Proper 25A Psalm
Psalm 1
Tim Hahn
Psalm 1 serves in many ways as a prelude to the rest of the Psalms—it sets the tone for this collection of Israel’s prayers, laments, and songs of worship. As such, it is worth asking after its ability to set the tone for our prayer, our lament, and our worship.
Immediately we should note that the structure of the Psalm is one of juxtaposition. The description of the righteous is contrasted with that of the wicked. Thus the tone of the Psalm is recognizable as that put forward by some portions of wisdom literature. A conviction about the way the world works—or, at least, the way the world is supposed to work—is put forward as an axiom. Here we find the common assumption that the righteous prosper while the wicked perish. The reality of Israel’s (or our) experience to the contrary is quite beside the point. The expected order of the world is simply asserted. That a tension, between assertion and reality, is not a problem for the worshiping community can be seen in the number of later Psalms which take up that very tension in the course of lament. Thus the tone-setting work of Psalm 1 can be seen to provide the frame in which the joys and despairs of Israel are to be expressed.
The Psalm’s contrast begins with a description of those who are “happy.” The word translated “happy,” (asher) in the NRSV can also be translated “blessed,” as it is in the NIV. The Septuagint uses the word makarios, which is the same word that begins the Beatitudes of Matthew 5. We should note, then, that the text is not laying out rules for a life of pleasure and enjoyment. Rather, the description is that of “those who” follow the way of the Lord, as opposed to “the path that sinners tread.” The description of those who are happy or blessed proceeds first negatively, then positively. This should not be read as a hidebound list of prohibitions, but rather as a recognition that the positive always assumes the negative. As W.T. Purkiser says in his excellent exposition of the Psalm, “There can be no building without excavation, and there can be no holy living without renunciation of evil.” The rejection of “the advice of the wicked” is best understood in light of the Hebrew word rashaim, “the wicked,” from rasha, “unrest.” Thus the advice of the wicked is that which leads to disharmony and disruption between peoples. I can’t help but think that the three negatives of v1 pose a sharp word to American Christians, today. For we live in a world where the advice of those who would disrupt seems to reign, and “the path that sinners tread” is most common. And even when these two pitfalls are recognized, it is often done so with scorn, by those who “sit in the seat of scoffers.” It would be a wonder if any among the Church might merit the label “happy.”
The Psalm’s turn to the positive should jar us. Those who are “happy” (blessed) are they who delight “in the law” on which they meditate “day and night.” The temptation to see the vision cast by v2 as somehow naïve, indicative more of a repressive reduction of life to the confines of a retrograde society is to misunderstand the term “law” (torah). Torah is more than just the “books of the law” with their detailed prohibitions. Torah, here, has to do with the revealed way of living with the Lord. What could possibly be more open and promising! To meditate on the “law” is to be brought into a “broad place” (Ps 18:19; 66:12). Such a life is like that of trees which are “planted by streams of water.” (v3) Like trees along a stream, we receive the life which flows to us from the source—God. To receive this life means also to “yield [our] fruit” in due time. It is to be filled with the Holy Spirit. This is what it means to prosper.
As we’ve mentioned, the ways of the blessed are contrasted with those of the wicked. It is a life of transience and looseness. Whereas the righteous are like trees with deep roots, the wicked are blown about by every breeze. They are subject to the whims of those who disrupt (rasha), and so they cannot stand before “the judgment.” The water that gives life to the trees sweeps away that which has no roots.
The phrase “the Lord watches over the way of the righteous” could also also be translated “the Lord knows [yada] the way of the righteous.” This knowledge is indicative of intimacy and participation. The way of righteousness is not defined by prohibitions and propositions, but by delight in those ways of life which are intimate participation in—which are “known” by—God.
The contrast which we have noted throughout the Psalm is carried out to the last letter, for the Psalm which begins with the word “happy” ends with the word “perish.” The way of the righteous, the way characterized by trees planted along the stream, the way of life, cannot be separated from God. But the way of the wicked, the way of sin, the way of scoffing, the way of disruption, leads only to death.
[1] W.T. Purkiser, Beacon Bible Commentary, vol.3, (Kansas City, MO: Beacon Hill Press, 1967), 140.
Follower of Jesus, theology student, author, blogger, editor, educator, wife, mom, and aspiring peacemaker
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