Psalm 34:18

The heading of Psalm 34 ties it to the time when David “changed his behaviour before Abimelech; who drove him away, and he departed.” That is the day recorded in 1 Samuel 21:10–15, when David fled from Saul to Achish, king of Gath, among Israel’s enemies, and escaped by pretending to be mad, scribbling on the doors of the gate and letting his spittle fall down upon his beard. The psalm calls the king Abimelech, which may have been a title for Philistine kings or another name for Achish. David came out of that danger owing his life to the LORD’s mercy, and the whole psalm grows from it.

The psalm opens with David’s vow to bless the LORD at all times (Psalm 34:1) and his call, “O magnify the LORD with me” (34:3). He tells how he sought the LORD and was delivered from all his fears (34:4), how “The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him” (34:7), and he invites everyone to “taste and see that the LORD is good” (34:8) and to fear him, since those who seek him lack no good thing (34:9–10). At verse 11 the praise becomes teaching. Verses 12 to 14 give the way of life, and verses 15 to 18 give God’s promises to those who walk in it. Those promises carry on into “Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all” (34:19) and the end of the wicked (34:21).

Psalm 34 is an acrostic. Its verses begin with the letters of the Hebrew alphabet in order, though the pattern has some irregularities in the Hebrew text as we have it. The form helped God’s people learn the psalm by heart, and it gives the sense of a lesson taught whole, from first letter to last.

“Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD.” David speaks here as a teacher of wisdom. In Israel such teachers were honored, usually elders whose long experience and walk with God gave them something to hand on, and they taught the young and anyone who came seeking. The faith passed from one generation to the next in the home and among God’s people, and the fear of the LORD was a way of living each day in faithfulness to his covenant.

“Come” translates yâlak, the ordinary verb “to walk” or “to go”, here a plural command calling the hearers to draw near and learn. “Hearken” is shâmaʻ, to hear with understanding, and the word often carries the sense of attending to what is heard and obeying it. It is the word of Israel’s great call, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD” (Deuteronomy 6:4–7), which goes on to tell parents to teach God’s words diligently to their children. David is asking for listening that leads to doing.

The lesson David promises is “the fear of the LORD”. The noun yirʼâh means fear, and used of our stance toward God it means reverence. It is the awe that sees the LORD’s power and holiness, bows to his authority, worships him and wants to please him in every part of life. Scripture calls it the starting point of all true understanding: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge” (Proverbs 1:7), and “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10, Psalm 111:10). Wisdom has to be learned, which is why David says he will teach it.

The verses that follow show what this fear looks like in a life: in the words we say, the evil we turn from, the good we do and the peace we seek. Proverbs joins the two the same way: “by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil” (Proverbs 16:6).

“What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good?” David asks a question everyone answers the same way. We all want to live, to live long, and to see good while we live. The question draws every hearer in, and the next two verses give the answer.

The word for man, ʼîysh, here means any man at all, “whoever”. “Desireth” is châphêts, to delight in or take pleasure in something, so the question speaks of a real longing. “Life” is chay, which in Hebrew usually takes the plural form chayyim for a full life, and it covers the richness of life as well as its length. “Many days” asks for that life to last. “Good” is ṭôwb, a broad word for what is pleasant, right, happy and prosperous, so “to see good” means to live a blessed life and enjoy it.

In Israel long life was counted a mark of God’s favor. Proverbs promises the one who keeps God’s commandments “length of days, and long life, and peace” (Proverbs 3:1–2), and it says of wisdom, “Length of days is in her right hand” (Proverbs 3:13–18). Moses set the same choice before Israel: “therefore choose life” (Deuteronomy 30:19).

The first thing David teaches about the good life is the control of speech: “Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.” Tongue and lips stand for everything we say, and the second line restates and sharpens the first.

“Keep” is nâtsar, to guard, watch or preserve, the work of a sentry at a gate. We are to set a guard over our mouths and keep it there. “Evil” is raʻ, a broad word for what is wicked or harmful, and in speech it covers slander, gossip, cursing, harsh words and anything said to hurt. “Guile” is mirmâh, deceit, fraud or treachery, words used on purpose to mislead or betray. All guile is evil speech, and David names it on its own to stress sincerity: honest words that mean what they say.

In Israel the spoken word was taken seriously. Oaths, blessings and curses were held to be binding, and a community’s trust rested on its members telling the truth. Scripture speaks of the tongue with great weight. “In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise” (Proverbs 10:19), and “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21). James warns that “the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison” (James 3:8). Jesus says that “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (Matthew 12:34) and that we will give account in the day of judgment for every idle word (Matthew 12:36–37), so our speech shows the state of our hearts. Paul gives the other side: “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying” (Ephesians 4:29). Today the same command reaches the words we type and post, which can wound or deceive as surely as spoken ones.

David wrote this after deceiving Achish by feigning madness to save his life. His call to keep the lips from guile may reflect what he came to see about truthful speech, even in hard places, and his resolve to live with integrity before God.

“Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.” Verse 14 gives four commands in two pairs. The first pair turns from wrong to right, and the second looks for peace and then follows it.

“Depart” is çûwr, to turn off or turn aside, to remove oneself, as a traveller leaves a road. In the Old Testament it often means a decided break with sin, in thought, word and intention as well as in deed. The turning away is joined at once to doing good, because the life God blesses is full of kindness, justice and compassion toward others. Micah gives the same whole picture: “what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (Micah 6:8).

“Peace” is shalom, which in Israel meant wholeness, health, security and well-being for a person and a community, along with the end of strife. “Seek” is bâqash, to search out or strive after. “Pursue” is râdaph, to run after or chase, a word usually used of chasing an enemy, and here David uses it of following after a good goal. Together the two verbs make peace something we go looking for and then follow, which matters most in the places where it is hard to find. Paul writes, “If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men” (Romans 12:18), Hebrews says, “Follow peace with all men, and holiness” (Hebrews 12:14), and Jesus says, “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God” (Matthew 5:9). When we make peace we reflect the God of peace himself.

Having said how to live, David gives the reason: “The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry.” Scripture speaks of God’s eyes and ears so that we can grasp how fully he knows his people and attends to them. The eyes, ʻayin, speak of a watchful and favorable gaze that knows every detail of their lives and keeps them. The open ears speak of his readiness to hear. The “cry”, shavʻâh, is a calling out, a cry raised to God. The two lines say one thing from two sides: the righteous are always in his sight, and their prayers always reach him.

Peter repeats this promise to the church (1 Peter 3:12). Proverbs says, “The LORD is far from the wicked: but he heareth the prayer of the righteous” (Proverbs 15:29), and another psalm says, “The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth” (Psalm 145:18–19).

“The face of the LORD is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.” This verse stands directly opposite the one before. The LORD’s eyes rest in favor on the righteous, and his face is set against evildoers.

“Face” is pânîym, a word plural in form and always used as a singular. It means the face, and from that the front of a thing or a person’s presence. When God’s face is against someone, he himself stands opposed to them. “Cut off” is kârath, to cut off or cut down, and by implication to destroy. “Remembrance” is zêker, a memorial or memory, what keeps a person’s name alive. In Israel a good name and a lasting memory were prized, and to have one’s name cut off was a terrible disgrace. “The memory of the just is blessed: but the name of the wicked shall rot” (Proverbs 10:7). Another psalm says to God of the wicked, “thou hast put out their name for ever and ever” (Psalm 9:5–6), and Malachi speaks of the day that “shall burn as an oven”, when all that do wickedly shall be stubble (Malachi 4:1).

This is the justice of the God of whom Moses sang, “all his ways are judgment” (Deuteronomy 32:4). It warns anyone drawn toward wickedness that God sees every deed, and it comforts those who suffer under the wicked, because evil may prosper for a while but God will set things right.

“The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.” The three clauses move from the cry, to God’s hearing, to rescue. David is speaking of what he himself knew: “I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears” (34:4).

“Cry” here is tsâʻaq, to cry out or call for help in hardship, and sometimes to call people together. It is the cry of people in trouble, as when the children of Israel “sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried”. The hope of this verse rests on the one who hears. Yᵉhôvâh, the LORD, is God’s covenant name, the name of the eternal God who has bound himself to his people. “Heareth” is shâmaʻ, the same verb David used for “hearken” in verse 11, so the God we are called to listen to listens to us. When he hears, he understands the depth of the cry, takes it to heart and acts. “Delivereth” is nâtsal, to snatch away or rescue. As usual with this verb, its object is the people rescued, “them”, and “out of” marks what they are taken from. “Troubles” is tsârâh, from the idea of tightness, so it means distress, affliction, a narrow place of every kind.

God calls his people to this cry: “call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me” (Psalm 50:15). Through Jeremiah he says, “Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you” (Jeremiah 29:12). Through Isaiah he says, “before they call, I will answer” (Isaiah 65:24), and Paul tells us to bring everything to God by prayer and supplication and to receive his peace (Philippians 4:6–7).

“The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.” Verse 18 tells us who among the suffering find the LORD close: the broken and the crushed. The proud and the self-sufficient lean on their own strength, standing or religious show, and the broken have come to the end of all that and lean on God.

“Nigh” is qârôwb, near, a word used of what is close in place or time and of close kin, and here it says that the LORD is close at hand to the brokenhearted. “Broken” is shâbar, to break or shatter. The same verb is used of what God binds up and heals: “He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds” (Psalm 147:3), and “I will... bind up that which was broken” (Ezekiel 34:16). A broken heart is one he can mend. “Contrite” is dakkâʼ, crushed or bruised, and so humbled and penitent. “Saveth” is yâshaʻ, to rescue, deliver and bring to safety, and God’s saving may reach the soul, the grieving heart or the body in danger.

God says the same through Isaiah: “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit” (Isaiah 57:15). David prays it in his great psalm of repentance: “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise” (Psalm 51:17). Jesus begins his teaching on the mount with “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3), and the Lord told Paul, “my strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

These verses reach their fullness in Jesus Christ. David, a type of the greater Teacher to come, invited children to come and learn. Jesus, in whom “are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3), says, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). He taught the fear of the LORD and lived it, obeying the Father “unto death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:8), and Hebrews says that he “was heard in that he feared” (Hebrews 5:7–8). Through him we learn to fear God out of love and gratitude, for “We love him, because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

The life verse 12 longs for is found in him. He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6), and “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). He also said, “there is none good but one, that is, God” (Mark 10:18), so the good that verse 12 seeks is found in God himself, and its last fulfillment is the new heavens and new earth, “wherein dwelleth righteousness” (2 Peter 3:13).

Christ kept the commands of verses 13 and 14 perfectly. He “did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth” (1 Peter 2:22). He was tempted in all points as we are, “yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15), and he “went about doing good” (Acts 10:38). He is the “Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6), who is our peace and has broken down the middle wall of partition (Ephesians 2:14–16), so that “we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1) and carry “the gospel of peace” to others (Ephesians 6:15). His Spirit enables us to seek and pursue that peace.

He is the righteous one on whom the Father’s eyes rested, and in him we are counted righteous: “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). He bore God’s judgment against sin, rose from the dead to die no more (Romans 6:9–10), and will return to judge, when those who refuse God will be “punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord” (2 Thessalonians 1:8–9). Those who are in Christ receive an inheritance “that fadeth not away” (1 Peter 1:4).

He cried to his Father in Gethsemane and on the cross “with strong crying and tears”, and he was answered with resurrection. By his death he delivers those “who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Hebrews 2:14–15). He is our great High Priest (Hebrews 4:14–16), our “advocate with the Father” (1 John 2:1), who “maketh intercession for us” (Romans 8:34). In him the LORD came near to the brokenhearted, for “the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). He sought out the poor in spirit and those who mourn (Matthew 5:3–4), humbled himself in obedience (Philippians 2:5–8), and died for us “while we were yet sinners” (Romans 5:8), so that whoever believes in him should have everlasting life (John 3:16).

David’s lesson is still open to anyone willing to come and listen. We learn the fear of the LORD by hearing his word with a mind to obey it, by prayer, and from those who have walked with him longer than we have. It shows in ordinary things: an honest word where a lie would be easier, a sharp reply held back, a turn away from a familiar sin, a kindness done, a first step toward peace with someone we have quarrelled with.

Those who have tasted the LORD’s goodness can pass it on, as David did, to younger believers and to anyone who will listen. And when trouble comes, we can cry to the LORD knowing that his eyes are on us and his ears are open. He is near to the broken. The heart that comes to him in sorrow or in repentance finds him close at hand and ready to save.