Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.
Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
that the wind blows away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.
This poem has been deliberately placed here at the front of the psalms as an introduction, as a guide. The one who delights in the "law" of the Lord and meditates on God's words is "blessed" (happy.) Implied in this introduction is a principal for life: "Keep reading here, in these songs, if you wish to prosper."
And so, I think, this summer, I shall try to do exactly that. I will see if I can slowly work through the psalms, about five a week until the end of summer. (A class at a local church will touch on one or two each Wednesday night.)
This psalm has the classic rhyming of Hebrew poetry, parallelism, the repetition of thoughts. Instead of the English tradition of repeating the sound of the last syllable, the Hebrew writers repeat and modify a phrase or concept. We will see this technique throughout the psalms. In the first verse, we see a repeated theme, each phrase building on the last. One should not walk with the wicked ... nor stand with them either ... and especially not sit down and join them. The parallelism is used to build the theme, each repetition of the idea stronger than the last.
The theme "The wicked do this... and the righteous do that..." in the first three verses forms a bookend pair with the last verse, in which the concepts are reflected, "The Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but..."
The meaning of "company" is elaborated in a series of steps, each changing slightly from the previous. Our anti-model walks alongside sinners then stops and stands with them, finally joining them and sitting amongst them, breathing in their counsel and advice, mocking God. At some point our community begins to shape our allegiances and our moral choices.
Instead of mocking God, one should delight in God's "law". In a dry hot desert land, we all wish to be healthy, growing by a fresh cool river stream, fruitful and prospering. In contrast, the person who turns from God and ignores Him/Her dries up, turning to dust, blowing away. This simile very closely echoes Jeremiah 17:5-8. There the imagery of cool waters in contrast to dry, dusty desert is expanded.
The imagery here is deliberately simplistic. The good follow God's "law" (principles) and delight in them. The wicked scoff at God's principles. There is no in between. This is typical of Old Testament wisdom literature. One is offered a brief "bead" of wisdom -- "You can do this ... or you can do that." Two simple choices. "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood," write Frost. At some point our choices are simplistic; there are really only two, with splintery secondary choices that reflect the primary one. In this song, we are told to meditate on God's principles or to join a group of scoffers. No intermediate choice is offered.
Robert Alter translates "watches over" in verse 6 as "embraces". It implies some intimacy; it is the same Hebrew word (says Alter) that is often translated "to know", as in "Adam knew Eve and she became pregnant...." (Genesis 4:1).
This psalm raises a number of questions for me, questions I didn't use to have:
In what way does God watch over the "way" of the righteous? In what way am I protected? (Do I want to be "protected" like Job, who lost his family and possessions, sitting in misery with companions who provided him no comfort?)
At one level these words are comforting; on another level they seem simplistic. I know good friends and family who have sought to follow God's principles and have certainly struggled through pain and suffering; they did not appear "prosperous" to me. I also have friends who are not Christians but who seem to delight in good and in caring for others. Do they have a (productive) place in this simple psalm?
Ultimately I want to be on God's side, growing by a cool stream, fed by His/Her guidance and love. Like those of Hebrews 11:16, I look for a better country.
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For next time: Read Psalm 2.
At the beginning of the psalm, what are the people doing? (What verbs describe their actions?) Who do these people oppose?
What does it mean for the kings to "gather together"? Is this literal? How active is this opposition to God's rule? What portion of the earth are involved in it?
What does this psalm say about human history? About modern governments? About our country? Are there modern versions of this rebellion? (Be careful here! Our own cultural blindness is pretty deep.)
God is described as laughing, scoffing, angry. Each of these emotions is different and rather human. Does God experience these? (Don't some of these emotions require elements like surprise or weakness, attributes which God does not have?)
Is the the violence ("dash them") in the psalm disturbing? Why?
Why is the second psalm a psalm? (Why is it in this collection?)
I will post on Psalm 2 on Wednesday, June 3, 2015
I will post on Psalm 2 on Wednesday, June 3, 2015
