Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 1

Blessed. — The Hebrew word is a plural noun, from the root meaning to be “straight,” or “right.” Literally, Blessings to the man who, etc.

Walketh ... standeth ... sitteth. — Better, went, stood, sat. The good man is first described on the negative side. In the short summary of evil from which he has been saved, it is the custom of commentators to see an epitome of the whole history of sin. But the apparent gradation was a necessity of the rhythm.

The three terms employed for evil, however, have distinctive significations:

1. The ungodly. Properly, restless, wanting in self-control, victims of ungoverned passion, as defined in Isaiah 57:20.
2. Sinners. A general term for wrongdoers.
3. Scornful. A proverbial word, defined in Proverbs 21:24: Aquila has “mockers;” Symmachus “impostors;” the Septuagint “pests;” and the Vulgate “pest.”

The words expressing the conduct and the career, “counsel” and “way,” are aptly chosen and correspond with “went” and “stood.”

Possibly, “seat” should be “assembly” . It has an official sound, and without unduly pressing the language, we think of the graduation in vice which sometimes ends in a deliberate preference for those who despise virtue .

But. — The Hebrew is an elliptical expression implying a strong contrast, such as “no, but,” or “on the contrary.”

The positive side of a good man’s character is now described according to the standard that prevailed when the written law first truly came into force.

In the law of Jehovah is his delight. — Or, to the law of Jehovah is his inclination. The Hebrew word primarily means “to bend.”

Meditate. — Literally, murmur (of a dove, Isaiah 38:14; of men lamenting, Isaiah 16:7; of a lion growling, Isaiah 31:4; of muttered charms, Isaiah 8:19). (Compare to Joshua 1:8, which might have suggested this.)

And he. — Better, So is he. For the image is so striking in an Eastern region, where vegetation depends on proximity to a stream (Psalms 92:12; Isaiah 44:4; and its development in Jeremiah 17:7-8). The full moral significance of the image appears in our Lord’s parabolic saying, A good tree cannot bring forth corrupt fruit, nor an evil tree good fruit. The physical growth of a tree has in all poetry served as a ready emblem of success, just as its decay has been an emblem of failure (recall Wolsey’s comment on his fall in Shakespeare’s Henry VIII.).

Nor has the moral significance of vegetable life been ignored. “If,” says a German poet, “you would attain to your highest, go look upon a flower, and what that does unconsciously, do consciously.” In Hebrew poetry a moral purpose is given to the grass on the mountain side and the flower in the field, and we are taught that “there is not a virtue within the widest range of human conduct, not a grace set on high for man’s aspiration, which has not its fitting emblem in vegetable life.” — Bible Educator, Vol. II, p. 179.

For the general comparison of a righteous man to a tree, compare Psalm 3:8 (the olive), Psalms 128:3 (vine); Hosea 14:6 (olive and cedar). Naturally, the actual kind of tree in the poet’s thought interests us. The oleander suggested by Dean Stanley (Sinai and Palestine, 146), though answering the description in many ways, fails from its lack of fruit to satisfy the principal condition. For, as Bishop Hall says, “Look where you will in God’s Book, you will never find any lively member of God’s house, any true Christian, compared to any but a fruitful tree.” Probably the palm meets all the conditions best .

The last clause, Whatsoever he doeth, it shall, etc., is obscure in construction. The best rendering is, all that he doeth he maketh to prosper, which may mean either “the righteous man carries out to a successful end all his enterprises,” or “all that he begins he brings to a maturity.”

The ungodly. —Better, Not so the ungodly.

But are like. —They shall be winnowed out of the society of the true Israel by the fan of God’s judgment. The image is a striking one, although so frequent as almost to have become a poetical commonplace (Habakkuk 3:12; Joel 3:14; Jeremiah 51:33; Isaiah 21:10). (See Bible Educator, iv. 4.)

Therefore. — Notice the contrast with Psalm 1:1. Those who had deliberately chosen the assembly of the scornful will have no place in the assembly of the good.

Shall not stand. — Properly, shall not rise. This is probably like our phrase, “shall not hold up his head.” They will be self-convicted and shrink away before God’s unerring scrutiny, like the man without a wedding garment in our Lord’s parable (Matthew 22:12). The Septuagint and Vulgate have “rise again,” as if with the thought of a future state.

The congregation of the righteous. — This is a phrase that repeats itself in different forms in the Psalms. It implies either Israel as opposed to the Gentiles, or faithful Israel as opposed to those who had proved disloyal to the covenant. In theory, the entire congregation was holy (Numbers 16:3), but in the Psalms, we encounter the feeling expressed in the Apostle’s words, “They are not all Israel that are of Israel.”