PSALM 1 COMMENTARYWritten and edited by Glenn Pease

PREFACE

In this commentary I quote many old and new authors. Sometimes I do not know the author Iquote, and I will give credit if any author is identified to me. If any who are quoted do not wishtheir words of wisdom to be included in this study, let me know, and I will delete it. My e-mail isglenn_p86@yahoo.com

INTRODUCTION

1. Hampton Keathley, “Psalm one is a wisdom Psalm. There are praise Psalms, lament Psalms,and enthronement Psalms and all contain wisdom, of course, but as an introduction and door tothe rest of the Psalms, this Psalm declares in just a few words some of the most basic butprofound truths and propositions of the Bible. In essence, God says there are two ways of lifeopen to us: one means blessedness, happiness, and fruitfulness, but the other means cursedness,unhappiness, and judgment. The choice is ours. Blessedness is a choice, but to be blessed, onemust by faith obey the conditions; he must pursue the way of blessedness as described in thisPsalm.”

2. Bob Deffinbaugh, “Having just completed a study in the Book of Proverbs, we can easily seethat Psalm 1 is remarkably similar to Proverbs in form and content. As Perowne has observed,“In form it is little more than the expansion of a proverb.” We find in this Psalm the “two ways”which are so prominent in Proverbs. The similarity of this Psalm to the book of Proverbs marksit out as one of several unique Psalms which have been classified as “wisdom Psalms.” Here, thepsalmist is not addressing God as much as he is men, yet in God’s presence. This Psalm is notstrictly a prayer, nor would it be quickly identified as worship. Yet, as an introduction to thePsalter, it addresses several areas which are prerequisites to worship and prayer.

As introductory Psalms, both Psalm 1 and Psalm 2 are somewhat unique when compared to theothers which make up Book I of the Psalms (Pss. 1–41) because they contain no superscriptionand David is not identified in either psalm as the author. Because of the similarity of the firstPsalm to Proverbs, some have suggested that it may have been Solomon who wrote it, placing itbefore his father’s Psalm (Psalm 2) as an introduction to the entire Psalter.60 It would not beunusual for a son to gather the writings of his father, nor would he necessarily be inclined to givehis own name as a superscription.”

3. J. J. Stewart Perowne, “This Psalm seems to have been placed first in the collection because, from its general character and subject, it formed a suitable introduction to the rest. It treats of the blessedness of the righteous and the misery of the wicked, topics which constantly recur in the Psalms, but it treats of them as if all experience pointed only in one direction. The moral problem which, in other Psalms, troubles the ancient poets of Israel, when they see the evil prospering and the good oppressed, has here no place. The poet rests calmly in the

truth that it is well with the righteous. He is not vexed with those passionate questionings of heart which meet us in such Psalms as the 37th and 73rd. Hence we may probably conclude that his lot was cast in happier and more peaceful times. The close of the Psalm is, however, as Ewald remarks, truly prophetical, perpetually in force, and consequently descriptive of what is to be expected at all times in the course of the world's history.”

4. Thomas Watson, “ As the book of the Canticles is called the Song of Songs by a Hebraism, itbeing the most excellent, so this Psalm may not unfitly be entitled, the Psalm of Psalms, for itcontains in it the very pith and quintessence of Christianity. What Jerome saith on St. Paul'sepistles, the same may I say of this Psalm; it is short as to the composure, but full of length andstrength as to the matter. This Psalm carries blessedness in the front piece; it begins where we allhope to end: it may well be called a Christian's Guide, for it discovers the quicksands where thewicked sink down in perdition, and the firm ground on which the saints tread to glory.”

5. Spurgeon, “This Psalm may be regarded as THE PREFACE PSALM, having in it anotification of the contents of the entire Book. It is the psalmists's desire to teach us the way toblessedness, and to warn us of the sure destruction of sinners. This, then, is the matter of the firstPsalm, which may be looked upon, in some respects, as the text upon which the whole of thePsalms make up a divine sermon.”

6. Eugene Peterson's translation of Psalm 1 in The Message:

How well God must like you

you don't hang out at Sin Saloon

you don't slink along Dead End Road

you don't go to Smart-Mouth College.

Instead you thrill to God's Word,

you chew on Scripture day and night.

You're a tree replanted in Eden,

bearing fresh fruit every month,

Never dropping a leaf,

always in blossom.

You're not at all like the wicked,

who are mere windblown dust -

Without defense in court,

unfit company for innocent people.

God charts the road you take.

The road they take is Skid Row.

Psalm 1

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.

1. We often hear messages about how we ought to do this or that to be happy, but here is adifferent slant on the matter. David is saying you not only can find happiness in what you do, butin what you don't do. There is a back door to the road of being blessed, or better yet, there isreclining chair where you just sit still and don't move, and that can be the way to blessings. Youmay be tempted to listen to the way some people make a lot of money. It is easy to deceive peopleand get some of their wealth to flow to your bank account, and this Psalm is saying blessed areyou if you just sit still and refuse to walk in the counsel of those who are enticing you. Doingnothing can sometimes be the best way to advance in the kingdom of God. God is please withthose who sit still and do not take that walk that leads the to be unloving to others by crookedways to take from them without a value returned. Life is filled with opportunities to be unlovingin our actions, and when we just stay put and refuse to walk in those ways we are blessed. Weneed to be fully aware that there is a negative as well as a positive way to please God. I amreminded of the joke where a man comes home and announces to his wife that he saved 50 buckstoday. When she asked him how he did that, he told her that the sign on the bus said 50 dollarfine if you spit on the floor, and I didn't spit. When there is a bad thing to do, and you don't do it,you are on the right path. Doing nothing when you have a choice to go the wrong way is the bestchoice you can make.

1B. Pink stresses separation as the key idea here. “How very significant it is to note—howsearching for our hearts—the first characteristic of the “blessed man” to which the Spirit herecalled attention is his walk, a walk in separation from the wicked! Ah, my reader, it is there, andnowhere else, that personal piety begins. There can be no walking with God, no following ofChrist, no treading of the way of peace, till we separate from the world, forsake the paths of sin,turn our backs upon the “far country.” “The ungodly are ever ready to “counsel” the believer,seeming to be very solicitous of his welfare. They will warn him against being too strict andextreme, advising him to be broadminded and to “make the best of both worlds.” But the policyof the “ungodly”— i.e., of those who leave God out of their lives, who have not His “fear” beforetheir eyes—is regulated by self-will and self-pleasing, and is dominated by what they call“common sense.” Alas, how many professing Christians regulate their lives by the advice and

suggestions of ungodly friends and relatives: heeding such “counsel” in their business career,their social life, the furnishing and decorating of their homes, their dress and diet, the choice ofschool or avocation for their children.”

1C. “Walks not after the advice of the wicked. A happy man is one who knows where he is goingand does not follow directions of those who do not. The opposite is also true-miserable is the manwho does follow the advice of the ungodly. The ungodly are full of advice and so all need to bediscerning in where they get their advice. In an evil world much of life is a battle to avoid badadvice. Goodness does not consist in not doing evil, but it is a basic requirement. What you don’tdo is not the essence of the good life but it is still essential. The ability to say no is basic in the lifeof happiness. God will not ask in the judgment how much evil you have not done, but what goodyou have done, but one cannot do good if not first of all avoiding evil. The godly are known bythe counsel they follow, the company they keep and the character they display. Jesus did walkwith an eat with sinners but never did he follow their counsel.” author unknown

1D. Ray Stedman, “This Psalm is a description of the wicked and the righteous. It describes theGod-centered life and the self-centered life. When the Psalm talks about the wicked it is notreferring to murderers, rapists, or dope pushers, the kind of people we usually think of aswicked. We often think of some notorious person, such as a gangster or hoodlum, as beingwicked. But the Psalmist does not mean that. The term really means the ungodly, the man whohas little or no time for God in his life; someone who has ruled God out of his affairs and histhinking even though God is the greatest Being in the universe, the One who makes sense out oflife, the One around whom all of life revolves. To eliminate such a Being from your thinking is tobe wicked, to be ungodly. But in contrast, the God-centered life is set before us, and the resultswhich come from godliness.” “This word for sinners is a most interesting word in the Hebrew. Itis a word which means, "to make a loud noise," or "to cause a tumult." It is the idea of provokinga riot, of creating a disturbance, making trouble, etc. The Psalmist says you can recognize thegodly man in that he does not make trouble. He does not provoke riots, he is not at work causingdisturbances; he is obedient to the laws of life and of the land. He does not "stand in the way of"those who live to cause trouble.”

1E. One more note on the importance of what you don't do. If this first verse was just positiveand said the blessed man walks in the way of the godly, it would leave open the fact that he mightalso walk in the way of the ungodly. The negative makes it more clear that he is righteous byeliminating that alternative. He does not walk in that negative way, and that is an absolutedescription of being blessed. Sir Richard Baker Knight wrote, “But are not these strange marks to begin withal, as though he could know a godly man by negatives, or that godliness consisted innegation? as if virtue were only vitium fugere [the avoiding vice] ? Indeed, the first godliness thatever was that is, the first commandment of God was delivered to our first parents in a negative :"Of the tree of good and evil, ye shall not eat;" and if they had well observed this negative, theyshould never have sinned in any affirmative. As long as it could be said of Adam, " There goes aman that never eat of the forbidden tree," so long it might as well be said of him, " There goes aperfect, righteous man." And even the first written Law of Commandments was deliveredlikewise, in a manner, all in negatives: "Thou shalt not kill ^ Thou shalt not steal," and the rest,in which so much godliness is contained.” The point is, what you don't do is a vital part of beingrighteous.

1E2. Sir Knight also has a comment on the issue of which is the worst; the walking, the standing,or the sitting. Many chose the opposite end of the three as the worst, but he makes it obvious that

all are equally the worst. He wrote, “The ascent may be briefly thus : that walking expresseth lessresolution than standing, and standing than sitting; but in sin, the more resolute, the moredissolute : therefore sitting is the worst. The descent thus : that walking expresseth more strengththan standing, and standing than sitting; for a child can sit when he cannot stand, and standwhen he cannot walk ; but the stronger in sin, the worse; therefore walking is the worst. Manysuch ways there are of conceiving diversity, either in ascending or descending ; but it needs be noquestion which is the worse, because, without question, they are all stark nought : they are threerocks, whereof the least is enough to make a shipwreck ; they are three pestilential airs, whereof the best is enough to poison the heart.” “then there will not be either ascent or descent in the sinsthemselves, but only a diversity in their causes ; as that the first is a sin caused by ill counsel ; thesecond, a sin caused by ill example ; the third, a sin caused by the innate corruption of our ownhearts. And so we shall have the three principal heads or springs from which all sins do flow, andmay probably be exemplified by the three first persons that were in the world : the first,committed by Eve, in following the counsel of that ungodly one, the serpent ; the second,committed by Adam, in following the example of the sinful Eve ; the third, committed by Cain, who sinned not either by any ill counsel or by any ill ex ample, but only by the inbred corruptionof his own heart. And in this we may observe the wonderful proneness of our nature to sin, seeingthe three first persons in the world had every one of them a several spring-head of sin of theirown opening.”

1E3. Sir Richard Knight goes on to give another interpretation: “Or is it that the Prophet alludeshere to the three principal ages of our life, which have every one of them their proper vices, as itwere, retainers to them ? and therefore the vices of youth, which is the vigor of life, and delights most in motion and society, he expresseth by walking in the counsel of the ungodly ; thevices of the middle age, which is stata cetas [the steadfast age], he expresseth by standing in theway of sinners ; the vices of old age, which, being weak and feeble, is scarce able to go, he expresseth by sitting in the chair of scorners, and it is as if he had said, " Blessed is the man thathath passed through all the ages of his life, and hath kept himself untainted of the vices that areincident unto them ; that hath passed the days of his youth as it were the morning of his life, andis not tainted with the stirring vices of voluptuousness and prodigality ; that hath passed hismiddle age as it were the noon of his life, and is not tainted with the more elevated vices ofambition and vain-glory ; that hath passed his old age as it were the evening of his life, and is nottainted with the sluggish vices of covetousness and avarice."

1F. Spurgeon, ““Blessed,” says David, is such and such a man”; and the word which he uses is, inthe original, exceedingly expressive. It implies a sort of plurality of blessedness-”Blessednessesare to the man; “ and it is scarcely known whether the word is an adjective or a noun; as if theblessedness qualified the whole of life, and was, in itself, better even than life itself. The veryhighest degree of happiness is blessedness, “these blessednesses,’’ as Ainsworth says, “heaped upone upon the other.”

1G. An unknown author wrote, “Happiness in the bible has little to do with the emotional statewe often associate the word with. The happy man is one who enjoys God’s blessing here, andlooks forward to its fullness in the future. It is interesting to note that the Hebrew word forhappy, asre, is derived from a Semitic stem which in its verb form means “walk” or “goforward”; and in its noun form means “a footstep”. Our life then is conceived of as a pilgrimage,a religious journey towards God and full happiness. This accounts for the journey motif whichdominates this Psalm.”

2. It is funny how life gets so paradoxical, for you need to do just the opposite with this secondsinner who comes into your life. The first entices you to walk, but you need to stand still and justsit on this guys advice and enticement. However, the next guy comes along and with him you needto get walking. You are not to stand with this sinner, and be associated with him in his sin. Getmoving away from him and his crowd, and don't look back. Standing in his company means to bein agreement with his way of life. You want no hint that this is your conviction, and so you do notassociate with them in their lifestyle. The same is true of the third guy who wants you to join himas he sits and mocks other people, and especially believers in God. He is loud mouth blasphemerof righteous people, and you dare not join him in his folly, or you will be out of God's will. So,again, you walk away from him and his kind, or better yet, you run and let nobody ever assumethat you are connected with this obnoxious character. So sometimes you sit, and other times youwalk away or run, but in every case with those who want to make you partners in their evil, youdisassociate yourself. This is what Paul was saying in II Cor. 6, "What fellowship hathrighteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness?”

2B. We need to teach young people and new believers that there are many things we cannotafford if we are going to please our heavenly Father, and be fruitful in his service. Someonewrote-

We can't afford to win the gain that means another's loss; We can't afford to miss the crown by stumbling at the cross. We can't afford the heedless jest that robs us of a friend; We can't afford the race that comes to tragic bitter end. We can't afford to play with fire, or tempt a serpent's bite We can't afford to think that sin brings any true delight. We can't afford with serious heed to treat the cynic's sneer, We can't afford to use man's words to turn a careless ear. We can't afford for hate to give like hatred in return; We can't afford to feed a flame and make it fiercer burn. We can't afford to lose the soul for this world's fleeting breath; We can't afford to barter life in mad exchange for death. How blind are we apart from thee, our great all-seeing Lord; Oh, grant us light that we may know the things we can't afford.

3. Gill stresses the happiness of this man. “This psalm begins in like manner as Christ's sermonon the mount, (Matthew 5:3) ; setting forth the praises and expressing the happiness of the manwho is described in this verse and (Psalms 1:2) . The words may be rendered, "O, theblessednesses of the man", or "of this man"; he is doubly blessed, a thrice happy and blessedman; blessed in things temporal and spiritual; happy in this world, and in that to come. He is tobe praised and commended as a good man, so the Targum: ``the goodness, or, Oh, the goodness ofthe man;'' or as others, ``Oh, the right goings or happy progress, or prosperous success of theman.'' All people seek for happiness, and God gives us the key to it right here as he begins his giftof a hymn book to his people. The Psalms cover every imaginable subject including all of thenegative emotions as well as the positive, but there is both a happy beginning and happy endingbecause God lays out the road to walk in to find the kind of happiness that makes him happywith you.

3B. Moffatt, “Happy the man who never takes the sinner’s road.” Someone else put it, “Blessedis translated 27 times as blessed and 18 as happy. This is a believer’s handbook for happiness.”The only man who ever completely fulfilled this ideal was Jesus, and so Jesus was, in fact, thehappiest man who ever lived. Only as we follow him in his choices can we be happy on his level. Ifwe look at the many Psalms where the word blessed is used, we see the life of Jesus, and we learnthe way of true happiness. Arthur W. Pink wrote, “The word “Blessed” has here, as in so manyplaces in Scripture (like Matt. 5:3-11), a double force. First and primarily. it signifies that theDivine benediction—in contrast from God’s curse, rests upon this man. Second and consequently,it denotes that he is a happy man.” Look at how it is used in other Psalms- Psalm 32:2 Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whosespirit is no deceit.Psalm 34:8 Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.

Psalm 40:4 Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust, who does not look to the proud, tothose who turn aside to false gods. [ Or to falsehood ]

Psalm 41:1 Blessed is he who has regard for the weak; the LORD delivers him in times of trouble.

Psalm 65:4 Blessed are those you choose and bring near to live in your courts! We are filled withthe good things of your house, of your holy temple.

Psalm 84:4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you. Selah

Psalm 84:5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.

Psalm 84:12 O LORD Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you.

Psalm 89:15 Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of yourpresence, O LORD.

Psalm 94:12 Blessed is the man you discipline, O LORD, the man you teach from your law;

Psalm 106:3 Blessed are they who maintain justice, who constantly do what is right.

Psalm 112:1 Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who finds great delight in his commands.

Psalm 119:1 Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of theLORD.

Psalm 119:2 Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart.

Psalm 128:1 Blessed are all who fear the LORD, who walk in his ways.

Psalm 128:4Thus is the man blessed who fears the LORD.

Psalm 146:5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God, 4. Jim Stephenson struggles with the issue of how this verse fits the ministry of Jesus, and how we

are to relate to the lost. He wrote, “Did Jesus put up a tent in Jerusalem and advertise a RevivalMeeting and say “Ya’ll Come”? No, he went to where the sinners were - the places regarded as“off limits.” He went to Samaria – a place normally avoided by good Jews. He engaged inconversation with a “bad women” who had been married 5 times and was shacking up at thetime he met her (John 4). On another occasion he crossed the Sea of Galilee to an “unclean”Gentile territory known as Decapolis. There he healed a man who was possessed by a demon(Mark 5).

His religious detractors accused him of being a friend of drunks and whores. Why did they dothat? Because he did in fact befriend sinners and talk about the way of life. So the Bible warns usthat we are to Duck the Danger while Loving the Lost. Jesus’ example for us was to go to wheresinners are, and talk language they will understand. The woman at the well understood “water,”so Jesus talked “water” with her. Did Jesus violate the Psalmist’s admonition? Did he stand in theway of the wicked? I think it is important to understand that the primary feature of Hebrewpoetry is what we call “parallelism.” These 3 aspects of believing, behaving, and belongingbasically refer to the same thing - buying into a lie. Jesus never did that. He never compromisedthe truth or ever once sinned. But he did engage sinners.”

4B. Jesus could hang out with sinners with far less danger of being contaminated than we can,and so it does not mean that all believers can do what Jesus did. Some have a calling to ministerto prostitutes, but most men ought not to risk such a ministry. The same goes for all sorts ofspecialized ministries that seek to win various kinds of sinful people to Christ. Not everyone ismade with the ability to withstand temptations, and so each believer needs to know theirweaknesses and limitations. However, all believers have contact with the sinful world to somedegree, and they need to beware of being influenced by them to depart from what God reveals ashis will. They need, instead, to have an impact on the sinners they confront from day to day bytheir walk and witness. We can be like Jesus and relate in love to the lost, and at the same timehave no partnership with them in any of their behavior that is displeasing to God. The NewTestament warns over and over of the danger of worldliness, and of loving the world. That iswhat this verse is all about, and it is the clear message of both testaments that God's people are tobe different from the world, and not conformed to the way of the world. Paul wrote, ““Do not bebound together with unbelievers, for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, orwhat fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has abeliever in common with an unbeliever?”(2 Cor. 6:14-15).

5. Ray Pritchard, “Lest I be misunderstood, let me make myself clear: If you sleep with the pigs,eat with the pigs, run with the pigs, hang out with the pigs, talk like the pigs, walk like the pigs,laugh like the pigs, and dress like the pigs, in short, if you basically do what the pigs do, youshouldn’t be surprised that you end up smelling like the pigs, sounding like the pigs, and lookinglike the pigs. In the end, you will be indistinguishable from the pigs. You’re going to become likethe people around you. This is true whether they are good or evil. Now as soon as I put it thatway, I can hear someone object: “But how are we going to reach the lost if we don’t spend timewith them?” Good question. The answer goes like this. You do not win the lost by living like thelost. You win the lost by loving the lost and living like the saved. If you adopt the lifestyle of thosewho don’t know the Lord, why would they want what you have? If your life is just the same astheirs, why should they want your Jesus?”

6. I conclude this verse with verse of my own.

Take not the path that sinners tread,But follow instead what God has said.Find his Word your chief delight,And walk in its revealing light.

Avoid the path of those who walkIn godless ways with godless talk.Walk persistently all of your daysWith hearts and voices filled with praise.

Praise to God who shows the wayTo walk the path to endless day,Where we with him will ever dwellIn glory beyond what words can tell.

2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.

1. We often assume that a “but” means a negative thing, but here it is a positive transition from anegative form of being righteous, to a very positive form. In the negative you avoid, and pass by,but here you pursue what is good. Here you do not disassociate yourself, but just the opposite, forhere you delight in the law of God. You walk in its light; you stand in its light, and you sit in itslight. Whatever your position, you are to be delighting in the greatest written word ever given tomankind. In the Old Testament it was the writings of Moses, the prophets and the poets, and inthe New Testament it was the Gospels and Epistles, plus Acts and Revelation. You cannot loveGod with all your heart, soul and mind without delighting in His Word.

1B. Martin Luther, “But his will is in the law of the Lord. The "will," which is here signified, isthat delight of heart, and that certain pleasure, in the law, which does not look at what the lawpromises, nor at what it threatens, but at this only; that "the law is holy, and just, and good."Hence it is not only a love of the law, but that loving delight in the law which no prosperity, noradversity, nor the world, nor the prince of it, can either take away or destroy; for it victoriouslybursts its way through poverty, evil report, the cross, death, and hell, and in the midst ofadversities, shines the brightest.”

1C. Luther has an unusual comment on meditating. “To meditate, as it is generally understood,signifies to discuss, to dispute; and its meaning is always confined to a being employed in words,as in Psalms 37:30, "The mouth of the righteous shall meditate wisdom." Hence Augustine has, inhis translation, "chatter;" and a beautiful metaphor it is -- as chattering is the employment ofbirds, so a continual conversing in the law of the Lord (for talking is peculiar to man), ought tobe the employment of man. But I cannot worthily and fully set forth the gracious meaning andforce of this word; for this "meditating" consists first in an intent observing of the words of thelaw, and then in a comparing of the different Scriptures; which is a certain delightful hunting,nay, rather a playing with stags in a forest, where the Lord furnishes us with the stags, and opens

to us their secret coverts. And from this kind of employment, there comes forth at length a manwell instructed in the law of the Lord to speak unto the people.”

1D. Erwin Lutzer, “In Europe a couple bought a jewelry box that they were told would glow allnight. When they brought it home, they were disappointed because it did not seem to glow at all.Then they sought a friend who was able to read French and told them that the instructions read,"Put me in the sunshine all day and I will glow in the night." They discovered that the box was asgood as the promises made about it. The truths that we absorb into our minds and hearts willstick with us throughout the day if we absorb God's promises and principles.” This illustratesthe need to expose your mind to the truths of God in the daylight so that it will be available toshine in the night. It is study of God's Word when all is going well, and there are no seriousproblems in your life that will benefit you when the problems come. Absorb the light of God'sWord in the good times so that they will be shining in the dark bad times when you need theencouragement. It is often too late if you wait until you are in the darkness of depression to seekfor light. Get the light when it is shining bright, and it will glow when comes the night.

1E. The Pulpit Commentary, “The written Word is dear to him. The primary reference is, ofcourse, to the Law of Moses, of which every letter was dear and sacred to the devout Israelite.How much dearer should the completed Scriptures be to the Christian (1 John i. 17) ! 2. The deepspiritual truth of God's Word engages his profound study, is " the rejoicing of his heart " (Jer. xv.16 ; Col. iii. 1C). Take Ps. cxix. as the consummate expression of the value of God's Law to amind taught by God's Spirit. Note the great principles •embodied—that God rules by law; thateach of us stands in direct relation to God, subject to his Law ; that this Law is plainly revealed.N.B.—No Israelite, however •ungodly,-could call in question the fact that God spake to and byMoses, without pouring contempt on the law and constitution of his country ; this was thecornerstone. 3. He loves God's Law as the practical guide of his life ( John viii. 12, 31, 32).

2. Verse one tells us the things to avoid, and verse two tells us the things to acquire, for they areall in the Word of God. All the tools you need to live the life that is blessed are in God's Word. Itis not enough that you avoid bad books if you do not pursue good books. It is not enough to avoidevil, for you must also pursue good, and the way to all that is good is in God's revelation of theway to walk, stand and sit. Someone made the strong statement that happiness is in directproportion to our delight in the Word. Pink makes a distinction between interest and delight. Hewrote, “It is not simply that he is interested in “the Law of the LORD,” but he delights therein.There are thousands of people, like Russellites, and Christadelphians, and, we may add, in themore orthodox sections of Christendom, who are keen students of Scripture, who delight in itsprophecies, types, and mysteries, and who eagerly grasp at its promises; yet are they far fromdelighting in the authority of its Author and in being subject to His revealed will. The “blessed”man delights in its precepts. There is a “delight” —a peace, joy, and satisfaction of soul—pureand stable, to be found in subjection to God’s will, which is obtainable nowhere else. As John tellsus “His commandments are not grievous” (1 John 5:3), and as David declares “in keeping ofthem there is great reward” (Psa. 19:11).”

3. Delight is manifested in meditation, for there can be no delight for anything that does not leadto devoting a good deal of time to it. You have no delight in poetry if you never read it; or delightin sports if you never play them or watch them; or delight in fellowship if you are antisocial andseldom get together with others. We could give endless illustrations of how inconsistent it would

be to say you delight in something that you take no serious interest in. Delight in God's lawdemands that you devote time to it, and a lot of time. If you do not do so, you may like the law,and approve of the law, but you do not delight in it, for delight is a strong emotion and desire thatcannot be maintained without action. Many believer the Bible who seldom read it, and becausethey have no delight in it, the will end up like the horsemen in the following story from Our DailyBread.

We were told of an old legend about three men crossing a desert on horseback at night.Approaching a dried-up pond bed, they heard a voice commanding them to stop and dismount,pick up some pebbles, put them in their pockets, and not look at them until the morning. Themen were also promised that if they obeyed they would be both glad and sad. They obeyed,mounted their horses and went on their way. As the light of dawn breaks, the men reached intotheir pockets to pull out the pebbles. To their great surprise, they had been transformed intodiamonds, rubies, and other precious gems. It was then that they realized the significance of thepromise that they would be both glad and sad. They were happy that they had picked up as manypebbles as they did, but sorry-so sorry- that they had not collected more.” It will be a time ofregret to grow old and realize you could have gathered so much more of the wisdom of God'sWord had you given it the meditation that it rightly deserves.

3B. Those who do not delight in the Word, and who are content with being ignorant of God'spromises and wisdom for guidance are robbers and thieves of their own treasure. They fall intothe same category of those who have great wealth, but who never appropriate it for living. Forexample, “It was 1916, and Hattie Green was dead. Hattie's life is a sad demonstration of what itis like to be among the living dead. When Hattie died, her estate was valued at over $100 million;yet Hattie lived in poverty. She ate cold oatmeal because it cost money to heat it. When her son'sleg became infected, Hattie wouldn't get it treated until she could find a clinic that wouldn'tcharge her. By then, her son's leg had to be amputated. Hattie died arguing over the value ofdrinking skim milk. She had money to meet her every need, but she chose to live as if it didn'texist.” Turning Point, March, 1993

3C. Another example is, “A poor old widow, living in the Scottish Highlands, was called upon oneday by a gentleman who had heard that she was in need. The old lady complained of hercondition, and remarked that her son was in Australia and doing well. "But does he do nothing tohelp you?" inquired the visitor. "No, nothing," was the reply. "He writes me regularly once amonth, but only sends me a little picture with his letter." The gentleman asked to see one of thepictures that she had received, and found each one of them to be a draft for ten pounds.” Herewas a lady with money coming in on a regular basis, and yet she lived in poverty because she didnot know what she had, and did not appropriate it for her benefit. Believers have treasurebeyond measure in God's Word, but due to ignorance, laziness and choice let it go unused. Theyare not the blessed ones, even though they have salvation. They miss so much that God wants togive them, and so they fall short of the picture we have in this first Psalm.

4. Christians who take the Bible seriously, and who will seek to know it as much as possible areexalted to a different level than the average. They are called more noble. Acts 17:11 “These weremore noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with ALL READINESS OFMIND, and SEARCHED (STUDIED) the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. ...” Ifyou want to kick it up a notch in your Christian life, you need to spend more time in the Word.You are either more noble or less noble in the eyes of God depending on your devotion to hisrevelation.

5. Meditating on the Word not only lifts you to a higher level, it may just lead others to thathigher level as well, as we see in this testimony of Henry Ward Beecher. Our Daily Bread tells thestory. “Preacher Henry Ward Beecher said that one of the great influences in his life was a blackman named Charles Smith. He was a hired man on the farm that belonged to Beecher’s father.Beecher said, "Charles Smith did not try to influence me. He didn’t know he did it and I didn’tknow it until some time later. He used to lie on his bed and read the New Testament, not knowingI was listening to him. He would talk about the Scripture out loud and chuckle over it as he readit. I had never heard anything like that before..." How you treat the Word will influence both youand all who know your habits concerning it.

6. Meditation is a common theme in the Psalms, and that is because you cannot really come toknow God, his works, and his Word without being one who thinks about these things on a regularbasis. Someone wrote, “Meditate” is a very figurative word. It pictures a cow chewing on her cud.I’m told that the cow has several compartments in her tummy. She can go out in the morning,graze on the grass, when the dew is out in the cool of the day. Then when it gets hot in the middleof the day, she lies down under a tree and begins to chew the cud. She moves the grass she had inthe morning back up and now she masticates it, she goes over it again. That is what we do whenwe meditate. We go over what we have read again and again.” Warren Wiersbe said, “"Whatdigestion is to the body, meditation is to the soul." Nathanael Ranew wrote of it, “It helpsjudgment, wisdom, and faith to ponder, discern, and credit the things which reading and hearingsupply and furnish. It assists the memory to lock up the jewels of divine truth in her suretreasury. It has a digesting power, and turns special truth into spiritual nourishment; and lastly,it helps the renewed heart to grow upward and increase its power to know the things which arefreely given to us of God.”

Psalms 77:12 I will MEDITATE also of all thy WORKS: and talk of thy doings.Psalms 119:15 I will MEDITATE in thy PRECEPTS....Psalms 119:23 I will MEDITATE in thy STATUES ....Psalms 119:48 I will MEDITATE in thy WORD ....Psalms 143:5 I will MEDITATE on all thy WORKS ...

6B. Pink, “Thy Words were found, and I did eat them; and Thy Word was unto me the joy andrejoicing of mine heart” (Jer. 15:16). What is meant by “did eat them”? Appropriation,mastication, assimilation. Meditation stands to reading as mastication does to eating. It is asGod’s Word is pondered by the mind, turned over and over in the thoughts, and mixed with faith,that we assimilate it. That which most occupies the mind and most constantly engages ourthoughts, is what we most “delight” in. Here is a grand cure for loneliness (as the writer hasmany times proved): to meditate on God’s Law day and night. But real “meditation” in God’sLaw is an act of obedience: “Thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observeto do according to all that is written therein” (Josh. 1:8). The Psalmist could thus appeal to God—can you: “Give ear to my words, O LORD; consider my meditation” (Psa. 5:1).”

7. I know it is quite common for men to never read another book once they get out of school, butthis is not acceptable as Christian behavior. The Bible is a book that is never finished no matterhow many times you read it and study it. It is alive, and it feeds you with fresh truth andinspiration every time you read it. It is a lifetime project, and the Bible should be the last thingyou read before you die. He who reads the Bible once, is not much brighter than the dunce. It is

the one book that God gave to mankind, and that should make it obvious that it is the mostimportant book anyone can ever read. Look at some other Scripture that makes this clear.

8. Proverbs 15:28 The heart of the righteous STUDIETH to answer: but the mouth of the wickedpoureth out evil things.2 Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to beashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.Psalms 119:165 Great peace have they which LOVE (STUDY) thy law, and nothing shall offendthem.Psalms 119:11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee.Psa. 119:105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.Matt 22:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, YE DO ERR, NOT KNOWING THESCRIPTURES, NOR THE POWER OF GOD.Wiersbe points out that we must be separated from the world, and saturated with the Word.

8B. What is clear too, is that the Bible is not always easy to understand. If it was, we could bedone with our study of it by the time we get out of high school. There would be no point inmeditating on it day and night, for we would have it all memorized like the alphabet. The Bible istoo profound to ever be done with like other books. They have a message, and when we know it,we can move on to still other books. The Bible does not work like that, for it has new messages allthe time. Every time we read it we are in a different stage of life, and it will speak to us indifferent ways that we did not see the last time we read it. It deals with all of life, and we do notlive all of life at once. We live it in stages, and each stage has it own issues and problems andblessings. That is why it is a never finished book, and pity the believer who thinks because he hasread through it that he is finished with it. Anyone who thinks he has finished the Bible revealsjust how little he has grasped of the Bible. I have studied the Bible hard for 54 years, and I am farfrom finished. I can never live long enough to finish this book of wisdom and guidance that hasmore truth to reveal than all the literature of mankind combined. It takes never ending study toalways be walking in the council of the godly; standing in the way of the righteous, and sitting inthe seat of those who are perpetually praising. You need a lot of wisdom and guidance to live alife completely opposite of those in verse one who would lead you astray. If you are going to detestevil and delight in good, then you need a clear understanding of what God says about each.

9. Lt. General William K. Harrison was the most decorated soldier in the 30th infantry division.He received every decoration for valor except the Congressional Medal of Honor - being honoredwith the Distinguished Silver Cross, the Silver Star, the Bronze Star for Valor, and the PurpleHeart (he was one of few generals to be wounded in action). General Harrison was a soldier’ssoldier who led a busy life, but he was also an amazing man of the Word. When he was a twenty-year-old West Point Cadet, he began reading the Old Testament through once a year and the NewTestament four times. General Harrison did this until the end of his life. Even in the thick of warhe maintained his commitment by catching up during the two and three day rests forreplacement and refitting which followed battles, so that when the war ended he was right onschedule. General Harrison’s story tells me that even the busiest person can systematically feedon God’s Word. No one can be busier or lead a more demanding life than General Harrison.

10. General Harrison was a man who illustrated what delight in the law of the Lord looks like.Keathley in his study of the word delight wrote, “The Theological Word Book of the OldTestament points out this word may be used for that which a person wishes strongly to do orhave. It means “to feel great favor toward something.” The emphasis of this word is that the

desire is caused in the subject by the intrinsic qualities that are found in the object desired (cf.Isa. 54:12, “precious, delightful stones,” and Mal. 3:12, “delightful land”). The Hebrew verb formof this noun is used several times of a man taking pleasure or finding delight in the woman heloves. In the Old Testament, Israel was viewed as the wife of yahweh and in the New Testamentthe church is the bride of Jesus Christ. The written Word is God’s love letter to us and we are tohave a love affair with God through His Word. Just as one would read the love letters of his orher sweetheart, so are we to read and study God’s Word with the same delight.”

10B. Many great men and women have recognized the importance of reading and meditating onthe Word of God, and here are just a few examples. “That book, sir, is the rock on which ourrepublic rests.” Andrew Jackson; “The N.T. is the very best book that was or ever will be knownin the world.” Charles Dickens; “It is impossible to righteously govern the world without Godand the Bible...” George Washington; “Within the covers of one single book, the Bible, are all the answers to all the problems that face us today--if only we would read and believe.” RonaldReagan; “God is everywhere. However, He does not want you to reach out for Him everywherebut only in the Word. Reach out for it and you will grasp Him aright. Otherwise you aretempting God and setting up idolatry. That is why He has established a certain method for us.This teaches us how and where we are to look for Him and find Him, namely, in the Word.”--Martin Luther

11. The day and night does not mean 24 hours a day, but in regular and consistent fashion. It isnot to be a hit and miss affair, but a habit that you develop so that what God has revealed to youbecomes a part of your daily life the whole day through. In every situation of life from morningtill night, you are to strive to think about what God has said, and apply it to your life. You need toask yourself constantly, is my attitude in this situation consistent with the will of God? Is the wayI reacted to that negative situation similar to what Jesus likely would have done? It is beingconscious of the truth of God's Word in our lives that will keep us from going down the wrongpath, and motivate us to go down the right one. Every time we fail, it is because we were notconsidering what God revealed to us in the reading of his Word. What does God demand that weprohibit in our behavior, and what does he demand that we pursue in our behavior? These arethe questions that we need to be asking all the time to keep us on the right path.

12. Leupold’s translation of the first two verses is interesting: “O how happy is the person whohas not shaped his conduct after the principles of the ungodly, Nor taken his stand in the way ofsinners, Nor taken his seat in the assembly of scoffers! But it is in the law of the Lord that hetakes his delight; And on His law he keeps pondering day and night.” Instead of devoting his timeto worldly and godless matters, he devotes his time to what delights him, and the Lord, for heponders and meditates on those things that matter to God. The blessed man is one who sets hisaffections on things above, and not on the things that will soon pass away. His focus is on whatwill never pass away.

12B. An unknown author wrote, “...when it comes to a knowledge of Scripture, the currentgeneration as well as the one that preceded it is dumber than a sack of hammers. We may havethe air of serious students of the Bible, but, as they say in Texas about cowboy wannabes: “Bighat, no cattle.” No surprise then that when Jay Leno moved into his audience one night to askthem some questions about the Bible, they didn’t fare so well.

“Name one of the Ten Commandments,” he said.

“God helps those who help themselves?” someone ventured.

“Name one of the apostles,” Leno told them. No one could.

Finally, he asked them to name the Beatles. The answer came ringing from throughout thecrowd: George, Paul, John and Ringo. Granted, this crowd is not your typical church crowd. Butwould our congregations do much better?One study reported recently that fewer than 16 percentof Christians read the Bible every day.”

13. Mark Copeland outlined this first Psalm as simple as possible.

Avoidance of Godless waysAcceptance of God’s ways.

14. An unknown author gives us this outline: “Psalm one tells us what we must do in order to beblessed by God.1- We must be separated from the world2- We must be saturated with the word3- We must be situated by the waters

14B. My poetic outline of the first two verses is-

Blessed. Blessed is the man who

Will not walk in wicked ways.

Likewise, he will never plan to

Stand or sit with all such strays.

He will make it his great delight

To enjoy God’s precious law.

Of it he will both day and night

Meditate on what he saw.

15. Jerry Bouey wrote this poem dedicated to faithful preachers of the Word: Blessed is that man whose trust is in the Lord,Whose heart is wholly yielded to God's Holy Word,Whose faith rests upon a solid foundation,Who has trusted Jesus Christ alone for salvation.

Blessed is that man who delights himself in God's Word,Who wields the same as a sharp double-edged sword,Has a mind for the battle, is willing to fight,That brave warrior who stands in the strength of His might.

Blessed is that man whose mind is on eternity,Who stands faithfully in the gap for you and me,Fighting spiritual battles in the whole armour of God,Following in the footsteps that other saints have trod.

That good soldier of Christ, that mighty man of God,Blessed is that man…

16. Dr. Amos R. Wells wrote,

When I am tired, the Bible is my bed;Or in the dark, the Bible is my light;When I am hungry, it is vital bread;Or fearful, it is armor for the fight;When I am sick, 'tis healing medicine;Or lonely, thronging friends I find therein.

If I would work, the Bible is my tool;Or play, it is a harp of happy sound.If I am ignorant, it is my school;If I am sinking, it is solid ground.If I am cold, the Bible is my fire;And wings, if boldly I aspire.

Should I be lost, the Bible is my guide;Or naked, it is raiment, rich and warm.Am I imprisoned, it is ranges wide;Or tempest-tossed, a shelter from the storm.Would I adventure, 'tis a gallant sea;Or would I rest, it is a flowery lea.

3. 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.

1. When you plant a tree by streams of water, you can be quite certain that it will be a fruitfultree. It is assumed that it is a fruit tree, of course, for a non-fruit bearing tree will not producefruit no matter how rich the supply of water. Give a fruit tree an abundance of water, and youwill have an abundance of fruit. The blessed man is fruitful because he is ever drinking of thewater of life. He lets the water of God's word flow into his mind daily, and such living water willby its very nature make this man one who produces the fruit of the Spirit. His leaf does not

wither because it is ever supplied with fresh water, for he meditates on the Word day and night.Others who read God's Word only on rare occasions will discover a wilting procedure takingplace, and if continued their leaf will dry up and even fall off. This will never be the case with theblessed man, for he will never cease to supply his leaf with fresh water. “The righteous man willflourish like the palm tree, he will grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Planted in the house of theLORD, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still yield fruit in old age; They shallbe full of sap and very green” (Psalm 92:12-14).

1B. The Pulpit Commentary, “" He shall be like a tree," etc. Among the costly works in whichKing Solomon exercised his wisdom and displayed his magnificence were gardens rich in fruittrees and watered by channels and reservoirs (Eccles. i. 5,6). Among these would be citrons andoranges, with their lustrous evergreen leaves and golden fruit ; palms also, which love water andsoil free from all foul decay and refuse. Some have fancied the similitude taken from theoleanders abounding by the streams of Canaan ; but its fruit is poison ; no one cares to plant it.An evergreen, fruit-bearing tree is here the bright image of the prosperous soul. (Solomon verypossibly the author.)”

2. You will notice that this tree did not just blow in by the wind, nor was it dropped by a bird, orany other force of nature. It was planted by the streams, and so it was a deliberate and thoughtout location by one with wisdom. The most famous tree planter was God himself, for he plantedthe first trees in the Garden of Eden, and he is the one who takes the blessed man and plants himwhere he will grow and thrive. Long before man, God was on to the key to growth-location,location, location. God plants literal trees by many forces, but he takes a personal interest inplanting people where they will grow. We read in Isa. 61:3, “To appoint unto those who mourn inZion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise forthe spirit of heaviness, that they might be called trees of righteousness the planting of the Lord,that He might be glorified.” God loves trees, and he wants his people to be like them, and becalled trees of righteousness. God had his garden of Eden with its awesome trees, but sin put anend to that garden, and so God is applying his green thumb in a new direction so as to produce agarden of people who are beautiful trees that will bring glory to his name. The blessed man willbe one of those trees.

3. God's trees are not wild trees, but planted trees designed to be in the best place for growth, andbe the best resources for the fruit that will enhance the glory of God. When you see an orchardwith delicious fruit in abundance on each tree, you know you are seeing the work of a dedicatedgardener who takes great pride in his work. You can count on him, and trust him to deliver whathe promises. That is what God expects to happen with his trees of righteousness. These trees arethe blessed people who are devoted to the Word of God, and are allowing its truths to produce thefruit of the Spirit. Their beautiful life will attract the attention and admiration of the world, andthey will want to have a relationship with this gardener who can produce such trees and suchamazing crops. It is all analogy about what Jesus said in another way when he said we are to letour light shine so men can see our good works and glorify our Father who is in heaven. When weare happy and fruitful because of our loyalty to the Word, we will be the best advertisement forGod's tree making business, and others will want to surrender to him to be made one of his treesof righteousness. Another way of saying it is, when you walk in the light of God's Word youbecome a beacon that attracts the lost to the source of your beauty, and they will want to alsoreceive Jesus as Lord and Savior of their lives. Trees produce other trees, and this is what Goddesires to see in his trees of righteousness.

4. An unknown author gives us these comments: “Also notice that this tree is “planted” and notgrowing wild. From what I understand, this word “plant” in the Hebrew language means “totransplant.” Transplant means to take a plant out of one environment and place it in another.Like taking a wild tree growing in desert like conditions and carefully transplanting it in richprepared soil by streams of water. Before we were saved we were in Adam, dead in sin, but Godin His grace has transplanted us into Jesus Christ. He has taken us out of Satan’s domain ofdarkness and placed us into the kingdom of His Son. With this new position also comes theprovisions and resources of life - the Holy Spirit and the Word - both of which are life streams ofwater.”

5. Jeremiah writes of these trees also. In Jer. 17:7-8 we read, "But blessed is the man who trustsin the LORD, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sendsout its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has noworries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” Someone said that God only plantsevergreens, and by this meant what Jeremiah is referring to about the leaves always being freshand alive with the healthiness of continuous green. God was into green long before men caught onto the idea. Success and prosperity is directly connected to ones knowledge of God's Word.Joshua 1:8 says, “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditatetherein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: forthen thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”

6. When we are God's trees, we have all we need to be prosperous and fruitful. This is notnecessarily a promise that we will have a trunk full of money, but that we will be rich in the onlyway that matters, for we will be rich in the resources that please God, and which matter most fortime and eternity. These riches make us the kind of people that are also often rich in the physicalrealm so that we can have the resources to be generous in meeting the needs of others. God'spromise is that his trees with be successful and prosperous in whatever they endeavor to achieve,and the reason he can do so is because they will be pursuing the very things in life that he willsfor them to be pursuing. His Word will be their guide, and his Word will not return to him void,meaning that it will always achieve its purpose in some way, and so those who walk in its lightwill certainly be successful in what really matters to God. Christians fail and go bankrupt all thetime. They have every imaginable problem and trial in life as some time, but if they go throughall this tribulation with a Christ-like spirit, and the fruit of the Holy Spirit, they will still besuccessful and prosperous in the way that God wills for his trees of righteousness.

6B. F. B. Meyer, “"If a man abide not in Me," said our Lord, "he is cast forth as a branch, and iswithered." The same thought is here. Thrust down your rootlets to the oozy river bed, and thereis no doubt about your continuing earnest, patient, God-filled. The sun of temptation may strikeyou with sword-like beams, but you will have a source of supply which they cannot exhaust. Thesecret of an unwithering beauty is in the Word of God, delighted in and meditated upon day andnight. And what is the Word of God, but the life of God. translated into human speech? Weanyourself from all beside, and learn to feed on God. Withdraw your rootlets from men and things,and let them travel to the river of God, which is full of water. Close other doors, and open thosethat. lead out on to the terrace, whence you may behold the far-spread landscape of what He is,and says, and is willing to be to us all.

Note that word meditate (Meditate). The root must lie in contact with the stream, and the soulmust steep itself in the Word of God. We must give the truth time to enter and pervade our souls.We must have retreats, shut away from the rush of life, up and down the glades of which we may

tread. These retreats are oftener found within the soul than without. Just as in the temple of old,there was Solomon's porch, where Jesus walked, so in the temple within there are closes andcloisters, where we may commune with our heart, and be still.”

7. Pink, “...just as a tree derives life and fruitfulness from the adjacent river, so the believer, bycommunion, draws from the fullness there is for him in Christ. “That bringeth forth his fruit inhis season.” This is an essential character of a gracious man, for there are no fruitless branches inthe true Vine. “In his season,” for all fruits do not appear in the same month, neither are all thegraces of the Spirit produced simultaneously. Trial calls for faith, suffering for the exercise ofpatience, disappointment for meekness, danger for courage, blessings for thanksgiving,prosperity for joy; and so on. This word “in season” is a timely one: we must not expect the fruitsof maturity in those who are but babes.”

7B. The Pulpit Commentary, “The comparison of a man to a tree is frequent in the Book of Job(viii. 16, 17 ; xiv. 7—10 ; xv. 32, 33, etc.), and occurs once in the Pentateuch (Numb. xxiv. 6). Wefind it again in Ps. xcii. 12—14, and frequently in the prophets. The " rivers of water " spoken ofare undoubtedly the "streams" (Revised Version) or "canals of irrigation" so common both inEgypt and in Babylonia, by which fruit trees were planted, as especially date-palms, which needthe vicinity of water. That such planting of trees by the waterside was known to the Israelites isevident, both from this passage and from several others, as Numb. xxiv. C; Eccles. ii. 5; Jer. xvii.8; Ezek. xvii. 5, 8, etc. It is misplaced ingenuity to attempt to decide what particular tree thewriter had in his mind, whether the palm, or the oleander, or any other, since he may not havebeen thinking of any particular tree. That brings forth his fruit in his season. Therefore not theoleander, which has no fruit, and is never planted in the East, but grows naturally along thecongress of streams. His leaf also shall not wither.”

8. All the blessings of the blessed man are not immediate, nor are they easy to achieve, and so thesooner one gets on the path of light and continues to walk in it, the greater will be their reward inthis picture of the abundant life. Many years ago Fulton J. Sheen wrote, " There is a legend of thesybil offering to sell the king of Rome three volumes of oracles. The price for the three were sohigh that the king refused to pay it. She, in his presence burned one of the volumes. He returnedlater on and asked for the price of the two, only to discover that the price for the two was thesame as the price for the three. Having been again refused the price, she burned the second.Later on, feeling that the price of the surviving volume would be less than the other two, he wassurprised to learn that it was the price of the three. The three volumes had to deal with youth,manhood and old age. Men are apt to think that the price for happiness is to high in youth. Theyfeel that it might mean giving up the carnal life, and so they refuse, and one third of their life isconsumed. For manhood, the same price is asked, namely the renunciation, the denial of self, thevision of eternity and the goal. When that is refused, then there is only old age which is left. Hererenunciation becomes more difficult and seems harder because of fixed habits. If the price werepaid at the beginning, one would have had the three volumes and happiness."

9. “The godly is blessed in three ways. First he lives a useful life, producing the fruits of the spirit.Secondly he is perennially fresh and vigorous. And thirdly he ultimately succeeds in hisendeavors. As the tree is rooted in the solid earth and draws its moisture from the ever-flowingstream, so the godly man sends his roots and derives sustenance from the water springs ofsalvation. He is steadfast, fixed and anchored. Thus, though he may be assailed by trouble andtemptation, he stands firm; and the greater the trial, the deeper the root, and the stronger his

hold on God. In whatever enterprise the good man engages, he prospers. Regardless of thesuccess or failure of the undertaking, his trust in God empowers him to draw life from the eternalSource and ultimately to reach his goal.” author unknown

9B. Ray Pritchard, “Don’t jump to the conclusion that prosperity refers only or mainly tomaterial success (though that is not excluded). They prosper in the sense that no matter whathappens, they find strength for the day and hope in the midst of the hardest difficulties. Theybring forth godly fruit in good times and bad times. Why? Because they are planted deep in thegood soil and their roots reach out to the water of the Word of God. Finding constantnourishment therein, they can face whatever life throws at them. The thought here is similar toRomans 8:37 where in the midst of struggles, sorrow, persecution, famine, distress, nakednessand the sword, those who know Jesus are “more than conquerors” through his divine power. Andthat triumphant deliverance comes to us in large part through the Word of God.”

10. A blessed beginning, the future looks brightThis time I pray I do everything right.My journey was clouded I didn’t truly see,My eyes are now open to the road ahead of me.A blessed beginning before me this day,The Spirit has come to show me the way.The Book of Psalms contains the key,Delight in His Word and be like a tree.Whatever I do, will come out all right,If I meditate on God’s Word day and night.A blessed beginning the Lord’s given me,If I live by His Word, Oh how happy~happy I’ll be!~Teri Church~

11. Sir Richard Knight, “And now, if we cannot choose but think it a blessed thing to be such atree, we cannot, as little, choose but think it a blessed thing to be a godly man; for whatsoever isseen or said of this tree, is true, and more true, of a godly man. He is more fixed and immovablethan this tree, for where this tree is rooted but in the earth, a godly man is founded upon a rock.He is planted by a better gardener than this tree, for where this tree is planted but by Adam, anatural man, a godly man is planted by Paul, 1 or rather, as Christ saith, by God himself. He ismoistened with better waters than this tree, for where this tree is watered but by springs from theearth, a godly man is watered with the dew of heaven. He riseth to a greater height than this tree,for where this tree is stinted in its rising, and stays in the air, a godly man riseth up, and neverstays till he come at heaven. He bears more fruit than this tree, for where this tree hath manyleaves besides fruits, the very leaves of a godly man are themselves fruits. He is longer in season than this tree ; for where this tree is in season but some part of the year, godliness is in season allthe year long. This tree is in season but for a time, but godliness is in season to all eternity."

12. Sir Knight also deals with the concept of prospering, for it is obvious that in our culture thereare many believers who struggle in many ways and do not have anything like what we callprosperity. He wrote, “And as a man may have many blessings, and yet not be blessed, so he maywant many blessings, and nevertheless be perfectly blessed. He may want the riches of worldly pomp, and yet be blessed; for "Blessed are the poor in spirit ; " and this was David s case withMichal. He may want a quiet life, and yet be blessed ; for " Blessed are they that are persecuted

for righteousness sake ; " and this was David s case with Saul. He may want good report, and yetbe blessed ; for Blessed are ye when men rail upon you and revile you; and this was David s casewith ShimeL* But is not this strange, that a man should want, and yet be perfect? should wantblessings, and yet be perfectly blessed? Indeed, no more strange than that Adam should lose one of his ribs, and yet continue a perfect body still ; for these temporal blessings are to agodly man as the rib was to Adam of which Eve was made, not superfluous to him when he hadit, nor making him defective when he wanted it ; and so are all temporal blessings, notsuperfluous to a godly man to have them, because he can make good use of having them ; normaking him defective to want them because he can make good use of wanting them. And this, perhaps, might make St. Paul to say, I can want, and I can abound; as much as to say, I can havea rib more or a rib less, and yet in both estates continue perfect still.” Paul said, " I am instructedboth to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need."

13. Henry Law, “Behold the tree on the brook's verdant bank, whose roots drink constantly theflowing stream! The laden branches bend with plenteous fruit. Unfading freshness decks theleaves. No lovelier object adorns nature's field. It is a picture of the godly man. Deep springs ofgrace supply his inner life. The fruits of righteousness, which are the Spirit's work, abound. Hisfertility of holiness is rich, and large, and real. The Lord is truly with him; and where the Lord is,there is every good. Of Joseph it is sweetly said, "The Lord made all that he did to prosper in hishand." Of David we read, "He went on and grew great, and the Lord God of hosts was withhim."

14. A tree by the river will grow tall and develop a deep foundation for stability. Dr. RayPritchard comments, “About seven years ago we cut down a large elm tree on our churchproperty that had been growing for over 100 years. At the time I was told that it was a Chineseelm tree that had been attacked by Japanese beetles carrying Dutch elm disease. We had aninternational incident in the tree and that’s why we had to cut it down! When the men cut into it,80 gallons of water gushed out. They later discovered that its root system reached under our westparking lot all the way to Lake Street, a distance of over 100 feet. No wonder the tree lasted formore than a century. That’s what a good root system will do for you. How do you know when atree has good roots? Answer: When the storms come. All the trees look pretty much alike whenthe sun is shining or a gentle rain is falling, but let a mighty storm with fierce rain and howlingwinds pass through. Then the true difference is apparent. The trees with few roots are blownover, but the trees with deep roots are still standing when the storm has passed. So it is for thechild of God. You won’t know how good your root system is until the storms of life crash againstyou. Only then will you discover the strength of your spiritual foundation. The only way to beready for the storm is to spend time now delighting in God’s Word day by day, meditating on itstruth, and building a foundation deep and strong for whatever may come your way.”

4. Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.

1. Unlike the stable roots and trunk of the tree planted by the water, the wicked are more like the

rootless tumbleweed blown by the wind. They have no stability, for they are not rooted, and theyhave no value like the seed, but are like the chaff that is blown away so as not to be mixed withthe grain that will be used to make bread and other products for consumption. In the kingdom ofGod where the Word of God is the bread of life, these wicked people have nothing to add, but area nuisance that has to be cast away so that the bread can be made pure and uncontaminated bytheir wicked walk and words. All good ways, and all good words are a part of the kingdom way,but words and ways of the wicked are products that need to be excluded. It is sad that any lifecan be so worthless that there is no redeeming value, but when people reject God's Word and livefor the flesh only, the become a liability that calls for exclusion. They have nothing to contributeto the bread of life, for they are a waste product. Many a waste product has been found to beuseful and profitable, and by God's grace and a positive response, even these worthless chaff canbecome a valued part of the kingdom of God. But without the choice on the part of the wicked torepent, they will remain waste forever.

2. The wicked are like chaff in two ways. Chaff is worthless, and chaff is burned. This picturesthe futile, empty, worthless life of the godless, as well as their future judgment. Matt.3:12 says,“His winnowing fork is in His hand and He will clear His threshing floor, gathering his wheat intothe barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

3. Henry, “Those that, by their own sin and folly, make themselves as chaff, will be found sobefore the whirlwind and fire of Divine wrath. The doom of the ungodly is fixed, but wheneverthe sinner becomes sensible of this guilt and misery, he may be admitted into the company of therighteous by Christ the living way, and become in Christ a new creature. He has new desires, newpleasures, hopes, fears, sorrows, companions, and employments. His thoughts, words, and actionsare changed. He enters on a new state, and bears a new character. Behold, all things are becomenew by Divine grace, which changes his soul into the image of the Redeemer. How different thecharacter and end of the ungodly!”

4. Keathley, “With verse 4 we come to a very strong contrast. The way of the righteous iscontrasted with the way of the unrighteous. In the original Hebrew text, this contrast is stronglyemphasized by the lack of a connective between these sections called asyndeton, and by the wordorder. Literally, “not so, the wicked.” This is an emphatic denial; the way of the wicked is nothinglike the way of the righteous. They have completely different sources for living, differentpurposes, different character, and very different results both temporally and eternally.” “Thewicked.” This is a key word in the Psalms. In our passage it occurs four times (verses 1, 4, 5, and6). This is the primary word by which the Psalmist describes the unrighteous. The Hebrew wordis r`sh`u. We saw in verse 1 that one of the basic ideas of this word was to be loose or unstable,and so it means to be loose ethically. But loose morals occur only because one was first negative toGod; loose from Him, cut loose and excluded from a life with God and the control and stabilitythat God brings into the lives of men when they have fellowship with Him. But there is more.Included in this word is the idea of restless activity. It refers to a restless, unquiet conditionwhich, in its agitation and unquieted passions, runs from one thing to another seeking happinessand peace, often at the hurt of others.”

4B. Spurgeon, “The vulgate Latin version, the Arabic and Septuagint, read this first sentencethus:?"Not so the ungodly, not so;" for according to their version there is a double negativehere?"Not so the ungodly, not so." Now in order to understand what is meant by this negativeyou must read the third verse. The righteous man is said to be "like a tree planted by the rivers ofwater, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he

doeth shall prosper;"?"Not so the ungodly, not so."

“Again, the wicked are compared to chaff because it is base and worthless. Who will buy it? Whocares for it? In the East at least it is of no good, no use whatever can be made of it. They arecontent to burn it up and get rid of it, and the sooner they are rid of it, the better pleased arethey. So is it with the wicked. They are good for nothing, useless in this world, useless in the worldto come. They are the dross, the offal of all creation. The man who is ungodly, however much hemay value himself, is as nothing in the estimation of God. Put a gold chain round his neck, put astar upon his breast, put a crown upon his head, and what is he but a crowned heap of dust,useless, perhaps worse than useless. Base in God's sight, he tramples them beneath his feet. Thepotter's vessel hath some service, and even the broken potsherd might be used. Some Job mightscrape himself with it. But what shall be done with the chaff? It is of no use anywhere, and no onecareth for it. See, then, your value, my hearers, if you fear not God. Cast up your accounts andlook at yourselves in the right light. You think, perhaps, that you are good for much, but Godsaith you are good for nothing.”

5. Deffinbaugh, “The nature and destiny of the wicked are contrasted with that of the righteousby a change of figures from trees to chaff. Trees and chaff differ in several significant ways. First,the tree is different from chaff in its nature, for the tree has life. The reason why water benefitstrees is because trees are alive. You can water chaff day and night, and it will not grow. It cannotgrow because it has no life. Just so, the Word of God has hardly any beneficial effect on thewicked, for they have rejected not only the Word, but the God who revealed it. The only thingwater does to chaff is make it wet.

Second, chaff differs from trees in its value. Trees are of great value. My parents own someproperty which has beautiful fir trees on it. The value of that property takes into account thevalue of the trees it contains. This is even more so in a land which has a scarcity of trees—a landsuch as Israel. I have read that the verbal contract between a buyer and seller of land in theAncient Near East included an enumeration of the trees, which adds interest to our reading ofGenesis 23:17. Because trees serve to break the force of the wind, offer us shade, coolertemperatures and fruit, we value them. Chaff, on the other hand, is considered a nuisance. It isthe waste or residue remaining from the harvesting and winnowing of grain. Our only concern isto get rid of it. When grain was winnowed it was often done on a hilltop so the wind could blowthe chaff away. This is the picture which is drawn in verse 4.”

6. Ray Stedman, “It is like chaff. Oh, it may be very impressive in the eyes of the world. Such aman may have a beautiful home, drive several big cars, have many luxuries, and be regarded as awheel and thus go around in circles. But in God's evaluation, his life is worthless. He has neverfulfilled a single thing for which God put him here in this world. His life is so much wasted timeas far as God is concerned, worthless, like the chaff which the wind drives away.”

5. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

1. We did not stand with them in their sins, and now they cannot stand with us in our salvation.They must face the judge with no one to pay for their sins, and so they must pay themselves, andthe wages of sin is death, and that means separation from God. They chose not to separatethemselves from what God forbid in his law, and so now they must pay the full cost of rebellion.They are now separated from the assembly of the righteous because, like the blessed man, theywould not separate themselves from the assembly of the sinners. You choose the group you standwith, and each has a radically different destiny, for one goes to be with God forever, and the othergoes to be without God forever. The wicked do now often stand in the assembly of the righteous,for almost every church has non-believers in their midst, and sometimes real rebels, but there willbe no such mixture in the final assembly, for it will be pure with no contamination. Hell is a sadreality, but there could be no heaven without it. All souls are eternal, and if the wicked were inthe same realm as the righteous, there would be no difference from what we have in time, andheaven would be lost forever. Hell is a necessary reality for heaven to be heaven, for without itheaven would just be another hell on earth repeated on a higher level.

1B. The Pulpit Commentary, " Therefore," as being chaff, i.e. " destitute of spiritual vitality "(Kay), " the wicked shall not stand," or shall not rise up, " in the judgment," i.e. in the judgmentof the last day. So the Targum, Ilashi, Dr. Kay, Canon Cook, and others. It is certainly notconceivable that any human judgment is intended by "the judgment", and though possibly " allmanifestations of God's punitive righteousness are comprehended " (Hengstenberg), yet the mainidea must be that the wicked shall not be able to " stand," or " rise up," i.e. " hold up theirheads" (Aglen), in the last day. Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. Here the humanjudgment comes in. Sinners will be cast out, not only from heaven, but also from the Church, or "congregation of the righteous," if not before, at any rate when the " congregation " is finallymade up.”

2. God always gives people a choice. He did this for his own people, and all people are treated thesame. “This day I call heaven and earth as witness against you that I have set before you life anddeath, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that youmay love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life,and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac andJacob.” (Deut. 30:19-20, NIV). God wants all to choose life, but if they choose death, he will notstop them, but grant their final rebellious wish.

3. Deffinbaugh, “Psalm 1 summarizes the essence of the law, which puts before men the choice offollowing God through obedience to His Word and receiving His blessings, or rejecting Him andHis Word and facing His judgment. The psalm, while not what might be thought of as worship,certainly tells us the kind of person who is qualified to worship. Just as 1 Timothy 3 lays downthe qualifications for church leaders, Psalm 1 sets down the qualifications for a worshiper. Whilethe other psalms provide us with the material for worship, this psalm describes for us the onewho is able to worship. Worship, then, is not just a matter of what we say and do, but of whatkind of person we are. The wicked will not be in the congregation of the righteous, which is thevery place where the psalms were used for corporate worship. If we must be in “the way of therighteous” to be blessed, we must also be in this “way” to worship “in spirit and in truth” (John4:23-24).

4. Henry Law, “The Judge stands at the door. The great white throne will soon be set. The deadshall be judged out of those things which are written in the books according to their works. They

cannot flee the dread tribunal. There is no escape. No mask can hide their guilt. Their sins are allrecorded. No blood blots out the stains. They plead no Savior's merit. They have no interest in thesaving cross. No solid ground sustains their feet. They cannot stand. Undefended, they receive thedreadful sentence, 'Depart! you cursed ones!' Thus they are cast far from the congregation of therighteous. May we live ever with this last scene before us, and never rest until clear evidence isours that we have happy place in "the general assembly and church of the first-born, who arewritten in heaven."

5. Ray Pritchard, “When the time for judgment comes, the wicked will not stand because theyhave no roots. Everything about them is blow and show, froth and worldly pomp, bluster andbrag, and ego. But there is nothing of lasting value. With one breath, the Lord will blow all thewicked into hell. Meanwhile, the righteous will stand because they are like trees by the stream,with deep roots in the Word of God. The tree stands, the chaff disappears. That’s why sinnerswon’t be in the assembly of the righteous. They won’t be there because the winds of judgmentwill already have removed them.”

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

1. God is not different from us in that he likes to watch what makes him feel good, and it iswatching those who walk in the way of righteousness that give him this delight. He is pleased tofollow the path of those who go about like Jesus, who went about doing good. He loves to watchthe fruit of the Spirit in action as his godly followers fulfill his plan by doing his will on earth as itis in heaven. On the other hand, God does not like to follow along with those who walk indarkness and follow a path of folly. They have rejected the Word of God that showed them theway to walk in light, and so God allows them to keep right on walking into the darkness ofdamnation. They have refused to believe the warning sign that says the bridge is out ahead. Theywill not turn back, and so they are allowed to go their stubborn way of disobedience, and plungeover the precipice to their destruction. It is not God's will, for he is not willing that any shouldperish, and he made a way for all to escape destruction, but if they refuse his gift of grace inChrist, he will not prevent them from falling into the fires of judgment.

2. Herrick, “Concerning the wicked, Anderson says: Since the godless have no regard for the Lawof God, God cannot have a real regard for their way, because the Law is the God-given guide tohis people, and consequently those who reject that guidance also repudiate God’s concern forthem, and thereby they cut the very ground from under their own feet.”

2B. Deffinbaugh, “Did you notice something unusual about the statement in verse 6? It does notsay that the Lord watches over the righteous and punishes the wicked. It says, rather, “… theLord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.” Why thisemphasis on the ways of the two rather than on the people themselves? I believe the answer issimple, yet profound in its implications. Men are blessed or condemned on the basis of only onedecision—the way in which they have chosen to walk. There are only two ways from which tochoose and every person is in one way or the other. The judgment some will receive is the resultof their decision to walk in the way of the wicked. The blessings others will obtain are the resultof their decision to walk in the way of righteousness.

While some of the particular signs along these two ways have changed, the same two ways existtoday, along with the same two destinies. If the way of righteousness was chosen by a rejection ofevil men and obedience to the Word of God in the Old Testament, men from the time of Christuntil now choose to walk in the way of life by obedience to the living Word, Jesus Christ, whosaid, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”(John 14:6). Men choose to remain in the way of the wicked by rejecting the Lord Jesus Christand His atoning death.”

2C. Sir Robert Knight, “For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous. For this indeed is the true reason of all the blessings that are or ever shall be to the godly; all their praises that wentbefore, their delighting in the law of God, their exercising themselves in it, and whatsoever else.They are good conditions necessarily required in them that must make this congregation ; but thetrue cause and reason of making it is this which the Prophet brings here, because the Lordknoweth the way of the righteous. For though it were a good likely reason to say, The godly shallrise in the judgment, and make a congregation by themselves, because they are like a tree; yet it may be asked, What makes them like a tree? Godliness indeed procures them to be made like atree, but what makes them? For that which makes a thing is a superior cause to that whichprocures it to be made ; and this superior cause the Prophet alleges here, For the Lord knoweththe way of the righteous. And though it were a likely reason to say, The ungodly shall not be ofthe congregation of the righteous, because they are like to chaff which the wind scatters, yet itmay be asked, what makes them like to chaff? Wickedness, indeed, procures them to be made like chaff, but what makes them? Here the Prophet is silent, and says nothing, and by sayingnothing seems to acknowledge there is nothing to be said. Wickedness both procures them to bemade like chaff, and makes them like chaff; they are both their own ruin and their own ruinous- ness. God in this kind hath no hand at all in it ; it is all their own doing.”

2D. Sir Knight end his commentary thus: “And may it not now be truly said that the Prophethath performed both his prizes to the full ? for as before he did not leave a godly man till he hadbrought him to receive his portion in heaven, so now he hath not left a wicked man till he hath brought him to receive his portion in hell. For the wicked have a portion too, though they werebetter be without it ; a miserable portion, to have misery for a portion; yet so the Prophet inanother place calls it. This is their portion : fire and brimstone, and a stormy tempest. 3 And nowwe may indeed say the Prophet hath well ended his task, and we might say happily, but that heends it miserably ; for he hath delivered his Psalm, as it were, in a tragical form, making it tobegin with blessedness and to end with perishing ; but yet he hath so framed it that we may easilyreduce it, by help of the law of contraries, into a more comical form (if I may so speak), making itto begin with misery and to end wi th blessedness ; and this, perhaps, will be a form more capableof a plaudite from our hands, and of an Jopaan* from our tongues, and may thus be framed : Miserable and wretched are the men that have walked in the counsel of the ungodly, and havestood in the way of sinners, and have sat in the chair of scorners ; but have no delight in the lawof the Lord, nor in his law will exercise themselves, either day or night ; and they shall be like to chaff which the wind scatters. The godly are not so; but they are like a tree planted by the water sside, which will give its fruit in its time ; the leaves also shall not wither, and whatsoever they doit shall prosper. Therefore the godly shall rise in the judgment, and (parted from the wicked)shall make a congregation by themselves. For the Lord knoweth not the way of the wicked, andthe way of the godly shall be established.”

2E. Spurgeon, “"_But the way of the ungodly shall perish_."Not only shall _they_ perish

themselves, but _their way_ shall perish too. The righteous carves his name upon the rock, butthe wicked writes his remembrance in the sand. The righteous man ploughs the furrows of earth,and sows a harvest here, which shall never be fully reaped till he enters the enjoyments ofeternity; but as for the wicked, he ploughs the sea, and though there may seem to be a shiningtrail behind his keel, yet the waves shall pass over it, and the place that knew him shall knowhim no more for ever. The very "way" of the ungodly shall perish. If it exist in remembrance, itshall be in the remembrance of the bad; for the Lord will cause the name of the wicked to rot, tobecome a stench in the nostrils of the good, and to be only known to the wicked themselves by itsputridity. May the Lord cleanse our hearts and our ways, that we may escape the doom of theungodly, and enjoy the blessedness of the righteous!”

2F. Gill, “... the Lord "knows"; not merely as he is omniscient, for by his omniscience his eyes areupon the ways of all men; he knows the way of the wicked as well as the way of the righteous; butthe sense is, that the Lord approves of and is well pleased with his way of faith and holiness; heknows this person, so as to love him and take delight and pleasure in him; his countenancebeholds him with a smile; he is well pleased with him in Christ and for his sake, on whose accounthe has respect to him and to his offerings, to his service and duty, to his ways and works; andhence he is a blessed man, is in a happy situation, and all he does prospers, for he and his waysplease the Lord: and hence also it is that neither he nor his way shall perish; the way he is inleads to everlasting life, and he being a follower of the Lord in a way pleasing to him, he shallnever perish, but have eternal life.”

3. They do not perish for lack of knowledge, but for ignoring the knowledge that God has given inhis Word. He is self-sufficient and respects no one; not even God. He scorns the claims of thebeliever as folly and superstition. His delight has been to mock all that believers hold as precious.G. C. Lodge put it in poetry:

They are as writing on the snow,That pass and leave no trace behind;They mocked the sun, for they were blind,The truth, because they could not know.

4. Another poet sums it up like this:

Many go down life's path with lofty plans To amass a great fortune of houses and lands And to live a life of pleasure and ease, Thinking happiness can be found in these. Others pursue power and worldwide fame To be known by all and win their acclaim. But those without Christ who attain these goals Soon find emptiness remains in their souls. They could not find true happiness Because life's void cannot be filled with this. If only they realized this will not last For life is fleeting and will soon be past. Wealth, worldly pleasure, fame, and power

Will all be gone at death's dark hour. And beyond the grave when eternity begins Those unsaved will be judged for their sins! If only they would believe in God's Son And repent of the sinful deeds they've done, Then they could go down life's path Not needing to worry about God's wrath. They would have the joy they longed for, Inner peace, contentment, and much more For when their lives come to an end An eternity in Heaven they would spend!

—Perry Boardman

5. Briscoe has this outline of the Psalm:

The Happy Man

1. His path...three things he avoids (1)

2. His pleasure...meditation in God’s law (2)

3. His position...like a tree by the river (3a)

4. His productivity...bringing forth fruit (3b)

5. His progress...his unwithering leaf (3c)

6. His prosperity...whatever he does (3d)

7. His peace...the Lord knows his way (6)

6. Sternhold and Hopkins

1 The man is blest that hath not lent

to wicked men his ear,

Nor led his life as sinners do,

nor sat in scorner's chair.

2 But in the law of God the Lord

doth set his whole delight,

And in the same doth exercise

himself both day and night.

3 He shall be like a tree that is

planted the rivers nigh,

Which in due season bringeth forth

its fruit abundantly;

4 Whose leaf shall never fade nor fall,

but flourishing shall stand:

E'en so all things shall prosper well

that this man takes in hand.

5 As for ungodly men, with them

it shall be nothing so;

But as the chaff, which by the wind

is driven to and fro.

6 Therefore the wicked men shall not

in judgment stand upright,

Nor in th' assembly of the just

shall sinners come in sight.

7 For why? The way of godly men

unto the Lord is known:

Whereas the way of wicked men

shall quite be overthrown.

7. The Bay Psalm Book

1 O blessed man, that in th'advice

of wicked doth not walk

Nor stand in sinners way nor sit

in chayre of scornfull folk.

2 But in the law of Jehova,

is his longing delight;

and in his law doth meditate

by day and ere by night.

3 And he shall be like to a tree

planted by water-rivers:

That in his season yields his fruit

And his leafe never withers.

4 And all he doth, shall prosper well,

the wicked are not so:

But they are like unto the chaffe

which winde drives to and fro.

5 Therefore shall not ungodly men,

rise to stand in the doome,

Nor shall the sinners with the just,

in their assemblie come.

6 For of the righteous men, the Lord

aknowledgeth the way:

but the way of ungodly men,

shall utterly decay.

8. Brady and Tate

1 How blest is he who ne'er consents

by ill advice to walk;

Nor stands in sinners' ways nor sits

where men profanely talk.

2 But makes the perfect law of God

his business and delight;

Devoutly reads therein by day,

and meditates by night.

3 Like some fair tree, which, fed by streams,

with timely fruit does bend,

He still shall flourish, and success

all his designs attend.

4 Ungodly men and their attempts

no lasting root shall find;

Untimely blasted, and dispers'd

like chaff before the wind.

5 Their guilt shall strike the wicked dumb

before their Judge's face;

No formal hypocrite shall then

amongst the saints have place.

6 For God approves the just man's ways,

to happiness they tend;

But sinners, and the paths they tread,

shall both in ruin, end.

9. Isaac Watts

1 The man is ever bless'd

Who shuns the sinners' ways,

Among their councils never stands,

Nor takes the scorner's place;

2 But makes the law of God

His study and delight,

Amidst the labours of the day,

And watches of the night.

3 He like a tree shall thrive,

With waters near the root;

Fresh as the leaf his name shall live;

His works are heav'nly fruit.

4 Not so the ungoodly race,

They no such blessings find;

Their hopes shall flee, like empty chaff

Before the driving wind.

5 How will they bear to stand

Before that judgement-seat,

When all the saints, at Christ's right hand,

In full assembly meet.

6 He knows, and he approves,

The way the righteous go;

But sinners and their works shall meet

A dreadful overthrow.

10. The Psalter of the United Presbyterian Church of North America.

1 How blest and happy is the man

Who walketh not astray

In counsel of ungodly men,

Nor stands in sinners' way.

2 Nor sittetb in the scorner's chair,

But places his delight

Upon God's law, and meditates

On his law day and night.

3 He shall be like a tree that grows

Set by a river's side,

Which in its season yields its fruit,

And green its leaves abide.

4 And all he does shall prosper well:

The wicked are not so,

But like the chaff before the wind,

Are driven to and fro.

5 In judgment therefore shall not stand

Such as ungodly are;

Nor in th' assembly of the just

Shall wicked men appear.

6 Because the way of godly men

Is to Jehovah known;

Whereas the way of wicked men

Shall quite be overthrown.

(6 lines)

1 How blest the man that doth not stray

Where wicked counsel tempts his feet;

Who, stands not in the sinner's way,

And sits not in the scorner's seat,

But in God's law he takes delight,

And meditates both day and night.

2 He shall be like the tree that springs

Where streams of water gently glide;

Which plenteous fruit in season brings,

And ever green its leaves abide.

Thus shall prosperity attend

The good man's work, till life shall end.

3 Not so ungodly men, for they

Like chaff before the wind are driven;

Hence they'll not stand in judgment day,

Nor mingle with the saints in heaven.

The Lord approves the good man's path,

But sinners' ways shall end in wrath.

11. The Book of Psalms for Singing

1 O greatly bless-ed is the man

Who walketh not astray

In counsel of ungodly men,

Nor stands in sinner's way

Nor sitteth in the scorner's chair,

2 But placeth his delight

Upon God's law, and meditates,

On His law day and night.

3 He shall be like a tree that grows,

Set by the water side,

Which in its season yields its fruit,

And green its leaves abide;

And all he does shall prosper well,

4 The wicked are not so,

But are like chaff which by the wind,

Is driven to and fro.

5 In judgment therefore shall not stand

Such as ungodly are,

Nor in th'assembly of the just

Shall wicked men appear

6 Because the way of godly men

Is to Jehovah known;

Whereas the way of wicked men

Shall quite be overthrown.

12. The Scottish Psalter

1 That man hath perfect blessedness,

who walketh not astray

In counsel of ungodly men,

nor stands in sinners' way,

2 Nor sitteth in the scorner's chair:

But placeth his delight

Upon God's law, and meditates

on his law day and night.

3 He shall be like a tree that grows

near planted by a river,

Which in his season yields his fruit,

and his leaf fadeth never:

4 And all he doth shall prosper well

The wicked are not so;

But like they are unto the chaff,

which wind drives to and fro.

5 In judgment therefore shall not stand

such as ungodly are;

Nor in th' assembly of the just

shall wicked men appear.

6 For why? the way of godly men

unto the Lord is known:

Whereas the way of wicked men

shall quite be overthrown.