There are 3 participants/characters in Psalm 1:
Profile List
| The one
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| Tree
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| Righteous people
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| Wicked people
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| Sinful people
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| Insolent people
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| Chaff
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Profile Notes
- The one is the hero of this psalm, the person being celebrated. He is celebrated for his rejection of wickedness (v. 1), his commitment to YHWH's instruction (v. 2), and for the fact that he will become like a tree in YHWH's life-giving garden (v. 3). "The one" is a literary representative for the group of righteous people mentioned in the end of the psalm (vv. 5-6). When Ps 1 is read as a unit together with Ps 2, the identity of "the one" converges with the identity of the anointed king in Ps 2. See The Identity of the Person in Psalm1:1 for details.
- YHWH, the God of Israel, is the ultimate source of the success of the righteous. He is the one who guides them (v. 2) and cares for them (v. 6a) throughout life's journey. The ambiguity in v. 3d also allows us to see YHWH as the one who "causes all that he does to flourish." See The Grammar of Psalm1:3d for details.
- The wicked (together with sinful people and insolent people) are the most mentioned participant in this psalm. (On the differences between these different terms for wicked people, see lexical semantics.) The wicked, unlike the righteous, have nothing to do with YHWH's instruction, and so they are like chaff and perish in the judgment.