Psalms 1-2
Dear RTB’ers,
(Speaking of the righteous person) …but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night. (v. 2) In the past, whenever I read about “the law” (of the Lord) I would go back to Mt. Sinai where the Lord gave Moses and the Israelites the Ten Commandments or to Leviticus and Deuteronomy, where He added more “laws”. However, one of my main takeaways when we did the Psalms and the Wisdom literature in 2022 had to do with “the Law”, when we read Psalm 119. In essence, the entire Psalm 119 is about the Law – God’s word to His people. But my Study Bible pointed out that the author of Psalm 119 uses seven (I counted eight) other synonyms for “law” throughout Psalm 119: testimonies, ways, precepts, statutes, commands (or commandments), judgments, decrees, and (His) word. I’m not sure how “correct” it is to simply insert any one of these words for “the law”, but it helps my understanding when I typically use “His ways” as a synonym for “the law”. I see a more loving God than when I think of all the “dos and don’ts”.
STS notes that Psalm 2 is a “Messianic” psalm, looking forward to the reign of the Lord’s Anointed. So read it again with Jesus as that Anointed One (v. 2), that King (v. 6), My Son (v. 7 and continuing in verses 8 and 9), and the Son (v. 12). Jesus is that Anointed One, that King, that Son!!
Blessings!
Psalm 1 — I love the idea of expanding our understanding of “the law” in these verses to include all of God’s ways and words to us, not just the “Law of Moses,” which I also used to limit it to.