Psalms 1:4

The ungodly [are] not so,.... They are not as the good man is; their manner and course of life are different; they walk in the counsel of ungodly men, like themselves, and take counsel against the

The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. (Job 21:18; Hosea 13:3; cf.

The ungodly are not so; their condition is far differing from the former. But are like the chaff; in regard either, 1. Of their sinful disposition. They are vain and frothy, unprofitable and hurtful, without any root of true and solid goodness, without any certain end or constant course, tossed to and fro with every wind of their own lusts or temptations. Or rather, 2. Of their wretched condition. They are restless and unquiet in their own minds and consciences; their seeming felicity, in which they please and pride themselves, hath no firm foundation, but quickly vanisheth and fleeth away, as chaff doth before the wind, and their end is to be burned: see .

Psalms 1:4 The ungodly [are] not so: but [are] like the chaff which the wind driveth away.Ver. 4. The ungodly are not so] Not like any such tree before described, but rather like the cypress tree, which, the more it is watered, is the less fruitful; or like the cyparit tree, whereof Pliny writeth that it is good for nothing, no, not for show, shadow, or smell. St Jude saith, they are trees indeed, but such as are twice dead, pulled up by the roots, Judges 1:12. Twice dead they are said to be, 1. Because a spiritual death is so great a death that it may well go for two. 2. Because those ungodly ones were dead, both in regard of fruit and leaves, truth of grace and any outward actings of grace. Their fruit, if any, is but hedge fruit, their leaves of formal profession wither and come to nothing; if they prosper in the world (as Sigonius observeth of Pope Zechariah that he died rebus non tam pie quam prospere gestis, not overly pious, and yet very prosperous) it is that they may be cut down for ever, Psalms 37:2 : such a temporary prosperity plus deceptionis habet quam delectationis, saith Lactantius, is more deceitful than delightful, and is, therefore, well called by Bernard, Misericordia omni indignatione crudelior, a giftless gift, &c. But are like the chaff] Not so they are, but much worse in many respects, as it is fit they should be. God will surely set a difference, Malachi 3:18. A profane soldier at the siege of a town, passing a place of danger, was heard swearing; and when one that stood by warned him, saying, Fellow soldier, do not swear, the bullets fly; he answered, They that swear come off as well as they that pray. But what came of it? Soon after a shot hit him, and down he fell. "The wicked is" (as chaff) "driven away in his wickedness: but the righteous hath hope in his death," Proverbs 14:32. The word here rendered chaff is Palea tenuissima et minutissime contrita chaff beaten to dust, and, therefore, good for nothing, but apt to be whiffied up and down with every wind of doctrine, with every puff of temptation. A good man is, as a tree, stedfast, and unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, 1 Corinthians 15:58. An evil man is, as chaff, light and worthless, Religionem habens ephemeram, constant in nothing so much as in his inconstancy, serves God by fits and starts, flies in his face when afflicted, as chaff doth in the face of the winnower, while the weightier grain falls low at his feet. See Job 21:18 Psalms 55:5 Hosea 13:3 Matthew 3:12.

(4) The ungodly.—Better, Not so the ungodly. But are like.—They shall be winnowed out of the society of the true Israel by the fan of God’s judgment. The image is a striking one, although so frequent as almost to have become a poetical commonplace (Habakkuk 3:12; Joe 3:14; Jeremiah 51:33; Isaiah 21:10). (See Bible Educator, iv. 4.)

Verse 4. The ungodly are not so] The Vulgate and Septuagint, and the versions made from them, such as the AEthiopic and Arabic, double the last negation, and add a clause to the end of the verse, "Not so the ungodly, not so; they shall be like the dust which the wind scatters away from the face of the earth." There is nothing solid in the men; there is nothing good in their ways. They are not of God's planting; they are not good grain; they are only chaff, and a chaff that shall be separated from the good grain when the fan or shovel of God's power throws them up to the wind of his judgments. The manner of winnowing in the eastern countries is nearly the same with that practiced in various parts of these kingdoms before the invention of winnowing machines. They either throw it up in a place out of doors by a large wooden shovel against the wind; or with their weights or winnowing fans shake it down leisurely in the wind. The grain falls down nearly perpendicularly; and the chaff, through its lightness, is blown away to a distance from the grain. An ungodly man is never steady; his purposes are abortive; his conversation light, trifling, and foolish; his professions, friendships, c., frothy, hollow, and insincere and both he and his works are carried away to destruction by the wind of God's judgments.

4–6. The character and destiny of the wicked.

The ungodly are not so - literally, “Not thus the wicked.” For the word ungodly, see the notes at Psalms 1:1.

4. Not so—The contrast in character of the godly and the ungodly is absolute and infinite; their treatment under the government of God is correspondingly diverse. Chaff—The emblem of worthlessness doomed to destruction.