![]() ![]() Chaff, on the other hand, is either the husk of winnowed grain or dried grass (see the Lexham Bible Dictionary). A tree that is planted does not rapidly grow roots and spring up overnight. The metaphors here in Psalm 1 are rich they suggest that the two “ways,” while leading to different places, may not always be obviously distinct in this life. “The way of the wicked will perish,” the Psalm says. As a result, the wicked becomes chaff blowing in the wind. In contrast, the wicked does not delight in God’s law and has no rhythm of daily and nightly meditation on it. As a result, the blessed man becomes a fruitful tree that is rooted deeply in the soil beside a flowing stream. Instead, he chooses to delight in the law of the Lord through a rhythm of daily and nightly meditations. The “blessed” man does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, he does not stand in the way of sinners, and he does not sit in the seat of scoffers. The former is identified by three things he avoids and by one thing that he does. In this Psalm, we are immediately introduced to a comparison between two people who make very different choices: the “blessed man” and the “wicked.” Psalm 1 is the foundation for the whole Psalter. You see it also in Deuteronomy, when God tells Israel they have a choice to make: life and prosperity, or death and destruction (Deut 30:15–16).įive Psalms in particular urge readers to choose between two ways and all point to the way of life and, ultimately, the way Jesus brings redemption to the world. ![]() Throughout the Bible there is a theme that you might call “choosing between two ways.” It starts with the two trees in the Garden of Eden narrative: the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil produced death, while the Tree of Life was a source of Eternal Life. Facebook Twitter Reddit Pinterest Email LinkedIn ![]()
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