“I will praise the Lord at all times; my mouth will continually praise him. I will boast in the Lord; let the oppressed hear and rejoice! Magnify the Lord with me! Let’s praise his name together! I sought the Lord’s help and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him for help are happy; their faces are not ashamed.”
— Psalms 34:1-5
“The godly cry out and the Lord hears; he saves them from all their troubles. The Lord is near the brokenhearted; he delivers those who are discouraged. The godly face many dangers, but the Lord saves them from each one of them. He protects all his bones; not one of them is broken. Evil people self-destruct; those who hate the godly are punished. The Lord rescues his servants; all who take shelter in him escape punishment.”
— Psalms 34:17-22
Though the headings at the beginning of psalms are not inspired or part of the original text (i.e., inserted by tradition), in this case it at least reminds us that these words had/have a context. That is, they belong in both a literary and historical context. If I were to read this in many churches today, I would either be praised or critiqued for promoting prosperity theology. It’s right here in the verses.
But ASSUMING, the tradition of when it was written is anywhere close, let’s say I had experienced anything close to David. Captured by foreign king. About to die. Deserve to die in that culture. Hunted for years. Fake insanity. Released. I could write words/poetry that reflect something about God’s abundant goodness and faithfulness to His covenant and how His enemies always fail.
Psalm of thanksgiving/ praise. Genre is key when studying psalms. Have distinct structure
V 5 has translation options based on Hebrew forms. Read NET note, but could be statement or imperative in light of how God has acted on behalf of others.
Always good to reflect on how God has worked for us, and praise Him for His might. The knee jerk is to question why this doesn’t happen all the time or how do we know it was God or if good things would happen anyway? (Because God would want good things all the time)
And is it really for me or is it for Him? Different sides of same coin. God really does love those who follow Him and wants good things for them. His ultimate goal is His glory. This is not a false dichotomy.
Vv. 17-22 Notice how NET translates all verbs whether imperfect or perfect as present tenses. Gives it a general feel. Certainly evil people prevail. And righteous people suffer. We could disprove this text in a heartbeat, but we would miss the point.
Statements are still true but not promises. General statements that apply throughout time. And David is celebrating a major victory. No, we don’t escape everything. The point is not that we are evil at the time. The point is we need a broader view of the passage and God’s workings on our behalf.
All doesn’t always mean all in poetry. I wish it weren’t so.
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