Psalm 1

This psalm is one of the best known and favored in all the Psalter. It summarizes the two paths of life open to people, the way of the righteous and the way of the wicked (cf. Jer. 17:5-8). 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 designed to give understanding to the reader (cf. Prov. 2:12-22).

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.

 1. The blessed person 1:1-3

1:1 A trilogy of expressions describes the person who is blessed or right with God.¹⁹Each of these is more intense than the former one. They proceed from being casually influenced by the ungodly to cooperating with them in their wickedness.

1:2 The godly allows the Word of God to influence him rather than the wicked. His meditation on it involves prolonged thinking about it that takes place in study and review. His motivation in this activity is delight; he has a desire to listen to and understand what God has revealed (cf. Phil. 2:13). Jesus expounded on this idea in the Beatitudes (Matt. 5:3-10).

1:3 All who delight in and meditate on God's law will prosper like a flourishing fruit tree (cf. 92:12-14). Their fruit will appear at the proper time, not necessarily immediately, and their general spiritual health, represented by the leaves, will be good. Generally the fruit God said He would produce in the lives of most Old Testament believers was mainly physical prosperity (cf. Deut. 28:1-14). The fruit a Christian bears is mainly a transformed character and godly conduct (cf. Gal. 5:22-23). His prosperity is from God's viewpoint, not necessarily from the world's.

Fruit, in biblical imagery, is what is visible to other people, not just what is hidden within a person. It is also what benefits other people, what others can take from us that nourishes them (cf. John 15:1-11). In contrast, leaves are what others simply see and admire.

 2. The wicked 1:4

The term "wicked"(Heb. rasa') usually describes people who do not have a covenant relationship with God. They have little regard for God but live to satisfy their passions. They are not necessarily as evil as they could be, but they have no regard for the spiritual dimension of life so they are superficial. Chaff is the worthless husk around a head of grain that is light in weight and blows away in the winnowing process. It is neither admirable nor beneficial to others.

 3. The judgment 1:5-6

1:5 In the future there will be a winnowing judgment of people in which God will separate the righteous from the wicked (cf. Matt. 13:30). Then He will blow the wicked away (cf. Isa. 2:10-21).

1:6 The basis of the judgment that will determine the ultimate fate of these two basic kinds of people is the knowledge of God (cf. Matt. 7:23). He knows what they have done. The "way"refers to the whole course of life including what motivates it, what it produces, and where it ends. "Knows"(lit.) or "watches over"(NIV) is the antithesis of "perish"(cf. 31:7; Prov. 3:6).

This whole psalm is a solemn warning that the reader should live his or her life in view of ultimate judgment by God. Not only will the godly way prove the only adequate one then, but it also yields a truly beneficial existence now.²⁰