Psalms 1:5 - Exposition

Therefore the ungodly (or, the wicked ) shall not stand in the judgment . "Therefore," as being chaff, i.e. "destitute of spiritual vitality" (Kay), "the wicked shall not stand," or shall not rise up , " in the judgment," i.e. in the judgment of the last day. So the Targum, Rashi, Dr. Kay, Canon Cook, and others. It is certainly not conceivable that any human judgment is intended by "the judgment" ( הַמִּשְׁפָט ), and though possibly "all manifestations of God's punitive righteousness are comprehended" (Hengstenberg), yet the main idea must be that the wicked shall not be able to "stand," or" rise up," i.e. "hold up their heads" (Aglen), in the last day. Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous . Here the human judgment comes in. Sinners will be cast out, not only from heaven, hut also from the Church, or "congregation of the righteous," if not before, at any rate when the "congregation" is finally made up.