Page 55 - The Poetic Books - Student Text

not be more opposite. The wicked cannot stand with the righteous in this life or the next. The difference
is the ultimate blessing. Yahweh guarantees the way of both wicked and righteous for all eternity (vv. 5,
6).

If we are reading carefully, we are uncomfortable with the Psalm. None of us can say that we always
avoid the wicked, let alone our own share of wickedness. None of us can say that we “delight in the law
of the LORD.” None of us gets up in the middle of the night to pour over the instructions in Leviticus or
another part of the law. Unless God works on a sliding scale, we each have a fair amount of “wicked” in
us. Does this put us in the category of chaff that cannot stand in the assembly of the righteous on our
way to destruction? Can’t be! We must be reading the text wrongly.

The words “righteous” and “wicked” are important in Psalms. The word
“righteous” and its derivatives occur some 140x in Psalms. “Righteous” means
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“what is right, just, normal. Deuteronomy 25:15 illustrates the concept in
everyday life. “You must have accurate and honest weights and measures, so that
you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.” The ancient
practice involved a set of scales and a set of “stones carved in shapes, usually
with a flat base, which made them easy to handle or recognize (e.g. turtles,
ducks, lions). They were often inscribed with their weight and the standard
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followed.” The stone in the picture was used during the time of the first temple
to weigh the temple tax. The word translated “accurate” is the same Hebrew
word as “righteous” in our psalm. All of life has standards, God given standards.
When we use different standards in any part of life, not just when measuring out a Figure 29: Beka
volume of grain or gold, we are not righteous. God notices. He does not allow
people who break his standards to flourish like a tree planted by waters. This is the way life designed by
God works. The fruit of the righteous and the wicked are necessarily different.

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“Wicked” occurs 90x in Psalms. The core meaning involves guilt and reflects the opposite of righteous.
Wicked is no standard on its own. Wicked exists because righteous does not. Wicked dries up the life
fostered by righteous and turns that portion of life into chaff. Once again this is the way life designed by
God works. He has given his human creatures the ability to discern right and to feel guilty when doing
wrong.

We do not go very far in Psalms before the references to “righteous” begin to pile up. God is righteous
(4:1; 5:8) and blesses the righteous (5:12). He makes the righteous secure (7:9) and is a righteous judge
(7:11; 9:4, 8). He examines the righteous (11:5) and is in their company (14:5). The question arises,
“LORD, who may dwell in your sacred tent? Who may live on your holy mountain (15:1)?” The answer
comes from the principles of Psalm 1, “The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous,
who speaks the truth from their heart… (15:2).” How can the average person fulfill these requirements?

87 William Gesenius, Hebrew and English Lexicon, trans. Edward Robinson, ed. Francis Brown (Peabody:
Hendrickson, 1979), 841.
88 J. D. Douglas, ed. New Bible Dictionary (Wheaton: Tyndale House Pub., 1962), s. v. “Weights and Measures,” by D.
J. Wiseman, 1245.
89 Gesenius, 957.
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