Psa 34:2-5 | KingComments | STEP | The psalm is written in the form of what is known as an acrostic. That is, each verse of this psalm begins with a consecutive letter of the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. This form is an aid in memorizing a section. The use of this form also indicates that God’s Spirit uses the entire richness of language to describe the content of the experience. However, one letter is missing from this psalm. Between and the letter vav is missing. are a testimony of faith, but makes it clear that David has fallen very deeply because of his behavior. This hints at the irregularity that can occur in the path a believer should walk. This is expressed by a bump, a missing letter in the acrostic. This is deliberately brought in. In Psalm 25 we see the same phenomenon ( ). For “[A Psalm] of David” ( ) see at Psalm 3:1. This psalm is one of the fifteen psalms that mentions the occasion of its writing (Psalms 3; 7; 9; 18; 30; 34; 51; 52; 54; 56; 57; 59; 60; 63; 142). The background of this psalm is a short stay of David with Achish, who is here called Abimelech ( ). Abimelech is the title of Philistine kings ( ). David feels compelled to leave his land, the land over which he will rule according to God’s promises, and seeks refuge with Achish, the king of Gath, one of the five Philistine cities. When David notices that he has been recognized, he becomes afraid. Fear is always a bad counselor and an enemy of faith and love. Indeed, perfect love drives out fear ( ). A person grows and achieves victories according to how much he overcomes fear by his faith. David, however, is not guided by his faith during this period. He knows that the Philistines see in him a powerful enemy whom they got hold of by his arrival just like that ( ). He knows no other solution to this problem than to behave like a madman. He presents himself as someone who has lost his mind. David here sinks far below the level of a believer. This is not a stratagem, but an act of desperation. A believer who deliberately behaves like an idiot sets a totally wrong example. He casts a libel on the Name of the Lord. Let’s not judge David too harshly about it. How many times have we deliberately behaved differently for fear of reactions of hostility from the world and, to put it mildly, not been witnesses to the Lord Jesus? David’s downfall is great. His behavior works that Achish drives him away as we read here. Certainly, he has escaped from a dangerous situation, but how libelous is his salvation. There is much to be ashamed of. What remains is the grace of God. That God’s grace also plays a role in this whole event is evident from the two psalms that arose in his heart during his stay with Achish in Gath (Psalms 34; 56). In the description of the events we see his outward behavior. In both psalms we see what went on in his heart during those events. Psalm 34 shows what is in his heart when he is afraid of Abimelech. His heart cries out to God and He saves him, for he is brokenhearted and crushed in spirit ( ). David says that He will bless, or praise, the LORD “at all times”, that is, always ( ). This is how a thanksgiving psalm usually begins. After his rescue from such a difficult and degrading situation, he is full of gratitude to the LORD. He resolves that praise for Him will be “continually” in his mouth. “At all times” and “continually” means that the LORD is worthy of our praising Him not only when we are living in prosperity, but also when things are against us, i.e. regardless of circumstance (cf. ; ). He does not owe his deliverance from Abimelech’s grip into which he put himself, to himself, but to the LORD. Although he has acted like a madman, the LORD has worked in the heart of Abimelech not to kill him, but to drive him away. Therefore, he is still alive and free. It is the occasion for his soul to boast in the LORD ( ). His experience has made him humble. The humble or lowly are people who, like him, have learned to be humble and submissive and to expect nothing more from themselves. A humble or humbled person is one whose spirit has been broken, because the Word has struck him in his distress ( ), one who has humbled himself under the strong hand of God ( ). When David was in distress, he cried out to God from the depths of his soul. His experience that the LORD takes notice of such people ( ) is an encouragement to others in similar situations. They will hear of what God has done for David. They will recognize that and rejoice that David was thus saved by the LORD. David therefore calls them to join him in magnifying the LORD ( ). They have come to know the LORD in a similar way. Therefore, they can with David exalt His Name, that is, make known the glory of His Name. His Name is His Being, it is all that He is and in which His own have come to know Him. His goodness is expressed here in the fact that He lets Himself be entreated. The moment you ask for salvation in your distress, He hears and answers that prayer ( ). That is the reason to praise His Name.

‏ Psalms 34:2-5

Introduction

The psalm is written in the form of what is known as an acrostic. That is, each verse of this psalm begins with a consecutive letter of the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. This form is an aid in memorizing a section. The use of this form also indicates that God’s Spirit uses the entire richness of language to describe the content of the experience.

However, one letter is missing from this psalm. Between Psa 34:5 and Psa 34:6 the letter vav is missing. Psa 34:2-5 are a testimony of faith, but Psa 34:6 makes it clear that David has fallen very deeply because of his behavior. This hints at the irregularity that can occur in the path a believer should walk. This is expressed by a bump, a missing letter in the acrostic. This is deliberately brought in. In Psalm 25 we see the same phenomenon (Psa 25:17 ; 18).

Call to Continually Praise God

For “[A Psalm] of David” (Psa 34:1a) see at Psalm 3:1.

This psalm is one of the fifteen psalms that mentions the occasion of its writing (Psalms 3; 7; 9; 18; 30; 34; 51; 52; 54; 56; 57; 59; 60; 63; 142). The background of this psalm is a short stay of David with Achish, who is here called Abimelech (1Sam 21:10-15). Abimelech is the title of Philistine kings (Gen 20:2 ; Gen 26:1). David feels compelled to leave his land, the land over which he will rule according to God’s promises, and seeks refuge with Achish, the king of Gath, one of the five Philistine cities.

When David notices that he has been recognized, he becomes afraid. Fear is always a bad counselor and an enemy of faith and love. Indeed, perfect love drives out fear (1Jn 4:18). A person grows and achieves victories according to how much he overcomes fear by his faith. David, however, is not guided by his faith during this period. He knows that the Philistines see in him a powerful enemy whom they got hold of by his arrival just like that (Psa 56:1). He knows no other solution to this problem than to behave like a madman. He presents himself as someone who has lost his mind.

David here sinks far below the level of a believer. This is not a stratagem, but an act of desperation. A believer who deliberately behaves like an idiot sets a totally wrong example. He casts a libel on the Name of the Lord. Let’s not judge David too harshly about it. How many times have we deliberately behaved differently for fear of reactions of hostility from the world and, to put it mildly, not been witnesses to the Lord Jesus?

David’s downfall is great. His behavior works that Achish drives him away as we read here. Certainly, he has escaped from a dangerous situation, but how libelous is his salvation. There is much to be ashamed of. What remains is the grace of God. That God’s grace also plays a role in this whole event is evident from the two psalms that arose in his heart during his stay with Achish in Gath (Psalms 34; 56). In the description of the events we see his outward behavior. In both psalms we see what went on in his heart during those events.

Psalm 34 shows what is in his heart when he is afraid of Abimelech. His heart cries out to God and He saves him, for he is brokenhearted and crushed in spirit (Psa 34:18).

David says that He will bless, or praise, the LORD “at all times”, that is, always (Psa 34:1b). This is how a thanksgiving psalm usually begins. After his rescue from such a difficult and degrading situation, he is full of gratitude to the LORD. He resolves that praise for Him will be “continually” in his mouth. “At all times” and “continually” means that the LORD is worthy of our praising Him not only when we are living in prosperity, but also when things are against us, i.e. regardless of circumstance (cf. 1Thes 5:16; Phil 4:4).

He does not owe his deliverance from Abimelech’s grip into which he put himself, to himself, but to the LORD. Although he has acted like a madman, the LORD has worked in the heart of Abimelech not to kill him, but to drive him away. Therefore, he is still alive and free. It is the occasion for his soul to boast in the LORD (Psa 34:2).

His experience has made him humble. The humble or lowly are people who, like him, have learned to be humble and submissive and to expect nothing more from themselves. A humble or humbled person is one whose spirit has been broken, because the Word has struck him in his distress (Isa 66:2), one who has humbled himself under the strong hand of God (1Pet 5:6).

When David was in distress, he cried out to God from the depths of his soul. His experience that the LORD takes notice of such people (Isa 66:2) is an encouragement to others in similar situations. They will hear of what God has done for David. They will recognize that and rejoice that David was thus saved by the LORD.

David therefore calls them to join him in magnifying the LORD (Psa 34:3). They have come to know the LORD in a similar way. Therefore, they can with David exalt His Name, that is, make known the glory of His Name. His Name is His Being, it is all that He is and in which His own have come to know Him. His goodness is expressed here in the fact that He lets Himself be entreated. The moment you ask for salvation in your distress, He hears and answers that prayer (Psa 34:4 ; 6). That is the reason to praise His Name.

Seeking, Looking to and Fearing the LORD

In these verses follows the motivation for praising the LORD that David called for in the previous verses. It has become clear that the LORD is a Helper in need. In Psa 34:4 and Psa 34:6 David expresses a personal experience. In the subsequent verses Psa 34:5 and Psa 34:7, he expresses a general testimony on that basis as an encouragement to others. In the subsequent verses Psa 34:6 and Psa 34:8, he expresses a general testimony on that basis as an encouragement to others. Psa 34:8 is an exhortation based on his experience and testimony.

In Psa 34:4, David testifies to what is often found in Psalms: his seeking of God in his distress and God’s response in deliverance. The deliverance here is total, it is “from all my fears”. God delivered him from everything that made him fear (1Sam 21:12).

In Psa 34:5, David expands this to a plural “they”. He does not say who these ‘they’ are, but we may assume that this is the little group of men who are with him. They also look forward to the LORD and “were radiant” (cf. Isa 60:5). The LORD helped them, so that their faces did not become red with shame (cf. Psa 35:4).

In them we recognize the faithful remnant. In the end time, when there are so many enemies who make them fearful, they will be looking forward to Him, yes, their faces will be shining. When one sees the Lord, one becomes glad (Jn 20:20; cf. 1Sam 6:13). They will not be ashamed in their trust in Him, for they will be delivered ‘from all that they fear’.

David speaks of himself as “this poor man” (Psa 34:6). This means that David in great distress humbled himself under the powerful hand of God (1Pet 5:6). From what David experienced, others can learn how the LORD acts again and again. Therefore, he speaks of himself in the third person. He sets himself as an example of how the LORD saves an afflicted person who cries out to Him “out of all his troubles”.

In Psa 34:7 he expands that again and speaks of “those who fear” the LORD. Around them the angel of the LORD encamps and rescues them (cf. Zec 9:8; 2Kgs 6:15-17). The Angel of the LORD is the appearance of the LORD or the Lord Jesus in the Old Testament (cf. Gen 16:7-13).

David concludes sharing his experiences with the call to “taste and see that the LORD is good” (Psa 34:8). Psa 34:8b is the explanation of Psa 34:8a. We can taste that God is good when we take refuge in Him in great distress. Those who do so are happy, blessed, because God shows His goodness at such a time. David testified of it, so everyone can taste it and see it. We can taste and see God’s goodness in what He has done in the lives of others.

Yet the real tasting and seeing of God’s goodness will not really happen to us until we ourselves have experienced God in this way in our personal circumstances. It is therefore a call to go our way in fellowship with Him, in order that this may become our experience too. This means that we take refuge in Him in everything. Then we are blessed, full of happiness.

Peter quotes this verse in connection with our spiritual growth (1Pet 2:3-4). For this we are not primarily dependent on a good intellect, but on our spiritual taste. The things Peter speaks of are not addressed to the intellect, but to the heart that has tasted and seen “that the LORD is good”.

Peter speaks of experiencing goodness – Hebrew tov (Psa 34:8a) – when we come to Him, that is, in our distress, we resort to Him. He himself has tasted and seen that the Lord is good. After having denied the Lord Jesus, he is restored by Him. He is again used by the Lord in His service and may serve his brethren with the experience he has gained.