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Interpretive Study of Psalm 1

Chapter theme:  Basic way to be blessed by God.

God's Way to Study His Word:

In 2Timothy 2:15 we read: Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.  The true definition of the word dividing  is: 'a Mathematical function whereby we separate pre-defined units according to a precise procedure which produces a precise result'.  However, while most people understand that 'there is one interpretation but many applications of the word of God', they fail to separate the procedures of each.  And, as a result, they fail to separate the 'one interpretation of the word of God' from the 'many applications of the word of God'.  This leads to many errors which people blame on the perfect word of God  instead of their using the wrong procedure.

The result, of men using the wrong way, is that men claim that there are errors and conflicts in God's word.  In Isaiah 28, God tells us how to understand His word.  In addition, God preserved the message of His word; He preserves every word of His sentences; and God preserves every punctuation mark (jot and title)  of His sentences.  Therefore, God preserved what He wanted us to understand and God told us how to understand His word so that we have no errors and no conflicts.  Unfortunately, for at least one hundred and fifty (150) yeare, men have been taught to use the wrong way to interpret God's word instead of using God's way.

In Isaiah 55:9 we are told For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.  Thus, God warns us that our ways are wrong and that using God's way  produces better results, which have no errors and no conflicts.

In addition, 1Corinthians 2:14 tells us: But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.  Therefore, we can not properly understand the spiritual word of God  using man's way.  We must use God's way to understand God's preserved word of God.  And, the basics of God's way is to understand His preserved word of God  using the sentence format and true Biblical definitions for Bible words.

This Study follows the Biblical Way to understand God's Word.  It applies precepts  ('truths that never change for any circumstance').  It then goes through the epistle sentence-upon-sentence (line upon line  [Isaiah 28 ]).  This is different from the ways of men which use verse-upon-verse or some other method which generates errors.  God's sentence-upon-sentence method also pays attention to what 'the word of God' tells us that God preserved, which are the true Biblical meanings of words and the Biblical usage of punctuation.  (These two are the components of sentences and do not give us verses.) the 'the word of God' tells us that God preserved punctuation (one jot or one tittle)  in Matthew 5:18 and Luke 16:17.  And 'the word of God' tells us that God preserved every word  when he wrote: Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God  (Deuteronomy 8:3; Matthew 4:4 and Luke 4:4).

The summary of the epistle comes from the summary of each chapter and each chapter summary within that book.  Every chapter summary comes from the summary of each sentence within that chapter.  And, the sentence summaries come from analysis using the punctuation and true word definitions, as already explained.  As a result, we have what God literally had written and see that there are no conflicts even when we consider the smallest part of a sentence compared to the entire Bible book.  God is consistent from the start of a Bible book to the end and is consistent in His doctrines and word definitions across the entire Bible.  What we have is an integrated whole (single) message, with no errors and no conflicts.  This particular book Study is part of a detailed analysis of the entire New Testament which shows this truth.

Other than cults, all claims of errors and conflicts are based upon the New Testament.  This Study is part of a series which interprets the preserved word of God  using God's way and proving that there are no errors, nor any conflicts, if we obey God and use His way to interpret His word.  And, this series concentrates on the New Testament, since that is the basis of these lies about the perfect word of God.

I have read, or at least skimmed, every book which has been written in the last hundred and fifty (150) years and which claims to teach people how to study and understand the word of God.  In every case, they use a method which comes from man and do not use God's way (Isaiah 55:8) to study and understand the word of God.  And, while there are variations from one man-written method to another man-written method, every one of them ends up with problems.  The end result of those problems is that people blame God's perfect word for their own problems and either turn to a man-written 'bible' or skip verses.  (By skipping the interpretation of certain verses, they can hide the conflict which their method has produced.)

Now, many people find that the Detail Studies to be overwhelming because they have everything required to prove that there are NO errors in the perfect word of God.  This summary level is easier to understand for most people.  At the same time, if someone has an argument with what is presented here, the matching Detail Study provides all of the proof required in order to show that what is here matches exactly what God wrote in His word.  Again, this is not a matter of my opinion versus their opinion.  I have over thirty (30) years’ experience as a professional Systems Analyst with an international reputation for accuracy in how to prove things.  And, this series of books are the result of using recognized methods of analysis to prove what God actually wrote.  This series does not present a religious opinion.  Therefore, a religious opinion, which was arrived at from using wrong methods, is not superior to a true analysis of what God wrote.

People have looked for over twenty (20) years and failed to find any other work that covers everything this series cover.  In addition, no one has found any other work which covers the level of detail found in the Detail Studies.  Further, the Detail Studies literally have several million Bible references to support the interpretation provided and to show that the perfect word of God  is consistent all across it for word definitions and doctrines.  Again, no one has found any other work which has this quantity of Bible references supporting what is presented.  I do not write this to brag but to inform the reader the depth of study which supports what is presented in this series.

Let any who disagree show their method and the results of their method and try to explain how their method, which produces errors, is greater that God's way which produces no errors and no conflicts.

Chapter theme:  Basic way to be blessed by God.

links to sentences in this chapter:
C1-S1 (Verse 1), C1-S2 (Verse 2), C1-S3 (Verse 3), C1-S4 (Verse 4), C1-S5 (Verse 5), C1-S6 (Verse 6)'.

Other people have written all kinds of commentaries on this epistle.  You can find many disagreements between these commentaries.  The commentaries that teach doctrinal error ignore the context as they try to justify their doctrine.  Such action is motivated by devils and the resulting doctrinal error can bring the judgment of God upon His people instead of the blessings that God wants to give.  1John 4:1 tells us Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world..  The commentaries which do base their comments upon what is actually written, with consideration of context and proper methods of interpretation, will agree on doctrine even while presenting different views of that doctrine.

All Psalms were originally songs and were written to help us praise God.

This Psalm has the same format between verses and sentences.  While religious people got away with reformatting God's Word out of the sentence format and into the verse format and causing confusion with other places in the Bible, they did not dare do the same with places of the Bible which were as well-known as this Psalm.  That would have caused people to reject their devil-motivated plan to lead people into doctrinal error with the verse format.  Without the level of confusion caused by verses which do not match sentences, it is easier for people to understand what is truly said within this Psalm.  This Psalm has been loved and memorized for a long time and probably been that way since first written because it not only encourages but also instructs in a simple way.

With the exception of the third verse, all of these sentences / verses use simple punctuation and should be easily understood by anyone who understands the words used.  That is: there is only one type of punctuation mark within each of the other sentences.  However, many people fail to realize that different punctuation marks have different meanings and that God preserved the punctuation marks (Matthew 5:18 and Luke 16:17).  This ignorance can also lead to doctrinal error.  Then, another source of doctrinal error in when men use definitions from men for words from God.  Thus, even avoiding the doctrinal error from the verse format, it is still possible for men to have a less than complete understanding of this Psalm.

In Matthew 4:4 and Luke 4:4 we read that Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 8:3 and old us It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.  Lots of people claim an every word  belief while ignoring the very words of the verses which they claim because they do not use the meaning of the words when they proceedeth out of the mouth of God.  Thus, in order to avoid error, we need to concentrate on the meaning that God gave to words when He spoke them.

This Psalm starts by telling us how to be blessed.  People love this Psalm because they want to be blessed.  However, what people expect and what they get are often different because most people have been taught the wrong definition for the word blessed.  Thus, we need to find, and use, God's definitions for God's words in order to truly understand what God promises in this Psalm.

Webster's 1828 dictionary says that blessed  is: "Made happy or prosperous; extolled; pronounced happy'.  However, if we study the message of verses like Romans 5:3; 2Corinthians 7:4; Ephesians 3:13 and 2Thessalonians 1:4, we see that we are instructed to glory  in tribulations.  Tribulations  do not make us "happy' but we are to glory  in them because they make us blessed  in that they give us eternal rewards which far exceed the cost of any current physical suffering (Romans 8:18).  Thus, the true Biblical meaning of blessed  is that "a person receives good spiritual things from God which may be accompanied by good physical things or may be accompanied by bad physical things'.

Thus, in order to properly understand this Psalm we must look at it from a spiritual perspective, which makes sense since God is a Spirit.  That said, the first verse tells us three ways in which we are to separate ourselves from sinful men.  Then in the second verse we are told to delight in the law of the LORD.  This matches the pattern that we see all throughout the Bible with God telling us to first remove the source of wrong from our life before we try to add in God's blessings because the two sources are at war and will only cause conflict within our life if we try to mix them.

Our third verse then gives us a three-step result which will be seen in the life of someone who is blessed  by God.  If these three steps are not evident in a person's life then they are too new to their blessing for it to show or they are a liar from Satan who is claiming the blessings of God while serving Satan.  While ungodly people tell us that we are to judge not,  they take that phrase out of context because the verse really says Judge not, that ye be not judged  in Matthew 7:1 and Luke 6:37.  That means that we can judge  so long as we use the same method of judgment  as we are willing to have applied to our own life.  Since we will all be judged according to God's Word, we can use it to judge.  In addition, we also read in John 7:24 : Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.  thus, we have a command to judge  and our failure to do so is sin.  Further, we read Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them  in Matthew 7:16 and Matthew 7:20.  Therefore, we are to judge fruit,  which takes time to develop after planting a seed.  We are to also expect to be judged by our own fruit  at the judgment seat of Christ  if not before that.  Therefore, since we will be judged  by our fruit,  we have no conflict with the verses which tell us Judge not, that ye be not judged  when we judge  the fruit  of others.

In addition, to not having a conflict, this is exactly what our current Psalm is telling us to do.  We are to judge  others so that we can separate the man from the first three verses from the man who is identified in the last of this Psalm.  It is expected that we will accept the instruction to act like the man in the first three verses while avoiding the attitudes and actions of the man identified in the last three verses.

Notice that verse 4 and verse 5 both identify the person talked about as the ungodly .  The word ungodly   means 'not Godly'.  (Please see the notes for Romans 4:5 and 2Peter 2:9-LJC about the word ungodly .)  these people are different from the unjust,  who are people who claim to be saved while they live a life that does not display God but is controlled by sin.  Liars claim to belong to God.  Therefore we can not listen to the claims of men but must look at their lives, which is exactly what it means to judge fruit.  The third and fourth sentences / verses tell us the two different fruit  that we are to judge.

Finally, look at our last sentence / verse which tells us that the LORD  will separate the two types of people described within this Psalm.  That verse has a colon followed by the word but,  which tells us, grammatically, that the two results are polar opposites.  Notice that our sixth verse gives us two different ways  that are followed by people and which result in people getting the two different fruit  which was described in the earlier sentences / verses.  That sentences / verses is telling us that the LORD  knows the difference between these two ways  and implies that the judgment which He applies will be based upon which of these ways  we follow with our life.

C1-S1 (Verse 1) What to eliminate from our life in order to be blessed.
  1. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly ,
  2. nor standeth in the way of sinners,
  3. nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful..

What several people have mentioned about this verse is that there are three different verbs used within it.  What is mentioned less often, but is equally true, is that there are also three different types of people mentioned within this sentence.  The verbs are applied to the people and the blessed  are told to avoid these three combinations.

We already saw that the word ungodly   means 'not Godly'.  (Please see the notes for Romans 4:5 and 2Peter 2:9-LJC about the word ungodly .)  these people are different from the unjust,  who are people who claim to be saved while they live a life that does not display God but is controlled by sin.  We also know, from other Studies found on this site, that he word walk  means "to take repeated small steps'.  In addition, the word counsel  is defined as: "Advice; opinion, or instruction, given upon request or otherwise, for directing the judgment or conduct of another; opinion given upon deliberation or consultation.' by Webster's 1828 .  Thus, our first phrase is telling us to not let people advice us on how to do the 'every day things' of our life unless their own life shows evidence of their own walk  with the LORD.  That is: we are to actively look for the fruit  of the life of anyone who we accept counsel  fRomans actively avoid counsel  from someone who is ungodly .

The word nor  is a combination of the words not  and or,  which means that we are to avoid doing every one of these things if we want to be blessed.

The second type of person that our sentence tells us to avoid is the sinner.  While we are all sinner,  some are obvious sinner  and some hide their sin.  Our second phrase is identifying the obvious sinner.  A way  is "how you get from one place to another'.  For example, the way  to get from one island to another could be by boat or by airplane.  Thus, someone who standeth in the way  could be someone who is placed there to give directions and control traffic or they could be someone who is just watching people who are in the way.  Think of an observer to a parade or someone who goes to a shopping mall to look at people who are there.  Our phrase includes the authority and the observer who are in the way of sinners  and tells us to not be either.

When we look at the word stand  it can include activities such as talking to others or can include no other activities or, as we see elsewhere in the Bible, can include the activities of a soldier standing in a 'wall of battle'.  Our phrase is telling us to not be the type of fool who goes to a bar to witness to drunks or goes to any other place where people are obviously seeking sin and try to do God's work there.  Those people are not going to listen and will even have their heart hardened against God.  However, our phrase also includes those people who how and where to do their sin.  Further, it includes those people who only want to watch others do their sin.  If we keep watching we will eventually want to participate and even if we don't participate, others will assume that we do and we will destroy our testimony.  Thus, our phrase is actually telling us to completely avoid the way of sinners  and that way we won't come to a stop and end up standing  there while we gawk.

Webster's 1828 Dictionary defines scornful  as: 'Contemptuous; disdainful; entertaining scorn; insolent.  2. Acting in defiance or disregard.  3. In Scripture, holding religion in contempt; treating with disdain religion and the dispensations of God.'  the scornful  person is attractive because they make a mockery of authority and seem to get away with their action.  This is because when someone in authority defends themselves they often make themselves look like they are guilty of the very thing they are trying to fight against.  For example, it is hard to answer the question of: 'Have you stopped beating your wife yet?'

The seat of the scornful  not only includes the person who is scornful  but also includes their audience.  When we become part of the audience we join in on their act, even if we are not personally actively participating.  In addition, when we scorn our authority we can not be submissive to them.  When we refuse to submit to our God-given authority we get out from under our God-given protection and open ourselves to attacks from a devil.  Yes, authorities do wrong and can be evil and can do manythings to earn scorn.  However, God tells us to pray for them and we can not pray for someone and be scornful  at the same time.  Thus, when we hear scorn  we are to get away from it, not be even in the audience of it and pray for the person being scorned.

After considering all that is in this sentence, we can see that this sentence is really giving us the basic method of avoiding God's punishment for doing sin.

C1-S2 (Verse 2) What to add to our life in order to be blessed.
  1. First Step: Get the correct attitude.
    1. But his delight is in the law of the LORD;.
  2. Second Step: Do the correct action.
    1. and in his law doth he meditate day and night..

As pointed out in the over-all note for this Psalm, after we get the wrong influences out of our life we are to add in the correct influence, which is what this sentence is telling us to do.  Notice that we have a two step process which means that we must do the First Step before we can do the Second Step.  This means that we must get our attitude right before we deal with our actions.  People are always wanting to know what to do in order to get God's blessings and have a hard time believing that God is more concerned about attitudes.  This is because the fleshly  religious man is impressed with fleshly  religious actions, such as fancy ceremonies.  However, God always seeks our heart  first (Matthew 5:8; Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27; Acts 5:4; Acts 8:21-22; Acts 8:37; Acts 11:23; Acts 16:14; Romans 1:21; Romans 2:5; Romans 2:29; Romans 6:17; Romans 10:9; 1Corinthians 2:9; 1Corinthians 14:25; 2Corinthians 3:3; 2Corinthians 8:16; 2Corinthians 9:7; Ephesians 4:18; Ephesians 6:6; Colossians 3:22; Hebrews 3:12; Hebrews 4:12; 1Peter 3:4; 1John 3:20-21).

Webster's 1828 dictionary defines delight  as 'n.  1. A high degree of pleasure, or satisfaction of mind; joy.  His delight is in the law of the Lord. Ps. 1.  2. that which gives great pleasure; that which affords delight.  Titus was the delight of human kind.  I was daily his delight. Prov. 8.  Delight is a more permanent pleasure than joy, and not dependent on sudden excitement.
DELIGHT, v.t.  1. to affect with great pleasure; to please highly; to give or afford high satisfaction or joy; as, a beautiful landscape delights the eye; harmony delights the ear; the good conduct of children, and especially their piety, delights their parents.  I will delight myself in thy statutes. Ps. 119.  2. to receive great pleasure in.  I delight to do thy will. Ps. 40:8.
DELIGHT, v.i. to have or take great pleasure; to be greatly pleased or rejoiced; followed by in.  I delight in the law of God after the inward man. Rom. 7'.

As we see in this definition we have two types of verb, which give us the action, and a noun which gives us the result of the action.  Only the actions described by the verbs will produce the resulting noun and the resulting noun can only come from doing the actions of the verbs.  Thus, is someone is not doing these actions then they are not doing the First Step and can not proceed to the Second Step.  Further, unless a person does the Steps of this sentence, they are not fulfilling God's requirements for being blessed.  This failure on our part is one of the main reasons why so many of God's people are constantly asking others to pray for their problems.  Instead of doing what God requires to be blessed  they try to get God's blessings through the prayers of others.

So, we see that our First Step tells us to do the actions of delight  when dealing with the law of the LORD.  When the Bible was translated into English the translators used different spellings for different names of God.  When we see the all-capitalized LORD,  this is the English form of name JEHOVAH  or Yahweh.  This is the highest form of a name for God and recognizes that there is NO other being who comes close in power, authority or any other attribute of God.  Thus, the person who delights...in the law of the LORD  is recognizing that this law  has no equal including our own beliefs.  Anyone who questions the literal word of God, regardless of their understanding, does not delight...in the law of the LORD.

The exact phrase the law of the LORD  occurs 21 times with all being in the Old Testament except for three times in the Gospel of Luke where we are told of people obeying the Old Testament law of the LORD.  What is used in the New Testament is the word of God  because in the early church people tried to demand physical obedience to the law of the LORD  while ignoring spiritual and heart  obedience.  Since God is mainly interested in spiritual and heart  obedience, as stated in our current sentence, God switched phrases used to remove support for this doctrinal error which is based upon physical obedience.  However, the phrases the law of the LORD  and the word of God  are synonymous when considered from a spiritual and heart  perspective.

We know that our Second Step is added to our First Step by the grammar using a semi-colon and by the Second Step starting with the word and.  Simply put, someone who does not meditate day and night  in the law of the LORD / the word of God  has not reached the level of obedience to be truly blessed  by God.  With spiritual growth people learn, through experience, that their sleep and dreams are protected by God when they go to sleep meditating  on God's Word or praying for blessings to come on others.  In addition, if we meditate  on God's Word during the day we have a far greater probability of reacting righteously when circumstances try to make us react in our flesh (anger, lust, etc).  Thus, we see that this sentence is really giving us the basic method of obtaining God's protection.

Webster's 1828 Dictionary defines the word meditate  as: 'to dwell on anything in thought; to contemplate; to study; to turn or revolve any subject in the mind; appropriately but not exclusively used of pious contemplation, or a consideration of the great truths of religion.  His delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night. Ps.1.  2. to intend; to have in contemplation.  I meditate to pass the remainder of life in a state of undisturbed repose.
MED'ITATE, v.t. to plan by revolving in the mind; to contrive; to intend.  Some affirmed that I meditated a war.  1. to think on; to revolve in the mind.  Blessed is the man that doth meditate good things'.

C1-S3 (Verse 3) Results of being blessed.
  1. First Step: Get planted  near multiple sources of Godly spiritual help.
    1. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water,
    2. that bringeth forth his fruit in his season;.
  2. Second Step: Have a religion that flourishes regardless of circumstances.
    1. his leaf also shall not wither;.
  3. Third Step: Reap God's rewards.
    1. and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper..

We saw in the overview note that our current sentence tells us the results of someone being blessed  and that someone who does not have these results is either too new in their obedience for them to have these results or they are a liar who claims to obey while not obeying.  (That is: they are the ungodly .)  If we truly consider these results we can see that the results mentioned in them take time to be produced.  Since our sentence has Steps, we can not get the Second Step, nor the third Step, until after the First Step is part of our life.

Our First Step says And he shall be like a tree.  It should be obvious to everyone that it takes time to grow a tree.  Thus, it takes time for God to produce the First evidence in someone's life which shows that they are blessed.  In addition, since this Step also includes the phrase that bringeth forth his fruit in his season,  we know that this is a tree which has had at least a couple of seasons  of growth because a tree  does not bring forth fruit  the first year that it is planted.  Even when the tree does start to produce fruit,  a good husbandman will usually trim the fruit,  and not let it grow, until the tree is strong enough that letting the fruit  grow does not hinder the growth of the tree itself.  Thus, God, as a good husbandman, will often keep any spiritual fruit  from appearing in our life until we are faithful in our own religious beliefs and service to the point that pride in producing fruit  will not damage our own spiritual growth.

In addition, to our first phrase saying that the blessed...shall be like a tree,  it adds the phrase planted by the rivers of water.  Often, but not always, water  is used to symbolize God's Holy Spirit having a spiritual influence on the life of the believer.  There is no question about water  being a basic, and critical, element to all physical life on this Earth.  In addition, we see in the Bible, and in this world, where a drought, or lack of water, causes problems and can lead to death.  The fact that our phrase use the plural form of rivers of water  means that the blessed  will be provided for even during times of spiritual drought.

Some people take the phrase rivers of water  to mean something like the place that two rivers join into a single flow.  While that is truly possible, there is another possibility.  One place that I lived had a deep well which went to the third aquifer below the ground.  An aquifer is an underground lake.  When other people had trouble with their water because the first aquifer became polluted, I continued to receive pure fresh water.

In colder climates, more northern and more southern lands, deciduous trees lose their leaves in the fall and grow new ones in the spring.  The mail reason for this is that leaves allow water to evaporate into the air and when the surface ground, and the water in it, freeze, the trees would have a hard time getting enough water to stay alive if they did not reduce the evaporation which they produce.  They do this reduction by dropping their leaves.  However, most oak trees retain some of their leaves all winter and don't drop them until the next spring when they grow new leaves.  This is because most oak trees have a tap root that goes as far into the ground as it grows above ground.  This allows the oak tree to get non-frozen water from these aquifers which are below ground and allows it to function regardless of circumstances.

In the parable about four types of ground, representing four kinds of heart conditions, those that fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth...withered away  (Matthew 13:3-23; Mark 4:3-20; Luke 8:5-15).  In our Psalm, the blessed  person is like the seed that fell on good ground.

We already saw in the overview note that we are to judge  people according to their fruit.  The second phrase of our First Step tells us that he shall...bringeth forth his fruit in his season.  There is no doubt, it will happen.  The only thing for us to do is to see if it matches the fruit of the Spirit  (Galatians 5:21; Ephesians 5:9).  The other thing to note here is that the leaf  is symbolic of our religious activity but the fruit  is symbolic of God's Holy Spirit working through our life at other times.

Our Second Step tells us that his leaf also shall not wither.  These people who are up and down and who are in and out of church or are constantly church hopping are not blessed.  Our Step is telling us that they are reliable and faithful.  Think of the people who Paul wrote to with his epistle of 1Corinthians.  They had spiritual gifts but were still babes  (1Corinthians 3:1).  Thus, we see that the spiritual maturity to become faithful comes after we start to produce spiritual fruit.  This spiritual maturity only happens when we remain in Christ so that He can work through our ongoing personal relationship with Him to make  us be what God wants us to be.

Moving onto our third Step we see the promise of God that whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.  Please note that this is added to our having accomplished the prior Steps because this Step starts with the word and.  many saved people do not prosper  because they have a too limited definition of the word.  Webster's 1828 dictionary defines prosper  as: 'Advance or gain in anything good or desirable; successful progress in any business or enterprise; success; attainment of the object desired; as the prosperity of arts; agricultural or commercial prosperity; national prosperity. Our disposition to abuse the blessings of providence renders prosperity dangerous.'  thus, someone who has many good results in the kingdom of God, even while not gaining materially, has prospered.  The word prosper  occurs 49 times in the Bible and those verses are worth studying in order to truly understand God's usage of this word and what God means when His Word says whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.  In addition, to looking up those verses, the student may want to use the following links.

Thompson Chain Topics provides references for the word prosper  as: 'Of the Wicked, general references to:  Job 12:6; Ps 37:35; 73:3,12; Jer 5:28; 12:1.  Perils of:  forgetfulness of God:  De 6:10-12.  Rebellion:  De 32:15.  Destruction:  Pr 1:32.  Denial of God:  Pr 30:9.  Examples of the Evil Effects of:  De 32:15; 1Ki 11:4; Da 4:30; 5:20; Ho 13:6; Lu 12:16-19.  Of the Righteous:  Ge 39:3; De 29:9; 1Ch 22:13; 2Ch 20:20; 26:5; 31:21; 32:30; Ne 2:20; Ps 1:3; 122:6.  Warnings against Worldly Fulness:  De 32:15; Ps 17:10; Jer 5:28; 50:11; Eze 16:49; Lu 6:25; Re 3:17.'

Nave's Topical Bible provides references for the word prosper  as: 'From God:  Ge 33:11; 49:24-26; Ps 127:1; 128:1-2 Design of:  Ec 7:14.  Dangers of:  De 8:10-18; 31:20; 32:15; Jer 5:7; Ho 13:6.  Evil effects of:  Ho 4:7.  Pride in:  2Ch 32:25.  Forgetfulness of God in:  2Ch 12:1; 26:16.  The prosperous people despise the unfortunate people:  Job 12:5.  Promised to the righteous:  Job 22:23-27.  Prudence in Instances of:  Joseph and Daniel, as deduced from their general conduct.'

C1-S4 (Verse 4) How to identify those who are not blessed  by God.
  1. Equivalent Section: the ungodly   are not like the blessed.
    1. The ungodly are not so:.
  2. Equivalent Section: What the ungodly   are like.
    1. but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away..

Our sentence compares the ungodly   to the blessed  and not only tells us that the ungodly   are not like blessed  (are not so)  but goes on to tell us that they are the opposite by the use of a colon followed by the word but  when describing the ungodly .  Thus, part of our definition of the ungodly   is the opposite of the blessed.  That is: they have no evidence of worshipping God or their worship comes and goes with the seasons (leaf).  Circumstances of life control their claimed spirituality.  They are not faithful.  They have no spiritual maturity.  Their fruit  is sinful, fleshly and worldly.  Finally, whine they can have the appearance of prosperity,  it will not last.  For example: they might have this world's goods but they will be constantly worried about losing them and not being able to replace what they have.

The second phrase of our sentence tells us that they are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.  When grain is harvested it is crushed to separate the light-weight and hard outer casing from the true food that is within.  This light-weight outer casing is the chaff  which the farmers deliberate get rid of by causing a wind to blow over the crushed grain.  Our sentence equates the ungodly   to the religious person who concentrates on outward appearances while remaining dead inside (Matthew 23:27-28).  Please see the notes for Romans 4:5 and 2Peter 2:9-LJC about the word ungodly   and also has links to several Studies on this web site which discuss the true Biblical usage of this word.  The functional definition is: 'not Godly', however, the implications of all that is involved in that is more than most people think about when they hear this simple definition.  Basically, these people live a life which does not display the influence of God upon their life.

C1-S5 (Verse 5) The conclusion of not being blessed  by God.
  1. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,
  2. nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous..

Our sentence has two phrases which tell us the conclusion (Therefore)  of the prior verses.  The judgment  that our sentence talks about are actually two judgments.  The judgment seat of Christ  (Romans 14:10; 2Corinthians 5:10-11) is for the saved and the ungodly shall not stand  there because they will not be there.  The second judgment  is at the Great White throne  judgment (Revelation 20:11).  The ungodly   will be judged there but they will not stand  because they will not fight against God and will not even be allowed to answer God but will only watch while God displays to all of heaven why he judges them as He does.  After that they will go into the lake of fire  (Revelation 19:20; Revelation 20:10, 14-15), but they will not be able to back-talk God and, therefore, will not stand in the judgment.

Please notice that the second phrase of our sentence makes a distinction between the ungodly   and sinners.  During both judgments  God, as a righteous...Judge of all the earth  (Genesis 18:25) will not testify against those being judged but will call people from the congregation of the righteous.  Those testifying will have been in as bad, or worse, circumstances as the person being judged and yet have remained faithful.  The testimony of people from the congregation of the righteous  will prove all excuses to be lies.

C1-S6 (Verse 6) Why these truths are so.
  1. Equivalent Section: How the LORD  determines who to bless.
    1. For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous:.
  2. Equivalent Section: How the LORD  will judge the ungodly .
    1. but the way of the ungodly shall perish..

Our sentence starts with the word For  and gives the reason why all of this Psalm is true.  Our overview note ended by pointing out that this last sentence tells us that the LORD  will separate the two types of people described within this Psalm.  Our sentence has a colon followed by the word but,  which tells us, grammatically, that the two results are polar opposites.  Notice that our sentence gives us two different ways  that are followed by people and those ways  result in people getting the two different fruit  which were described in the earlier sentences.  Our sentence is telling us that the LORD  knows the difference between these two ways  and implies that the judgment which He applies will be based upon which of these ways  we follow with our life.  Thus, we determine the ultimate judgment  which we receive by choosing one of these two ways  to follow.

These verses tell us about the way of the righteous:  1Kings 8:32; 2Chronicles 6:23; Job 17:9; Psalms 1:6; Psalms 5:8; Psalms 85:13; Psalms 145:17; Proverbs 2:20; Proverbs 8:20; Proverbs 11:5; Proverbs 12:28; Proverbs 13:6; Proverbs 15:9; Proverbs 15:19; Proverbs 16:31; Isaiah 45:13; Isaiah 58:2; Isaiah 64:5; Matthew 21:32; 2Peter 2:21.  The prior note provided links to where the reader can find out about the ungodly .  We also saw, in a prior note, that the word way  is defined as: "how you get from one place to another'.  Our sentence directly connects the way  which we follow to the result of our judgment.  Since we are presently choosing our way,  that is what our sentence is directly talking about while indirectly tying our way  to the results of our judgment.

Since our First Equivalent Section tells us the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous,  is should be obvious that we need to get this knowledge  from the LORD.  The first three chapters of 1Corinthians tell us that the wisdom of this world / our flesh  is opposite from the wisdom of God.  We also see this truth in other places of the Bible.  The result of this truth is that we will not have knowledge  about the way of the righteous  unless we get it from the LORD.  ('The Spirit of God uses the word of God to show the child the way of God').  That is why 1Corinthians 2:16 says, For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

If we want to be blessed  then we must get the mind of Christ  so that we might learn what the LORD knoweth  about the way of the righteous  and so that we can follow it in order to end up with the judgment  that the LORD  gives to the righteous.

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