Psalm 1 | Mike's Place on the Web

Posts Tagged 'Psalm 1'

Get Smart: Wisdom Psalms

Published July 11, 2015 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
Tags: Psalm 1, Psalms, Wisdom Literature

The shoephone was cool. The wisdom in Psalms is cooler.

In the New Testament, the apostle Paul wrote:

Speak to each other with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord. (Ephesians 5:19 NIrV)

We don’t know what hymns or spiritual songs he had in mind, but we do know which psalms: Any one of the 150 psalms of the Old Testament. Usually when we think of the psalms, we think of comfort and encouragement. When a believer is feeling low, nothing comforts or encourages like the Word of God and in particular a verse or two of a psalm. We don’t often think of Psalms as having much to do with wisdom, but the Psalter is actually part of the body of Biblical literature known as “Wisdom Literature,” along with Job, Song of Solomon, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes. Referring back to that believer who may be feeling low, perhaps he needs a word of wisdom more than a word of comfort or encouragement. From a distressed position, one’s view of life is often skewed; wisdom is desperately needed to see things in the right perspective.

These so-called “wisdom psalms” generally extol God’s virtues and attributes, reminding us of who God is and how He behaves. It’s important to be reminded of God’s ways and ways of thinking because we so often forget that which Job knew so well:

How great God is! We’ll never completely understand him. (Job 36:26a NIrV)

Just so. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t strive to understand as much of God as we can! But we also need to understand that there are parts of God we will never full grasp with our puny, finite minds. Given that “the fear of the Lord” is a vital component of all Wisdom Literature, knowing God involves a certain amount of awe or reverential fear.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. (Psalm 111:10 NIV)

Martin Luther thought very highly of the all the Psalms. In fact, he believed the 150 psalms to be full of the person of Jesus Christ. For example, Jesus Christ is the blessed man of Psalm 1 because He perfectly fulfilled its teachings. Jesus is the man who is planted by the river, whose leaf never wilts. With respect to Mr Luther’s opinion, Psalm 1 is about a righteous man; any righteous man. It is also the first “wisdom psalm.”

Two ways, Psalm 1

The shortest and best commentary on this first Psalm and first wisdom psalm is something our Lord Himself said in Matthew’s Gospel:

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. (Matthew 7:13, 14 NIV)

That’s really the message of this psalm. We don’t know who wrote it, but the author presents two groups of people and two ways of living. There is the way of the righteous and the way of the wicked. The righteous man is the blessed man, the one who heeds the laws of God and avoids sin. On the other hand, the wicked man who is not blessed for he deserves nothing from God. That’s an important doctrine put forth in Psalm 1; “the doctrine of rewards.” The righteous prosper and are happy while the wicked are fretful and of have a short life span. Of course, we all know exceptions to this doctrine, but the general principle is valid.

Blessed is the one who obeys the law of the Lord. He doesn’t follow the advice of evil people. (Psalm 1 NIrV)

The New International Readers Version makes the first incredibly simple. Here is a closer look at how it’s parent, the New International Version, expands verse 1 –

Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers… (NIV)

The verbs in this verse show an obvious progression. The blessed person doesn’t walk, stand, or sit with sinners. The psalmist is not teaching that believers should avoid non-believers like the plague, but rather he is teaching that believers should have nothing in common with them. They shouldn’t “walk” the way sinners do; that is, they shouldn’t live like the sinner lives. They shouldn’t “stand” with sinners; that is, believers shouldn’t be associated in any way with sinners. And the believer shouldn’t “sit” with sinners, or in other words, a believer shouldn’t become sinner. You can see the progression. When a believer lives like a sinner, he soon becomes identified as a sinner, and if he doesn’t change his way, he becomes a sinner.

This is a negative verse for it shows how the blessed – the righteous – do not live. The true believer simply does not have anything to do with the ungodly beyond being concerned about the state of their souls and doing what they can to present the Gospel of salvation to them. The believer should never consider the advice of the ungodly, especially it that advice goes against the teachings of God. Taking the advice of the ungodly leads to becoming like the ungodly. Ungodly advice leads to taking their stand on moral and spiritual issues. Jerry Bridges makes a noteworthy observation on this important issue:

The world is characterized by the subtle and relentless pressure it brings to bear upon us to conform to its values and practices. It creeps up on us little by little. What was once unthinkable becomes thinkable, then doable, and finally acceptable to society at large. Sin becomes acceptable, and so Christians are no than five to ten years behind the world in embracing most sinful practices.

The insidious nature of the world was something the apostle Paul understood all-too well.

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:2 NIV)

Verse 2 is the positive side of verse 1:

Instead, he takes delight in the law of the Lord. He thinks about his law day and night. (Psalm 1:2 NIrV)

The blessed man has discovered the source of lasting happiness: he loves the Word of God and he reads it and thinks about it. The old saying is definitely supported by the teaching of this Psalm:

The Christian is Bible-bred, Bible-led, and Bible-fed.

The results of godliness are described symbolically.

He is like a tree that is planted near a stream of water. It always bears its fruit at the right time. Its leaves don’t dry up. Everything godly people do turns out well. (Psalm 1:3 NIrV)

The imagery is clever. A godly person has been “planted” or as the Anchor Bible says, “transplanted” near to a life-giving source: fresh water. God is the one who did the transplanting and because God is such a big part of the godly person’s life, he is productive and attractive in all that he does. The phrase, “everything godly people do” implies that the godly man will be doing those things that God approves of, and He therefore causes to turn out right.

The remainder of this very brief wisdom psalm is devoted to the state of the ungodly. In contrast to the beautifully healthy tree of the believer, the non-believer is described like this:

They are like straw that the wind blows away. (Psalm 1:4b NIrV)

The non-believer isn’t near a life-giving source and has no roots. The psalmist likely had in mind what happened on the threshing floor, on which the chaff or straw was beaten from the wheat. This threshing floor was usually located on high ground – a hill – so as to catch with wind. Wheat and chaff were thrown into the wind together with shovels. The heavier wheat would fall to the floor while the lighter, useless chaff was carried away on the breeze.

Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. (Psalm 1:5 NIV)

This is a very significant statement about the future of the ungodly. They will, first of all, be unable to “stand in the judgment.” Actually, there are both future and present aspects to this “judgment.” Eschatologically, at the Day of Judgment the ungodly will be unable to stand before God; there is no way they will survive the judgment of God. But in their present lives, they are unable to withstand the continual judgment of God’s ongoing providential sifting of their character. Richard Sibbes, Anglican theologian, wrote this:

The wicked are but as a book fairly bound which, when it is opened, is full of nothing but tragedies. So when the book of their consciences shall be once opened, there is nothing to be read by lamentations and woes.

In other words, no matter how happy a non-believer appears to be; no matter how “together” their life seems to be, they are empty, dissatisfied, unhappy lost souls in dire need of a relationship with God.

But the psalmist also wrote that the sinner “cannot sit in the assembly of the righteous.” He is referring to the community of faith; the Body of Christ; the Church. Sinners have no place in the pew of any true church. Having said that, it should be pointed out that even the most devoted, consecrated born again believer is still a sinner. The psalmist has in mind the sinner who habitually sins; whose life is marked by persistent sin, not by a desire to wrestle with and overcome temptation.

In behind the scenes of life, God is judging people, and the purpose of His present judgment is the same as that of the final, future judgment: to eradicate once and forever evil and evildoers from His Church (Matthew 13:24 – 30; 36 – 43).

The very last verse of the great wisdom psalm is very clever and may be the best summary of a teaching in the Bible:

For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction. (Psalm 1:6 NIV)

The first phrase, “the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,” summarizes verses 1 – 3. The second phrase, “the way of the wicked leads to destruction,” summarizes verses 4 and 5. The first three words of verse 6, “the lord watches” are important to understand. The psalmst is not saying that God is a passive observer of human activity on earth. The Hebrew, yada, has reference to a concrete (not abstract), careful, sometimes guiding, personal watching over.

Psalm 1 is a great psalm of wisdom that teaches the simplest truth ever: living a God-fearing, righteous life will be rewarded while living apart from God ends badly. The first and last words of this great psalm illustrate the contrast between the godly and ungodly: blessed and destruction.

PSALMS, PART 1

Published August 16, 2012 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
Tags: Psalm 1, Psalms

The Book of Psalms is really the third division of the Hebrew Bible, known as the Kethubhim, or “Writings.” However, the Kethubhim was popularly known by the name of its first book: The Psalms. So Jesus included the entire Old Testament when mentioned the prophecies about Himself:

He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” (Luke 24:44)

We follow the popular Jewish name of the book, The Psalms, which is taken from the Greek translation of the Old Testament, was completed about 150 years before the birth of Jesus. Psalmoi, the Greek word, means “songs” or “sacred songs,” but its root means “touch,” as in touching the chords of a stringed instrument. The Hebrew word is Tehillim, “praises” and “songs of praise.” What does all this tell us? It tells us the purpose of gathering all these songs together in one place and why they were written in the first place: to praise God and to sung in worship services.

The Book of Psalms holds the distinction of having more authors than any other book of the Bible and it covers a longer span of time than any other book of the Bible, with the exception of Genesis. Moses, who wrote at least one Psalm (Psalm 90), lived long, long before the days of Christ, and other Psalms (Psalm 137, for example) were written at late as the end of the Babylonian exile, only about 500 years before Christ.

Many of the Psalms are anonymous, but many are attributed to David. If David did in fact write all the Psalms that include the phrase “a psalm of David,” then he must surely be the most prolific song writers of all time! That expression, though, doesn’t always mean the psalm was written by David. It may mean he wrote it, or it may mean it was written about him or even that it was written by someone else for him.

Generally speaking, the Psalms have no historical context. Many Bible scholars spend a considerable number of pages trying to determine such context, but the reality is, in most cases, they are just guessing. Because the psalms are written in such a general manner, they can be interpreted widely. It is best to recognize this, and to recognize that the real importance of the Book of Psalms does not lie in its historical context but in its human context. These are songs of praise written by real people in love with their God. Some are songs of despair, written by people experiencing great pain and suffering. And others are songs about other emotions experienced by godly men trying to fit their life of faith into the real world in which they lived.

PSALM ONE: A TALE OF TWO MEN

The first book of psalms, known as Book One, is made of the first 41 psalms. Most are thought to have been written by David, except for the anonymous ones: 1, 2, 10, and 33.

Psalm 1 is a study in contrasts and is a wisdom psalm which reflects classic Old Testament theology repeated often: the righteous prosper and the wicked perish. This psalm also sets forth what is known as “the doctrine of rewards,” another popular Old Testament idea: the righteous prosper and are happy but the wicked are always in trouble and are troubled. Most of us recognize this isn’t always true. In fact, very often the opposite is true. Many wicked people are very prosperous. What this (and many other psalms and proverbs) does is put forward general principles in life.

Psalm 1 is as interesting in its structure as in its application. Typical of Hebrew poetry, it is built around parallelism of phrasing. Verse I is a classic example of this: the righteous man does not do three things, then they are stated. But this psalm also has the chiastic structure, also characteristic of Hebrew poetry. “Chisatic” means that the first and last ideas of a verse or group of verses reflect each other and the middle ideas reflect each other: A BB A. Verses 1 and 2 demonstrate this.

1. The righteous man is a happy man, vs. 1

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 mockers.

Verse 1 may be considered a beatitude, or an invocation of blessing. The word “blessed” means “happy.” In this verse, the righteous man is happy because of what he does not do. Faith, naturally, is more than a bunch of “do nots,” but the negatives are part of the life of faith. Like they say, if you want to build a road, you often have to blast and excavate, and similarly a life of holiness cannot be lived without renouncing sinful conduct.

There is a clever progression of movement in the life of the righteous. In his relationship with the unrighteous, the righteous man does not walk, stand or sit with them.

“Walk” suggests a casual association with those who are out of touch with God. These people are not necessarily anti-godly or wicked and evil, they just do not love and fear God. Therefore, any advice they may give a true believer will be devoid of God’s wisdom. Taking the advice of one like this leads to a slowing down:
“Stand” is suggestive of being “at home” with unbelievers. Or, taking the advice of unbelievers leads to a believer taking a sinner’s stand on spiritual or moral issues. This leads to a complete end of movement:
“Sit” obviously implies being comfortable and content among those who do not have a relationship with God. Not only that, the one-time believer now mocks or scorns the beliefs he once cherished.

The idea, if you rephrase or restate this verse is that if you “walk” and “stand” with those who do not know God, you will eventually “sit” with them; ie., become one with them. Part of holy living is separating yourself as much as is possible from the unholy.

2. What the righteous person does, vv. 2, 3

But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.

We turn from the negative to the positive side. Here is what the righteous person does; this is what makes him happy. Simply put, the righteous man loves the Word of the Lord. The thing that makes him happy is meditating on the teachings of Scripture and understanding His revealed will.

The Hebrew word translated “meditate” comes from a root word which pictures one sitting by a stream, reading aloud the words of a book. It’s one who is at peace and content. As one commentator wrote:

True happiness is to be found, not in ways of man’s own devising, but in the revealed will of God. The Christian is “Bible-bred,” “Bible-led,” and “Bible-fed.”

3. Not so the wicked, vv. 4, 5

Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

The beginning of verse 4 is emphatic: NOT so the wicked!! The ungodly, unlike the righteous man, is like chaff, the waste part of wheat-threshing.

As is often pointed out, there may be some limited typology in verses 3 and 4. The water of verse 3 is a source of life, just as Christ, the Living Water, gives us life. The green, healthy leaf represents the unblemished and healthy testimony of the obedient Christian. The seasonal fruit is the fruit of the Spirit, clearly manifested in a life of service to God.

In verse 4, by way of contrast, the wicked—the unbeliever—is as useless as chaff, fit only to be disposed of. This is certainly the fate of the unsaved, who are lost.

Verse 5 begins with “therefore,” which tells us the writer is wrapping up his thoughts. Like chaff that is easily blown away and lost, the wicked will not be able stand at the judgment, nor will they be part of the righteous group. When God passes judgment and executes His perfect justice, the wicked will not be able to withstand it. Back in verse 1, the righteous man is so because he chooses not to walk, stand, or sit in the presence of sinners. Now God absolutely forbids the sinner to walk, stand, or sit in the presence of His people!

4. Summary, vs. 6

For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

The first phrase summarizes verses 1—3. The Lord keeps His eyes on the righteous man described in the first three verses. The second phrase summarizes verses 4 and 5.

The word “perish” is particularly ominous. It means “lost.” It’s a hopeless word; there is no hope for the ungodly. Proverbs 10:28 puts this another way:

The prospect of the righteous is joy, but the hopes of the wicked come to nothing.

Over in the New Testament, Jesus taught this truth another way:

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. (Matthew 7:13, 14)

That wide gate starts off leading to the wide highway, but the farther along to you get, that highway gets narrower and narrower, more and more dangerous to navigate until finally that once wide highway becomes a narrow, treacherous dirt road that leads to death. A lot of people start out on that highway because it looks so good and wide.

The other way looks narrow; it starts out like a one lane, one way avenue. But the farther along you travel down that narrow avenue, it becomes wider and wider and safer and safer and it leads to life, not death.