Psalm 34

Introduction – Psalm 34:1

Welcome to Torah Today Ministries, our continuing series Tehillim Talks. And in this episode, we find ourselves in Psalm 34. And what an amazing psalm this is.

I know I probably say that about every psalm. And you probably get tired of hearing me say, this is now my favorite psalm, but I think my favorite psalm always happens to be the one I’ve been studying and the one I teach on. That’s just the nature of these psalms.

And this is an amazing psalm. It’s been a great encouragement to me, and I hope that it is to you as well. So let’s get started.

This psalm has a very interesting approbation, introduction. It says, of David, when he changed his behavior before Abimelech, so that he drove him out and he went away. First of all, the word Abimelech, you may recall that way back in the book of Genesis, that Abraham and Isaac had encounters with Abimelech.

This is not the same Abimelech, of course. And a lot of commentators believe that Abimelech was a title for a king, one of the Canaanite kings, like Pharaoh was the title for the king of Egypt. And the name of this particular king, or this particular Abimelech was Achish.

David Before Achish – 1 Samuel 21:10–15

“And we read about this encounter that David had with this king in 1 Samuel chapter 21. Let me read just a little bit of this to you. It says that David fled from Saul. Saul was trying to kill David. So where does David go? He goes to these Canaanites and where this Abimelech, Achish, is king.

And some of the king’s people came to him and said, we think this is David. This looks like David. I think you need to take care of this and grab this guy.

And it says that David took these words to heart and was much afraid of Achish, the king of Gath. So he changed his behavior before them and pretended to be insane in their hands. It made marks on the doors of the gate, let his spittle run down his beard.

Then Achish said to his servants, Behold, you see the man is mad. Why then have you brought him to me? Do I lack madmen that you have brought this fellow to behave as a madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?

And so Abimelech, King Achish, just has them send David away. And of course this was actually David, even though he acted like a madman.”

The Word “Behavior” — taʿam (טַעַם)

“Now, you’ll notice I have the word behavior in bold red here because it’s an interesting word. It’s the word taʿam(טַעַם), tet–ayin–mem. And the word taʿam is translated as taste, or it could be a perception. And we’re going to see this word taʿam a little bit later in the psalm again.

But the word taʿam is used — first three times you find it in the Torah — is in regards to the manna. The taste of the manna, it tasted like honey. And manna is a picture of God’s words, a picture of Messiah. Messiah referred to himself in John’s gospels as the living bread that comes from heaven.

And the taste of the manna, and David changed his taste, and he was not recognized for being the king of Israel.

Also, it has an interesting application in Proverbs 31, the story of the woman of valor. In Proverbs 31:18, it says that she senses that her gain is good. Her lamp does not go out at night. That word for senses is the word taʿam (טַעַם). She tastes that her gain is good. It’s like someone who prepares a meal for the family, and occasionally along the process of cooking, they taste it and make sure it’s good enough for the family.

The woman of valor, she tastes what she’s doing, and she can assess it impersonally and realize what I’m doing here is good. And she can say it without pride, without ego, but to recognize this is a good work. And she tastes, she senses that her gain is good. Her lamp does not go out at night.”

Beginning the Psalm – Psalm 34:1–3

“So let’s just get right in to the psalm.

So I have broken the psalm up into the first three verses as a block, and you’ll notice that each verse is preceded by a letter of the alphabet. First verse by Aleph, verse two by Beit, verse three by Gimel. And if you notice, this psalm has 22 verses. The Hebrew alphabet has 22 letters. This is an acrostic psalm where each verse begins with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet. With one exception that we’ll get to in verse six.

So here we go.

I will bless Adonai at all times. How good are you at doing that? Do you just bless Adonai when things are going well? When you’ve received a blessing? Or can you bless him at all times?

His praise is continually in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in Adonai, the humble hear and rejoice. I like this because the humble do have something to boast about. The proud boast about themselves, but the humble, they boast in Adonai. The humble hear and rejoice.

Oh, magnify Adonai with me, and let us exalt his name together.”

Praise Words – Psalm 34:1–3

“You’ll notice there are six words in bold. Bless, praise, boast, rejoice, magnify, and exalt. Six words here used to express verbal praise, verbal glorification of God.

Well, here’s a question for you. How can we bless God? Because normally the one who is in a more lofty spiritual position blesses the one who is in a lower spiritual position. How do we bless God? What can we do to bless him? In fact, what does the word bless even really mean?

I want us to consider something. It was through God’s speech that he created the world, and then through his breath that he created Adam. He formed him with his hands, but breathed into him the neshamah (נְשָׁמָה) of life, and Adam became a living soul.

So God created the world through his speech. And yet, as the prophet Isaiah says, you are a God who hides himself. God — at first glance — you see his handiwork all around you, but like, where are you? Where can I find you, Lord? He seems to be in hiding in his own creation.

I want you to consider something. Through our speech, we bring him out of hiding. Through our speech, through our blessing God, with our praises, with our magnification, with our exultation of who he is, when we do that, we bring his presence into a more tangible place in this creation.”

Blessing and Creation – Psalm 34:1–3

“He physically creates the universe, but we spiritually bring him out of hiding to where he more obviously occupies his universe, his world, and our lives.

It’s interesting that the word barakh (בָּרַךְ), which is the word for bless — you know, a berakhah (בְּרָכָה) is a blessing. The word barukh (בָּרוּךְ) means blessed, but barakh means to bless. And barakh is almost identical to the word for create. Word for create, all you do is you change the last letter. The letter kof is changed from a kof to an aleph, the first letter of the alphabet. It becomes the word bara (בָּרָא). So bara means to create, barakh means to bless.

And when we bless God, it’s as if we create his presence within his world.

The scriptures tell us that the whole earth is filled with his glory. But it’s like we have to seek his face. He’s in hiding. How do we find it? By seeing his actions everywhere. By seeing his presence everywhere and verbally expressing that praise and glorification of God.

And in that way, we bring God out of hiding. So think about that. I think it’s a beautiful way of understanding the word to bless.”

“Magnify Adonai With Me” – Psalm 34:3

“Now this third verse here, O magnify Adonai with me, and let us exalt his name together. If you attend a Messianic synagogue, you may hear this phrase used during the Torah service. I know at Beth Tekun, we hear it at each Torah service. In Hebrew, it’s Gadlu Adonai iti u’ramemah shmo yachdav (גַּדְּלוּ יְהוָה אִתִּי וּנְרֹמְמָה שְׁמוֹ יַחְדָּו). And we sing that together as the Torah scroll is brought out and then processes through the congregation, we touch it.

So, magnify Adonai with me. Let us exalt his name together.”

Delivered From All My Fears — magurāh (מְגוּרָה) – Psalm 34:4–6

“Verses four through six. I sought Adonai and he answered me. From all my fears he has delivered me. Interesting word for fears here. There are a number of words for fear. Yirah (יִרְאָה) is the most common, but there are a number of others that refer to different colorations of the word fear. But this is one of the most unusual. It’s not used very often at all.

And this word for fear is the word magurāh (מְגוּרָה). And here’s what’s really interesting. Not only does this word mean fear — actually, more accurately, terror — a very, very strong form of fear, but it’s also a word that means barn. Barn, like you store crops in.

Why in the world would God seek to take a word to express our fears and let that word also mean barn?

In fact, you can find this word translated barn in Haggai chapter 2, verse 19. It says, Is the seed in the magurāh (מְגוּרָה), is the seed in the barn? Indeed, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, the olive tree have yielded nothing, but from this day on I will bless you.”

Blessing and Multiplication – Genesis 1:22, 28

“And there’s that word blessing again, attached to this word magurāh, translated barn. And in regards to that word bless, let me just share this as well. The first times we find that word bless, it has to do with multiplication.

God speaks to the birds and fish in Genesis 1:22 saying, be fruitful. It says, and God blessed them, and said, be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and so on. Then in regards to Adam and Eve, it says in verse 28, and God blessed them, and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply.

Blessing has this power behind it of creation, of expansion, of magnification.

So again, as God spoke the creation into existence and blessed it, said, be fruitful and multiply, as we bless God, we bring him into the creation, so to speak. We reveal him in our lives and in his deeds in our communities and his work in the world.”

“And we multiply him, so to speak, and make him more obvious through our lives. So we need to be quick to praise God. But it has to be meaningful. It can’t just be empty words. Empty words mean nothing because they’re empty.

But let’s let our praise be heartfelt and genuine and let us openly praise God for the good things he does in our lives.”

Why Does Magurāh Mean Both Terror and Barn? 

“But back to this word magurāh. Why does the word for terror also mean barn? Robin and I discussed this at length, and it occurred to us that what we tend to do as human beings — and I think, ladies, this happens with you because the way your souls are designed, your feminine soul. And I hope this helps you.

What we tend to do is this: We think if we know what to fear, if we know we need to be afraid of that and afraid of that, we feel like we’re being self-protective. And if you’re not fearful of certain things, then you’re being reckless. You’re being a little too believing, and you’re setting yourself up for hurt and disappointment. And we don’t like to be disappointed.

And so we think if we just fear that and fear that and fear that and fear this, then we’ll be protected. We’re not going to be disappointed when those things fail.”

“And you see what we’re doing? We’re taking our terrors and we’re storing them like you store crops in a barn. And those terrors are things we begin to feed on all the time.

Let me encourage you to be afraid of nothing.

And as I’ve said so many times before, what you fear, you elevate to the place of God. Don’t give to things and situations what should belong only to God, and that is your fear. We should fear God only. Holy fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. And we’re commanded to fear God and to love him. We’ve talked about this a number of times.

But when we fear anything else, we’re stealing from God, and we’re giving a form of worship to these other things, because we’re giving them power in our lives.”

“And your fears do not protect you. Your fears, you think, are putting up walls of protection, but what you’re really doing is building not walls of protection — you’re building a prison cell for yourself.

So let’s not store up our terrors. And I challenge you, if there are certain fears you’ve held on to, thinking they’re going to protect you, if you just always are concerned and anxious about these things, they’re not protecting you at all. They’re actually your enemy. They’re causing you damage.

So burn down the barn. Don’t hold on to fears. They are not your friends.

So I sought Adonai, and he answered me. From all my fears — all my magurot (מְגוּרוֹת) — he has delivered me.

And he can do the same for you and me.”

Radiance and Reflection – Psalm 34:5–7

“Verse 5 begins the letter He. Those who look to him are radiant. Remember in Psalm 33, the previous psalm we studied, we studied the word halal (הָלַל), which means to praise, but we looked at the root of that word, which actually means to reflect back. So when we’re told to praise God, we’re to reflect back to him the light he radiates upon us. And I think that’s what David has in mind here in this psalm.

Those who look to him are radiant, because they’re reflecting back the light of God that they behold in his face. And their faces shall never be ashamed.

Now here’s the glitch in this psalm as it comes to the acrostic here. And that is the letter Vav (ו) is skipped. Verse 6 should start with the sixth letter, which is Vav. But it doesn’t. Verse 6 starts with letter Zayin (ז), which is the seventh letter. So up to this point, verse 1 began with the first letter, verse 2 with the second, and so on. But verse 6 starts with the seventh letter.

What happened to Vav? Vav is silent here.”

The Silent Vav – Psalm 34:6

“Now what’s interesting, the letter Vav, which is the sixth letter, in many ways is a picture of man because man was created on the sixth day and the number of man is 666, and so on. But here the Vav is silent.

And yet, as I mentioned earlier, there are still 22 verses in this psalm, and there are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet. So how is this going to come out even at the end? What’s going to happen with Vav? When does Vav find its voice?

So just stay tuned, we’ll get to it.”

The Cry of the Humble – Psalm 34:6–7

“So verse 6, which starts with the seventh letter, letter Zayin: This humble one cried, and Adonai heard, and from all his distresses he saved him. Remember the humble, they boast in who? In Adonai. So when the humble one cries out, Adonai hears. From all his distresses he saves him.

The secret to all of your terrors and fears and distresses is not to store them up in a barn and try to be self-protective. Your secret is to cry out to the Lord. Let him be your protection.”

The Angel of Adonai Encamps – Psalm 34:7

“And we’re going to see here in the next few verses how he protects.

The angel of Adonai encamps around those who fear him and delivers them.

I want you to think for a moment about something. When Israel was traveling through the wilderness, if you’re familiar with the encampments, you know that right in the middle would be the tabernacle, God’s house. And right around the tabernacle would be the divisions of Levi. And then around that, there would be three tribes to the east, three to the south, three to the west, and three to the north. They all centered and surrounded the house of God. And the pillar of cloud and fire by night would rest right over the Holy of Holies of the tabernacle.

So Israel surrounded God’s house.

Look what this verse says: The angel of Adonai encamps around those who fear him and delivers them.”

He Makes Us His Focus – Psalm 34:7–8

“Do you see the beauty of this? Numbers 2:2 I think it is. It says that they shall encamp around the tent of meeting at a distance. We encamp — we make God the focus of our activities, of our work, and our rest. We make him our focus.

So you know what he does? The angel of Adonai encamps around those who fear him and delivers them.

God makes us the center of his focus.

We build our lives around him, and he makes his life around us.”

Taste and See – Psalm 34:8

“Verse 8: O taste and see — there’s that word taʿam (טַעַם) again. David changed his taste so he looked insane and the king left him alone. But O taste and see that Adonai is good.

Now, this verse has always seemed backwards to me. I don’t want to taste anything that I haven’t seen first. I don’t want to put anything in my mouth I haven’t had a good look at. I maybe sniff it — I want to make sure that I’m putting something in my body that is going to be good.

But that’s not how it works here. We can’t examine God. We can’t examine all of his promises and then think, until I have proof, I’m just not going to trust him. That’s not how it works. We simply have to open our mouths and taste.

And when we taste, then we will see that God is good.

You have to accept his promises on faith. You have to take him in on faith. And then and only then will your understanding be enlightened, and you’ll see that he is so, so very good.”

“In this world, we want proof before we make a decision. But in the spiritual realm, we have to make the decision on faith before we get the proof.

So taste and see that Adonai is good.”

Ashrei (אַשְׁרֵי) – Psalm 34:8–10

“And contented — ashrei (אַשְׁרֵי) — the very first word of Psalms, ashrei ha’ish, contented is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly. That’s the same word used here. Ashrei, contented, happy is the man who takes refuge in him.

Happy is the man who takes refuge in him. Instead of storing up all the concerns and you think you’re so smart knowing what to be afraid of, what to be careful of — and instead, we just build a prison for ourselves — what we should do is take refuge in God. Take refuge in him.

Fear Adonai, all his holy ones. Here’s what we’re to fear. And we’re going to find the word fear in the psalm five times. We’ve already seen it once, but here we see it again. Fear Adonai, all his holy ones, for there is no lack to those who fear him.”

No Lack — Chasar (חָסֵר) – Psalm 34:9–10

“That word for lack is the word chasar (חָסֵר). And we saw it back in Psalm 23: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not chasar. I shall not lack anything. I shall not want for anything. There won’t be any gaps in my list of things that I need to have a happy, successful, good life.

So fear Adonai, all his holy ones, for there is no lack to those who fear him.

Now, the young lions suffer want and hunger, but those who seek Adonai lack — there’s that word chasar again — lack no good thing.

Young lions, you know, young lions are strong, they’re powerful, energetic, they’re aggressive, and we have all kinds of reasons to fear the young lions. But David’s telling us here, no — young lions, they lack, and they can go hungry, and they can suffer.

But if we find a refuge in Adonai and fear him, we’ll lack nothing. We’ll have all the things that even the lions don’t have.”

Come, My Children — Learn the Fear of Adonai – Psalm 34:11–14

“Then we go on to verses 11 through 14. Come, my sons, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of Adonai.

Now here’s an important lesson. How do you come to fear Adonai? What is the key to learning how to have a healthy fear of Adonai?

Terror of Adonai is not a good thing, because terror of Adonai comes from not knowing that he loves us, that he cares for us, that we are the center of attention, and that he’s gracious and good to us. A person who’s terrified of God doesn’t see these other things.

But sometimes people claim to love God — they have no fear of him. And they’re far too familiar and just a little too casual in their relationship with God. And it comes across as being disrespectful of him.

He is our Father — so there’s that loving relationship. He’s our King — that demands fear and respect.

We have to have these together.”

“So how do we learn to fear God? Here’s what he does. He asks a question:

Who’s the man whose delight is life? Who’s the man who wants to live and loves many days that he may see good? Who’s the person who wants a long and good life? So, if you want a long and good life, you need to learn fear of God.

Well, here it is.

Keep your tongue from evil.”

“Keep your tongue from evil. This is the first and foremost, the long and the short, of fear of God.

A person who truly fears God is aware that God is right here in the room with me. I don’t want to disappoint him. And so I watch what I say.

When you hear a person — whether they claim to be a believer or not — if they’re loose with their words, their criticism, their gossip, their condemnation of others, these are people who have no fear of God. And therefore you know that they don’t love God. And it may be very likely they don’t even know God.

But the person who wants to develop fear of God, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.

What’s the difference between evil and deceit? Well, evil is saying bad things. Deceit is simply saying untrue things.

Avoid both.

Withdraw from evil and do good.”

“So it is more than just speech, but it starts with speech. But the next thing: withdraw from evil, do good. It moves into action.

Seek peace and pursue it.

Peace — and this is an attitude. Seek completion. Seek wholeness in your own life and in your relationships. Watch your tongue. Withdraw yourself from evil and do what is good.

And the only way we can know what is good is to look into the Torah. And that’s how we know what good is.

And then to seek peace. Seek peace, seek wholeness within yourself, in your marriage, in your family, your community. Seek peace. Chase after it.

And that’s how you develop a healthy fear of God.”

The Eyes and Ears of Adonai – Psalm 34:15–17

“And then we go on to verses 15 through 21. The eyes of Adonai — it’s interesting that this verse starts with the letter Ayin (ע), or is the verse that corresponds to the letter Ayin, which means eye. The eyes of Adonai are toward the righteous, and his ears toward their cry. He’s always watching, always listening.

He’s a heartbeat away, and he comes to the assistance.”

“Now you might say, well, Grant, I’ve had a real need in my life, and I’ve prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed, and God doesn’t answer.

I want you to listen to me very closely.

When God is silent, his silence is part of his answer.

You might think, well, that’s really convenient. It’s not convenient. It’s simply true.

God is answering your prayer, but there’s often a delay between the request and when the answer is finally realized in our life. And that gap between the request and when the answer is fulfilled is also part of God’s training. It’s part of God’s answer. It’s part of God’s deep correction in our souls.

And it can only happen when there’s a delay. And we learn patience and brokenness. And through the experience of suffering, we become spiritual people.”

“Adonai is near to the brokenhearted and crushed in spirit he shall save.

Why is God so close to the brokenhearted, the crushed in spirit? We have to understand that closeness in spiritual things is not geographical — like my hands are far apart and now my hands are close. If God wasn’t close, I wouldn’t even be alive. He animates every cell in my body and in yours. So it’s not geographical distance.

What does it mean when the scriptures talk about closeness? What it means is that it’s in focus.”

“This is far when my hands are not aligned. This is close when my hands are aligned. When two images are exactly focused together as one, that is what the scriptures refer to as closeness to God.

When your life is in focus with his, when your life is aligned with his, that is closeness.

And so Adonai is near to the brokenhearted and crushed in spirit.”

God Shares Our Pain – Psalm 34:18

“So what does this mean? I think what it means is that when we are brokenhearted, when we’re crushed in spirit, God is near because God is also brokenhearted. God’s spirit is also crushed.

We have to understand that God is not aloof from the pain of this world. For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son. God created the world because He loved the idea of this world and the human beings who would populate it. He loves mankind, but we have been a huge disappointment. He knows what brokenheartedness is. He knows what a crushed spirit is.

And when he sees a person whose heart is broken and whose spirit is crushed, he’s attracted to them. He’s like — he embraces them. He says, I know how you feel, I feel the same way.”

“I remember someone asking me, what really attracts us to God? And he posed it as a hypothetical question. And I said, I don’t know — what makes us attractive to God?

And he said, our need.

And that’s always stuck with me.

God is attracted to our needs.

But especially when your heart is broken, your spirit is crushed, God wraps his arms around you, says, I understand. I feel the same thing. So walk together with me.

And the day will come when our broken hearts and crushed spirits will all be healed. The world will be whole again. Every tear will be wiped away. And it will all be good.”

Many Evils — Yet Deliverance – Psalm 34:19–20

“Many are the evils of the righteous. But Adonai rescues him out of them all.

Now, your translation may say troubles. And that’s okay, because the word evil — raʿah (רָעָה) — in scripture refers to things that are terribly unpleasant. They’ll talk about evil weather or an evil this. It doesn’t mean wickedness — that’s a different word.

But evil means something that’s very unpleasant.

So many are the unpleasantnesses of the righteous, the evils of the righteous. But Adonai rescues him out of them all.”

Prophecy — Not One Bone Broken -Psalm 34:20

“Verse 20: He guards all his bones, so that not one of them is broken.

What does that remind you of? If you’re thinking of Yeshua on the cross, his bones weren’t broken — that’s what it should remind you of. Because this verse is actually a prophecy, and this verse is quoted in John’s Gospel.

And in John 19:33, 36 it says that when they came to Yeshua and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. For these things took place that the Scripture may be fulfilled, not one of his bones will be broken.

So John is saying here that this is a prophecy that was fulfilled when Yeshua was on the cross, that they did not break his legs.

And of course, he died as the Passover lamb, and we know that in Exodus, we’re instructed that the bones of the Passover lamb are never to be broken.”

Justice for the Wicked – Psalm 34:21

“Then we come to verse 21, and the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet, the letter Tav (ת). Evil will kill the wicked, and those hating the righteous one will be found guilty.

But there’s one more verse. There’s verse 22.”

“We’ve seen 21 of the Hebrew letters of the alphabet used in these 21 verses. Vav was skipped. So what is this 22nd verse going to begin with?

Remember, Vav did not have a verse. The letter He, the fifth letter of the alphabet, had a verse. Zayin, the seventh letter, had a verse. But Vav was silent. There was no verse assigned to it.

But when we look at verse 22, the letter that starts this verse is the letter Peh (פ). And Peh is the Hebrew word for mouth. And the letter Peh is meant to be shaped and to look like a human mouth, with an upper jaw and then a lower jaw.

So it’s like here in verse 22, Vav — and remember, Vav is often the letter that symbolizes a human being — it’s like Vavfinally speaks. It’s given a peh, a mouth, here at the end.

And what does it say?

Adonai ransoms the soul of his servant. None will be found guilty of those who take refuge in him.”

Closing Blessing

“So the psalm begins with, bless Adonai. What does that mean? Let’s bring him out of hiding. Let’s bring him out of hiding. Let’s let our mouths express his works, his glory, his goodness, so that he becomes more tangible in the world.

So we bring him close and into the world, but we find our refuge in him. And somehow this first verse and this last verse go hand in hand. We want to bring God more obviously into the world, but we want to find our refuge in him.

And as we find our refuge more and more in God, we make God more evident in this world.

It’s almost as if our occupation here on earth is to make God more obvious — through our works, through our words, through our faith.

But let’s do what the first part of the psalm says. Let’s bless his name. Let’s exalt his name. Let’s magnify him. And let’s praise him. Let’s give him glory.

And let’s let our lives be lives that are like a flame, always reaching up to reach to God and thereby bring light into the world.

So I feel like we’ve only scratched the surface of this psalm. I had so many notes and things to share, but I’ve shared, I think, what I’m supposed to. But there’s so much more in the psalm.

I think God probably wants to speak to you and to me as well. So take some time over the next days before we go to Psalm 35. And go over the psalm again and again, and 33 as well. And let them continue to feed you and speak to you, to encourage you.

And let’s do what David said at the beginning. Let’s continue to bless Adonai.

So, may God bless you, and I wish you shalom (שָׁלוֹם) until next time.”

Links

Read Psalm 34