PSALM ONE

(In this Comment by J.H. Blunt, “The Annotated Book of Common Prayer…”[revised edition 1883], we get an insight into how the Psalter was approached & prayed in the daily Liturgy by churchmen in the mid-19th Century. In our times, with the dominance in Biblical study of the search for the original author’s situation and intended meaning, we have all but lost the traditional way of using and praying the Psalms as the Body of Christ. Further, with inclusivist/feminist and dynamic styles of translation we have even lost the possibility of praying the Psalter through, with and in Jesus Christ!)

Psalm 1. Comment by J H Blunt (page 501).

(Please read Psalm 1 in the Hebrew Bible, Septuagint, Vulgate, KJV or RV or RSV first - not RSV or NEB --pt)

‘Beyond the obvious moral meaning of this Psalm, it contains a prophetic laudation of the holiness of Christ. He is “the Man” to whom we sing, “Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might” as the Lamb of God who is God, throughout the Psalms.

In this particular Psalm he is praised as the only one wearer of our nature in whom pure and perfect holiness has been found during the time of earthly sojourn and probation. In his Temptation, he walked not in the counsel of the Wicked One, stood not in the way of sinners by yielding thereto, and refused the temporal cathedra [throne] which was offered him (though it seemed to bring him in a moment that sovereignty which could otherwise only be won through suffering), because it was the throne of the Evil One, the Prince of this world, and not the throne of the Cross.

His delight was to do the will of Him that sent him, in the day when there was glad sunshine and time to work, and in the night too, when all was eclipse, and darkness and sorrow. Being made perfect through suffering, he became the origin of perfection in others; the Corn of wheat cast into the ground to die and to spring up again with a power of life-giving in its own resurrection; the Corn and Wine of the Tree of Life, planted by that River the streams whereof make glad the City of God; a fruit of sacramental life for the regeneration, edification and resurrection of souls. Nor can any of his work fail through any deficiency of its own; for whatsoever he doeth, whether of grace towards men, or of intercession towards God, it shall prosper, because it is his.

As for The Ungodly who sets up his kingdom against that of Christ, opposing him first by the Jews, then by the heathen, and at all times by sin, the end will prove how great the contrast! The Wind of Pentecost will at least scatter altogether all the opponents of the Kingdom of God, as it has been doing in part ever since its first sound was heard. For them there will be no defence in the dreadful Day of Judgement, nor any place in the Communion of glorified saints. Only the path which he has marked out, who said, “I am the way,” can lead to the Presence of God; and they who go in the path of the adversary must take their lot with him.

Blessed is the follower of the Man Christ Jesus, who walks in his way, and endureth temptation with steadfastness; for after his trial and victory he also shall receive a crown of life, which the Lord Jesus, the righteous Judge, hath prepared for them that love him, that they may reign with him in glory.’

The Rev'd Dr. Peter Toon
Minister of Christ Church, Biddulph Moor,
England & Vice-President and Emissary-at-Large
of The Prayer Book Society of America