Words in italic type have been added for clarity. They are not found in the original Hebrew or Aramaic.

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Psalm 1

What should I learn from this chapter?

1. The symbolic meaning of “Tree”
2. The symbolic meaning of “Rain”
3. The symbolic meaning of “Sap”
4. The symbolic meaning of “Chaff”
5. The symbolic meaning of “Wheat”
6. The Feast of Sukkot as God dwelling with man, A wedding chuppah, and the Living Water of a “last plea”
7. The Harvest as the Resurrections
8. The Great White Throne Judgement
9. The first (godly) and second (ungodly) Resurrection

The Way of the Righteous and the End of the Ungodly

Psalm 1:¹ Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the (wicked) ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;

Psalm 1:² But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates (ponders by talking to himself) day and night.

Psalm 1:³ He (the Righteous) shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers (channels) of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper

• NOTE: Trees are symbolic of men. When they are planted by rivers of water, that water is the living water which Jesus declared comes from Him.
  • If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water” (John 4:10).
  • For the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. Rev 7:17
  • Rev 22:2 In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves (Jews) of the tree were for the healing of the nations (Fig Tree representing the nation Israel whose tender leaves indicates the return of the Lord. See Matt 24:32).

• The Seventh Day of Sukkot (Booths/Tents/Canopies): Hoshanah Rabbah
  • Sukkot is a seven day Jewish feast in which Jews live in portable tents. It is symbolic of man’s temporary tent: his life. It also alludes to two prophetic events, the first being Jesus setting up His rule (His tent) on earth in Jerusalem and the second is His symbolic marriage to His Old Testament wife, the Jews. This symbolic marriage contract was made on Mt. Sinai with Moses when the Jews received the Ten Commandments. They are His espoused wife in the same way Mary was espoused to Joseph as wife. The Sukkot Booth is a Chupah (Canopy) in which Jewish marriages are performed.
  • The last day of the feast of Sukkot, the seventh day, called Hoshanah Rabbah or the Great Hoshanah, is of particular interest. It alludes to Living Water. (NOTE: Hosanna means save, rescue, or savior)
  • On the seventh day, seven processions around the synagogue are made.
  • A golden pitcher holding three logs Is filled by a priest with water from the Siloah, a certain soft-flowing stream, (Isaiah 8:6) better known under the later name of Siloam -the only perennial spring of Jerusalem. (There is also a pool of Siloah.)
  • At that time, Living Water is provided for a Last Plea!
  • Hoshanah Rabbah (the 7th day of Sukkot) is taken to be the day of the delivery of the final judgment of Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement, and offers a last opportunity for pleas of repentance before the season closes.
  • If Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, also known as the Day of Return, is the return of Jesus with His saints and the angels, then this particular last opportunity for pleas of repentance can give rise to speculation as to what, exactly, this last opportunity might be.
  • During this time each of the family joins in collecting the fruit of the land, the fruit God has provided …. On the last or “great” day of the feast, the water libation rite reaches its climax.
    • ^{On the 21st day of the 7th month (On the Hebrew calendar, Tishri 21st, or Hoshanah Rabbah), the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai:}
    • ^{“The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘And in this place (Jerusalem and the Temple) I will grant peace,’ declares the Lord Almighty.” Haggai 2:1}
  • Seven processions around the synagogue are made. (A reminder of Jericho) It is recorded that during these seven processions Jesus cried out, (as a last plea?):
    • ^{John 7:37  In the last day, that great day of the  feast (Sukkot), Jesus stood and cried saying, if any man thirst, let him come to Me, and drink.}
• Jesus is the living water, the rain that comes down from heaven. He is the provider of the Holy Spirit, Absolute Truth, and Eternal Life.
  • Psalm 72:6 He shall come down like rain upon the grass before mowing, like showers that water the earth.
  • Hosea 6:3 Let us know, Let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord. His going forth is established as the morning; He will come to us like the rain, Like the latter and former rain to the earth.
  • Joel 2:23 Be glad then, you children of Zion, And rejoice in the Lord your God; For He has given you the former rain faithfully, And He will cause the rain to come down for you— The former rain, and the latter rain in the first.

• Rain means “teacher”.  Faithful means “righteous”. Faithful rain means the righteous teacher, the Messiah.
  • The rains in Israel revolve around the harvest. Scripture compares the resurrections to the time of harvest.
    • Harvest consists of: the First Fruit harvest (Jesus as the First to be raised from the dead never to die again), the Wave Offering (as part of First Fruits which are the opened tombs of certain saints), the Main Harvest (yet to come), and finally, the Gleanings (also yet to come).
    • When Joel 2:23 says “The former rain, and the latter rain in the first” it is all part of the resurrection of believers called “the first resurrection”.
      • Note: The second resurrection is the resurrection of nonbelievers and it is a resurrection of judgment. The second resurrection is call the Second Death. There is no second death for believers.
        • ^{Revelation 20:6 Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.}
        • ^{Review: The first resurrection happens in three steps: First fruit with the Wave Offering, the Main Harvest, and the Gleanings. The Main Harvest occurs in conjunction with the rapture and the Gleaning occurs at the end of the tribulation with the Tribulation saints.}
        • ^{The former and the latter rain are a reference to events before and after the harvest, the main harvest and the gleanings.}

• A living tree planted by the waters has “Sap” which gives trees their life. Without sap the tree withers and dies. Sap is a pitch used to seal Noah’s ark.
  • ^{Genesis 6:14 Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch.}
  • ^{The Hebrew word for pitch is kaphar (Strongs h3722). The Hebrew word for gopher is gopher (Strongs h1613).}
    • ^{Kaphar (pitch/sap) means: atonement, purge, reconciliation, forgive, cleansed, pardon, disannulled. To “cover over”. To “seal”.}
  • ^{Pitch is symbolic of the Holy Spirit with which believers are sealed.}

Psalm 1:⁴ The ungodly are not so,
But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.

• The word “chaff” is used for the ungodly. “Wheat” is used to describe the godly:
  • ^{Isaiah 5:24 Therefore, as the fire devours the stubble, And the flame consumes the chaff, So their root will be as rottenness, And their blossom will ascend like dust; Because they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts, And despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.}
  • ^{Jeremiah 23:28b What is the chaff (nonbelievers) to the wheat (believers)?” says the Lord.}
  • ^{Hosea 13:3 Therefore they shall be like the morning cloud And like the early dew that passes away, Like chaff blown off from a threshing floor And like smoke from a chimney.}
  • ^{Zephaniah 2:2 Before the decree is issued, Or the day passes like chaff, Before the Lord’s fierce anger comes upon you, Before the day of the Lord’s anger comes upon you!}
  • ^{Matthew 3:12 His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”}

Psalm 1:⁵ Therefore the ungodly shall not stand (be upright) in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

• Psalm 1:5 seems to hint that the upright will have a separate judgment from the ungodly. The upright are those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
• The spiritual application is the prophetic Great White Throne Judgment of those nonbelievers who were raised in the second resurrection and are now standing before the God of the Universe, the Judge of all, and they are now waiting to be convicted under eternal damnation. The second resurrection is also called “The Second Death”.
  • ^{Revelation 20:11 [The Great White Throne Judgment] Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God (the throne), and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. 14 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.}
  • ^{Matthew 8:12 But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”}
  • ^{Isaiah 33:14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; Fearfulness has seized the hypocrites (at the return of Jesus): “Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?”}
  • ^{Jude 1:7 As Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.}

Psalm 1:⁶ For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,

• Because it is God who is leading them.

But the way of the ungodly shall perish.

• Luke 6:39 And He spoke a parable to them: “Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into the ditch?