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Psalm 1 appears in the Office of Readings for Sunday in the first week of the 4-week cycle, paired with the antiphon: "The cross of the Lord is become the tree of life for us."
Opening thoughts
Aquinas opens by claiming this psalm as "a title to the whole work", and therefore something of a mission statement for the Psalms. He notes that the psalm is not written like a theological treatise, but "in the manner of one praying, who follows his various feelings and movements." Aquinas himself wrote liturgical prayers and hymns (see the excellent book by Fr Paul Murray), so we may think this comment reflects a sense of sympathy with a fellow sacred poet.
Fundamentally Aquinas sees this psalm as about winners and losers, understood not by the eyes of the world, but from the standpoint of faith. It is about all of us, because all of us want to be happy, but we all pursue happiness in different ways, and not all of these ways are effective. Despite the range of human diversity, the psalmist sees ultimately only two kinds of person: those who succeed at the search for happiness (the just, the supernatural family of Christ) and those who fail (the unjust, the natural family of Adam).
Psalm 1:1: What Not to Do
Latin Vulgate (LV): Beatus vir qui non abiit in consilio impiorum, et in via peccatorum non stetit, et in cathedra pestilentiae non sedit.
Revised Standard Version (RSV): Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers.
The bad way to seek happiness, in a life of sin, is expressed first in three progressive stages, which Aquinas reads as an increasing level of commitment to a bad way of life. Walking in the counsel of the wicked (or "ungodly" in Aquinas' text) corresponds to deliberation about sin, weighing up its merits. This is the lowest level of commitment, and we might be inclined to view it as relatively innocuous, but for Aquinas even to consider sin as a serious possibility is a betrayal of God, just as for a husband to consider the pros and cons of adultery would already be a kind of infidelity.
Next, standing in the way of sinners corresponds to consenting to sin (i.e. making the decision) and carrying it out. Going from walking to standing suggests decision, coming to a stop at your destination, while still speaking of "the way" indicates action. Because the Latin Vulgate was translated from the Greek Septuagint rather than the original Hebrew Bible, Aquinas' translation of the last stage is different to ours, talking of the chair of "pestilence", rather than scoffers. Regardless, he sees the image of the chair to imply not only "settling in" to a life given over to sin, but teaching others to sin - perhaps drawing on the image of a bishop's chair from which they teach ("cathedra" being the root of our word cathedral). He sees this as the worst of all, not only committing yourself to an evil life, but encouraging others to join you on a doomed path that cannot make you or them happy.
Psalm 1:2: The Right Road
LV: Sed in lege domini voluntas ejus, et in lege ejus meditabitur die ac nocte.
RSV: But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
True happiness, then, is found not in sin but its opposite: submission to God. Aquinas sees the psalmist as indicating the two fundamental ways we give ourselves to God, by our intellect (the power to know) and our will (the power to love what we know). First, we offer ourselves to God through the will by obeying his commands. Aquinas sees significance in the phrase "in the law" to indicate that we are not talking about a fear-based obedience of a law that stands over and against us, but living freely in the law by love. The law in question then is the New Law which is written on our hearts by the indwelling Holy Spirit. And here the archetype is Christ, whose perfect obedience is not only an example for us but the very cause of our salvation.
Second, we offer ourselves to God through the intellect by continual meditation on this law. Aquinas sees a double meaning in "day and night", as both literal (we should meditate on God at many times throughout the day) and metaphorical (we should do so in both good times and bad). Aquinas gives little more detail on this, but the Jewish Scripture scholar Robert Alter notes that the word translated as "meditates" literally means "murmurs", suggestive of the way ancient people would read aloud. This might point us to the reading of Scripture as a privileged form of meditation on God's law.
Psalm 1:3-4: The Tree and the Chaff
LV: Et erit tamquam lignum quod plantatum est secus decursus aquarum, quod fructum suum dabit in tempore suo: et folium ejus non defluet. Et omnia quaecumque faciet prosperabuntur. Non sic impii, non sic; sed tamquam pulvis quem projicit ventus a facie terrae.
RSV: He is like a tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff which the wind drives away.
The Psalm moves into a pair of metaphors, which for Aquinas help us see the link between the diverse approaches to happiness and their outcomes.
The good person is compared to a tree planted by a river. A tree is planted in the earth so that it can draw life from water, which Aquinas, drawing on the gospel of John (7:38), understands as the water of grace. Being fed by this living water leads us to yield fruit in good works (the fruits of the spirit in Galatians 5). This fruit is borne in its season, referring to the limited time we have to do good before our death and judgement. Finally, like an evergreen tree, the righteous person is preserved and does not wither, in the sense that God will not desert them and allow them to come to nothing. Aquinas then concludes that "in all that he does, he prospers" tells us that the righteous person, thus sustained by the grace of God, will achieve the goal of happiness.
The wicked are not so fortunate. They are compared to chaff ("dust" in the Latin text), which is for Aquinas an image chosen for having the opposite qualities of a tree. Dust is not rooted in the ground, but lies on the earth, and it is dry and dead where the tree is moistened and alive. Aquinas sees in this a failure of the wicked to be rooted in the living God, replaced by a superficial attachment to earthly goods. While the tree is a living unity, reflecting the love that brings good people together, dust is formed of many disconnected particles, reflecting the inevitable strife among those who pursue their own individual desires. Finally, as dust is blown away by the wind, while the tree stands firm, the wicked will be parted from their worldly goods by tribulations, while the righteous possess a spiritual good which cannot be taken away.
Psalm 1:5: Judgement
LV: Ideo non resurgent impii in judicio, neque peccatores in concilio justorum.
RSV: Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
In Aquinas' Latin text, "non resurgent" primarily means not standing but rising, and leads him to think of the resurrection of the dead. As he believes that the wicked will be included in this literal resurrection at the end of time, he finds three possible ways to interpret this "will not stand/rise". First (and in agreement with many modern interpretations), it could mean that, in the final judgement, sentencing will go against the wicked, but in favour of the just. This then leads naturally to their not standing in the congregation of the righteous, who go to eternal happiness with God.
A second interpretation rests on the idea that God's justice has a healing quality to it, especially in the redemptive sacrifice of Christ. In this light, the meaning is that the wicked will not rise from their sins, as they will refuse to be healed by Christ, and remain locked out of happiness by clinging to their sins. Thirdly, Aquinas suggests (following St Gregory the Great) that the wicked who have never even attempted to do good might not stand in judgement because judgement is not necessary for their condemnation. Unlike those who have had faith in God, but then fallen into evil, he suggests that those who have been constantly wicked will be condemned without need for judgement.
Psalm 1:6: Known by the Lord
LV: Quoniam novit dominus viam justorum; et iter impiorum peribit.
RSV: For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
This final line reveals the reason why the way of the righteous leads to life. The Jewish and Christian view of ultimate reality is essentially personal - there is no impersonal law of karma governing the moral universe. Instead all things depend on the relationship we have to God. The Lord "knows the way of the righteous", not merely in the general way He knows everything, but with what St Thomas calls "the knowledge of approval", the intimate knowledge of those who belong to him. Robert Alter translates the term as "embraces", noting that the Hebrew word is often used for "intimate connection, including... the sexual one".
Where's Jesus?
Given that Aquinas has argued that all of the Psalms refer in some way to Christ, we might be surprised at how little Aquinas mentions him here. His brief note at the start: that "Christ was first among the blessed" gives us the answer. Christ is the blessed man, the righteous, throughout the psalm. He is the one who alone has never even begun to walk in the way of sin, and who perfectly offers Himself, heart and mind, to God. The congregation of the righteous is His congregation, the blessed in heaven, and He knows the way of the just because He is that Way, having united Himself to us in the redemptive incarnation.
References
Aquinas at Prayer: The Bible, Mysticism, and Poetry, Fr Paul Murray OP
The Book of Psalms: A Translation with Commentary, Robert Alter
Commentary on the Psalms, St Thomas Aquinas (trans. Sr. Albert Marie Surmanski OP, Sr. Maria Veritas Marks OP, et alii)
The Divine Office Volume III: Daily Prayer for Weeks 6-34 of the Church Year, Collins (pub.)
