target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="#ulink_ebb242bb-3340-545b-9fbc-c4d896a89adb">85 Because of his reliance on God’s instruction, the blessed one is fruitful and prosperous. As the metaphor suggests, this is not a temporary consequence, but a settled conviction and condition. Much like the earlier idea where the path on which one walks through life is about habitual and professed living, the fruitful tree planted by water conveys consistency.86
Verse 4 literally reads, “Not so the wicked.” By placing the negative “not so” (lo ken) at the beginning of the sentence, the psalmist not only contrasts the wicked with the blessed one, but also does so with the strongest possible emphasis. The wicked have no such foundation as God’s torah. They arrogantly believe that they can sustain themselves, yet are like “chaff,” the waste product that is blown away by the wind after the wheat has been harvested. John Calvin expressed the view that a withering tree, in contrast to a vibrant one, is not strong enough for the contrast here.87 The contrast is not about life and death but about usefulness and uselessness. Longman also emphasizes the intended contrast: “Chaff is the opposite of a tree. While a tree has an abundance of life-giving water, chaff is dry. The tree is deep-rooted and productive; chaff has no connection to the earth, but rolls as the wind blows it, and is useless.”88 What is more, also implicit in the contrast are the contentment of the blessed and the misery of the wicked. The wicked are not blessed because they reject the instruction of the Lord and live in a constant state of discontentment and frustration, having to rely only on themselves.
The psalm concludes with two verses on the destiny of the wicked (vv. 5–6). Although the wicked will not “stand in the judgment,” this is not likely a reference to the eternal destiny of the wicked, which is a doctrine that is developed more fully in the NT than in the OT. It may simply refer to the moment in this life when God brings consequences on wicked people for their actions.89 In other words, they have no fellowship with the righteous, and the wicked will get what is coming to them—no matter the timeframe. It is impossible at times for humanity to discern between those who are truly blessed and those who look blessed based on worldly appearances. God will not confuse the two and each will receive their due.90 Even so, there is more happening in verses 5–6 than divine recompense; there is a subtle emphasis on the communities of the righteous and the wicked. The “blessed man” (sg.) has been a “one among the masses”91 so far in the psalm. The only group per se that has been mentioned has been the “wicked ones” (note the pls. reshaim [“wicked”], khataim [“sinners”], letsim [“scoffers”]). For the first time in the psalm, “righteous ones” (tsadiqim) appears as a positive community that counterbalances the community of the wicked.92 Community is obviously implied in the mention of the “congregation” of the righteous (v. 5). The sequence of the psalm suggests that the blessed one avoids the company of evildoers, devotes himself to God’s torah, and has finally found a community to which he belongs.93
Finally, in the last verse of the psalm, the LORD is mentioned as the subject. He “knows” the way of the righteous. The Hebrew concept of knowledge is not as much intellectual as it is relational. “To know” (yada) suggests “intimate and internal care,”94 as God and the righteous enjoy mutual relationship. Therefore, the “way of the righteous” is the object of the verb “to know” so that God closely watches over the righteous. Yet in the second colon, the way of the wicked is the subject, placing them in charge of their own destiny. The grammar shows that the wicked “autonomously” walk through life—and ultimately to their judgment—as if they are their own lords, while God guides the steps of the righteous.95 In the context of the two paths of the Hebrew wisdom tradition, verse 6 describes the destination of each path: the psalm begins with “blessed” and ends with “perish,” and these depend on which path one walks. C. Hassell Bullock concludes, “The two ways contrasted in this poem lead in two opposite directions, the one to blessedness and delight, and the other to disrepute and disappearance.”96
Christology
John Calvin noted the importance for a disciple of Christ to have a “teachable spirit,”97 and in a very real sense a teachable spirit is what Ps 1 means by being “blessed” and “righteous”—eager for God’s instruction and devoted to knowing him in covenant relationship.98 Psalm 1 describes the life of a model disciple who abhors wickedness and nurtures his spiritual health by feasting daily on God’s word. While there are many fine examples of godly men and women throughout the Bible who demonstrate many facets of discipleship, none does so perfectly. However, when one reads Ps 1 through a christological lens, Jesus is “the man” (ha ish), and only in him does this psalm find its ultimate expression.99 He is the man who is devoted to and delights in God’s torah with a teachable spirit. Only Christ exhibits preeminent discipleship as he learns how to best live life by meditating on God’s torah and calling others to follow his example. Put differently, Jesus, the model disciple, calls all people to be his disciples, to pattern his routine.
Psalm 1 evokes the discipline of Jesus’s daily life as he commits himself to God’s word and calls others to emulate him. The NT reminds us that from childhood Jesus demonstrated devotion to God’s instruction, and this continued throughout his life. We are reminded of his great learning at the temple at the age of twelve (Luke 2:42–52); his appeal to Scripture and trusting relationship with the Father, which preserve him during his temptation in the wilderness (4:1–12); his custom of attending synagogue (4:16), and his acceptance of his God-given mission in terms of scriptural prophecy (4:16–21). Luke reminds us that Jesus habitually practiced the spiritual disciplines of silence and solitude (4:1, 40–42; 5:15; 6:12). Simply put, this psalm calls to mind the basic spiritual habits of Christ from which he drew strength for his day-to-day ministry, not least his avoidance of sin and devotion to Scripture in the temptation narrative.
The psalmist can only imagine one who completely avoids the snares of sin, but the NT reveals that Jesus does precisely this, living a sinless life (2 Cor 5:21; Heb 4:15). Some may object by pointing out that Jesus’s ministry was directed toward sinners; and it is not entirely true to suggest that he avoided evil; after all, he certainly did not avoid its appearance (Luke 5:29–31). Jesus most often fellowshipped with sinners, eating with them, healing them, and teaching them; yet he did so not to promote their rebellion, but their repentance. Psalm 1 is concerned with participating in wickedness, not ministering to broken sinners. The unwavering testimony of the NT centers on Jesus’s perfect righteousness, that he “committed no sin” (2 Cor 5:21), and his atoning death on the cross is likened to the sacrifice of a lamb “without blemish or spot” (1 Pet 1:19). It is in this sense that only Jesus is truly righteous and that Ps 1 ultimately points to him.100 In fact, “righteousness” and Jesus Christ are so closely connected in the NT that there is no daylight between them: “Jesus Christ, righteous” (my trans. 1 John 2:1).
Finally, his righteousness is not an end in itself; it is also for us, the messianic community—the church. We participate in his righteousness so that we are none other than the “assembly of the righteous” (Ps 1:6). As mentioned previously, the “blessed/righteous” one in the psalm is an individual contrasted against a community
