Another song of praise (cp. Psalms 34:1 with Psalms 33:1). The Psalmist gratefully celebrates, and invites others to join him in celebrating, Jehovah's care for those who fear Him, manifested towards himself and many another afflicted saint (Psalms 34:1-10). Then, assuming the tone of a teacher, he... [ Continue Reading ]
_His praise_ Cp. Psalms 33:1.... [ Continue Reading ]
Resolution of praise.... [ Continue Reading ]
_In the Lord_stands emphatically at the beginning of the sentence in the original; in Him, and not in any of the worldling's objects of self-congratulation (Psalms 49:6; Jeremiah 9:23-24), shall be my boast. _the humble_&c. Probably, _let the humble_(or, _meek) hear and be glad_. Cp. Psalms 5:11. H... [ Continue Reading ]
_magnify_ Man _makes_God _great_by acknowledging and celebrating His greatness (Deuteronomy 32:3), and _exalts_His Name by confessing that He is supreme above all. See note on Psalms 30:1.... [ Continue Reading ]
Addressing the humble, he invites them to join in thanksgiving for his deliverance.... [ Continue Reading ]
_When I sought Jehovah_(with earnest devotion, see note on Psalms 24:6), _he answered me, and rescued me from all my terrors_(Psalms 31:13).... [ Continue Reading ]
_They looked_&c. The subject is to be supplied from the verb. _They that looked unto him looked, and were brightened_. The earnest gaze of faith and confidence was not in vain. For the phrase cp. Isaiah 31:1; and for illustration see Numbers 21:9; Zechariah 12:10. The Heb. word for _brightened_is a... [ Continue Reading ]
Such experience of Jehovah's help is not limited to the Psalmist.... [ Continue Reading ]
This afflicted man (see note on Psalms 9:12) called, and Jehovah heard, and saved him out of all his distresses. Cp. Psalms 34:17; Psalms 31:7. Does the poet point to himself, or to one here and another there who had been instances of God's protecting care?... [ Continue Reading ]
_The angel of the Lord_ That mysterious Being who appears as Jehovah's representative in His intercourse with man, called also _the angel of His presence_(Isaiah 63:9). See especially Exodus 23:20 ff. Only here and in Psalms 35:5-6 is he mentioned in the Psalter. He protects those who fear Jehovah l... [ Continue Reading ]
_O taste_&c. Make but trial, and you will perceive what His goodness is toward them who fear Him. Cp. Psalms 27:13. The adaptation of the words in 1 Peter 2:3 follows the rendering of the LXX, ὅτι χρηστὸς ὁ Κύριος. It is significant that the words are there applied to _Christ_. See Bp. Westcott's _H... [ Continue Reading ]
_saints_ Not the word commonly so rendered, e.g. in Psalms 30:4; Psalms 31:23; but as in Psalms 16:3, _holy ones_: those whose character corresponds to their calling as members of the holy nation (Exodus 19:6; Leviticus 11:44-45). _want_ A word found here only in the Psalter, but eight times in Pro... [ Continue Reading ]
His saints want for nothing.... [ Continue Reading ]
_The young lions_ Best understood literally, not as a metaphor for the rich (LXX πλούσιοι, though possibly from a different reading), or powerful oppressors (Psalms 35:17). The sense is that the strongest beasts of prey, most capable of providing for themselves, may suffer want (Job 4:11); not so Go... [ Continue Reading ]
_the fear of the Lord_ Including both the devout reverence which is essential to a right relation of man to God, and the conduct which it demands. The phrase is characteristic of Proverbs, occurring in that book almost as often as in all the rest of the O.T. See especially Proverbs 8:13; Proverbs 9:... [ Continue Reading ]
The challenge with its answer in Psalms 34:13 is a vivid and forcible equivalent for _Whosoever desires … let him &c_. Cp. Psalms 25:12. _life_ Not mere existence, but life worthy of the name (Psalms 16:11; Psalms 30:5); again a word characteristic of Proverbs, and connected there too with the fear... [ Continue Reading ]
_Keep_ Guard. Cp. Proverbs 13:3 (R.V.); Proverbs 21:23; Psalms 39:1; James 3:2 ff. _guile_ Deceit. Cp. Psalms 35:20; Psalms 36:3.... [ Continue Reading ]
The first line recurs in Psalms 37:27. Comp. the character of Job, the ideal righteous man (Job 1:1; Job 1:8; Job 2:3); and Job 28:28; Proverbs 16:17. _pursue it_ Do not be discouraged if it should need prolonged effort to overtake it. Cp. the _pursuit_of righteousness (Proverbs 21:21; Isaiah 51:1);... [ Continue Reading ]
With the first line cp. Psalms 33:18. More literally, toward the righteous, as R.V. renders here but not there, though the prepositions are the same. _his ears_&c. Lit., _his cars are toward their cry for help_: cp. _my cry for help was in his ears_(Psalms 18:6).... [ Continue Reading ]
_The face of the Lord_means the manifestation of His Presence, either as here in wrath (cp. Psalms 9:3), or as in Numbers 6:25, in blessing. See Oehler's _O.T. Theology_, § 57. Comp. "The Lord _looked forth_upon the host of the Egyptians … and discomfited them" (Exodus 14:24). _the remembrance of t... [ Continue Reading ]
They cried, and Jehovah heard; And rescued them out of all their distresses. We may understand a subject from the verb, _they who cried cried_, as in Psalms 34:5, i.e., when any cried: or with LXX and Vulg. supply _the righteous_. (Had the LXX this reading, or did they merely insert the word from... [ Continue Reading ]
_nigh_&c. Cp. Psalms 119:151; Isaiah 50:8; and the contrast, Psalms 10:1. _The broken in heart_and _crushed in spirit_are those who have been broken down and crushed by sorrow and suffering (Psalms 147:3; Isaiah 61:1; Jeremiah 23:9); in whom, it is implied, affliction has borne fruit, and all self-a... [ Continue Reading ]
No exemption from _evils_is promised to the righteous man, but out of them all the Lord _rescues_him (Psalms 34:4_; Psalms 34:17_).... [ Continue Reading ]
As _breaking the bones_is a forcible metaphor for the torture of pain that racks the bodily framework (Psalms 51:8; Isaiah 38:13), or for cruel oppression (Micah 3:3), so _keeping_them denotes the safe preservation of the man's whole being. See note on Psalms 6:2. This passage as well as Exodus 12:4... [ Continue Reading ]
While the righteous is rescued out of all evils (Psalms 34:19), evil brings the wicked to his death. His evil ways work out their own punishment, and divine retribution overtakes him. (Romans 6:21; Romans 6:23.)... [ Continue Reading ]
_shall be desolate_ R.V. shall be condemned; or, marg., _held guilty_. Cp. Psalms 5:10.... [ Continue Reading ]
A second verse beginning with _Pç_, like Psalms 25:22, where see note.... [ Continue Reading ]