Divine Devotion

I have been asked why Kara and I are going to record our year through the bible and why I am keeping a written record of the questions and responses. Anyone can get access to the resources we use and anyone can read for themselves and learn. So, it is a good question.

My simple answer is this: many in Christianity have slipped away from scripture and live on 20-40 minute nuggets once a week. I am happy you are here, but there is so much more to discover. When you jet off on your own to discover, you may find yourself reading scripture, perhaps for the first time. And I can tell you, those first five books are a doozy! But what they setup is so important to the rest of scripture. I would say the first five books are fundamental to understanding the story lines presented throughout scripture.

Yes, I said story lines, there are more than one, but all these threads lead towards a future human who would be the key to redeeming the nations, humanity, and bringing God’s blessing on people.

Mixed in with that is the story line of how humans function in this partnership with God. The first five books are a contrasting portrait of God’s mercy and judgement, of his love and hate, of his grace and discipline. All along the way we watch people, sometimes in groups sometimes individually, make decisions and watch the consequences.

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Have you Found Yourself in the Scripture?

The poet who wrote Psalm 1 took great care to share something interesting with their readers. The author gave instruction on what to do with scripture and included the benefits from so doing.

When we follow the instruction of the poet, something very interesting starts to happen. We begin to see ourselves in scripture. Also, we begin to see a portrait of God appear. For some of you, He may be exactly what you thought. For others of you, you might find yourself wondering who this God really is and asking yourself if you can follow this God.

All of that is on purpose, it is intended to lead us down a path to discover ourselves and discover this God in whom we believe. Let’s dive in and see what this poet is telling us about this ancient collection of writings we call The Bible.

Let’s take a quick read through Psalm 1 and then we will break it down a bit.

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Psalm 1 ESV

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will 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 wicked will perish.

Did you catch a few things in there?

Jewish meditation literature means there are ways to study and bury yourself into the text that make it so you see things, you find references that you may not usually see. You become a nerd!

Let’s see what we can find!

Psalm 1

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1 Blessed is the man (person or human)

who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,

nor stands in the way of sinners,

nor sits in the seat of scoffers;

Okay, this seems very straightforward. Don’t get advice from the wicked, don’t walk where sinners walk and don’t behave like one who scoffs. What does scoff mean anyway? To brag or boast to deride to berate. Question: why does this need to be put in here? In other words, what about this is unique, or should cause me to stop and consider the words?

Here is an approach that can be very revealing. Some of these words have a rich meaning if they are viewed in the context of the storyline of the entire Hebrew Bible. If you use some free online software, you can find the original Hebrew word, and search that word. When you do, you will find the first time it is used, and often, that reveals something interesting and then the poem takes on a whole new light. You don’t need to know Hebrew to do this. You can go to blueletterbible.org or a site like that and do these kinds of searches.

Let’s see what is in just this first set of lines:

Blessed is the human: Where would we find the first occurence of blessing and humans? Genesis 1. Right after he creates humans, he blesses them. Trivia, do you know what was blessed second? The seventh day, the sabbath, the rest or peace of God.

Walks NOT in the counsel of the wicked: Walking, where is the first time we see humans walking? With God in the garden, AFTER they have rebelled and been disobedient. Counsel, interesting that this word does not show up until the 5th book, Deuteronomy 32:28, in Moses’ speech. He is speaking about Israel and he says they are a “nation devoid of counsel.” The wicked appears in Genesis 18:23 when Abraham is asking God to spare Sodom and Gomorrah, and he asks God if he will sweep away the righteous with the wicked.

Nor stands in the way of sinners: This is not meant to speak about someone who is literally in the path that sinners walk, standing in their way as if to block them. Rather, it means to join them in defending the way of sinners. Stand shows up for the first time in Genesis 4:8, when Cain ROSE up against his brother and killed him. Sinners shows up for the first time in Genesis 13:13 when it describes the men of Sodom as wicked and great sinners against the LORD. Numbers 16:38 is the next time this word is used when Aaron’s sons bring “strange fire” into the Tabernacle and they are struck down by the LORD.

Nor sits in the seat of scoffers: Sits, yes you might be thinking sits! Yes, even that will draw our attention back to Genesis 4:16 when Cain would SETTLE in the Land of Nod, east of Eden. A king would rise up in that land, a perverse king, who would say if God protected Cain seven times, then let him protect me seventy times for killing a man who offended me! Scoffer, this is the first time in the Hebrew Bible this word shows up.

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2 but his delight is in the law of the LORD,

and on his law he meditates day and night.

The blessed person, instead, delights in the law of Yahweh, the LORD: Delight shows up in 1 Samuel 15:22, in an interesting passage, where Samuel asks, “does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, or when someone obeys the voice of the LORD?” To listen is better than the fat of rams and to obey is better than sacrifice. And the Law, know the first time someone is said to have kept the law of the LORD? Genesis 26:5, about Abraham. Interesting, the Torah, the Law, did not exist yet! What did Abraham do? He believed God, he had faith.

On his law he meditates day and night: If we consider what is written in Samuel, it is about listening and obeying, or shema. And to meditate, this shows up for the first time in Joshua 1:8, when Joshua is instructed to meditate on God’s law day and night, in fact this line is a direct reference to the charge given to Joshua, just before he is to enter the land that God has given them. A land of blessing and rest.

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3 He is like a tree

planted by streams of water

that yields its fruit in its season,

and its leaf does not wither.

In all that he does, he prospers.

He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither: When you think about a tree, by a stream of water, that is full of fruit, and a leaf, what does that imagery bring to mind? Genesis 1-3. We have a garden, it has trees, there are streams, rivers, of water, they are bearing fruit for humans, for people. And this tree never withers, it does not shed its leaves, like the ones that Adam and Eve tried to cover themselves with. They did not listen and obey, they ate unauthorized fruit, and the result is instead of pulling the fruit from the authorized trees, they start taking the leaves to cover themselves.

Have you seen the storyline yet? God has put humans on earth and asked them to partner with him, to listen and obey, to be an image that is honored to bear the Name of the Lord in all you do. It was never about the fruit, it was about will they listen and follow what I ask them to do. What results is narrative story after narrative story of humans making decisions about good and evil on their own, and we watch the consequences of those actions. We watch the patience of God throughout this process.

In all that he does, he prospers: First time prosper is used is in Genesis 24:21, when Abraham sends a trusted aid to find a wife for Issac. When this man finds Rebecca, he “gazed at her in silence to learn whether the LORD had prospered his journey or not.” Genius writing. He is silent, just watching, trying to discern if the LORD was in this moment in his journey.

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4 The wicked are not so,

but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

The chaff that the wind drives away: The chaff, in the Hebrew Bible, this is the first time the word chaff is used. Now, if you go do a word search, you will see this word appears in Job first, but in the Hebrew Bible order, the order it was read in ancient times, Psalms comes first, before Job. But more interesting is this word wind. Any guesses as to when this Hebrew word first appears? Genesis 1:2, when the “Spirit” of God was hovering over the face of the waters, he was about to drive the primordial chaos away and bring about His light.

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5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,

nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;

Therefore the wicked (Sodom) will not stand (Cain rose up) in the judgement: 421 times this word judgement shows up, and it may not be what you think. Genesis 18:19, when God is with the two angels and they are headed to Sodom. God asks the angels with him if he should reveal his plan to Abraham. God makes a reference that Abraham has been chosen to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice. What happens right after that. Abraham declares that the LORD would never sweep away the righteous people with the wicked. He, in this moment, unlike so many others that will follow, defends the righteous and the poor. That is what judgement is. Doing what is right, even when it is hard to do. The wicked will never do that.

Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous: Sinners (Sodom) in the congregation. That word shows up for the first time in Exodus 12:3, when Moses instructs to tell the “congregation” of Israel about the passover and institutes that as an annual feast. Meals in ancient cultures have deep theological meanings, and sinners, the wicked will not participate in the table of the Lord. The word righteous appears for the first time in Genesis 6:9. Genesis 6, what is that about? Noah. The verse says, “Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah WALKED with God.”

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6 for the LORD knows the way of the righteous,

but the way of the wicked will perish.

Read this carefully. There are two paths here. The way of the righteous, which the LORD knows, and the way of the wicked. Knows: The first time this shows up is Genesis 3:5, do you remember what happened in Genesis 3? Let’s look at it.

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Genesis 3:5

For God KNOWS that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

That word perish, first time it is used is in Exodus 10:7, when Pharaoh’s servants tell him to let Israel go, that Moses has become a snare for Egypt and that Egypt is already ruined, perished.

Have you seen yourself yet? Have you learned something about yourself, about your tendency to walk a path that is contrary to the LORD? It is built into our human nature to do so. To deny that is to mock God.

This Psalm instructs us to read scripture with all of this in mind, with this enduring desire of the LORD to partner with us and bring Himself to earth through His human imagers. As it turns out...

You have two ways.

One way is to listen to and obey God, allowing Him to decide what is good and evil.

The other way is to live in pride, scoffing God, deciding for yourself what is good and evil.