Page 17 - Psalms Ebook

Reading PSALMS to Know God

Chapter 2 The Model for All Psalms

Psalm 1 is not only the first psalm and a wonderful song, but is the
introduction to the whole collection. In other words, the Holy Spirit puts
this first. Oh, the condensed fullness in this Psalm. This is a big, little
Psalm. It prepares you for everything that follows. This Psalm, in a few
sentences, six verses, expresses and contains the substance of all one
hundred and fifty Psalms. Everything is in Psalm 1, so it virtually
prepares you for all the rest. Follow along, please, as we read it together.

“How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the
wicked, nor stand in the way of sinners. Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates
day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; And in
whatever he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, But they are
like chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not
stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the
wicked will perish.”

As you know by looking in your Bibles, the first two Psalms do not have
a human author ascribed to them. In other words, it does not say, a
Psalm of David or a Psalm of Asaph. We do not know who wrote Psalm
1 or Psalm 2. As I told you, the book of Psalms is so long that they
divided it into five books. The first book is the first forty-one chapters.
Well, thirty-eight of those forty-one chapters are ascribed to David. The
other three – Psalm 1, Psalm 2 and Psalm 10 – we don’t know. Some
people think David wrote them. Some people think Solomon wrote
them. I think there is strong evidence that Solomon wrote Psalm 1, but
that is not important. The important thing is that Psalm 1 is a summary
of all of the Psalms.

The first Psalm is about God’s law. The second psalm is about
prophets. God has given us a great introduction – the law and the
prophets. In other words, the whole Bible. So both of them could be
considered an introduction. But we are not going to look at Psalm 2 as
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