Title - A Psalm of David, when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech; who drove him away, and he departed of this transaction, which reflects no credit upon David's memory, we have a brief account in 1 Samuel 21:1-15. Although the gratitude of the Psalmist prompted him thankfully to record the goodness of the Lord in vouchsafing an undeserved deliverance, yet he weaves none of the incidents of the escape into the narrative, but dwells only on the grand fact of his being heard in the hour of peril. We may learn from his example not to parade our sins before others, as certain vainglorious professors are wont to do who seem as proud of their sins as old Greenwich pensioners of their battles and their wounds. David played the fool with singular dexterity, but he was not so real a fool as to sing of his own exploits of folly. In the original, the title does not teach us that the Psalmist composed this poem at the time of his escape from Achish, the king or Abimelech of Gath, but that it is intended to commemorate that event, and was suggested by it. It is well to mark our mercies with well carved memorials. God deserves our best handiwork. David in view of the special peril from which he was rescued, was at great pains with this Psalm, and wrote it with considerable regularity, in almost exact accordance with the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. This is the second alphabetical Psalm, the twenty-fifth being the first.

Division - The Psalm is split into two great divisions at the close of Psalm 34:10, when the Psalmist having expressed his praise to God turns in direct address to men. The first ten verses are a hymn, and the last twelve a sermon. For further assistance to the reader we may subdivide thus: In Psalm 34:1, David vows to bless the Lord, and invites the praise of others; from Psalm 34:4he relates his experience, and in Psalm 34:8, Psalm 34:9, Psalm 34:10, exhorts the godly to constancy of faith. In Psalm 34:11-14, he gives direct exhortation, and follows it up by didactic teaching from Psalm 34:15 to the close.

Hints to Preachers

Psalm 34:1 - Firm resolution, serious difficulties in carrying it out, helps for its performance, excellent consequences of so doing.

Six questions. - Who? "I." What? "Will bless." Whom? "The Lord." When? "At all times." How? Why?

Psalm 34:1 - Direction for making a heaven below.

Psalm 34:2 - The commendable boaster and his gratified audience.

We may boast of the Lord, in himself, his manifestations of himself, his relationship to us, our interest in him, our expectations from him, etc.

The duty of believers to relate their experience for the benefit of others.

Psalm 34:3 - Invitation to united praise.

Psalm 34:3 - Magnifying - or making great the work of God, a noble exercise.

Psalm 34:4 - Confessions of a ransomed soul. Simple, honouring to God, exclude merit, and encourage others to seek also.

Psalm 34:4 - Four stages, "fears," "sought," "heard," "delivered."

Psalm 34:5 - The power of a faith-look.

Psalm 34:6 -

I. The poor man's heritage, "troubles."

II. The poor man s friend.

III. The poor man's cry.

IV. The poor man's salvation.

Psalm 34:6 - The poor man's wealth.

The position of prayer in the economy of grace, or the natural history of mercy in the soul.

Psalm 34:7 - Castra angelorum, salvatio bonorum.

Psalm 34:7 - The ministry of angels.

In what sense Jesus is "The angel of the Lord."

Psalm 34:8 - Experience the only true test of religious truth.

Psalm 34:8 - Taste. The sanctified palate, the recherch provision, the gratified verdict, the celestial host.

Psalm 34:9 - The blest estate of a God-fearing man.

Psalm 34:9 - Fear expelling fear. Similia similibus curantur.

Psalm 34:10 - Lions lacking, but the children satisfied. See "Spurgeon's Sermons," No. 65.

I. Description of a true Christian, "seek the Lord."

II. The promise set forth by a contrast.

III. The promise fulfilled.

Psalm 34:10 - What is a good thing?

Psalm 34:11 - A royal teacher, his youthful disciples, his mode of instruction, "Come;" his choice subject.

Psalm 34:11 - Sunday-school work.

Psalm 34:12, Psalm 34:13, Psalm 34:14 - How to make the best of both worlds.

Psalm 34:13 - Sins of the tongue - their mischief, their cause, and their cure.

Psalm 34:14 (first clause) - The relation between the negative and positive virtues.

Psalm 34:14 (second clause) - The royal hunt. The game, the difficulties of the chase, the hunters, their methods, and their rewards.

Psalm 34:15 - Our observant God. Eyes and ears both set on us.

Psalm 34:16 - The evil man checkmated in life, and forgotten in death.

Psalm 34:17 - Afflictions and their threefold blessing.

I. They make us pray.

II. They bring us the Lord's hearing ear.

III. They afford room for joyful experience of deliverance.

Psalm 34:18 - The nearness of God to broken hearts, and the certainty of their salvation.

Psalm 34:19 - Black and white, or bane and antidote.

Special people, special trials, special deliverances, special faith as a duty.

Psalm 34:20 - The real safety of a believer when in great perils. His soul, his spiritual life, his faith, hope, love, etc.; his interest in Jesus, his adoption, justification, these all kept.

Psalm 34:21 - Wickedness, its own executioner, illustrated by scriptural cases, by history, by the lost in hell. Lessons from the solemn fact.

The forlorn condition of a man of malicious spirit.

Psalm 34:21, Psalm 34:22 - Who shall and who shall not be desolate.

Psalm 34:22 - Redemption in its various meanings; faith in its universal preservation; the Lord in his unrivalled glory in the work of grace.

Explanatory Notes and Quaint Sayings

Title

Abimelech was king of Gath, the same with Achish, 2 Samuel 21:20 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 Genesis 20:2; Genesis 26:8); 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. - John Gill.

Whole Psalm

(This Psalm is alphabetical). The Alphabetical Psalms, the psalmi abcedarii, as the Latin fathers called them, are nine in number; and I cannot help thinking it is a pity that, except in the single instance of the hundred and nineteenth, no hint of their existence should have been suffered to appear in our authorised version. I will not take it upon me to affirm, with Ewald, that no version is faithful in which the acrostic is suppressed; but I do think that the existence of such a remarkable style of composition ought to be indicated in one way or another, and that some useful purposes are served by its being actually reproduced in the translation. No doubt there are difficulties in the way. The Hebrew Alphabet differs widely from any of those now employed in Europe. Besides differences of a more fundamental kind, the Hebrew has only twenty-two letters for our twenty-six; and of the twenty-two a considerable number have no fellows in ours. An exact reproduction of a Hebrew acrostic in an English version is therefore impossible. - William Binnie, D.D.

Whole Psalm

Mr. Hapstone has endeavoured to imitate the alphabetical character of this Psalm in his metrical version. The letter answering to F is wanting, and the last stanza begins with the letter answering to R. One verse of his translation may suffice -

"At all times bless Jehovah's name will I;

His praise shall in my mouth be constantly:

Boast in Jehovah shall my soul henceforth;

Hear it, ye meek ones, and exult with mirth."

Psalm 34:1

"I will bless the Lord at all times." Mr. Bradford, martyr, speaking of Queen Mary, at whose cruel mercy he then lay, said, If the queen be pleased to release me, I will thank her; if she will imprison me, I will thank her; if she will burn me, I will thank her, etc. So saith a believing soul: Let God do with me what he will, I will be thankful. - Samuel Clarke's "Mirrour."

Psalm 34:1

Should the whole frame of nature be unhinged, and all outward friends and supporters prove false and deceitful, our worldly hopes and schemes be disappointed, and possessions torn from us, and the floods of sickness, poverty and disgrace overwhelm our soul with an impetuous tide of trouble; the sincere lover of God, finding that none of these affects his portion and the object of his panting desires, retires from them all to God his refuge and hiding place, and there feels his Saviour incomparably better, and more than equivalent to what the whole of the universe can ever offer, or rob him of; and his tender mercies, unexhausted fulness, and great faithfulness, yield him consolation and rest; and enable him, what time he is afraid, to put his trust in him. Thus we find the holy Psalmist expressing himself: "I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth." - William Dunlop.

Psalm 34:1

S. Basil tells us that the praise of God, once rightly impressed as a seal on the mind, though it may not always be carried out into action, yet in real truth causes us perpetually to praise God. - J. M. Neale's Commentary.

Psalm 34:2

"My soul shall make her boast in the Lord." Not like the boasting of the Pharisee, so hateful in the eyes of God, so offensive in the ears of the humble; for the humble can hear this boasting and be glad, which they would never do if it were not conformable to the rules of humility. Can any boasting be greater than to say, "I can do all things"? Yet in this boasting there is humility when I add, "In him that strengtheneth me." For though God likes not of boasting, yet he likes of this boasting, which arrogates nothing to ourselves, but ascribes all to him. - Sir Richard Baker.

Psalm 34:2-6

There is somewhat very striking and pleasing in the sudden transitions, and the change of persons, that is observable in these few verses. "My soul shall boast;" "The humble shall hear;" "I sought the Lord;" "They looked to him;" "This poor man cried." There is a force and elegance in the very unconnection of the expressions, which, had they been more closely tied by the proper particles, would have been in a great measure lost. Things thus separated from each other, and yet accelerated, discover, as Longinus observes, the earnestness and the vehemency of the inward working of the mind; and though it may seem to interrupt, or disturb the sentence, yet quickens and enforces it. - Samuel Chandler, D.D.

Psalm 34:3

Venema remarks that after the affair with Achish, we are told in 1 Samuel 22:1, "His brethren, and all his father's house went down to the cave Adullam unto him," and these, together with those who were in debt, and discontented with Saul's government, formed a band of four hundred men. To these his friends and comrades, he relates the story of his escape, and bids them with united hearts and voices extol the Lord. - C. H. S.

Psalm 34:4

"I sought the Lord, and he heard me." God expects to hear from you before you can expect to hear from him. If you restrain prayer, it is no wonder the mercy promised is retained. Meditation is like the lawyer's studying the case in order to his pleading at the bar: when, therefore, thou hast viewed the promise, and affected thy heart with the riches of it, then fly thee to the throne of grace, and spread it before the Lord. - William Gurnall.

Psalm 34:4

"He delivered me from all my fears." To have delivered me from all my troubles had been a great favour, but a far greater to deliver me from all my fears; for where that would but have freed me from present evil, this secures me from evil to come; that now I enjoy not only tranquility, but security, a privilege only of the godly. The wicked may be free from trouble, but can they be free from fear? No; God knows, though they be not in trouble like other men, yet they live in more fear than other men. Guiltiness of mind, or mind of the world, never suffers them to be secure: though they be free sometimes from the fit of an ague, yet they are never without a grudging; and (if I may use the expression of poets) though they feel not always the whip of Tysiphone, yet they feel always her terrors; and, seeing the Lord hath done this for me, hath delivered me from all my fears, have I not cause, just cause, to magnify him, and exalt his name? - Sir Richard Baker.

Psalm 34:5

"They looked unto him." The more we can think upon our Lord, and the less upon ourselves, the better. Looking to him, as he is seated upon the right hand of the throne of God, will keep our heads, and especially our hearts, steady when going through the deep waters of affliction. Often have I thought of this when crossing the water opposite the old place of Langholm. I found, when I looked down on the water, I got dizzy; I therefore fixed my eyes upon a steady object on the other side, and got comfortably through. - David Smith, 1792-1867.

Psalm 34:6

"This poor man cried." The reasons of crying are, 1. Want cannot blush. The pinching necessity of the saints is not tied to the law of modesty. Hunger cannot be ashamed. "I mourn in my complaint, and make a noise," saith David (Psalm 55:2); and Hezekiah, "Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter. I did mourn as a dove" (Isaiah 38:14). "I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation" (Job 30:28). 2. Though God hear prayer, only as prayer offered in Christ, not because very fervent; yet fervour is a heavenly ingredient in prayer. An arrow drawn with full strength hath a speedier issue; therefore, the prayers of the saints are expressed by crying in Scripture. "O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not" (Psalm 22:2). "At noon, will I pray, and cry aloud" (Psalm 55:17). "In my distress I cried to the Lord" (Psalm 18:6). "Unto thee have I cried, O Lord" (Psalm 88:13). "Out of the depths have I cried" (Psalm 130:1). "Out of the belly of hell cried I" (Jonah it. 2). "Unto thee will I cry, O Lord my rock" (Psalm 28:1). Yea, it goeth to somewhat more than crying: "I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard" (Job 19:7). "Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer" (Lamentations 3:8). He who may teach us all to pray, sweet Jesus, "In the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears" (Hebrews 5:7); he prayed with war shouts. 3. And these prayers are so prevalent, that God answereth them: "This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his fears" (Psalm 34:6). "My cry came before him, even into his ears" (Psalm 18:6). The cry addeth wings to the prayer, as a speedy post sent to court upon life and death: "Our fathers cried unto thee, and were delivered" (Psalm 22:5). "The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth" (Psalm 34:17). - Samuel Rutherford.

Psalm 34:7

"The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them." I will not rub the questions, whether these angels can contract themselves, and whether they can subsist in a point, and so stand together the better in so great a number, neither will I trouble myself to examine whether they are in such-and-such a place in their substance, or only in their virtue and operation. But this the godly man may assure himself of that whensoever he shall want their help, in spite of doors, and locks, and bars, he may have it in a moment's warning For there is no impediment, either for want of power because they are spirits, or from want of good will, both because it is their duty, and because they bear an affection in him; not only rejoicing at his first conversion (Luke 15:10), but, I dare confidently affirm, always disposed with abundance of cheerfulness to do anything for him. I cannot let pass some words I remember of Origen's to this purpose, as I have them from his interpreter He brings in the angels speaking after this manner: - "If he (meaning the Son of God) went down, and went down into a body, and was clothed with flesh, and endured its infirmities and died for men, what do we stand still for? Come, let's all down from heaven together." - Zachary Bogan.

Psalm 34:7

"The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him." This is the first time that, in the Psalter, we read of the ministrations of angels. But many fathers rather take this passage of the "Angel of the Great Counsel," and gloriously to him it applies. - J. M. Neale.

Psalm 34:7

"The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him," etc. By whom may be meant, either the uncreated Angel, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Angel of God's presence, and of the covenant, the Captain of salvation, the Leader and Commander of the people; and whose salvation is as walls and bulwarks about them, or as an army surrounding them; or a created angel may be intended even a single one, which is sufficient to guard a multitude of saints, since one could destroy at once such a vast number of enemies, as in 2 Kings 19:35; or one may be put for more, since they are an innumerable company that are on the side of the Lord's people, and to whom they are joined; and these may be said to encamp about them, because they are an host or army (see Genesis 32:1, Genesis 32:2; Luke 2:13); and are the guardians of the saints, that stand up for them and protect them, as well as minister to them. - John Gill.

Psalm 34:7

"The angel of the Lord" is represented in his twofold character in this pair of Psalms, as an angel of mercy, and also as an angel of judgment. Psalm 35:6. This pair of Psalms (the thirty fourth and thirty-fifth), may in this respect be compared with the twelfth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, where the angel of the Lord is displayed as encamping about St. Peter, and delivering him, and also as smiting the persecutor, Herod Agrippa. - Christopher Wordsworth, D.D.

Psalm 34:7

"Round about." In illustration of this it may be observed, that according to D'Arvieux, it is the practice of the Arabs to pitch their tents in a circular form; the prince being in the middle, and the Arabs about him, but so as to leave a respectful distance between them. And Thevenot, describing a Turkish encampment near Cairo, having particularly noticed the spaciousness, decorations, and conveniences of the Bashaw's tent, or pavilion, adds, "Round the pale of his tent, within a pistol shot, were above two hundred tents, pitched in such a manner that the doors of them all looked towards the Bashaw's tent; and it ever is so, that they may have their eye always upon their master's lodging, and be in readiness to assist him if he be attacked." - Richard Mant.

Psalm 34:8

"O taste and see that the Lord is good." Our senses help our understandings; we cannot by the most rational discourse perceive what the sweetness of honey is; taste it and you shall perceive it. "His fruit was sweet to my taste." Dwell in the light of the Lord, and let thy soul be always ravished with his love. Get out the marrow and the fatness that thy portion yields thee. Let fools learn by beholding thy face how dim their blazes are to the brightness of thy day. - Richard Alleine, in "Heaven Opened," 1665.

Psalm 34:8

"O taste and see," etc. It is not enough for thee to see it afar off, and not have it, as Dives did; or to have it in thee, and not to taste it, as Samson's lion had great store of honey in him, but tasted no sweetness of it; but thou must as well have it as see it, and as well taste it as have it. "O taste and see," says he, "how sweet the Lord is;" for so indeed Christ giveth his church not only a sight but also "a taste" of his sweetness. A sight is where he saith thus: "We will rise up early, and go into the vineyard, and see whether the vine have budded forth the small grapes, and whether the pomegranates flourish;" there is a sight of the vine. A taste is where he says thus, "I will bring thee into the wine cellar, and cause thee to drink spiced wine, and new wine of the pomegranates;" there is a taste of the wine. The church not only goes into the vineyard and sees the wine, but also goes into the wine cellar, and tastes the wine. - Thomas Playfere.

Psalm 34:8

"Taste and see." There are some things, especially in the depths of the religious life, which can only be understood by being experienced, and which even then are incapable of being adequately embodied in words. "O taste and see that the Lord is good." The enjoyment must come before the illumination; or rather the enjoyment is the illumination. There are things that must be loved before we can know them to be worthy of our love; things to be believed before we can understand them to be worthy of belief. And even after this - after we are conscious of a distinct apprehension of some spiritual truth, we can only, perhaps, answer, if required to explain it, in the words of the philosopher to whom the question was put, "What is God?" "I know, if I am not asked." - Thomas Binney's "Sermons," 1869.

Psalm 34:8

"Taste and see." Be unwilling that all the good gifts of God should be swallowed without taste or maliciously forgotten, but use your palate, know them, and consider them. - D. H. Mollerus.

Psalm 34:8

Heaven and earth are replete with the goodness of God. We omit to open our mouths and eyes, on which account the Psalmist desires us to "taste" and "see." - Augustus F. Tholuck.

Psalm 34:8

The "taste and see" invite, as it were, to a sumptuous feast, which has long been ready; to a rich sight openly exposed to view. The imperatives are in reality not hortatory but persuasive. - E. W. Hengstenberg.

1 I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

2 My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.

3 O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.

Psalm 34:1

"I will bless the Lord at all times." - He is resolved and fixed, "I will;" he is personally and for himself determined, let others do as they may; he is intelligent in head and inflamed in heart - he knows to whom the praise is due, and what is due, and for what and when. To Jehovah, and not to second causes our gratitude is to be rendered. The Lord hath by right a monopoly in his creatures' praise. Even when a mercy may remind us of our sin with regard to it, as in this case David's deliverance from the Philistine monarch was sure to do, we are not to rob God of his meed of honour because our conscience justly awards a censure to our share in the transaction. Though the hook was rusty, yet God sent the fish, and we thank him for it. "At all times," in every situation, under every circumstance, before, in and after trials, in bright clays of glee, and dark nights of fear. He would never have done praising, because never satisfied that he had done enough; always feeling that he fell short of the Lord's deservings. Happy is he whose fingers are wedded to his harp. He who praises God for mercies shall never want a mercy for which to praise. To bless the Lord is never unseasonable. "His praise shall continually be in my mouth," not in my heart merely, but in my mouth too. Our thankfulness is not to be a dumb thing; it should be one of the daughters of music. Our tongue is our glory, and it ought to reveal the glory of God. What a blessed mouthful is God's praise! How sweet, how purifying, how perfuming! If men's mouths were always thus filled, there would be no repining against God, or slander of neighbours. If we continually rolled this dainty morsel under our tongue, the bitterness of daily affliction would be swallowed up in joy. God deserves blessing with the heart, and extolling with the mouth - good thoughts in the closet, and good words in the world.

Psalm 34:2

"My soul shall make her boast in the Lord." Boasting is a very natural propensity, and if it were used as in this case, the more it were indulged the better. The exultation of this verse is no mere tongue bragging, "the soul" is in it, the boasting is meant and felt before it is expressed. What scope there is for holy boasting in Jehovah! His person, attributes, covenant, promises, works, and a thousand things besides, are all incomparable, unparalleled, matchless; we may cry them up as we please, but we shall never be convicted of vain and empty speech in so doing. Truly he who writes these words of comment has nothing of his own to boast of, but much to lament over, and yet none shall stop him of his boast in God so long as he lives. "The humble shall hear thereof, and be glad." They are usually grieved to hear boastings; they turn aside from vauntings and lofty speeches, but boasting in the Lord is quite another matter; by this the most lowly are consoled and encouraged. The confident expressions of tried believers are a rich solace to their brethren of less experience. We ought to talk of the Lord's goodness on purpose that others may be confirmed in their trust in a faithful God.

Psalm 34:3

"O magnify the Lord with me." Is this request addressed to the humble? If so it is most fitting. Who can make God great but those who feel themselves to be little? He bids them help him to make the Lord's fame greater among the sons of men. Jehovah is infinite, and therefore cannot really be made greater, but his name grows in manifested glory as he is made known to his creatures, and thus he is said to be magnified. It is well when the soul feels its own inability adequately to glorify the Lord, and therefore stirs up others to the gracious work; this is good both for the man himself and for his companions. No praise can excel that which lays us prostrate under a sense of our own nothingness, while divine grace like some topless Alp rises before our eyes, and sinks us lower and lower in holy awe. "Let us exalt his name together." Social, congregated worship is the outgrowth of one of the natural instincts of the new life. In heaven it is enjoyed to the full, and earth is likest heaven where it abounds.

4 I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.

5 They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed.

6 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.

7 The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.

Psalm 34:4

"I sought the Lord, and he heard me." It must have been in a very confused manner that David prayed, and there must have been much of self-sufficiency in his prayer, or he would not have resorted to methods of such dubious morality as pretending to be mad and behaving as a lunatic; yet his poor limping prayer had an acceptance and brought him succour: the more reason for them celebrating the abounding mercy of the Lord. We may seek God even when we have sinned. If sin could blockade the mercy-seat it would be all over with us, but the mercy is that there are gifts even for the rebellious, and an advocate for men who sin. "And delivered me from all my fears." God makes a perfect work of it. He clears away both our fears and their causes, all of them without exception. Glory be to his name, prayer sweeps the field, slays all the enemies and even buries their bones. Note the egoism of this verse and of those preceding it; we need not blush to speak of ourselves when in so doing we honestly aim at glorifying God, and not at exalting ourselves. Some are foolishly squeamish upon this point, but they should remember that when modesty robs God it is most immodest.

Psalm 34:5

"They looked unto him, and were lightened." The Psalmist avows that his case was not at all peculiar, it was matched in the lives of all the faithful; they too, each one of them on looking to their Lord were brightened up, their faces began to shine, their spirits were uplifted. What a means of blessing one look at the Lord may be! There is life, light, liberty, love, everything in fact, in a look at the crucified One. Never did a sore heart look in vain to the good Physician; never a dying soul turned its darkening eye to the brazen serpent to find its virtue gone. "And their faces were not ashamed." Their faces were covered with joy but not with blushes. He who trusts in God has no need to be ashamed of his confidence, time and eternity will both justify his reliance.

Psalm 34:6

"This poor man cried." Here he returns to his own case. He was poor indeed, and so utterly friendless that his life was in great jeopardy; but he cried in his heart to the protector of his people and found relief. His prayer was a cry, for brevity and bitterness, for earnestness and simplicity, for artlessness and grief; it was a poor man's cry, but it was none the less powerful with heaven, for "the Lord heard him," and to be heard of God is to be delivered; and so it is added the Lord "saved him out of all his troubles." At once and altogether David was clean rid of all his woes. The Lord sweeps our griefs away as men destroy a hive of hornets, or as the winds clear away the mists. Prayer can clear us of troubles as easily as the Lord made a riddance of the frogs and flies of Egypt when Moses entreated him. This verse is the Psalmists' own personal testimony: he being dead yet speaketh. Let the afflicted reader take heart and be of good courage.

Psalm 34:7

"The angel of the Lord." The covenant angel, the Lord Jesus, at the head of all the bands of heaven, surrounds with his army the dwellings of the saints. Like hosts entrenched so are the ministering spirits encamped around the Lord's chosen, to serve and succour, to defend and console them. "Encampeth round about them that fear him." On every side the watch is kept by warriors of sleepless eyes, and the Captain of the host is one whose prowess none can resist. "And delivereth them." We little know how many providential deliverances we owe to those unseen hands which are charged to bear us up lest we dash our foot against a stone.

8 O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.

9 O fear the Lord, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him.

10 The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.

Psalm 34:8

"O taste and see." Make a trial, an inward, experimental trial of the goodness of God. You cannot see except by tasting for yourself; but if you taste you shall see, for this, like Jonathan's honey, enlightens the eyes. "That the Lord is good." You can only know this really and personally by experience. There is the banquet with its oxen and fatlings; its fat things full of marrow, and wines on the lees well refined; but their sweetness will be all unknown to you except you make the blessings of grace your own, by a living, inward, vital participation in them. "Blessed is the man that trusteth in him." Faith is the soul's taste; they who test the Lord by their confidence always find him good, and they become themselves blessed. The second clause of the verse, is the argument in support of the exhortation contained in the first sentence.

Psalm 34:9

"O fear the Lord, lie his saints." Pay to him humble childlike reverence, walk in his laws, have respect to his will, tremble to offend him, hasten to serve him. Fear not the wrath of men, neither be tempted to sin through the virulence of their threats; fear God and fear nothing else. "For there is no want to them that fear him." Jehovah will not allow his faithful servants to starve. He may not give luxuries, but the promise binds him to supply necessaries, and he will not run back from his word. Many whims and wishes may remain ungratified, but real wants the Lord will supply. The fear of the Lord or true piety is not only the duty of those who avow themselves to be saints, that is, persons set apart and consecrated for holy duties, but it is also their path of safety and comfort. Godliness hath the promise of the life which now is. If we were to die like dogs, and there were no hereafter, yet were it well for our own happiness' sake to fear the Lord. Men seek a patron and hope to prosper; he prospers surely who hath the Lord of Hosts to be his friend and defender.

Psalm 34:10

"The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger." They are fierce, cunning, strong, in all the rigour of youth, and yet they sometimes howl in their ravenous hunger, and even so crafty, designing, and oppressing men, with all their sagacity and unscrupulousness, often come to want; yet simple-minded believers, who dare not act as the greedy lions of earth, are fed with food convenient for them. To trust God is better policy than the craftiest politicians can teach or practise. "But they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing." No really good thing shall be denied to those whose first and main end in life is to seek the Lord. Men may call them fools, but the Lord will prove them wise. They shall win where the world's wiseacres lose their all, and God shall have the glory of it.

11 Come ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

12 What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good?

13 Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.

14 Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.

Psalm 34:11

"Come, ye children." Though a warrior and a king, the Psalmist was not ashamed to teach children. Teachers of youth belong to the true peerage; their work is honourable, and their reward shall be glorious. Perhaps the boys and girls of Gath had made sport of David in his seeming madness, and if so, he here aims by teaching the rising race to undo the mischief which he had done aforetime. Children are the most hopeful persons to teach - wise men who wish to propagate their principles take care to win the ear of the young. "Hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord." So far as they can be taught by word of mouth, or learned by the hearing of the ear, we are to communicate the faith and fear of God, inculcating upon the rising generation the principles and practices of piety. This verse may be the address of every Sabbath School teacher to his class, of every parent to his children. It is not without instruction in the art of teaching. We should be winning and attractive to the youngsters, bidding them "come," and not repelling them with harsh terms. We must get them away, apart from toys and sports, and try to occupy their minds with better pursuits; for we cannot well teach them while their minds are full of other things. We must drive at the main point always, and keep the fear of the Lord ever uppermost in our teachings, and in so doing we may discreetly cast our own personality into the scale by narrating our own experiences and convictions.

Psalm 34:12

Life spent in happiness is the desire of all, and he who can give the young a receipt for leading a happy life deserves to be popular among them. Mere existence is not life; the art of living, truly, really, and joyfully living, it is not given to all men to know. To teach men how to live and how to die, is the aim of all useful religious instruction. The rewards of,virtue are the baits with which the young are to be drawn to morality. While we teach piety to God we should also dwell much upon morality towards man.

Psalm 34:13

"Keep thy tongue from evil." Guard with careful diligence that dangerous member, the tongue, lest it utter evil, for that evil will recoil upon thee, and mar the enjoyment of thy life. Men cannot spit forth poison without feeling some of the venom burning their own flesh. "And thy lips from speaking guile." Deceit must be very earnestly avoided by the man who desires happiness. A crafty schemer lives like a spy in the enemy's camp, in constant fear of exposure and execution. Clean and honest conversation, by keeping the conscience at ease, promotes happiness, but lying and wicked talk stuffs our pillow with thorns, and makes life a constant whirl of fear and shame. David had tried the tortuous policy, but he here denounces it, and begs others as they would live long and well to avoid with care the doubtful devices of guile.

Psalm 34:14

"Depart from evil." Go away from it. Not merely take your hands off, but yourself off. Live not near the pest-house. Avoid the lion's lair, leave the viper's nest. Set a distance between yourself and temptation. "And do good." Be practical, active, energetic, persevering in good. Positive virtue promotes negative virtue; he who does good is sure to avoid evil. "Seek peace." Not merely prefer it, but with zeal and care endeavour to promote it. Peace with God, with thine own heart, with thy fellow man, search after this as the merchantman after a precious pearl. Nothing can more effectually promote our own happiness than peace; strife awakens passions which eat into the heart with corroding power. Anger is murder to one's own self, as well as to its objects. "And pursue it." Hunt after it, chase it with eager desire. It may soon be lost, indeed, nothing is harder to retain, but do your best, and if enmity should arise let it be no fault of yours. Follow after peace when it shuns you; be resolved not to be of a contentious spirit. The peace which you thus promote will be returned into your own bosom, and be a perennial spring of comfort to you.

15 The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry.

16 The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.

17 The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles,

18 The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.

19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.

20 He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken.

21 Evil shall slay the wicked: and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate.

22 The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.

Psalm 34:15

"The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous." He observes them with approval and tender consideration; they are so dear to him that he cannot take his eyes off them; he watches each one of them as carefully and intently as if there were only that one creature in the universe. "His ears are open unto their cry." His eyes and ears are thus both turned by the Lord towards his saints; his whole mind is occupied about them: if slighted by all others they are not neglected by him. Their cry he hears at once, even as a mother is sure to hear her sick babe; the cry may be broken, plaintive, unhappy, feeble, unbelieving, yet the Father's quick ear catches each note of lament or appeal, and he is not slow to answer his children's voice.

Psalm 34:16

"The face of the Lord is against them that do evil." God is not indifferent to the deeds of sinners, but he sets his face against them, as we say, being determined that they shall have no countenance and support, but shall be thwarted and defeated. He is determinately resolved that the ungodly shall not prosper; he sets himself with all his might to overthrow them. "To cut off the remembrance of them from the earth." He will stamp out their fires, their honour shall be turned into shame, their names forgotten or accursed. Utter destruction shall be the lot of all the ungodly.

Psalm 34:17

"The righteous cry." Like Israel in Egypt, they cry out under the heavy yoke of oppression, both of sin, temptation, care and grief. "And the Lord heareth;" he is like the night-watchman, who no sooner hears the alarm-bell than he flies to relieve those who need him. "And delivereth them out of all their troubles." No net of trouble can so hold us that the Lord cannot free us. Our afflictions may be numerous and complicated, but prayer can set us free from them all, for the Lord will show himself strong on our behalf.

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