([A Psalm] of David; when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he departed.) I will bless Jehovah at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
David wrote this psalm after a low point: he fled to enemy territory at Gath and escaped only by pretending to be insane. Out of that disgrace comes a promise to praise God "at all times" — how does a hunted man get there?
One writer sets the psalm beside the failure behind it. David's rescue was mercy, not reward. ("Jehovah" is the name the ESV writes as "the LORD.")
The title tells us that David wrote the thirty-fourth psalm when he escaped from Gath, from Achish, who is here called Abimelech. That seems to have been a common title of the Philistine kings. He had failed badly, as we know, and as he always did on Philistine ground. He did not honour Jehovah, and so he was not honoured by Him... Yet God in mercy delivered him, and no doubt he learned a lesson from it for the time.
Another writer names what drove David there, and what the rescue did to him:
He had acted in unbelief and unbelief was dragging him down lower and lower. Instead of fleeing to God, he turned to Gath. And then for self-preservation, because he had been discovered, he pretended to be mad. The king of Gath drove him away. The Lord was far better than his fears. The gracious deliverance set his heartstrings vibrating with praise.
The words "at all times" mark the gap between easy praise and tested faith:
The thirty-fourth Psalm presents the experience by which a godly man learnt to bless the LORD at all times. It is easy to bless the Lord sometimes, when circumstances are favourable. But only faith that has proved His goodness and faithfulness can bless the Lord at all times. Lifted above all circumstances like that, he praises the Lord "continually."
The promise rests on something David had already lived through. One writer finds the reason later in the same psalm, and sets it beside Paul, who wrote about joy from a prison cell:
"Rejoice in the Lord always." It certainly could not be in his circumstances, for he was a prisoner... It is just as in Psalm 34: "I will bless Jehovah at all times, his praise shall continually be in my mouth." Why? "This poor man cried, and Jehovah heard him, and delivered him out of all his troubles." "I sought Jehovah, and he heard me." This is what enabled him to say, "I will bless Jehovah at all times." He had been in trouble, and God had heard him in his trouble.
One writer traces this praise back to a will that no longer fights its hard lot:
The praise of this psalm flows from a saint whose will has been broken. He has faced fears (v. 4). His way may have been dark (v. 5). Troubles surrounded him (vv. 6-7), and even need (vv. 9-10). But he had a broken and contrite spirit, so his will was not secretly rebelling in thought against his hard lot. So there is no irritation and anger — the sure sign of self-will. And so he finds the Lord better than all his fears.
The second half of the verse presses the point further. If praise is continual, the usual alternatives are crowded out:
It is not just now and then. It is not only when all is bright and cheery around us, when everything runs smoothly and well. No — it is "at all times… continually". The stream of thanksgiving is to flow without a break. There is no gap for murmuring and complaining, for fretting or discontent, for gloom or despair.
One writer hears the same words on the lips of Christ, and then asks what such praise does to the people around it:
If we follow the Lord along His pathway, we find Him saying in one of the darkest days of His life, "I thank you, Father... for such was your gracious will" (Matthew 11:25-27). He could truly say: "I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth." There is nothing so refreshing as to meet a praising saint. A mourning saint, or a murmuring saint, does not do you any good, but a praiseful saint, full of the goodness of the Lord, and the delight of what the Lord is — if you meet with such a saint — he leaves his impression on you.
- Failure first. David fled to Gath and faked madness. This praise rises from a man who had failed, not from a man who had performed.
- Mercy answered. He cried, God heard him, God rescued him. That rescue — not easy circumstances — is what let him say "at all times".
- Will broken. Continual praise flows from a broken and contrite spirit. Where self-will is silent, trouble does not turn into irritation and anger.
- No gaps. "Continually" leaves no room for murmuring, fretting or gloom. The stream of thanksgiving runs unbroken.
- Others refreshed. Christ thanked His Father on His darkest days. A murmuring believer does nobody any good, but a praising one leaves his mark on everyone he meets.
My soul shall make its boast in Jehovah the meek shall hear, and rejoice.
David wrote this psalm after a low point in his own life, and his first move is not to talk about himself but to boast in the Lord. That raises two questions. How can boasting ever be good, and why does it make the humble glad instead of annoying them?
Boasting usually repels people, especially the modest. One commentator points out that the word used here has a different flavour, and that it makes the humble glad.
Most boasting is hateful, especially to "the humble." But they are glad to hear it when we boast in the Lord... The word translated "boast" has the thought of "Joyous Exultation."
Everything else a person could boast in may fail. Boasting in the Lord is different: it puts the most unlikely pair on the same footing.
Wealth, social position, human ability, may fail us; but the Lord can be trusted at all times. Moreover, to glory in the Lord is to take ground on which all the saints can be together... Peter was an ignorant and unlearned man. Paul was well-born and learned. Both stand on common ground, and on the highest ground, when each can say, "My soul makes its boast in the LORD." To boast in poverty or ignorance would be only a pose; to boast in wealth or learning would be only vanity.
This psalm has a failure behind it. David had been deceiving a king named Abimelech, and that history shapes the boast.
While he was deceiving Abimelech, David was certainly not blessing the Lord. But at least now he could say this truthfully. The Lord had used his failure to bring about blessing in the end, as He does for all believers when they judge themselves. David's soul, not only his intelligence, made its boast in the Lord. When those who were humble in heart heard this they would be glad, for such dealings of God encourage the humble... For God certainly receives glory when He forgives.
The second half of the verse assumes someone is listening. That is where its force lies. Joy in God carries most weight when the circumstances should have crushed it.
Look at the effect of this boasting. It is very impressive. There is nothing impresses people like this. It may be a testimony that produces hatred, but there is no testimony so powerful. Look at the sixteenth chapter of Acts. Two captive servants of Christ are in a foul Roman prison, with their feet locked in the stocks. With bleeding backs, cold and hungry, they "prayed and sang praises to God, and the prisoners heard them"... How could these men be so bright and joyful under such depressing circumstances? What was the secret? It was their joy in the Lord.
Not everyone welcomes such talk. The verse names the one group that is glad to hear it, and gives the reason why.
There is a testimony in praise like this, which will be felt. No doubt, it will awaken opposition; but that is not what is spoken of here: it is that the humble will hear, and be glad. "No flesh shall glory in His presence," and we need to be brought low like this before we can receive a testimony of that kind.
One writer hears more than David in these words. He reads the psalm as Christ's own song of praise, applied to comfort the tried remnant — the faithful few in Israel in a coming day.
In Psalm 34 He takes up the song of praise for the faithfulness of the Lord... His soul makes its boast in the Lord — the humble should hear and be glad... Whatever glory came out of it — glory seen in Psalm 21, and known even better by us — He applies it to the comfort of the tried remnant in that day. So they may bless the Lord at all times, even in trial and when they seem abandoned.
- Object. The verse does not ban boasting; it redirects it. Wealth, position and ability may fail, but the Lord can be trusted at all times.
- Tone. The word carries the sense of joyous exultation. Ordinary boasting repels the humble; boasting in the Lord makes them glad.
- Source. The boast comes from the soul, not just the mind. In David's case it came after failure, because God receives glory when He forgives.
- Reach. Such praise is always overheard. Two prisoners singing in the stocks show a testimony that opposition cannot match for power.
- Result. No flesh can glory in God's presence, so the humble are the ones who receive this testimony. Boasting in the Lord puts a Peter and a Paul on the same ground.
Magnify Jehovah with me, and let us exalt his name together.
David wrote this psalm after a failure: he had deceived a foreign king, and God brought blessing out of it anyway. Now he refuses to praise alone, which raises two questions: what does it mean to make the LORD great, and why does praise look for company?
One writer traces how that failure turned into a call for others to join in:
While he was deceiving Abimelech, David was not blessing the Lord. But now he could say it truthfully. The Lord had used his failure to bring about blessing in the end, as He does for all believers when they judge themselves… So David invited them to magnify the Lord with him and exalt His name together (v. 3). There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. In the same way, David expects others to share in his praise to God, now that he has repented of his sad failure. For God is glorified when He forgives.
To magnify someone is to show that he is great. One writer traces the word into places nobody would call religious work:
In Acts 19:17 the Name of the Lord was magnified in Ephesus: it was shown to be great and mighty. And Christ can still be magnified today, in the body of the humblest and weakest believer, because His strength is made perfect in weakness. We can magnify Christ by praise, by prayer, and by witness to Him… Yes, we can magnify Christ even in our daily work in the house, the shop, the office, or the care of the children, just as much as those whose feet carry the Gospel of peace.
Why does the psalm say His name, and not just "Him"? One writer answers that, and links it to what the psalm records next:
A heart full of praise will look for others to share it. His Name will be a common joy, for His Name is the revelation of Himself. After the call to magnify His Name comes the experience that gives the call its text, so to speak. The living God had heard him, answered him, and delivered him from all his fears.
Another writer sees the same reach for company, and an order in the way God helps:
Now the soul looks for fellowship. It wants others in its company… I think the Lord often works to deliver us from our fears before He delivers us from our foes. Here is a man whom God delivered from the fear of the trouble before He delivered him from the trouble.
Boasting in anything but the Lord, one writer argues, has the opposite effect:
This lowly spirit, which glories only in the Lord, is what draws the saints together. So the Psalmist adds at once, "Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt His name together!" The believer who boasts in his wealth, or intellect, or birth is trying to magnify himself, and to that extent he divides the Lord's people. Empty pride that seeks to magnify self lies behind so much division among the people of God.
The positive result is a shared centre rather than merely a shared mood:
We thus learn that the humble spirit, that blesses the Lord at all times, boasts only in the Lord, and exalts His name, will draw the saints to one another with the Lord as their gathering centre and bond of fellowship.
Several writers hear more than David here. One reads the whole psalm as the voice of Christ teaching those God has given Him:
Set aside its reference to David for a moment, and this Psalm is a remarkable word from the Spirit of Christ. We seem to hear the blessed Lord speaking directly to the children whom God has given Him (Heb. 2:13). He explains to them the name and ways of Jehovah, using His own experience as the gracious illustration (verse 11). Jesus is the teacher of His people's praise (verse 3).
Another writer hears "together" as the fixed pattern of redeemed praise:
His glory is the tongue of redeeming praise, and how loud it speaks! Glory now bears witness to redemption, and His word is: "Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt His name together!" Always together!
- Together, after failure. David calls others into praise after his own failure and repentance. God's forgiveness glorifies Him, so praise for it should be shared, not hidden.
- Together, not alone. A heart full of praise looks for company. His name is the revelation of Himself, so it becomes a joy held in common.
- Together, in daily life. Preaching is not the only way to make the Lord great. The house, the shop, the office and the care of children magnify Him too.
- Together, only in lowliness. Boasting in wealth, intellect or birth magnifies self and divides God's people. Glorying in the Lord alone draws them together.
- Together, led by Christ. Commentators hear Christ in this psalm as the teacher of His people's praise. His word is always "together."
I sought Jehovah, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
They looked unto him, and were enlightened, and their faces were not confounded.
Psalm 34 is David's song of praise after God rescued him from danger. Verse 5 turns from his own story to everyone who looks to God as he did. Who are these people, what light do they receive, and why will their faces never be ashamed?
The verse sits inside a run of personal trouble. One writer traces that trouble:
The first three verses set out the great theme of the Psalm. Now the Psalmist goes on to tell the experience that taught him to bless the Lord at all times and lift up His Name. This God-fearing man found himself in circumstances full of dread (4). His way seemed dark (5). His troubles piled up (6).
The light comes from who God is. And this is not only about the moment someone first believes:
The sure effect of the soul having to do with God is that it is enlightened. I am not talking of conversion now. It is true the soul is enlightened when it is converted, but here it is more in the pathway. It is a principle of the deepest importance. If you and I look to the Lord, what will be the effect? He will give us light. Why? Because God is light.
Looking is not a technique with power of its own. The object it rests on does the work:
There is not a troubled conscience in the Christian world that would not find peace by looking to that same blessed object. Not a doubting heart that would not be settled. Not a weary soul that would not find rest. Not a lost soul that would not find salvation... But the power — the healing power — is not in the looking, the coming, the hearing, or the believing. It is all in the object: the heavenly Christ, the man in the glory. When the eye rests on Him as its one object, all doubts and darkness flee away.
Someone who knows his own guilt expects shame when he looks up. The opposite happens:
Shame fills the face of the self-conscious sinner as he lifts his eyes to look upon his Saviour. But one view of that all-gracious Presence turns his shame to confidence and joy. For God's light shines forth in peace upon him from that face. The pure intensity of perfect love is there.
Wolston makes the same promise practical. He notes that David had plenty in his history to hang his head over, and adds: "you will never hang your head when you look at Him."
The plural "those" matters. This is not a special experience for a few:
There is first of all in it light, for God is light. Things appear as they are, and we learn to recognize them — to have truth in the inward parts, and to be certain about the way. And this is not an exceptional experience — it is the universal rule for those that look to Him. They are enlightened; and their faces are never "ashamed." Confusion in a person's thoughts and ways leads to a confused face as the result. Where the soul really seeks God, that confusion is impossible. So God has made provision for the simplest and poorest, in the middle of all the babble of voices the world hears.
One writer links this shining face to joy that cannot stay hidden. He quotes the verse in an older translation:
Joy is the second of the fruits of the Spirit, and anyone the Spirit leads will never find it tiresome to speak of that joy. Out of the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks. If the joy of the Lord fills our hearts, it must show in our speech, and our very faces will be lit up by it. "They looked to Him, and were radiant" (Ps. 34:5).
One writer stretches the promise back over the whole history of faith:
Christ is the One revealed by God and revealing Him to make this knowledge good in all who believe. Ever since sin came into the world, all the saints have looked to Him. They were given light, and their faces will never be put to shame.
- Look — the eye is the whole action; the healing power is not in the looking but in the object looked at.
- Light — God is light, so He gives light to the one who looks, and things appear as they really are.
- Everyone — not a rare experience but the universal rule, with room for the simplest and poorest.
- Unashamed — one view of that gracious Presence turns shame into confidence and joy.
- Radiant — the light does not stay inside; hearts flooded with the joy of the Lord show it in speech and in the face.
This afflicted one called, and Jehovah heard [him], and saved him out of all his troubles.
David wrote this psalm after one of the lowest moments of his life, when he escaped a foreign king by pretending to be insane. Looking back, he sums up the rescue in one line, and leaves us asking who this "poor man" really is.
The psalm's heading ties it to that escape. One writer draws the lesson from David's failed plan; the king he ran to is called both Abimelech and Achish.
Psalm 34 was composed "when [David] changed his behaviour before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he departed." This psalm celebrates the Lord's tender care of the believer under trial. It also expresses David's confidence, which flowed from this: in his affliction, God had taken his cause in hand. This man of God, in seeking help from Achish, had had only a broken reed in his hand. Now, taught by God, he can say: "I sought the LORD, and He answered me and delivered me from all my fears."
The word does not describe David's bank balance. It describes what he had come to know about himself.
In verse 6 David refers to himself as being a poor man who cried out in his distress. "The LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles." For he fully realised two things: he was helpless to save himself, and the Lord alone was able to deliver him.
The same word shapes other passages too. One writer wants that lowly place for himself.
Every reading of the Psalm brings out the meaning and value of this term. It gives its force to Matthew 5, and Luke, and Psalm 41: "considers the poor." "This poor man cried." It is full of instruction to us. Oh! may we know the poor and lowly place in every way — Christ's place!
Commentators differ on how far the verse reaches beyond David. One writer hears a second voice in it.
"This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles" (Ps. 34:6). What poor man was that? Of course David was the writer of the Psalm, but I have no doubt that that "poor man" was Christ. You will find in His pathway here He was always turning to God. It does not follow that there will always be deliverance from circumstances. That is not the point. In a world of evil we must never forget that righteousness may suffer, but God governs… He is now exalted in glory. That is God's answer to the cry of His blessed and holy soul all through His pathway here.
The verse does not promise a small rescue. Notice how one writer stacks up the word "all".
He then tells us the result. He says, "The LORD delivered me from all my fears." The Lord gave him light for his path, and saved him out of "all his troubles." He also found that, though men opposed him, unseen angelic power guarded him. If then the Lord delivers this lowly man from "all" his fears, and "all" his troubles, he may well bless the Lord at "all times."
Continual praise is not the fruit of an easy life. One writer ties this verse to Paul, who called for joy while he sat in prison.
"Rejoice in the Lord always." His joy could not be in his circumstances, for he was a prisoner. Christians are often a great deal happier in the trial than in thinking about it. In the trial they learn far more of the stability, the certainty, the nearness and the power of Christ, and they are happier… This was what enabled [David] to say, "I will bless the LORD at all times." He had been in trouble, and the Lord had heard him in his trouble… Grace is enough for favourable circumstances, but those circumstances are by far the most trying (spiritually) to the believer.
An answered cry becomes words for other people to pray. The same writer applies this verse to the remnant — God's faithful people in a future time of great distress.
What a wonderful provision God has made for the comfort of the remnant in that day! Suppose them reading these words! Christ made the atonement, and He has put words into their mouths. Those words express their cry for them and speak of their sins. They will say, "This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him." That will encourage them to think He will hear them.
- Poor first. God hears the man who has stopped trying to save himself and admits the Lord alone can deliver.
- Cried, not managed. David's own scheming before a foreign king left him holding a broken reed; the crying is what worked.
- Heard, then saved. Deliverance was not partial. It covered "all his fears" and "all his troubles" — so the psalm can promise praise "at all times."
- Christ's place. The lowly place the poor man takes is the place Christ Himself took; His exaltation is God's answer to His cry.
- Passed on. David's answered cry becomes words in other mouths. It tells the next sufferer that God will hear too.
The angel of Jehovah encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.
David wrote this psalm after a low point in his life — he had run to Gath, the enemy's city, and escaped only by pretending to be insane. Out of that shame comes one of the most confident promises in the Psalms — but who is this angel, what does "encamps" picture, and who stands inside the circle?
David's conduct at Gath was nothing to boast about, which makes the praise that follows all the more striking.
He was in the wrong place, so he resorted to wrong actions. But he no doubt had confessed and judged this failure before God. Otherwise he could not have written this psalm the way he did. In His wise government God dealt faithfully with David and made him feel the shame of what he had done. At the same time He showed the grace of His heart by drawing him to bless the Lord.
The verb is military. It implies more than a lone guard — and defence is not the whole of what this angel does.
The word "encamps" suggests that the angel of the Lord is supported by an army of helpers. The next psalm includes a prayer that the angel of the Lord might chase David's enemies. So he does not only give defensive help and deliverance, as we have seen. He also acts against the enemy.
Commentators differ here. Some read "the angel of the LORD" as a title of Christ Himself:
Generally, if not always, the name "the angel of the Lord" refers to the Lord Jesus Himself. He is above all others the angel, or messenger, of God, as Malachi 3:1 declares.
Others read it as a promise that angels guard God's people. One writer points to the prophet Elisha, whose protection was real before anyone could see it.
Angels are the divine guardians of God's people... The history of Elisha illustrates this guardian care. Enemies surrounded him at Dothan, and his servant was terrified. Elisha says, "Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them." In answer to prayer, the Lord opened the young man's eyes. He saw that the whole mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire around Elisha (2 Kings 6:17). Elisha had already come to them by faith; the young man came to them by sight.
David's own rescue was real, not just relief from his fears. From it he draws a rule for everyone who fears God.
In his poverty he had been heard and delivered — not just from his fears, but in fact. He goes further: the angel of Jehovah camps around those who fear Jehovah. This is deliverance from all that may come, from any direction.
The same protection appears in Acts, where a prison could not hold the apostles. (The ESV reads "an angel of the Lord" in Acts 5:19; the older translation quoted here has "the angel of the Lord.")
What a remarkable statement — and what an immense comfort for the soul to feel that it has angelic walls, so to speak, around it. If you fear the Lord, you are encamped in a safe place... Take the apostles in Acts chapter 5: "the high priest rose up, and all who were with him... and filled with jealousy they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison. But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out" (Acts 5:17-19).
The promise belongs to those who fear the Lord. That fear means honour and reverence, not dread.
We have been told, "Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him." Now that trust must show itself in fearing Him. It means giving Him the place of dignity and honour that produces a true reverential fear, with none of the casual, unsubdued attitude that is common among men.
What moved David was not merely that things worked out. It was that God took a personal interest in a humbled man.
This is not high and sovereign providence making things run smoothly for outward blessing — though no doubt we should be thankful for that. It is the gracious interest of Jehovah in his tried heart. This is much nearer, the interest greater, the link more sweet and stronger. There was no pride of will in trial or in success. Here was a crushed and humble heart, finding Jehovah's ear and heart open to it.
- Cause — David failed at Gath. God let him feel the shame, then drew him to praise.
- Camp — "Encamps" is army language: a guard pitched on every side, able to defend and to drive off the enemy.
- Christ or angel — commentators differ. Some read "the angel of the LORD" as the Lord Jesus; others see the angel care that guarded Elisha.
- Cover — the circle has no opening, so the deliverance covers all that may come, from any direction.
- Condition — the promise is for those who fear the Lord, who give Him His rightful place.
Taste and see that Jehovah is good blessed is the man that trusteth in him!
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
Fear Jehovah, ye his saints; for there is no want to them that fear him.
Psalm 34 is David's song after God rescued him from real danger. At verse 9 he stops telling his own story and presses an appeal on others: who are "His saints," and how can "no lack" be true for people who go through hardship?
The call is not theory. It came out of a low point in David's life.
When David returned in disgrace from the land of the Philistines, where he had unwisely looked for refuge from Saul (1 Sam. 21:10-15), he wrote Psalm 34, possibly in the seclusion of the cave of Adullam, where he recovered faith in his God. In this song of praise he celebrates his deliverance. He speaks of the graciousness of Jehovah to the needy and the afflicted. He calls all those who were in distress and in debt (see 1 Sam. 22:2) to test Him for themselves.
Verse 9 does not stand alone. The verses on either side belong with it.
You will find there are three things here. There is fearing the Lord, trusting the Lord, and seeking the Lord. In the eighth verse it is, "Blessed is the man who trusts in Him." In the ninth verse, "Those who fear Him have no lack." And in the tenth verse, "Those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing." This is a moral set of holy principles that keep the heart always in blessed touch with God.
Verse 8 invites anyone at all to taste and see. Verse 9 speaks to a smaller circle, with the same urgency.
Verse 8 speaks to everyone, with the urgent opening word, "Oh." Now the psalm speaks just as urgently to believers: "Oh, fear the LORD, you His saints, for those who fear Him have no lack!" (v. 9). We have been told, "Blessed is the man who trusts in Him." That trust now shows itself in fearing Him. We give Him the place of dignity and honour, and that produces a true reverential fear, with none of the casual, unsubdued attitude common among men.
The word behind "saints" here is not about moral achievement. It means set apart for God.
qadosh, 'consecrated, set apart, holy.' Deut. 33:3; Ps. 16:3; Ps. 34:9; Dan. 7:18-27; Zech. 14:5.
Fear here is not terror. It is the settled attitude of someone who takes God seriously and shares His view of evil.
This fear of the Lord is not the slavish dread that marks the superstitious. No. It is a reverent trustfulness accompanied by hatred of evil. "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil" (Prov. 8:13). "The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever." Where this fear is kept up, the presence of the Lord is a reality and a joy.
That reverence is not distance. No one comes nearer than God Himself.
The blessedness is infinite and divine in its nature, like the One who is its source. Yet it is as intimate as anything in the heart can be — more intimate than any human being who does not have it. We dwell in Him, and the Lord is our stay and the rest of our heart. There is nothing like it. No one can be so intimately near us as God; for He is in us.
The promise does not remove hardship. It guarantees supply within it.
The Psalmist has experienced the goodness of the Lord. So he calls his brothers to "taste and see that the LORD is good," and in that way to realise the blessedness of the man who trusts in the Lord and walks in His fear. Such people will find, in a world like this, that they may have many needs, but they will never be in want.
David lived under a different arrangement with God than we do. That does not date the promise.
The principles of God's government of His people do not change. When David wrote Psalm 34, it was the age of law and God's people were in the place of servants. Today is the age of grace and we are before God as His sons, as Galatians 3:23 – 4:7 shows. Yet the apostle Peter can quote David's words from Psalm 34 as applying equally to us.
- Tasted first. David speaks from rescue, not theory — he calls the distressed to test God as he did.
- Then set apart. "Saints" means consecrated, set apart ones; verse 9 calls people who already belong to God.
- Then reverent. The fear called for is reverent trustfulness that hates evil, not dread — and it goes with an intimacy nothing human can match.
- Then supplied. Those who fear Him may have many needs, but they will never be in want; the chain runs trust, fear, seek.
- Still true. God's way of governing His people has not changed. Peter quotes this psalm for believers now.
The young lions are in need and suffer hunger; but they that seek Jehovah shall not want any good.
David wrote this psalm after a narrow escape from the Philistines, and here he sets the strongest hunter in nature beside the person who seeks God. That raises a question many readers feel: if seekers lack no good thing, why do believers so often go without what they asked for?
One writer places this psalm at a low point in David's life, after David ran to the wrong place for safety and then gathered the desperate around him:
When David returned in disgrace from the land of the Philistines, where he had unwisely sought refuge from Saul (1 Sam. 21:10-15), he wrote Psalm 34. He may have written it in the quiet of the cave of Adullam, where he recovered faith in his God. In this song of praise, he remembers his deliverance and praises the graciousness of Jehovah to the needy and the afflicted. He calls on all those who were in distress and in debt (see 1 Sam. 22:2) to test Him for themselves.
Verse 10 is the last of three linked statements, and each names a different attitude of heart:
You will find there are three things here. There is fearing the Lord, trusting the Lord, and seeking the Lord. Verse eight says, "Blessed is the man who trusts in Him." Verse nine says, "Those who fear Him have no lack." Verse ten says, "Those who seek the LORD lack no good thing." This is a moral set of holy principles that keeps the heart always in blessed touch with God.
The comparison is chosen with care. David names the animal nothing else can frighten, then shows even that animal going hungry:
The Lord is the One who meets the soul in every possible circumstance. He uses the lions as an illustration, because the lion is the master of creation. The lion "is mightiest among beasts and does not turn back before any" (Prov. 30:30). Despite that, even lions can go hungry.
Another writer draws out what the lion's hunger exposes about strength — and who decides what counts as good:
Even "the young lions suffer want and hunger" — their strength is not enough to supply their needs. But those who seek the Lord in dependence on Him will not lack anything that is good for them. Of course, it is the Lord who decides what is good.
This answers the objection almost every honest reader raises. The verse ties the promise to a Person, not to the things we ask for:
Now there is perhaps a little difficulty for some here. You say, I have sought a good many things, but I did not get them. It does not say in our Psalm that they sought the things; it says they sought the Lord. We all of us would like many things which we regard as good for us. But before long we shall be thankful that we did not have them. It has been the curse of many a saint's life that he obtained what he longed for at some time. The coveted thing was not good; but determination laid hold of it. If God withholds something you have desired, be sure it was not good for you. Then your heart will say to Him: "Blessed be Your name. I am sure it was not good for me, Lord."
Others make the same point in a single line — the word "good" belongs to God's judgement, not ours.
What we lack sometimes may not be good for us to have.
The promise does not remove hardship. One commentator holds both sides together as the psalmist passes on what he learned:
Such people will find, in a world like this, that they may have many needs, but they will never go without. The Psalmist had sought the Lord and had been blessed. Now he can say to others, "those who seek the LORD lack no good thing."
Some ask whether an Old Testament promise still applies. The New Testament settles it by quoting this very psalm:
The principles of God's government of His people do not change. When David wrote Psalm 34, it was the age of law and God's people were in the place of servants. Today is the age of grace and we are before God as His sons, as Galatians 3:23 – 4:7 shows. Yet the apostle Peter can quote David's words from Psalm 34 as applying equally to us.
- Strength fails. The lion is the strongest of beasts, yet it still goes hungry. Raw power cannot secure its own supply.
- Dependence holds. The lion's strength cannot feed it. The one who leans on God receives, because God supplies, not the creature.
- Seek Him, not it. God gives this promise to those who seek Him, not to those who seek things. That one difference answers most disappointment in prayer.
- He defines "good." If God holds something back, He has judged that it was not good for you. Many a believer's life has been spoiled by getting what he insisted on.
- Need is not lack. The believer will have many needs, yet will never go without. Peter applies the same promise to Christians today.
Come, ye sons, hearken unto me I will teach you the fear of Jehovah.
Up to this point Psalm 34 is testimony: a man telling what God did for him in trouble. Now the voice turns and calls for pupils — so who are these "children," and what is this "fear of the LORD"?
Commentators differ on whose voice this is. One traces the changing speakers through the psalm:
The prophetic declaration is in verse 5; then the Spirit takes up from verse 6, I think, to verse 10. In verse 11 David speaks again, in person.
Others hear a greater voice behind David's:
Considered quite apart from its reference to David, this Psalm is a remarkable utterance of the Spirit of Christ. We seem to hear the blessed Lord immediately addressing the children whom God has given Him (Heb. 2:13), and explaining to them, by the gracious illustration of His own experience, the name and ways of the LORD (verse 11). Jesus is the teacher of His people's praise (verse 3).
The word is not chosen because the audience is young. It marks the posture a learner has to take before anything can be taught.
David addresses "children" in verse 11. Those who take the children's place are the teachable ones. The Lord implies this in Matthew 18:3: "Unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." For it is in that kingdom that we become learners. "I will teach you," not the deep truths of Scripture, but "the fear of the LORD." Without this we shall never learn the deep truths of the word of God. But the fear of the LORD means realizing His holiness, and we need that to keep us in our place.
The lesson is not how to be afraid of God. It is the opposite of a heart that shrinks back from Him.
Without this you cannot progress in practical holiness, or sanctification... This is not the condition, the state of heart that keeps back from the Lord. It is the path of progress — not of the backslider. Another writer — Solomon — says, "Blessed is the one who fears the LORD always" (Prov. 28:14). This is not the fear of judgment and wrath. It is that holy and blessed fear in the soul, which the Spirit of God always produces — a fear that we might fail to walk in everything in a way that pleases Him.
This one fear crowds out two others — the fear of what people think, and the dread of God as a judge:
How necessary it is, then, to make the fear of God a habit! There is nothing right where this fails. The holy fear of God shuts out every dishonouring fear of man, and all tormenting fear of God. We know His majesty, His holiness, and His righteous character; and we know also that He loves us beyond a father's love.
The next verses spell the lesson out, and it starts with the mouth.
As supreme over all, the fear of Him is for His creature the "beginning of wisdom."... We are in His hands, and He will have His way; but His goodness will make us glad that He does. "The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever;" and the psalmist now proposes to instruct men in this fear. If a man wants life, and to see good days, here is the divine preservative for him. Let him keep, then, his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking deceit. For "out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks," and the government of the tongue is the sign of the perfect man. (Luke 6:45, James 3:2.) Let him order his walk so as to depart from evil — the negative side — and do good — the positive. Let him seek peace thus, as "the effect of righteousness" (Isa. 32:17), and earnestly "pursue it."
Peter quotes these verses to readers living long after David. The lesson was never tied to one age.
The principles of God's government of His people do not change. When David wrote Psalm 34, it was the age of law and God's people were in the place of servants. Today is the age of grace and we are before God as His sons... Yet the apostle Peter can quote David's words from Psalm 34 as applying equally to us. We reap what we sow in the government of God; and the way to "see good" is to "do good"... Many a disagreeable event in our lives is clearly the result of our own disagreeableness. If we sowed more good we should reap more good.
- Come — the teacher calls learners to himself, and he teaches out of what he has proved of God's ways.
- Children — the place of a child is the place of a learner, and only those who take it can be taught.
- Fear — not terror of wrath, but a holy care never to displease the One who loves us beyond a father's love. It drives out the fear of man and the dread of God as judge.
- Taught — this fear is not instinctive but learned, and without it the deeper truths of God's word stay closed to us.
- Lived — the lesson starts with the tongue, then the walk: turn from evil, do good, pursue peace. It still stands, because God's government of His people has not changed.
What man is he that desireth life, [and] loveth days, that he may see good?
Here David turns from praising God to teaching. He asks a question nobody refuses: who does not want life, long days, and good? The answer he gives starts in a surprising place.
David's question is not theory. He had tried deception himself, and it gained him nothing.
He also learned from experience that deception and lying could not get good: "What man is there who desires life and loves many days, that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit" (vv. 12-13).
Verse 12 sits inside a block of teaching. David opens it by calling children to listen while he teaches them the fear of the Lord.
From verses eleven to sixteen, I think, the Psalmist gives us beautiful instruction about the secret of a happy, growing, blessed life. He says, "Come, you children, listen to me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord" (Ps. 34:11). The first part of the Psalm says a good deal about the fear of the Lord. Now he explains it fully to us. One verse in an earlier Psalm is very instructive here. "The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever" (Ps. 19:9). I think that gives you the keynote of the passage as regards the fear of the Lord. Without this you cannot make progress in practical holiness, or sanctification.
The word "life" in this verse is not about a pulse. It means life worth having.
When we think or speak of life in a practical way, everyone will admit that we do not mean simply the fact that we are alive. What is life to a criminal shut up in a solitary cell? It is true that he is as much alive as if he were free and among his family; but in the practical sense, is his "life" the same? Would he not describe his prison life as a living death?
The verse asks a question, and the verse after it names the price. The good days are real, but they are attached.
Do we desire life — the life that is vital, spiritual, unfailing? (v. 12). If we have many days of this kind of life, we shall see good, but only on condition that we keep our tongues from evil and our lips from speaking deceit. Before James writes of the evils that a hasty tongue may be guilty of (James 3:5-10), he assures us, "If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body" (James 3:2). Such perfection (or maturity) should be cultivated by every child of God.
David does not ask this about people in general. He puts it to whoever is listening, and the answer shows up in how a person talks.
The fear of the Lord is presented as a daily practical thing. "What man is there who desires life and loves many days, that he may see good?" (Ps. 34:12). That question appeals to each of us. Do you love life? Do you want many days, and to see good? Is it good you are seeking? Here is the instruction on how to secure these blessings. "Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit" (Ps. 34:13). It does not begin here with my heart. It begins with my tongue... I know the people who are desiring good by the way they use their tongues.
The instruction that follows moves outward. It goes from what a person says, to what he does, to what he seeks.
If a man wants life, and to see good days, here is the divine preservative for him. Let him then keep his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking deceit. For "out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks," and the government of the tongue is the sign of the perfect man. (Luke 6:45, James 3:2.) Let him order his walk so as to turn from evil — the negative side — and do good — the positive. Let him seek peace in this way, as "the effect of righteousness" (Isa. 32:17), and earnestly "pursue it."
This is not just advice that happens to work. It rests on how God rules the lives of His people, and Peter applies it to Christians.
Psalm 34 expands this theme, that God's government acts in favour of the godly. Verses 12 to 16 of this Psalm are quoted in 1 Peter 3:10 to 12. They establish that, if the Christian returns blessing for the evil and abuse he may receive from the world, he will inherit a blessing himself. If he sows blessing he will reap blessing. So it is ordained in the government of God.
- Desire — The verse begins with something everyone already wants: life, many days, and good. David asks it as a question so you will answer it yourself.
- Definition — The "life" offered is not mere existence. A prisoner in solitary is alive, yet he calls it a living death.
- Discovery — David asks it as a man who had tried deception and found it could not get good. He teaches what cost him something.
- Direction — The road to good days starts at the tongue, then the walk (turn from evil, do good), then the pursuit of peace. Speech is the first test because the mouth reports what the heart holds.
- Dependability — It holds because God governs. Sow blessing, reap blessing. Peter takes this from the psalm and applies it to Christians who are treated badly.
Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile;
David offers to teach the fear of the Lord, and his first lesson is not about the heart or the feet but about the tongue. The question hanging over the verse is why speech should be the starting point for anyone who wants a good life.
One writer ties this command to what David himself had learned about deception.
He also learned from experience that deception and lying could not gain anything good: "What man is there who desires life and loves many days, that he may see good?"
This is not an idea to admire but an order about everyday speech. One writer notes where the order does not begin.
"Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD." He presents it as a daily, practical thing. Here is the instruction on how to secure these blessings. "Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit." It does not begin here with my heart. It begins with my tongue. "Keep your tongue." Oh, that is a most difficult job. How do you find it? We all know how hard it is to keep the tongue. Are you set to see good? That is the question. I know the people who are desiring good by the way they use their tongues.
Older translations call this deceit "guile." One writer explains what the word covers, and points to the one mouth where none of it was ever found.
Deceit. — This word is often translated "guile" in the New Testament. It means cunning, craftiness, plotting to deceive, and it usually has to do with what a person says. There was no guile found in the mouth of Christ (1 Peter 2:22)... Scripture says of Jew and Gentile alike that "with their tongues they have used deceit [guile]" (Rom. 3:13). Yet the apostle Peter quotes the psalmist: "Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit" (Ps. 34:13; 1 Peter 3:10).
The verse names two evils, and Hamilton Smith aims them in different directions: one at other people, one at myself.
Do we want to find "life" in the middle of a world of death, and "see good" as we pass through a world of evil? Then let us walk in the fear of God. Then we will keep our tongues from the evil that would slander or injure others, and our lips from speaking guile when we try to excuse ourselves. Let us depart from evil and do good, and instead of striving with our opponents, let us seek peace and pursue it.
Guarding the tongue is not a small matter of manners. What comes out of the mouth shows what fills the heart, and one writer takes the command on from speech into the whole walk.
If a man wants life, and to see good days, here is the divine safeguard for him. Let him keep his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking guile. For "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks," and the government of the tongue is the sign of the perfect man (Luke 6:45, James 3:2). Let him order his walk so as to depart from evil — the negative side — and do good — the positive.
Peter lifts these words straight into a letter to Christians. He also stops his quotation before the psalm's closing threat.
Some people say to me, "All these Psalms are for the Jews." Peter does not leave them all for the Jews. He knew better than that... He leaves out the end of the sixteenth verse of the Psalm, which runs, "to cut off the memory of them from the earth." He does not go on with the Psalm. That will only happen later, when the Lord Christ reigns as a righteous King and righteousness judges all evil at once.
The command comes with a promise of good days. The same writer describes what life looks like without it.
You will not find a happy, bright Christian who allows himself the unrestrained use of his tongue. He will not be bright. He will not be happy. He does not see good days. Instead he sees miserable days, unhappy and dull. This is because he has done the thing the Lord told him not to do, and he suffers for it.
- Heart — What fills the heart comes out of the mouth, so controlling the tongue is the sign of a man who has himself in hand.
- Tongue — The fear of the Lord is a daily, practical thing, and it starts with speech, not with feelings.
- Two ways — Evil injures the other person; guile shields me. The verse shuts both doors.
- Walk — Guarded speech runs on into departing from evil, doing good, and pursuing peace.
- Days — The reward is life and good days now. A tongue let loose buys dull, unhappy ones instead.
Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.
The verse sits inside a lesson in the fear of the Lord, offered to anyone who wants life and good days. It asks two things at once: a clean break with evil, and an active chase after peace. Commentators treat it as the daily shape of a life lived before God.
The instruction has two halves. One writer names each half, and ties the pursuit of peace to righteousness:
Let him order his life so as to depart from evil — the negative side — and do good — the positive. Let him seek peace like this, as "the effect of righteousness" (Isa. 32:17), and earnestly "pursue it."
The ESV reads "Turn away from evil"; older translations read "Depart from evil." One writer presses that stronger word, and shows what fills the time it frees up:
We are not only to keep away from evil, but to depart from it. That is, we are to have no association with it, and to leave the very place where it is practiced. This is the negative side, but a positive side follows at once: "and do good." Do we take advantage of the many opportunities we have for doing good? If so, we should not have time for useless pursuits.
Peace here is not left to chance. It reaches into every relationship a person has:
Along with this, we are to seek peace — the grace of harmony and well-being — in whatever relationships we are in. And we are to "pursue it" with steady purpose.
There is no neutral ground here. One writer traces the failure to make peace back to a lack of care before God:
The man that is not a peace-maker is, in the spirit of his soul, a peace-breaker. Why? Because he is not walking in carefulness before God.
The two commands together set out a whole way of life. Notice where they put us when others oppose us:
The verses that follow set before us the path of quietness and peace through a restless and hostile world. Do we want to find "life" in a world of death, and to "see good" while passing through a world of evil? Then let us live in the fear of God. Let us keep our tongues from the evil that would slander or injure others, and our lips from the lies we tell to excuse ourselves. Let us depart from evil and do good, and, instead of striving with our opponents, let us seek peace and pursue it.
Peace has a limit. One writer names it, and points to Paul as the man who paid for faithfulness with a life of conflict:
You are to seek peace and pursue it. Even so, you must never sacrifice truth or principle to keep it, either with the world or with Christians. The love of popularity traps many. Even a Peter could be drawn aside by it for a moment. But Paul could not have peace on such terms. (Gal. 2) The great apostle loved peace and wanted it. Yet because he was faithful, he knew very little of it his whole life.
The New Testament takes these words up and applies them to Christians. That makes the verse a rule of life now, and not only an ancient one:
But grace gives the Christian to understand and make good the moral government God carries on with His children. The apostle in verses 10-12 cites Psalm 34 for this even now… From that scripture he urges them to turn away from evil and do good, and to seek peace in practice, and to do it earnestly. For the Lord's eyes are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayer, while His face is against those who do evil.
The same pairing returns in Psalm 37:27. One writer names the one Man who lived it out in full:
So the important principle of departing from evil and doing good is stressed again in verse 27, taken from the earlier Psalm 34:14… This active, practical pursuit of good, in separation from evil, was seen in perfection in the altogether "Perfect Man" (v. 37). He is the One whose wonderful ways, works and words made our blessed God and Father fully known.
- Depart — not just distance from evil, but departure: leaving the place where it is practiced.
- Do — fill the empty space with good, and there is no time left for useless pursuits.
- Seek — peace grows out of righteousness, and it is to be sought in every relationship.
- Pursue — chase it with purpose; the one who does not make peace is already breaking it.
- Stop — peace has a boundary: never trade truth or principle to keep it.