Psalm 1 - Blessed Indeed

1 Blessed indeed;is the man who walks not in the counsel of the godless nor stands in the way of sinners nor sits in the seat of mockers 2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord and on His law he meditates day and night 3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields it’s fruit in season, and it’s leaf does not wither. In all he does, he prospers                   ~ ~ 4 Not so the godless, not so. They are like winnowed chaff that the wind drives away. 5 Therefore the godless will not stand in the judgement nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;                   ~ ~ 6 for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but … the way of the godless will perish.                   ~ ~

The poem has 3 parts, a description of the righteous, a description of the godless and a summary.                   ~ ~ The whole poem is a chiasmus - a repetition of ideas in inverted order A1. The blessed man stands not with the wicked. A2. The blessed man chooses God’ law. B. Green tree illustrates righteous man. B. Brown chaff illustrates wicked man. A1. Wicked man stands not with the righteous. A2. God chooses the righteous man.                   ~ ~ v1a and v4a echo each other. Blessed indeed is the man. Not so the godless not so. The man is not just blessed but blessed indeed - the blessing is intensified.  It is not so, not so for the godless - the denial is intensified.                   ~ ~ v3 and v4b echo each other. He is like a tree planted by streams of water. They are like winnowed chaff that the wind blows away. The tree is deliberately planted in a place of good nourishment, it’s roots will be deep and strong.  It cannot fail to thrive and produce fruit. It can withstand even the strongest storms. When winnowing, the heavier grain falls to the ground and the chaff is blown away by the wind.  It is worthless and fruitless.                   ~ ~ In v1 There is a progression of evil. who walks not in the counsel of the godless nor stands in the way of sinners nor sits in the seat of scoffers Stage 1 - walk along listening to the advice. Stage 2 - following their way, doing evil. Stage 3 - Siting in the seat/throne - you are not just part of the group but a leader in the group, the one doling out the advice.                   ~ ~ v 2 has a chiasmus - a repetition of ideas in inverted order 2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord               A1                          B1 and on His law he meditates day and night.               B2                          A2                   ~ ~ v5 has a secondary level. The first level echoes the first verse, the righteous will not stand in the way of the sinners - the godless will not stand in the way of the righteous. The second level the godless will not stand in the judgement - nope, their knees will buckle and they will kneel before the Lord, begging for mercy, unable to stand tall during the judgement.                   ~ ~ v6 has a neat trick. It looks like it will be a parallelism - a repetition of ideas in the same order - but there is a subtle joke. 6 for the Lord knows the way of the righteous,              A1                            B1 but     …         the way of the godless will perish.           A2                   B2 The way of the righteous is parreleled by the way of the godless.  But where the Lord should be to complete the parallelism God is missing - because …… they are god - less.