Fruitful Living (1:3–4)

Diligent study of torah is not only delightful occupation but yields fruitful results as well. The image of the tree planted by a source of abundant water is known to us also from the similar passage in Jeremiah 17:7–8. There as here the description of the fruitful tree is part of a balanced comparison between those who trust in humans and those who place their trust in Yahweh. In both passages, the tree is part of a blessing on the faithful—although in the Jeremiah passage the term “blessing” is baruk rather than Psalm 1’s ʾasre. The opening phrases of these descriptions are almost identical:

Both passages go on to comment on the enduring quality of the tree’s leaves as well as its consistent fruitfulness, although not in terms as identical as the opening phrase. Thus, in both passages a fruitful tree planted near abundant water describes the effective future of the faithful who cast their lot with God rather than on human strength and evil.

Planted. The faithful tree is not simply a wild oak that takes its position by happenstance. Those who delight in Yahweh’s torah are “planted” (a passive participle)—as by a master gardener—in the place where they can receive the nourishment they need to flourish. Like a tree planted in a conservatory, well watered and provided with a protective climate, the leaves of this tree never wither, and it is able to remain consistently fruitful.

Whatever he does prospers. At the end the description shifts over to express more directly the consequence of faithfulness for the human being who delights in Yahweh’s torah. Like the well-watered tree, such a one rooted in the life-giving water of God’s torah will know fruitfulness. The term translated “prospers” here has more the sense of “be successful, bring to a successful conclusion.” Like the tree, the work of one who is rooted and grounded in God’s guiding Word is also fruitful.

Chaff that the wind blows away. By studied contrast, those who have rooted themselves in evil and have drawn their nourishment and delight from their association with the wicked will dry up and blow away. While the rooted and watered tree exudes an aura of endurance and stability, the unnourished wicked have no permanence. In the process of winnowing, the lightweight and useless chaff—the husk of grain that has been loosened from the kernel by beating—is swept away when the prepared grain is tossed into a strong wind, allowing the heavier seed to fall to the ground to be gathered. The contrast is acute: between fruitful tree and useless chaff; between well-watered stability and dry, dusty, windblown impermanence.