Psalm 34: A Psalm of David when he pretended madness before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he departed.
1 I will bless Yahweh at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. 2 My soul shall make its boast in Yahweh; the humble shall hear of it and be glad. 3 Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together. 4 I sought Yahweh, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. 5 They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed. 6 This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. 7 The Angel of Yahweh encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them.
“‘I will bless Yahweh’ - I will praise Him; I will be thankful for His mercies, and will always express my sense of His goodness. [In fact, I will do His works, rather than my own.] — ‘at all times ‘ etc.— in every situation of life; in every event that occurs. The idea is, that he would do it publicly and privately; in prosperity and in adversity; in safety and in danger; in joy and in sorrow. It would be a great principle of his life, expressive of the deep feeling of his soul, that God was always to be regarded as an object of [his] adoration and praise.” (Albert Barnes) “My soul—“signifies not the vital spirit, but the seat of the affections” (John Calvin)— “‘shall make her boast in the LORD: the humble [saints]’—they who are beaten down with the experience of their own evils—‘shall hear [thereof], and be glad.’” (Geneva Study Bible)— “as conceiving good hope of like deliverance.” (Trapp) “Spiritual sadness seeks seclusion, but not so spiritual freedom and joy. Like the return of health and of day, it says to the prisoners, ‘Go forth’; to them that are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’ And the effect of this knowledge would be to make them glad. The Lord’s followers are supposed to be mopish and melancholy; but they have a thousand sources of joy which others know not of.” (W. Jay)
“‘Oh, magnify the Lord with me,’ as not sufficient to do so great a work himself, he calleth in the help of others... And should not we much more call upon others to join their forces with ours in magnifying the Lord? Birds, when they come to a full heap of corn, will chirp and call in for their fellows. Charity is no churl; goodness is diffusive. ‘And let us exalt His name together’— And so begin Heaven beforehand…. We are all too weak for this work, though we should all do our utmost at it.” (John Trapp)
David was the man who slew their giant, Goliath. “When the Psalmist understood, that he was considered, in the court of Achish, as the enemy of the Philistines who was now in their power, his fears were very great; as the method by which he sought to extricate himself clearly shews.” (Thomas Scott) Most think they he acted as if he were insane. Others, like Adam Clarke, suppose that the Lord inflicted him with epilepsy, thus delivering him. Anyway, Achish thought that the threat had been neutralized and sent him away, back into the hills and caves of Judea.
But let me put another scenario before you for consideration. “‘I sought Yahweh, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.” David may have been as Hannah praying before Yahweh. “And it happened, as she continued praying before Yahweh, that Eli watched her mouth. Now Hannah spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk. So Eli said to her, ‘How long will you be drunk? Put your wine away from you!’ But Hannah answered and said, ‘No, my lord, I am a woman of sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord. Do not consider your maidservant a wicked woman, for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief I have spoken until now.’ Then Eli answered and said, ‘Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition which you have asked of Him.’ And she said, ‘Let your maidservant find favor in your sight.’ So the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad.” (1 Sam 1:12-18) He feigned madness because he did not correct the Achish, as Hannah did the high priest.
“Yet he kept his tongue from evil, and his mouth from guile.” (Joseph Sutcliffe) “They looked to Him and were radiant,’- David and others persevered as seeing Him who is invisible. (Heb 11:27) — “’and their faces were not ashamed', because of their religion. This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.' “He ascribed his escape to a peculiar interposition of God, which eventually still more encouraged his faith and hope. And he realizes to himself the effects of these events on others, who would look to God, in distress and danger, and ‘be lightened,’ or flow unto Him, and find comfort and safety, while they conversed together on the case of David : and he calls on all, to join him in extolling the name and celebrating the praises of his gracious Deliverer; as unable to do it adequately himself.” (Thomas Scott)
“‘The Angel of Yahweh'— the uncreated Messenger, 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— 'encamps all around those who fear Him.' His salvation is as walls and bulwarks about them; or as an army surrounding them.” (John Gill) “The true Messenger of Jehovah is His Son, whom He has sent, in whom He has put His name, and whose own parting promise, ‘Lo, I am with you always,’ is the highest fulfilment to us Christians of that ancient confidence, ‘The Angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him.’" (A. Maclaren)
“He ascribes his deliverance to the Angel of the LORD. So did Jacob in addressing Pharaoh. So the mountains of Samaria were full of horses and chariots of fire to defend Elisha, and protect the faithful. 2 Kings 6:17. So Peter was delivered from prison, and on ten thousand occasions we should perish if the angels did not preserve us.” (Joseph Sutcliffe)
8 Oh, taste and see that Yahweh is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him! 9 Oh, fear Yahweh, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him. 10 The young lions lack and suffer hunger; but those who seek Yahweh shall not lack any good thing.
“Oh, taste and see that Yahweh is good.’ The word ‘taste’ here - ṭâ‛am - means properly to try the flavor of anything, Job 12:11; to eat a little so as to ascertain what a thing is, 1 Samuel 14:24, 29, 43; Jonah 3:7; and then to perceive by the mind, to try, to experience, Proverbs 31:18. It is used here in the sense of making a trial of, or testing by experience.” (Albert Barnes) The promises and threatening of God are found in the Bible narratives. In fact, the first promise is a threatening: “You shall surely die!” Apply to the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob by faith and prayer, and see that He is good. “God has put it in the power of every man to know whether the religion of the Bible be true or false.” (Adam Clarke)
“’Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!’ The Targum renders it, "that trust in His Word.” We must be careful only to apply the promises to us when they rightfully apply, when we have made Jesus our Shelter. “Oh, fear Yahweh, you His saints!”— lest you be found lacking. Seek Him. “There is no want to those who fear Him.” “For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.” (2 Cor 1:20) “‘The young lions do lack etc. The LXX and the Vulgate read, "'strong or mighty men do lack'— 'and suffer hunger, but they that seek the Lord’— seek not their nourishment any other way but from His hand, and will rather lie in the dust than rise by evil principles; these have an autarky, a self-sufficiency, such as godliness is never without, 1 Timothy 6:6…” (Trapp) — These “’shall not lack any good thing.’ Note that “’good’ is emphatic; they may be afflicted (compare Psalm 34:10); but this may be a good (2 Corinthians 4:17, 18; Hebrews 12:10, 11).” (Jamieson, Fausset, Brown)
11 Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of Yahweh. 12 Who is the man who desires life, and loves many days, that he may see good? 13 Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit. 14 Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. 15 The eyes of Yahweh are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry. 16 The face of Yahweh is against those who do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. 17 The righteous cry out, and Yahweh hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. 18 Yahweh is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit. 19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but Yahweh delivers him out of them all. 20 He guards all his bones; not one of them is broken. 21 Evil shall slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous shall be condemned. 22 Yahweh redeems the soul of His servants, and none of those who trust in Him shall be condemned.
“‘He keepeth all his bones;’— That is, he preserves or guards the righteous.— “’not one of them is broken ‘(20)— In his dangers God had preserved him, so that he had escaped without a broken bone. But the statement is more general, and is designed to convey a truth in respect to the usual and proper effect of religion, or to denote the advantage, in reference to personal safety in the dangers of this life, derived from religion. The language is of a general character, such as often occurs in the Scriptures, and it should, in all fairness, be so construed. It cannot mean that the bones of a righteous man are never broken, or that the fact that a man has a broken bone proves that he is not righteous; but it means that, as a general principle, religion conduces to safety, or that the righteous are under the protection of God.” (Albert Barnes) This was fulfilled in Christ, "in whom the type of the passover lamb had its accomplishment, and this passage also; see Exodus 12:46b— 'Do not break any of the bones’; and seems better to agree with Him than with any of His members, since the bones of many of them have been broken by one accident or another.” (John Gill) And victim was completely consumed, receiving the deserved judicial sentence of the offerers.