Psalm 1/Notes/Lexical.V. 1.164249

Interpreters differ as to whether "the one" (הָאִישׁ) is a unique individual (i.e. a king) or a literary representative of a group (i.e. a typical righteous person). The latter interpretation is reflected in those translations that translate הָאִישׁ with a plural and gender-neutral term (e.g., CEV, ERV, GNB, NLT). Other translations use a gender-neutral term but retain the singular referent (e.g. CSB, NET, NIV, LPDPT). Older translations tend to use masculine singular terms (LXX, Tg, Jer, KJV, Reina Valera, ESV, NVI, LS 1910). In either case, the tree imagery of v. 3, the allusion to Deuteronomy's kingship law (Deut 17) in v. 2, and the linguistic/thematic connections between Psalm 1 and Psalm 2 all work together to give "the one" "a distinctly royal profile" (Brown 2002). Although it is possible to explain this royal profile in terms of democratization - the office of king is democratized so that everyone who follows the path of Torah is a kind of king (so e.g., Brown 2002; Barbiero 2003), others have argued on the basis of the Joshua-like description of "the one" (cf. Schnittjer 2021, 471; Mitchell 2016), the connections between "the one" of Psalm 1 and the anointed king of Ps 2, and the Messianic shape of the Psalter, that "the one" is a unique royal figure.