Song of Living

Background

This psalm is interesting for a number of reasons. Like Psalm 119, this psalm is an acrostic. Each verse begins with the successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. This psalm is interesting because it is quoted three times in the New Testament. Psalm 34:8 is quoted in 1 Peter 2:3. Psalm 34:12-16 is quoted in 1 Peter 3:10-12. And Psalm 34:20 is quoted in John 19:36, in reference to our Lord’s crucifixion. This psalm is also interesting because there is a superscription which tells us something about the psalm and the reason for David to write it. This psalm is written during a time in which David is being pursued by Saul. Saul intends to kill David. David escapes to Gath and pretends to be insane to avoid arrest or being killed in that area. What also makes this psalm interesting is that Psalm 56 serves as a companion psalm. Psalm 56 was written while David is surrounded by the residents of Gath. He is the enemy and their intent is to watch David carefully in order to determine if he should live or die.

From the superscription this psalm was written after that incident. So in many ways it is a song exalting God’s goodness in providing for David during a time of real stress. But upon reflection what makes this psalm interesting is not just the circumstances which produce the psalm but the conduct of David which brings about the circumstances. Why was David in Gath? The easy answer is to escape Saul’s sword. But that is the easy answer. 1 Samuel 21:10-15 and its context gives us a fuller picture of what took place.

The death of Goliath (1 Sam. 17) quickly swept David from obscurity to renown as a military hero. The women of Israel sang, “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands” (1 Sam. 18:7). The popularity of David surpassed Saul, making the king extremely jealous (18:8-9). Saul began to look upon David as his rival, and eventually he was marked out for death (cf. 18:10-11, 20-29). Just as Saul sinfully responded to David’s popularity, David also reacted wrongly to the danger occasioned by Saul’s murderous intentions. Deception became David’s way of dealing with danger. The events leading up to Psalm 34 begin in 1 Samuel 19 when David escaped Saul’s assassination plot (19:10). He fled Saul’s spear, being lowered from a window by Michal, his wife. She then (at David’s instruction?) deceived her father. To allow time for David to escape, Michal placed a dummy made from a household idol in his bed (19:11-17). Sometime later David was expected to sit at Saul’s table to celebrate the feast of the new moon. Fearing for his life he asked Jonathan to lie about his absence from the festivities. Jonathan falsely explained to his father that David had gone to offer a sacrifice for his family at Bethlehem (20:6).

Later David fled to Nob. There Ahimelech the priest questioned David as to why he appeared alone. David falsely replied to the priest that Saul had commissioned him to carry out an urgent task and that he was to rendezvous with his men at an appointed place (21:1-2). David requested provisions and a weapon from Ahimelech. He was given some of the consecrated bread and the sword he had taken from Goliath. David’s time at Nob was costly. Along with eighty-four other priests, Ahimelech was executed at Saul’s command. Saul’s paranoid purge included the slaughter of the men, women, children and cattle of Nob (22:6-19). David knew that he was morally responsible for the slaughter (v. 22).

This is ironic. God was able to deliver David from Goliath without a sword. He also protected David from the treachery of Saul without David resorting to the use of Goliath’s sword. In 1 Samuel 19 we are told that David fled to Samuel at Ramah, after which the two of them went to stay in Naioth (v. 18). Saul heard that David was at Naioth and dispatched forces to arrest him. On three occasions Saul’s arresting forces were confronted by Samuel and a company of prophets; they were overcome by the Spirit of God so that they prophesied. Those men who were under the control of the Holy Spirit could not lay a hand on God’s anointed. Finally, Saul personally led his forces, only to prophesy himself (vv. 23-24). Without a sword or a spear, God was able to spare David’s life. Why, then, did David feel it urgent that he arm himself with a weapon?

These events provide a backdrop for David’s predicament in 1 Samuel 21. In all previous incidents, violence and deception seem to have been more the rule than the exception. In continued flight from Saul David left Judah for Gath, the home town of Goliath (1 Sam. 17:4,23) and one of the five principle cities of the Philistines (cf. Josh. 13:3; 1 Sam. 6:17; 17:52). David apparently wished to remain anonymous, but such hopes were futile. He was soon recognized as the rightful king of Israel and a great military hero about whom songs were sung by the Israelite women (1 Sam. 21:11). These things were all reported to Achish, king of Gath.

The superscription to Psalm 56 suggests that David was placed under house arrest. David probably wondered if he was doomed to spend his life as the prisoner of Achish. David was the enemy’s king (v. 11), or at least was going to be. And David was the one who had put their home-town hero Goliath to death. Things did not look good for David. It is not without reason that we are told, “David took these words to heart, and greatly feared Achish king of Gath” (v. 12). An ingenious plan then came to David’s mind. Concealing his sanity, David began to manifest the symptoms of a lunatic. He scribbled on the walls and drooled down his beard (v. 13). How could such a maniac possibly pose a threat to Achish? In his present state of mind David would not be an asset to Achish in any armed conflict with Israel (cf. v. 15; 29:1ff.). The result was that David departed, not voluntarily as 22:1 might allow, but by force. The superscription to Psalm 34 indicates that this Philistine king “drove him away.”

Application

All of this background material is necessary to for us to appreciate Psalm 34. We are encouraged to praise God and to extol him. We are told to glorify and exalt his name. We are told that the faces of those who look to the Lord are never covered with shame. Did David think of those words as spit ran down his beard? We are told that we are to take refuge in God. Is God’s refuge in Gath? We are told not to lie. Does David remember his lies to Saul, Ahimelech, and the king of Gath? What is going on in this psalm? Knowing the background we are hard pressed to listen carefully to David’s words.

David is in enemy territory. Are we to assume that trusting in God means that it is okay to give up our principles when the situation seems to demand it? I am not talking about leaving a light to give the appearance that someone is at home when you leave your house. This is full blown deception. How can we take Psalm 34 seriously, if David seems to have acted in an opposite manner? The key is Psalm 56 verse 3-4. At some point, David has a reality check. Maybe it is while the house is surrounded with Goliath’s sword in his hand that he realizes that he has quit trusting God. Maybe it is that he recognizes that he is where he shouldn’t be and he comes to his senses.

Haven’t there been times when we have been like David? The stress and pressure of a situation has caused us to set aside our principles just for a moment to avoid what seems to be a no-win situation. Haven’t we been there? It happens in the teen years. Cheating is wrong, but then that major test seems to demand that just for a moment we can set aside our principles. And then we justify it by saying “everyone else is doing it.” It happens as adults. Money gets tight and we fudge on our taxes, time card, or we avoid paying bills. We set aside our principles and begin trusting in our own ability to get things straightened out.

We don’t know when it happened, but at some point, David realizes what is going on. And when he does recognize his sin and when he recognizes that he has been less than honest with God and himself, he writes these psalms. The realization is that God is bigger than all the obstacles. God is bigger than any situation. Verse 19 reminds us that even those who belong to God will have problems, but God is bigger than them all. David captures even more clearly the spirit of those who truly trust in God. In 56:11 “in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”

All of us will find times of difficulty in life. But those difficulties doesn’t mean that we set aside our trust in God to deal with things ourselves. Psalm 34 can only be appreciated by someone who knows that God is bigger than any problem. It is appreciated when we have been like David—setting aside our principles—but then returning to them. It is appreciated by those who hold to their principles trusting God to act. God never abandoned David although David gave up on God for a time. God remained faithful to his promise to David. And so he will remain faithful to us.

In 34:8, David calls upon the reader to experience God. “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” It is an odd expression, but the point is really very clear. How do you describe the taste of an orange to someone who has never had an orange? Generally, we are left with taste it. How do you describe the faithfulness of God to someone who has no awareness of his presence? You invite that person to taste him. When you have exhausted your wisdom, your attempts, your abilities, and your principles, there is only one place to go—to God. He is faithful even in our unfaithfulness. David came to his senses and knew the faithfulness of God. Perhaps this is your day to come to your senses and know the goodness of God.

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