The first two psalms differ from the others in Book 1 (Psalms 1-41) in two ways
- They contain no personal plea or communication from the psalmist to God
- They are not attributed to David, even though Peter says David wrote Psalm 2 (Acts 4 25)
Left unspecified, they evidently carry a general message to all mankind which goes beyond the trials of David These first two psalms hold their place in the psalter as if placed there specifically as an introductory pair.
Their subject matter differs radically, the first dwells solely on the individual, the second on the nations As a pair, they cover how we relate to living in a sin-filled world Psalm 1 tells us our role, Psalm 2 tells us God’s role.
Psalm 1 about the individual
Psalm 1 starts with the blessing on a man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of the scornful, nor sits m the seat of scoffers Walk, stand, sit represent three stages of friendship with the world A righteous person does none of these The righteous orders his way not according to what others do (Prov 1:10), but according to the law of the Lord.
The outcome of the righteous way of life is bearing fruit In Galatians, we learn what God really wants — love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control We learn these from following the law of the Lord, not from consorting with the wicked.
In the end, the Lord harvests the righteous into His granary (Matt 3 12) while the unrighteous get blown away as chaff He has use of those who develop spiritual fruit, all others are useless in His eternal kingdom.
Psalm 2 about the nations
In this second psalm, we have the activity of God among the nations It focuses, not on the individual struggle for righteous living in an unrighteous world, but on how God will deal with the unrighteous world This Psalm speaks of the wicked nation, not the wicked man It talks of the righteous Messiah, not the righteous individual It does not talk of an individual striving to live in holiness, but of God judging unholiness through the power of His Son The first psalm is addressed to an individual, the second to all the earth.
We thus have the activity of a righteous man and the activity of the righteous God, each working in the appropriate realm For each of us, our task is to focus on the life of faith and love living soberly and uprightly m a world full of evil and subtle influence.
But we cannot change that world, this is the work of the Almighty God will bring to naught the kingdom of men, our task is to bring to naught its influence upon us Our role control our own life in an evil world Gods’ role end the evil world through the rulership of Messiah.
Stage set for the psalter
Having addressed both the work of the individual m discipleship and the work of God in the global affairs of His creation, we can read the rest of the psalms in context of knowing the scope of our discipleship and the scope of the Father’s plan.
The psalms are indeed about two people — the Messiah and ourselves The first psalm tells us of the sons of God the second of the Son of God
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One