BOOK I. EXPOSITION. ful experiences of life whiob appe.reotly PSALM I. indicate the rernrse." IT is remarkable thnt neither the first nor The psalm divides naturally into two the second pse.lm he.a nny title. Titles a.re nearly equal portions. In vers. 1-3 the character e.nd condition of the righteous so muoh tho rnle in the first and second are described, e.nd their reward is promised books of the Pse.Uer, tbnt, when they e.re them. In vers. 4-6 the condition of tho absent, their absence requires to be ac- wicked is considered, e.nd their ultimo.le counted for. As thirty-eight out of the destruction predicted. forty-one psalms in this section a.re dis- Ver. 1.-Blessed is the me.n; litere.lly, tinctly assigned to Davicl, wo must suppose blessings are to the man. But the A utho- that the compiler did not view this pee.Im rizod Version exnctly gives the sense (comp. ns his. Perhaps ha did not know the Ps. ii. 12). That wa.l.keth not in the 001IDSel author. Perhaps, if ho was himseH the of the ungodly. The mo.rgin gives, "or author, be shrank from giving himself the wicked," e.nd this is probably the bE1st prominence which coultl uot but llll,ve rendering of the word used (□'J71Zh). The righteous man is first described negatively, attached to him if bis name he.d, in e. under three hen<ls. (I) He "does not walk certain sense, hoaded the collection. Ileti- in the counsel of the ungodly;" i.e. he canco would have specially become Solomon, docs not throw in his lot with the wicked, if be was the author. docs not participate in their projects or CommcntBtors have genore.lly recognized designs; (2) he stnndeth not in the way of sinners; i.e. ha ,!oes not tako pa.rt in their that this psalm is introductory e.nd pre- actions, does not follow tho ea.me moml fatory. Jerome says that me.ny called it pa.the; and (3) he aitteth not in the aee.t "the Preface of the Holy Ghost." Soma of the scornful; i.e. hns no fellowship with of the Fathers did not oven regard H ns e. t!.iem in the "scorn" which they cast upon psalm e.t e.11, but as n mero prcrncc, and so religion. The word used for scornful (/?) rcokonecl the seoon,1 psr,1m ns lho fi rat ie Solomonie.n (Prov. i. 22; iii. 3-1; xiii. I), (in mnny mauuacripte of the Nr.w 'fcslll- but in the Psalter occurs only in this place. ment, the rending is" first psnlm" instcnd Ver. 2.-Bnt his delight is in the Le.w of"second psnlm" in Acts xiii. 33). The of the Lord. Tho righteous man i3 now composition is, as Ucngstcnhcrg observes, described positirnly, under two heads. (l) "e. short componrlium of tho mnin subject He deligl,/.s in lho Lnw (comp. Pa. cix. 16, of the Pdlllms, viz. tl111t Goel hns appointod 47, 77; Rom. vii. 22). (2) He c0ustnntly meditates in it. Tho "Le.w" intenJed- se.l ve.tion to the righteous, perdition to the niir,, not n,mn-is probably not the mere wioked; this is the great truth with which Lllwof l\Ioses, but God'a law, 11s m11de known the se.ored bards grapple a.mid e.11 the pain- to m11,n in e.ny wny. Still, tho rescmbl11nce PBALMS, II 2 THE DOOK OF PSALMS. [rs. 1. 1--G.
of the pnssage to J osl1. i. 8 shows the Law of nud worthless (see Job xxi. 18: Ps. xxxv l\Ioses to h:wc boC'n Yery specially in the 5; lsl\. v. 24; xvii. 13; xxix. 5 • xxxiii. writer's thoughts. In his Law doth he II; :di. 15; Jcr. xxiii. 28 • Do.~. ii. 35 • meditate day and night ; compnro, be- Ho,. xiii. 3; Zoph. ii. 2; 'MILtt. iii. 12: sides Josh. i. S, the following: rss. !xiii. 6; Luke iii. 17). In ancient timca H wn; C'Xix. 15, 4~, 78, 97. Constant medita- considered of no valuo o.t all o.nd whoo tion in God's Lnw has oharncterized nil corn wns winnowed, it was th:·own up in snints. tho air until the wind hnd blown all the Yer. 3.-And he shall be like a tree chaff awo.y (see the rcprcscntntion in tho rlnnted by the rivars of water. 'l'he com- ~uthor's 'History of Ancient Egypt,' vu!. parison of n man to a tree is frequent in 1. p. 163). the Book of Job ('l'iii. 16, 17; xiv. 7-10; _Yer. 5.-Therefore the nugodly (or, the xv. 32, 33, etc.), nnd occurs once in the wicl.ed) shall not stand in the judgment. Pentateuoh (Numb. xxiv. 6). We find it " Therefore," as being chaff, i.e. "destituto ngain in Ps. :<.eii. 12-14, nnd frequently of spiritual vitality" (Kay), "the wicked in the prophets. Tho "rivers of water" shall not stand,'' or shall not rise up "in spoken of (D'.l?'""~~;;;,) are nndoubtcdly the the judgment," i.e. in the judgment of the "streams" (Revised V crsion) or " canals last day. So the Targum, Rashi, Dr. Kay, of irrigation" so common both in Egypt Co.non Cook, e.ud others. It is certainly and in Babylonia, by which fruit trees were not conceivable that any humo.n judgment plnnted., as especially do.te-palms, which is intended by "the judgmcnt" (O!;>~z;!CJ), need the ,icinitv of water. That such and though possibly "all manifestations of plailting of trees by the waterside was God's punitive righteousness are compre- known to the Israelites is evident, both from hended" (Ilengstenberg), yet the main idea this passage and from several others, e.s must be that the wicked shall not be able Nwnb. xxiv. 6; Eccles. ii. 5; Jer. xvii. 8; to "stand," or" rise up," i.e. "hold up their Ezek. rni. 5, 8, etc. It is misplaced in- heads" (Aglen), in the lo.st day. Nor genuity to attempt to decide 'll'hat particular sinners in. the congregation of the right- tree the writer had in his mind, whether eous. Here the human judgment comes in. the palm, or the ole:mdcr, or nny other, Sinners will be cast out, not only from sincci he may not hnve been thinking of any heaven, but also from the Church, or "con- particular tree. That bringeth forth his gregation of the righteous," if not before, fruit in. his season. Therefore not the nt any rate when the "congregation" is oleander, which has no frnit, and is never finally m11de up. planted in the East, but grows natnmlly Ver. 6.-J!'or the Lord knoweth tho wo.y along the courses of streams. His leaf also of the righteous. God is said to " know " shall not wither. Compare the contrary those of whom he approves, and on whom threat of Iso.iah against the wicked of his he "lifts up the light of his countenance." time, "Ye shall be as e.n oak whose leaf The wicked he does not" know;" he" casts fadeth, and as a garden that bath no them out of the sight of his eyes"-" casts water" (ls1L. i. 30). And whatsoever he them behind his bo.ck: " refuses to acknow- doeth shall prc,s:;,er; rather, perhaps, in ledge them. God "knows the way of the whatsoe·Der he doeth he shall prosper. righteous," e.nd therefore they live and Ver. 4.-The mi.godly e.re not so; or, prosper: he does not know the way ol the the wicked (see the commeut on ver. 1). wicked, e.nd therefore the way of the :But e.re like the chaff' which the wind (wicked, or) ungodly shall perish (com- driveth away. "Chaff" is used throughout pare the beginning and end of Pe. c1ii.), Scripture ·as an emblem of what is weak