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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0;"/><title>Psalm 34 Matthew Poole's Commentary</title><link rel="canonical" href="https://biblehub.com/commentaries/poole/psalms/341.htm" /><link href='//fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Cardo&subset=greek-ext' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; cts.dataset.appid=i;cts.src='https://app.protectsubrev.com/catch_rp.js?cb='+Math.random(); document.head.appendChild(cts); }) (window,document,'head','script','rc-anksrH');</script></head> <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-LR4HSKRP2H"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-LR4HSKRP2H'); </script><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/psalms/34.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/bmcom/psalms/34-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="/commentaries/">Commentary</a> > <a href="../">Poole</a> > <a href="../psalms/">Psalm</a></div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../psalms/33.htm" title="Psalm 33">◄</a> Psalm 34 <a href="../psalms/35.htm" title="Psalm 35">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Matthew Poole's Commentary</div><div class="chap"> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/34-1.htm">Psalm 34:1</a></div><div class="verse"><i>A Psalm</i> of David, when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech; who drove him away, and he departed. I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise <i>shall</i> continually <i>be</i> in my mouth.</div>A Psalm made upon that occasion, though not at that time. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">His behaviour; </span> or, <span class="ital">his habit</span> or <span class="ital">posture</span>, or his <span class="ital">reason</span>, as this word is taken, <span class="bld"><a href="/1_samuel/25-33.htm" title="And blessed be your advice, and blessed be you, which have kept me this day from coming to shed blood, and from avenging myself with my own hand.">1 Samuel 25:33</a> <a href="/psalms/119-66.htm" title="Teach me good judgment and knowledge: for I have believed your commandments.">Psalm 119:66</a> <a href="/proverbs/11-22.htm" title="As a jewel of gold in a swine's snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion.">Proverbs 11:22</a></span>. When he counterfeited madness. Wherein, whether he sinned or not, is matter of dispute; but this is undoubted, that God’s favour and his deliverance at that time was very remarkable, and deserved this solemn acknowledgment. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Abimelech, </span> called <span class="ital">Achish</span>, <span class="bld"><a href="/1_samuel/21-10.htm" title="And David arose and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath.">1 Samuel 21:10</a></span>. But Abimelech seems to have been the common name of the kings of the Philistines, <span class="bld"><a href="/genesis/20-2.htm" title="And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah.">Genesis 20:2</a> 26:1</span>, as Pharaoh was of the Egyptians, and Caesar of the Romans. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>David praiseth God, <span class="bld"><a href="/psalms/34-1.htm" title="I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.">Psalm 34:1</a>,2</span>, and exhorteth others thereto from his own experience of God’s kindness, <span class="bld"><a href="/context/psalms/34-3.htm" title="O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together....">Psalm 34:3-7</a></span>. He showeth that they are blessed who trust in God, <span class="bld"><a href="/context/psalms/34-8.htm" title="O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusts in him....">Psalm 34:8-10</a></span>. He exhorteth others to learn to fear him, <span class="bld"><a href="/psalms/34-11.htm" title="Come, you children, listen to me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD.">Psalm 34:11</a></span>, and showeth the way to happiness, <span class="bld"><a href="/context/psalms/34-12.htm" title="What man is he that desires life, and loves many days, that he may see good?...">Psalm 34:12-14</a></span>. The privileges of the righteous, and the punishment of the wicked, <span class="bld"><a href="/context/psalms/34-15.htm" title="The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their cry....">Psalm 34:15-22</a></span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span> I will never forget to bless God for this miraculous deliverance. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="2"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/34-2.htm">Psalm 34:2</a></div><div class="verse">My soul shall make her boast in the LORD: the humble shall hear <i>thereof</i>, and be glad.</div> <span class="bld">My soul</span> shall glory in this, that I have so powerful and so gracious a Lord and Master. The <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">humble; </span> or, the <span class="ital">meek</span>, i.e. the godly, oft called in Scripture by that title; and particularly my friends and favourers in Israel, whom he thus calls in opposition to his proud and furious adversaries in Saul’s court and camp. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Be glad; </span> both for their love to me and to the public good of Israel, which they know that I design and seek above all things; and for the comfort and benefit of my example to them in like straits and difficulties. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="3"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/34-3.htm">Psalm 34:3</a></div><div class="verse">O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together.</div> Join your praises with mine, O all ye humble ones. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Together; </span> not in place, for David was now banished from the place of God’s public worship, but in affection and work: let our souls meet, and let our praises meet in the ears of the all-hearing God. Or, <span class="ital">alike</span>, i.e. with equal zeal and fervency; let none be willing to be outstripped by another. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="4"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/34-4.htm">Psalm 34:4</a></div><div class="verse">I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.</div> No text from Poole on this verse. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="5"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/34-5.htm">Psalm 34:5</a></div><div class="verse">They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed.</div> <span class="bld">They looked; </span> the humble, <span class="bld"><a href="/psalms/34-2.htm" title="My soul shall make her boast in the LORD: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.">Psalm 34:2</a></span>; or they that fear him, <span class="bld"><a href="/psalms/34-7.htm" title="The angel of the LORD encamps round about them that fear him, and delivers them.">Psalm 34:7</a></span>, when they were in distress. Or it is an indefinite expression. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Unto him; </span> either, <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>1. <span class="ital">Unto the Lord</span>, expressed <span class="bld"><a href="/psalms/34-4.htm" title="I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.">Psalm 34:4</a></span>, i.e. they sought and expected help from him. Or rather, <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>2. Unto <span class="ital">this poor man</span>, as it follows, <span class="bld"><a href="/psalms/34-6.htm" title="This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.">Psalm 34:6</a></span>, or unto David. So he speaks of himself in the third person, which is usual. So the sense is, when I was delivered, <span class="bld"><a href="/psalms/34-4.htm" title="I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.">Psalm 34:4</a></span>, men looked upon me with wonder and astonishment, as one saved in a prodigious manner. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Lightened, </span> i.e. comforted and encouraged by my example. But these and the foregoing words are by the ancient interpreters read imperatively, as an exhortation to others, to whom he oft addresseth his speech, as <span class="bld"><a href="/psalms/34-3.htm" title="O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together.">Psalm 34:3</a>,8,9,11</span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Look unto him, </span>( with an eye of faith and prayer,)<span class="ital"> and be ye enlightened</span>, i.e. take comfort in the expectation of mercy from him. And then the last words they render thus, <span class="ital">and your</span>, Heb. <span class="ital">their</span>, (but the change of persons is very frequent in this book,)<span class="ital"> fear shall not be ashamed. Their faces were not ashamed</span>; they were not disappointed of their hope, but found relief, as I did. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="6"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/34-6.htm">Psalm 34:6</a></div><div class="verse">This poor man cried, and the LORD heard <i>him</i>, and saved him out of all his troubles.</div> i.e. David, of whom they that <span class="ital">looked</span>, &c., <span class="bld"><a href="/psalms/34-5.htm" title="They looked to him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed.">Psalm 34:5</a></span>, spake these words. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="7"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/34-7.htm">Psalm 34:7</a></div><div class="verse">The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.</div> <span class="bld">The angel, </span> i.e. the angels; the singular number being put for the plural, as it is <span class="bld"><a href="/psalms/78-45.htm" title="He sent divers sorts of flies among them, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them.">Psalm 78:45</a> 105:33,40</span>; for it is both improper and unusual to ascribe <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">encamping, </span> and that round about all good men, to one created angel. And we find many angels employed in this work, <span class="bld"><a href="/genesis/32-1.htm" title="And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him.">Genesis 32:1</a>,2 <a href="/2_kings/6-17.htm" title="And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray you, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.">2 Kings 6:17</a></span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Encampeth round about them; </span> guardeth them from dangers on every side; to which work they are appointed by God, <span class="bld"><a href="/hebrews/1-14.htm" title="Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?">Hebrews 1:14</a></span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="8"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/34-8.htm">Psalm 34:8</a></div><div class="verse">O taste and see that the LORD <i>is</i> good: blessed <i>is</i> the man <i>that</i> trusteth in him.</div> <span class="bld">Taste, </span> i.e. consider it seriously, and thoroughly, and affectionately; make trial of it by your own and others’ experiences. This is opposed to those slight and vanishing thoughts which men have of it. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Good, </span> i.e. merciful and gracious, to wit, to all his people. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="9"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/34-9.htm">Psalm 34:9</a></div><div class="verse">O fear the LORD, ye his saints: for <i>there is</i> no want to them that fear him.</div> i.e. Reverence and serve him, and trust in him; for fear is commonly put for all the parts of God’s worship. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="10"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/34-10.htm">Psalm 34:10</a></div><div class="verse">The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good <i>thing</i>.</div> <span class="bld">The young lions; </span> either, <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>1. Properly: see <span class="bld"><a href="/job/4-11.htm" title="The old lion perishes for lack of prey, and the stout lion's whelps are scattered abroad.">Job 4:11</a></span>. Or, <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>2. Metaphorically so called, the great potentates of the earth, who are oft so called, as <span class="bld"><a href="/jeremiah/2-15.htm" title="The young lions roared on him, and yelled, and they made his land waste: his cities are burned without inhabitant.">Jeremiah 2:15</a> <a href="/ezekiel/38-13.htm" title="Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say to you, Are you come to take a spoil? have you gathered your company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?">Ezekiel 38:13</a> <a href="/nahum/2-13.htm" title="Behold, I am against you, said the LORD of hosts, and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions: and I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers shall no more be heard.">Nahum 2:13</a></span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Shall not want any good thing, </span> which is necessary and truly good for them, all circumstances considered; of which God alone is a competent judge. And therefore although God doth usually take a special care to supply the wants of good men, and hath oft done it by extraordinary ways, when ordinary have failed, yet sometimes he knows, and it is certainly true, that wants and crosses are more needful and useful to them than bread, and in such cases it is a greater mercy of God to deny them supplies than to grant them. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="11"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/34-11.htm">Psalm 34:11</a></div><div class="verse">Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD.</div> <span class="ital">Ye children</span>; whom I love as mine own children, and who own me as your civil father, your prince; see <span class="bld"><a href="/2_kings/5-13.htm" title="And his servants came near, and spoke to him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid you do some great thing, would you not have done it? how much rather then, when he said to you, Wash, and be clean?">2 Kings 5:13</a></span>; and as your spiritual father, a prophet; for the disciples of the prophets were called their <span class="ital">sons</span>, <span class="bld"><a href="/2_kings/2-3.htm" title="And the sons of the prophets that were at Bethel came forth to Elisha, and said to him, Know you that the LORD will take away your master from your head to day? And he said, Yes, I know it; hold you your peace.">2 Kings 2:3</a></span>. <span class="ital">The fear of the Lord</span>, i.e. the true and principal way of worshipping and serving God with his acceptation, and to your own salvation. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="12"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/34-12.htm">Psalm 34:12</a></div><div class="verse">What man <i>is he that</i> desireth life, <i>and</i> loveth <i>many</i> days, that he may see good?</div> <span class="bld">Desireth, </span> to wit, seriously and in good earnest, so as to be willing to use any endeavours which shall be prescribed to him: for otherwise the question were needless; for there is no man but desires it, at least coldly and faintly. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Life; </span> a long and happy life, begun in this world, and continued for ever in the next. And thus <span class="ital">life</span> is oft used, as <span class="bld"><a href="/psalms/16-11.htm" title="You will show me the path of life: in your presence is fullness of joy; at your right hand there are pleasures for ever more.">Psalm 16:11</a> 30:5</span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Loveth many days, that he may see good, </span> Heb. <span class="ital">loveth days to see</span> (i.e. in which he may see, i.e. enjoy) <span class="ital">good</span>, to wit, prosperity or happiness. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="13"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/34-13.htm">Psalm 34:13</a></div><div class="verse">Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.</div> <span class="bld">From evil; </span> from all manner of evil-speaking, from all opprobrious, injurious, false, and deceitful speeches; which, though men commonly use to ease and gratify their own minds, or to compass their designs, do frequently fall upon their own heads, by provoking both God and men against them. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Guile; </span> or guileful words, contrary to thy intentions, and with a purpose of deceiving men by them. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="14"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/34-14.htm">Psalm 34:14</a></div><div class="verse">Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.</div> <span class="bld">Depart from evil, </span> i.e. from all sin, and especially from all wicked and injurious acts and practices against try neighbour. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Do good; </span> be ready to perform all good and friendly offices to all men, as thou hast opportunity. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Seek peace; </span> study by all means possible to live peaceably and quietly with all men, avoiding grudges, debates, dissensions, strifes, and enmities. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Pursue it; </span> do not only embrace it gladly when it is offered, but follow hard after it when it seems to flee away from thee, and use all possible endeavours, by fair words, by condescensions, and by the mediation or assistance of others, to recover it, and to compose all differences which may arise between thee and others. It is here observable, that whereas he said he would teach them <span class="ital">the fear of the Lord</span>, <span class="bld"><a href="/psalms/34-11.htm" title="Come, you children, listen to me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD.">Psalm 34:11</a></span>, the lessons he teacheth them, <span class="bld"><a href="/psalms/34-13.htm" title="Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking guile.">Psalm 34:13</a>,14</span>, are only such as concern men. Not that he meant to exclude duties of piety towards God, which he every where enjoineth and presseth as most necessary, but only to teach us what is oft inculcated both in the Old and New Testament, that sincere religion towards God is always accompanied with a conscientious discharge of our duties to men; and to convince the hypocritical Israelites, and particularly his adversaries, that so long as it was their daily course and practice to speak and act all manner of evil against him, and other good men, all their pretences to religion were but vain. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="15"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/34-15.htm">Psalm 34:15</a></div><div class="verse">The eyes of the LORD <i>are</i> upon the righteous, and his ears <i>are open</i> unto their cry.</div> This is added to prove his last assertion, to wit, that the practice of these duties, <span class="bld"><a href="/psalms/34-13.htm" title="Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking guile.">Psalm 34:13</a>,14</span>, is the true and best, and indeed the only, way to see that good proposed and promised <span class="bld"><a href="/psalms/34-12.htm" title="What man is he that desires life, and loves many days, that he may see good?">Psalm 34:12</a></span>; both because such righteous persons, howsoever they may meet with affronts and injuries from men, are under the special care and favour of God, in this verse; and those who do the evils there forbidden shall find to their cost that God is their enemy, <span class="bld"><a href="/psalms/34-16.htm" title="The face of the LORD is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.">Psalm 34:16</a></span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="16"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/34-16.htm">Psalm 34:16</a></div><div class="verse">The face of the LORD <i>is</i> against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.</div> <span class="bld">The face of the Lord, </span> i.e. his anger, oft called his <span class="ital">face</span>, as <span class="bld"><a href="/leviticus/17-10.htm" title="And whatever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eats any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eats blood, and will cut him off from among his people.">Leviticus 17:10</a> 20:5 <a href="/jeremiah/44-11.htm" title="Therefore thus said the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will set my face against you for evil, and to cut off all Judah.">Jeremiah 44:11</a> <a href="/lamentations/4-16.htm" title="The anger of the LORD has divided them; he will no more regard them: they respected not the persons of the priests, they favored not the elders.">Lamentations 4:16</a></span>, because anger discovers itself in the face. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Them that do evil, </span> i.e. whose common course, and study, arid business it is to do evil; for else <span class="ital">there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not</span>, <span class="bld"><a href="/ecclesiastes/7-20.htm" title="For there is not a just man on earth, that does good, and sins not.">Ecclesiastes 7:20</a></span>. <span class="ital">To cut off the remembrance of them from the earth</span>; utterly to deprive both them and their children of that worldly happiness, which is the only thing that they desire, and seek by their wicked courses. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="17"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/34-17.htm">Psalm 34:17</a></div><div class="verse"><i>The righteous</i> cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.</div> Heb. <span class="ital">They cry, </span> to wit, the righteous, as is manifest both from the nature of the thing, and from <span class="bld"><a href="/psalms/34-15.htm" title="The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their cry.">Psalm 34:15</a></span>, where they are so called, and with which this verse is to be continued, the 16th verse coming in by way of parenthesis, as is very usual in many places of Scripture. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="18"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/34-18.htm">Psalm 34:18</a></div><div class="verse">The LORD <i>is</i> nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.</div> <span class="bld">Nigh; </span> ready to hear and succour them; though by the severe course of his providence towards them he seems to themselves and others to stand afar off, as David complains, <span class="bld"><a href="/psalms/10-1.htm" title="Why stand you afar off, O LORD? why hide you yourself in times of trouble?">Psalm 10:1</a></span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Such as be of a contrite spirit; </span> by which he understands either, <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>1. Those whose spirits are oppressed, and even broken, with the greatness of their calamities. But this may be, and frequently is, the lot of wicked men. And therefore in this sense, and to such persons, this proposition and promise is not true. Or rather, <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>2. Those whose hearts or spirits are truly and deeply humbled under the hand of God, and the sense of their sins, and God’s displeasure for them, which was David’s case, <span class="bld"><a href="/psalms/6-1.htm" title="O LORD, rebuke me not in your anger, neither chasten me in your hot displeasure.">Psalm 6:1</a></span>, &c.: <span class="bld"><a href="/psalms/32-3.htm" title="When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.">Psalm 32:3</a>,4</span>, whose proud and self-willed hearts are subdued and made obedient to God’s will, and submissive to his providence; for to all such, and to such only, this promise is verified. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="19"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/34-19.htm">Psalm 34:19</a></div><div class="verse">Many <i>are</i> the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.</div> No text from Poole on this verse. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="20"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/34-20.htm">Psalm 34:20</a></div><div class="verse">He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken.</div> <span class="bld">All his bones, </span> i.e. all the parts and members of their bodies, which are synecdochically expressed by the bones, which are the stay and strength of the rest. God will not suffer any mischief to befall him; though he may be oft afflicted, yet he shall not be destroyed. But these words, though they are here spoken of the righteous men in general, of whom they are true in a metaphorical sense; yet they had a further meaning in them, being designed by the Spirit of God (which dictated to David, not only the matter, but the very words and expressions) to signify a great mystery, that none of Christ’s bones should be broken; to which purpose they are alleged, <span class="bld"><a href="/john/19-36.htm" title="For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken.">John 19:36</a></span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="21"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/34-21.htm">Psalm 34:21</a></div><div class="verse">Evil shall slay the wicked: and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate.</div> <span class="bld">Evil; </span> either, <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>1. The evil of sin. His own wickedness, though designed against others, shall destroy himself. Or, <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>2. The evil of misery. When the afflictions of good men shall have a happy issue, theirs shall end in their total and final destruction. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">That hate the righteous; </span> that persecute them, and plot their ruin; which is an evidence that they hate them, whatsoever they may pretend to the contrary. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="22"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/34-22.htm">Psalm 34:22</a></div><div class="verse">The LORD redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.</div> i.e. Their lives or their persons, from the malicious designs of all their enemies, and from desolation or utter ruin, as it follows. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Matthew Poole's Commentary<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. 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