Psalms 1:5

Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,.... Neither in temporal judgment, when God comes forth in a way of wrath and sore displeasure; for who can stand before him when he is angry?

Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

Therefore, to wit, because they are ungodly; or because, as this particle is sometimes used, as 14:43 ; for this verse is added to enforce or prove what he said in the former. Shall not stand, i.e. not subsist or endure the trial; or not be justified, or carry his cause, as this word is oft used; being opposed to falling, as 20:8 . In the judgment; either, 1. In the time of temporal calamities, when God shall arise to judge and punish them; for then the hearts of the wicked fail, and their consciences are filled with horror. Or, 2. In that great and general judgment of the whole world, called here the judgment emphatically; in that solemn and general congregation of all mankind, as the next words express it. In the congregation of the righteous, i.e. In that society which shall consist of none but righteous persons, or amongst the righteous ones on Christ’ s right hand, .

Psalms 1:5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.Ver. 5. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment] i.e. Causa cadent et damnabuntur, at the great assizes they shall be cast and condemned. Vix steteris (Terent.). Revelation 6:17, "For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?" "If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and sinner appear?" 1 Peter 4:18. Surely nowhere, but in hell, their own place, Acts 1:25 : not before God, for he is a consuming fire, Hebrews 12:29, and they chaff or stubble, fully dried, see Isaiah 33:14; not before Christ, for he shall come in flaming fire, rendering vengeance, &c., 2 Thessalonians 1:7; not in heaven, for it is an undefiled inheritance, neither may any dirty dog trample on that golden pavement, Revelation 22:15; not any longer on earth, defiled by their iniquities, and, therefore, to be purged by the fire of the last day; for the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burnt up, 2 Peter 3:10. R. David Kimchi by judgment here understandeth the day of the wicked man’ s death; and indeed his death’ s day is his doom’ s day, when he must take a fearful farewell, and breathe out his soul and hope together with the breath of the same dying groan, Job 27:8; Job 11:20. Hinc illae lachrymae, hence that lothing to depart, though some set a good face upon it when to die, as Sir Thomas Moore, who died for the pope’ s supremacy with a light jest in his mouth. Vespasian likewise died with a jest, and Augustus in a compliment. This was but the hypocrisy of mirth; for death is the king of terror to a natural man. See Hebrews 2:15 1 Samuel 15:32; 1 Samuel 28:20. Saul, at the message of death, swooned quite away, and fell all along, Quantus quantus erat, as Peter Martyr phraseth it; yea, good Hezekiah wept when sentenced to death, and the approach of it was to him Mar mar, bitter bitterness, Isaiah 38:3; Isaiah 38:17. He must have his faith at his fingers’ ends, as one saith, that will die actively. But all men have not faith, 2 Thessalonians 3:2, and those few that have are not always assured that their hearts shall live for ever, as Psalms 22:26, and that death, the devil’ s sergeant, to drag wicked men to hell, shall be to them the Lord’ s gentle usher, to conduct them to heaven, as Mr Brightman expresseth it. Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous] They shall never set foot within heaven’ s threshold, within that general assembly, that sacred panegyris , ample amphitheatre, the congregation house of crowned saints and glorious angels. Tertullian saith of Pompey’ s theatre (which was the greatest ornament of old Rome) that it was Arx omnium turpitudinum, a receptacle of all kind of ribaldry and roguery.

(5) Therefore.—Notice contrast with Psalms 1:1. Those who had deliberately chosen the assembly of the scornful will have no place in that of the good. Shall not stand.—Properly, shall not rise. Probably like our phrase, “shall not hold up his head.” Will be self-convicted, and shrink away before God’s unerring scrutiny, like the man without a wedding garment in our Lord’s parable (Matthew 22:12). The LXX. and Vulg. have “rise again,” as if with thought of an after state. The congregation of the righteous.—A phrase repeating itself in different forms in the Psalms. It implies either Israel as opposed to the heathen, or faithful Israel as opposed to those who had proved disloyal to the covenant. In theory all the congregation was holy (Numbers 16:3), but we meet in the Psalms with the feeling expressed in the Apostle’s words, “They are not all Israel that are of Israel.”

Verse 5. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand] This refers to the winnowing mentioned in the preceding verse. Some of the versions have, The ungodly shall not arise in the judgment - they shall have no resurrection, except to shame and everlasting contempt. But probably the meaning is, When they come to be judged, they shall be condemned. They shall have nothing to plead in their behalf. That the impious were never to have any resurrection, but be annihilated, was the opinion of several among the Jews, and of some among Christians. The former believe that only the true Israelites shall be raised again; and that the souls of all others, the Christians not excepted, die with their bodies. Such unfounded opinions are unworthy of refutation.

5. Therefore] The real character of the wicked will be manifested in the judgement. Since they are thus worthless and unstable, destitute of root and fruit, the wicked will not hold their ground in the judgement, in which Jehovah separates the chaff from the wheat (Matthew 3:12). stand] So Lat. causa stare, and the opposite causa cadere. Cp. Psalms 5:5; Psalms 130:3; Nahum 1:6; Malachi 3:2; Wis 5:1. in the judgment] Not, before a human tribunal: nor merely in the last judgement, (as the Targum and many interpreters understand it): but in every act of judgement by which Jehovah separates between the righteous and the wicked, and vindicates His righteous government of the world. Cp. as an illustration Numbers 16. Each such ‘day of the Lord’ is a type and pledge of the great day of judgement. Cp. Isaiah 1:24 ff; Isaiah 2:12 ff.; Malachi 3:5; Ecclesiastes 12:14. in the congregation of the righteous] The ‘congregation of Israel,’ which is the congregation of Jehovah,’ is in its true idea and ultimate destination, the ‘congregation of the righteous’ (Psalms 111:1). It is the aim of each successive judgement to purify it, until at last the complete and final separation shall be effected (Matthew 13:41-43).

Therefore - Because they are thus worthless. The ungodly - See the notes at Psalms 1:1. The wicked in general; the wicked of any kind or degree. Shall not stand - Compare the notes at Psalms 1:1.

5. Not stand in the judgment— “Judgment” is strictly a forensic term: “God will bring every work into judgment.” Ecclesiastes 12:14.