February 21

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.—Psalms 1:1, 2.

THE great object of the Psalmist, is to show that it shall always go well with the devout worshippers of God, who seek continually to walk in the way of his commandments. For since the greater part of the world laugh at their simplicity, as though they did but lose their labor, it was needful that they should be fenced with this shield: that all men are wretched without God's blessing, and that God is favorable to none, but to such as seek instruction from him. But because so great is the corruption that has ever overrun the world, that the common course of living is little else but a falling from God's law, the prophet, before he pronounces the followers of the law to be happy, warns them to take heed that they are not carried away with the ungodliness of the multitude. For first declaring his abhorrence of the wicked, he tells them it is not possible that any man should apply his heart to meditate on God's law, unless he gather in and sever himself from the fellowship of the ungodly; a salutary warning doubtless, for we see how unadvisedly all men plunge themselves into the snares of Satan, or at least how few guard themselves against the enticements of sin.

Therefore lest we should have so little forecast, it is necessary for us to understand that the world is fraught with deadly corruption, so that the first step to live well is to forsake the company of the ungodly, which otherwise would infect us with its contamination. And because in the first place the prophet has enjoined the godly to beware of evil hinderances, let us also follow the same order. His affirmation that those are blessed who shun association with the wicked, would not easily be admitted on the principles of ordinary sense and reasoning. For although all men naturally covet blessedness, yet we see with what unconcern they indulge themselves in their sins; yea, the further each of them has turned from righteousness to follow his own lust, because thereby he obtaineth his heart's desire, he is counted blessed. But on the contrary the prophet teaches here, that no man can be duly minded to the fear and worship of God and to the study of his law, until he is fully persuaded that all ungodly men are wretched, and that all shall be involved in the same destruction with them who depart not far from their company. But because it is a difficult matter so to shun the ungodly, with whom we are intermixed, as that we may be altogether estranged from them; the prophet, to augment the force of his exhortation, employs an accumulation of phrases.

And first of all, he forbids us to walk in their counsel; secondly, to stand in their way; and lastly, to sit in their seat. The sum is, that God's servants must endeavor utterly to abhor their manners. But forasmuch as Satan insinuates his deceptions craftily, lest any man should be beguiled unawares, the prophet shows how men are wont to turn aside from the right way by little and little, for they proceed not at the first step to the proud contempt of God. But when they have once begun to give ear to evil counsel, then Satan leads them further away from time to time, till they fall headlong into open rebellion. Therefore the prophet begins with counsel, by which term I understand the wickedness which as yet shows not itself openly. Then he names the way, which is taken for the manner and course of living. And thirdly, he uses the expression the seat, by which word he denotes figuratively the hardihood that is conceived from the continued custom of living. And with reference to the same notion ought the three words, walk, stand, and sit, to be understood. For when a man wilfully goes astray after his own depraved lusts, the custom of sinning makes him drunk, so that forgetting himself, he becomes hardened in his own naughtiness, which the prophet calls to stand in the way. At length there follows a desperate stubbornness, which he denotes by the metaphor of sitting; whether there is the same climax in the Hebrew words, let other men consider. I think there is not, unless it be in the last word. For they are called scorners, who, casting away all fear of God, presume to sin the more boldly, because they escape unpunished, and scoff fearlessly at God's judgment, as though they should never come to account for it. Now if in the time of the prophet it was necessary for the devout worshippers of God to withdraw themselves from the fellowship of the ungodly, that they might frame their life aright; then at this day, the more corrupt the world is, the more carefully must we shun all pernicious fellowship, that we may be preserved pure from the defilements thereof.

And yet the prophet not only commands the faithful to withdraw from the ungodly, lest their infection should taint them, but his warning extends thus far, that no man should be a schoolmaster of ungodliness to himself. For it may happen that he who has taken no blemish by evil example, may, notwithstanding, become like to the evil by adopting their manners of his own accord. In the second verse he does not simply pronounce those blessed that fear God, as in other places, but he designates godliness by the study of the law; whereby we are taught that God is not worshipped aright otherwise than when his word is obeyed. Then must not every man devise a religion after his own fancy, but the rule of godliness must be brought from God's word. When in this place he speaks only of the law, it is not to be so taken that the rest of the Scripture should be of no account; but rather, forasmuch as the whole Scripture is no other than an exposition of the law, under the head itself is comprehended the whole body. The prophet therefore commends the law with its appurtenances. Neither could it otherwise stand, as I have just asserted, that it was also his purpose to exhort the faithful to the reading of the Psalms. And when he requires in the first place that the delight of the godly should be in the law of the Lord; by these words we may learn that constrained and servile worship of God is in nowise allowable; and that none other are meet disciples of the law, but those that come to it with a cheerful mind, and whom the doctrine thereof delights in such wise that they account nothing more to be desired, or more sweet, than to profit in the same. But from this love of the law flows the continual study of it, which the prophet mentions soon after. For it can not be but that they must willingly exercise themselves in it, whosoever they are that are touched with the love thereof.