Commentary on Psalm 1

Psalm 1 promises happiness for those who avoid the path of wicked sinners and scoffers, and instead “delight” in meditating on divine commandments. These righteous people will live well and flourish. They will be 

like trees
    planted by streams of water,
which yield their fruit in its season,
    and their leaves do not wither.
In all that they do, they prosper. (verse 3) 

The wicked, by contrast—those we can assume do not follow or take pleasure in the law of the Lord—will not endure.

[They] are like chaff that the wind drives away. (verse 4)

And

The way of the wicked will perish. (verse 6)

But we know better, don’t we? We know that all too often, good and just people suffer, and those who pursue only their own self-interest—and do so ruthlessly—seem always to thrive and to enjoy all success. 

In the book of Job, the title character, whom the book presents as “blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil” (Job 1:1), knew this too, when he asked, 

Why do the wicked live on,
     reach old age, and grow mighty in power? (Job 21:7)

Job yearns to know why the wrongdoers enjoy wealth and family and seem immune to misfortune, even as they blatantly reject God and God’s ways (Job 21:7–26).

Job challenges the platitudes expressed by his friends who strive to make clear that the wicked somehow always get what’s coming to them, that somehow they will be punished for their wrongdoing—and if not them, then their children (Job 21:19). Job asks rhetorically:

How often is the lamp of the wicked put out?
    How often does calamity come upon them? (Job 21:17)

The answer: Not often. 

Job’s own experience of suffering enables him to “see” the world for what it is. For Job, anyone who shows just a little bit of curiosity about how the world works will know the truth. As he says to his friends,

Have you not asked those who travel the roads,
    and do you not accept their testimony,
that the wicked are spared in the day of calamity
    and are rescued in the day of wrath? (Job 21:29–30)

Despite Job’s protestations, we should remember that Psalm 1, like similar texts in the Bible, does point us to important truths. It reminds us of the worth in human lives of the virtues of the just and upright—those qualities of character that make a genuinely good person. These qualities—generosity, kindness, justice, faithfulness, and so forth—can be learned from the wisdom of Israel’s sages in books like Proverbs and, as the psalmist says directly, by deep appreciation of—“delight in” (verse 2)—God’s commandments. Such virtues in Israel’s long religious-moral tradition are articulated in early Christianity in texts like Galatians 5:22–23 as well. 

Psalm 1 makes clear that humans always have moral choices to make. We can reject the way of the wicked and choose the path of the righteous—even if we don’t always do so. Indeed, implicit in the psalm is an idea expressed so well by the book of Proverbs: namely, that all our moral choices, even the smallest of decisions, construct a life path for us. In fact, for much of the Bible, people—whether good or wicked—are not born one way or the other. They are made one way or another through moral training and choices. Our everyday decisions, big or small—to be kind to one in need or not, to show generosity or not, to come to the aid of a stranger or not, to seek our own advantage or that of our neighbor—form our moral character. And eventually, via all of these small decisions, our character will become settled. 

If we are honest, we all can examine our lives and find that through our decisions, we have chosen a way of life and become particular kinds of people.

This ancient wisdom has been rearticulated by the character Mike Ehrmentraut in the popular TV series Better Call Saul, the prequel to the equally acclaimed Breaking Bad. In one powerful scene, Mike, the ex-cop who has started to work for drug traffickers to support his son’s widow, speaks to Saul, a lawyer who, in trying to get ahead in life, is now mixed up in the same drug business. Mike says:

We all make our choices. And those choices, they put us on a road. Sometimes those choices seem small, but they put you on the road. You think about getting off. But eventually, you’re back on it.

For Psalm 1, following the divine commandments and the examples of the righteous, and rejecting the way of life of the wicked, puts people on the right “road.” It produces virtue and makes possible a genuine flourishing for humans—like the thriving tree on a river’s bank. The way of the wicked and scoffers, simply put, is a life path that holds little value; it will perish. 

In light of Psalm 1, preachers may wish to explore the general and far-reaching truth of this ancient wisdom, but also pair it with the promise of new life to those who find themselves on a bad road—a promise available to those who, in trust, turn to the God of Jesus Christ.

Still, perhaps we should not leave Job too soon. Job names an inconvenient truth to those who may take up an overly literal, and so unduly optimistic, understanding of the sorts of claims that a text like Psalm 1 makes about our world. The truth Job points to is one that many—perhaps especially those who, like Job’s friends, enjoy economic prosperity and have avoided significant suffering—would just as soon not see or deal with.  

But Job forces the issue. In our world, the wicked often prosper, and too many suffer too much. Through his own experience of suffering, Job demands a response from his friends and from God on these matters. 

Although later in the book the Divine will respond to Job in some fashion—commentators debate the meanings of the divine speeches in Job 38–41—preachers might explore how we should respond today to the reality Job points to. Do we simply prefer not to see injustice in the world? Do we too easily believe that God alone will set things right in God’s own time and way? Preachers might ask further what is the responsibility of the community of faith to stand as a witness to the divine way of justice in a world where many suffer (explicably and inexplicably), and where, too often, the powerful and wealthy pursue their own advantage at the cost of the flourishing of others.