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.
