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    Psalm 1 1 - 6 Notebook

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    The passage is a Psalm that contrasts the way of the righteous with the way of the ungodly. It is made up of 6 verses that use imagery and contrasts to emphasize the different outcomes for those who follow God's teachings and those who do not. The righteous are blessed, like a fruitful tree planted by water that flourishes. In contrast, the wicked are like useless chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore, the wicked will not stand in judgment, but God knows and protects the righteous.

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    Psalm 1 1 - 6 Notebook

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    321876
    761 views7 pages
    The passage is a Psalm that contrasts the way of the righteous with the way of the ungodly. It is made up of 6 verses that use imagery and contrasts to emphasize the different outcomes for those who follow God's teachings and those who do not. The righteous are blessed, like a fruitful tree planted by water that flourishes. In contrast, the wicked are like useless chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore, the wicked will not stand in judgment, but God knows and protects the righteous.

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    Psalm 1 1_6 Notebook

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    The passage is a Psalm that contrasts the way of the righteous with the way of the ungodly. It is made up of 6 verses that use imagery and contrasts to emphasize the different outcomes for those who follow God's teachings and those who do not. The righteous are blessed, like a fruitful tree planted by water that flourishes. In contrast, the wicked are like useless chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore, the wicked will not stand in judgment, but God knows and protects the righteous.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    761 views7 pages

    Psalm 1 1 - 6 Notebook

    Uploaded by

    321876
    The passage is a Psalm that contrasts the way of the righteous with the way of the ungodly. It is made up of 6 verses that use imagery and contrasts to emphasize the different outcomes for those who follow God's teachings and those who do not. The righteous are blessed, like a fruitful tree planted by water that flourishes. In contrast, the wicked are like useless chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore, the wicked will not stand in judgment, but God knows and protects the righteous.

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    At a glance
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    The key takeaways of the passage are that the psalmist instructs believers not to live the way the world lives and not to take advice from unbelievers, but rather to study God's word in order to live righteously and be vindicated when God judges the wicked.

    The literary context is that Psalm 1 introduces the Psalter by contrasting the righteous and ungodly and sets the stage for God's rule. The genre is an instructional psalm that contrasts the righteous and wicked using phrases like 'happy are' and a tone of instruction.

    The psalm contrasts the righteous, whose delight is in the law of the Lord and who are like trees planted by streams of water, with the wicked, who are like chaff that the wind blows away and who will not stand in judgment. The righteous find success in this life and the next life, while the wicked have no hope of escaping God's judgment.

    Exegetical Notebook: OT 6217 Poetic and Prophetic Books

    Tully

    [Name]

    Psalm 1:1-6
    1. Briefly describe the literary context and the genre of this passage:

    Literary context:
    Psalm 1 sets the tone for much of the rest of the Psalter by contrasting the way of the righteous with the way of the ungodly
    and sets the stage for the hostility of the ungodly. Along with Psalm 2, it forms the introduction to the entire collection. Psalm
    2, a royal psalm, lays out the connection between Gods rule and the human monarchy. Psalm 1 says nothing about the king,
    but it focuses on the way of the righteous that is to be lived out in accordance with the law of the Lord. Putting the two psalms
    together we have the main themes of the book, the way the righteous are to live among the ungodly, and the salvation the
    righteous have in their divinely chosen king. Psalm 1 then begins by reminding the reader that those who order their lives by
    Gods word will find success in this life and in the life to come, but those who reject Gods word have no hope of escaping his
    judgment. The message of the psalm centers on the importance of meditation on Gods word. (Ross 182)
    Genre:
    This psalm is an instructional psalm. Because of this classification, the suggestion has been made that the psalm should be
    understood as having originated in an education setting, from whence it made its way into the cultic liturgy. The characteristic
    of these type of Psalms is that often they include a dualistic comparison between the righteous and the wicked, the wise and the
    fool, or Gods way and the worlds way. Some formal traits that occur in these psalms are happy are phrases and also a tone
    of instruction. One subcategory of the instructional psalm is the Torah psalm, which expressly instructs regarding the Lords
    Torah.(Nancy 58, 20)
    2. Are these the actual exegetical boundaries of the passage? Why or why not?

    Inmyopinion,Psalm1thematicallyfitswelltogether,thecontrastbetweentherighteousandthewickedlinksthewhole
    psalm.Also,thereisaclearthematicshiftbetweenPsalm1andPsalm2.

    Exegetical Notebook: OT 6217 Poetic and Prophetic Books

    Tully

    3. Text Analysis

    1.1

    Blessed is the man who do not


    follow the advice of the wicked,
    or stand in the pathway with
    sinners, or sit in the seat of
    scoffers;

    Jl'h; - Verb qal pf 3 ms sg klh


    - to walk, go
    dm;[; - Verb qal pf 3 ms sg
    dm[- to stand
    bv;y: - Verb qal pf 3 ms sg
    bvy - to sit , dwell

    How would you outline this verse? How many


    clauses are there and what is the relationship
    between them?

    I would follow Ross (184), who states that the verse begins
    with an announcement of their spiritual state and then
    qualifies it with three clauses.
    Blessed is the man
    who do not follow the advice of the wicked,
    or stand in the pathway with sinners
    or sit in the seat of scoffers
    In the clauses there are a threefold trilogy of ascending
    intensity. First, the three terms for the people of the worlds
    are ungodly. sinner, and scorners. In the three
    descriptions of the unrighteousness there is growing intensity,
    signifying that what may start as a harmless bit of advice
    from an unbeliever may end up with a dangerously close
    connection to those who want to destroy faith.
    Also the verbs in this verse increase in force. To walk, to
    stand, and to sit show that if people at first take their
    spiritual guidance from unbelievers instead of GO, they will
    gradually being living like the world and become more
    entangled in it. (Ross 188)
    Look up the word
    . How does this kind of
    person compare to the and the , also
    mentioned in Proverbs?

    Exegetical Notebook: OT 6217 Poetic and Prophetic Books

    Tully

    The peti is someone who is in the situation of being easily


    misled. Though intellectually flawed, the petayim are the
    mildest sort of fools, for they are malleable, are capable of
    being shaped and improved by education process (Prov 1:4;
    8:5; 12:25; 21:11), and still have hope of joining the company
    of the wise. (Waltke 111)
    The kesil is the one who is overconfident and, therefore, falls
    into smug obtuseness. There seems to be a connection
    between his overconfidence and his stupidity. Instead of
    perceiving knowledge as desirable and so consciously
    cherished and sought after, fools are repulsed by it and try
    to rid themselves of it. (Waltke 113)
    The most hardened apostates are the mockers (lesim). Their
    spiritual problem is rotted in their overweening pride (Prov
    21:24). His supercilious arrogance blocks him from wisdom
    (14:6). He has genius for invective and denigration that
    impresses the gullible as long as he has his way
    (19:25;21:11). To restore order he must be driven out of the
    community by force (22:10). The scoffer is considered in
    Prov 9:7-9 as someone who is incorrigible, and, therefore,
    there is no point in exhorting that person. (Waltke 114)

    1.2

    But his delight is in the law of


    the Lord, and on his law he
    meditates day and night.

    hG<h]y< - Verb qal impf 3


    ms sg hgh - to meditate, moan,
    speak



    What does this mean? Look in a lexicon
    or two as well as in Waltke and OConnor
    39.3.5d.

    Related to the uses of nka to restrict the immediately


    preceding clause is the restrictive use of yK and a yK in a

    Exegetical Notebook: OT 6217 Poetic and Prophetic Books

    Tully

    clause after a negative clause; the combination a yK can be


    used to restrict generally preceding material. (Waltke and
    OConnor 39.3.5.d)
    Adversative clause with yK or a yK after a negative. After
    a negative, a clause that begins with yK can be adversative.
    When used in this way, yK is often followed by a pleonastic
    a. (Willams Hebrew Syntax, 196)
    The antithetical meaning of yK following a neg. is not
    sufficiently taken into account by translators. Introduced by
    a yK. Ps 1.2 blessed is the man who does not walkbut
    his is in the law of Y.( also vs. 4). (Davidson Hebrew Syntax,
    174).
    Adversative and Exceptive Clause. After the negative
    sentences (especially after prohibitions) the antithesis (but) is
    introduced by a yK. (Gesenius Hebrew Grammar, 500)

    1.3






    The happy estate of the righteousness is illuminated in v. 3 by






    the simile of the tree. A tree may flourish or fade, depending

    He is like a tree planted by


    w] - Particle conj - and
    streams of water, which yields its
    hy:h; - Verb qal pf 3 ms sg
    fruit in its season, and its leaf
    does not wither. In all that he
    consec hyh - to be
    does, he prospers.

    lWtv; - Verb qal passive ms sg


    abs ltv - to plant

    upon its location and access to water. A tree transplanted from


    some dry spot to a location beside an irrigation channel,
    where water never cease to flow, would inevitably flourish. It
    would become a green and fruitful tree. The simile not only
    illustrates colorfully the prosperity of the righteous, but also
    make a theological point. The sate of blessedness or
    happiness is not a reward; rather, it is the result of a particular
    type of life. Just as tree with a constant water supply naturally

    Exegetical Notebook: OT 6217 Poetic and Prophetic Books

    Tully

    nTeyI - Verb qal impf 3 ms sg


    ntn - to give, put, set
    lwByI - Verb qal impf 3 ms sg
    lbn - to fade, wither, droop

    flourishes, so too the person who avoids evil and delights in


    Torah naturally prospers, for such a person is living within the
    guidelines set down by the Creator. Thus the prosperity of the
    righteous reflects the wisdom of a life lived according to the
    plan of the Giver of all life. (Craigie 60-61)

    hc,[}y" - Verb qal impf 3 ms


    sg hc[ - to do, make
    j'ylix]y" - Verb hif impf 3 ms
    sg jlx - to prosper, succeed, rush

    1.4





    The life of the wicked is summarized succinctly in the brief

    The wicked are not so, but are


    like chaff that the wind drives
    away.

    pD]Ti

    Verb qal impf 3 fem sg


    dn - to drive away

    wN -suffix 3 ms sg energic

    1.5

    simile of v 4b. They are like chaff. The language reflects the
    practice of winnowing grain at harvest time. The grain would
    be tossed into the air with a pitchfork at the village threshing
    floor; the wind would separate the light of chaff and husks
    and blow them away; while the more substantial grain fell
    back to the floor. Chaff is something light and useless, part of
    the crop, but a part to be disposed by the farmer. The wicked
    are thus depicted in the simile as lightweights, persons
    without real substance or worth (Craigie 61).
    To what does

    refer? To what preceding

    Exegetical Notebook: OT 6217 Poetic and Prophetic Books

    Tully



    Therefore the wicked will not
    stand in the judgment, nor
    sinners in the congregation of
    the righteous;

    1.6

    al - Particle neg - not


    wmqUy: - verb qal impf 3
    ms pl wq - to arise, stand

    For the Lord knows the way of


    the righteous, but they way of
    the wicked will perish.

    AyKi - Particle conj


    because, when

    that,

    ['dEwyo - Verb qal ptc ms sg


    abs [dy - to know
    dbeaT - Verb qal impf 3 fem
    sg dba - to perish, destroy

    idea is it pointing?

    The conjunction is pointing to the simile of the chaff in


    verse 4. As Craigie states, the lightness of the wicked is
    then elaborated in v 5. The two lines of v.5, in parallelism,
    reflect essentially the same thought, namely that the
    wicked hold no weight or influence in the important areas
    of human society. Where the righteous meet for the
    pursuit of justice and government, the wicked have no
    place and are not recognized. They live for themselves
    and cannot participate in the affairs of those who live for
    other and for righteousness.( Craigie 61)
    How do you think that
    is parallel with

    In the first colon, the way of the righteous is the object of


    the verb. In the second, the way of the wicked is the
    subject. By means of this nuanced alteration, the poem
    means to say that being the author of ones own fate is to
    march down the path of self-destruction. The wicked are
    their own lords, and thus they autonomously move
    toward their own judgment. The way of the righteous, by
    theological and grammatical contrast, is the object of
    Gods care. The righteouses are distinguished not by any
    action of their own, but by an action of the Lords: God
    watches over them. The message of this verse, and indeed
    of the entire psalm, is that it is far better to give up
    spurious claims to subjective autonomy and become the
    object of the Lords care. This is the true path to
    happiness and life. (Nancy 63)

    Exegetical Notebook: OT 6217 Poetic and Prophetic Books

    Tully

    4. What is the main message or thrust of this passage?

    By drawing a contrast between the righteous and the ungodly, the psalmist instructs believers not to live the way the world lives,
    not to take spiritual, moral, or ethical advice from the unbelievers, and not to join them in their profane enterprises; rather,
    believers must study the word of God in order to live an untarnished and productive life for God, and that life will be evidence of a
    living faith that will see them through the judgment, when God judges the wicked. (Ross 194-195)

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