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Commentary on Psalms 34 verses 1–10
The title of this psalm tells us both who penned it and upon what occasion it was penned. David, being forced to flee from his country, which was made too hot for him by the rage of Saul, sought shelter as near it as he could, in the land of the Philistines. There it was soon discovered who he was, and he was brought before the king, who, in the narrative, is called Achish (his proper name), here Abimelech (his title); and lest he should be treated as a spy, or one that came thither upon design, he feigned himself to be a madman (such there have been in every age, that even by idiots men might be taught to give God thanks for the use of their reason), that Achish might dismiss him as a contemptible man, rather than take cognizance of him as a dangerous man. And it had the effect he desired; by this stratagem he escaped the hand that otherwise would have handled him roughly. Now, 1. We cannot justify David in this dissimulation. It ill became an honest man to feign himself to be what he was not, and a man of honour to feign himself to be a fool and a mad-man. If, in sport, we mimic those who have not so good an understanding as we think we have, we forget that God might have made their case ours. 2. Yet we cannot but wonder at the composure of his spirit, and how far he was from any change of that, when he changed his behaviour. Even when he was in that fright, or rather in that danger only, his heart was so fixed, trusting in God, that even then he penned this excellent psalm, which has as much in it of the marks of a calm sedate spirit as any psalm in all the book; and there is something curious too in the composition, for it is what is called an alphabetical psalm, that is, a psalm in which every verse begins with each letter in its order as it stands in the Hebrew alphabet. Happy are those who can thus keep their temper, and keep their graces in exercise, even when they are tempted to change their behaviour. In this former part of the psalm,
I. David engages and excites himself to praise God. Though it was his fault that he changed his behaviour, yet it was God's mercy that he escaped, and the mercy was so much the greater in that God did not deal with him according to the desert of his dissimulation, and we must in every thing give thanks. He resolves, 1. That he will praise God constantly: I will bless the Lord at all times, upon all occasions. He resolves to keep up stated times for this duty, to lay hold of all opportunities for it, and to renew his praises upon every fresh occurrence that furnished him with matter. If we hope to spend our eternity in praising God, it is fit that we should spend as much as may be of our time in this work. 2. That he will praise him openly: His praise shall continually be in my mouth. Thus he would show how forward he was to own his obligations to the mercy of God and how desirous to make others also sensible of theirs. 3. That he will praise him heartily: "My soul shall make her boast in the Lord, in my relation to him, my interest in him, and expectations from him." It is not vainglory to glory in the Lord.
II. He calls upon others to join with him herein. He expects they will (Psa 34:2): "The humble shall hear thereof, both of my deliverance and of my thankfulness, and be glad that a good man has so much favour shown him and a good God so much honour done him." Those have most comfort in God's mercies, both to others and to themselves, that are humble, and have the least confidence in their own merit and sufficiency. It pleased David to think that God's favours to him would rejoice the heart of every Israelite. Three things he would have us all to concur with him in: -
1.In great and high thoughts of God, which we should express in magnifying him and exalting his name, Psa 34:3. We cannot make God greater or higher than he is; but if we adore him as infinitely great, and higher than the highest, he is pleased to reckon this magnifying and exalting him. This we must do together. God's praises sound best in concert, for so we praise him as the angels do in heaven. Those that share in God's favour, as all the saints do, should concur in his praises; and we should be as desirous of the assistance of our friends in returning thanks for mercies as in praying for them. We have reason to join in thanksgiving to God,
(1.)For his readiness to hear prayer, which all the saints have had the comfort of; for he never said to any of them, Seek you me in vain. [1.] David, for his part, will give it under his hand that he has found him a prayer-hearing God (Psa 34:4): "I sought the Lord, in my distress, entreated his favour, begged his help, and he heard me, answered my request immediately, and delivered me from all my fears, both from the death I feared and from the disquietude and disturbance produced by fear of it." The former he does by his providence working for us, the latter by his grace working in us, to silence our fears and still the tumult of the spirits; this latter is the greater mercy of the two, because the thing we fear is our trouble only, but our unbelieving distrustful fear of it is our sin; nay, it is often more our torment too than the thing itself would be, which perhaps would only touch the bone and the flesh, while the fear would prey upon the spirits and put us out of the possession of our own soul. David's prayers helped to silence his fears; having sought the Lord, and left his case with him, he could wait the event with great composure. "But David was a great and eminent man, we may not expect to be favoured as he was; have any others ever experienced the like benefit by prayer?" Yes, [2.] Many besides him have looked unto God by faith and prayer, and have been lightened by it, Psa 34:5. It has wonderfully revived and comforted them; witness Hannah, who, when she had prayed, went her way, and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad. When we look to the world we are darkened, we are perplexed, and at a loss; but, when we look to God, from him we have the light both of direction and joy, and our way is made both plain and pleasant. These here spoken of, that looked unto God, had their expectations raised, and the event did not frustrate them: Their faces were not ashamed of their confidence. "But perhaps these also were persons of great eminence, like David himself, and upon that account were highly favoured, or their numbers made them considerable;" nay, [3.] This poor man cried, a single person, mean and inconsiderable, whom no man looked upon with any respect or looked after with any concern; yet he was as welcome to the throne of grace as David or any of his worthies: The Lord heard him, took cognizance of his case and of his prayers, and saved him out of all his troubles, Psa 34:6. God will regard the prayer of the destitute, Psa 102:17. See Isa 57:15.
(2.)For the ministration of the good angels about us (Psa 34:7): The angel of the Lord, a guard of angels (so some), but as unanimous in their service as if they were but one, or a guardian angel, encamps round about those that fear God, as the life-guard about the prince, and delivers them. God makes use of the attendance of the good spirits for the protection of his people from the malice and power of evil spirits; and the holy angels do us more good offices every day than we are aware of. Though in dignity and in capacity of nature they are very much superior to us, - though they retain their primitive rectitude, which we have lost; - though they have constant employment in the upper world, the employment of praising God, and are entitled to a constant rest and bliss there, - yet in obedience to their Maker, and in love to those that bear his image, they condescend to minister to the saints, and stand up for them against the powers of darkness; they not only visit them, but encamp round about them, acting for their good as really, though not as sensibly, as for Jacob's (Gen 32:1), and Elisha's, Kg2 6:17. All the glory be to the God of the angels.
2.He would have us to join with him in kind and good thoughts of God (Psa 34:8): O taste and see that the Lord is good! The goodness of God includes both the beauty and amiableness of his being and the bounty and beneficence of his providence and grace; and accordingly, (1.) We must taste that he is a bountiful benefactor, relish the goodness of God in all his gifts to us, and reckon that the savour and sweetness of them. Let God's goodness be rolled under the tongue as a sweet morsel. (2.) We must see that he is a beautiful being, and delight in the contemplation of his infinite perfections. By taste and sight we both make discoveries and take complacency. Taste and see God's goodness, that is, take notice of it and take the comfort of it, Pe1 2:3. he is good, for he makes all those that trust in him truly blessed; let us therefore be so convinced of his goodness as thereby to be encouraged in the worst of times to trust in him.
3.He would have us join with him in a resolution to seek God and serve him, and continue in his fear (Psa 34:9): O fear the Lord! you his saints. When we taste and see that he is good we must not forget that he is great and greatly to be feared; nay, even his goodness is the proper object of a filial reverence and awe. They shall fear the Lord and his goodness, Hos 3:5. Fear the Lord; that is, worship him, and make conscience of your duty to him in every thing, not fear him and shun him, but fear him and seek him (v. 10) as a people seek unto their God; address yourselves to him and portion yourselves in him. To encourage us to fear God and seek him, it is here promised that those that do so, even in this wanting world, shall want no good thing (Heb. They shall not want all good things); they shall so have all good things that they shall have no reason to complain of the want of any. As to the things of the other world, they shall have grace sufficient for the support of the spiritual life (Co2 12:9; Psa 84:11); and, as to this life, they shall have what is necessary to the support of it from the hand of God: as a Father, he will feed them with food convenient. What further comforts they desire they shall have, as far as Infinite Wisdom sees good, and what they want in one thing shall be made up in another. What God denies them he will give them grace to be content without and then they do not want it, Deu 3:26. Paul had all and abounded, because he was content, Phi 4:11, Phi 4:18. Those that live by faith in God's all-sufficiency want nothing; for in him they have enough. The young lions. often lack and suffer hunger - those that live upon common providence, as the lions do, shall want that satisfaction which those have that live by faith in the promise; those that trust to themselves, and think their own hands sufficient for them, shall want (for bread is not always to the wise) - but verily those shall be fed that trust in God and desire to be at his finding. Those that are ravenous, and prey upon all about them, shall want; but the meek shall inherit the earth. Those shall not want who with quietness work and mind their own business; plain-hearted Jacob has pottage enough, when Esau, the cunning hunter, is ready to perish for hunger.
Unless fear disciplines our life, it is impossible successfully to attain holiness in body.… In him who fears there is not want, that is, he is failing with regard to no virtue who is prevented by fear from every absurd act, since he falls short of nothing good that belongs to human nature. As he is not perfect in body who is lacking in any necessary part but is imperfect because of what he lacks, so also he who is disposed contemptuously about one of the commands, because he is wanting in it, is imperfect in that in which he lacks. But he who has assumed perfect fear and through piety shrinks beneath all things will commit no sin because he despises nothing; he will not experience any want because he will possess fear sufficiently in all things.
It is not possible for the one who fears God and hopes in him to fail.
"O fear the Lord, all you His saints, for there is no want to them that fear Him" [Psalm 34:9]. For many therefore will not fear God the Lord, lest they suffer hunger. It is said to them, Defraud not; and they say, Whence can I feed myself? No art can be without imposture; no business can be without fraud. But fraud God punishes: fear God. But if I should fear God, I shall not have whence to live. "O fear the Lord, all you His saints, for there is no want to them that fear Him." He promises plenty to him that trembles, and doubts, lest haply if he should fear God, he should lose things superfluous. The Lord fed you despising Him, and will He desert you fearing Him? Attend, and say not, Such an one is rich, and I am poor. I fear the Lord, he by not fearing how much has he gained, and I by fearing am bare! See what follows; "The rich do lack and suffer hunger, but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing" [Psalm 34:10]. If you receive it according to the letter, He seems to deceive you, for you see that many rich men that are wicked die in their riches, and are not made poor while they live; you see them grow old, and come even to the end of life amid great abundance and riches. You see their funeral pomp celebrated with great profusion, the man himself brought rich even to the sepulchre, having expired in beds of ivory, his family weeping around; and you say in your mind, if haply you know some both sins and crimes done by him: I know what things that man has done; lo, he has grown old, he has died in his bed, his friends follow him to the grave, his funeral is celebrated with all this pomp; I know what he has done; the Scripture has deceived me, and has spoken falsely, where I hear and sing; "The rich do lack and suffer hunger." When was this man in need? When did he suffer hunger? "But they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing." Daily I rise up to Church, daily I bend the knee, daily I seek the Lord, and have nothing good: this man sought not the Lord, and he has died in the midst of all these good things! Thus thinking, the snare of offense chokes him; for he seeks mortal food on the earth, and seeks not a true reward in heaven, and so he puts his head into the devil's noose, his jaws are tied close, and the devil holds him fast unto evil doing, that so he may imitate the evil men, whom he sees to die in such plenty.
Fear the Lord, all his saints, because the ones fearing him lack nothing—nothing of excellence in the present, nothing of perfection, nothing of future joy.
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SUMMARY
Psalms 34:9 stands as a profound exhortation and a divine promise, inviting God's devoted people, identified as His "saints," to cultivate a deep, reverential fear of the LORD. This posture of awe, respect, and obedient submission is presented not as a burden, but as the very pathway to complete sufficiency, assuring them that those who truly honor Him will experience no lack in any essential aspect of their lives. It transforms David's personal testimony of miraculous deliverance into a universal principle, highlighting God's unwavering commitment to holistically provide for all who faithfully trust and revere Him.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Psalms 34:9 is rich with literary artistry that enhances its profound message. The verse opens with a direct Imperative ("O fear the LORD"), which acts as a forceful and immediate call to action, drawing the audience into the psalmist's exhortation. This command is immediately followed by a clear statement of Cause and Effect, where the act of "fearing the LORD" is presented as the direct and necessary condition for experiencing "no want." The verse masterfully employs Inclusio and Repetition by beginning with "fear the LORD" and concluding with "to them that fear him," thereby framing the entire promise within the context of this essential reverential posture and emphasizing its paramount importance. Furthermore, the phrase "no want" functions as a powerful form of Litotes, expressing an affirmative (God's abundant and holistic provision) by negating its opposite (lack or deficiency), subtly underscoring the completeness and certainty of God's care. The term "saints" can also be understood as a form of Synecdoche, where a specific group (those who are pious and set apart) stands for the broader community of the righteous who are called to this lifestyle of profound reverence and trust in God.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Psalms 34:9 encapsulates a foundational theological principle woven throughout the fabric of Scripture: the intimate and unbreakable connection between a deep, reverential devotion to God and His faithful, comprehensive provision. This "fear of the LORD" is not a cowering dread, but a profound awe that leads to unwavering trust, humble obedience, and absolute dependence on the Almighty. It signifies a proper recognition of God's infinite majesty, holiness, and sovereignty, which then reorients one's entire life to seek His will and His kingdom above all else. When humanity aligns itself with God's purposes through this humble reverence, God, in His boundless goodness, faithfulness, and covenant love, pledges to meet all essential needs. This promise extends far beyond mere material provision to encompass spiritual flourishing, emotional well-being, and relational harmony, ensuring a holistic sufficiency for those who truly honor Him. It underscores a dynamic covenantal relationship where human faithfulness is met with divine, unfailing care.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Psalms 34:9 offers both profound encouragement and a vital challenge for believers navigating the complexities of contemporary life. In a world often characterized by pervasive anxiety over perceived needs, insatiable material desires, and the relentless pursuit of more, this verse powerfully redirects our focus to the ultimate and only true source of security and fulfillment: God Himself. It calls us to cultivate a deeper, more profound reverence for the LORD, urging us to recognize His sovereignty, His unblemished holiness, and His loving, meticulous care in every facet of our existence. When we truly "fear" Him in this biblical sense—when we consciously prioritize His will, His kingdom, and His righteousness above all earthly concerns—we are given the unwavering assurance that He will faithfully and comprehensively meet our needs. This promise does not guarantee a life devoid of hardship or an abundance of every material desire, but rather a divine sufficiency that ensures we will lack nothing essential for our spiritual flourishing, emotional peace, and physical well-being. It invites us to embrace a lifestyle of radical trust and profound contentment, liberating us from the endless cycle of striving and enabling us to rest securely in the peace that emanates from knowing our loving God is our ultimate and unfailing provider.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
What does "fear the LORD" truly mean in this context?
Answer: In Psalms 34:9, "fear the LORD" does not imply a cowering terror or dread of God, but rather a profound and reverential awe, respect, and honor for Him. It encompasses recognizing His absolute sovereignty, His infinite holiness, and His immense power, which naturally leads to a posture of obedient submission, deep devotion, and humble worship. It is a foundational concept for a proper, healthy relationship with God, inspiring trust, adoration, and a fervent desire to live in accordance with His divine will and purposes. This reverential fear is consistently described in Scripture as the "beginning of wisdom," as eloquently stated in Proverbs 9:10, because it rightly positions humanity before the Creator.
Does "there is no want" promise material wealth or freedom from all difficulties?
Answer: No, the promise "there is no want" in Psalms 34:9 does not guarantee material wealth, an abundance of every desire, or a life completely devoid of challenges and difficulties. Instead, it signifies that God, in His faithfulness, will meet the true, essential needs of those who fear Him. This comprehensive provision extends to spiritual, emotional, and physical necessities, ensuring a state of divine sufficiency and profound contentment. It speaks to God's faithful and sustaining care for His people, providing not necessarily every want, but always what is truly needed for their well-being and for them to fulfill His purposes in their lives. This aligns perfectly with the New Testament teaching to seek God's kingdom and His righteousness first, with the comforting assurance that "all these things will be added to you" (Matthew 6:33). It is a promise of God's unfailing sustenance, echoing the sentiment found in Philippians 4:19, "And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus."
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Psalms 34:9 finds its ultimate and most profound fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus Christ. The "fear of the LORD" that the psalmist calls for is perfectly and flawlessly embodied in Christ, who lived a life of absolute obedience, profound reverence, and complete submission to the Father's will, even to the agonizing point of death on the cross (Philippians 2:8). He is the quintessential "Saint," the Holy One of God, who perfectly demonstrated what it means to truly fear the LORD, not out of terror, but out of perfect love and devotion. Furthermore, the promise of "no want" is fully and eternally realized in Christ, who is the ultimate source of all true provision for humanity. He declares Himself to be the Bread of Life, satisfying our deepest spiritual hunger; the Living Water, quenching our most profound thirst; and the Good Shepherd, who ensures His sheep lack nothing essential for abundant life. Through His atoning sacrifice and victorious resurrection, believers are reconciled to God, empowered by the indwelling Holy Spirit to genuinely "fear" (revere) God, and are made heirs to all spiritual blessings in Him (Ephesians 1:3). In Christ, our assurance of God's provision is not based on our imperfect fear or fluctuating faithfulness, but on His perfect love and Christ's finished, all-sufficient work, guaranteeing that God will supply all our needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19).