Psalm 1 Commentary: 7 Powerful Lessons You Should Learn

In this eye-opening and insightful Psalm 1 commentary, we dig deep into the first chapter of the longest book of the Bible. Discover the rich meaning of each word of this psalm and learn the powerful spiritual lessons that will change your life forever!

What is Psalm 1?

Psalm 1 is one of the most popular psalms in the Bible not just because it is the first psalm, but also because it properly introduces the book of Psalms and serves as its inaugural chapter. It offers a profound introduction and sets the foundational theme for the entire collection of psalms.

Psalm 1 is a poetic and wisdom-filled composition that differentiates the paths of the righteous and the wicked and their ultimate destiny. The psalm begins by highlighting the blessedness of those who immerse themselves in the Law (Torah) of the Lord, drawing a metaphorical parallel to a flourishing tree by streams of water to illustrate the enduring strength of a person following God’s ways.

As the first psalm, it pronounces blessings on those faithful to the covenant with God, establishing a thematic framework for distinguishing the righteous from the wicked throughout the Psalter. Positioned intentionally at the beginning, Psalm 1 commentary invites all to delight in the Lord and His revelation, democratizing the prayers within the Psalter and setting the tone for a collection that addresses the core concerns of godly living and the hope for ultimate justice.

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What does Psalm 1 say?

Psalm 1 reads in the New King James Version (NKJV):

1 Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;

2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
And in His law he meditates day and night.

3 He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.

4 The ungodly are not so,
But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.

5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

6 For the LORD knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the ungodly shall perish.

In the modern Bible versions, Psalm 1 comes with six verses.

Who wrote Psalm 1 and when was it written?

The authorship and dating of Psalm 1 remain uncertain, and scholars provide diverse perspectives on these aspects in Psalm 1 commentary. Some, like Kraus, suggest a likely date in the first or second century before Christ, while others, such as Perowne, lean towards the traditional early date (Solomonic). Perowne notes the psalm’s alignment with wisdom literature themes, contrasting the righteous and the ungodly, emphasizing the fear of the LORD and love for the law, and concluding with the inevitability of rewards for the righteous and judgment for the ungodly.

The absence of a superscription, especially in Book I, which consistently includes superscriptions, has led some, like Broyles, to propose that Psalm 1 and the next were added later to introduce the collection. However, determining the exact composition date remains challenging, with some scholars suggesting a post-exilic date due to the emphasis on meditation in the word of the LORD.

Despite these debates, Psalm 1, with no explicit attribution of authorship, serves as an introduction to the entire Book of Psalms, setting the thematic tone for the collection. The traditional attribution to King David, common in the Book of Psalms, is part of a broader tradition, and the evolution of the Psalms over time involved contributions from various authors.

Lessons from Psalm 1

Psalm 1 holds powerful, compelling, and life-changing lessons for all of us today. While there are obvious lessons such as the importance of walking in the righteous path, there are also those that need deeper contemplation to dramatically dig out its little-known lessons.

To help you better understand and appreciate our Psalm 1 commentary, here are some of the best lessons you’ll learn:

1. Blessings come to those who choose God

Psalm 1:1 tells us:

Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful.

The first word of Psalm 1 is “blessed.” According to some estimates, the Book of Psalms has more than 40,000 words and yet, this longest book in the Bible starts with the word, “Blessed.” It’s quite interesting if you think about it.

Blessed here came from the Hebrew word, “esher.” It basically means happiness or blessedness. Thus, you would read Psalm 1:1 as written in some Bible versions as “Happy is the man.”

However, this just tells us one thing: a righteous person may not always be happy, but he can always be blessed. This means that you may not be happy but you are blessed. As you may already know, this world is filled with pain and suffering. God does not forbid us to be sad. That’s a normal emotion for humans. However, in the midst of this messy life, God promised that there’s a blessing for all the people who will follow Him.

2. Committing a sin starts small

Let’s read Psalm 1:1 once again:

Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful.

Notice the action verbs used here: walks, stands, and sits. A normal person will not wake up one day and decide that he wants to be an evil person. Sin starts small and when you don’t overcome sin, it will overcome you.

That’s why, a person may simply walk by sin. Then, he decides to stand or stop by sin. Finally, he chooses to sit down and drench in sin. That’s how sin works. It starts small like leaven bread.

The Bible warns us in 1 Corinthians 10:12, “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” Don’t think that you’re strong enough to resist temptation. Don’t think that walking through the path of the ungodly won’t damage you.

Sin has its peculiar way of deceiving you into thinking that you can withstand its deadly grasp. When you’re lured in, you will not simply walk by it, but you’ll stand by it and finally, sit down until you can’t leave its evil claws anymore.

So, the main lesson here in our Psalm 1 commentary is to avoid sin as soon as possible. Overcome it when it is still small and don’t wait until it is full-blown and it will lead to your death.

3. Our joy should be in the Word of God

We read in Psalms 1:2:

But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
And in His law he meditates day and night. 

After the writer of Psalm 1 talks about what the righteous do NOT do, he goes on discussing what the righteous instead do and what is it. It is by delighting in the law of the LORD or the law of Yahweh.

Here, we can see one of the reasons the righteous is happy or blessed is because he DELIGHTS on the law of God. Now, if you read the rest of Psalms, you would soon see that the Law of the LORD does not only refer to the “law” portion but rather to the entire Word of God.

A lot of people place their happiness on the wrong things in life. They based their happiness on material wealth, position, and money. Some might place their happiness on relationships, which is good to some extent. However, there’s a greater source of joy and that is the Word of Yahweh.

For the righteous in Psalm 1 commentary, reading the Bible isn’t boring or a waste of time. Instead, the righteous person looks forward to reading the Word of God. He gains happiness by reading it and by meditating on it!

And because it is the delight of the righteous, you don’t have to force Him to read God’s word. You don’t have to remind him or ask him to do it. He will willingly read the word of God because he has this unquenchable thirst and hunger for God’s word!

How about you? Is your delight in the law of the LORD?

4. We must meditate on God’s word

Let’s read Psalms 1:2 once again:

But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
And in His law he meditates day and night. 

For the righteous person, because he delights in the Word of God, then he meditates on it day and night. The same is true: because the righteous meditates on God’s word day and night, he gains joy from it.

In short, you can delight in God’s word without meditating on it and you can’t meditate on God’s word without delighting in it. It works both ways.

Now, meditating in God’s word doesn’t simply mean reading God’s word or reading it. It goes deeper than that. Meditation means to stop what you are doing and fully focus on what you’re reading. It is asking for God to open your understanding and gain the sweetness and beauty of God’s word.

Meditation means to ponder upon God’s word. You don’t simply ruminate about His Word in the day or night, but you think about it day and night — meaning, from the time you wake up to the time you sleep, you should have God’s word in your heart and mind. In other words, you should be living out the Word of God in your life!

5. God will grant us our needs

We read in Psalms 1:3:

³ He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper. 

Continuing with our Psalm 1 commentary, A righteous man is likened to a tree that is planted not in the middle of the desert, but rather, he is like a tree planted by the rivers of water. Notice the word, “rivers.” It didn’t say river, but rivers!

This means that the righteous man has a continual source of water. God will supply all our needs and what that means is that God will bless us in our life.

What’s more, in other parts of the Scripture, water is likened to the Holy Spirit. This means that a righteous person has a continual source of the Holy Spirit — the very power of the Most High God! What else can you ask for?

6. A righteous person bears fruit

The Bible tells us that we ought to bear fruit. Our lives should be filled with so much fruit that it will not only bless your life, but also the lives of others. That’s what Psalm 1:3 is telling us. We read:

³ He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.

Bearing fruit is a sign of good health according to our Psalm 1 commentary. A healthy tree eventually bears fruits. Not only that but his leaf is green and not withering away. What does this tell you? This tells you that because you are planted near the source of the water, which represents the Holy Spirit, you get the right nutrition. When you’re filled with the Holy Spirit, you will inevitably produce its fruit!

What is the fruit of the Holy Spirit? We read in Galatians 5:22-23:

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

When you live your life according to God’s way, then you will have more love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, and so on. What’s amazing about this is that as long as you stay close to God, you’ll continue having these fruits. However, if you decide to leave the nourishing care of God, away from the water, the Holy Spirit, you will soon fade away and eventually die.

7. The ungodly will perish

After detailing what a righteous person is, Psalm 1 commentary continues by discussing the nature and future of the ungodly. We read:

The ungodly are not so,
But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.

Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

For the LORD knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Psalms 1:4-6

In verse 4, it says that the ungodly are not so. The psalmist is stating a fact here. Some people may see wicked people as blessed. They have material wealth. They get what they want. They are in power.

So, in a sense, they are the light of the righteous who are prosperous. That’s why, the psalmist needs to say, “the ungodly are not so” in our Psalm 1 commentary. They may look blessed and prosperous, but whatever they have will perish. They will fade away, which is not the case for the righteous person.

The psalmist describes the ungodly as a chaff. The chaff is the outer shell around a kernel of grain. They are removed from the crop because they are useless. They are so light that they can easily be blown away by the wind.

The chaff is like the ungodly in many ways. They are not here to say. They are worthless and dead. They don’t have substance. They can easily be carried away by the wind.

Thus, when Judgment Day comes, the ungodly won’t be able to stand before the Great Judge, Jesus Christ (Yahshua). God will separate the sinners from the righteous so that there will be no sinners in His presence.

Finally, the LORD, Yahweh, knows who is His. He will preserve the righteous while the ungodly perish.

Psalm 1 Commentary: What are the lessons you learned?

There you have it, our Psalm 1 commentary. I hope that this blog has helped you get a deeper understanding of Psalm 1. I know, it is just mind-blowing how many lessons and insights you can get from this short chapter.

Indeed, Psalm 1 is full of powerful lessons for us to learn today. From what it means to live a blessed life to knowing the ultimate destiny of the wicked, we all can use these lessons in our spiritual walk with Yahweh.

Do you have other lessons from Psalm 1? If yes, please feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section. I’d love to hear from you!

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