I. THE GENESIS SECTION: BOOK ONE:Psalm 1-41

Psalm 1-8

Psalm 1

The Godly and the Ungodly

1. The godly, his character and his fruit (Psalm 1:1-3)

2. The ungodly in comparison with the godly (Psalm 1:4-6)

The first eight Psalms are the Psalms in embryo, just as the opening chapters of the book of Genesis are the Bible in a nutshell. Throughout the Psalms we can trace the subjects of these eight Psalms, the godly and the ungodly; but especially the great theme of the Psalms, Christ, the Perfect Man, the King rejected, the suffering of the righteous during the time of His rejection, the King enthroned and all things put under His feet. These are the leading themes of Psalm 1:1-6; Psalm 2:1-12; Psalm 3:1-8; Psalm 4:1-8; Psalm 5:1-12; Psalm 6:1-10; Psalm 7:1-17; Psalm 8:1-9.

Psalm 1:1-6; Psalm 2:1-12 are introductory to the entire collection, put there by the Holy Spirit. In some ancient manuscripts the first Psalm is not numbered, in others the First and Second Psalms are put into one. The First Psalm begins with a beatitude and the second ends with a beatitude. The righteous man, negative and positive, nothing evil in him, no fellowship with sinners, and positive, obedience and entire devotedness to God, does not mean the natural man. The godly One is the perfect One who walked down here separated from sinners, and devoted to God. He walked in obedience, in dependence on God and in communion with Him, and therefore the blessing, honor and glory are His. But the godly man is also the believer, born of God, separated, a saint, who delights in the things of God, meditates in His Word day and night. It is still more, a description of what the true believing remnant of Israel will be some day, “like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season.” Such is converted, redeemed Israel’s future as revealed here and also by Isaiah: “Thy people shall all be righteous, they shall inherit the land forever, the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, that I may be glorified” (Isaiah 60:21). We behold then in these opening verses of the Psalms the Lord Jesus Christ as the perfect Man, the individual believer in his separation and devotion, and what Israel, saved and converted, will be in the future.

(The Romish church has a volume called “The Psalter of the Virgin Mary compiled by Doctor St. Bonaventura.” It is in Latin and contains the 150 Psalms, greatly abridged, and each addressed to Mary. Psalm 1:1-6 begins as follows: “Happy is the man that loves thy Name, O Virgin Mary, thy grace will comfort his soul. Ave Maria.” Psalm 19:1-14 : “The Heavens declare thy glory, O Virgin Mary.” Horrible blasphemy!)

Then the ungodly: “Like the chaff which the wind driveth away” is a prophecy of the time when the ungodly are dealt with in judgment, when “He will thoroughly purge His floor, and gather His wheat into the garner, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire” (Matthew 3:12). Then the ungodly will forever disappear and cease troubling the righteous. They will have no place in the assembly of the righteous in millennial times.