Midras Mazmur 1:3: Midrash Tehillim & Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition)

“He shall be like a tree planted [besides streams of water]” (Psalms 1:3). [Continuing from the previous Midrash: this refers to Adam, since] the Holy One, blessed be He, took him and planted him in the Garden of Eden; “which yields its fruit in its season” (ibid.) — this refers to Cain; “whose foliage never fades” (ibid.) — this refers to Abel; “and all that it produces thrives” (ibid.) — this refers to Seth. “Not so the wicked” (Psalms 1:4) — this refers to the snake. “Therefor the wicked will not survive judgement” (Psalms 1:5). Everything [and everyone] will be healed [and repaired from the consequences of their sins] in the time to come; [all] except for the snake and the Gibeonites. As it is said: “The wolf and the lamb shall graze together, [and the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and the food of the snake will be dust]...” (Isaiah 65:25) [The snake is excluded from the transformation promised to the other animals, and the] Gibeonites [are also an exception to the principle that all things will be healed]; as it is said, “The workers in the city from all of the tribes of Israel shall cultivate it” (Ezekiel 48:19) — [which the Midrash creatively reads as a reference to the Gibeonites; replacing the world יעבדוהו with the almost homophonic word יאבדוהו to read: “they] shall be destroyed [from among the tribes of Israel].” The Holy One, blessed be He, gave three virtuous traits to the Israelites: mercy, bashfulness, and loving-kindness; as it is said: “[God] has given you mercy” (Deuteronomy 13:18); and it is written, “[God has come only in order to test you, and] in order that the fear of God should be upon your face, so that you not go astray” (Exodus 20:17). Because of this it is said, regarding anybody who has no shame, that his ancestors did not stand at Mount Sinai. And it is written, “And the Lord your God will guard for you the covenant and the loving-kindness that He swore to your fathers” (Deuteronomy 7:12) — [creatively read to be suggesting that God swore to give us the character trait of loving-kindness]. King David saw, regarding the Gibeonites, that they didn’t have a single one of these [virtues]; he arose and he distanced them [from the rest of Israel]. As it is said, “And the Gibeonites are not part of the Children of Israel” (2 Samuel 21:2). And Ezra also distanced them, as it is said: “The temple servants [who were Gibeonites] lived in Ophel” (Nehemia 11:21). [The point here might be that they were sent to live in a town that was far away from the Israelites. Moreover, there may be an additional play on words between עופל and אופל, to suggest that they were sent to live in darkness]. And even the Holy One, blessed be He, will distance them in the time to come, as it is said, “The workers in the city … shall cultivate it” (Ezekiel 48:19); [we read “cultivate it” but] “will be destroyed” is written [playing again with the almost homophonic switch between יעבדוהו and יאבדוהו]. As it is said, “And Joshua made them hewers of wood and drawers of water” (Joshua 9:27) [to leave us in no doubt that the workers referred to in Nehemia and Ezekiel are the Gibeonites]. [Our reading of Psalms 1 continues]: “For God knows the way of the righteous” (Psalms 1:6) — this refers to [the way of] Adam and Eve, “but the way of the wicked is doomed” (ibid.) — this refers to the [way of the] snake [and presumably, to the way of the Gibeonites] for whom there is no healing [or repair] in the future to come.

Another interpretation [of Psalms 1:3] “like a tree planted.” [There are two Hebrew words for planting; one of them,] נטוע isn’t mentioned [here] but שתול [is used instead — this word carries a nuance of greater resilience]. This is to teach you that even if all the winds in the world were to blow upon it, they wouldn’t move it from its place. “This book of Torah should not cease from your lips” (Joshua 1:8); and if you do [live up to this calling,] “then you will prosper in your undertakings [and then you will be successful]” (ibid.) — [you will prosper in your undertakings] in this world; and then you will be successful in the world to come. Solomon said, “When you walk, it shall lead you” (Proverbs 6:22) — in this world; “When you lie down it will watch over you” (ibid.) — in the grave [where it shall protect you from] the worm; “And when you awake it will talk with you” (ibid.) — in the world to come.

Another interpretation [of Psalms 1:1] “Blessed is the person;” is talking about Noah, a righteous person who didn’t walk in the counsel of three generations, the generation of Enosh, the generation of the flood, and the generation of the dispersion. [This accords] with the opinion of Rabbi Yehuda, who said “the counsel of the wicked” (Psalms 1:1) refers to the generation of Enosh; “the way of sinners” (ibid.) refers to the generation of the flood; and “the company of scoffers” (ibid.) refers to the generation of the dispersion, since they were all scoffers. “But his delight is in the Torah of the Lord” (ibid.), these are the seven commandments in which the children of Noah were commanded; “and on His Torah he meditates day [and night]” (ibid.); since he meditated [upon the law, so as to infer] one matter from another, and he said, “For what reason did the Omnipresent [command me to bring] more pure animals [onto the ark] than impure animals? It must be that he wanted me to sacrifice to him, from them.” Thereupon, “He took from all of the pure animals [and of every pure bird, and he offered [them as] burnt offerings upon the altar]” (Genesis 8:20). “He shall be like a tree planted [besides streams of water]” (Psalms 1:3); since he was planted in the ark; such that Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said that for four months the ark stood upon the water like a ship that sails upon the water; “which yields its fruit in its season” (ibid.) — Rabbi Yuden said that all the people of his age became fathers when they were fifty years old, or seventy, or eighty, but [Noah didn’t become a father until he was] five hundred years old, as it is said, “And it was when Noah was five hundred years old, [Noah begot Shem, Ham, and Japheth]” (Genesis 5:32). Rabbi Chiyya said in the name of Rabbi Abba, “The Omnipresent overcame [Noah’s] wellspring [of fertility] to ensure that he would not have a child that was one hundred years old [or older] during the generation of the flood, [such that this child] would have been lost with [the rest of his generation]. Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said that, in the days of the Messiah, [human longevity] would return to its original state, as it is said, “someone who dies at a hundred years shall be reckoned a youth” (Isaiah 65:20). If you were to say that there were people younger than one hundred who were lost [as a result of the flood], I would say, “they were punished for the transgressions of their fathers, as it is said, “for all flesh had corrupted [its ways upon the earth]” (Genesis 6:12).” Another interpretation: why did [God] overcome [Noah’s] wellspring? So that he wouldn’t have children, and [so that] his seed would [not] multiply, such that they would all be lost in the generation of the flood, and he would have grieved for them. And if you say that they would have been righteous [such that they would not have been wiped out], many arks would have been required! Therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, overcame [Noah’s] wellspring until he was five hundred years old, and so it says, “which yields its fruit in its season” (Psalms 1:3) — this refers to Shem; “whose foliage never fades” (ibid.) — this refers to Ham; “and all that it produces thrives” (ibid.) — this refers to Japheth. “Not so the wicked” (Psalms 1:4) — this refers to the generation of the flood. This accords with what we have learnt: the generation of the flood have no share in the world to come and they will not [even] stand in judgement [Mishna Sanhedrin 10:3]. “For God knows the way of the righteous” (Psalms 1:6) — this refers to Noah and his children. “And the way of the wicked is doomed” (ibid.) — this refers to the generation of the flood.