In the last episode we focused on the idea of blessing and tried to understand it in its Biblical context. We said that it was essentially the promised result of covenant obedience and its corollary was and is cursing as the promised result of disobedience.

Psalm 1 begins by introducing to us the Man of Blessing, the Blessed One. We must note here that there is but one man in view who is blessed. In other words, the idea here is singular and is contrasted later with the multiplicity of the wicked, who are a countless mass. In the first three verses of Psalm 1 we find a description of what the Blessed One is not, what he is and what he is like.

What he is not

The Man of Blessing is not one who walks in the counsel of the wicked (that countless mass). Nor does he stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers (verse 1). This is a description by way of remotion, a via negativa of sorts. In the context of this remotion is a definitive motion or inertia that the Man of Blessing avoids. Here we find a descent downward into the vileness of sin. Notice the way the psalmist uses verbs here to show the wicked as those who are brought to a place of rigormortis: walking … standing … sitting.

These verbs illustrate for us the devolution we experience in sin. We being merely listening to wicked counsel and soon we find ourselves walking in the way or path of sinners, doing what they do. Still more, as we dull our consciences on the paved stones of the way of the wicked we find that we are cozy with our sin. We become content and just sit down in it, scoffing at those who think we should do otherwise. We become alcoholics drowning in denial. Porn addicts caged by our perversions. We gorge ourselves on food and mock those who seek fitness. We all existentially get the picture here, if we are honest.

Paul describes this divestiture of our humanity in Romans 1:18-32 in which we willfully lust after sin, our mistress. To our dismay we find that sin is playing for keeps. We walked out on God, and in a sobering set of verses, the Apostle Paul paints a bleak picture for us. God in his covenant faithfulness gives us over to sin so that by verse 32 we find ourselves sitting in the seat of scoffers knowing that, “those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.”

This is what the Man of Blessing is precisely not like. He knows his destination and is bent towards it. He loves keeping covenant. Nothing will separate him from the goal perfect obedience at the end of his journey. He perseveres through all the scoffing and ridicule that comes from walking on his most demanding path. In other words, the Man of Blessing is not immune to or removed from the inertia of the wicked. He is exposed to the wicked, to sinners and to those who scoff and yet he does not participate in this wretchedness.

What he is

In a way antithetical to that of the wicked, the Man of Blessing finds his consuming pleasure in the Law of the Lord. There is much to say about the manifold nature of the delight that the Man of Blessing finds in the Law. We will focus on two aspects here.

First, there is an understanding of the Law that the Man of Blessing has that the wicked, sinners and scoffers do not. The Westminster Shorter Catechism teaches us that the moral Law of God is summarily comprehended in the Decalogue (Ten Commandments, Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5). In other words, the Decalogue describes for us what righteousness (i.e., true and actual morality) looks like. In this way, the Decalogue is a description of who God is and not a prescription of what he must do in order to demonstrate himself as righteous. This point cannot be emphasized enough. God is righteous in his essence, simply by being God. He then describes for us by way of legal imperatives our purpose on this earth as human beings, which is to visibly demonstrate his likeness.

We know that humanity was created in the image and likeness of God (Gen 1:26-27) and because of sin we find a humanity now that is in fact image but reflects something very much unlike God. Redemption then is a restoration of humanity’s destiny in the person and work of Jesus Christ, who alone fulfilled the Law, being perfect as his heavenly Father is perfect (Matt 5:48). Therefore, the Man of Blessing delights in the Law because it describes to him the love of his life, the God whom he cannot get enough of.

Second, we turn our attention now to the nature of obedience. There are essentially two expressions of obedience in which we engage on a regular basis. They both may have the same outward appearance; but only one is authentic obedience.

One expression of obedience can be seen in the way I obey the police officer I see when I am driving down the highway. Whether I am speeding or not, I have an instinctive reaction to brake – just to make sure that I am under the speed limit. How obedient of me! What we see here is that I am obedient precisely because I do not want to have a relationship with the police officer.

In contrast to this, the Man of Blessing delights in the Law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. He obeys explicitly because the Lawgiver, whom the law describes to him, is his delight. His obedience is motivated by a desire to cultivate and affirm his relationship with the Lord. It is the delight of his life, or we might say such obedient connection is the life of the Man of Blessing. The former expression of obedience is outward and superficial, seeking to avoid the lawgiver; the latter is an inward eruption of delight that works its way out into all kinds of visible manifestations of obedience and is the only expression of obedience that is authentic.

What he is like

The psalmist then employs an extended simile to further explain the relationship of obedience to life. The Man of Blessing is like a tree planted by canals of water. There is a purpose seen here and a passivity. The Man of Blessing is planted. Where something is planted tells us much about the one who planted it.

In the ancient near eastern context, where something was planted was critical, the difference between life and death. The canal of water is something that was purposely dug out. In the ancient near east these were intricate labyrinths of waterways that brought water miles away from the tributary, like great fingers that extended out perpendicularly from a river or other fresh water source. This tree was planted purposefully in a place in which it would be nourished and cared for and consequently it would bear fruit. The tree participates in its situation and acts according to its purpose and destiny. It produces fruit in its season. This is contrasted later with the wicked who are like chaff, or just the shells of fruit that once was.

The tree in this simile is in a situation such that it cannot help but bear fruit. However, this does not mean that the tree has a silver spoon in its mouth as it were. While its leaf does not whither, all that it does is victorious. Many translations render יַצְלִֽיחַ as prosper; however, prosper does not seem to provide for the English reader the force of the hiphil verb form that we find here. The tree that is planted by canals of water is made victorious or made prosperous. There is a sense in which the tree overcomes adversity.

There is a conceptual parallel in the Sermon on the Mount. Here in Psalm 1 we find two ways, that of the Man of Blessing and that of the wicked. In Matthew 7:24-27 we find two builders, one wise and the other foolish. The former builds his house on the rock, a solid foundation. The latter builds his house on the sand, a foundation that lacks stability. Soberly, we find that for both the wise and foolish builders storms come. It is precisely in the context of oppression and difficulty that the wisdom of the wise is seen.

The Man of Blessing, being like the tree planted by canals of water, bearing its fruit at the right time, is very much like the wise builder. He looks to the Law of the Lord, and much like the rock foundation of the wise builder we find that his faith is wisely placed. The storms do come; however, we find that the Man of Blessing is one who overcomes on account of what supports and nourishes him.