Introduction
BOOK I. Psalms 1-41. As an introduction to the first book of the Hebrew Psalter, or, possibly, to the whole collection of psalms, this is fitly placed first in the series. Its contents are the common themes of didactic song the law of God, the blessedness of those who keep it, the certain final misery of those who neglect and despise it. Its admonitory character allies it to Psalms 37, 49, , 73; while its clear teachings of final rewards and punishments are worthy of New Testament times. Its simplicity is beautiful, its doctrines clearly stated, and its tone of authority like the Lord’s sermon on the mount. Its testimony to the excellence of the divine law is like Psalms 19, 119. The psalm is anonymous: probably written either by David or by Ezra, the latter of whom completed the compilation of the Psalter. The strophic divisions naturally fall into two Psalms 1:1-3, the blessings of the righteous man; Psalms 1:4-6, the certain and awful doom of the ungodly. Strong parallelisms and antithetic comparisons mark the whole.
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