Salmi 34:4 Commento

This psalm was penned upon a particular occasion, as appears by the title, and yet there is little in it peculiar to that occasion, but that which is general, both by way of thanksgiving to God an instruction to us. I. He praises God for the experience which he and others had had of his goodness (Psa 34:1-6). II. He encourages all good people to trust in God and to seek to him (Psa 34:7-10). III. He gives good counsel to us all, as unto children, to take heed of sin, and to make conscience of our duty both to God and man (Psa 34:11-14). IV. To enforce this good counsel he shows God's favour to the righteous and his displeasure against the wicked, in which he sets before us good and evil, the blessing and the curse (Psa 34:15-22). So that, in singing this psalm, we are both to give glory to God and to teach and admonish ourselves and one another. A psalm of David when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he departed.

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 34 A Psalm of David, when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech; who drove him away, and he departed. The author of this psalm is expressed by name; and the time and occasion of it are plainly intimated: it was composed by David, "when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech"; not Ahimelech the priest, sometimes called Abimelech, Ch1 18:16; to whom David went alone for bread, pretending he was upon a private business of the king's; to which sense the Syriac version inclines, rendering the words, "when he went to the house of the Lord, [and] gave the firstfruits to the priests". But this Abimelech was king of Gath, the same with Achish, Sa1 21:10; who either had two names; or this of Abimelech, as it should seem, was a common name to all the kings of the Philistines; see Gen 20:2; as Pharaoh was to the Egyptian kings, and Caesar to the Roman emperors: the name signifies a "father king", or "my father king", or a "royal father"; as kings should be the fathers of their country: before him "David changed his behaviour", his taste, sense, or reason: he imitated a madman; behaved as if he was out of his senses, scrabbling on the doors of the gates, and letting his spittle fall down upon his beard; for he being known and made known by the servants of the king, he was in great fear of losing his life, being in the hands of an enemy, and who he might justly fear would revenge the death of their champion Goliath; wherefore he took this method to get himself despised and neglected by them, and escape out of their hands: and which succeeded; for Abimelech, or Achish, seeing him behave in such a manner, treated him with contempt, was displeased with his servants for bringing him into his presence, and ordered them to take him away, or dismiss him; which is here expressed by this phrase, "who drove him away", with scorn and indignation; "and he departed" to the cave of Adullam, glad at heart he had escaped such danger: upon which, under a sense of divine goodness, and by the inspiration of the Spirit of God, he composed the following psalm; see Sa1 21:10.

I sought the Lord, and he heard me,.... Not that he sought the Lord publicly in his house and ordinances, for he was now at Gath; but privately by prayer and supplication; and that not vocally, but mentally; for he was in the midst of the servants of the king of Gath; yet earnestly, diligently, and with his whole heart, being in great distress; when it was right to seek the Lord, and which showed him to be a good man; and the Lord heard and answered even his silent groans, which could not be uttered; and delivered me from all my fear; of being seized on by Achish, king of Gath, and of losing his life for killing Goliath: and many are the fears of God's people, both from within and from without, by reason of sin, Satan, and the world; but the Lord saves them out of the hands of all their enemies, grants them his presence, and shows them their interest in himself, which, scatters all their fears.

The whole life of the just person is filled with affliction.… But God delivers his saints from their afflictions. Though he does not leave them without trial, yet he bestows on them patient endurance. For if “tribulation works out endurance, and endurance tries virtue,” he who excludes tribulation from himself deprives himself of his tried virtue. As no one is crowned without an adversary, so also he cannot be declared tried except through tribulations.

"I sought the Lord, and He heard me" [Psalm 34:4]. Where heard the Lord? Within. Where gives He? Within. There you pray, there you are heard, there you are blessed. You have prayed, you are heard, you are blessed; and he knows not who stands by you: it is all carried on in secret, as the Lord says in the Gospel, "Enter into your closet, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father which is in secret; and your Father which sees in secret, shall reward you openly." [Matthew 6:6] When therefore you enter into your chamber, you enter into your heart. Blessed are they who rejoice when they enter into their heart, and find therein nought of evil....

“I sought the Lord” not in the expansive space of lands nor through broad and expansive regions, but in the heart. If we reflect on his majesty there, we find it present in every way.

By saying “from all,” nothing is left which you might have suspected was still standing in opposition.

Next, when he says, "I sought," the matter of praise is presented, which is divine clemency in hearing prayer. Concerning the first he does two things. First, he presents the clemency of his hearing. Second, the merit of being heard, at "This poor man cried out." Concerning the first he does two things. First, he presents the benefit granted to himself. Second, he invites others to obtain this benefit, at "Come to him," etc. Concerning the first he does three things. First, he presents the petition. Second, the hearing, at "And he heard me." Third, the effect of being heard, at "And from all." He says therefore, "I sought the Lord." The best choice is to seek God himself; hence in the Lord's Prayer the first petition is "Hallowed be thy name": Is. 55: "Seek the Lord while he may be found." He says therefore, "I sought," as if to say, with great diligence I sought. And therefore the hearing follows, "And he heard me." The effect of the hearing is that "from all my tribulations he delivered me." For he delivers the just from tribulations sometimes so that they do not suffer tribulations: Job 5: "In six tribulations he will deliver you, and in the seventh, evil shall not touch you." Sometimes so that they are not too greatly troubled: Ps. 93: "According to the multitude of my sorrows in my heart, your consolations have gladdened my soul": 2 Cor. 1: "Who comforts us in all our tribulation"; and this consolation the holy always have. Likewise, he delivered them exteriorly, because the wicked can never separate the saints from Christ: Rom. 8: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?"

On the title compare Sa1 21:13. Abimelech was the general name of the sovereign (Gen 20:2). After celebrating God's gracious dealings with him, the Psalmist exhorts others to make trial of His providential care, instructing them how to secure it. He then contrasts God's care of His people and His punitive providence towards the wicked. (Psa. 34:1-22) Even in distress, which excites supplication, there is always matter for praising and thanking God (compare Eph 5:20; Phi 4:6).

delivered . . . fears--as well as actual evil (Psa 64:1).

(Heb.: 34:5-7) The poet now gives the reason for this praise by setting forth the deliverance he has experienced. He longed for God and took pains to find Him (such is the meaning of דּרשׁ in distinction from בּקּשׁ), and this striving, which took the form of prayer, did not remain without some actual answer (ענה is used of the being heard and the fulfilment as an answer to the petition of the praying one). The perfects, as also in Psa 34:6, Psa 34:7, describe facts, one of which did not take place without the other; whereas ויּענני would give them the relation of antecedent and consequent. In Psa 34:6, his own personal experience is generalised into an experimental truth, expressed in the historical form: they look unto Him and brighten up, i.e., whosoever looketh unto Him (הבּיט אל of a look of intense yearning, eager for salvation, as in Num 21:9; Zac 12:10) brightens up. It is impracticable to make the ענוים from Psa 34:3 the subject; it is an act and the experience that immediately accompanies it, that is expressed with an universal subject and in gnomical perfects. The verb נהר, here as in Isa 60:5, has the signification to shine, glitter (whence נהרה, light). Theodoret renders it: Ὁ μετὰ πίστεως τῷ θεῷ προσιὼν φωτὸς ἀκτῖνας δέχεται νοεροῦ, the gracious countenance of God is reflected on their faces; to the actus directus of fides supplex succeeds the actus reflexus of fides triumphans. It never comes to pass that their countenances must be covered with shame on account of disappointed hope: this shall not and cannot be, as the sympathetic force of אל implies. In all the three dialects חפר (חפר) has the signification of being ashamed and sacred; according to Gesenius and F׬rst (root פר) it proceeds from the primary signification of reddening, blushing; in reality, however, since it is to be combined, not with Arab. hmr, but with chmr (cf. Arab. kfr, כפר, Arab. gfr, gmr), it proceeds from the primary signification of covering, hiding, veiling (Arabic chafira, tachaffara, used of a woman, cf. chamara, to be ashamed, to blush, to be modest, used of both sexes), so that consequently the shame-covered countenance is contrasted with that which has a bright, bold, and free look. In Psa 34:7, this general truth is again individualised. By זה עני (like זה סיני in Psa 68:9) David points to himself. From the great peril in which he was placed at the court of the Philistines, from which God has rescued him, he turns his thoughts with gratitude and praise to all the deliverances which lie in the past.