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.