Psalm 1:1

A group of thieves gathered outside a hotel in Marseille, France.


How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked.

Nor stand in the path of sinners,
Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!

The first three lines of this psalm are intriguing. The concept of walking in the counsel of the wicked is fairly simple for me to grasp: at its most basic level, the author is telling me not to listen to the advice of wicked people or follow their advise. That is pretty simple to understand.

The next line presents a more difficult picture to interpret. What does it mean to, "...stand in the path of sinners..."? What does the author envision when he speaks of sitting in the seat of scoffers? I'll start with standing. The author tells me not to stand in the path of sinners. I would tend to think that if I'm not supposed to listen to wicked advice, then I shouldn'd spend time with them either. The author doesn't put it that way though. He says that we shouldn't stand in the path of sinners. A path implies a way. I would gather that by standing in this path, I see what all the people walking this path look like, and what they are doing. The act of standing in this path implies that I'm not just watching them, but desiring to be like them.

Now I move to sitting with scoffers. Here, the author moves me from standing amongst sinners to sitting with them. When I sit, typically I sit with other people to socialize with them. For the most part, the people I sit with are of like mind with me. I may also be getting to know a group of people whom I find a desire to spend time with. So, to sit in the seat of scoffers is to sit and make friends with these people.

In the first line, I listen to the wicked man and then proceed to go off and do it. In the second line, I watch what the wicked do and follow them. In the third line I sit with them and make friends with them. The author seems to be giving me a progression here. I start out by heeding the counsel of a wicked person and going out and doing what he advises me to do. Given that I'm a sinful man, I like it and continue to seek his counsel. Then I wish to enter the community that this man belongs to and begin to observe their ways. Eventually, I become so engrossed by these people and their ways that I am now one of them and sit with them plotting sin.

The author is covering the bases here. I may only be listening to someone, or watching people, or be wholeheartedly in league with them. The author is saying I am blessed if I don't do these things. It's as though God is showing each of these three people that He is mighty to save despite the level I've sunk to (and he also shows that even 'trivial' sin should be avoided).