Big Idea: We begin the spiritual story of Israel, and ours as well, with the psalmist’s search for and delight in God’s Word.

Understanding the Text

Psalm 1 is often viewed as a wisdom psalm because it puts forth the merits of the moral life as two “ways,” the “way of the righteous” and the “way of the wicked” (1:6), which is characteristic of wisdom thought. For the psalmist the matter was very simple: one must choose between the two ways.

When the final edition of the book of Psalms was forming, Psalm 1 was installed as an introduction to the Psalter. The book is an anthology that has come into existence over several centuries. Most likely the composition and placement of Psalm 1 was one of the last strokes of the book’s editor(s), and it may have been written by the editor(s), or at …