“But the wicked will perish; the enemies of the Lord are like the glory of the pastures; they vanish—like smoke they vanish away.” -Psalm 37:20
Verses 19 and 20 are similar to Psalm 1:3–4: “He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.”
But there is a beautiful image here that elevates the similar idea even further. He notes that the enemies of God and his people are like the glory of the pastures.
The Palouse region of the pacific northwest has been called the Tuscany of America for its lush green rolling hills covered in lentils and wheat, and bright yellow canola that dances in the breeze all through the spring and early summer. It is a breathtaking sight most glorious to behold.
But by late August when the summer heat has dried the pasture lands and harvest has begun, the glory vanishes and it’s difficult to imagine the now brown, dusty hills once flourished with a renowned beauty that makes it famous across the globe. Moreover, those same hills will later be covered with white frost, and eventually lay dormant under several feet of snow. Like smoke, its glory is but for a moment but who can tell where it has vanished to?
In complete counter-distinction to the godly who will flourish with abundance in days of famine, this is the way of the wicked. They are here one day in all their ephemeral glory but gone the next, like smoke in the wind.