Psalm 34: An Introduction
1 Samuel 21:1-15, Psalm 56:1-13, Psalm 34:1-22 - David exhibits the typical behavior of someone who believes, yet doesn’t fully trust God. He makes up for his actions with his beautiful Psalm.
For my next devotional series, I plan a verse-by-verse examination of Psalm 34. There are some key “life verses” in this Psalm, which is a Psalm of David, written to honor the Lord as a Provider and Deliverer. Now you may ask, why is there a strange image of a man behaving insanely in front of a king as the AI image that Steve created? Apparently, to truly understand the context for this Psalm we must first refer to 1 Samuel 21:1-15 (see in particular verses 10-15, where David flees to Gath):
“Then David came to Nob to Ahimelech the priest; and Ahimelech came trembling to meet David and said to him, “Why are you alone and no one with you?” David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has commissioned me with a matter and has said to me, ‘Let no one know anything about the matter on which I am sending you and with which I have commissioned you; and I have directed the young men to a certain place.’ Now therefore, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever can be found.”
The priest answered David and said, “There is no ordinary bread on hand, but there is consecrated bread; if only the young men have kept themselves from women.” David answered the priest and said to him, “Surely women have been kept from us as previously when I set out and the vessels of the young men were holy, though it was an ordinary journey; how much more then today will their vessels be holy?” So the priest gave him consecrated bread; for there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence which was removed from before the Lord, in order to put hot bread in its place when it was taken away.
Now one of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the Lord; and his name was Doeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul’s shepherds. David said to Ahimelech, “Now is there not a spear or a sword on hand? For I brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king’s matter was urgent.” Then the priest said, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the valley of Elah, behold, it is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod; if you would take it for yourself, take it. For there is no other except it here.” And David said, “There is none like it; give it to me.”
Then David arose and fled that day from Saul, and went to Achish king of Gath. But the servants of Achish said to him, “Is this not David the king of the land? Did they not sing of this one as they danced, saying, ‘Saul has slain his thousands, And David his ten thousands’?” David took these words to heart and greatly feared Achish king of Gath. So he disguised his sanity before them, and acted insanely in their hands, and scribbled on the doors of the gate, and let his saliva run down into his beard. Then Achish said to his servants, “Behold, you see the man behaving as a madman. Why do you bring him to me? Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this one to act the madman in my presence? Shall this one come into my house?””
1 Samuel 21:1-15 NASB1995
This is not one of David’s finer moments in his life. He asked for, and received consecrated bread meant for an offering to the Lord to feed his men. He asked for, and received the sword of Goliath the Philistine. Then he abruptly fled the scene to avoid Saul and goes to Achish, the king of Gath (this is in territory of the Philistines). They seem to know who he is, but David was also fearful of this king and decided to feign insanity. David was driven away and escaped to the cave of Abdullam to hide out with about 400 of his men and where he apparently wrote this Psalm. Most scholars believe that Achish and Abimelech are likely the same person; the introductory words for Psalm 34 say this, in the NASB95 version that I use.
A psalm of David when he feigned madness before Abimelech, who drove him away and he departed.
This commentary from Peter Kennedy, a Christian writer quoted in Precept Austin in the collected commentary for 1 Samuel 21 is quite good; he is comparing David’s loss of trust in God to weakness in our faith in Christ:
A certain madness and sadness occurs when we lose our trust in Christ. David Hume was a popular philosopher in the eighteenth century. His works on the natural history of religion look at different cultures and argue that the belief in many gods was the first religion. He saw belief in one God as an evolutionary development. He asserted that fear was the true cause for religion and neither belief in one God nor many gods really mattered.
But David Hume's philosophical world took a tumble when his mother fell gravely ill. She was a Christian yet foolishly followed her son's teachings. On her deathbed she wrote, "Dear son, my health has forsaken me. I am failing rapidly; I cannot live much longer. My philosophy affords me no comfort in my distress. I have lost the hope and comfort of religion and am sinking in despair. You can offer me something that will replace the hope of religion that I have lost. Hurry home, I beseech you, to comfort me, or at least write me what consolation you can afford in the hour of death." Hume hurried home, but he did not have any philosophical speculations to comfort his dying mother.
Our only comfort in stressful times is Jesus Christ. Do you trust Him with your whole life? In prayer thank the Lord that He is faithful when you are not. Thank Him that He comforts when there is no other comfort.
"A great many men say, 'Oh, I have profound reverence and respect for God.' Yes, profound respect, but not faith. Why, it is a downright insult."—D. L. Moody
Another commentator on Precept Austin, Bob Deffinbaugh, does not view the actions of David kindly. He believes that we also need to include Psalm 56 in our historical background, apparently written about the same incident and possibly written first:
“Be gracious to me, O God, for man has trampled upon me;
Fighting all day long he oppresses me.
My foes have trampled upon me all day long,
For they are many who fight proudly against me.
When I am afraid, I will put my trust in You.
In God, whose word I praise, In God I have put my trust; I shall not be afraid.
What can mere man do to me?
All day long they distort my words; All their thoughts are against me for evil.
They attack, they lurk, They watch my steps, As they have waited to take my life.
Because of wickedness, cast them forth,
In anger put down the peoples, O God!
You have taken account of my wanderings;
Put my tears in Your bottle.
Are they not in Your book?
Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call; This I know, that God is for me.
In God, whose word I praise, In the Lord, whose word I praise, In God I have put my trust, I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?
Your vows are binding upon me, O God; I will render thank offerings to You.
For You have delivered my soul from death, Indeed my feet from stumbling,
So that I may walk before God In the light of the living.”
Psalms 56:1-13 NASB1995
Here’s some of the commentary from Bob Deffinbaugh quoted on Precept Austin to tie these passages and events together:
The solution to our problem is not to be found in the Book of 1 Samuel. It is not even to be found in Psalm 34. The key to our dilemma is contained in Psalm 56, which begins with these words:
“For the choir director; according to Jonath elem rehokim. A Mikhtam of David, when the Philistines seized him in Gath.”
A look at Psalm 56, apparently based on the same event in David’s life, will help us to see the folly of David’s fears from which God delivered him: “When I am afraid, I will put my trust in Thee. In God, whose word I praise, in God I have put my trust; I shall not be afraid. What can mere man do to me?” (Ps. 56:3-4, cf. also Ps 56:10-11).
…..
It is my opinion that the sequence of events recorded in 1 Samuel 21 and Psalms 34 and 56 was something like this:
Out of fear of Saul, David fled to Gath. He attempted to live in that city without revealing his identity, but was soon discovered (cf. 1 Sam. 21:11). When Achish learned of David’s identity and reputation as a soldier, he seized him (superscription, Psalm 56). Under house arrest, David began to ponder his situation and realized he was in grave danger (cf. 1Sa 21:12). David acted as though he was insane and was expelled from Gath. The king looked back upon these events at a point in time and came to understand that he had acted out of the fear of man and not out of the fear of God (cf. Ps 56:3-4, 10-11). He was humbled before God and wrote Psalm 56 as his confession and vow of trust. Finally, Psalm 34 was penned to praise God for His deliverance (in spite of his deception and sin) and to teach the principles pertaining to the “fear of the Lord” which David had learned through this painful experience.
Psalm 34 must therefore be interpreted in light of the additional revelation of Psalm 56. We need not attempt to excuse David’s sin, because he confessed it and expressed his renewed trust in God. When we read Psalm 34 we understand that it was written by the same man who has already acknowledged his sin and is forgiven. The trust of which David speaks in Psalm 34 is that which he reaffirmed in Psalm 56. The key to our understanding of the relationship of Psalm 34 to 1 Samuel 21 is that David was forgiven and renewed as a result of his experience described in Psalm 56.
This background helps us understand the conflicting emotions driving the young King David. He has great faith but he still is frightened of what men can do to him and that fear often wins out. So, here is the complete text of Psalm 34. I plan to dig into each verse in the coming devotionals:
“I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul will make its boast in the Lord; The humble will hear it and rejoice.
O magnify the Lord with me, And let us exalt His name together.
I sought the Lord, and He answered me, And delivered me from all my fears.
They looked to Him and were radiant, And their faces will never be ashamed.
This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him And saved him out of all his troubles.
The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, And rescues them.
O taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!
O fear the Lord, you His saints; For to those who fear Him there is no want.
The young lions do lack and suffer hunger; But they who seek the Lord shall not be in want of any good thing.
Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
Who is the man who desires life And loves length of days that he may see good?
Keep your tongue from evil And your lips from speaking deceit.
Depart from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it.
The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous And His ears are open to their cry.
The face of the Lord is against evildoers, To cut off the memory of them from the earth.
The righteous cry, and the Lord hears And delivers them out of all their troubles.
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted And saves those who are crushed in spirit.
Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the Lord delivers him out of them all.
He keeps all his bones, Not one of them is broken.
Evil shall slay the wicked, And those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
The Lord redeems the soul of His servants, And none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned.”
Psalms 34:1-22 NASB1995
The Psalm is structured mostly as an acrostic, with the first word in the verse being another Hebrew word (except for the letter waw). There will probably be lots of word studies so be ready! I love the Greek studies, but need to do more with Hebrew.
My next devotional examines Psalm 34:1 - Bless the Lord.
Heaven on Wheels Daily Prayer:
Dear Lord - We fallible, fallen believers can always learn from another flawed human like King David. Thank you for pointing me to this Psalm and its context. Amen.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Precept Austin was accessed on 08/12/2025 to review commentary for Psalm 34, 1 Samuel 21 and Psalm 56.