Behold, the eye of Jehovah is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his loving-kindness,
Psalm 33 has just stripped away every visible source of safety: armies, strength, war horses. Then it says "Behold," and God's eye settles on people marked out by fear and hope, not power.
Verses 16 and 17 leave nothing standing. One writer follows the psalm's survey of people to its end, and says what it prepares for:
From this safe harbour the world of living men is now reviewed. The LORD Himself regards them. He does not only see them; He looks closely. He is the One who formed them, and He has perfect knowledge of all they do. But the result is only that man's nothingness is once more realised. The host that surrounds a king cannot save him, nor the strength of a hero. Nor can the strength of a horse be enough even to let him escape. But this is only the necessary prelude to another witness to God Himself.
The verse marks its people twice: they fear God, and they hope in His mercy. Older translations read "mercy" where the ESV has "steadfast love." One writer explains each half:
Though no deliverance is found in verses 16 and 17, how blessed is the change in these following verses. Why? Because "the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him" (v. 18). This is the fear that drives them into His presence. His eye of perfect discernment both inspires and approves them. For their hope is not in His justice, but in His mercy... He delights in the confessed weakness and failure of a believing heart. He extends His mercy to them in full.
Earlier in the psalm God looks down on all people. Here His look becomes personal, and it teaches His people to wait:
He took notice of all that was going on among men as He looked down from heaven. He saw where they put their confidence. But His eye was resting on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercy. Not only do they know Him, but He knows them... They are the objects of His care. For a time He allows men to use His creation according to their own plans. Meanwhile His people learn to wait for the Lord as well as to trust in Him — their help and shield.
This is not watching from a distance. One writer lists the ordinary ways that care shows itself:
By His watchful care God shields His people from danger. He sets a bodyguard of angels around them (Ps. 34:7). That same care keeps the very bones of the saints (Ps. 34:20). It bottles their tears (Ps. 56:8). It strengthens the saints in their weakness (Heb. 11:34). It supplies all their needs out of its own basket of gifts (Ps. 23:5)... If God will give His people a kingdom when they die, He will not deny them daily bread while they live.
The same verse worked itself out in one man's life. A writer contrasts King Ahab with the prophet Elijah:
God was against Ahab, so He would make the king feel the full effects of the judicial rod. God was for Elijah, so He would sustain His servant. He would meet his needs by the care of His favour, outside of His own governmental order. One of the Psalms states this principle: "Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His steadfast love, to deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine."
People mean very different things by hoping in God's mercy. One writer marks off the psalm's hope from a false one:
What the world calls mercy, when people speak of hoping in the mercy of God, is nothing but indifference to good and evil. It is the hope that God will think as little about sin as I do.
Writers have argued over which future period the psalm's closing verses describe. One of them refuses to fence the verse off from ordinary believers:
Meanwhile let those who love the Lord remember that it is all their own. The practical value of such songs to the believer does not depend on working out exactly which period of God's dealings they belong to.
- Nothing — kings, heroes and horses all prove empty, and that emptiness sets up what comes next.
- Behold — the eye that examines every person on earth rests, with care, on a particular people.
- Fear — not dread that runs away, but the fear that drives a person into His presence.
- Mercy — they hope in His mercy, not His justice. And mercy is not the world's idea that God thinks as little of sin as we do.
- Kept — the care is practical: God sustained Elijah under judgment, and gives His people daily bread while they live.
To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.
This verse tells us what the watching eye of God in verse 18 is for. An army cannot save a king. A horse cannot rescue him. God does two things no one else can: He holds a life back from death, and He carries it through hunger.
The verse comes after a list of the things people trust for safety. One writer runs through that list and shows what it is leading up to.
Not even the army that surrounds a king can save him, nor the strength of a hero. The strength of a horse is not enough to deliver him, even to escape. But this is only the necessary lead-up to another witness to God Himself.
Another writer reads the whole psalm the same way, and names who the deliverance is for.
The psalm celebrates the full deliverance of Israel from every enemy. It makes clear that this deliverance will not come by the plans of man, by victorious armies, or by human strength, but by the Lord Himself.
Two marks describe the people God watches over: they fear Him, and their hope rests on His mercy. One commentator explains both, and says what such a person can expect when he prays.
This is the kind of fear that drives them into His presence. His eye of perfect discernment both inspires and approves them. For their hope is not in His justice, but in His mercy. This is what Jacob depended on when he prayed, "I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant" (Gen. 32:10). Can God possibly ignore such a prayer? No: He delights in the confessed weakness and failure of a believing heart, and His mercy is fully extended to them.
The verse joins a great deliverance to a daily one. The same writer names each half, and says what it means for a person who admits he has no strength of his own.
It is He alone who delivers their soul from death and keeps them alive when they have no visible means of support (v. 19). So He is both our Saviour and our Preserver. So a person may realise his own utter weakness and depend instead on the strength of God. He may then rightly use the language of the apostle Paul: "For when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Cor. 12:10).
One writer lists the ways God's care reaches His people day by day, and ends with an argument from the greater gift to the smaller.
In His providential care God keeps dangers away from His people. He sets a bodyguard of angels around them (Ps. 34:7)… It strengthens the saints in their weakness (Heb. 11:34). It supplies all their wants out of its basket of provision (Ps. 23:5). If God will give His people a kingdom when they die, He will not deny them daily bread while they live.
God keeps His people alive in famine. He does not lift them out of the hard times their nation goes through. Elijah lived under the same drought as the wicked king Ahab, and one writer uses this verse to explain the difference between the two men.
When God disciplines His people in public, even those with no part in the sins that caused it share in the results. So Elijah is subject to the hardships that followed the drought, just as Ahab is. There is, however, an immense difference. God was against Ahab, so He would let the king feel the full weight of the rod of judgment. But God was for Elijah. So He would support His servant and supply his needs by acts of His own favour, outside His usual way of governing.
Naomi's family left the land during a famine and went to Moab. One writer weighs her later complaint against this verse and calls her witness false.
It was false of her to declare that the hand of the Lord was against her. His hand had not led the family to Moab. They turned away by their own choice — away from the land where His hand would have kept their souls alive through the days of famine (see Ps. 33:18-19).
Writers differ over where this psalm sits in prophecy. One of them says that debate does not put its comfort out of reach.
Meanwhile let those who love the Lord remember that it is all their own. The practical value of such songs to the believer does not depend on pinning down exactly which age they describe.
- Nothing — armies, strength and horses all fail first, so the only deliverer left standing is God Himself.
- Notice — His eye rests on those who fear Him and hope in His mercy: fear that runs toward God, hope that appeals to mercy, not justice.
- Rescue — He delivers from death; He is Saviour.
- Ration — He keeps them alive in famine. He is Preserver: the God who gives a kingdom at death will not hold back bread before it.
- Place — God kept Elijah inside the drought. Naomi's family lost the promise by leaving the land where God's hand would have kept them.