Happy are those who have not walked in the
counsel of the wicked,
nor lingered in the way of sinners,
nor sat in the seats of the scornful!
Their delight is
in the law of the LORD,
and they meditate on God’s teaching day and night.
They are like
trees
planted by streams of water,
bearing fruit in due season,
with leaves that do not wither.
This
psalm not only begins the psalter, it also
serves as a gateway, as a guide into the study
of and encounter with all of Scripture. We are
invited into this encounter with a number of
strong images that help us to imagine what we
are doing as we hear and study Scripture
together. I want to talk about just two of these
images.
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The first image
is found in the first two verses: “Happy are
those whose delight is in the law of the LORD,
who meditate on God’s law, God’s teaching, day
and night.” The word that is sometimes
translated “law” and other times translated
“teaching” is the Hebrew word torah.
“Happy are those who delight in the torah
of the Lord, who meditate on God’s torah
day and night.” Torah can indeed mean law, but
more fully it refers to eithe r
the first five books of the Bible or, by
extension, even to the whole of Scripture. Torah
thus includes within it both the law, which
directs us to the paths we should take as God’s
people, and the story, through which we hear the
marvelous good news of God’s love for us and for
all creation. Both the law and the story give us
our identity as the people of God. Psalm 1
invites us to take delight in both the path we
walk and the story we proclaim. Scripture, our
torah, is identified as a source of joy!
Psalm 1 then
invites us further to meditate on the Scriptures
day and night. Often we picture meditation as an
exercise we do alone, clearing our minds of all
distractions and being alone with God in prayer.
This is not a bad image. But another image is
equally at work in these words. The Hebrew word
for “meditate,” hagah, is the same as the
roaring of lions and the cooing of birds.
Roaring is not a very private activity! In the
same way, meditation involves shared or communal
as well as individual study. We are to study
God’s torah as a community. Picture a group of
rabbis sitting around and actively engaging with
both the text and each other. Or picture
yourself with a group of Christians in a lively
Bible study ... all of us together experiencing
the text speaking to us and through us to one
another — inspiring us, challenging us, giving
language to both demand and promise.
The promise of
Psalm 1 comes to light most wonderfully in the
strongest of the images found in the psalm. The
promise is this: when we take delight in God’s
torah, when we participate in such cogitating,
such cooing and roaring, such reading and
listening and engaging together with the Bible,
we become “like trees planted by streams of
water, bearing fruit in due season, with leaves
that do not wither.” What an amazing promise!
Think about this image with me. Like a tree, we
students of the Bible are made alive and are
kept alive by being rooted by an ever-flowing
stream.
We are rooted in
God, in God’s life giving Spirit, in God’s word
in Scripture and in God’s word in Christ.
Without being rooted thus, we cannot grow.
Rather, we, like the wicked in the final verse
of Psalm 1, perish and die.
But the image of
the tree is more than an image of roots. What is
visible when we look at a tree is not its root
but rather its fruit and its leaves. And the
fruit and the leaves are not only for the tree
itself. Fruit is always for the other — the
fruit nourishes the other, reaching out to the
other. The fruit-laden branches visibly mirror
the life-giving roots. Fruit gives susten ance
to all who eat, and in truth the word sustains
us as we share the fruits of the word with
others. And the leaves add yet more to this
picture. The leaves of a tree provide both shade
and shelter. Small wonder that this image is
found scattered throughout the Bible — in
Jeremiah and Ezekiel and Revelation, where it is
said that the leaves of the tree of life are for
the healing of the nations.
So brothers and
sisters in Christ, I invite you to open your
Bibles and come join the conversation. May
studying Scripture together be our joy and our
delight. Ma y
we together root ourselves in God’s Word in
order that we might bear much fruit. And may our
encounter with God’s Word sprout a whole
Spirit-filled, church-load of leaves for the
healing of the nations.
Diane Jacobson
is director of the Book of Faith initiative and
teaches at Luther Seminary in Saint Paul,
Minnesota.
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Questions on Psalm 1:1-3 |
- How
do we “meditate” on the Word
together?
- In
what ways do we take delight in the
study of the Bible?
- What
are we rooted in?
- How
does studying God’s word together
help us to be like trees providing
fruit or leaves for others?
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