This is a psalm which speaks about the time when David deliberately pretended to be insane in front of Abimelek, so that he could save his life. After this, David went and hid in a cave in Adullam and was joined by many others. The background to this event is recorded in 1 Samuel 21:10-22:1.
We can’t tell from our English Bibles, but in Hebrew, we find that each verse begins with another letter of the Hebrew alphabet: Psalms 9-10 / Psalm 25 / Psalm 34 / Psalm 37 / Psalm 111 / Psalm 112 / Psalm 119 / Psalm 145.
This psalm is the same, except for the letter waw. Commentators give many different reasons for some psalms being written in Hebrew alphabetical order, but I personally think it was written this way to make the learning of the psalm easy and easy to memorise.
Although the headings aren’t inspired by God, they are important because they give us some understanding of the Psalm, and they help us to see why it was written. The headings usually tell us four things.
1. Who wrote them, probably wrote them, or possibly wrote them.
2. Information about the historical background to the Psalm. Why was it written?
3. They tell us of the tune the Psalm was written to.
4. How it was used.
This psalm tells us it’s a psalm of David written when he pretends to be insane before Abimelek, 1 Samuel 21:10-15. Abimelek was probably a title given to rulers among the Philistines, 1 Samuel 21:10.
When I read the opening verse, my first reaction was, That’s one of those lines that people throw at you when you’re going through a tough time. They’re all smiley and tell you how much they appreciate what you’re going through. Here’s a Scripture to help you along, as they pat you on the back and disappear into the horizon. Leaving you struggling with your situation.
My next reaction was one of, It’s OK for King David, he’s got it made, he can afford to say something like that. He’s the king, he’s running the show, what’s he got to worry about? Because a couple of Psalms back, in Psalm 32, he’s confessed his sin to God, and God’s forgiven him, and he gets to keep Bathsheba, 2 Samuel 11-12.
David commits adultery with Bathsheba, gets her pregnant, arranges for her husband to be killed in battle and then marries Bathsheba. He’s got everything! Forgiveness, a beautiful wife, and incredible wealth. No wonder he can say, ‘I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth’, Psalm 34:1.
But that’s where ignorance comes in, ignorance of Scripture, and misusing it. The Psalms aren’t in chronological order, yes, Psalm 32 was written when David was King and probably not long after he confessed his sin to God.
But this psalm is about a time when David wasn’t king; in fact, he was a fugitive, a fugitive from King Saul. David has been hit with a double whammy here. Thinking he would be safe from Saul, he went to Gath, only to find out that he was in as much danger there as he was with Saul.
And so, surviving on his wits, he pretends to be crazy and ends up hiding in a cave, and it’s from those circumstances that he pens this Psalm, 1 Samuel 21:10-22:1.
He knew it was God who had helped him escape from Saul and Abimelek, a title given to rulers among the Philistines, Achish, 1 Samuel 21:10. Because of this, he just praises God continually and encourages others to do the same, Psalm 34:2-3. A fact that he acknowledges next.
The same God who helped David escape from evil and destruction then, Psalm 34:4, is doing the same for us today. Firstly, He’s providing us with an escape route from sin and legalism, Romans 7:23-25 / Galatians 5:1. Secondly, when we’re tempted to sin and return to our old ways, God is there to help, provided we let Him, 1 Corinthians 10:13.
Like David, when we find ourselves in difficult circumstances or tempted to do the wrong thing, we can either do it and sin or we can take up God’s offer of letting Him provide a way out for us, Psalm 34:4.
With David, it was pretending to be mad, 1 Samuel 21:10-15. I’m not saying we need to do that, but I will say it’s definitely madness to give in to temptation and sin.
This is a man in dire straits, begging and pleading for God to help him, Psalm 34:5-5. Have there been times like that in your life? Where things are so bad that we just cry out to the Lord, and the last thing we want to hear are cheap, meaningless clichés from people who don’t understand our circumstances. Especially when we want answers as to why?
That’s the time we cry out to the Lord, Psalm 34:5, because maybe we’ve tried other things or thought we could manage on our own, when in fact, it’s the Lord we need in our lives. We need to turn it over to Him because He loves us, or as they say in the A.A., ‘we need to let go and let God’.
There’s a big difference between people quoting Scripture at us inappropriately and reading our Bibles and listening to what God has to say to us. God has given us many promises in the Bible, and we need to worship Him by believing these promises He has given us.
People might desert us in our hour of pain, God but won’t, and neither will Jesus. Even though Adam and Eve disappointed God in the beginning, He still looked after them, Genesis 3:21, and He’s looking after us today, Philippians 4:6 / 1 Peter 5:7. We can do that by regularly praying to God.
If we don’t believe that God answers prayers and helps us with our worries, we need to talk to some people in our congregations. People who regularly pray to God and people who regularly receive answers to their prayers. It might not have been the answer they were looking for, but it was an answered prayer.
David said he was going to bless the Lord at all times, Psalm 34:1, and Paul told the Thessalonians to pray at all times, 1 Thessalonians 5:17. The two go hand in hand: read your Bible, and take God upon His promises.
Notice the mention of the angel of the Lord, Psalm 34:7. Who is this angel of the LORD? This is a Christophany, which suggests that this is a preincarnate appearance of Christ, Genesis 12:7. Remember the word ‘angel’ in Hebrew is ‘malak’, and it simply means messenger. Christ is God, not an angel.
Haynes Jr, in his commentary, says the following.
‘A study of these passages reveals that the Angel of the Lord appeared in human form, Genesis 18:2 / Genesis 22:1-18 / Hebrews 13:2, and performed normal human functions, Genesis 32:24 / Numbers 22:23 / Numbers 22:31, yet he was an awe-inspiring figure, Genesis 32:30 / Judges 6:22 / Judges 13:22, exhibiting divine attributes and prerogatives including predicting the future, Genesis 16:10-12, forgiving sin, Exodus 23:21, and receiving worship, Exodus 3:5 / Judges 13:9-20.’
David invites us to taste and see that the LORD is good, and he says blessed are those who take refuge in him, Psalm 34:8 / Psalm 19:10 / Psalm 119:103.
David tells us that when we turn to God, He will take care of us, Psalm 34:9-10. God is going to provide for us, Psalm 34:9-10, and this is a promise repeated by Jesus in the New Testament, Matthew 6:25-30. God is going to take care of us, He will see to our needs, but remember it doesn’t say that God will meet our greeds!
In Psalm 34:11, David is telling us what it means to fear the Lord, Psalm 34:9. This is the theme that continues through Psalm 24:12-14. The ideal life, the one God wants us to pursue, has three characteristics to it. This part of the psalm is an expansion of what David wrote in Psalm 34:3.
Whoever loves life, desires to see many good days, Psalm 34:12. Psalm 34:13 tells us to watch our tongue! Mind our language, 2 Kings 2:23-24. The same warning is repeated in the New Testament in James 3:2-10.
David says that we make mistakes; everyone does! But that’s no excuse for deliberately swearing or telling smutty jokes. We’re set apart from the world, John 15:18-19 / Romans 12:2 / 1 John 2:15.
I hear enough innuendo on the street, I don’t want to hear it among Christians, and I know many of you feel the same way. Skip the learned phrases and say something meaningful when people are hurting.
That’s the first thing; let’s move on to the second. Psalm 34:14 tells us to do two things, and if you want a list of evil things to turn away from, Romans 1:18-31 / Galatians 5:19-26. The other is about doing good, Psalm 34:14; it’s so easy to do good to those who are our friends or people we like.
The Bible commands us not to make any difference, Matthew 5:43-44 / Luke 6:31-33 / Galatians 6:10. The message is that we do good to everyone, not just those we like.
The third point is that we’re to live in peace with others, Psalm 34:14. This is another command that is found in the New Testament, Romans 14:19 / Hebrews 12:14. This is something that David put into practice, 1 Samuel 25:14-16. We can also find these essential rules for Godly living in 1 Peter 3:10-12 / Colossians 3:8-17.
When we are feeling broken-hearted and crushed in spirit, we need to remember that God is closer than we think, Psalm 34:18, even when we feel He is far from us.
Yes, we will have many troubles, 2 Timothy 3:12. God promises to deliver us and protect us, Psalm 34:19-20. Evil people will be judged for their actions, Psalm 34:22, but those who are His will not be condemned, Romans 8:1 / Romans 8:33-37 / 2 Peter 2:4-10.
In this psalm, David spoke about blessing and praising God with our mouths. Throughout the Scriptures, we are warned about how we use our tongues, and so we have a choice.
We can use our tongues negatively; we can blame God when we’re tempted to do wrong, James 1:13-14. We can use our tongues like the hypocrites, James 1:26 / Titus 1:16. We use our tongue to express discrimination between rich and poor fellow believers, James 2:1-4.
We can use our tongues to speak unsympathetically to those in need, James 2:15-16. We can use our tongues to boast and use words of flattery, James 3:5 / James 3:14.
We can use our tongues to grumble against each other, James 4:12 / James 5:9. We can use our tongues for swearing and or blaspheming, James 5:12. Our tongues can be used to destroy, Proverbs 12:18 / Proverbs 16:27 / Matthew 12:34-35 / James 3:5-8.
We can also use our tongues positively; we can use our tongues to direct people, Proverbs 18:21 / James 3:4-5. We can use our tongues to delight, Proverbs 13:2 / Proverbs 18:4 / Proverbs 18:20-21 / James 3:19-20. We can use our tongues to praise God, Psalms 148 / Psalm 149 / Psalm 150 / James 3:9.
We can use our tongues to pray to God for wisdom, James 1:5-6, and when we need help in our time of need, James 5:13-16, healing, James 5:14-15, for what we call big requests, James 5:17-18. We can use our tongue when praying for those who are falling away, James 5:19-20, and for singing praises to Him, Psalm 51:14 / James 5:13.