Psalm 1 Story behind the Psalm: Difference between revisions

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{{LayerbyLayer
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=Overview=
=About the Story Behind Layer=
[[File: Psalm 1 - story.jpg|thumb|500px|'''The Story Behind Psalm 1.''']]
{{StoryBehindIntro}}
In order to understand a Psalm, we have to understand not only what is said, but also what is assumed and left unsaid. Psalm 1, like many other Psalms, assumes a certain state of affairs (a story "behind the Psalm"). We can summarise this story as follows: The wicked live alongside the righteous, and the wicked seem to flourish while the righteous suffer. That is why people call the wicked "happy" or "blessed." But there will be a day when God condemns the wicked in judgment. They will be separated from the righteous, who will flourish forever in God's presence and under the reign of God's anointed king.
=Story Behind Visuals for Psalm 1=
==Summary Triangle==
{{StorybehindoverviewIntro}}
[[File:Psalm 001 - Summary triangle.jpg|class=img-fluid|825px]]


==Background Ideas==
==Background ideas==
*People declare someone to be "happy/blessed" whose position/status is admirable and desirable (cf. 1 Kgs. 10:8).
{{BackgroundideasIntro}}
*Character development is like a journey in which a person's destination is determined by the guidance they follow.
*People declare someone to be "happy" (אַשְׁרֵי) when they admire that person's condition and consider it to be desirable (cf. Janzen 1965, 215-226; SDBH). For example, when the Queen of Sheba saw the wealth and wisdom and King Solomon, she exclaimed, "Happy (אַשְׁרֵי) are your men! Happy are your servants, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom!" (1 Kgs 10:8, ESV).
*Rehearsing (or meditating on) YHWH's instruction (or Law, or Torah) daily is associated with Israel's leader (cf Josh 1:8; Deut 17:19).
*When wicked people flourish, others are tempted to declare them "happy." For example, Malachi (which occurs immediately before Ps 1 in the order of the Hebrew canon) says, “You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly evildoers prosper, and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it’” (Mal 3:14-15, NIV; cf. Jer 12:1; Ps 73).
*Trees are symbols of kings (cf. Dan. 4:7-9, 17-19; Ps. 52:10).<ref>“In both biblical and ancient Near Eastern tradition, the individual most typically identified with a tree is a person of royalty" (Brown 2002, 69; cf. Osbourne 2018). In a Sumerian text: “Šulgi, the king, the graceful lord, is a datepalm planted by the water ditch”; "Like a cedar rooted by abundant water, of pleasant shadow thou art" (Wiedengren, ''The King and the Tree of Life''). In Dan. 4, King Nebuchadnezzar is depicted as a massive tree that provides shelter and food to all kinds of creatures (Dan. 4:7-9, 17-19). In Ps. 52, King David is depicted as a "flourishing olive tree in God's house" (Ps. 52:10).</ref>
*YHWH is the judge of all the earth (Gen 18:25), and the job of a just judge is to acquit the righteous/innocent (צַדִּיק) and condemn the wicked/guilty (רָשָׁע) (see Deut 25:1).
*The process of winnowing (separating wheat form chaff) is an image of judgment (separating righteous from wicked); cf. Mal 3:18.
*“In winnowing, grain is threshed in order to separate the kernel of grain from the husk and straw. The mixture is thrown into the air with a winnowing fork or shovel. The wind blows the light husksaway, the heavier straw falls near the edge of the threshing floor, and the grain falls back to the floor to be collected. Both the light husks and the  heavier straw are referred to in the words translated ‘chaff’ in the  Bible” (Ryken et al. ed. 1998, 136).
 
*The place of YHWH's life-giving presence is depicted as a garden paradise (Gen 2; Ezek 47:12) in which the righteous grow like trees (Pss 52:10; 92:13-15; cf. Creach 1999).
==Background Situation==
[[File:Psalm 1 - Background Situation.jpg|825px|class=img-fluid]]
 
=Expanded Paraphrase=
{{Story Behind}}
==v. 1==
<span style="color:#808080">(When someone's position in life is admirable and desirable, that person is declared "happy".)</span><ref>E.g. 1 Kgs. 10:8</ref> <span style="color:#2D9BF0">(Wicked people are sometimes declared "happy,") (since their position in life can seem admirable and desirable).<ref>E.g. Mal. 3:14-15. It is significant that, according to the traditional ordering of books in the Hebrew Bible, Malachi directly precedes Psalm 1.</ref> (But I do not call the wicked "happy"). (Instead, I say,)</span> '''Happy is the one who does not go in the counsel of wicked people, does come to a standstill in the pathway of sinful people, and does not settle in the dwelling place of insolent people.'''<ref>This verse assumes that the reader is familiar with the metaphor: "Character development is a journey." Just a person sets out on a journey, comes to a stop, and then settles down, so character development happens in stages of increasing commitment.</ref>
 
==v. 2==
<span style="color:#2D9BF0">(Instead of receiving instruction for life's journey from wicked people)</span>, '''his delight is in the instruction of YHWH, and''' <span style="color:#2D9BF0">(because he delights in his instruction,)</span> '''he rehearses his instruction day and night.''' <span style="color:#2D9BF0">(And this instruction teaches him how to live).</span>
==v. 3==
'''And''' <span style="color:#808080">(just as water causes a tree to flourish,)</span> <span style="color:#2D9BF0">(so rehearsal of YHWH's instruction causes the man to flourish). (Therefore, by rehearsing YHWH's instruction,)</span> '''he will become like a tree''' <span style="color:#2D9BF0">(that has been removed from a waterless place and)</span> '''transplanted''' <span style="color:#2D9BF0">(by a gardener)</span> '''on streams of water''' <span style="color:#2D9BF0">(in an Edenic garden)</span><ref>The garden setting is suggested by the word "streams"/"channels" (פלג) and the word "transplant" (שתל). The garden imagery is, in turn, reminiscent of Eden. Just as the first book of the Law begins with a garden (Gen. 2), so the first book of Psalms begins with a garden. This was noticed by the Targum on Psalms, which has "tree of life" in v. 3. Other lines of evidence support this interpretation. For example, "when Ps 1:3a departs from Jer 17:8, it consistently includes vocabulary drawn from other texts in which Zion or the temple is depicted as a garden paradise" (Creach 1999); cf. Pss 52:10; 92:13-15; Ezek. 47:12.</ref> '''which gives its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither, and he makes successful all that he does.'''
 
==v. 4==
'''Not so the wicked people.''' <span style="color:#2D9BF0">(The wicked are not ultimately successful,) (and, therefore, they are not to be called "happy").</span> '''Rather, they will be like chaff that the wind drives away.''' <span style="color:#808080">(Chaff is the outer part of grain that must be separated from the grain in the process of winnowing).<ref>“In winnowing, grain is threshed in order to separate the kernel of grain from the husk and straw. The mixture is thrown into the air with a winnowing fork or shovel. The wind blows the light husks away, the heavier straw falls near the edge of the threshing floor, and the grain falls back to the floor to be collected. Both the light husks and the heavier straw are referred to in the words translated ‘chaff’ in the Bible” (Leland Ryken, James Wilhoit, and Tremper Longman III, eds, “Chaff,” in ''Dictionary of Biblical Imagery,'' IVP, 1998).</ref> (Just as chaff grows together with the grain in a field,)</span> <span style="color:#2D9BF0">(so the wicked currently live together with the righteous.) (But the day is coming when God will hold trial and separate the wicked from the righteous,)</span> <span style="color:#808080">(just as chaff is separated from grain at the harvest.)</span>
 
==v. 5==
'''Therefore''' <span style="color:#2D9BF0">(because the wicked are like chaff that is separated from the grain)</span>, '''wicked people will not stand firm in the trial''' <span style="color:#2D9BF0">(on the day when God judges the world)</span>,<ref>see detailed discussion on the meaning of "the Judgment" [https://psalms.scriptura.org/w/The_meaning_of_%D7%9E%D7%A9%D7%A4%D7%98_in_Ps._1:5 here].</ref> '''and sinful people will not stand in the congregation of righteous people.'''
 
==v. 6==
<span style="color:#2D9BF0">(Here, then, is the reason why I declare the righteous, and not the wicked, to be "happy:")</span> '''Because YHWH cares for the way of righteous people, and''' <span style="color:#808080">(although it can seem as though wicked people are the ones flourishing)</span> '''the way of wicked people will come to an end.'''
=Endnotes=

Revision as of 15:22, 28 March 2025

Psalm Overview

About the Story Behind Layer

The Story behind the Psalm shows how each part of the psalm fits together into a single coherent whole. Whereas most semantic analysis focuses on discrete parts of a text such as the meaning of a word or phrase, Story Behind the Psalm considers the meaning of larger units of discourse, including the entire psalm. (Click 'Expand' to the right for more information.)

The goal of this layer is to reconstruct and visualise a mental representation of the text as the earliest hearers/readers might have conceptualised it. We start by identifying the propositional content of each clause in the psalm, and then we identify relevant assumptions implied by each of the propositions. During this process, we also identify and analyse metaphorical language (“imagery”). Finally, we try to see how all of the propositions and assumptions fit together to form a coherent mental representation. The main tool we use for structuring the propositions and assumptions is a story triangle, which visualises the rise and fall of tension within a semantic unit. Although story triangles are traditionally used to analyse stories in the literary sense of the word, we use them at this layer to analyse “stories” in the cognitive sense of the word—i.e., a story as a sequence of propositions and assumptions that has tension.

Story Behind Visuals for Psalm 1

Summary Triangle

The story triangle below summarises the story of the whole psalm. We use the same colour scheme as in Participant Analysis. The star icon along the edge of the story-triangle indicates the point of the story in which the psalm itself (as a speech event) takes place. We also include a theme at the bottom of the story. The theme is the main message conveyed by the story-behind. Psalm 001 - Summary triangle.jpg

Background ideas

Following are the common-ground assumptionsCommon-ground assumptions include information shared by the speaker and hearers. In our analysis, we mainly use this category for Biblical/Ancient Near Eastern background. which are the most helpful for making sense of the psalm.

  • People declare someone to be "happy" (אַשְׁרֵי) when they admire that person's condition and consider it to be desirable (cf. Janzen 1965, 215-226; SDBH). For example, when the Queen of Sheba saw the wealth and wisdom and King Solomon, she exclaimed, "Happy (אַשְׁרֵי) are your men! Happy are your servants, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom!" (1 Kgs 10:8, ESV).
  • When wicked people flourish, others are tempted to declare them "happy." For example, Malachi (which occurs immediately before Ps 1 in the order of the Hebrew canon) says, “You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly evildoers prosper, and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it’” (Mal 3:14-15, NIV; cf. Jer 12:1; Ps 73).
  • YHWH is the judge of all the earth (Gen 18:25), and the job of a just judge is to acquit the righteous/innocent (צַדִּיק) and condemn the wicked/guilty (רָשָׁע) (see Deut 25:1).
  • “In winnowing, grain is threshed in order to separate the kernel of grain from the husk and straw. The mixture is thrown into the air with a winnowing fork or shovel. The wind blows the light husksaway, the heavier straw falls near the edge of the threshing floor, and the grain falls back to the floor to be collected. Both the light husks and the  heavier straw are referred to in the words translated ‘chaff’ in the  Bible” (Ryken et al. ed. 1998, 136).
  • The place of YHWH's life-giving presence is depicted as a garden paradise (Gen 2; Ezek 47:12) in which the righteous grow like trees (Pss 52:10; 92:13-15; cf. Creach 1999).