READING THE BOOK OF PSALMS
PART I
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Psalm 1
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I have studied the Book of Psalms for decades. I started by keeping notebooks nobody else saw. I have been blogging through lectionaries since 2010. I have also taught some iteration of a class on the Revised Common Lectionary since August 2015.
“Reading the Book of Psalms” is a companion project to the Septuagint Psalter Project (2017), all posts of which exist here at BLOGA THEOLOGICA. The main organizing principle at the Septuagint Psalter Project is the pattern for reading through the Book of Psalms in thirty-one days (morning and evening) in The Book of Common Prayer (1979). The plan for this new project follows a combination of factors, though. Two texts may have originally been one text, may have a similar theme, may be nearly identical, et cetera. A spreadsheet I have created guides this project.
I invite you, O reader, to join me on this guided tour of the Book of Psalms.
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The placement of the text labeled Psalm 1 is logical and intentional. Psalm 1 is the summary of the Book of Psalms.
The first verse opens with a beatitude. The man who studies the torah and keeps its ethical obligations is, depending on the translation, blessed, happy, or fortunate. He is a man in the narrow definition of “man,” in the original context. Psalm 1 comes from a time before women studied the torah. The blessed man is stable while the wicked are unstable and in motion. When they do find a stable posture and a place to dwell, they are in the wrong place.
The definition of torah matters. Narrowly, it refers to the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. But, in the Book of Psalms, the definition is broad. The definition of torah is divine instruction, with law built in. So, to return to content from the previous paragraph, the blessed man stands in contrast to the wicked, who pursue dubious moral choices in life. Their dubious moral choices exist outside divine instruction.
One may do well to ponder the Beatitudes in Matthew 5 and the Beatitudes and Woes in Luke 6. Those beatitudes (and woes) are countercultural. They are not upside-down. No, they reveal that the world’s conventional wisdom is upside-down. Likewise, the beatitude in Psalm 1:1 performs the same function. The pious may not seem to be blessed, but they are blessed. And the wicked may appear to be fortunate or happy, but they are, in words of Luke 6, receiving their consolation.
Psalm 1 also likens the blessed man to a tree planted by streams of water in a desert. Water is precious. It is especially precious in a desert. In that setting, a tree planted by streams of water has the source of sustenance it needs to thrive.
For the sake of context, I tell you, O reader, that I have just completed a study of the Book of Job. So, that work of wisdom literature is fresh in my mind. The wind bags who posed as friend of Job sound like many verses in Psalms and Proverbs. All four of them sound like Psalm 1, with its message that the righteous flourish and the wicked perish.
Given that scripture is one context in which to interpret scripture, how ought we to interpret Psalm 1, then? I propose that we start with the particulars of Biblical blessedness. Such blessedness has outward manifestations. Such blessedness does not preclude unjust suffering, as many psalms, the Book of Job, the Book of Tobit, the example of Jesus, the example of St. Paul the Apostle, the examples of a great cloud of martyrs, and the examples of other witnesses attest. The water of divine instruction enables the blessed man, woman, or child to bear much spiritual fruit. The prosperity in Psalm 1 is not evidence of selfish ambition. No, this prosperity affirms that the righteous and the blessed have tapped into God, on whom they rely. Their life is in God. That is their prosperity.
“Righteousness” is another word that requires definition. Biblically, a righteous person has right relationships with God, others, and self. Righteousness is synonymous with justice. Righteousness is tangible. To return to my immediately prior Bible study project, the four pneumatic pains in every part of the human anatomy are not righteous. They lack right relationship with God and Job, at least.
Psalm 1 is theocentric; God is the core. God is the source of a blessed person’s identity and strength. The blessed man, woman, or child is like a flourishing, well-watered tree in a desert. God does not promise an easy life and material riches. Yet God does promise never to abandon anyone. Whether one wants to heed God is an individual matter. Nevertheless, even those who reject God are not outside the scope of divine love. Yet, as Psalm 1 attests, the wicked–those who go their own way–choose their path. To cite a cliché, they lie down in the bed they have made.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
DECEMBER 6, 2022 COMMON ERA
THE TENTH DAY OF ADVENT, YEAR A
THE FEAST OF SAINT NICHOLAS OF MYRA, BISHOP OF MYRA
THE FEAST OF SAINT ABRAHAM OF KRATIA, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK, ABBOT, BISHOP OF KRATIA, AND HERMIT
THE FEAST OF ALICE FREEMAN PALMER, U.S. EDUCATOR AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF ANNE ROSS COUSIN, SCOTTISH PRESBYTERIAN HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF HENRY USTICK ONDERDONK, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF NEW YORK, LITURGIST, AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF PHILIP BERRIGAN AND HIS BROTHER, DANIEL BERRIGAN, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIESTS AND SOCIAL ACTIVISTS
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BLOGA THEOLOGICA 
Very thoughtful post, thank you.
Reading your post, I got the sense that maybe Psalm 1 is placed as number 1 for a reason. It calls us to study torah (the larger torah as you said), so it’s like an invitation, first, to hear these Psalms, and more generally to be meditative and prayerful, more like a tree than like the wind.
Another thought brought up by your post: I’m used to judging the speech of Job’s friends in the abstract, as correct or incorrect theology, and surely a lot of it is incorrect in that sense, but maybe the greater problem is the way they wield all that wisdom (much of it taken from Psalms and Proverbs) in relationship to others. They wield it as accusation and self-justification. Maybe much of this wisdom is far greater than it is in their mouths, if discerned correctly, and humbly.
Look forward to more of your reflections. I’ll be reading them even if I don’t always comment.
Thank you.
You may understand Job’s alleged friends and their theology correctly.