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.
The eyes of Jehovah are upon the righteous, and his ears are toward their cry;
Psalm 34 comes from a man God had rescued. Verse 15 promises that God watches and listens, and it names who He watches; the next verse turns to the opposite side.
In Psalms 32 and 33, God's eye rests on His people for other reasons. Here the reason changes:
Verse 15 of this Psalm again states the fact that "The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous." This time it is not for guidance, as in Psalm 32. Nor is it for deliverance, as in Psalm 33. It is government, so that He may listen to their cry and overrule affairs on their behalf. But note that He acts this way for "the righteous."
This is not only a general law that a person reaps what he sows. It is God's direct, personal dealing with His own:
It is true that God is not mocked. What a man sows he will reap, because God's government has attached certain consequences to certain conduct. But He also watches over His children and governs them directly. He may let them fall sick, or die; He may deliver them from it, when they confess or when others pray for them.
God has no body, so eyes and ears are picture language:
The Bible is full of such symbolism. For instance, God is a Spirit and so has no body. Yet we read of His back, His face, His eyes, His nostrils, His feet, His hands, and so on. All of these are meant to convey definite thoughts in symbolic language.
Eyes and ears carry two assurances: how God looks, and how He hears:
"The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous" (v. 15). That is, He looks on them with approval and encouragement, for the eyes speak of the Spirit of God, guarding and guiding His saints. "His ears are toward their cry." He never fails to hear the honest pleas that call for His help.
But who counts as "righteous"? The word covers conduct, not standing alone:
God's eye over the righteous means more than perfect discernment of every motive. It also means watchful care that keeps them safe. In principle every believer is righteous in Christ. But Peter insists that he should be this in practice too, if he is to know God's approving eye upon him. The same holds for God's ears being open to his prayers. That involves not only hearing, but hearing with approval and answering.
What if the answer never comes? One writer meets the complaint head-on:
"But," you say, "He does not answer." Well, He may be having a controversy with you, for "the face of the LORD is against those who do evil," and that is as true of a child of God as of someone unconverted. If the soul is doing right, what is the result? You have the eyes of the Lord upon you, and the ears of the Lord open to you. That is, you have the presence of the Lord, because your walk suits God.
Delay is not refusal:
How it should quiet our hearts before God when He seems to delay His answer to our cries! Urgent need or pressing danger keeps pressing and grows impatient. "Has not God said," we repeat at such times, "that He will hear our prayers?" Then why have we cried in vain? Ah, no! We never cry to Him in vain. If the Lord waits, He waits only for His own glory and our fuller blessing.
Peter quotes these words in 1 Peter 3:12. But he stops in mid-sentence, and one writer shows why:
It stops in the middle of a sentence. Why? Because the words that follow are "to cut off the memory of them from the earth." Those words apply in a literal way to God's people on earth, the Jews. They could never apply to those who are saved from the wrath to come. Instead of inheriting the earth, they look for "an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven."
- Watched — God's eye here is not for guidance or rescue but for government. He looks on so that He can hear and overrule circumstances for His people.
- Heard — His ear is open, and He never fails to hear honest pleas. But hearing here means hearing with approval and answering.
- Righteous — Every believer is righteous in Christ. This promise belongs to those who are righteous in practice too.
- Walk — A right walk brings the presence of the Lord. Silence may mean God has a controversy with the one praying.
- Waiting — We never cry to Him in vain. When He seems to delay, He waits for His own glory and our fuller blessing.
The face of Jehovah is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth
Up to this point Psalm 34 has been a song of deliverance. Here the same Lord who watches over the righteous turns a different look toward those who do evil — which raises a question: when is a person's memory cut off from the earth?
The verse before this one speaks of God's eyes and ears turned toward the righteous. One writer draws out the contrast:
"The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous" (v. 15). That look is one of approval and encouragement. The eyes speak of the Spirit of God, guarding and guiding His saints. "His ears toward their cry." He never fails to hear the honest pleas that call for His help. But on the other hand, "the face of the LORD is against those who do evil" (v. 16). We have known "the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Cor. 4:6), and in that face is pure truth, so evil is hateful to it. Those who choose evil will have their very memory "cut off from the earth." This has special reference to the earthly blessings that belong to believers on earth in the millennium.
Another writer adds that God knows all about the evil He sets His face against:
The Lord also knows all about the evil, for the face of the Lord is against those who do evil (v. 16). In the end of God's ways the memory of the evildoer will be cut off. The righteous, on the other hand, will be delivered out of all his troubles.
It would be easy to read this verse as being about other people. Commentators press it closer to home, since Peter applies these words to Christians.
The face of the Lord is as much against His own children, if they are doing evil, as it is against the children of the devil. Here he applies it in the practical walk of the Christian. And who is he that will harm you, if you are followers of what is good? Notice the good things here. Good days, follow what is good, good conscience, and good conversation.
That has a very practical consequence for prayer. If the answers seem not to come, the previous verse and this one belong together:
"But," you say, "He does not answer." Well, perhaps He may be having a controversy with you. "The face of the Lord is against those who do evil," and that is as true of a child of God as of an unconverted person. If the soul is doing right, what is the result? You have the eyes of the Lord upon you, and the ears of the Lord open to you. That is, a walk that suits God brings you the presence of the Lord.
Peter quotes part of this psalm, but he stops short. One writer marks where the quotation ends, and why.
Verses 11–16 take up the character of this fear of the Lord. Peter alone quotes most of this passage. Peter leaves out the end of verse 16, since it does not apply now. The general fact of government for the Christian still does apply, and we should remember this. God is not mocked: what a man sows he will reap. In His government God has attached certain consequences to certain conduct. He also watches over His children and governs them directly.
The same writer explains why the clause about cutting off does not fit the present moment:
But God's government now is not the public government that puts down all evil. It works in the case of the righteous, who live under and through the power of evil. When Christ appears, there will be this suppression of evil.
The last clause looks forward. One writer points to the psalm that follows this one:
Psalm 34 records that "the face of the LORD is against those who do evil." But we have to go on to Psalm 35 to find this side of things treated in detail. That psalm works out at length how God will finally bring the ungodly and the persecutors to shame and to judgment... Such will be God's governmental dealings with them in this life. There is of course the dark pit of hell before them in the life to come, but that is not the theme of the psalm.
This verse is not a detour from the psalm's joy. It is part of what lets faith bless the Lord at all times:
It is the full assurance of the LORD's government in favour of the humble in heart. This enables them to bless Him at all times, not only when they are blessed — blessing Him only then is not faith. In their trouble God hears them, keeps them, and redeems them.
- Face: In verse 15 God's eyes and ears mean approval and attention. In verse 16 the same God turns His face the other way, because evil is hateful to Him.
- Knowledge: God knows all about the evil. Nothing in the evildoer's course escapes Him.
- Nearness: This applies to God's own children as much as to anyone else. Unanswered prayer may mean He has a controversy with you.
- Omission: Peter quotes this psalm as far as verse 16, but leaves off the cutting-off clause. God's government today works through the power of evil, not by putting it down.
- Result: Being sure that God deals with evil frees the humble heart to bless the Lord at all times. Blessing Him only when blessed is not faith at all.