LIBERTY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
Exegesis Research Paper: Psalm 1:1-6
Submitted to Dr. Paul Jacobs,
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of,
RTCH 500-D05
Research, Writing, and Ministry Preparation
by
Jason D. Owens
Sunday, April 19, 2020
Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Context.............................................................................................................................................2
Message............................................................................................................................................5
Significance......................................................................................................................................7
Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................8
Bibliography..................................................................................................................................10
ii
Introduction
The first Psalm is a wisdom psalm functioning as an introduction to the entire book of
Psalms. Psalm 1 sets the tone of the whole Book of Psalms by allowing the reader to see just how
great wisdom is to God. There is an emphasis placed on the importance of having the
1
understanding to see the world from God’s perspective and to gain knowledge about what God
requires of His people to walk fully in life and follow His instructions. There is an apparent
desire from the psalmist to teach us the way to be blessed and warn us of the destruction of
sinners. The blessed man embraces wisdom, not merely the teaching of God’s law and methods
but the living out of those ways, like a tree planted by the river, such a person provides shelter
and nurture and gives life. This then is the matter of the first Psalm, which may be looked upon
2
in some respects as the text upon which the whole of the Psalms makes up a divine sermon.
Psalm 1 serves worshipers and provides an introduction because of the all-encompassing purpose
of the Psalms, but also the entire collection of the Bible. The Psalms can deal with individuals’
paths and destinations; it is a perfect precursor to what the reader continues to find in the book of
Psalms. This Bible passage is the first set of instructions in the Book of Psalms. God strategically
placed this passage here first as a warning for all His children to take heed and be vigilant that as
humans, they are born into sin and face the decision to choose either righteousness or
wickedness. The blessed man embraces wisdom, not simply the teaching of God’s law and ways
but the living out of those ways. Psalm 1:1-6 is centered on the person and work of Jesus Christ. 3
1 Raymond Apple, "The Happy Man of Psalms 1," 40, no. 3 (2012): 179-182Jewish Bible Quarterly
2 Browning, Derek, 2018, 23rd September: 18th Sunday after Pentecost: Proverbs 31.10–31; Psalms 1;
James 3.13–4:3, 7–8a; Mark 9.30–37, The Expository Times 129 (11): 521-3
3 Lyon, Ashley E., 2014, A Journey of Two Psalms: The Reception of Psalms 1 and 2 in Jewish and
Christian Tradition by Susan Gillingham, Oxford University Press, 2013. 21 (4): Reviews in Religion & Theology
485-7
1
There are at least four times within the book of Acts that Christianity is called the way, this paper
aims to show the two paths that a person must come to decide which path they will follow: the
path of the righteous or the path of the ungodly.
Context
The context of Psalm 1 is significant as it provides the reader with the two-fold backdrop
for the entire book of psalms. Within this two-fold backdrop, we see God's acts of creation and
history in general, but also, the history of Israel. Verse six presents a key to understanding Psalm
1: "For the Lord knows the way of the righteousness but the way of the ungodly shall perish." In
this psalm, the reader sees the path of the righteousness and the path of the ungodly contrasted.
The construction of the Book of Psalms serves as a model for God's people to interpret how to
worship God. Retaining and examining the psalm supplied the people with assistance in praising
God. The entire Book of Psalms is established historically in several distinctive settings and
intervals, but they are conserved and worshiped in the Temple of Jerusalem. Entirely the
historical background of the psalm can be said to be the unified history of Israel's religion. 4
Contextual interpretation is one of the most basic principles to keep in mind when
seeking to interpret what people say and write; sadly, many people tend to ignore this
fundamental proposition when indeed they need it the most. Using contextual interpretation
5
teaches us to discern the Book of Psalm. Psalm 1:1-6 is here to teach believers the right way to
live in Christ and how falling to wickedness will lead to destruction. The literary genre of this
passage is wisdom, and Psalm 1 is the paradigm of the man often delineated in Wisdom
4 Mays, James Luther, Psalms: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching
(Westminster John Knox Press, 2011) 9.
5 Walter C. Kaiser, Jr., and Moisés Silva, Introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics: The Search for Meaning
(Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2007), 175. 3.
2
literature. 6 The character of a good man represented by refusal to ensnare self with evil and
abiding by the law of the Lord. Having wisdom allows God's people to grasp the identity of
reality in its entirety.
The focus of Psalm 1 is not on the individual’s obedience of the Word of God but
instead its focus on the delight in the Word of God for they know that “the Lord delights in those
7
who fear Him, who put their hope in His unfailing love” (Psalms 147:11). God explains that
8
the righteous “do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in
with mockers” (Psalms 1:1). The wisdom of God that believers obtain is more important than
money or fame when one can grasp the power of the Word of God; then, they can conquer the
evil that lurks in the world.
God commands His people, “do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and
she will watch over you. The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you
have, get understanding” (Proverbs 4:6-7). Wisdom is one of the most gracious and valuable
assets that God has given His people. Wisdom gives people new insight into the life and the
Kingdom of God. Once embedded into believers’ everyday living, they will be “like trees planted
along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all
they do” (Psalms 1:3). This verse expresses that believers’ need to focus on knowing God and
studying His word daily, so much that they become like trees bearing God’s fruits and reaping
the harvest of their obedience.
6 Apple, Raymond, "The Happy Man of Psalms 1," 40, no. 3 (2012): 179-182, Jewish Bible Quarterly
accessed April 05, 2020, Academic OneFile.
7 Lefebvre, Michael, 2016, ‘On His Law He Meditates’: What is Psalms 1 Introducing? Journal for the
Study of the Old Testament 40 (4): 439-50, accessed on September 13, 2018,
https://doiorg.ezproxy.liberty.edu/10.1177/0309089216628415.
8 Unless otherwise noted, all biblical passages referenced are in the New Living Translation. ( MA:
Hendrickson Bibles, 2012).
3
“Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and
discipline” (Proverbs 1:7). Wicked people who do evil do not care about the repercussions that
will come from their acts. The wicked are defined solely by their opposition to righteousness,
and their fate “will be condemned at the time of judgment. Sinners will have no place among the
godly” (Psalms 1:5). Wickedness devours the person before they can see that they have
9
succumbed to ungodliness. They are filled with rage and rebel against God and engage
themselves entirely in sin.
“The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10), and he will do
everything in his capacity to accomplish his corrupted ambushes to make sure that Christians
fall. One way that the devil tries to separate Christians’ from the Lord is through the help of
wicked people. Wicked people seek to turn believers against God, and they will spread lies
against the Father to cause a believer to question the Lord. Therefore, God advises Christians’ to
not even entertain, talk, or be around wicked people because their whole agenda is ungodly. Evil
consumes people with darkness, and there is no visible light inside them. “Satan, who is the god
of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the
glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ,
who is the exact likeness of God” (2 Cor. 4:4).
9 Tuell, Steven S., 2009, Between Text & Sermon: Psalms 1, Interpretation 63 (3): 278-80, accessed April
05, 2020, https://doi-org.ezproxy.liberty.edu/10.1177/002096430906300306.
4
The Message
To accurately digest the meaning of Psalm 1: 1-6, God’s people must recognize
God’s posture about them. God knows His people better than they will ever comprehend to
identify themselves. He is not surprised, but rather He understands that His people are weak and
living on this Earth they are tempted and fall into temptations every single day. God constructed
The Book of Psalm to have the ability to embed His power, knowledge, and judgment on life
decisions. God’s people turn to the Book of Psalms as the most accessible and significant
resource for a conversation with God about essential elements like perceiving the expression of
both sides of the discourse of faith and how, as God’s people, they must choose the side of
righteousness. 10
The message behind Psalms 1:1-6 is comprehending the difference between following
the path of the blessed man leads one to the Lord and righteousness but following the way of the
ungodly will only lead to pridefulness and the rain of judgment from the Lord. Before an
individual can proceed, they must first decide what path they are going to follow. God is very
adamant about keeping His people with Him, and He requires His people to be committed to
Him as He is committed to them. A Christian cannot stand with their feet upon both the righteous
and unrighteous paths and expect God to be accepting with this decision. A person who not
wholly committed will find themselves stuck in a cycle of weariness and confusion. Psalms 1:1-6
distinctly expresses that God’s people are blessed because they do not enslave themselves with
the ungodly, and they pick the right side, and their harvest is plentiful as a result of their
obedience.
10 Brueggemann, Walter., The Message of the Psalms: A Theological Commentary (Minneapolis:
Augsburg Publishing House, 2007) 15.
5
God wants His people to pick up their crosses and follow Him, for He knows all and
will never lead anyone into destruction. God gave His creation free will so that no one is bound
to serve Him because He is God, but instead, all must choose to serve Him because He is their
God. Psalms 1:1-6 shows the independence of the blessed man deciding to abide by God because
he comprehends who God is in his life. When Christians follow and “seek first His kingdom and
His righteousness, all things will be given to them as well” (Matt. 6:33). God does not hold back
righteousness from His people, but instead, He gives them justice at the perfect, precise time.
Righteous believers are “like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each
season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do” (Psalms 1:3). The blessed man
focuses on depending on the Lord, and God strengthens His people not to be shaken by the world
and circumstances that arise because He will sustain and guide them into the correct path. The
blessed man in Psalms 1:1-6 knows that he does not have to fight his battles alone because God
is with him, and he depends solely on the Lord for help. The blessed man has inner peace and
happiness from God that the prideful man will never be able to comprehend nor receive in his
life.
There is only judgment for the ungodly, and they will never be able to reap the fruit of
their harvest. The ungodly boast in pridefulness while consumed with the enemy’s lies and
manipulations. Psalms 1:4 states that the wicked “are like chaff that the wind blows away,” and
they will never be able to build a solid foundation because they apart from God’s Word. God
expresses in Gal. 6:7, “do not be deceived; God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.”
The ungodly believe that their behavior is foolproof, and when atrocious circumstances happen
to them, they animadversion directly at God when precisely they are the common denominator of
the issues in their lives.
6
God makes the ungodly hearts abundantly heavy with questioning their actions and lifestyle
but deceived by the devil’s antics and ridicule the Lord. The wicked flatter themselves in their
cruel, evil ways, and “sin whispers to the wicked, deep within their hearts, and they have no fear
of God at all” (Psalms 36:1). They feed off pride and status and blinded by the wickedness that
consumes their entire being. They lose themselves and “refuse to act wisely or do good” (Psalms
36:3). The wicked are not oblivious to who God is; instead, they refuse to acknowledge that they
drastically need Him to live. Pride causes the ungodly to depend on themselves for help when
they are in adversity and defeated in every battle, they face against the righteous they for God is
always with the righteous.
Significance
The significance of Psalms 1:1-6 in the Christian life is carefully thinking about the
importance of deciding between the two fundamental classes of humanity—following Christ or
following the way of sinfulness. When a person decides that they will follow God, they must
wholeheartedly live by God’s standards and stay in the Word of God to fulfill their purpose. In
the Christian life, it is crucial to remember Psalms 1:1-6 because it gives Christians a blueprint
on the priorities they should have. This psalm begins changes within the hearts of Christians
because it will illuminate areas not aligned with God, and they can have the opportunity to
correct it.
Christian ministries are primarily the first experience unbelievers have when wanting to find
and distinguish who God is. Christian ministries have a strong obligation to speak the truth about
staying on the road of wickedness will lead to sin and, ultimately, the grave with no happiness
beyond that. Christian ministries cannot be afraid to speak the truth to people because they
represent God and what God expects the world to know about how He feels about the
7
ungodliness that is corrupting His people. Believers must be reminded by their ministry to stay
on the path of righteousness and not to fall into the temptations of the world for nothing good
comes from sliding out of alignment of God’s grace!
The Holy Spirit shows in Psalms 1:1-6 that He requires the church jointly to not vacate from
His Word, for it is the key to the Kingdom of God. God expects His church to stand firm against
the wicked and do not entertain their antics but rather plant their seeds and trust in Him for their
harvest to manifest. Psalms 1:1-6 is relevant in the church because it allows the church to judge
and correct the direction they are in and how to stay and get back into God’s divine path for
them.
Conclusion
“The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a
rich and satisfying life” (John 10:10). This verse correlates with the analysis of this paper
because it exemplifies the underlying truth of discerning that Christians must avert themselves
from wicked people. After all, the devil conclusively wants to destroy their relationships with
God and put them to death. When Christians candidly remove their fleshly desires and stand firm
in the presence of the Lord, they began to differentiate what is God and what is the devil.
Climactically, God desires for His children to reap the harvest of their devotion to Him.
(2 Cor. 6:14) states, “How can light live with darkness” when Jesus becomes the light
in a believer’s life, they can receive the wisdom to remove the darkness in their lives that they
were previously blinded. God acknowledges that humans are born into sin, and there is the
curiosity of the night in the wicked. However, the souls of God’s people know the light of the
happiness and righteousness of God, which Psalms 1 speaks about, so they refuse to engage in
the darkness of the wicked because their doing does not align with the Word of God. The
8
happiness of God often has to be rediscovered and affirmed anew amidst what seems to be
darkness for the righteous to rebuke the wickedness in the world. 11
Wickedness is the ultimate destruction to a Christian’s walk with Jesus Christ, and God knew
that His children would need help to be able to stay on the path of righteousness. Psalms 1:1-6
expresses the importance of depending and seeking God for everything to counterbalance the
fulfillment of their callings. God warns His people not to be in the presence or stray into the likes
of wicked people, for they mock God and rebel against God’s will, and they will only receive
judgment, and no harvest will come to them. All Christians must remain in the glory of God and
be planted in His Word and not succumb to the trick of the enemy for if they do destruction and
darkness will overtake them.
11 Davidson, Robert, The vitality of worship: A commentary on the Book of Psalms (Wm. B. Eerdmans
Publishing, 1998) 9-14.
9
Bibliography
Apple, Raymond. "The Happy Man of Psalm 1." 40, no. 3 (2012): 179-Jewish Bible Quarterly
182. accessed April 05, 2020. Academic OneFile.
Browning, Derek. 2018. 23rd September: 18th Sunday after Pentecost: Proverbs 31.10–31;
Psalm 1; James 3.13–4:3, 7–8a; Mark 9.30–37. The Expository Times 129 (11): 521-3.
accessed April 05, 2020. https://doi-
org.ezproxy.liberty.edu/10.1177/0014524618775220c.
Brueggemann, Walter. The Message of the Psalms: A Theological Commentary. Minneapolis:
Augsburg Publishing House, 2007.
Davidson, Robert. The vitality of worship: A commentary on the Book of Psalms. Wm. B.
Eerdmans Publishing, 1998.
Francis, Leslie J., and Greg Smith. 2018. Difficult texts: Psalm 1 1 21 (3): 197-200. . Theology
accessed April 05, 2020, https://doi-org.ezproxy.liberty.edu/10.1177/0040571X17749149.
Lefebvre, Michael. 2016. ‘On His Law He Meditates’: What is Psalm 1 Introducing? Journal for
the Study of the Old Testament 40 (4): 439-50, accessed April 05, 2020,
https://doiorg.ezproxy.liberty.edu/10.1177/0309089216628415.
Lyon, Ashley E. 2014. A Journey of Two Psalms: The Reception of Psalms 1 and 2 in Jewish and
Christian Tradition by Susan Gillingham, Oxford University Press, 2013 (ISBN 978 0‐ ‐
19 965241 9), xx + 344 pp., hb £35. ‐ ‐ Reviews in Religion & Theology 21 (4): 485-7.
accessed on April 09, 2020, https://onlinelibrary-wiley-
com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/doi/epdf/10.1111/rirt.12427.
Mays, James Luther. Psalms: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary foPSr Teaching and
Preaching. Westminster John Knox Press, 2011.
Tuell, Steven S. 2009. Between Text & Sermon: Psalm 1. Interpretation 63 (3): 278-80, accessed
April 05, 2020, https://doi-org.ezproxy.liberty.edu/10.1177/002096430906300306.
Walter C. Kaiser, Jr., and Moisés Silva. Introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics: The Search for
Meaning (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2007). 175. 3.
10
