The man who is happy (blessed) for the reasons stated is a dead man, destined to hear God’s words and not believe.  All the talk about walking righteously is just talk, a set of talking points that make one feel better about the real history.

The destiny declared and confirmed

• The man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
• The man who does stand in the path of sinners
• The man who does not sit in the seat of scoffers!
• The man who delights in God’s law
• The man who meditates on God’s law night and day
• The man who is like a tree fruitful
• The man whose leaves do not wither

It is a song that denies man’s need  for a Saviour .  This happy man does not sin, does not get expelled from the promised land, has no gratitude for God’s faithfulness to Abrahan.   What happiness can he have without his sins forgiven?

This is not a description of any of Yeshua’s contemporaries nor does it define the Levitival kingdom that existed in New Testament times (or any period).  They were sauteeing in unbelief and murderous jealousy. Psalm 1 is entirely human: pride in what might have  been.  The New Testament narratives of passionate opposition to Christ represents a zeal without knowledge.  They just did not know who they were or what they were doing.

• To listen but not perceive;
• Keep on looking but not understand
• To have insensitive hearts of this people insensitive,
• To have full ears
• To have dim  eyes,
• To not understand
• To get no healing

“Render the hearts of this people insensitive, Their ears dull, And their eyes dim, Otherwise they might see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, Understand with their hearts, And return and be healed.”

Isaiah 6:10

A genuine prophetic view

Sugarcoating the real story is not God’s way, neither are the prophets themselves, nor the temple services and the priesthood.  Ancient prophets were not tasked with reversing the things Moses demanded and predicted.  Their main concern was to publish Israel’s sins despite their

1) “Cry loudly, do not hold back; Raise your voice like a trumpet, And declare to My people their transgression And to the house of Jacob their sins. 2) “Yet they seek Me day by day and delight to know My ways, As a nation that has done righteousness And has not forsaken the ordinance of their God. They ask Me for just decisions, They delight in the nearness of God.

Isaiah 58:1-2

The praise in Psalm is for a non-existent person: a loyal and successful follower of Moses.  The writer submits no request to God and only succeeds in profiling the ungodly (the wicked).  That is not a song I want to teach my children.

Thus says the Lord, “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind And makes flesh his strength, And whose heart turns away from the Lord.

Jeremiah 17:5