Psalm 1

The happiness of the just: and the evil state of the wicked.

1 Blessed is the man who hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the chair of pestilence.

2 But his will is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he shall meditate day and night. ;

3 And he shall be like a tree which is planted near the running waters, which shall bring forth its fruit in due season. And his leaf shall not fail off: and all whatsoever he shall do shall prosper.

a 4 Not so the wicked, not so: but like the -_ \ dust, which the wind driveth from the face of

ne earth.

5 Therefore the wicked shall not rise again in judgment: nor sinners in the council of the just.

~___, 6 For the Lord knoweth the way of the just: and the way of the wicked shall perish.

EXPLANATION OF THE PSALM.

1 “ Blessed is the man who hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the chair of pestilence.”

In the first and second verses the prophet teaches that happiness, as far as it is attainable in this world, is only to be had in conjunction with true justice. As the apostle teaches, (Rom. xiv.) “ For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink ; but justice and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.” For the truly just are alone the friends of God, nay more, his children, and thus heirs of his kingdom, happy in the hope that belongs to the most perfect happiness, meanwhile, here below, enjoying that solid joy and peace “that surpasseth all understanding.” In this first verse he gives a negative description of the just man; in the second an affirmative, briefly stating here that he is just and thence happy who declines from evil and doeth good. Observe attentively and remember

that David, as well as the other prophets, is very fond of repetitions, making the second part of a

» verse either a repetition or an explanation of the first.

For instance, Exod. xv., ‘ He is my God and I will glorify him; the God of my father, and I will exalt him ;? Deut. xxxii., ‘ Let my doctrine gather as the rain, let my speech distil as the dew;” Psalm xxxiii., ‘I will bless the Lord at all times, his praise shall be always in my mouth.” These ornamental repetitions are of frequent occurrence among the prophets. The first part of the verse, then, conveys to us the happiness of the man who breaks not the law of God; but David making use of a metaphor, conveys the idea in a poetic manner. ‘‘ Happy,” says he, ‘7s the man who hath not walked,” &c.; that is to say, Happy is he who is really just: and he is just who hath not gone in the counsel of the ungodly ; that is to say, who has not followed the counsel, laws, or opinion of the wicked, which are altogether at variance with the way, that is, the law of God. The second part ‘of the same verse expresses the same in-similar words. For, when he says, ‘‘ Nor stood in the way of sinners,” he does not mean standing but walking. Standing here does not mean simply to stand, but to walk, and to continue walking. ‘ Who hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly,” “‘ nor stood in the way of sinners,” are here synonymous, for both convey that he is just who retires from the way, that is, from the law and counsel of sinners. And as the law of God is broken not only by the evil doer but also by the evil teacher, according to Matt. v., “* Whosoever, therefore, shall break one of those least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven ;” the prophet, therefore, adds: “* nor sat in the chair of pestilence ; as much as to say, Blessed is he who neither in word nor deed broke through the law of God. % Zo sit in the chair of pestilence” means, to be among, to keep company with wicked men, with them to despise the law of God, as in nowise pertaining to a happy life, but, on the contrary, looking upon it as more adyantageons to indulge in all the passions and desires

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of the flesh. The words, “ siting in the chair of pesttlence,” are well expressed by Malachias iii.,. ‘ You have said: He laboureth in vain that serveth God, and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinances ?”

2 But his willis in the law of the Lord, and on his law he shall meditate day and night.”

In this second verse the just man is affirmatively described ; and here also we have two sentences, one of which is nearly a repetition of the other. He is

truly said to be just cr happy, who wishes to do the °

will of the Lord; because to be just in this life we are not required to be free from all manner of offence, for, St. James says, chap. ili., “* We all offend ta - many things ;” but it suffices for us to be so disposed towards the law of God, that we desire, above all things, to carry it out; and if we happen to fall into any sin, as undoubtedly we often do, that it is against our will we so fall, that is to say, against the love we entertain towards God and his law, thus making the matter a sin, not a crime, a venial one instead of a deadly one. The same is differently expressed in another psalm : “* The law of his God is in his heart.” For the will or the heart of a just man is in the law of God, and the law of God is in the will or the heart of the just. The law is in the heart, as it were,

on its throne; and the heart is in the law, as it would.

be in anything ardently loved, constantly thought of and.desired ; which is further expressed in the next sentence: «And on his law. he shall meditate day and night; that means to have the law so in his will, and his will in the law, by constantly exercising his mind i in reflecting on and loving it, so that all his actions may be in accordance with it. The words, “day and night,” do not imply that the just man must at every moment be absorbed in the contemplation of the divine law ; it means that he should most frequently reflect on it, and be mindful of it when he,may have anything to think of, to say, or to do, in which he may apprehend a danger of its violation.

3 * And he shall be like a tree which is planted near the rumning waters, which shall bring forth its fruit, in due season, And his leaf shall not fall off: and all whatsoever he shall do shall prosper.”

After declaring who should really be called just, the prophet now declares such just person to be happy, in his hope here in the reality hereafter. He compares him to a tree growing by the river-side, having all the necessaries towards its perfect growth. For some trees produce leaves only, nor do th sy retain them long; other trees have the leaves, and keep them always, but the fruit thereon ripens either too soon or too late; others bring out the fruit, and always keep their leaves, but they do‘not bring all the fruit to maturity: the trees, ther efore, which produce the leaves and the fruit, and though they keep the leaves still ripen all the fr nib, alone deserve the name of being the most perfect, such are the pine, the palm, and the clive, to whi ch the Scripture usually compares the just; and it is to such trees the prophet compares them here. For the just, as the apostle

has it, “ founded and rooted in ane as ; bond friend, are close to the living fountain, whence they | always draw a flow of grace, ‘and produce ¢ good works in the fitting time; every thing “ co-operating with | them to good,” they are always blooming in gloy and honour. For, though they may sometimes be despised by the carnal, they are held in honour by the wise, and, which is of more cousequence, by the Angels, and even by God himself. This applies only to the present life, but with that, they produce their fruit. in season, because they work out true salvation, | to be had in the fitting time, namely, after their death 5~ whereas the wicked look for it before their time, — namely, in this world, and thus lose it here aud there. — And they always retain their leaves, because, accord= ing to St. Peter, they shall receive ‘‘.A never-fading — crown of glory; ’ and, according to Psalm cxi., ‘* Zhe just shall be im everlasting remembrance.” And, finally, “ Whatever they do shali prosper, ’ because whatever they may do, even to the giving of the cup

• of cold water, shall receive a full and perfect reward. —

4 ‘* Not so the wicked, not so: but like the dusi, which the wind driveth from the face of the earth.” 3

Another argument in favour of the happiness of - the just, drawn by the prophet from a contrast with the misery of the wicked. For, lest any one may ~ suppose that the just enjoy the aforesaid favours in common with others, from natural causes, and not from the special providence of God, he adds, ** Noé so the wicked;” that is to say, instead of such: favour it will be quite the other way with them: In most beautiful language he contrasts the misery of the wicked with the happiness of the just. The just, by reason of the abundance of divine grace, are verdant, and produce the fruit, and never lose their bloom or fail in repaying the labour expended on them. Ow the other hand, the wicked, wanting the divine grace, dry and barren, like the finest. dust. scattered by the wiud, leave no trace of themselves, and not only lose glory, wealth, and pleasure—but even themselves, in the bargain, for all eternity.

5 “ Therefore the wicked stall not rise again in judgment: nor sinners in the council of the just.”

A beautiful connexion of the last verses of the psalm with the first. He started by saying that the just did not sit in council nor consort with the wicked; and now he says that the wicked will not rise in the company of the Just, in other words, that a very different sentence is in store for each. i

6 “* For the Lord knoweth the way of the just: and the way of the wicked shall perish.”

A reason for God’s decision, viz. -» his knowledge of good and bad.

The vain efforts of persecutors against Christ ole his t Church. >

1 Why have the gentiles raged, and th e people devised vain things? .

2 The kings of the earth stood up, and the _ princes met together, against the Lord, and

against his Christ.

8 Let us break their bonds asunder: and let us cast away their yoke from us.

4 He that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh at them: and the Lord shall deride them.

5 Then shall he speak to them in his anger, and trouble them in his rage.

6 But I am appointed king by him over Sion his holy mountain, preaching his commandment.

_ 7 The Lord hath said to me: Thou art.my Son, this day have I begotten thee. 8 Ask of me, and I will give thee the gentiles for thy inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for thy possession. - 9 Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron, : and shalt break them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.

10 And now, O ye kings, understand: receive instruction, you that judge the earth.

11 Serve ye the Lord with fear : and rejoice unto him with trembling.

12 Embrace discipline, lest at any time the Lord be angry, and you perish from the just

may. ; eal 13 When his wrath shall be kindled ina short time, blessed are all they that trust in him. aaa EXPLANATION OF THE PSALM. ae 1 “ Why have the gentiles raged, and the people devised vain things 2” j : David, recognising in spirit the coming Messias,

his most successful reign, commences by taunting his persecutors. “ And the people devised vain things,” foreshadowing the folly of the Jews, “ when _ they took counsel to destroy Jesus.” 2 ** The kings of the earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord, and against his Christ.” - After saying in general, that both gentiles and people rose up against Christ, he now descends to particulars, and attributes the excitement not so much to the people as to those placed over them. ‘The first of whom was Herod. Next the princes and the people, as the gospel has it, “* All Jerusalem was troubled with him.” Then Pontius Pilate and e princes of that day. Then, after the passion and rection of our Lord, all the persecutions of the m emperors. So clearly foreshadowed is the -Messias in this verse that the apostles, in the fourth pter of the Acts, not only literally applied it to ir Saviour, but even the old Jewish Rabbis hold to apply to the Saviour the infatuated Jews are still foolishly looking out for! Observe the propriety of the words used here. The gentiles are

the many persecutions he was to undergo, to end in.

said “to rage,” as if they were animals void of reason ; while the Jewish people are made “ to meditute vain things,’ having taken counsel to destroy Jesus.

3 ‘* Let us break their bonds asunder: and lei us cast away their yoke from us.”

The prophet assigns a reason for such rage and conspiracy ; it was for fear they may be subjected to the law of Christ, so opposed to their carnal desires, and the wisdom of the world. These woréls are then, as it were, spoken by the kings and princes. . The law here gets the name of bonds and yoke, because such it is, in point of fact, to the wicked; whereas, to the just, it is “ sweeter than honey, and more desirable than gold and precious stones,” as we read in Psalm xviii.

4 “ He that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh at them: and the Lord shall deride them.”

Here the prophet shews again how vain was the labour of the kings and princes in assailing the Christian religion.* For the religion of Christ is of divine origin, and nobody can offer resistance to God. ‘He that dwelleth in heaven” is very appropriate, inasmuch as it shews that God sees all, is above all, and without any trouble can bafile all their counsels, and demolish all their plans. “ Shail laugh at and deride them,” means that God in his wisdom, by means of signs and wonders, through the patience of the martyrs, through the conversion of nations and peoples, and through other means known to himself alone, will so confound them that they shall be an object of langhter and ridicule to every one. That we see fulfilled. The pagan and the Jewish priesthood are now ridiculed by all. They have neither temp'es nor sacrifice; and all the persecutors of the Church have met a miserable end.

5 “Then shall he speak to them in his anger, and trouble them in his rage.”

He explains the manner in which God has held the enemies of Christ up to ridicu’e, not in language, but in the most grievous punishments and afilictions ; for instance, Herod, stricken by the Angel; Maximinus, eaten up by vermin, and others. Strictly speaking, God is not subject to anger or fury; his judgments are always tranquil ; but he is metaphorically said to rage and to be angry, when he punishes with severity, especially when the correction does not conduce to the salvation of the culprit. Such anger ‘and fury belong to those who do not, like physicians, hurt to heal, but hurt to kill Thus,” when David says, “Lord, reprove me not tn thy fury, nor correct me in thy anger,” he prays for the reproof and correction of a father, not of an enemy ; and that it may tend to his salvation, and not to his detriment.

6 * But Iam appointed king by him over Sion his holy mountain, preaching his commandment.”

Having spoken of the rebellious sentimen's and expressions of Christ’s enemies, he introduces the

Redeemer now, as if answering them. Iam appointed king, not by man, but by God, and therefore, man’s threats I regard not. I am ordained king on Sion, his holy mountain ; that is, on his Church, the city built on a mountain, of which Jerusalem was the type; the principal part of which, and most beloved and sanctified by God, was Sion, ashe says in Ps. Ixxxvi., “© The Lord loveth the gates of Sion beyond all the tabernacles of Jacob.” 7‘ The Lord hath said to me: Thou art my Son, this | day have I begotten thee.” | Here is the beginning and the foundation of God’s ‘decree. For to Christ, as being the true and natural | Son of God, is due all power in heaven and on earth. | Three generations are here alludedto. The first, when / in the day of eternity, I God begot you God. The second, when, on the day of your birth, I begot thee ‘ atcording to the flesh, made you God-Man, without | the seed of man, your mother remaining inviolate, ' without the stain of sin, Thirdly, I begot you to- , day, that is, on the day of your resurrection, when, by my divine power, I restored you to life, and that a ' glorious and immortal one. 8 ‘Ask of me, and I will give thee the gentiles for

thy inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for thy possession.”

As if God the Father were to say: You my natural Son, the incarnation of my power raised from the dead, have just right to ask me for power over

all nations as your inheritance, and the whole world, ©

even to its remotest boundaries, as your possession of right.

We have to observe here, that the word inheritance is frequently applied in the Scripture to one’s property, even though it may not have come to them by inheritance, and thus the people of God are called his inheritance, and he their’s. And as property was frequently divided among brothers by lot, and then measured by chains, the words inheritance, part, lot, chain, possession, became synonymous; two of them even are sometimes united, as, “ The Lord ts the part of my inheritance,” that is, the partthat came to me by inheritance ; andin another place, Deut. xxxii.,‘“Jucob, the lot of his inheritance,” meaning that the people of Israel were the Lord’s inheritance, which he selected for himself, measured with chains, and separated from the inheritance of others. Thus all nations are here said to be the inheritance of Christ, as the words, ‘‘ Zhe utmost parts of the earth for thy possession,” evidently convey. We are to observe, secondly, that by the kingdom of Christ is meant his spiritual kingdom, that is, his Church, which was to be spread over the whole world. The meaning of the verse then is, that Christ was placed king over Sion, that is, over God’s people; but that his kingdom was not, like that of David or Solomon, confined to the kingdoms of Judea or Palestine, but was to extend over all nations, and to include all the kingdoms of the world, according to Daniel’s prophecy, chap. ii.,

infidels even included, for “¢ All power on earth and in heaven is granted unto me;” and he is “‘appointed judge of the living and of the dead,” Acts x.

9 “Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron, and shalt break them in pieces like a potter's vessel.”

The extreme and most just power of Christ over his Church, and over all mankind, through which he can as easily reward the good and punish the wicked, as a potter can make and break the vessels of elay, is here indicated. In the first part, the iron rod expresses the most just, inflexible, and irresistible power of Christ; in the second, the vessels of clay expose the frailty of the human race. The word “¢ Break them in pieces” Goes not imply that Christ will actually do so, but that he can do so if he wills ; breaking their sins and infidelities in pieces, through his mercy, and from vessels of reproach forming them into vessels of honour; or breaking them in pieces in everlasting fire, in all justice, they having richly deserved it.

10 “And now, O ye kings, understand : receive instruction, you that judge the earth.”

The prophet now exhorts the kings of this world, on whom the people depend, as their resistance to Christ kas been in vain, to freely subject themselves to him, the true and supreme King of all kings; and as, generally speaking, from wrong judgment proceed wrong affections, he first exhorts them to cor-

rect their judgment, to understand the truth and be

rightly informed. Then he exhorts them to correct their evil affections, and, instead of hating Christ, to begin to serve, to love, and to revere him. Hence he adds :—

11 “Serve ye the Lord with fear: and rejoice unio him with trembling.”

A wonderful admixture of love and fear, as if he were to say, blend love with your fear, and fear with your love. The Hebrew for .“* fear” signifies filial

not slavish fear, and thus the meaning of the first

part of the sentence is, serve the Lord as a son would his father; but also, when you exult as a child before him, forget not to fear him, as is beautifully conveyed in the second part of this verse.

12 “ Embrace discipline, lest at any timé the Lord be angry, and you perish from the just way.”

The meaning of these words is, that the kings should not only correct their judgment and affections, and that they should be instructed and obedient, but that they should do so with great fervour; because

the Hebrew word implies that they should not only

do the thing, but do it with all their might, their strength, and their desire, assigning a very cogent reason for it, ‘lest at any time the Lord be angry, “and you perish from the just way.” grievous punishment inflicted on princes is when God, on account of their sins, gives them up to the “‘ reprobate sense,” Rom. i., permits them to be deceived by wicked counsellors, and do much evil, for which they are lost to this world and in the next;

‘such were Pharaoh, Roboam, Achab, and others, in whom the most grievous sins became the punishment of other sins, such being not a small siip from the straight road, but an entire loss and extermination of

13 ‘* When his wrath shall be kindled in a short time, blessed are all they that trust in him.”

The conclusion of the Psalm, in which the holy prophet pronounces how it may be inferred from the preceding, how good and useful it is to love God and serve him with one’s whole heart, for, in the day of judgment, which cannot be far distant, such people alone can have any confidence. He says, “in a short time,” to signify that the terrible day is shortly to come; for a thousand years are like yesterday that ‘passed ; nor ean that be called long that has an end. “ His wrath shall be kindled,” to give us to under-

stand that the day of judgment will be exclusively a day of justict tt aven te, leaving no place for mercy. ‘¢ Blessed are all they that trust in him; not that confidence will suffice—it will only when it is based on true friendship.