The commentary takes us through a historical and literal perspective of the bible. It gives us more than just the scriptures. The author takes us through specific passages of the scriptures and gives an overview basing on historical facts. This commentary is essential in helping people understand the bible better. There is a lot of information that has not been included in the scriptures. Most bible readers find the scriptures sophisticated and not making sense because of some information that was considered irrelevant and was not included in the scripture. The author therefore, pick on such scriptures and expound on them with the aim of making sense out of them.
The commentary on the book of psalms is found in the third volume of the series. It has been included with the book of proverbs. This is because of the similarities that the books have where they talk about the general issues of life. Psalms and proverbs are some of the books that most people find it is easy to relate. This is because they touch on specific issues that people are faced with in their day-to-day life. The editors of the commentaries include, George Arthur, Walter Bowie, Paul Scherer, John Knox, Samuel Terrien and Nolan Harmon. This team of editors took a critical analysis of the passages using historical information to ensure they argue their points appropriately. This makes it say for a person to read the scriptures with adequate knowledge and understanding.
The passage scripture that I found interesting was psalm 1, this is a psalm of David that compliments a righteous man. He recognizes the fact that there are features, which are associated with a blessed man. The man, that is blessed has wisdom and will not give in to temptations. This man understands the power of company and would therefore not go to places where sin is tolerated. The psalmists goes ahead to mention that because such a man is not polluted by sin, he is like a tee planted by the streams of water. He endeavors to fill his heart and mind with the word of God and righteousness. He will therefore have plenty of virtue to display irrespective of the season. The passage speaks of a man who is not afraid of attempting to do anything because he is filled with godliness. The works of his hands are blessed, and he prospers in everything that he does.
After complementing the conduct of a righteous man, the psalmists goes ahead to look at the opposite side of the righties man which is the wicked man. He does not talk much about the wicked as he did for the righteous. He mentions about the outcome of the wicked person, which is eternal damnation. The wickedness within them will make them appear as nothing in the sight of the righteous and that they will be like chaff to be blown away. Even though the wicked seeks to prosper in their wicked ways, the psalmist mentions that they will never be the partakers of the blessings that has been stored up for the righteous. In conclusion, of the passage, the psalmist assures the righteous that the Lord is always watching over them and will therefore protect them from the evil schemes of the wicked.
The appearance of this psalm in the first chapter signifies the choices that man has to make every day. There are only two ways in life, the way righteousness and evil. A person’s character will always be defined by the decisions they make pertaining to good and evil. A person who wants to enjoy peace will have to make the sacrifice of not yielding into temptations. This, according to the psalmist is the best way, as wickedness will lead to eternal damnation. The psalmist is therefore encouraging people to not only shun evil and pursue righteousness, but also tells them of the characters that are displayed by righteous man.
This passage of scripture has opened my eyes to the understanding of Christian walk. Contrary to what many people believe, righteousness comes with a price. It requires a person to shun some associations and pleasures that appear normal in the site of the world. One has to be careful of what they say especially when they are with a certain category of people. It can be so easy to be caught up by people’s conversations that in the process one says things that are not godly. The best way to avoid falling into such temptations is keeping off from such company. Another important lesson I learn is about the wickedness that prevails in this world. Many times, the wicked appear more powerful than the righteous yet they have no destiny. There is usually a dead end for wickedness and no matter how much a person seems to gain through wickedness, it all turns out to be vanity due to its unsatisfying nature. Those who walk in purity and righteousness have nothing to worry about, as their ways are pure. This hence implies that the righteous should never feel envious or intimidated by wickedness.
Works cited
https://ia700304.us.archive.org/13/items/interpretersbibl009102mbp/interpretersbibl009102mbp.pdf
