Psalm 1 is like the book of Proverbs. We understand it best if we picture a boys’ school in a time and place that thought morality could and should be taught—a school
for teaching wisdom to the innocent,
knowledge and discretion to young men. (Proverbs 1:4)
Because it’s a boys’ school, starting out with “Blessed is the man . . . ,” as Psalm 1 does, makes sense. The setting is one in which career paths, and therefore also preparation for adulthood, were completely gender-determined. So we need to take a few steps in imagination to bring the psalm completely into our lives. But for now let us stay with those boys learning what they need to be men.
1 Blessed is the man
who does not follow the counsel of the wicked,
walk the path of sinners,
or join in with the mockers.
2 Instead, he delights in the Lord’s instruction
and meditates on it day and night.
3 He is like a tree planted beside streams of water.
It bears its fruit in season,
and its leaf does not wilt.
Everything he does prospers. . . .
Some translations have “happy” rather than “blessed,” but “happy” sounds to me like something that might pass after a day or two—or after five minutes. “Blessed” need not sound old-fashioned: try saying it in one syllable. At any rate, it suggests a happiness with roots and lasting power, not just a good meal but a good job.
The boys receive here their first and most basic lessons in a very simple outline:
The blessed man:
- what he doesn’t do (verse 1)
- what he does do (verse 2)
The results in his life:
- in a simile (three lines of verse 3)
- in plain language (the fourth line of verse 3)
The results for the man who does otherwise:
- in a simile (the second line of verse 4)
- in plain language (verse 5 and the second line of verse 6)
The reason the blessed man is blessed (the first line of verse 6)
The objective in what the boys are to both do and avoid is the health of the mind. There is the obvious contrast between the badness of the potential friends (verse 1) and the goodness of God’s word (verse 2). But there is a more subtle lesson as well. The young (or old) man (or woman) who neglects the lesson of verse 1 is one who is influenced, one who follows. And the influencers and leaders are a problem only because they are followed. But the person spoken of in verse 2 is one who goes it alone to some degree, and that, too, is part of the mind’s health.
A preacher can obviously distinguish those in the congregation who say “Amen” and “preach it” from those who sit like rocks or study the rafters. But it’s another matter to identify the one who goes home, opens the Bible, thinks more about the connection the preacher has made between a Bible passage and our lives today, and extends that into their own individual life, including the parts that no one else knows anything about.
That sort of thing is done by individual initiative, and it sets a person apart—perhaps not for the obvious physical blessings spoken of in the psalm (“whatever he does will prosper,” verse 3) but certainly for a strength of connection with God that can stand through whatever life throws at it.
The One Story 