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We notice in these early psalms attributed to David the occasional reference to his righteousness.
“Vindicate me, LORD, according to my righteousness (7:8).” “The LORD has dealt with me according to
my righteousness (18:20).” Yet we know from the history of Israel that David was frequently guilty of
breaking the law. He had five wives, and his kids turned out terrible due to his neglect. He committed
adultery and murder. He purposely lied to get out of more than one difficulty. How could David speak of
“my righteousness”?

Did not some of those verses on the wicked apply to him also? “You are not a God who is pleased with
wickedness; with you, evil people are not welcome (5:4).” “Bring to an end the violence of the wicked
(7:9).” “The wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands. The wicked go down to the realm of the
dead, all the nations that forget God (9:16b-17).” “In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak
(10:2).” David qualifies as wicked. Are we back to a sliding scale with God? Is it enough that my
righteousness outweighs my wickedness or that my righteousness is more than someone else’s
righteousness?

The stakes are high. The abundance of life depicted by that tree
planted by streams of water is as beckoning as chaff blown away by
wind is repulsive. Who wants a life as empty as chaff, the husk
around a kernel of grain? We treasure our minutes and days, our
experiences and memories. Yet God will destroy the
“descendants/fruit” of the wicked (21:10). The wicked “flourish like
a luxuriant native tree, but he soon passed away… (37:35-36).” Is it
really possible to be “like an olive tree (52:8)” or “a palm tree
(92:12)” flourishing in the house of God even into old age? How can
this be? We are sinners! Figure 30: Separating Chaff

Psalm 1 mentions how we become aware of righteousness. We “delight in the law of the LORD” so much
that we “meditate on his law, day and night” (1:2). “Law” is the Hebrews word “Torah”. Used extensively
in the Pentateuch, Torah referred to God’s commandments revealed. He gave them Passover laws on the
eve of the exodus (Ex. 12:49; 13:9). On the way to Sinai, God gave them practice in following short-term
laws like picking up manna on the Sabbath (Ex. 16:4). “Yahweh has chosen Israel as His people, and Israel
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has acknowledged Yahweh as its God. This fundamental OT principle is the direct basis of these laws.”

The first ethical instructions came on Mount Sinai. “The LORD said to Moses, ‘Come up to me on the
mountain and stay here, and I will give you tablets of stone with the law [Torah] and commandments I
have written for their instruction’ (Ex. 24:12).” The law expressed Yahweh’s will in contrast to all the
other gods and all the other nations. “What other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees
and laws [Torah] as this body of laws I am setting before you today (Deut. 4:8)?” “What God is in his
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character, and what he wills in his revelation, defines what is right.”

90 Gerhard Kittel, ed., Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, vol. IV (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1967), s. v.
“nomos”, by W. Gutbrod.
91 Walter C. Kaiser, Jr., Toward Old Testament Ethics (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1983), 3.
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