Somebody Else’s Mail (2)

I have a second introductory post coming next week, but I’m eager to get going, so let’s just jump in.

The author of Psalm 1 is unknown. Naturally, most scholars attribute these first six verses to David. For me, that’s a bit like the answers you get from ten-year-olds in Sunday School to questions about who did this or that in the Bible: they always guess either “God” or “Jesus”. Kids are not stupid. Those odds are usually better than 50/50; that’s just how Sunday Schools roll. Hopefully, they think, there’s something better at stake than yet another pencil. Maybe so do the scholars.

With 73 of 150 Psalms already attributed to David, I figure he’s got his share. The scholars are just guessing anyway. The second-most popular suggestion is Ezra.

Psalm 1:1-2 — Three Modes

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.”

In this case I think “blessed” has the standard meaning of happy. The psalmist is thinking about the usual outcome of godly choices. The sense is that those who characteristically avoid evil in all its forms will find that works out well for them.

Walking in the Counsel

In scripture, walking is a frequent metaphor for the way someone orders his manner of life. A man who “walks not in the counsel of the wicked” is not merely a person who refuses to keep wicked company but a person who does not practice any advice wicked people offer along the way. It’s interesting that the wicked are always trying to get other people to do the things they are doing. They give no end of counsel. One of the most popular ways evil men attempt to silence a troubled conscience is to entice others to join them in doing evil and applaud them when they give in, a practice Paul condemns in Romans. Now, I won’t claim it’s impossible for a characteristically wicked man to give the occasional bit of good advice, but wisdom would tell you to stay away from him regardless. A polluted stream may on occasions be potable closer to its source, but if you have to take a drink to find out, you are better off looking elsewhere.

Standing in the Way

If you can’t avoid passing through the wrong part of town, it’s better to keep moving than to stand still. The man who stops in the presence of wicked men is asking for trouble. He’s going to hear things he shouldn’t hear and see things he shouldn’t see. He may find himself in serious peril. One of the earliest times the Hebrew word for “stand” occurs in scripture is in the warning of the angels to Lot and his family as they fled the doomed city of Sodom: “Do not look back or stop [stand].” Who stopped? Lot’s wife. We all know what happened to her. Those who stand in the way of sinners sometimes meet a similar fate.

Sitting in the Seat

A man can hear bad counsel without putting it into practice, or stop by the wrong doorway and change his mind without going inside. But a man who sits in the seat of scoffers is encouraging them in their ways. His continued presence is construed as evidence he approves of their conversation. Moreover, no onlooker can tell the difference between the scoffers and their audience. The man who sits with them has identified himself with them by keeping their company. Even worse, the longer he stays where he is, the more likely he is to pick up their bad habits.

His Delight

You can tell a lot about a man by the things that get him excited. A Christian who talks more about baseball or hockey than the Bible may simply lack confidence in his ability to interpret the scriptures accurately and usefully. However, a Christian who becomes way more animated discussing sports than when discussing scripture is telling you what really gives him pleasure in life. The man who takes his greatest pleasure in speaking of the things of God has grabbed on to a treasure of eternal value. He will take those thoughts into the New Jerusalem. On the other hand, that titanic victory your favorite NFL team won over a hated division rival will be lost in the mists of memory the moment they have one bad draft.

The Law of the Lord

The Hebrew word combination our psalmist uses for “in the law” is an unambiguous reference to the written Law of Moses, as opposed to some generic word for instruction or prophetic revelation. It’s part of the same lexeme (or family of related words) as torah. Nevertheless, I mention that because my ESV has a mysterious footnote to verse 2 that reads “Or instruction”. That seems to obscure the obvious. The psalmist delights in the commands Moses received from God for his nation, and he occupies himself with them constantly. That wasn’t a bad idea at all for an Israelite 3,000 years ago if he wanted to know what pleased God. Even the prophetic word had to be tested first, but the law was trustworthy and unchanging. Christians today have something better to meditate on day and night: letters and other books in the New Testament targeted to first century believers who shared the same faith we do. The Law of Moses informs this faith as deep background. It does not define it. Nevertheless, what the psalmist commended was the best possible option in its day.

He Meditates

Any literate person can run his eyes over a page and take in what is plainly declared. Most people grasp surface meanings immediately. This is more than that. The word translated “meditates” means to murmur. I don’t know about you, but when I talk to myself, it’s because I’m trying to work out something important. Or maybe I’m murmuring because I’m talking to the Lord about it. Either way, I’m struggling to get at valuable truth. Scriptural meditation is the discipline of considering something deeply and reflectively, often with the goal of seeing how it might apply to more ways than are evident at face value. For example, any Israelite could read God’s command not to muzzle your ox as he treads out your grain, but only a devout, meditative Israelite might consider the possibility of applying that principle to servants of God in his day, such as the prophets. That’s the effect of meditating on scripture. Bible teachers who make meditating on their texts a habit invariably have more useful things to tell you than those who don’t. As much as it’s a bit of a sacrifice, no time is better than night time to meditate. There are fewer distractions.

Psalm 1:3-4 — The Effect of Time

“He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.”

Fruit takes time to produce. Meditating on the word of God is hugely beneficial, and some of its effects show right away. But the big rewards come later, when you look at the godly children those principles you applied in your home produced. Some benefits of daily Bible study are immediate. You come across things you didn’t know, and start doing or not doing them, as the case may be. That’s an immediate benefit for you and everyone else: you stop sinning, avoiding the discipline of the Lord and the hard consequences that inevitably follow bad choices. Other benefits are long-term. A tenth, twelfth, of twentieth reading of Hebrews will yield a much deeper understanding of the glories of Christ than the first couple. The certainty that builds over time in a regenerate heart as the persistent Bible student discovers the amazing structure of the scriptures and the treasures hidden therein is something you cannot put a price on.

Time has an effect on those who reject the truths of God’s word too. Chaff may sit among the wheat for a while, but the first stiff breeze blows it away forever.

Psalm 1:5-6 — Two Ways

“Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.”

It’s certainly true that the wicked will not stand in the final judgment. It almost goes without saying. What would be the value of a final judgment of men if the worst of our race were able to escape it? But there are also numerous intermediate judgments in this life, and it’s these that the psalmist most likely has in view. Come crunch time, he says, the way the wicked man chooses to order his life will prove disastrous. He may or may not see the hand of God in his undoing, but a life dedicated to sin invariably produces judgment. It may be legal judgment, it may be the rejection of his peers, or he may fall victim to the consequences of his own destructive machinations. One way or another justice will catch up with him eventually. The way of the wicked will perish.

There’s something delightful about the flipside of that. It doesn’t say, “The way of the righteous will prosper.” Sometimes it does, and sometimes it doesn’t. Righteous Jeremiah didn’t always feel prosperous, we can be assured. What the psalmist tells us is that the Lord knows the way of the righteous. There is great comfort in that. No sacrifice is overlooked, no faithful act forgotten, no identification with God and his ways unrewarded. He sees and he knows.

Happy is the man who keeps this in mind all the days of his life.