Psalms 1:4

Not so. In the LXX the idea is emphasized by a double negative. This version reads, “Not so the ungodly, not so.”

Like the chaff. In the figure of the chaff, the psalmist shows the result of a life of wickedness. Similar imagery is found in Job 21:18 and Isa. 17:13. In contrast to a tree, the chaff has no root, no fixed place. Dead, dry, helpless, it is at the mercy of the elements. The ungodly are attached to nothing; they lack stability and cannot endure. In Palestine grain was threshed on a flat, exposed piece of ground, often on a wind-swept hill. The precious kernel remained while the chaff was carried away. Had the psalmist lived in certain other parts of the world, he might have employed the figure of the tumbleweed.

Driveth away. There is a paradox in the use of the two figures of speech. Outwardly, the tree appears to be held prisoner; in reality, it is free, grows, and bears fruit. Outwardly, the chaff appears to be free; in reality, it is a slave to environment. The Christian, attached to God, his source of life and strength, grows and produces fruit; the chaff, unattached, cut off from its source of strength, produces nothing. It has a freedom not worth possessing. Compare Jesus’ figure of the two houses (Matt. 7:24–27).