Psalms 34:15-20

5). He Stresses YHWH's Deep Concern For His Own And His Deep Hatred Of Evil (15-20).

Psalms 34:15

GH ‘The eyes of YHWH are towards the righteous,

And his ears are open to their cry.

P The face of YHWH is against those who do evil,

To cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.

TS The righteous cried, and YHWH heard,

And delivered them out of all their troubles.'

Q ‘YHWH is near to those who are of a broken heart,

And saves such as are of a contrite spirit.

R Many are the afflictions of the righteous,

But YHWH delivers him out of them all.

SH He keeps all his bones,

Not one of them is broken.'

Note the interplay of ideas in these verses. ‘The eyes of YHWH are towards the righteous and His ear is open to their cry -- the righteous cried, and YHWH heard and delivered them out of all their troubles -- many are the afflictions of the righteous, but YHWH delivers him out of them all.' Those who are His righteous ones are never overlooked or forgotten' He hears their cry, and they are characterised by being of a broken heart and a contrite spirit. They know how to forgive and be forgiven.

‘The eyes of YHWH are towards the righteous, and His ears are open towards their cry.' Compare ‘my cry before Him came to His ears' (Psalms 18:6). All God's faculties are at work in watching over His own, as characterised by their righteousness. His eye is continually on them and towards them. They are the apple of His eye (Psalms 17:8). Compare Psalms 33:18. And His ears are equally busy on their behalf. They are open to their cry (see Psalm 118:62). For the whole compare 1 Peter 3:12.

‘The face of YHWH is against those who do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.' But there is no comfort in his words for the selfish, the wrongdoer and the unbelieving. For in their case ‘the face of YHWH' is against them. In their case He is active to bring them into judgment. Instead of lives which count and live on in their reputation and in men's memories, their lives will be cut off and forgotten. They will have done nothing worth remembering. If we would build a monument, let it by lives whose effects will echo down the ages, because their influence goes on and on in those who have been affected.

‘The righteous cried, and YHWH heard, and delivered them out of all their troubles.' The Psalmist returns to the righteous and will now concentrate on them. The evildoers are already forgotten. He now looks back and, as it were, sees the accomplishment of what he had promised. The righteous had cried, and YHWH had heard, and He had delivered them out of all their trouble. Strictly it is ‘they cried' with the righteous read in from Psalms 34:15. It was as certain as if it had already happened.

‘YHWH is near to those who are of a broken heart, and saves such as are of a contrite spirit.' Lest any be in doubt he now characterises the righteous. They are those whose hearts are broken over their sins and their failures, and whose spirits are contrite. It is they who dwell with YHWH in His high and holy place (Isaiah 57:15), and as a result He ‘saves them'. Salvation is of YHWH, and is reserved for those who are open towards Him.

‘Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but YHWH delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones, not one of them is broken.' The point here is not that no one who is righteous will ever break a bone in their bodies, but that their afflictions will not be ‘bone breaking'. They will not be crushed. Through them all they will be kept ‘whole'. For YHWH gives the righteous no guarantee that they will avoid affliction. Such things will come on them, sometimes even because they are righteous. But when they do they will find that YHWH's eye is on them (Psalms 34:15), and He is there to help. ‘I will not leave you without strength, I will come to you' (John 14:18). And in the end He will deliver them out of them all.

‘He keeps all his bones, not one of them is broken.' Unbroken bones characterised the offerings that were made to YHWH. They had to be perfect and complete. See Exodus 12:46; Numbers 9:12. So the point here is that spiritually the truly righteous will come through unscathed, whatever life throws at them. A combination of these verses is cited in John 19:36, stressing the perfection of our Lord, Jesus Christ.