The First Psalm - An Exposition

The First Psalm serves as an introduction to the Book of Psalms. It is peculiarly fitted to introduce the sublime thoughts of later psalms, for it speaks of righteousness and evil and Divine Law. These three themes are at the centre of revealed truth, and a clear understanding of them is an indispensable preliminary to the intelligent consideration and reception of the "deep things of God" (1 Cor.2.10).

Although the Psalms are commonly attributed to David, it is clear that he was not the author of them all. Some belong to later times, up to the days of Hezekiah at least, and a few to earlier days, but David was certainly responsible for most of them, and he it was who began the collection, to which others were added from time to time in later days, resulting in the Book of Psalms as we now have it.

There is little internal evidence to suggest who wrote this First Psalm. The occurrence of the word "luts" for "scornful", a word which occurs only once again in the Psalms, but is of frequent occurrence in the Book of Proverbs, is thought to point to the time of Solomon, and the general tone of the Psalm is certainly reminiscent of Solomon's analytical and intellectual mind more than of the frank devotion and picturesque expressiveness of David. But the authorship is not of importance, for it is the Psalm itself that is of value.

The purpose of this Psalm is to declare the fundamental principle upon which God has designed His creation, namely, that those things which are right, just, in harmony with His own character, shall endure for ever; and that which is evil, unjust, out of harmony with the character of God, although it may subsist for a time, must and will inevitably pass out of existence. Divine creation is so ordained that nothing which is inherently evil can subsist indefinitely. It contains within itself the seeds of its own destruction and must eventually come to its end. Hence we have the law propounded by Paul in Rom.6.23 "The wages of sin is death" -death being the antithesis of life, the opposite to conscious existence.

The Psalm praises the happy state of the righteous man, both now and hereafter, and attributes the maintenance of his righteous state to his observance of Divine Law. Against this it places in contrast the unhappy position of the sinful, and declares in no uncertain terms that the end of that way is desolation, oblivion, non-existence. The fact that God's whole plan of development for man is based upon law is stressed, and rightly stressed, here. [It is when this fact is realised that we find ready to our hands a yardstick by means of which we can measure the relative values of differing interpretations of Scripture.]

"Blessed is the man" says verse 1 "who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful." This word "blessed" is capable of deeper shades of meaning than the A.V. suggests. "How happy the man..." is Rotherham's rendering, and Young is even more emphatic with "O the happiness of that one who ..." It is significant that "happiness" is the first quality to be mentioned in the Psalms; and characteristic of God! His eternal purpose in creation is to promote happiness amongst His creatures, and full happiness is only to be achieved by complete harmony with Him. So our religion is not a thing to be kept apart from daily life and practised solely at special times; every affair and activity of every day can be woven into the fabric of one's personal communion with God and by this is sanctified. "Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus" (Col.3.17). "All things work together for good to them that love God" (Rom.8.28). "The joy of the Lord is your strength" (Neh.8.10). This is the normal condition for human life, from which men have fallen away, and only as they come back to full dedication of life and its activities to God can they find true happiness.

"But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night." (vs.2). Here is the great principle; we must be students of the ways of God and learn to understand the principles upon which He has founded creation. The term "law" here is not confined merely to a set of commandments with negative prohibitions‑ "Thou shalt not . ." ‑but extends to the basic principles of Divine creation which in fact lie at the root of every code of laws. We must learn why; why righteousness is desirable and sin to be abhorred and eschewed; why God is dealing now with the disciples of Christ, the "Church" and will turn to convert the whole world only when the next Age, the Millennial Age, has dawned.

The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul" says the Psalmist in another place (Psalm 19.7). "O how I love thy law; it is my meditation all the day." "Great peace have they that love thy law, and nothing shall offend them" (Psa.119.97 and 165). In more measured cadence the Preacher says "The law of the wise is a fountain of life, that he might depart from the snares of death" (Prov.13.14). says the Psalmist (Psa.42.8) "his song shall be with me." Our faith is not for daytime only; it is a twenty-four hour a day and a seven day a week faith, and often it is during the silence of the night that our deepest revelations come.

Vs.3 "And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season." In the first Eden there were trees of life and a river that "watered the garden" and so gave it life (Gen.2.9‑10). In the second Eden there are to be trees of life and a river of water of life (Rev.22.1‑2; Ezek.47.12) and the trees are to be for both food and sustenance and healing. The Psalmist links the symbol to life now. Those trees of life of the Millennial Age are none other than the righteous of this Age who have lived according to the standards of the first two verses of this Psalm. Because they have entered into the Divine way of life they become "trees of life" to give both sustenance and healing to the redeemed multitudes who will come back from the grave "in that day". Then it will be true of these "ministers of reconciliation" (2 Cor.5.18) that "whatsoever he doeth shall prosper" (vs.3).

There is a peculiar fitness in the association of trees with rivers. In hot countries men plant trees on the banks of rivers and streams in order to screen the water from the solar heat and to check evaporation. The trees thrust down their roots into the moist soil and are themselves sustained by the same waters that they are conserving for the use and benefit of men. "There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High" (Psa.46.4). Every consecrated follower of the Lord Jesus during this Gospel Age is himself a "tree" being nourished by that river which is the knowledge of God revealed through the holy Scriptures; and each follower is by his Christian life and devotion helping to conserve that Word, against the coming Millennial Day when its benefits will be made free to all mankind. "The Spirit and the Bride say 'come' . . . and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely" (Rev.22.17).

Now we come to the other side of the picture. "The ungodly are not so but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away." (vs.4). This likening of the wilfully wicked man and the hopelessly evil thing to chaff which is doomed to be scattered and lost is definite in the Scriptures. "Let them be as the chaff before the wind" says the Psalmist in Psa.35.5 "and let the angel of the Lord destroy them". "The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; but the word of our God shall stand for ever" (Isa.48.8). "How oft" says Job (21.17‑18) "is the candle of the wicked put out! How oft cometh their destruction upon them! . . they are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away". David continues in the same strain (Psa.37.1‑2) "Fret not thyself because of evil doers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity; for they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb", and again (Psa.5.4‑5) "Thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness, neither shall evil dwell with thee. The foolish (properly 'worthless') shall not stand in thy sight; thou hatest all workers of iniquity". And this, which is said of individuals, is equally true of every evil institution which cumbers the earth. This aspect was seen in vision when Daniel interpreted the king's dream and described how all the might and power of those empires which stand in the way of Messiah's Kingdom will be destroyed by the "stone cut out of the mountain without hands" and how every vestige of them is to be scattered like the "chaff of the summer threshing-floors" (Dan.2.35).

This makes plain the Divine intention with regard to wilful evildoers. After the full and fair opportunity for life which is to be offered to every man under the reign of Christ in the Millennial Age, the penalty for continued and wilful sin will fall inevitably upon the sinner; withdrawal of life, the Divine gift of which the individual concerned refuses to make proper use. As final and irrevocable as the dispersing of chaff from the threshing floor, carried by the wind and utterly lost, is this, the logical and inevitable result of wilful and incorrigible sin.

"Therefore" says the inspired writer with conviction "the ungodly shall not stand in the judgement, nor sinners in the congregation (assembly) of the righteous." (vs.5). There is a direct link with the New Testament doctrine of the resurrection of mankind during the Millennial Age here, for the word rendered "stand" is one that has the meaning of standing firm or being set up. The New Testament word for resurrection is "anastasis" which means a re-standing or standing up again. "There shall be a resurrection (anastasis) of the dead" said Paul (Acts 24.15) "both of the just and unjust". "The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgement" said Jesus (Luke 11.31‑32) and again "All that are in the grave shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto resurrection to life (Greek) and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection to judgement (eis anastasin kriseus). This verse in Psalm 1 is clearly a reference to the fact that, although "sinners" will in fact be restored to life in the Millennial Age, no sinner will "stand" in that judgement; he will either cease to be a sinner and so enter into life, or, remaining a sinner, reap the logical consequence of that choice as expressed in the concluding words of the Psalm "the way of the ungodly shall perish".

In no finer words could the Most High express His determination to root out and destroy every vestige of sin from the fair earth of his creating, and to usher all mankind-- "whosoever will"—into the orderly and glorious life which is the rightful inheritance of all who will eventually conform willingly to their Creator's wise and loving designs. "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."

BSM 1967