; Amen, and Amen. The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended. Then the third book comprises Psalms 73 to 89 and ends, Psa 89:52, with the words: Blessed be the Lord for evermore. Amen, and Amen. The fourth book includes Psalms 90 to 106. Look at the closing verse of this book, Psa 106:48: Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting: and let all the people say, Amen. Praise ye the Lord. And the fifth book is from Psalm 107 to 150, and you know how that winds up, verse 6: Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.

The doxologies that close each of the books (and you do not find them anywhere else in the Psalms) enable us to distinguish them clearly. We have a progressive line of truth in accord with the subjects treated in the five books of the Pentateuch, and the remarkable thing is that in the first book of Psalms the great outstanding themes are, Divine Life and Electing Grace-Gods wonderful provision of grace, just the same as in the book of Genesis. In the second book of Psalms the great outstanding theme is Redemption, as in Exodus. And in the third book of Psalms we are occupied with Sanctification, communion with God, the way into the sanctuary, as in the book of Leviticus. The fourth book is the darkest one, for it is the book of testing, the book of trial, as in Numbers. Many of these Psalms have to do with bitter, hard experiences that the people of God often have to go through in this world. And then the last book of Psalms is the book that brings God in as overruling in all the trials, the difficulties, and perplexities-the divine government, as in the book of Deuteronomy-God bringing everything out at last to His honor and glory and to His peoples eternal blessing.

I do not know how anybody could get any conception of the remarkable design of the Word of God, of which I have just given you a little intimation, and question for one moment its divine inspiration. Only God could have given this wonderful order. While the books of the Pentateuch were all written by one man, Moses, the books of the Psalms were written by many men. We call this book ordinarily, the Psalms of David, but David did not write them all. A great many of them were written by other people. They were the Psalms of David in the sense that we call the old gospel hymn book, The Moody and Sankey Hymn Book. Moody did not write any of the hymns and Sankey only a sprinkling of them, but these men compiled the book. If you go over to Great Britain today you can go to the original publishers of it and say, I would like to have a copy of the Moody and Sankey Hymn Book, and they will hand you a book with twelve hundred hymns in it. In the old days this book had only about six hundred hymns. It was compiled by them originally, but a great many others have been added from time to time, and to-day there is this vast collection. We can think of the book of the Psalms of David in the same way. It was he in the first place who compiled this book, and it was a kind of hymn book in the temple worship. Doubtless many of these were used before the temple was built, when David brought the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem and built a special sanctuary for it. But after David passed away, Solomon added more Psalms to the book, perhaps largely through the direction of Ethan and Asaph and several others who were singers in the temple choir after that glorious sanctuary had been built by King Solomon.

In all probability two Psalms in this wonderful little book claim Moses as the author. If you turn to the ninetieth Psalm you will see at the heading, A Prayer of Moses the man of God; while the ninety-first Psalm has no heading at all. The reason is this: according to the Jewish authorities, originally Psalms 90 and 91 were one, but later on for convenience sake, just as we sometimes cut our long hymns into two, this long Psalm was cut into two; and in Psalm 90 we have the first man, and in 91 the Second Man. But in all probability it was all written by Moses.

Several of the Psalms seem to have been written by King Solomon. We are told that Solomon wrote a great many songs. We have in our Bible the Canticles, The song of songs, which is Solomons (Son 1:1). But we also have one or two Psalms that bear his name. And then there are other Psalms by different writers which we will notice as we go on.

It would seem as though some of the Psalms could not have been written until after the people returned from Babylon. You will remember the Psalm that says, By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the Lords song in a strange land? (Psa 137:1-4). It is not likely that David wrote this, but it was evidently written after the people had been carried to Babylon, and when they returned to their land it was added to the book. We shall find as we go on that there are some very interesting lessons to be gleaned from the settings of these various Psalms.

Psalm 1

The first Psalm is the inspired introduction to the entire book. We may say that we have here, in contrast, two men, the blessed man and the wicked man. The blessed man is the Second Man, the Lord from heaven; the wicked man is the first man.

Notice the opening verses. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in His law doth he meditate day and night. 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; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

Who is this blessed man to whom our attention is directed as we open this lovely Old Testament book of praise and prayer? Observe in the first place that the tenses as we have them here do not exactly convey the thought of the original Hebrew. It may be rendered, Blessed is the man that hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the seat of the scornful. He is not here expressing the blessedness of a man who was once a sinner and has been turned to righteousness and now no longer walks in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But he is telling us of the blessedness of the Man who has never done any of these things, the Man who never took his own way, the Man who never walked with the world as part of it, who never did a thing in opposition to the will of God. Who is that man?

I was very much impressed, a number of years ago, listening to Joseph Flacks tell of his visit to Palestine. When he was in the city of Jerusalem he was given the opportunity of addressing quite a gathering of Jews and Arabs. They were presumably unconverted. He took for his text this first Psalm. Of course he could repeat it to them in their own language, in the Hebrew. He dwelt upon the tenses as I have given them to you, Blessed is the man who hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the seat of the scornful, and he said to them, Now my brethren, who is this blessed Man of whom the Psalmist speaks? Notice this happy Man is a man who never walked in the counsel of the ungodly; He never stood in the way of sinners; He never sat in the seat of the scornful. He was an absolutely sinless Man. Who is this blessed Man? Nobody spoke, and Joseph Flacks said, Shall we say He is our great Father Abraham? Is it Father Abraham that the Psalmist is speaking of here?

One old Jew said, No, no; it cannot be Abraham, for he denied his wife; he told a lie about her.

Ah, said Joseph Flacks, it does not fit, does it? Abraham, although he was the father of the faithful, yet was a sinner who had to be justified by faith. But, my brethren, this refers to somebody; who is this Man? Could it be our great law giver, Moses?

No, no, they said, it cannot be Moses. He killed a man and hid him in the sand. And another said, And he lost his temper by the water of Meribah.

Well, Joseph Flacks said, my brethren, who is it? There is some Man here that the Spirit of God is bringing before us. Could it be our great King David, the sweet Psalmist of Israel who perhaps wrote this Psalm?

No, no, they cried, it cannot be David. He committed adultery and had Uriah slain.

Well, he said, who is it; to whom do these words refer?

They were quiet for some little time, and then one Jew arose and said, My brethren, I have a little book here; it is called the New Testament. I have been reading it. If I believe this book, if I could be sure that it is true, I would say the Man of the first Psalm was Jesus of Nazareth.

An old Jew got right up and said, My brethren, the Man of the first Psalm is Jesus of Nazareth. He is the only One who ever went through this world who never walked in the counsel of the ungodly nor stood in the way of sinners. And then this old man told how he had been brought to believe in Christ, and he took that occasion to openly confess his faith. He had been searching for a long time and had found out some time before that Jesus was the One, but he had not had the courage to tell others.

Ah yes, there is only one Man who ever walked through this scene to whom these words apply. The One of whom David speaks here is the One who hung on Calvarys cross, and who in the words of the twenty-second Psalm cried, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? (Psa 22:1).

How delightful it is to contemplate Him, to think of Him coming down into the world His hands had made, becoming man and going through this scene in all perfection, ministering to the needs of sinners but never joining with them in their rebellion against the Father.

But His delight is in the law of the Lord; and in His law doth He meditate day and night. You remember that verse in the book of the Prophet Isaiah where he is speaking of what is said of God the Father: He wakeneth morning by morning, He wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned (Isa 50:4). God was daily communing with His blessed Son, and the Son was daily communing with the Father; and as He meditated on the Word of God, He was drawing from the Word, as man, the strength and the knowledge that was to enable Him to fulfill His divine mission. When you think of Gods Holy Son feeding on the Word, delighting in the Word, and then think how little you and I, who need it so much, delight in it, it is enough to humble us before Him. These words of the first Psalm were true of our blessed Lord, and in measure will be of us as we meditate on His Word day and night.

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; and whatsoever He doeth shall prosper. Young people starting out in life are eager to make a success of life. They would like to prosper; they would like to do well. Here is the secret of successful living, the secret of prosperity; it is found in the first chapter of the book of Joshua, verse 8: This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. That is what made the way of the Lord Jesus prosperous, and that will make your way prosperous-feeding upon the Word.

Now look at the contrast between Christ and every other man by nature. Verses 4, 5, and 6: The ungodly are not so-they may seem to prosper; they may seem to do better in this world than the righteous; they may get more, may lay up more money perhaps because they can use methods to make money that the righteous man cannot. Men will praise thee, we are told, when thou doest well to thyself (Psa 49:18). But it is one thing to have the praise of men and another to have the praise of God. But are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. What does it mean to stand in the judgment? It means to be justified before God. We read in Romans of this grace wherein we stand (Rom 5:2). The believer in the Lord Jesus Christ stands before God in all the infinite value of the finished work of our blessed Saviour, and no charge can be brought against him. Yes, men may seem now to prosper; they may seem now to get on well, but in that coming day when all things shall be opened up before the eyes of a Holy God they will shrink away from His presence in terror as they cry, The great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand? (Rev 6:17). It is a great thing to be able to stand. It is a great thing to be able to say, Thank God, my standing is in the risen Christ! I claim nothing on the ground of my own merit but stand before God in His perfection. And now the last verse, For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish. And as you go on through the book of Psalms, as also in Proverbs, you will find these two ways contrasted throughout. In Psalm after Psalm the way of the righteous, the way that pleases God, the way that glorifies Him is contrasted with the way of the ungodly, the way of those who forget God, who turn away from Him, refuse subjection to His holy will.

Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets

Psa 1:1

I. The blessed man is described in this verse by negatives. We are told what he does not do. It so happens that we cannot understand some of the very highest things in life except they are put to us in precisely this way. There are more ways of saying “Thou shalt not” than there are of saying “Thou shalt.”

II. But a man who is thus instructed in negatives occupies a very peculiarly perilous position. Man has energies; he must be doing something, must be affirmative, practical, energetic. Therefore we await some further instruction as to the way in which to direct our life. We have it in ver. 2: “His delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law doth he meditate day and night.” God does not destroy our powers; He does not quench our aspirations and turn us into nonentities. He lays His hand upon the strength we are misusing and says, “You must use this strength in another direction and for another purpose.” What is the happy man doing? He delights in the law of the Lord.

III. What will be the consequence of this delight? “He shall be like a tree,” etc. Beauty is always associated with righteousness in the highest quarters. Then there comes the great promise, “Whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” The great principle of the text is right as honour, truth as crown, goodness occupying the throne.

IV. “The ungodly are not so,” etc. The sinner has a brief day. There is no life in the ungodly that abides; there is surface, there is no vitality; there is an outward attitude and display of comfort and enjoyment, but there is at the heart that which will give way under pressure.

Parker, City Temple, vol. iii., p. 289.

References: Psa 1:1.-E. C. Wickham, Wellington College Sermons, p. 203; A. Mursell, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxvi., p. 269; C. C. Bartholomew, Sermons chiefly Practical, p. 245.

Psa 1:1-2

Psa 150:6

I. We have here a twofold declaration of God’s great purpose in all His self-revelation, and especially in the Gospel of His Son. Our first text may be translated as a joyful exclamation; our second is an invocation or a command. The one then expresses the purpose which God secures by His gift of the law, the other the purpose which He summons us to fulfil by the tribute of our hearts and songs-man’s happiness and God’s glory. (1) His purpose is man’s blessedness. That is but another way of saying that God is love. His purpose is not blessedness anyhow, but one which will not and cannot be given by God to those who walk in the way of sinners. His love desires that we should be holy and followers of God as dear children, and the blessedness which it bestows comes from pardon and growing fellowship with Him. It can no more fall on rebellious hearts than the pure crystals of the snow can lie and sparkle on the hot black cone of a volcano. (2) God seeks our praise. “The glory of God” is the end of all the Divine actions. His glory is sought by Him in the manifestation of His loving heart, mirrored in our illuminated and gladdened heart. First He showers down blessings, then looks for the revenue of praise.

II. We may also take this passage as giving us a twofold expression of the actual effects of God’s revelation, especially in the Gospel, even here upon earth. (1) God does actually, though not completely, make men blessed here. With all its sorrows and pains, the life of a Christian is a happy life, and the joy of the Lord remains with His servants. (2) So, too, God’s gift produces man’s praise. He requires from us nothing but our thankful recognition and reception of His benefit. The echo of love which gives and forgives is love which accepts and thanks.

III. We have also a twofold prophecy of the perfection of heaven. (1) It is the perfection of man’s blessedness. The end will crown the work. (2) It is the perfection of God’s praise. Our second text opens to us the gates of the heavenly temple, and shows us there the saintly ranks and angel companies gathered in the city whose walls are salvation, and its gates praise.

A. Maclaren, Sermons Preached in Manchester, 3rd series, p. 225.

Psa 1:1-2

I. This law, which we have to learn, and by keeping of which we shall be blessed, is nothing else than God’s will. If you wish to learn the law of the Lord, keep your soul pious, pure, reverent, and earnest; for it is only the pure in heart who shall see God, and only those who do God’s will as far as they know it who will know concerning any doctrine whether it be true or false, in one word whether it be of God.

II. This law is the law of the Lord. You cannot have a law without a Lawgiver who makes the law, and also without a Judge who enforces the law; and the Lawgiver and the Judge of the law is the Lord Himself, our Lord Jesus Christ.

III. Christ the Lord rules, and knows that He rules; whether we know it or not, Christ’s law still hangs over our head, ready to lead us to light, and life, and peace, and wealth; or ready to fall on us and grind us to powder, whether we choose to look up and see it or not. The Lord liveth, though we may be too dead to feel Him. The Lord sees us, though we may be too blind to see Him.

C. Kingsley, Westminster Sermons, p. no.

References: Psa 1:2.-Preacher’s Monthly, vol. iii., p. 359; Ibid., vol. i., p. 350; E. C. Wickham, Wellington College Sermons, p. 209; M. G. Pearse, Some Aspects of the Blessed Life, pp. 1, 17.

Psa 1:1-3

In the figure of ver. 3 there are revealed three aspects of godly character.

I. Its variety. The comparison is with a fruit-tree, not of any particular kind, but one of that large class of trees. The variety which God stamps upon nature He means to have reproduced in character.

II. Its Divine culture. The godly man is not like a tree that grows wild. He is like a tree planted, and that in a place which will best promote its growth. Godly character is developed under God’s special supervision and with God’s own appliances.

III. Its fruitfulness. God’s tree by God’s river must be a fruitful tree. Notice: (1) The words are “his fruit,” not any other tree’s fruit. (2) “In his season.” The seasons are different for different fruits. The latest fruit is usually the best. But, early or late, the fruit of godly character is seasonable.

M. R. Vincent, Gates into the Psalm Country, p. 3.

Psa 1:3

The spiritual plant of God is placed by the running waters; it is nourished and recruited by the never-failing, the perpetual, the daily and hourly, supply of their wholesome influences. It grows up gradually, silently, without observation; and in proportion as it rises aloft, so do its roots, with still less observation, strike deep into the earth. Year after year it grows more and more into the hope and the posture of a glorious immobility and unchangeableness. What it has been, that it shall be; if it changes, it is as growing into fruitfulness, and maturing in its fruit’s abundance and perfection. Nor is that fruit lost; it neither withers upon the branches nor decays upon the ground. Angels unseen gather crop after crop from the unwearied, never-failing parent, and carefully store them up in heavenly treasure-houses. The servant of God resembles a tree (1) in his graciousness; (2) in his fruitfulness; (3) in his immobility.

J. H. Newman, Sermons on Various Occasions, p. 243.

References: Psa 1:3.-H. P. Liddon, Old Testament Outlines, p. 100; Homiletic Magazine, vol. vii., p. 73; G. Matheson, Moments on the Mount, pp. 79, 122; G. Orme, Christian World Pulpit, vol. x., p. 334; E. Johnson, Ibid., vol. xx., p. 347. Psa 1:3, Psa 1:4.-H. Macmillan, Two Worlds are Ours, p. 203; A. Blomfield, Sermons in Town and Country, p. 313. Psa 1:4.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. v., No. 280.

Psa 1:4-5

I. Let us, first, find out who are the characters intended in our text. An ungodly man is simply a man who tries to get through the world without God. All he has to do to earn the title is to leave God out of his love. (1) A man may be most moral and yet most ungodly. For one that is dragged down to perdition by the millstone of vice, there are hundreds who are taken in the meshes of the net of a Christless virtue. (2) A man may be most religiously active and yet be ungodly.

II. Notice the description given of them. They are the very opposite of all that a godly man is. You have simply to take the picture of the saved man and then after every particular write, “The ungodly are not so.” (1) Look at the first word of the Psalm. The Christian is “blessed,” but the ungodly are not so. (2) The godly are like trees planted. A Christian is an evergreen; his joys in Christ last, though all his other pleasures be taken from him. But the ungodly are not so.

III. Notice the end of the ungodly. “They are like the chaff,” etc. (1) There will be separation from the righteous. (2) Notice how sweeping and irresistible is the ruin. What can a feather-weight of chaff do against the wind? That great wind will catch all excuses from your lips, and before you have time to give God one of your paltry lies you, with them, will be swept with the speed of a hurricane into perdition. There will be only one thing that will stand that mighty tempest, and that will be the soul that rests upon the Rock, Christ Jesus.

A. G. Brown, Penny Pulpit, No. 767.

Psa 1:4-6

“The ungodly are not so.” That “not” contains the germs of all moral disaster. We have set forth under this figure three aspects of the ungodly character.

I. Its instability. Take a life away from God, and you take from it unity of impulse. Passion, pride, selfishness, drive it hither and thither as the winds drive the dismantled ship. Nowhere but in God does man find a consistent law.

II. Its worthlessness. Chaff! The wind drives it away, and the husbandman is glad to have it driven away. An ungodly life is a worthless life, because, whatever it may be, however busy and bustling, it is not so. It is not used under God’s direction and for God’s uses.

III. Its insecurity. The contrast is between the tree, safe in its enclosure by the watercourses, watched and tended by the gardener, its fruits safe from the plunderer, and the chaff, loosely lying on the exposed threshing-floor, where the first blast can drive it no one cares whither. How safe is the man who abides in God, while he who puts himself outside of the restraints of Divine law forfeits likewise its protection.

M. R. Vincent, Gates into the Psalm Country, p. 21.

Reference: Psa 1:6.-G. Matheson, Moments on the Mount, p. 10.

Psalm 1

Ver. 1. There are cases in which without a figure “ignorance is bliss.” Observe that all the characters mentioned here may have their excellences and their attractions; for example, the ungodly may be rich, the sinners may be convivial, the scornful may be brilliant: yet blessed is the man who has nothing to do with them.

Ver. 2: “But his delight is in the law of the Lord,” etc. The idea is that of a man who sees the law of the Lord in all nature, in all history, all life, everywhere and always, and delights to trace its beneficent and almighty power.

Ver. 3: “And he shall be like a tree,” etc. A man’s life should be rooted in God, in God’s law, in God’s service. It should not be as a plucked flower, but as a flower unplucked growing on the eternal stem.

Ver. 4: “The ungodly are not so,” etc. To know whose they are, you must know where the wind is-the wind of popularity, the wind of success, the wind of Divine visitation.

Ver. 5: “Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,” etc. These are the true and final tests of character. At present judgment is partial and uncertain, and at present society is mixed; but the time of judgment and separation is coming.

Ver. 6. Mark the three characters: the godly, the ungodly, the Lord! The final award is not with man, but with God. The destiny of the righteous and the ungodly is as distinct as their characters. There is no blending of one into the other-the one lives; the other perishes.

Parker, The Ark of God, p. 113.

References: Psalm 1-I. Williams, The Psalms Interpreted of Christ, p. 74; S. Cox, Expositor, 2nd series, vol. i., p. 81; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. iv., p. 123.

Fuente: The Sermon Bible

Analysis and Annotations

I. THE GENESIS SECTION: BOOK ONE:Psalm 1-41

Psalm 1-8

Psalm 1

The Godly and the Ungodly

1. The godly, his character and his fruit (Psa 1:1-3)

2. The ungodly in comparison with the godly (Psa 1:4-6)

The first eight Psalms are the Psalms in embryo, just as the opening chapters of the book of Genesis are the Bible in a nutshell. Throughout the Psalms we can trace the subjects of these eight Psalms, the godly and the ungodly; but especially the great theme of the Psalms, Christ, the Perfect Man, the King rejected, the suffering of the righteous during the time of His rejection, the King enthroned and all things put under His feet. These are the leading themes of Psa 1:1-6; Psa 2:1-12; Psa 3:1-8; Psa 4:1-8; Psa 5:1-12; Psa 6:1-10; Psa 7:1-17; Psa 8:1-9.

Psa 1:1-6; Psa 2:1-12 are introductory to the entire collection, put there by the Holy Spirit. In some ancient manuscripts the first Psalm is not numbered, in others the First and Second Psalms are put into one. The First Psalm begins with a beatitude and the second ends with a beatitude. The righteous man, negative and positive, nothing evil in him, no fellowship with sinners, and positive, obedience and entire devotedness to God, does not mean the natural man. The godly One is the perfect One who walked down here separated from sinners, and devoted to God. He walked in obedience, in dependence on God and in communion with Him, and therefore the blessing, honor and glory are His. But the godly man is also the believer, born of God, separated, a saint, who delights in the things of God, meditates in His Word day and night. It is still more, a description of what the true believing remnant of Israel will be some day, like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season. Such is converted, redeemed Israels future as revealed here and also by Isaiah: Thy people shall all be righteous, they shall inherit the land forever, the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, that I may be glorified (Isa 60:21). We behold then in these opening verses of the Psalms the Lord Jesus Christ as the perfect Man, the individual believer in his separation and devotion, and what Israel, saved and converted, will be in the future.

(The Romish church has a volume called The Psalter of the Virgin Mary compiled by Doctor St. Bonaventura. It is in Latin and contains the 150 Psalms, greatly abridged, and each addressed to Mary. Psa 1:1-6 begins as follows: Happy is the man that loves thy Name, O Virgin Mary, thy grace will comfort his soul. Ave Maria. Psa 19:1-14 : The Heavens declare thy glory, O Virgin Mary. Horrible blasphemy!)

Then the ungodly: Like the chaff which the wind driveth away is a prophecy of the time when the ungodly are dealt with in judgment, when He will thoroughly purge His floor, and gather His wheat into the garner, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire (Mat 3:12). Then the ungodly will forever disappear and cease troubling the righteous. They will have no place in the assembly of the righteous in millennial times.

Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)

The Man that is Blessed

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the wicked,

Nor standeth in the way of sinners,

Nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.Psa 1:1.

1. Deep as is the interest attaching to the Psalter as the great storehouse of sacred poetry, and vast as is its importance considered as a record of spiritual life under the Old Dispensation, scarcely less interest and importance attach to it with reference to the position it has ever occupied both in the public worship of the Church and in the private life of Christians. No single book of Scripture, not even of the New Testament, has, perhaps, ever taken such hold on the heart of Christendom. None, if we may dare judge, unless it be the Gospels, has had so large an influence in moulding the affections, sustaining the hopes, purifying the faith of believers. With its words, rather than with their own, they have come before God. In these they have uttered their desires, their fears, their confessions, their aspirations, their sorrows, their joys, their thanksgivings. By these their devotion has been kindled and their hearts comforted. The Psalter has been, in the truest sense, the Prayer Book of both Jews and Christians.

The Jewish Psalms have furnished the bridal hymns, the battle songs, the pilgrim marches, the penitential prayers, and the public praises of every nation in Christendom, since Christendom was born. They have rolled through the din of every great European battlefield; they have pealed through the scream of the storm in every ocean highway of the world. Drakes sailors sang them when they clave the virgin waters of the Pacific; Frobishers, when they dashed against the barriers of Arctic ice and night. They floated over the waters on that day of days when England held her freedom against Pope and Spaniard, and won the naval supremacy of the world. They crossed the ocean with the Mayflower pilgrims; were sung round Cromwells campfires, and his Ironsides charged to their music; whilst they have filled the peaceful homes of England with the voice of supplication and the breath of praise. In palace halls, by happy hearths, in squalid rooms, in pauper wards, in prison cells, in crowded sanctuaries, in lonely wildernesseverywhere they have uttered our moan of contrition and our song of triumph; our tearful complaints, and our wrestling, conquering prayer.1 [Note: J. Baldwin Brown.]

If all the greatest excellences and most choice experience of all the true saints should be gathered from the whole Church since it has existed, and should be condensed into the focus of one book; if God, I say, should permit any most spiritual and gifted man to form and concentrate such a book, such a book would be what the Book of Psalms is, or like unto it. For in the Book of Psalms we have not the life of the saints only, but we have the experience of Christ Himself, the Head of all the saints. So that you may truly call the Book of Psalms a little Bible. Be assured that the Holy Spirit Himself has written and handed down to us this Book of Psalms as a Liturgy, in the same way as a father would give a book to his children. He Himself has drawn up this Manual for His disciples; having collected together, as it were, the lives, groans, and experience of many thousands, whose hearts He alone sees and knows.2 [Note: Luther.]

Theres lots of music in the Psalms, those dear sweet Psalms of old,

With visions bright of lands of light and shining streets of gold;

I hear them ringing, singing still, in memory soft and clear,

Such pity as a father hath unto his children dear.

They seem to sing for evermore of better, sweeter days,

When the lilies of the love of God bloomed white in all the ways:

And still I hear the solemn strains in the quaint old meeting flow,

O greatly blessed the people are the joyful sound that know.

No singing-books we needed then, for very well we knew

The tunes and words we loved so well the dear old Psalm Book through;

To Coleshill at the Sacrament we sang, as tears would fall,

Ill of salvation take the cup, on Gods name will I call.

And so I love the dear old Psalms, and when my time shall come,

Before the light has left my eyes, and my singing lips are dumb,

If I can only hear them then Ill gladly soar away,

So pants my longing soul, O God, that come to Thee I may.

2. The First and Second Psalms are distinguished by having no title or preliminary inscription. They appear to stand as an introduction to the Psalter. They serve as an overture to the great choral symphony which follows, giving forth the two great themes which are to be wrought into so many forms of melody in later Psalms. The one strikes the key-note of the blessedness of keeping Gods law; the other puts into music the hope of a coming Messiah, and so together they anticipate almost all that is to follow. At what stage of the collection of the Psalter they were prefixed, or by whom, we do not know, and the knowledge would be of no importance.

The teaching of these Psalms as to the blessedness of keeping the law is to some extent the characteristic Old Testament teaching of the outward prosperity of the righteous, and the transiency of the wicked. Christianity does not altogether repeat that teaching. The Cross has taught new lessons of the meaning of suffering and the mystery of pain; and now that the Holy One of God has been made perfect by suffering, the Old Testament thoughts as to the connexion between well-doing and well-being, so far as externals go, have been modified and deepened. But the inmost heart of them remains true for evermore, and these Psalms declare a universal and irreversible law, rooted in the nature of things, and eternal as the throne of God, when they declare that obedience is blessedness, and sin is destruction.

The benediction, in the opening of the First Psalm, divides at once the virtue which is to be strengthened, or to find voice, in the following Psalms, into three conditions, the understanding of which is the key to the entire law of Old Testament morality.

Blessed is the man who (first) has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly.

That is to say, who has not advanced, or educated himself, in the counsel (either the opinions or the advice) of men who are unconscious of the existence of God.

That is the law of our Intellectual Education.

Nor (secondly) stood in the way of sinners.

That is to say, who has not adopted for the standing, establishing, and rule of his life, the ways, customs, or principles of the men who, whether conscious or unconscious of Gods being, disobey His commands.

That is the law of our moral conduct.

And hath not (thirdly) sat in the seat of the scornful.

That is to say, who has not, in teaching or ruling others, permitted his own pride or egotism to make him intolerant of their creeds, impatient of their ignorance, or unkind to their failings. This throne of pride is, in the Vulgate, called the throne of Pestilence. I know not on what ground; but assuredly conveying this further truth, that the source of all noisome blast of heresy, that plaguing strays in the Christian Church, has been the pride and egotism of its pastors.

Here, then, are defined for us in the first words of the Psalter, the three great vices of Intellectual Progress, Moral Stature, and Cathedral Enthronement, by which all men are tempted in their learning, their doing, and their teaching; and in conquering which, they are to receive the blessing of God, and the peaceful success of their human life. These three sins are always expressed in the Greek Psalter in the same terms.

Ungodliness is asebeia; Sin is hamartia; Pride is hyperphania; and the tenor of every passage throughout the Psalms, occupied in the rebuke or threatening of the wicked, is coloured by its specific direction against one or other of these forms of sin.

But, separate from all these sins, and governing them, is the monarchic Iniquity, which consists in the wilful adoption of, and persistence in, these other sins, by deliberately sustained false balance of the heart and brain.

A man may become impious, by natural stupidity. He may become sinful, by natural weakness. And he may become insolent, by natural vanity. But he only becomes unjust, or unrighteous, by resolutely refusing to see the truth that makes against him; and resolutely contemplating the truth that makes for him.

Against this iniquity, or unrighteousness, the chief threatenings of the Psalter are directed, striking often literally and low, at direct dishonesty in commercial dealings, and rising into fiercest indignation at spiritual dishonesty in the commercial dealing and trade of the heart.1 [Note: Ruskin, Rock Honeycomb (Works, xxxi 121).]

3. The first word in the Psalter is a word expressive of emotion, being an exclamation: O the blessedness of so and so. The Hebrew word is often rendered happy in the A.V. (as Psa 127:5; Psa 144:15; Psa 146:5; Deu 33:29; Job 5:17; Pro 3:13; Pro 14:21; Pro 16:20; Pro 28:14); and it might for distinctness be so rendered always. It occurs in the Psalter twenty-six times.

How abundantly is that word Blessed multiplied in the Book of Psalms! The book seems to be made out of that word, and the foundation raised upon that word, for it is the first word of the book. But in all the book there is not one Woe.1 [Note: Donne.]

The Welsh translation is very expressiveWhite is that mans world who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly. The translator gives up all attempt at being literal, and seeks to express the central and governing thought that no spot or blemish can mar the whiteness of that mans character, experience or life. This conveys the idea of the completeness and fulness of the blessings expressed by the word blessed.2 [Note: D. Davies, Talks with Men, Women and Children, i. 235.]

4. We all wish to know who the blessed man is. No one who values life, who cares for its enjoyments and its hopes, can be indifferent to this question, namely: Who is the vitally, the truly happy man? Here we have a distinct declaration upon the subject. The voice is loud, sweet, clear. The man who pronounces this opinion has evidently no difficulty upon the subject. His sentences are so sharp cut, so evidently spoken from the heart, that to him, at least, there is no doubt as to the happy man. Who is he then? He is described in this verse by what are called negatives. There is nothing affirmative said about him. We are told what he does not do. He does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly; he does not stand in the way of sinners; he does not sit in the seat of the scornful. As if goodness came by not doing things. But it so happens that we cannot understand some of the very highest things in life unless they are put to us in precisely this way.

When God Himself came down from Heaven to set things in order, He took precisely the course that is taken by the writer of this verse. What did He say? He said, Thou shalt not lie; thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not commit adultery; thou shalt not steal; thou shalt not bear false witness. As if goodness consisted in not doing evil; as if not to do anything were to do everything that is best. It is so in the teaching of your own children. Do you not begin by telling your little child what he must not do? If you were to set your child something that he must do, you would find it very difficult to accommodate yourself to his early perception. But if you tell him not to do certain things, you can more easily get at his understanding. There are more ways of saying Thou shalt not than there are of saying Thou shalt.1 [Note: Joseph Parker, The City Temple, v. 289.]

The man that walketh in the counsel of the ungodly is not a happy man. Can I teach any young life that one lesson? Do you want to go out to-night to seek a happy man? The Psalmist tells you that there is one direction in which you need not go, for he has been there before you, and the happy man cannot be found; and that is the direction of the counsel of the ungodly. Then where? The Psalmist says, I can save you trouble in another direction; if you want to find a happy man, you will not find him in the way of sinners. I can yet save you a journey; you will not find a happy man amongst those who sit in the seat of the scornful. Then how much of the devils territory is left for exploration? Not an inch. He has taken up the counsel of the ungodly, the way of sinners, the seat of the scornful. Take these things from the satanic empire and you have left nothing.2 [Note: Ibid., 290.]

5. This picture, then, begins with negatives. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the wicked, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. It is not an accident that behind the shelter, as it were, of a forbidding wall of negatives, the fruits of holy character grow up. For in a world like this, where there is so much wickedness, and where there are so many men who do not live after the highest pattern, and from the highest motives, no good thing will ever be achieved, unless we have learned to say, No! This did not I because of the fear of the Lord.

There must be a daring determination, if need be, to be singular; not a preference for standing alone, not an abstinence from conventional signs of worldliness simply because they are conventional; but there must be first of all close-knit strength, which refuses to do what men round about us are doing. The characteristics of religious men must be, as the first thing that strikes one, that they are a people whose laws are different from all the people that be on the face of the earth. If you have not learned to shelter your positive goodness behind a barrier of negative abstinence, there will be little vitality and little fruit in the weakling plants that are trying to blossom in the undefended open, swept by every wind.1 [Note: A. Maclaren.]

The free man is he who is loyal to the Laws of this Universe; who in his heart sees and knows, across all contradictions, that injustice cannot befall him here; that except by sloth and cowardly falsity evil is not possible here. The first symptom of such a man is not that he resists and rebels, but that he obeys. As poor Henry Marten wrote in Chepstow Castle long ago:

Reader, if thou an oft-told tale wilt trust,

Thoult gladly do and suffer what thou must.

Gladly; he that will go gladly to his labour and his suffering, it is to him alone that the Upper Powers are favourable and the Field of Time will yield fruit.2 [Note: Carlyle, Latter-Day Pamphlets, 213.]

How happy is he born and taught

That serveth not anothers will;

Whose armour is his honest thought,

And simple truth his utmost skill!

Whose passions not his masters are;

Whose soul is still prepared for death,

Untied unto the world by care

Of public fame or private breath;

Who envies none that chance doth raise,

Nor vice; who never understood

How deepest wounds are given by praise;

Nor rules of state, but rules of good;

Who hath his life from rumours freed;

Whose conscience is his strong retreat;

Whose state can neither flatterers feed,

Nor ruin make oppressors great;

Who God doth late and early pray

More of His grace than gifts to lend;

And entertains the harmless day

With a religious book or friend;

This man is freed from servile bands

Of hope to rise or fear to fall;

Lord of himself, though not of lands,

And having nothing, yet hath all.1 [Note: Sir Henry Wotton, Reliquiae.]

6. Now in this abstinence there is a certain progress. It is quite clear that there is an advance in the permanence of association with evil expressed by the three attitudes, walking, standing, sitting. It is also clear that there is an advance in the intensity of evil expressed by the progress from counsel to way; from thought, purpose, plan, to its realization in a course of action, and that there is a further progress from the way of sinners to the seatby which is meant, not a thing to sit upon, but an assembly seatedor the session of the scorners.

There is a perilous progress in sin.

At first I content myself with walking in the counsel of the wicked. It is an occasional companionship. It is a meeting only now and again. For a little while I am with them, and then some better influence calls me awaya remembrance of my mothers prayer, a sentence in a letter from a friend, a verse of the Bible shot suddenly into my mind.

But by and by I am found standing in the way of sinners. They have gained a greater power over me and a completer fascination. I have learned to love them too well. I linger much longer in their society, and it is hard almost to impossibility for me to tear myself from them. The poison is working; the leaven is spreading; my condition is more fixed and more hopeless by far.

And, at last, where do you see me? I am sitting in the seat of the scornful. I am at home among those who laugh at God and Christ and heaven and hell. You cannot discriminate me from them; I have joined their ranks; I am one of their number. Their resorts are mine; their sneers and sarcasms are mine; their seared conscience and withered heart are mine. Oh dreary ending of a dreary journey!

As I would escape that lowest depth of all, let me not look over the precipice or set my feet on the fatal slope. Blessed is the man who says, I cannot; I will not, to the first allurements of sin. Blessed is the man who will not so much as walk in the Enchanted Ground.2 [Note: A. Smellie, In the Hour of Silence, 326.]

In the great Psalm of life, we are told that everything that a man doeth shall prosper, so only that he delight in the law of his God, that he hath not walked in the counsel of the wicked, nor sat in the seat of the scornful. Is it among these leaves of the perpetual Spring,helpful leaves for the healing of the nations,that we mean to have our part and place, or rather among the brown skeletons of leaves that lag, the forest brook along? For other leaves there are, and other streams that water them,not water of life, but water of Acheron. Autumnal leaves there are that strew the brooks, in Vallombrosa. Remember you how the name of the place was changed: Once called Sweet water (Aqua bella), now, the Shadowy Vale. Portion in one or other name we must choose, all of us,with the living olive, by the living fountains of waters, or with the wild fig trees, whose leafage of human soul is strewed along the brooks of death, in the eternal Vallombrosa.1 [Note: Ruskin, Proserpina (Works, xxv. 247).]

I.

The Counsel of the Wicked

1. Who are these people who come before us at the first stage, and whom the Authorized Version describes as the ungodly, and the Revised as the wicked? We may find a name for them that will bring them into clearer focus for us than either of these, and perhaps enable us to obtain a photograph of them which we shall more distinctly recognize in life. Following the derivation of the Hebrew word, we begin to find them appearing before us as a people who are abnormal and out of course; and this idea of them agrees very closely with their standing in the Psalm.

They stand out before us as a class of people whose aim has never taken shape through the fascination of lifes nobler constraints. And perhaps we shall do well to translate their Hebrew name, for our purposes, as the lawless. We do not need to think here always of any way of life that startles us with singularity or violence. We meet with its representative continually in business or in the street, and his look and behaviour are for the most part quite commonplace.

His sins are chiefly, so far, those of omission; the sins of commission are close behind. His indulgent mother would indignantly repudiate any suggestion of his perilous condition by exclaiming, He has never done anything wrong! But has he done anything good, anything decided and firm? A moral negative will soon be transformed into a strong positive. Ruskin reminds us that at the judgment the verdict will not turn on the have-nots, but on the haves. The deciding question will not be, How much evil have you not done? but, How much good have you done? When the body is in a general low condition, it catches disease quickly; when the soul is in a general low condition, it easily catches sin. The ungodly youth is he who never shows indignation against sin, whose whole bearing is dull, insipid, and easy-going. The ungodly person is a moral invertebrate, a creeping thing; hence Popes line pathetically applies to him:

We first endure, then pity, then embrace.

Our salvation consists in not enduring; to tolerate is to be lost.

Lord, with what care hast Thou begirt us round!

Parents first season us; then schoolmasters

Deliver us to laws; they send us, bound

To rules of reason, holy messengers,

Pulpits and Sundays, sorrow dogging sin,

Afflictions sorted, anguish of all sizes,

Fine nets and stratagems to catch us in,

Bibles laid open, millions of surprises;

Blessings beforehand, ties of gratefulness,

The sound of glory ringing in our ears:

Without, our shame; within, our consciences;

Angels and grace, eternal hopes and fears!

Yet all these fences and their whole array

One cunning bosom-sin blows quite away.1 [Note: George Herbert.]

2. We read of walking in the counsel of these people. But again we shall have to ask whether we can bring the meaning into a better focus. The word counsel was an excellent translation in its time; but the virtues of words alter so, and nowadays when we speak of any ones counsel we are apt to think merely of his advice to others. But for our translation of the Hebrew here, we seem to want a word broad enough to include the kind of plan and tone he is cherishing in his heart as suitable for his own living.

Expediency is the guide of life! Behold a master-maxim the spirit of which pervades a large amount of morally dreary human thinking! It may be thinking infused with a great deal of business-like shrewdness, distinguished by moderation and savoir faire. It may encourage and guide you, if you adopt it, in developing ready efficiency of the kind that pays. It may help to build you up in alert self-confidence. And so far we shall call it prudence. But look further into its bearings. What if, while it may be putting one in the way of reaching a host of factitious little ends that awaken new greeds and ambitions in their attainment, it does not trouble to ask after any glorifying of life through a supreme aim that wins the satisfied homage of ones inmost heart? Then it is plainly a prudence of the lawlessof those who, with all their skill and diplomacy, neglect lifes highest norm and living rule.

No human actions ever were intended by the Maker of men to be guided by balances of expediency, but by balances of justice. He has therefore rendered all endeavours to determine expediency futile for evermore. No man ever knew, or can know, what will be the ultimate result to himself, or to others, of any given line of conduct. But every man may know, and most of us do know, what is a just and unjust act. And all of us may know also, that the consequences of justice will be ultimately the best possible, both to others and ourselves, though we can neither say what is best, or how it is likely to come to pass.1 [Note: Ruskin, Unto This Last (Works, xvii. 28).]

As soon as prudence has begun to grow up in the brain, like a dismal fungus, it finds its expression in a paralysis of generous Acts 2 [Note: R. L. Stevenson, Aes Triplex.]

A poor little worldly maxim will have no attractions for a man who has been contemplating the Divine ideal. You know the sort of maxim to which I refer, the false lights which are offered me by the treacherous world. Look after Number One! The devil take the hindermost! In Rome do as Rome does! It does not do to be too particular! You cannot do much unless you have a bit of the devil in you! These, I say, are the perilous lights which are born in miasma, and lead men into the sloughs of despond and the mire of wickedness. The godly man will be instinctively aloof from them. By his very diligence in the highest he will have a refined perception which will enable him to discern sin afar off. And he will reject its counsel as an offensive thing.3 [Note: J. H. Jowett, in The British Congregationalist, May 28, 1908.]

II.

The Way of Sinners

1. We are all sinners; it behoves every one to say, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. But the class of persons here referred to are those who love sin, who roll it under the tongue as a sweet morsel, who not only have sinned, but do sin, and intend to sin, openly, unblushingly, and wittingly, when opportunity arises. These are the persons who know a thing or twoalas! many things they might well be ignorant of. There is a terrible fascination about a man who has seen the world, especially its seamy side; he is so jovial, so interesting, so charmingto the weak. These are the men who coined that dangerous phrase, seeing lifea phrase born not from above, but from below.

2. So another place that the happy man must avoid is the way of sinners. In Isaiahs prophecy God gives it as one of the first things to do, when a man will turn from wickedness to righteousness and from sorrow to happiness, to get out of the way in which he has been going. He says, Let the wicked forsake his way. The way of sinners is the way of sorrow and unhappiness. Whatever of good it promises, it is a false way. It may seem attractive, but you may be sure that the end of the way is misery.

A man who is accustomed to breathe the air of the uplands cannot endure the foulness of these unclean haunts. When our soldiers came back from the South African war, where they had been sleeping on the open veldt, with the wandering air blowing about them while they slept, they could not bear the fusty mustiness of the closed bedrooms at home. There is nothing like the open air to make one recoil from the stench. Let a man leave a crowded meeting, and go for a couple of minutes into the open air, and then let him return, and his revived perception will make a discovery from which he will shrink. And so it is in the life of the spirit; once we have begun to find our delight in the will of the Lord we shall begin to wonder how we were ever able to stand in the ways of the world.1 [Note: J. H. Jowett, in The British Congregationalist, May 28, 1908.]

III.

The Seat of the Scornful

1. There is still this third place that a man, if he will be really happy, must avoidthe seat of the scornful. We should notice this evolution in sin; this going down the three steps. The first is the listening to the counsel of the ungodly untilit may be almost unconsciouslya man begins to walk in that counsel. The next step lower is where a man begins to stand in the way of sinners, and the third and worst of all is where he sits down in the seat of the scornful. God have mercy on the man who has already taken the third step in sin; who not only walks in the counsel of the ungodly, and stands in the way of sinners, but sits in the seat of scorners! God have mercy on the boy who has gone so far that he can make a joke of his mothers religion, that he can make a sneer about his fathers God, that he can scorn the voice of Gods Word that calls him to repentance! The sarcasm and cynicism and scorn of a sharp wit is often very fascinating to young people, but the man who exercises it is never happy. It is a blossom which grows on a tree that is bitter at the heart.

2. Unless we set our back to the wall, and hit the scornful right from the shoulder, we are lost; a nervous concession to him is fatal,there is nothing for it but to stand erect and fight it out. Where an innocent youth who has just left home, and come to the city to mingle in business with all sorts and conditions of men, would despise the ungodly and fear the taint of the sinner, he would probably succumb to the scornful, and surrender under the fire of ridicule. The hardest thing in the world for a young religious person to endure is scorn.

3. Perhaps, amongst ourselves in modern times, a characteristic symptom of the settling into this still lower condition is a perversion of the gift of humour. Humour is not here the joyous bubbling out of a wayward spring that flows to cheer and refresh. It expresses not so much brightness and delicacy of perception as a tendencyessentially commonplace at heartto turn everything over to show its least impressive side, and to provoke ones own meaningless sense of superiority by a sportive or satirical view of its exceeding flatness. The tone of weariness in it may not be very marked, but is yet evident to the reflective listener. You could not call it gaiety. Indeed, persistent perversion of the healthy meanings of lifeand perversion of meaning is perhaps here the root-idea of the scorncould scarcely prompt much gaiety. The tone of those who most skilfully and divertingly practise it cannot be expected to be quite that of the lark.

But perhaps we shall find no humour; only the tone of a man who knows life well, and with a certain finality, having lost his illusions about it. He will not be surprised by any appearance either of practical and devoted idealism or of any baseness. He knows just how much and how little there is in either. Perhaps if your own beliefs are intense and earnest, he will listen to an expression of them quite respectfully, if he is in the mood, and even show you what seems like a certain personal sympathy. He is so grave and considerate that you think you are impressing him at last. But the real subject of his consideration is the place you are to fill in his private museum of smoral curiosities. Your serious resolution is just part of this general odd fact of life to him; and his very tolerance, exempt from all fellowship with you, is only the smooth completion of inner complacent scorn.1 [Note: H. Foston, The Waiting Life, 22.]

(1) There is religious scorn, which has its classical illustration in the spirit of the Pharisees, and which in our time was admirably described by Hutton in his well-known essay on the Hard Church. It is that spirit of narrow and arid intellectualism which starts either with the letter of Scripture or certain theological axioms, and then proceeds to infer and to deduct, till at last it has forged an iron chain with which to bind, first its own mind, and then the minds of other people.

The delusion that our human belief is commensurate with the spiritual influences of God,nay, is a sure pledge, and the pledge, of those influences,constitutes not merely the essence of bigotry, but almost all the other far from capricious peculiarities which distinguish the inquisitorial theology of the Hard Church. This it is which makes its theologians so eager to find, in marks of bare power, some grounds for Gods authority quite distinct from His character; because, having an idolatrous regard for faith, as a sort of charm, they want to find some iron foundation for it sufficiently unspiritual to remain unshaken when God Himself is hidden from the heart. They think they have discovered that foundation; they believe it unassailable; they think that wherever God acts at all they should recognize Him by this mark; they look out for that mark; if they do not see it they scold and say, God is not with you; on the contrary, corrupt human nature is with you; what you struggle to express is wholly opposite in nature to what I have attained; my belief is even more certain to me than any conviction I could possibly have that God has any part in your belief or no belief; you are either a liar or an idiot.1 [Note: R. H. Hutton, Theological Essays, 347.]

(2) There is also worldly scorn, and this is illustrated in the case of persons who have achieved material success and lost their sense of proportion, and regard rank and riches as the final standard of manhood. While they may not say it, they have come in the background of their minds to look upon a man with slender possessions as a poor creature who has failed, to expect deference from those who are not as rich as themselves, to resent all independence on the part of any one who owes his living to them, and to treat the claims of intelligence and of culture to at least an equal place with those of worldly goods as a sentimental impertinence.

(3) There is one other scorn which may not be passed over; it is that of the evil-liver. When a man in his youth first breaks those commandments of virtue which are written both in his body and in his soul, he has qualms of conscience and fits of repentance. He will frankly confess that he has done wrong, and he is willing to promise amendment. By and by he comes to such a callousness that he will defend his very vices as a necessary part of nature, and an intention of the Creator, and he will ridicule the restraints and decencies of virtue. When a man old and greyheaded sets himself to corrupt youth by foul conversation, and closes his life with only one poignant regret, that he can no longer practise the sins which he loves, then one sees scorn rank and full blown, and ready for the burning, whose damnation tarrieth not.

The world deifies and worships human nature and its impulses, and denies the power and the grant of grace. This is the source of the hatred which the world bears to the Church; it finds a whole catalogue of sins brought into light and denounced which it would fain believe to be no sins at all; it finds itself, to its indignation and impatience, surrounded with sin, morning, noon, and night; it finds that a stern law lies against it, where it believed that it was its own master and need not think of God; it finds guilt accumulating upon it hourly, which nothing can prevent, nothing remove, but a higher power, the grace of God. It finds itself in danger of being humbled to the earth as a rebel, instead of being allowed to indulge its self-dependence and self-complacency. Hence it takes its stand on nature, and denies or rejects Divine grace. Like the proud spirit in the beginning, it wishes to find its supreme good in its own self, and nothing above it; it undertakes to be sufficient for its own happiness; it has no desire for the supernatural, and therefore does not believe in it. And as nature cannot rise above nature, it will not believe that the narrow way is possible; it hates those who enter upon it as if pretenders and hypocrites, or laughs at their aspirations as romance and fanaticism, lest it should have to believe in the existence of grace.1 [Note: J. H. Newman, Discourses to Mixed Congregations, 148.]

I saw a wayfarer entering a city, in the region of Vanity Fair. The city lay upon a hill; and the highway through the centre thereof was steep and rough. By-streets were well paved, but the main thoroughfare was broken and stony; purposely neglected by citizens who have no liking for certain pilgrims or their king. No sooner had this wayfarer passed through the gate than he was accosted by a civil-spoken person who bade him good morrow, and inquired of his destination. Upon hearing that he was bound for the Celestial City, the stranger deplored the abruptness of the hill, and the rudeness of the way, and begged him to turn aside:for though said he, the side streets lead farthest round and you will be longer mounting the hill, the walking will be easier, and the top will be gained at last with smaller loss of breath.

Persuaded by so plausible a counsellor, the pilgrim turned aside and found it even as was said, for this ascent was smooth and gentle. Methought, had he known that the strangers name was Ungodly, or remembered Evangelists advice, Keep thine eyes straight before thee, and let no mans counsel turn thee to the right hand or to the left, it had been otherwise.

Passing through many streets, smoothly paved, but narrow, crooked, and somewhat slippery withal, he came presently to a broad place where tables were spread bountifully, in the open, and a great company of people were making merry. He was somewhat faint; their good cheer whetted more sharply the keen edge of his appetite. Cumbered by the crowd he still essayed to press on, when he was accosted by a jovial voice, and invited without ceremony to eat and drink. He demurred, pleading the urgency of his journey. Whereupon his new acquaintance became sober of countenance, and spoke with great respect of the pilgrims and their king. He too was once a pilgrim, and still is minded to gain the Celestial City. Tis not far ahead. He knows a short road; and having tarried yet awhile to make merry with his friends, he hopes to arrive, after all, before the golden gate is shut. Said he, continuingYou look white, man. Take a pull at this red wine. Tis of ancient vintage and much esteemed in these parts. And our pilgrim, used only to quench his thirst with water from the brook, drank, and finding the flavour good, drank to the bottom of the goblet.

The wine which greatly refreshed his tongue seemed nowise to stimulate his feet, and I observed, as the sun declined, that he still lingered conversing amicably with his new-found friend. Moreover his face was flushed, and his eyes were heavy; I disliked the manner of his speech; and though the revellers around had grown to be noisy and unseemly in their jesting, I thought he rather smiled on them, and certain is it that he did not stop his ears or turn away his face.

Then it seemed to me that many days passed ere I found myself again climbing the steep and rough street that leads through the centre of the city. Nigh half-way up the hill at the corner of a by-street there is a wine-shop much resorted to by men who say there is no God; who also make it their peculiar pleasure to taunt with bitter gibes such pilgrims as labour up the rugged way. The day was sunny; chairs and tables were set out of doors; and not a few had come together to enjoy their refreshment and their fun. I stood apart while several pilgrims passed. Some of them were sore pained by the ribaldry of the scoffers, one of whom exceeded the others in the cruel sharpness of his scorn. He seemed to know the pilgrim life full well; and his poison shafts struck between the joints of the harness. I drew near to get a clear sight of his face, and was dumb with amazement when I saw that he bore the features of that same pilgrim who had turned aside from the steep way to walk in the counsel of Ungodly, whom I had also seen standing in the way of sinners, and drinking with them from their cup. Then I groaned in spirit, for I thought that he was lost indeed.

But while I watched and wept there appeared among the pilgrims One of majestic mien, who came nigh and looked full into the face of this scorner. Unutterable sorrow beamed from His deep eyes, and His look of patient love might have riven a heart of stone. A crown of thorns was upon His brow, and the wounds of the hands which He outstretched were fresh and bleeding.

Suddenly the voice of the scorner ceased; his face grew livid; his lips fell wide apart, and his knees smote together like the knees of Belshazzar when he saw the handwriting on the wall. Then he rose from his seat, and with faltering steps came and fell down before the Lord, and thus he said: O Lord Christ, I have crucified Thee afresh; I have put Thee to an open shame; I have reviled my Creator; I have Sinned against the Holy Ghost; there is no forgiveness for me in this world or in the world to come. Yet, O Lord, ere Thou utterest my doom, grant me this prayer: Suffer me but once to kiss Thy feet, and to tell these foolish ones how I have sinnedhow Thou hast loved!

Then the Lord Christ smiled as He answered, Him that cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out. Son, thy sins which are many are all forgiven; never more must thou wander from My side.

While these things happened a crowd had gathered, and at this point the crowd grew angry. The scoffers were enraged that their companion should forsake them. High words ensued. Stones and dirt began to fly. Have at him was the word. The onset was fierce and pitiless, and I could but note how frantic were the efforts of the re-instated pilgrim to shield with his own body his gracious Lord. His clothes were torn; his face was smeared with blood; and at last one rude fellow struck him on the head with a bludgeon, so cruel a blow that I said within myself, Now he is slain. But even as he fell the arm of the Saviour caught him around. Then the drooping head was lifted, the marred face flashed with unearthly glory, and as he leaned upon the breast of Jesus, a radiant mist encompassed them; and as they vanished, I awoke, and behold it was a dream.1 [Note: G. Hawker, in The Preachers Magazine, 1892, p. 343.]

Literature

Banks (L. A.), David and his Friends, 23.

Burrell (D. J.), The Morning Cometh, 243.

Davies (D.), Talks with Men, Women and Children, i. 234.

Deshon (G.), Sermons for all the Sundays of the Ecclesiastical Year, 322.

Foston (H. M.), The Waiting Life, 1.

Kingsley (C.), Westminster Sermons, 110.

McFadyen (J. E.), Ten Studies in the Psalms , 3.

Maclaren (A.), Sermons Preached in Manchester, iii. 225.

McLeod (M. J.), Heavenly Harmonies for Earthly Living, 27.

Matheson (G.), Leaves for Quiet Hours, 171.

Parker (J.), The Ark of God, 113.

Parker (J.), The City Temple, v. 289.

Pulsford (J.), Infoldings and Unfoldings, 1.

Simeon (C.), Works, v. 1.

Smellie (A.), In the Hour of Silence, 326.

Stall (S.), Five Minute Object Lessons to Children, 93.

Tholuck (A.), Hours of Christian Devotion, 85.

Thomas (J.), Myrtle Street Pulpit, iii. 172.

Walker (A. H.), Thinking about It, 59.

Watson (J.), Respectable Sins, 241.

Winter (G.), Keep to the Right, 59.

British Congregationalist, May 28, 1908 (Jowett).

Christian World Pulpit, xxvi. 269 (Mursell).

Expositor, 2nd Ser., i. 81 (Cox).

Preachers Magazine, iii. (1892) 342 (Hawker); v. (1894) 414 (Walker); vi. (1895) 211 (Tubbs).

Sunday Magazine, 1883, p. 704 (Maclaren).

Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible

am 3560, bc 444

Blessed: Psa 2:12, Psa 32:1, Psa 32:2, Psa 34:8, Psa 84:12, Psa 106:3, Psa 112:1, Psa 115:12-15, Psa 119:1, Psa 119:2, Psa 144:15, Psa 146:5, Deu 28:2-68, Deu 33:29, Jer 17:7, Mat 16:17, Luk 11:28, Joh 13:17, Joh 20:29, Rev 22:14

walketh: Psa 81:12, Gen 5:24, Lev 26:27, Lev 26:28, 1Ki 16:31, Job 31:5, Pro 1:15, Pro 4:14, Pro 4:15, Pro 13:20, Eze 20:18, 1Pe 4:3

counsel: Psa 64:2, Gen 49:6, 2Ch 22:3, Job 10:3, Job 21:16, Luk 23:51

ungodly: or, wicked

standeth: Psa 26:12, Rom 5:2, Eph 6:13

way: Psa 1:6, Psa 36:4, Psa 146:9, Pro 2:12, Pro 4:19, Pro 13:15, Mat 7:13, Mat 7:14

sitteth: Psa 26:4, Psa 26:5, Psa 119:115, Jer 15:17

scornful: Pro 1:22, Pro 3:34, Pro 9:12, Pro 19:29

Reciprocal: Gen 49:22 – a fruitful Lev 11:3 – parteth Deu 14:6 – General 2Ch 22:5 – He walked 2Ch 32:30 – And Hezekiah Job 22:18 – the counsel Job 34:8 – General Psa 5:12 – bless Psa 15:1 – Lord Psa 106:43 – with their Psa 119:9 – by taking Psa 128:1 – walketh Pro 1:10 – General Pro 8:32 – for Pro 18:2 – fool Pro 24:19 – Fret Isa 33:15 – that walketh Isa 56:2 – Blessed Hos 7:5 – with scorners Mic 6:16 – ye walk Mat 5:3 – Blessed Mat 11:6 – blessed Mat 13:23 – beareth Mat 26:69 – Peter Luk 8:15 – keep Luk 22:55 – Peter Joh 3:21 – he that Joh 18:18 – Peter Rom 4:6 – blessedness Rom 5:6 – ungodly 1Co 5:9 – not 2Co 6:17 – come Eph 5:11 – no

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

The Prefatory Psalms

Psa 1:1-6, Psa 2:1-12, and Psa 3:1-8

INTRODUCTORY WORDS

The first chapter of the Psalm is its preface. You may call it, if you wish, the prefatory Psalm. It gives you the key that unlocks the whole Book. Let us enter into this Psalm by the way of the 24th of Luke; there it says that “all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the Law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning Me.” These words tell us that the chief personage of the Psalms is not David, but Christ.

The newspapers carry big, black type headlines, the sub-headlines follow in a finer print, and then there is given the main body of the article. God often puts the striking headlines first; then He gives you, perhaps, the second headline; and then the great body of His message. The newspapers sum up the whole article at the top of the column. Of course, if you are interested in the details, in the intricacies, you go on down through the whole reading. When you open your Bible the first thing you see is, “In the beginning God.” There is your striking headline for the whole Bible. When you come over into the New Testament, it begins: “The Book of the generation of Jesus Christ.” There is your headline for the second division of the Bible.

The Book of Romans, the opening Book of the Epistles, begins: “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an Apostle, separated unto the Gospel of God, concerning His Son Jesus Christ.”

Now, let us approach the Book of the Psalms. The first chapter opens up like this: “Blessed is the man.” These words convey the big black type headlines for the Psalms. If the Book of Psalms, according to Luk 24:44, is a Book written about one man, the Lord Jesus Christ, then the “blessed man” of the first verse is none other than He. The Holy Spirit is not talking primarily about David or about saints in general. When you consider that the Book of Psalms, like all the rest of the Bible, centers in Jesus Christ, you cannot miss the personnel of the opening verse; this is especially vivid when you remember that the 1st Psalm is the preface to the Book as a whole.

Now, what is the second headline, the sub-topic of the Book? Here it is: “The ungodly are not so.” This expression “The ungodly” or its equivalent, runs through the whole Book. Two chief characters offset each other: “Blessed is the man”-“The ungodly are not so.” These are the two outstanding men of the Psalms-The “blessed man” is the Lord Jesus Christ, and in Him all His saints; the “ungodly one” is the antichrist and with him all of those who follow him.

I. THE BLESSEDNESS OF GOD’S BLESSED MAN (Psa 1:1-3)

First, His character is described. It is negatively stated and then positively stated.

Negatively three things are said: “Blessed is the man who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly-who standeth not in the way of sinners-who sitteth not in the seat of the scornful.” We need not now enlarge on these three constructive and consecutive statements; we merely wish to emphasize that they can be truly said of the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Where else is the man who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly? Where else is the man who standeth not in the way of sinners? Perhaps you might say the lineage, or the line, or the descent of sinners. In either case, Jesus Christ is the answer to the query. He never sprang from the loins of sinners, nor did He ever walk in their pathway. The Christian who has ceased to walk in the counsel of the ungodly, and to stand in the way of sinners, can claim such a distinction only because he is in the blessed Man, empowered by the One who knew no sin. Christ never was a sinner. Of Him it was said: “That Holy Thing that shall be born of thee.” There is none other who could encompass his whole life and say, “I am the blessed man, who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly nor standeth in the way of sinners.”

Now, what about sitting in the seat of the scornful. Jesus Christ was “separate from sinners”; He never was part or parcel with those who defamed His God.

Saints may go outside the camp with Him, bearing His reproach; they may never have fellowship in a church or a denomination where men scorn the Lord; they may never sit in the seat of those who defame the Word of God; they may refuse to darken the door of apostate churches, or to support the ministry of those who blaspheme the Son of God: yet, such an attitude is a victory of grace. “Blessed-ness” belongs inherently only to the One who was never found in the seat of the scornful. The next chapter tells us the fuller meaning of what this “scorning” includes.

Now, positively stated. “But his delight is in the Law of the Lord; and in His Law doth he meditate day and night. 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; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”

Every word just quoted was fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. He delighted in the Word and He was the Word; He was like a tree planted by the rivers of water and all of the rivers of water sprang from Him; all He did prospered even though He died upon the Cross in shame and spitting and in seeming defeat.

The Lord Jesus shall yet vindicate every word spoken of Him by the Psalmist. He was a victor on the Cross, for there He despoiled principalities and powers. He is, even now, a victor, for He sits exalted far above principalities and powers. When He comes again He will be a victor over every foe, for He will cast down every power that lifts itself up against Him-“Whatsoever He doeth shall prosper.”

II. THE BANE OF THE UNGODLY (Psa 1:4-6)

“The ungodly are not so.” How quickly the scene changes-“The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.” The Lord will destroy the antichrist with the breath of His mouth. Like the chaff will He blow him away. When Christ sends forth judgment unto victory the ungodly one will be “like” a reed shaken of the wind and tossed; like a smoking flax that is quenched. “Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment.”

Thus, the prefatory Psalm not only presents Christ and the antichrist facing one another, but it also presents the prosperity of the former and the overthrow of the latter. This is the same story that runs through the Psalms as a whole; you will find it everywhere. The time is coming when only Christ and those who are in Him shall stand; while the antichrist and those with him shall be swept away.

III. CHRIST VERSUS THE ANTICHRIST (Psa 2:2-4)

The second Psalm brings the conflict between Christ and the antichrist to a climax. We must turn our faces toward a far distant vista. This second Psalm has never met its fulfillment during the thirty centuries since David wrote.

“Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against His Anointed.” The scene is one of the nations raging; of the peoples imagining a vain thing. Against whom are they raging? Against the Lord. Against whom are the kings of earth setting themselves? Against the Lord. What is the vain thing the people imagine? Why do “the kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against His Anointed”?

It is because Armageddon has come. As the age draws to its close and the antichrist is revealed, the world will vainly strive to throw off all show of allegiance to Christ.

What is the language of the kings of the earth, the rulers and the peoples? They say: “Let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us.” The nations fret under the constraints of Christianity and of Christ. Against Christ, and against everything that names His Name or bears His impress they will arise saying: “Let us break away their bands from us.” The antichrist will come as a religionist, but denying the Lord Jesus Christ, and everything that takes its color from Christ. For this cause the apostate nations and apostate Christendom will the more quickly rally to his standards.

What is the next scene? “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh.” The rapture of the saints (the Body of Christ) has evidently taken place. On the earth the tribulation rages, and the antichrist has been made manifest. The man of sin is heading the nations, and gathering them together against the Lord. The Lord, sitting in the heavens, laughs. He holds them in derision. What cares He though ten thousands are gathered against Him. He knows His power. He laughs at the madness of those who oppose Him. He holds their attempts in derision. He knows His strength.

That will be an imposing spectacle when the antichrist, clothed with Satan’s power, gathers together the armies of the earth. The world will tremble and be afraid, but He who sits in the heavens will laugh. He will cry: “Come on to the battle.” He will deride them.

IV. CHRIST CROWNED KING (Psa 2:6)

In spite of the fact that the nations have gathered to dethrone the Son and to cast Him out, the Father declares: “Yet have I set My Son upon the holy hill of Zion.” And addressing the Son, the Father says: “Ask of Me, and I will give Thee the nations for Thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession” (A.S.V.). No power on earth or in hell can keep the Lord from His rightful throne. He will come and He will reign. The Father will say to the Son, “I will declare the decree, * * Thou art My SON; this day have I begotten Thee.” Your mind goes back to the immaculate conception, “Therefore that holy thing that shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God.” Your mind goes back to the baptism, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Your mind goes back to the transfiguration, “This is My Son, My chosen, hear HIM.”

Thus, in the hour of tribulation, God thunders to the gathered hosts, His decree: “Thou art My Son.” Then, to the Son He saith: “Ask of Me and I will give Thee the nations for Thine inheritance.” No wonder that Christ, sitting at the right hand of the Father, holds the flaunting threats of the gathered nations in derision. He will vex them in His sore displeasure. God will yet set His King upon the holy hill of Zion.

Let us go a little deeper into the Father’s words: “Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee.” Here we have the Father’s vindication of both the Virgin Birth and the Resurrection.

In the expression “I will give Thee the nations for Thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession,” we have the far-flung vision of what will be brought about after Christ has vexed the nations and cast out the antichrist like chaff before the summer threshing-floor. It is then that God puts His King on the holy hill of Zion. The Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ will be established after the antichrist is overwhelmed and never before. So let us not anticipate it ahead of time; neither let us join in worldly movements to establish the Kingdom. The mission of the Church is to take out of the nations a people for His Name. It is not to bring in the Messianic Kingdom. The Second Psalm tells how the Kingdom is to be brought in. Christ does not send forth His Church to carry His evangel to the uttermost part of the earth in order to establish the Kingdom. The Scripture is plain: “Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron”; and, “Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” Thus will the nations learn righteousness.

This is, briefly, the message of the Second Psalm.

V. A STRIKING ILLUSTRATION (2Sa 14:25; 2Sa 15:4; 2Sa 15:10)

“And in all Israel there was none to be so much praised as Absalom.” The antichrist will outshine all the great men of the world; he will be universally wondered after; there will be none like him on all the earth.

“And Absalom prepared him chariots and horses, and fifty men to run before him.” This demonstrates Absalom’s pride. The antichrist will lift himself up above all that is called God, or that is worshiped.

“And Absalom said, moreover, Oh, that I were made judge in the land.” When the antichrist comes, he will lay deep the plot and the strategy against the Son of God. He will seek to take Christ’s heirship unto himself, and to make himself king.

And Absalom said unto his father, “Let me go and pay my vow which I vowed to the Lord in Hebron.” The antichrist will enter world scenes as a religionist. There are ecclesiastics all over this land who are even now prepared to receive the antichrist. There are ecclesiastics prominent in Church circles, who know nothing of the Gospel of the Son of God, they know nothing of the vital fellowship of saints; they preach another gospel, which is not the Gospel, and they proffer a fellowship builded on a program, or, on a ministration, and not on the “unity of the faith.”

When the antichrist comes, many of the supposed theological “far-i-sees” will bid him royal welcome. He will not at the first say, “I am God”; he will undoubtedly come with flattering and elegant phrases, posing as a great religionist. The antichrist will make a league with all apostasy, now existing in the world. He, like Absalom, will come under pretense of a fervent piety.

Now, let us observe the outcome of Absalom’s perfidy. The story of David’s flight is told as follows: “All the people wept with a loud voice; and all the people passed over; the king also himself passed over the brook Kidron.” How remarkable it is that David went over the very brook, which the Lord passed en route to His Gethsemane. What next: “And David went up by the ascent of the Mount of Olives.” The Lord Jesus left this earth by way of the same Mount of Olives, and went up into Heaven an exile from His Davidic throne. During His absence the antichrist will come into power as a usurper.

VI. THE PRAYER OF DAVID AS HE FLED FROM ABSALOM (Psa 3:1-8)

We now study the prayer which David offered as he fled from Absalom, after he had passed over Kidron, and had gone up by the Mount of Olives. While his followers, men and women, rested and slept, David slipped away and prayed. I want you to read his prayer in Psa 3:1-8.

When Zadok came out to follow David in his exile with the ark (2Sa 15:24-29), David said, “Carry back the ark of God into the city: if I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord, He will bring me again, and shew me both it, and His habitation: but if He thus say, I have no delight in thee; behold here am I, let Him do to me as seemeth good unto Him.”

Let us leave David out of our thought, for a moment, and apply this prayer to Christ. Imagine the Lord Jesus Christ praying on the Cross and saying, “Lord, how are they increased that trouble Me, many there be that rise up against Me. Many there be which say of My soul, There is no help for Him in God.” How those words remind us of the cry of the mob that surrounded the Cross! They said: “He trusteth in God; let Him deliver Him now, if He will have Him”: for He said, “I am the Son of God.” Christ never wavered, He never doubted, He said: “But Thou, O Lord, art a shield for Me and My glory, and the lifter up of My head.”

David said, I wakened for the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid of ten thousands that beset themselves against me around about.

Thus, did Christ awaken: He came forth from His tomb and from Hades a Victor, able to laugh at any onslaught that Satan or his antichrist might bring.

There is, however, another vision of the maledictions voiced in the third Psalm.

Not only did the enemy malign Christ during His earth-life, and as He hung upon the Cross, but after the antichrist in seeming victory, has, Absalom-like, swept everything before him, then the enemies of Christ will the more cry out against Him.

The whole world will marvel after the “beast”; his sway will be wonderful. Then will many rise up against Christ and say:

“Away with Christ, He was an impostor and untrue; every claim He ever made was false; even God repulsed Him and refused Him aid and He died in shame, the helpless victim of those who hated Him.”

With many words will they defame His Holy Name. Yet, even as they cry, the Lord will be seated in the heavens with the Father, receiving from Him the promise: “I will give Thee the nations for Thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession.”

Fuente: Neighbour’s Wells of Living Water

The Blessedness of Obedience.

The first psalm has only six verses, which are manifestly divided into two triplets; in the first of these the godly man is seen in the blessedness of being this; in the second, as contrasted with the character and portion of the wicked. Every verse moreover answers to its numerical place. Let us look briefly at this before we take up the psalm more deeply.

First, then, we have the blessedness of the godly looked at by itself. In the first verse we see his consistent independency of all the various forms and degrees of ungodliness by which he is encompassed. He shakes them off from him, to walk, as far as their advocates are concerned, alone. Such is in fact the necessary commencement of a true walk with God. The first step with Him must be outside of all that is contrary to Him; and to be indifferent is to be contrary!

In the second verse the godly one is seen in his dependency and communion with God. His delight and meditation are in Jehovah’s law, which term, while it may include the whole of the inspired Word existing at the time, yet shows the deep subjection of the soul required and rendered.

In the third verse we have the fruitfulness resulting.

The second part contrasts the wicked with this in character and in end. First, their lightness and barrenness -mere chaff. Secondly, they are separated from the godly by the coming judgment in which it is impossible for them to stand. Thirdly, Jehovah’s approbation of the way of the righteous manifests itself thus for them; and the path of the wicked breaks down in ruin.

The thread of numerical structure runs evidently through the psalm, and certifies it to be a good note from the King’s treasury. One might trace it, I believe, more fully and minutely; but this may suffice us now. The psalm claims, however, from us more detailed exposition.

The psalm has no special title, as one perhaps not suggested by any special occasion, and its principles being of the widest application. Nor is it needful to speculate as to an author, whom Scripture itself has not made known. As to such things, the higher criticism has set itself to most unnecessary work, and necessarily been led astray by its own wisdom. Faith in the word of God -which, indeed, they will not call it -would have made them approve its silence as well as its speech, and found profit from both. Would it not have rather lessened than enhanced the authority of such words as these, to have them commended to us as from David, or from Any other? Conscience alone is needed to respond to them, and will do so with the upright in heart.

The description of the godly man is first negative, then positive. He is first seen in his refusal of any link with the ungodly, whatever be the phase of their ungodliness. The words certainly show us a down-grade of evil, and how its hold strengthens upon those drawn into its vortex. It begins with “counsel,” which simply leaves out God. Walk by it, and you shall find that it leads into the way of sinners, -practical and open rejection of righteousness in deed and word. And this has for its natural consummation the brazen hardness of the scoffer, who says, “Depart from me, for I desire not the knowledge of thy ways!” (Job 21:14.) This is the way in which many travel, who strengthen each other by their mutual unbelief, and become for each other the authority which God has lost in their souls. Thus the mass hardens as it compacts together; and this is more and more being seen in days of widespread confederacy such as these are, -confederacy which for the Christian, in its lightest form, means compromise, the overthrow of conscience, of that which is the witness to God’s supremacy over man, the divine throne to which alone he is really subject.

The positive side of this description of the godly man is just this subjection of conscience and heart to God. A dependent creature, realizing his relationship to a Being of unchanged perfection, his delight is in conformity to His blessed will, to Jehovah’s law. He is exercised by it, occupied with it, meditates upon it day and night. As the psalms themselves even are quoted as “the law” in Scripture (Rom 3:19), there is no possible reason for limiting this here even to the books of Moses; and the soul delighting in God will seek to possess itself of all that He has communicated. “All Scripture . . . is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness”; so there is nothing impractical in the whole range of that which God has given to us: if we neglect any of it, this may result in serious misunderstanding of the rest. It is a Jew, of course, who is contemplated here, and with the necessarily limited revelation that had as yet been made; and how much the more does this diligent study upon his part speak to us to whom so much more has been vouchsafed! “Labor not,” says the Lord, amid an audience of the hard-working poor, whose poverty and need He so well knew, -“Labor not for the meat that perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give you.” And did not these wondrous psalms of praise themselves grow largely out of such day and night study of Jehovah’s law as characterizes the godly here?

We are next shown the fruit found and produced by one in such a course: “He is even like a tree, planted by the water-streams, that giveth its fruit in its season.” No special tree is named; except that it has fruit, we have no further knowledge of it; the vegetable kingdom furnishes the great types of production, as the beast is the typical consumer; the fruit-tree is the natural figure here.

Like all other living things, the tree is also a growth from seed, the development of an organic unity; and this is what the believer is, himself the fruit of seed of God’s sowing, and so far as this goes, at one with himself and with the creation of God as such; an organic unity, mind, heart, and moral nature, in response to one another.

This, it is true, is not the whole picture of what the believer is, looked at as a man down here, in whom sin dwells, if it does not reign. “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1Jn 1:7); and yet the same apostle who says this gives us afterwards the picture of one born of God, as fair as this is (Joh 3:9). It is the truth of what the child of God is, as that; it is the ideal regenerate man: for God, when He puts such pictures in His gallery, does it to win us to better imitation. He does not, therefore, in this case put the defects before us for such a purpose, or to dispirit us, as if we were given up to a blotched life, but the contrary. He paints what we dare not say, with the Spirit within us, is not possible, and so encourages us on to make it actual. The sin in our lives in no wise comes from the seed of His sowing.

Some have argued, from what I have called the idealizing of the picture, that it must be the king of Israel alone, the Lord Jesus Christ, that is portrayed in it. That He alone has fully answered to it, we may be sure is true; but it is not, therefore, untrue as a generalized type of the believer. Here is the happiness of the man who does so and so; and in doing this he becomes like so and so. So far as the previous conditions are fulfilled, so far is the likeness found to be like; there is no difficulty in understanding this.

To return: he is “like a tree planted by the water-streams.” Here the figure is of tender care and ministry. The fruit-tree is not a natural growth of the soil: a Hand has planted it, and that amid the divided streams of an irrigated land. The “living water” -and we, know this living water prepares soil for root and root for soil; and not without such care will this dependent life be sustained.

Notice, that it is the man meditating day and night upon Jehovah’s law of whom this is said: the Spirit of God acts through the word of God; there is no other way than this. As, to handle the Word without the Spirit is but rationalism, so the dream of the Spirit ministering apart from the Word is delusion and fanaticism. The word of God is the work and gift of the Spirit in man’s behalf, and He cannot be expected to set aside the very instrument that He has prepared. It is by “all Scripture, inspired of God,” that “the man of God” is to be perfect, “thoroughly furnished unto every good work.” Let us take care not to sunder what God has joined thus together.

So nurtured, the result is sure: he “giveth his fruit in its season.” There is no crude prematurity about it: truth has to be digested and assimilated; but the activity and energy of life are there, and progress day by day. That which presents itself as of God must needs meet the challenge of the conscience ere the heart is free to yield itself to it, and the life is cast into the mould of the doctrine. But the seasonable fruit is found which God can take pleasure in. It is not for the tree itself that the fruit is produced, and it is not what we find in ourselves that is the point, but what the Lord finds. Even when, with the apostle, “I know nothing by myself,” -am conscious of nothing wrong, -“yet am I not hereby justified, but He that judgeth me is the Lord.” (1Co 4:4.) The soul that is thus able to say nothing for itself is just that in which the Lord will find the fruit He seeks.

And “his leaf shall not wither”: it is impossible to forget, as we think of this, that tree upon which once the Lord sought fruit; and finding none, He said, “Let no fruit grow on thee henceforth for ever,” and presently the fig-tree withered away. Thus the leaf withered because the fruit was not to be found, for in the case of the fig-tree the putting forth of leaves takes place after the fruit. “The time of figs” in general was, indeed, as we are told, not yet”; but on this tree, however precociously, there was already the leaf of profession, and the significance of the judgment is therefore apparent.

Not yet was there sign upon earth of subjection to God, save in one nation, to which, therefore, the Lord came. Israel was just as this fig-tree, covered with leaves, zealous of the law, parading their obedience to their “One Jehovah.” Surely, then, they would recognize and reverence Him whom Jehovah had openly proclaimed His Son. So the Lord had just, in public fulfillment of Zechariah’s prophecy, entered the city amid the homage of the multitude, rebuking those who would have rebuked them for it. But He entered to find the temple, His Father’s house, made a den of thieves, and to meet the dogged, desperate opposition of the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians, all the leaders of the parties that divided the people, united only in refusal of Himself. Thus they had pronounced sentence upon themselves, and His upon the fruitless fig-tree was but the manifestation of their self-assumed position.

How evident the application of this psalm, then, to the real “time of figs” that yet shall be, when the remnant of true believers in Israel shall expand into a nation of rejoicing converts, born as in a day! The fruit being at last found in its season, their “leaf shall not wither”; the perpetuity which is in God’s favor shall be theirs. “Thy people shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I Jehovah will hasten it in his time.” (Isa 60:21-22.)

It is plain, then, that we have Israel before us in this introductory psalm, and in the time of the end; and this is confirmed by the closing verses. It is equally plain that this does not hinder the widest possible application of principles that are ever true, and must abide while God abides. The practical use that all generations have made of the psalms, from the day that they were written, has not been mistaken, except indeed where the necessary differences between Jewish and Christian apprehension and experience have been lost sight of or never appreciated. Upon this there will be need to remark more particularly and frequently enough as we go through the book: we shall not at this time, therefore, dwell upon it.

The second part of the psalm shows the character and doom of the ungodly in contrast with the blessing of the godly. Brief enough is their description, and the image used with regard to them carries us once more onward to the gospels. The Baptist, in his denunciation of judgment to come, draws, as the psalmist does, his similitude from the threshing-floor: He will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather the wheat into the garner, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” Here the figure is not pursued so far: “they are like chaff which the wind driveth away.” The rootless, fruitless vain-doer is shown in the judgment of God in his own nothingness, chased away out of the world, as the wind, from the top of the hills on which the threshing-floors were placed, carried off the useless husk of the grain.

The separation is dwelt on in the next verse, and in plain words, Israel thus becoming what it never yet has been, an “assembly of the righteous.” And this once more Isaiah declares will be: “And it shall come to pass that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem; when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning.” (Isa 4:3-4.)

In this Jehovah manifests Himself at last, from under the clouds and darkness which often now are round about Him. That which He approves abides, His seal upon it never will be broken. And thus He “knows” the way of the righteous, -knows it well as what is His own: it is the way in which He too walks, and in which communion is found with Himself. “But the way of the ungodly perisheth.”

We have, then, in this introductory psalm the blessedness of a righteous remnant in Israel, cleaving to God in subjection while others wander from Him, and in view of coming judgment which shall leave the whole nation an assembly of the righteous. But this evidently is but a partial view of the matter: the word “faith” has not as yet been uttered; the Object of faith has as yet not been seen. The second psalm must complete, therefore, the picture by presenting these.

Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary

Psalms 1

True happiness is the theme of this psalm, whose author is unnamed. The negative side of true happiness is stated (Psa 1:1), and then the positive (Psa 1:2). Its reward follows (Psa 1:3). Its nature and value are emphasized by a sharp contrast. Such a man is godly, his opposite ungodly (Psa 1:4). The first is marked by stability, the second by instability (Psa 1:4). The first has endless fruitfulness and blessing, the second has nothing and worse than nothing (Psa 1:5), for he cannot be acquitted at the judgment day. The secret of it all is found in Jehovah (Psa 1:6). The psalm is a summary of the whole book, and is appropriately placed at the beginning as a sort of preface.

Psalms 2

Is prophetic and Messianic in one (see introductory lesson). It had a partial fulfillment at the first advent of Christ (Act 4:25; Act 13:33), but a complete one is to follow at the second advent, as will be seen in the study of the prophets. The nations will rage and the kings of the earth again set themselves against Jehovah and His Christ, lead by the Antichrist (Psa 2:1-3), but they will be regarded with contempt and terrified by divine judgments (Psa 2:4-5). Gods purpose will not be altered, which is to establish His Son upon His kingdom in the earth at Jerusalem (Psa 2:6).

The Son Himself speaks in verse seven, the last clause of which refers to His inauguration as Mediatorial King, and does not in any way impugn His Deity. The Gentile nations are to be His in that day (Psa 2:8), and although it will be the millennial day, yet its peace and righteousness will be secured through judgments and by the firmness of its Holy Ruler (Psa 2:9). Kings and princes are warned to prepare themselves for its coming (Psa 2:10-12). Kiss the Son means submit to His authority.

Psalms 3

As its title indicates, read Psalms 3 in connection with 2 Samuel 15.

In his distress to whom does David appeal (Psa 3:1)? Not only had men turned their backs upon him but it was charged that God had done so. Remember the possible reason for this suspicion in Davids sin with Bathsheba, preceding this rebellion of Absalom. Does David still retain his faith in Gods promises, regardless (Psa 3:3)? What is the ground of his confidence (Psa 3:4), and its expression (Psa 3:5-6)? What is the nature of his further appeal (Psa 3:7)? Cheek-bone and teeth represent his enemies as wild beasts ready to devour him. By faith he already sees these enemies overcome, and praises God as his deliverer (Psa 3:8).

The word Selah at the close of verse two is obscure, and may denote a pause or rest in the singing, or an emphasis to be laid on the particular sentiment expressed.

Psalms 4

This cry of distress may have been composed by David on the same occasion as the last. He is not trusting in his own righteousness, but Gods righteousness (Psa 4:1). The doctrine of imputed righteousness was apprehended by the spiritually enlightened in Old Testament, as well as in New Testament, times. For a further illustration of this in David compare the opening verse of Psalms 32, with Pauls application of them in Romans 4.

David is encouraged to utter this cry by past mercies Thou hast enlarged me, and I trust Thee again. Verse 2 shows the source of his trouble. His glory may refer to his kingly dignity now dishonored by exile. But the schemes of his enemies were vanity, and brought about by lying and creating delusions.

His confidence was in the divine purpose towards him (Psa 4:3), and they who are against him are cautioned to repent and turn to the Lord (Psa 4:4-5). In

the midst of his afflictions he values the divine favor (Psa 4:6), which brings more experimental joy to him than the husbandman knows at harvest time (Psa 4:7-8).

To the chief musician on Neginoth, indicates the purpose for which it was set apart as a musical composition. Neginoth were the stringed instruments used in the Levitical service, and the chief musician was the leader of that part of the choir.

Psalms 5

Is a morning prayer (Psa 5:3). The words look up are rendered keep watch in the Revised Version. The psalmist would keep watch on himself, that his life and conduct might be such as to insure the answer to his prayer (Psa 5:4-7). The need of the prayer is indicated (Psa 5:8). The enemies referred to are then described (Psa 5:9), and their judgment committed into Gods hands who defends the righteous (Psa 5:11-12). Nehiloth means flutes or wind instruments.

Psalms 6

Represents David in deeper distress of soul than we have seen thus far. Conviction of sin is upon him. Those who have studied 2 Samuel will not need to be reminded of occasions for this experience, though the connection with Bathsheba will first suggest itself. He feels the justness of the divine rebuke (Psa 6:1), but pleads for mercy (Psa 6:2). The time of spiritual darkness has been extensive (Psa 6:3-4). Will it end in death (Psa 6:5)? He is heartbroken (Psa 6:6-7). Enemies are rejoicing in his sorrow, but their glee is short-lived (Psa 6:7-8). Light breaks, the morning dawns, tears are wiped away, for the Lord heard him! Be gone, mine enemies, be ashamed and turn back (Psa 6:9-10)!

Verse 5 need not be interpreted as expressing doubt of a future state, but may be simply a contrast between this scene of life and the unseen world of the dead symbolized by the grave (Heb., sheol). Sheminith means the eighth, and perhaps this was apt for the eighth key, or the bass of the stringed instruments.

QUESTIONS

1. Memorize Psalms 1.

2. What is an appropriate theme for it?

3. State the twofold application of Psalms 2.

4. Will the millennium represent only peace and cheerful obedience to God and His Son?

5. Did you re-read 2 Samuel 15?

6. On what ground might God have forsaken David according to Psalms 3?

7. What may Selah mean?

8. What great Gospel doctrine finds illustration in the psalms of David?

9. Define Neginoth and Nehiloth.

10. What is the Hebrew for grave?

Fuente: James Gray’s Concise Bible Commentary

Psa 1:1. 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 practice of a most important duty, introductory to all other duties. It is then illustrated by a beautiful similitude, borrowed from vegetation; and, lastly, contrasted with the opposite character of the ungodly. In this verse we have the negative part of his character in three particulars: 1st, He walks not in the counsel of the ungodly. The word , reshagnim, here rendered ungodly, according to Aben Ezra, signifies inquietos, qui nunquam in eadem constitutione permanent, the restless, who are never at one stay; according to Isa 57:20 : Those, says Henry, who are unsettled, aim at no certain end, and walk by no certain rule; who may indeed be moral in their conduct toward their fellow-creatures, and outwardly unblameable, but live without a due regard to God and religion, which all unconverted persons do. Now the man that is truly pious, and therefore happy, doth not walk in the counsel of such; doth not lead his life according to their advice, or manner of living; doth not associate with them, give ear to their suggestions, or follow their example. This part of the happy mans character is put first, because those that would keep the commandments of their God must say to evil-doers, Depart from us, Psa 119:115, and because wisdom begins in departing from evil. 2d, Nor standeth in the way of sinners Of open and notorious sinners, to be picked up and gathered with them: but he avoids as much as may be the company of such, lest he should be insnared by them, and drawn by degrees into an imitation of their practices. He keeps at a distance from them, as he would from persons or places infected with the plague, for fear of the contagion. Or, standing in their way may imply a continuance in their manner of conversation. 3d, Nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful Of those who make a mock of sin, and of Gods threatenings and judgments against sinners: who deride all wholesome reproofs and counsels, and scoff at goodness and good men. So that there seems to be a double climax, or gradation, in this verse, each following clause exceeding the former in two respects. For standing, or delaying, in an evil course, implies a greater degree of guilt than being occasionally entangled and induced to walk therein, and sitting denotes a more settled and resolved perseverance than standing. Again, the term sinners, in Scripture language, implies more wickedness than the word ungodly, and the scornful are the worst of sinners. Observe, reader, by what steps men arrive at the height of impiety. Nemo repente fit turpissimus: No one becomes very wicked all at once. They are ungodly first, casting off the fear of God, and living in the neglect of their duty to him. But they rest not there; when the services of religion are laid aside, they come to be sinners, that is, they break out into open rebellion against God, and engage in the service of sin and Satan: omissions of duty make way for the commission of crimes, and by these the heart is so hardened that at length they come to be scorners: they openly defy all that is sacred, scoff at religion, and make a jest of sin. Thus is the way of iniquity down hill; the bad grow worse, and sinners become tempters to others and advocates for Baal.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Psa 1:1. Man, Ish, a prince, a ruler, a patriarchal or family man, a man of high degree, as in Psa 62:9. This is a running word in the psalms, while Adam, the word of contrast with Ish, is used for men of low degree; for common men, for worms of the dust.

REFLECTIONS.

This beautiful psalm has strong claims to be placed first, because it is a psalm of piety, illustrated by just ideas, by impressive figures, and by contrast with characters of impiety, who form the dark shades to give more expression to the portrait of the virtuous. The happy man is here said to refrain from walking with the wicked. He seeks their company no farther than impelled by the duties of life, for he who goes beyond this line imbibes their spirit, and presently is entangled in their sins.

He despises the counsel of the ungodly; for they imagine wickedness, and practise it. He obeys the first dictates of conscience, which are always the purest, and would shun an idle thought as actual transgression.

He abhors the seat of the scornful; for this is the sin which consummates the character of bad and hardened men. To mock at reform, to sneer at religion, and contumeliously abuse the righteous, is to give latitude to the baseness of the heart, and to offer the most daring insult to heaven. Indeed, it is generally the last stage in which God suffers the wicked to live. When the idolaters mocked the bald-headed prophet, going up to the temple to worship, two she-bears commissioned with divine fury, tore forty two of the scoffers in pieces.

His delight is in the law of the Lord; and that word signifies here the whole of religion. The law being the moral image of God, its promises and threatenings; and all the glory of grace and justice open an expanse to the meditation of the soul, wide as the immensity of the divine nature. There is no subject but this, to which the conscious mind can be lastingly attached. The news of the day, the vicissitudes of life, are subjects to which the mind lends merely a glance; but when contemplating the immensity of God, in his works of nature, of providence and grace, the good man says, my heart is fixed: oh God, my heart is fixed. The bustle of life fatigues the mind, but here the soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness, when we remember the Lord in the watches of the night.

The good man shall be as a tree planted by the rivers of water. In the torrid zones, after the rainy season, vegetation leaps into the most luxuriant appearances, and clothes the wide-spread earth with verdure, bloom, and beauty. But after awhile, the scorching heats turn the earth to a brown and parched appearance. The shepherds drive their flocks to the brooks, and follow the streams, where the trees and vegetation preserve their beauty all the year, while the trees on the parched hills seem ready to die. This is a true portrait of the good man. His soul, watered by the streams of paradise, knows not the parched season of the sunburnt heath. His works also prosper as well as his soul. The light of God is on his habitation, and righteousness looks down upon him from the skies.

The ungodly are not so. When arraigned at the bar of justice, they cannot meet the accusation; when sickness comes, they wither as the parched ground. They all perish as the faded leaf, and go down to the abyss.Be wise, then, oh my soul: shun the society of the vain, delight thyself in the law of the Lord, and in all the sublime of psalmody which celebrates his name.

Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

BOOK I.PSS. IXLI.

I. The Jewish Saint.This and Psalms 2 (see, however, on Psalms 33) are the only Pss. in Book I. which have no title or superscription. In Act 13:33, there is very ancient authority for reading in the first Ps., though the Ps. quoted stands second in the Psalter, as we have it. Origen had seen Psalms 1 joined with Psalms 2 in a Heb. copy, and the same arrangement is still found in some Heb. MSS. Probably then Psalms 1 was prefixed as an introduction to the rest of the Psalter after its completion. But it is not one with Psalms 2, nor even resembles it. It expresses the general spirit of the Psalter admirably. For that very reason it does not reach a high level. It has nothing of the spiritual tone which is so striking in 4, 73, and in other Pss. Rather it represents the current orthodoxy of its time, which must have been a very late one. It is legalistic, and accentuates the doctrine of retribution here and (probably) hereafter. It is not metrical, and its best imagery, that of the tree planted by the riverside, is borrowed from Jer 17:8, and has lost something of its original beauty in the appropriation.

Psa 1:1-3. Negatively the righteous man avoids those who are wicked and who turn religion into mockery. These last scorn self-restraint and piety, and in effect, though not in theory, are atheists. They scorn God and He scorns them (Pro 3:34). Positively the saintly scribe delights in the fear of Yahweh (so emend Psa 1:2 a). He spends day and night in the study of the Law and therefore prospers in all that he undertakes.

Psa 1:4 f. The contrary fate of the wicked. They will not be able to maintain themselves (or their cause) in the Day of Judgment. They are to be condemned in the congregation of the righteous, i.e. of the new Israel, sifted by judgment and absolutely pure. Judgment is given on a moral principle. Yahweh takes cognisance of the righteous, whereas the way, or conduct, of the wicked brings about their own ruin.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

PSALM 1

The godly man in the midst of an ungodly world, waiting for the government of God to deal with the wicked, and bring the righteous into blessing.

The moral character of the man who will inherit earthly blessing through the government of God.

The psalm sets forth principles that are true of those who fear God at any period during the rejection of Christ. Nevertheless, in its strict interpretation, the psalm has in view the godly Jewish remnant who find themselves in the midst of a nation in public revolt against God and His Anointed. It sets forth the moral traits of this godly remnant, and the governmental dealings of God, by which the wicked will be judged, and the godly established in blessing upon the earth. This moral character was seen in all its perfection in Christ Himself, who identified Himself with the godly remnant of the Jews. Thus, while the psalm does not refer to Christ personally, it presents Christ morally.

(v. 1) The ungodly are viewed as in the ascendant. They have their counsels; their way of carrying out their plans; and they sit at ease in the place of power, scornful of the authority of God. In such circumstances we have depicted the outer life, the inner life, and the prosperity of the godly man. His outer life is marked by complete separation from the world around. He has no part in its counsels, its ways, or its godless ease.

(v. 2) His separation, however, is not merely outward and formal; it is accompanied by an inner life of devotedness to God. His delight is in the law of the Lord; and the Word that he delights in becomes the subject of his meditation day and night.

(v. 3) Further, his life is one of dependence upon the unfailing sources of supply in God like a tree drawing its sustenance from the rivers of water. Moreover, this separation from evil, devotedness to God, and dependence upon God, leads to a fruitful life. It develops a beautiful character that is fruit in the sight of God. Further, before man, his profession of godliness, set forth by the leaf, is not marred, or withered, by any inconsistencies. Finally, he is blessed in all that he does.

(vv. 4-5) It is far otherwise with the ungodly. They may appear to be established in the place of authority, sitting at their ease. Nevertheless, in the government of God they will be driven away like the chaff before the wind. For the present the wicked may prosper, and the godly suffer, and thus the government of God may appear to have failed. This manifests the important principles that, for the full display of God’s holy government, whether in blessing the godly, or dealing with the wicked, we must await God’s intervention in judgment in the day to come. Then it will be seen that the ungodly will not stand in the judgment; whereas the godly will be established and come into display, and blessing, in the congregation of the righteous.

(v. 6) In the meantime the godly soul has the comfort of the secret approbation of the Lord. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, and that which the Lord approves will abide – all other will perish.

Fuente: Smith’s Writings on 24 Books of the Bible

1:1 Blessed [is] the man that walketh not in the {a} counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

(a) When a man has once given place to evil counsel, or to his own sin nature, he begins to forget himself in his sin, and so falls into contempt of God, which is called the seat of the scorners.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

Psalms 1

This psalm is one of the best known and favored in the Psalter. It summarizes the two paths of life open to people, the way of the righteous and the way of the wicked (cf. Deu 30:11-20; Jer 17:5-8). It also deals with God, godly living, and the hope of the godly in view of the Mosaic Covenant promises. Therefore it is an appropriate one to open the collection of 150 psalms. The editors probably intended it to be an introduction to the whole Psalter for this reason. Its figures of speech recur throughout the rest of the book. In view of its content, it is a wisdom psalm and a didactic psalm designed to give understanding to the reader (cf. Pro 2:12-22).

"Only three psalms, Psalms 1, 19, 119, can be called Torah psalms in the true sense of the word; that is, their major concentration is the Torah. Torah psalms do not comprise a literary genre of the Psalms, since there is no standard literary pattern comparable to what we have seen with some other literary genres. On the basis of their content, however, they nevertheless form a legitimate category.

"Other psalms dealing with the notion of Torah, although it is not their key idea, are Psalms 18, 25, 33, 68, 78, 81, 89, 93, 94, 99, 103, 105, 111, 112, 147, 148." [Note: Bullock, p. 214.]

This psalm contrasts the righteous person, who because of his or her behavior, experiences blessing in life, with the unrighteous whose ungodly conduct yields the fruit of sorrow and destruction. VanGemeren gave a structural analysis of each of the psalms.

"Bible history seems to be built around the concept of ’two men’: the ’first Adam’ and the ’last Adam’ (Romans 5; 1Co 15:45)-Cain and Abel, Ishmael and Isaac, Esau and Jacob, David and Saul-and Bible history culminates in Christ and Antichrist. Two men, two ways, two destinies." [Note: Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary: Old Testament Wisdom and Poetry, p. 85.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

1. The blessed person 1:1-3

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

A trilogy of expressions describes the person who is blessed or right with God. Each of these is more intense than the former one. These descriptions proceed from being casually influenced by the wicked to cooperating with them in their wickedness. However, this is probably a case of synonymous parallelism describing the totality of evil rather than three specific types of activities in a climactic development (cf. Deu 6:7). [Note: VanGemeren, p. 54.]

"Happy" is a better translation than "blessed" since the Hebrew language has a separate word for "blessed." "Happy" was the Queen of Sheba’s exclamation when she saw Solomon’s greatness (1Ki 10:8). It appears 26 times in the Psalter. This blessedness is not deserved but is a gift from God. Even when the righteous do not feel happy they are blessed from God’s perspective because He protects them from judgment resulting from the Fall (cf. Gen 3:15-19). "Blessed" in this verse also occurs in Psa 2:12 forming an inclusio binding these two psalms together. Likewise the reference to the "way" in this verse occurs again in Psa 2:11-12.

"Wicked" people willfully persist in evil, "sinners" miss the mark of God’s standards and do not care, and "scoffers" make light of God’s laws and ridicule what is sacred.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Psa 1:1-6

THE Psalter may be regarded as the hearts echo to the speech of God, the manifold music of its windswept strings as Gods breath sweeps across them. Law and Prophecy are the two main elements of that speech, and the first two psalms, as a double prelude to the book, answer to these, the former setting forth the blessedness of loving and keeping the law, and the latter celebrating the enthronement of Messiah. Jewish tradition says that they were originally one, and a well-attested reading of Act 13:33 quotes “Thou art my Son” as part of “the first Psalm.” The diversity of subject makes original unity improbable, but possibly our present first Psalm was prefixed, unnumbered.

Its theme, the blessedness of keeping the law, is enforced by the juxtaposition of two sharply contrasted pictures, one in bright light, another in deep shadow, and each heightening the other. Ebal and Gerizim face one another.

The character and fate of the lover of the law are sketched in Psa 1:1-3, and that of the “wicked” in Psa 1:4-6.

“How abundantly is that word Blessed multiplied in the Book of Psalms! The book seems to be made out of that word, and the foundation raised upon that Word, for it is the first word of the book. But in all the book there is not one Woe” (Donne).

It is usually taken as an exclamation, but may equally well be a simple affirmation, and declares a universal truth even more strongly, if so regarded. The characteristics which thus bring blessedness are first described negatively, and that order is significant. As long as there is so much evil in the world, and society is what it is, godliness must be largely negative, and its possessors “a people whose laws are different from all people that be on earth.” Live fish swim against the stream; dead ones go with it.

The tender graces of the devout soul will not flourish unless there be a wall of close-knit and unparticipating opposition round them, to keep off nipping blasts. The negative clauses present a climax, notwithstanding the unquestionable correctness of one of the grounds on which that has been denied-namely, the practical equivalence of “wicked” and “sinner.”

Increasing closeness and permanence of association are obvious in the progress from walking to standing and from standing to sitting. Increasing boldness in evil is marked by the progress from counsel to way, or course of life, and thence to scoffing. Evil purposes come out in deeds, and deeds are formularised at last in bitter speech. Some men scoff because they have already sinned. The tongue is blackened and made sore by poison in the system. Therefore goodness will avoid the smallest conformity with evil, as knowing that if the hem of the dress or the tips of the hair be caught in the cruel wheels, the whole body will be drawn in. But these negative characteristics are valuable mainly for their efficacy in contributing to the positive, as the wall round a young plantation is there for the sake of what grows behind it. On the other hand, these positive characteristics, and eminently that chief one of a higher love, are the only basis for useful abstinence. Mere conventional, negative virtue is of little power or worth unless it flow from a strong set of the soul in another direction.

“So did not I” is good and noble when we can go on to say, as Nehemiah did, “because of the fear of God.” The true way of floating rubbish out is to pour water in. Delight in the law will deliver from delight in the counsel of the wicked. As the negative, so the positive begins with the inward man. The main thing about all men is the direction of their “delight.” Where do tastes run? what pleases them most? and where are they most at ease? Deeds will follow the current of desires, and be right if the hidden man of the heart be right. To the psalmist, that law was revealed by Pentateuch and prophets; but the delight in it, in which he recognises the germ of godliness, is the coincidence of will and inclination with the declared will of God, however declared. In effect, he reduces perfection to the same elements as the other psalmist who sang, “I delight to do Thy will, yea, Thy law is within my heart.” The secret of blessedness is self-renunciation, –

A love to lose my will in His,

And by that loss be free.”

Thoughts which are sweet will be familiar.

The command to Joshua is the instinct of the devout man. In the distractions and activities of the busy day the law beloved will be with him, illuminating his path and shaping his acts. In hours of rest it will solace weariness and renew strength. That habit of patient, protracted brooding on the revelation of Gods will needs to be cultivated. Men live meanly because they live so fast. Religion lacks depth and volume because it is not fed by hidden springs.

The good mans character being thus all condensed into one trait, the psalm next gathers his blessedness up in one image. The tree is an eloquent figure to Orientals, who knew water as the one requisite to turn desert into garden. Such a life as has been sketched will be rooted and steadfast. “Planted” is expressed by a word which suggests fixity. The good mans life is deeply anchored, and so rides out storms. It goes down through superficial fleeting things to that Eternal Will, and so stands unmoved and upright when winds howl. Scotch firs lift massive, corrugated boles, and thrust out wide, gnarled branches clothed in steadfast green, and look as if they could face any tempest, but their roots run laterally among the surface gravel, and therefore they go down before blasts which feeble saplings, that strike theirs vertically, meet unharmed.

Such a life is fed and refreshed. The law of the Lord is at once soil and stream. In the one aspect fastening a life to it gives stability; in the other, freshening and means of growth. Truly loved, that Will becomes, in its manifold expressions, as the divided irrigation channels through which a great river is brought to the roots of each plant. If men do not find it life giving as rivers of water in a dry place, it is because they do not delight in it. Opposed, it is burdensome and harsh; accepted, this sweet image tells what it becomes-the true good, the only thing that really nourishes and reinvigorates. The disciples came back to Jesus, whom they had left too wearied and faint to go with them to the city, and found Him fresh and strong. Their wonder was answered by, “My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me.”

Such a life is vigorous and productive. It would be artificial straining to assign definite meanings to “fruit” and “leaf.” All that belongs to vigorous vitality and beauty is included. These come naturally when the preceding condition is fulfilled. This stage of the psalm is the appropriate place for deeds to come into view. By loving fellowship with God and delight in His law the man is made capable of good. His virtues are growths, the outcome of life. The psalm anticipates Christs teaching of the good tree bringing forth good fruit, and also tells how His precept of making the tree good is to be obeyed-namely, by transplanting it from the soil of self-will to that of delight in the law. How that transplanting is to be effected it does not tell. “But now being made free from sin, and become servants of God, ye have your fruit unto holiness,” and the fruit of the Spirit in “whatsoever things are lovely and of good report” hangs in clusters on the life that has been shifted from the realm of darkness and rooted in Christ. The relation is more intimate still. “I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit.”

Such a life will be prosperous. The figure is abandoned here. The meaning is not affected whether we translate “whatsoever he doeth shall prosper,” or “whatsoever he shall cause to succeed.” That is not unconditionally true now, nor was it then, it referred to what the world calls prospering, as many a sad and questioning strain in the Psalter proves. He whose life is rooted in God will have his full share of foiled plans and abortive hopes, and will often see the fruit nipped by frost or blown green from the boughs, but still the promise is true in its inmost meaning. For what is prosperity? Does the psalmist merely mean to preach the more vulgar form of the doctrine that religion makes the best of both worlds? or are his hopes to be harmonised with experience, by giving a deeper meaning to “prosperity”? They to whom the will of God is delight can never be hurt by evil, for all that meets them expresses and serves that will, and the fellow servants of the King do not wound one another. If a life be rooted in God and a heart delight in His law, that life will be prosperous and that heart will be at rest.

The second half of the psalm gives the dark contrast of the fruitless, rootless life (Psa 1:4-6). The Hebrew flashes the whole dread antithesis on the view at once by its first word, “Not so,” a universal negative, which reverses every part of the preceding picture. “Wicked” is preferable to “ungodly,” as the designation of the subjects. Whether we take the root idea of the word to be “restless,” as most of the older and many modern commentators do, or “crooked” (Hupfeld), or “loose, flaccid” (Delitzsch), it is the opposite of “righteous,” and therefore means one who lives not by the law of God, but by his own will. The psalmist has no need to describe him further nor to enumerate his deeds. The fundamental trait of his character is enough. Two classes only, then, are recognised here. If a man has not Gods uttered will for his governor, he goes into the category of “wicked.” That sounds harsh doctrine, and not corresponding to the innumerable gradations of character actually seen. But it does correspond to facts, if they are grasped in their roots of motive and principle. If God be not the supreme delight, and His law sovereign, some other object is mens delight and aim, and that departure from God taints a life, however fair it may be. It is a plain deduction from our relations to God that lives lived irrespective of Him are sinful, whatever be their complexion otherwise.

The remainder of the psalm has three thoughts-the real nullity of such lives, their consequent disappearance in “the judgment,” and the ground of both the blessedness of the one type of character and the vanishing of the other in the diverse attitude of God to each. Nothing could more vividly suggest the essential nothingness of the “wicked” than the contrast of the leafy beauty of the fruit-laden tree and the chaff, rootless, fruitless, lifeless, light, and therefore the sport of every puff of wind that blows across the elevated and open threshing floor.

Such is indeed a true picture of every life not rooted in God and drawing fertility from Him. It is rootless; for what hold fast is there but in Him? or where shall the heart twine its tendrils if not round Gods stable throne? or what basis do fleeting objects supply for him who builds elsewhere than on the enduring Rock? It is fruitless; for what is fruit? There may be much activity and many results satisfying to part of mans nature and admired by others. One fruit there will be, in character elaborated. But if we ask what ought to be the products of a life, man and God being what they are in themselves and to each other, we shall not wonder if every result of godless energy is regarded by “those clear eyes and perfect judgment” of heaven as barrenness. In the light of these higher demands, achievements hymned by the worlds acclamations seem infinitely small, and many a man, rich in the apparent results of a busy and prosperous life, will find to his dismayed astonishment that he has nothing to show but unfruitful works of darkness. Chaff is fruitless because lifeless.

Its disappearance in the winnowing wind is the consequence and manifestation of its essential nullity. “Therefore” draws the conclusion of necessary transiency. Just as the winnower throws up his shovel full into the breeze, and the chaff goes fluttering out of the floor because it is light, while the wheat falls on the heap because it is solid, so the wind of judgment will one day blow and deal with each man according to his nature. It will separate them, whirling away the one, and not the other. “One shall be taken and the other left.” When does this sifting take effect?

The psalmist does not date it. There is a continually operative law of retribution, and there are crises of individual or national life, when the accumulated consequences of evil deeds fall on the doers. But the definite article prefixed to “judgment” seems to suggest some special “day” of separation. It is noteworthy and perhaps illuminative that John the Baptist uses the same figures of the tree and the chaff in his picture of the Messianic judgments, and that epoch may have been in the psalmists mind. Whatever the date, this he is sure of-that the wind will rise some time, and that, when it does, the wicked will be blown out of sight. When the judgment comes, the “congregation of the righteous”-that is, the true Israel within Israel, or, to speak in Christian language, the true invisible Church-will be freed from admixture of outward adherents, whose lives give the lie to their profession. Men shall be associated according to spiritual affinity, and “being let go,” will “go to their own company” and “place,” wherever that may be.

The ground of these diverse fates is the different attitude of God to each life. Each clause of the last verse really involves two ideas, but the pregnant brevity of style states only half of the antithesis in each, suppressing the second member in the first clause and the first member in the second clause, and so making the contrast the more striking by emphasising the cause of an unspoken consequence in the former, and the opposite consequence of an unspoken cause in the latter. “The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous [therefore it shall last]. The Lord knoweth not the way of the wicked [therefore it shall perish].” The way which the Lord knows abides. “Know” is, of course, here used in its full sense of loving knowledge, care, and approval, as in “He knoweth my path” and the like sayings. The direction of the good mans life is watched, guarded, approved, and blessed by God. Therefore it will not fail to reach its goal. They who walk patiently in the paths which He has prepared will find them paths of peace, and will not tread them unaccompanied, nor ever see them diverging from the straight road to home and rest. “Commit thy way unto the Lord,” and let His way be thine, and He shall make thy way prosperous.

The way or course of life which God does not know perishes. A path perishes when, like some dim forest track, it dies out, leaving the traveller bewildered amid impenetrable forests, or when, like some treacherous Alpine track among rotten rocks, it crumbles beneath the tread. Every course of life but that of the man who delights in and keeps the law of the Lord comes to a fatal end, and leads to the brink of a precipice, over which the impetus of descent carries the reluctant foot. “The path of the just is as the shining light, which shineth more and more till the noontide of the day. The way of the wicked is as darkness; they know not at what they stumble.”

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary