“How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! … For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish” (Psa 1:1, 6).
The first psalm is a beautiful poem praising the man who drinks deeply from God’s word. It opens and closes with a reference to the “way” and “the wicked” (1:1, 6). It contrasts a tree firmly planted and well watered with chaff blown away by the wind (1:3, 4). It contrasts the blessed man, who does not sit in the seat of scoffers, with the wicked who will not stand in God’s judgment (1:1, 5). The first word of the psalm begins with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and the last word begins with the last letter (1:1, 6; see Psa 112:1, 10).
This carefully crafted introduction to the Psalter calls us to be like the blessed man who meditates deeply on the Scriptures.
Although Psalm 1 stands on its own, it is clear that the author of the Psalter, by placing Psalms 1 and 2 side by side, invites us to read them together. Psalm 1 begins with the “blessings” of the man (1:1), and Psalm 2 ends with the “blessings” of those who trust him (2:12). Both psalms conclude with the “way” of the wicked “perishing” (1:6; 2:12). In Psalm 1, the man “meditates” on the Torah (1:2), while in Psalm 2 the nations “meditate” on rebellion against the LORD and his Messiah (2:1-2). In Psalm 1, the blessed man does not “sit in the seat of scoffers” (1:1), but in Psalm 2 one is “seated in heaven, scoffing” at the wicked (2:4), far above their rebellion. In Psalm 1, the man meditates on the Torah (1:2); in Psalm 2, he recites the LORD’s “decree” (2:7). Unlike most psalms in Book One, which have superscriptions (Psalms 3-41), Psalms 1 and 2 stand together without them. For this reason, the Babylonian Talmud (b. Ber. 9.2) states that “The blessed man” and “Why do the nations rage” are one single literary unit.”
This carefully crafted introduction to the Psalter calls us to be like the blessed man who meditates deeply on the Scriptures. By delighting in the Torah, and thus in the Psalms, we see clearly who the blessed man is and why we should trust him (2:12). He is Israel’s perfect King, the Son of God, and the LORD’s Messiah (see Deut 17:18-20), who alone leads us to the tree of life, to leaves that will never wither.
“By the river on its bank, on one side and on the other, will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither and their fruit will not fail. They will bear every month because their water flows from the sanctuary, and their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing” (Ezek 47:12).
