Psalm 34 Continued…
Psalm 34:11-16 Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies. Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry; the face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
There have been several theories put forward concerning who is meant by “children.” The following is a short summary of those theories that I am aware of.
(1) David could mean “his own children,” seeing that he thought it was his duty to instruct them, and bring them up in the fear of the Lord. Or,
(2) He could have meant his subjects, whom he viewed as his children, as every king does; and they thought of him as a father-figure. Or,
(3) All his hearers, as those who listened to the prophets are called the children or sons of the prophets. Or,
(4) Young people in general may be intended, who should be taught early their duty to God and men. Though a warrior and a king, David was not ashamed to teach children. David may have told them of his own experience, and taught them from that experience how they may find happiness and prosperity. Or,
(5) The children of God in general are meant here. Or,
(6) The least among them, called babes and little children, who are little in their own eyes, modest and humble; and who, when they need instruction, are most anxious to receive it.
The word “come” does not, in this case, involve motion, like drawing near to hear better, but rather, readiness to hear, and paying close attention.
“The fear of the Lord,” that is, the true and principal way of worshipping and serving God, including both devout reverence which is essential to a right relationship between man to God, and the conduct which it demands. The phrase is characteristic of Proverbs, occurring in that book almost as often as in all the rest of the Old Testament.
“Whoever of you loves life…” All people naturally love life; and all naturally desire to live long; and this desire, being founded in our nature, is not wrong. Life is, in itself, good—a blessing to be desired; death is in itself evil, and a thing to be dreaded, and there is nothing wrong, in itself, in such a dread. It is equally proper to wish not to be cut down in early life; for where one has before him an eternity for which to prepare, he feels it is undesirable to be cut off in the beginning of his journey. David, therefore, does not ask this question because he supposes that there were some who did not desire life, or did not wish to live long, but in order to fix the attention of his hearers on the inquiry, and to prepare their minds for the answer which was to follow.
I believe that I can honestly say that every man desires life, even a natural life; it is more desirable than all those things that are part of it; especially a healthy life, without which the blessings and mercies of life cannot be comfortably enjoyed. Most desire a life of prosperity; life, with material comforts and plenty of good things, and even a long one. But it may be that what is meant here is a spiritual life, and a comfortable one; a life free from the regret of a guilty conscience, from the fear of hell, damnation, and wrath; from the bondage of the law, and the dread of death; a life of faith in Christ, and communion with him; and a life of sobriety, righteousness, and holiness; and perhaps it may be best of all to understand it to mean eternal life, which is a glorious life of a very high degree.
Keep your tongue from evil
The tongue is an instrument of great evil, an unruly thing, and needs restraint. It is to be controlled and kept from speaking evil of God, from cursing and swearing, from speaking evil of men—admonishing and reviling them, from filthy speaking, from all obscene and unclean words, and from all lying; for where such evil speaking is given free rein, the fear of God cannot be in that man.
Sins of the tongue are numerous, and abundantly noted in the Psalms (Psalm 5:9; Psalm 10:7; Psalm 12:3; Psalm 15:3; Psalm 50:19; Psalm 57:4; Psalm 73:8, 9, etc.). They are more difficult to avoid than any others; they cling closer to us; they are hardly ever entirely laid aside.
If your purpose is happiness, the means will be through right moral conduct; and, first of all, the tongue must be managed. Always give utterance to truth, and truth alone. The meaning is that this is one of the methods of lengthening one’s life. To love the truth; to speak the truth; to avoid all falsehood, slander, and deceit, will contribute to this, or will be a means which will tend to prolong life, and to make it a happy experience. This, and what follows in this verse and Psalm, point at the things in which the fear of God shows itself; and suggest, that those who have it, and which is recognized by these fruits, shall enjoy the desirable and good days mentioned previously.
In our day, the great shame is that so many, even some Christians speak bad words (cussing, foul words, vulgar words) in common conversation, out of an evil habit and custom; and some speak good words with evil intents; and neither of them has the fear of God before their eyes, nor in their hearts. Sins of thought lead to sins of speech—“The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:45); avoiding evil and doing good in our dealings with men are based on a right relationship with God.
“The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,” The “eyes” and “ears” of the Lord suggest his attentiveness to the righteous ones.
This verse is quoted in 1 Peter 3:12—“For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous
and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” —and it had a deep hold on the national mind of Israel. The idea here is that righteous persons, regardless of how they may meet with insults and injuries from men, are under the special care of God indicated in this verse, and those who do the evils forbidden there shall find, to their detriment, that God is their enemy.
This phrase, “the face of the Lord,” is synonymous with that in the previous verse: “The eyes of the Lord.” The meaning is either:
That the righteous and the wicked are alike under the eye of God; the one for protection, the other for punishment. Neither of them can escape His notice; but at all times, and in all circumstances, they are equally seen by Him.
“The face of the Lord is” not against everyone that sins, for the righteous are not without sin, they have sin in them, and they do no good with it; but against them that live in sin, whose way of life is a series of wicked acts, and they are workers of iniquity, have no sense of sin, nor sorrow for it, and go on in it without shame or fear; but the “face of the Lord is against (opposed to)” them, hence he shows his resentment, and stirs up his wrath.
PRAY
Father let me always be mindful of your eye watching over my life. Let me walk with integrity and holiness before you.