Page 18 - Psalms Ebook

an introductory psalm because it is also one of the Messianic Psalms.
We will pick up Psalm 2 when we come to that group.

The first Psalm is unusually qualified to be the prolog Psalm. Let me
give you a couple of reasons. I think this is a template Psalm, a model,
for these two reasons. It is like all the others in its method, and it is like
all the others in its message. Let me show you what I mean by that.

When you see this Psalm you are going to see the message that God is
going to use throughout the whole book. In a word, it is this – striking
contrast. When you read this Psalm, it is full of strong opposites. For
example, look at the first word. Of course, in English it is how, but in
Hebrew the first word is blessed. What is the last word? The last word
is perish. See the contrast there? Blessed and perish. Verse 1: “How
blessed is the man.” Verse 4: “The wicked are not so.” You can see a
great divide right out of the gate. In verse 3, the righteous are compared
to a tree planted by the water. On the other side, the wicked, in verse
4, are like the chaff which the wind blows away. Righteous. Wicked.
Blessed. Perish. A tree. Chaff. All through this Psalm you have
opposing images.

There is also the clash of the negative and the positive. In the first verse,
“Blessed is the man who does not walk,( negative) in the counsel of the
wicked.” “Who does not stand in the path of sinners.” “Who does not
sit in the seat of the scornful.” You see, it is all negative. But then he
turns around in verse 2, “But His delight is in the law of the LORD, and
in His law he meditates day and night.” Now we get the positive. No
gray. No in the middle. No in-between. Blessed or perish. Righteous
or wicked. A tree by the water or chaff that the wind blows away.

Another thing to see here is the difference between a man’s conduct and
his/her character. It is more implied than stated, but it describes what a
man is on the inside – his core beliefs – a righteous man. That is not
what he does; that is who he is. A wicked man. That is who he is, over
against what he does or the condition of his life, whether he is rich or
poor or whether he is famous or obscure or anything like that.

All the wonderful things that you see in the life of the righteous man – he
delights in the law, he meditates in God’s word, he is planted by the
river, his blossoms are coming, he is always fruitful, ever prosperous.
All of that is because of who he is. Destiny is determined by
character. Character determines destiny. Just so, the wicked are blown
away and cannot stand in the judgment because of their character.