*Psalm1-

-an exposition as put together by Michael Mirander.

¶ Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit 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, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.
4 ¶ Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6 For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

THE PSALMS 1.

This Psalm may be regarded as THE PREFACE PSALM,
having in it information of the contents of the entire Book of Psalms.
It is the psalmist's desire to teach us the way to blessedness, and to warn us of the sure destruction of sinners.
Divisions.--This Psalm consists of two parts:
A- from verse 1 to 3 : David sets out the character and traits of a godly man , what his exercises are, and what blessings he shall receive from the Lord.
B- In the second part (from verse 4 to the end) he contrasts the state and character of the ungodly man, reveals the future, and describes, in telling language, his ultimate doom !!!
.

BLESSED is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly,
nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the
scornful.
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he
meditate day and night.
"BLESSED "-see how this Book of Psalms opens with a benediction, even as did the famous Sermon of our Lord upon the Mount .The word translated " blessed " is a very expressive one.

The original word is plural, and we can come to learn the multiplicity of the blessings which shall rest upon the man whom God
hath justified, and the perfection and greatness of the blessedness he shall enjoy.
We might read it as, " Oh, the blessednesses !" and we may well regard it as a joyful acclamation of the gracious man's felicity.
May the like benediction rest on us !

The gracious man is described both negatively (verse 1) and positively (verse 2). He is a man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly. He takes wiser counsel, and walks in the commandments of the Lord his God.
To him the ways of piety are paths of peace and pleasantness. His footsteps are ordered by the Word of God, and not by the cunning and wicked devices of carnal men.

It is a rich sign of inward grace when the outward walk is changed, and when ungodliness is put far from our actions.
Next, he standeth not in the way of sinners. His company is of a choicer sort than it was. Although a sinner himself, he is now a blood-washed sinner, quickened by the Holy Spirit, and renewed in his heart.
Standing by the rich grace of God in the congregation of the righteous,
he dares not herd with the multitude that do evil.
Again it is said, " nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful." He finds no rest in the atheist's scoffings.
Let others make a mock of sin, of eternity, of hell and heaven, and of the Eternal God ; this man has learned better philosophy than that of the infidel, and has too much sense of God's presence to endure to hear his name blasphemed. The seat of the scorner may be very lofty, but it is very near to the gate of hell; let us flee from it, for it shall soon be empty, and destruction shall swallow up the man who sits therein.

Mark the gradation in the first verse

walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly

Nor standeth in the way of sinners.

Nor SITTETH in the SEAT of SCORNFUL.

When men are living in sin they go from bad to worse.
At first they merely walk in the counsel of the careless and ungodly, who forget God--the evil is rather practical than habitual--but after that, they become habituated to evil, and they stand in the way of open sinners who willfully violate God's commandments; and if let alone, they go one step further, and become themselves pestilent teachers and tempters of others, and thus they sit in the seat of the scornful. They have taken their degree in vice, and as true Doctors of Damnation they are installed,
and are looked up to by others as Masters in Belial. But the blessed man, the
man to whom all the blessings of God belong,
can hold no communion with such characters as these.
He keeps himself pure from these lepers; he puts away evil
things from him as garments spotted by the flesh; he comes out from among the wicked, and goes without the camp, bearing
the reproach of Christ.
Oh for grace to be thus separate from sinners!

And now mark his positive character. " His delight is in the law of the Lord."
He is not under the law as a curse and condemnation, but he is in it, and he delights to be in it as his rule of life ; he delights, moreover, to meditate in it,
to read it by day,
and think upon it by night.
He takes a text and carries it with him all day
long; and in the night-watches, when sleep forsakes his eyelids, he museth upon the Word of God.
In the day of his prosperity he sings psalms out of the Word of God, and in the night of his affliction he comforts himself with promises out of the same book. " The law of the Lord " is the daily bread of the true believer.
And yet, in David's day, how small was the volume of inspiration, for they had scarcely anything save the first five books of Moses ! How much more. then, should we prize the whole written Word which it is our privilege to have in all our houses ! But, alas, what ill-treatment is given to this angel from heaven!
We are not all Berean searchers of the Scriptures. How few among us can lay claim
to the benediction of the text!
Perhaps some of you can claim a sort of negative purity, because you do not walk in the way of the ungodly ; but let me ask you-
Is your delight in the law of God ?
??? Do you study God's Word? Do you make
it the man of your right hand--your best companion and hourly guide ? If not,
this blessing belongeth not to you.

3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
" And he shall be like a tree planted ; " not a wild tree, but " a tree planted," chosen, considered as property. cultivated and secured from the last terrible up-rooting, for " every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up
" By the rivers of water ; " so that even if one river should fail , he hath another.
The rivers of pardon and the rivers of grace, the rivers of the promise and the rivers of the communion with Christ, are never-failing
sources of supply. He is " like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth
his fruit in his season ; " not unseasonable graces, like untimely figs, which are
never full-flavoured. But the man who delights in God's Word, being taught by it,
bringeth forth patience in the time of suffering, faith in the day of trial,and Holy joy in the hour of prosperity.

Fruitfulness is an essential quality of a gracious man, and that fruitfulness should be seasonable. " His leaf also shall not wither ; "
his faintest word shall be everlasting ; his little deeds of love shall be had in remem-
brance. Not simply shall his fruit be preserved, but his leaf also. He shall neither lose his beauty nor his fruitfulness. "And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." Blessed is the man who hath such a promise as this. But we must not always estimate the fulfillment of a promise by our own eye-sight. How often if we judge by feeble sense, may we come to the mournful conclusion of Jacob,
" All these things are against me ! " For though we know our interest in the promise,
yet are we so tried and troubled, that sight sees the very reverse of what that promise
foretells. But to the eye of faith this word is sure, and by it we perceive that our
works are prospered, even when everything seems to go against us. It is not outward prosperity which the Christian most desires and values; it is soul prosperity which he longs for. We often, like Jehoshaphnt, makes trips to go to Tarshish for gold, but they are broken at Ezion-geber; but even here there is a true prospering, for
it is often for the soul's health that: we should be poor, bereaved, and persecuted.
Our worst things are often our best things. As there is a curse wrapped up in the
wicked man's mercies, so there is a blessing concealed in the righteous man's crosses,
losses, and sorrows. The trials of the saint are a divine husbandry, by which he grows and brings forth abundant fruit.
4 The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
We have now come to the second head of the Psalm. In this verse the contrast of the ill estate of the wicked is employed to heighten the colouring of that fair and pleasant picture which precedes it. The more forcible translation of the Vulgate and of the Septuagint version is--" Not so the ungodly, not so." And we are hereby
to understand that whatever good thing is said of the righteous is not true in the case
of the ungodly. Oh ! how terrible is it to have a double negative put upon the promises !
and yet this is just the condition of the ungodly. Mark the use of the term " ungodly," for, as we have seen in the opening of the Psalm, these are
the beginners in evil, and are the least offensive of sinners. Oh ! if such is the sad
state of those who quietly continue in their morality, and neglect their God, what
must be the condition of open sinners and shameless infidels ? The first sentence
is a negative description of the ungodly, and the second is the positive picture.
Here is their character--" they are like chaff," intrinsically worthless, dead, unserviceable,
Here, also, mark their doom--" the wind driveth away" death shall hurry them with its terrible blast into the fire in which they shall be utterly consumed.

5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in
the congregation of the righteous.
They shall stand there to be judged, but not to be acquitted. Fear shall lay hold upon them there; they shall not stand their ground; they shall flee away; they shall not stand in their own defense ; for they shall blush and be covered with eternal contempt.
Well may the saints long for heaven, for no evil men shall dwell there, " nor
sinners in the congregation of the righteous." All our congregations upon earth are
mixed. Every Church has one devil in it. The tares grow in the same furrows as
the wheat. There is no floor which is as yet thoroughly purged from chaff. Sinners
mix with saints, as dross mingles with gold. God's precious diamonds still lie in the same field with pebbles.
righteous lots are this side heaven continually vexed by the men of Sodom

Let us rejoice then , that in " the general assembly and church of the firstborn " above, there shall by no means be admitted a single
unrenewed soul. Sinners cannot live in heaven. They would be out of their element.
Sooner could a fish live upon a tree than the wicked in Paradise. Heaven would
be an intolerable hell to an impenitent man, even if he could be allowed to enter;
but such a privilege shall never be granted to the man who perseveres in his iniquities.
May God grant that we may have a name and a place in his courts above!
6 For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Or, as the Hebrew hath it yet more fully, " The Lord is knowing the way of the righteous."
He is constantly looking on their way, and though it may be often
in mist and darkness, yet the Lord knoweth it. If it be in the clouds and tempest of affliction, he understandeth it. He numbereth the hairs of our head; he will not suffer any evil to befall us. " He knoweth the way that I take : when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold." (Job xxiii. 10.)
But the way of the ungodly shall perish." Not only shall they perish themselves, but their way shall perish too.
The righteous carves his name upon the rock, but the wicked writes his remembrance
in the sand. The righteous man ploughs the furrows of earth, and sows a harvest
here, which shall never be fully reaped till he enters the enjoyments of eternity;
but as for the wicked, he ploughs the sea, and though there may seem to be a shining trail behind his keel, yet the waves shall pass over it, and the place that knew him shall know him no more for ever.
The very " way" of the ungodly shall perish.
If it exist in remembrance, it shall be in the remembrance of the bad ; for the Lord
will cause the name of the wicked to rot, to become a stench in the nostrils of the good,
and to be only known to the wicked themselves by its putridity.
May the Lord cleanse our hearts and our ways, that we may escape the doom
of the ungodly, and enjoy the blessedness of the righteous !

This booklet in its enterity-Psalms One- can be ordered for J$300.

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