Bible Commentary - Psalms 1

Psalm 1 is only six verses long, but as the opening psalm of this entire collection it plays a significant role in setting the overall tone of the book.

In fact, even just the first two verses highlight one of the most commonly recurring themes of Psalms: Blessed are those who meditate on the word of God and live by the word of God.

At a high level, Psalm 1 is broken down into two contrasting choices.  There is the path of the righteous person, who is described in verses 1-3, and then there is the path of the wicked person who is described in verses 4-6.  In a different way, this psalm is echoing the thought of Deuteronomy 30:19.  Deuteronomy framed the choice of good and evil as “life” and “death”.  Psalm 1, on the other hand, frames things in terms of “the wicked” and “the righteous”.

What I find really interesting about Psalm 1 is that in some important ways it describes the wicked and righteous in terms of what they are not.  Verses 1-3 are talking about the blessing of the righteous, but it doesn’t call them righteous; it says “blessed is the man who does not”, and then lists a bunch of things that a good person should not do.  Similarly, the wicked is described not by what they do but in the way that they do not “stand in the judgment, nor … in the assembly of the righteous”.

In any case, the “blessed” are described in three ways: they avoid “counsel”, “the path” and “the seat” of evil men.  While in some ways this is poetic parallelism, it also speaks to three different aspects of life that we have to control to avoid evil.  Counsel obviously refers to advice; when we receive advice from others, we must avoid or ignore the advice of “wicked” people.  This means we need to be careful who we listen to.  When we are making decisions, who gets to shape our opinions and judgments for those decisions?  We are likely to make similar decisions to the people that we listen to.  If we are listening to wicked or godless people, then we are likely to make the same mistakes as them.

This naturally ties into the second point, which is “the path of sinners”.  If we listen to the advice of the wicked, then we will make the same decisions as them and find ourselves on their path.  “The path” refers to our lifestyle, habits and decisions.  Just as we avoid the advice of the wicked, we must also choose a different lifestyle.

The third and last point is that we cannot “sit in the seat of scoffers”.  The seat can be interpreted in different ways, but the way the NIV translates it is “sit in the company of mockers” and I think that word “company” is accurate.  It means that we cannot be regular compatriots, “buddies”, of wicked men.  Importantly, this does not mean we need to avoid wicked people entirely, because we are supposed to have a positive influence on others.  It’s an acknowledgement that just as we seek to positively influence others, there is the possibility that those “others” could influence us back.  Verse 1 is cautioning us to not spend so much time with wicked people that we begin to adopt their habits, customs or attitudes.  We can spend time with wicked people, but it has to be moderated, controlled and intentional.

To summarize, those who are blessed should avoid the counsel, the lifestyle and the close friendship and dependence on wicked people.

What the righteous should do is meditate on the word of God and delight in it.  In contrast to what we avoid, we seek counsel from the word and we try to find habits and guidance on our lifestyle from the word.  Rather than let our choices be shaped by wicked friends or advisors, we shape our choices around the word of God and his commands.  The result is blessing and prosperity through all seasons; “whatever they do prospers” (v. 3).

In contrast, verse 4 does not describe the wicked; it describes the consequences of wickedness.  The consequence is also a direct contrast to the righteous; unlike the constancy, prosperity and endurance of the righteous, the wicked are blown away like chaff.  Verse 5 describes the wicked by their exclusion from the proper domain of the righteous.  Whatever the righteous do, the wicked are the opposite of that.

In conclusion, the LORD watches over the path of both the righteous and the wicked, but he watches over the righteous to protect them while the wicked travel on a road to destruction alone.