Psalm One: Blessed the Man

Psalm one is about the wise man who meditates on God’s law and doing so gains life. The idea is that there are basically two paths of life. The first is God’s way, and that leads to life while the second way is the world’s way which leads to death. This contrasting examination is something we see in many of the books in the Bible that are known as the wisdom books. And this is why Psalm 1 is a wisdom Psalm, and it is functioning as an introduction in many ways to the entire theme of wisdom that will be explored in the rest of the Psalms.

The opening verse has a pattern that is a progression: the blessed man doesn’t walk with the wicked, he certainly doesn’t remain still and stand with sinners, and he absolutely does not sit down in comfort with scoffers. So this description of the blessed man is an inverse description of a foolish person. A foolish person gets gradually more comfortable with the wicked. 

Think of our distinction between mortal sins and venial sins, but remember who we take those venial sins seriously because as they accumulate and put us in greater and greater mortal danger. In the same way, it is one thing to walk with somebody, but your commitment isn’t quite the same as if you stand with them, and it certainly isn’t as committed to the relationship as if you sit with them. So one thing leads to another until he is just another wicked man himself.

The next two verses contrast to that foolish way with the way of the blessed man. The blessed man is a man of the Scriptures and a man of contemplation of the law of the Lord. It is through this ongoing relationship with God that the blessed man becomes firm and fruitful like the tree that is planted by running water. The image of the tree planted by streams of water harkens back to the description of the tree of life in the garden of Eden which was planted by four streams (Genesis 2:9-10).

So the reader is to conclude that in pondering God’s law, you will take yourself back to the state of peace and happiness that Adam and Eve enjoyed with God before the Fall. It is this internal and spiritual state that will lead to prosperity. So good earthly outcomes are the result of solid and authentic spiritual growth.

The second half of the Psalm describes the wicked people. The first description is that the wicked people are untethered. They are unlike a tree planted by streams of water, which means that’s a tree with good solid roots and is secure in its location. Unlike that tree the wicked are like the dead leaves from wheat that are blown in the wind.

Throughout the Scriptures we get the imagery of wheat and a threshing floor, which is the way that the grains of wheat would be separated from the useless parts of the plant, and those useless parts were called chaff. They have no value and are to be discarded, and a breeze will blow them away and out of your way. So the wicked are fundamentally unstable. Their instability is why they cannot stand at the judgment, and neither will they be found in the gathering of the righteous.

For at the end of time the Lord will separate the wheat from the chaff, he will separate the sheep from the goats, he will send some to his left and some to his right. And that decision will be made based on the way that the righteous and the wicked have lived. So the examination of the way of the wicked is still another philosophical contemplation on how to live the right kind of life, which is the kind of life that leads you to God.

One other note about Psalm 1 is that it is an easy way to figure out whether or not the English translation that you are using is one that promotes what is known as inclusive language. The Hebrew word that is translated here as “man” is the word we see in English as Adam. Translators into English who are seeking what they call a more inclusive language will translate this singular term into something plural such as “they.” So if you’re looking for a Bible and you want to make sure that you got a better one, just open it up to the book of the Psalms and see if it says “blessed are they” or if it says “blessed is he” or “blessed is the man.” Bible scholars also say that this verse that opens the Psalm also points to Jesus, so in some small way this wisdom Psalm also is a messianic Psalm. But let’s turn now to the other major theme of messianic Psalms introduced by Psalm 2.

Psalm Two: The Anointed Will Come

The focus in Psalm 2 is not on God’s law but on God’s son, the king. The opening question in the first verse illuminates the foolishness of the conspiracy and plotting of the nations and tribes. It is a waste of time, because in verse four we see that there is one who sits in the heavens and that Lord laughs at them. He lasted them because he has already determined that these rebels will be terrified by his fury and he has planned already to set his king on the holy mount Zion. Mount Zion is also Jerusalem, the site of the temple.

In verse 7 we get more prophecy. This Psalm is attributed to David, who seems to be on solid ground when he describes a conversation in which the Lord said to him you are my son. But then he seems to have wandered away from the normal course of things when he puts everything in the present tense and uses the word “begotten” rather than “created.” So here is messianic language that will be confirmed and realized in Jesus Christ, who is both son of David and begotten before all time — that is today — of the father.

The messianic vision is also a prophecy of the end of the world. All the ends of the earth will be the possession of the Christ. The disobedient and wicked nations will be crushed into pieces like a potter’s clay vessel. And then the Psalm closes with something that has certain wisdom themes about it. The Kings and the rulers of the world should be wise if they want to live a good life and end in the right place. And they should do this by serving the Lord with fear and to humble themselves before him. Because his anger will come at the judgment at the end of time, and that anger will mean eternal death for those against whom his wrath is directed.

One of the threads we will see in the Psalm — especially in the messianic Psalms — is that judgment and wrath are reserved to God alone. Only God will sit in final judgment, and his justice will demand the eternal destruction of those who resolutely have turned away from him for the whole of their lives. So we will see some frightening verses if we read the entire Psalter, and they only make sense if we understand that judgment and wrath are what God does, but they are sinful when we do them.

Psalm 2 is one of the most important Psalms in the New Testament. At the baptism of Jesus and at the Transfiguration — two pivotal events in the life of Jesus — we hear the voice of God the father from heaven basically restating verse seven from Psalm two. In Matthew chapter 3, at the baptism, we hear the voice from the heaven saying “this is my beloved son.” In chapter 17 of the same gospel at the Transfiguration, we hear the same words: “this is my beloved son.”

Just before his ascension, Jesus gives the great commission: “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” (Matthew 28:18-19). This is clearly an echo of verse eight in the second Psalm, where the anointed one is promised that all the nations at all the ends of the earth will be his possession.

We also see other references to Psalm 2 in the New Testament, but this is the basic idea: in Psalm two, God promised kingship over the world to the son of David, and in the New Testament, God makes good on that promise. He gives Jesus, son of God and son of David, the kingship over the world. That is the gospel. The way to blessing, the way to eternal life, is to take refuge in Jesus.

In the last two verses of Psalm 2, we are told, “happy are all those who take refuge in him.” Who is this “him” in whom we should take refuge? The Hebrew word that is translated as “kiss his feet” in verse 12 literally says “kiss the son.” So it is the son who might get angry and the son in whom you should take refuge. That means that we should kiss the son, the son of David and take refuge in him. And this is Jesus, the son of David, and in him we should seek refuge.

So the Psalter is about the law of God as hinted at by Psalm 1, and it is also about the son of God as hinted in Psalm 2. The gospel of John will show us that the two are the same. In the opening verses of the gospel of John, we read “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,” which is to say that the law of God took flesh and became a man Jesus Christ, the son of David. So the law and the son become the same thing. Therefore we conclude that the Psalter calls us to follow Jesus. The importance of the Psalter in the worship of Jesus is reflected in the fact that it is the one book of the Bible that is read at basically every Mass. It’s that important.