Have you ever been to a Bible study where everyone was tongue tied? That was last night for me. It was like no one had any real thoughts to discuss. I honestly got more out of the after discussion that the Bible study. Now, we are going through the book of Psalms and normally my Bible study group can have a nice discussion about it. We all agreed to repeat this Bible study cause hopefully next week someone with insight that we didn't see will speak up. I am posting this to ask if any can point out to me something about Psalm 34 that I might have missed? Can anyone offer me something? By the way we always pray that God will show us what He wants us to learn before we start. Last night was no exception.
Last night we had a Bible study on Psalm 34?
Perhaps a slightly different approach is called for -- you can use the lectio divino method -- where the psalm is read about 4 different times, by different readers. Then you sit in silence for a couple of minutes. Then people just share a phrase or word that popped out at them.
This method opens up deeper discussion of the psalm or reading of whichever verse, rather than just the obvious--because people are sharing from a personal point of view.
It takes just a little practice, but after reading this way a couple of times, you'll begin to really get in the flow.
Another way is to read different translations of it for comparison.
www.biblegateway.com -- says that psalm 34 is an acrostic poem -- each verse begins with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
Reply:I think the last 2 paragraphs sum it up:
19 The righteous person faces many troubles,
but the Lord comes to the rescue each time.
20 For the Lord protects the bones of the righteous;
not one of them is broken!
21 Calamity will surely overtake the wicked,
and those who hate the righteous will be punished.
22 But the Lord will redeem those who serve him.
No one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.
I'm not sure what you were trying to get from it, but I understood it to basically mean, if you fear and serve God, He will be right beside you iin all you do.
Reply:This psalm was written by King David in his greatest depths of dispair....his own son was out to kill him and usurp the throne.
Yet, through it all, David can only praise God for having answered and delivered him and offer advice on how to live righteously. The greatest of which is to guard one's tongue. In other words, to be watchful about speaking evil of others...which was the source of his troubles.
Reply:I would suggest personal prayer and study time reflecting on the passages with the help of the Holy Spirit. You surely don't think anyone here can do better than that. I will find it surprising if the Atheists don't attack you for asking the question.
Reply:At the next study, read through 2 Kings 18 %26amp; 19, then Psalm 34 again, and the discussion will begin--and it will be awesome.
Reply:It's just the heart of David when he pretended madness before Abimelech, who drove him away. Just truth about God's character.
Reply:a prayer to God for those who try to inflict injury for no reason...
i recommend getting a footnote Bible
Reply:It is an edifying and uplifting Psalm to those who love Him. Rejoice and be filled that He has chosen you and the blessings are on you!
Reply:Psalm 34 is telling us to always glorify and praise the Lord. To put our complete trust in Him. To stay away from evil and to seek peace
Reply:What's your question?
Reply:psalms 34:13 talks about the law of cursing and blessing it is just liek the wiccan rule of three whatever you cast a spell on someone and thy are not worthy of it, it will come back to you three times, same law, satan must agree with God's spiritual laws, if a person curses someone and they are not worthy of it, it wil come back to that person, same with blessing someone, David cursed his enemies and I guess none of it came back to him, because he continued to do it.
psalms 34:9 talks abot fearing God, you could have a discussion on what it really means ot fear God.
Reply:As I read this, I see that we are to seek Jehovah that he is a place to go for refuge. There is more to see here but this is but one.
6 This afflicted one called, and Jehovah himself heard.
And out of all his distresses He saved him.
7 The angel of Jehovah is camping all around those fearing him,
And he rescues them.
8 Taste and see that Jehovah is good, O YOU people;
Happy is the able-bodied man that takes refuge in him.
15 The eyes of Jehovah are toward the righteous ones,
And his ears are toward their cry for help.
17 They cried out, and Jehovah himself heard,
And out of all their distresses he delivered them.
18 Jehovah is near to those that are broken at heart;
And those who are crushed in spirit he saves.
Reply:Psalm 34 is a great poem. It's an acrostic, the verses begin with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
I believe that it was written right around the time that David had pretended to be insane in order to escape from Abimilech.
When I read it, I see a man, who we all know was far from perfect, praising his deliverer. David was an interesting writer. He was just like all of us. He would whine and complain to God when things weren't going his way, and then would later write Psalms like this when God took care of him. It seems that in Psalm 34 he's like the little kid who wanted something so badly from the toy store and kept begging and begging to get it and when, to his suprise, mom buys it for him, all he does is say, "I love you, I love you, I love you...you're the best mom ever...I'll do anything you want...clean my room, do the dishes, take out the trash....forever, you'll never have to beg me to do that stuff ever again."
Get that picture?
David is praising his God, his protector, his deliverer in this passage. He talks about what God has done for him and what he will do for God in return.
Oh, and I wouldn't worry about not really diving deep into the Scripture last night. Sometimes we just need the fellowship of other believers. Who knows what someone might have been going through that day and they just needed to talk, hang out, or vent with someone. God knows what He's doing, and I'm sure that someone was blessed by whatever took place last night at your Bible Study.
Peace.
Reply:I can help a little.
David was on the run from Saul. He hid out in Goliath's hometown of Gath. He was caught by the King Achish but escaped to get back to his own men. He gave Jehovah all the praise for this escape and none for himself. Psalms 34:1-7 are those praises for his delivery. vs.8-22 are probably about all those Israelites who had suffered under Saul's rulership and had come to join David after this.
34:1---Though David had many material concerns, 1st place in his life was praising Jehovah. That is why he wrote Psalms 86:8. So should we put God first in ours.
34:2---David never took any glory for himself but gave all of it to Jehovah. The meek, humble, teachable people were drawn to Jehovah. Likewise those Christians today with Jesus as the head also meek, humble, teachable are drawn to Jehovah as well. (Col. 1:18)
34:3---David praised Jehovah not only in private but also in public. We should as well. (Luke 2:49; 4:16-19; 10:21; John 18:20; Heb. 10:24, 25)
I don't have more time but for just these 3 verses.
Reply:This Chapter is telling us when we bless the Lord at all times and praise him continually, and just humble ourselves;
God will hear our call in our time of disparage, and deliver us from all our fears, and we can look up to Him and not be ashamed.
When in our time of need ,we need but call upon God and He will provide.He sends His angels down around us that fear Him and they'll deliver us from our moment of dis pare.
If we will just refrain from doing evil, and listen to God voice, and do good, seek peace, and pursue it. Gods eyes will be upon the righteous, and his ears are open to our cries.
Gods face is against evil; When that Devil "Satan" is out to get us,God will cut him off at the pass and deliver us from his snares.
God will heal the broken hearted and save those of a contrite soul.
Even though we may be faced with constant struggles in life,God will see us through them, it we but just believe and keep our faith.
The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.
Reply:That Psalm is also a very beautiful song we sing in my church---actually, there are quite a few good songs that come from this chapter! I believe David is praising the Lord and encouraging others to fear and respect the Lord--repent from sins and seek after him. I just began studying Hermaneutics so I want to be careful to interprit what God is revealing in this passage to us, not what I think. So here's my best shot, by verses:
1 - Be in constant prayer and praise God, focus on him througout the day.
2 - Boast only in the Lord (it is by Him that we are saved) and let the "afflicted" be encouraged by your bosting in him (not in yourself!).
3 - Glorify God with others (fellowship %26amp; worship) not just alone.
4 - The Lord will deliver those who seek after Him.
5 - ? What it says ?
6 - The "poor" man is not one who is poor in finances, but poor in SPIRIT. When those in need of the Lord look to him for his saving grace, he saves them from their troubles (their sin and the wrath of God?) Basically, those poor in spirit who humbly and sincerely call out to God will be answered.
7 -
8 - Taste and see that the Lord is good!! I love this verse - only those who have truely experienced the goodness and kindness of God's grace is blessed (who takes refuge in him)...which is why those who fall away from the Lord were never saved to begin with. Once you have experienced the Lord, you know there is nothing else like it!!
Essentially, this Psalm, I believe, is saying that those who trust in the Lord will be spared. But don't take my word for it. Ask God to reveal to you what he is saying. Figure out what the author (David) was trying to say. Check out Hermaneutics (the DVD is called "Herman Who?") at www.wayofthemaster.com and you'll learn how to correctly read and interprit the bible. :)
Reply:this was a psalm of David, regarding the time he pretended to be insane in front of Abimelech, who sent him away.
Introduction
Were it not for the superscription to this psalm, Psalm 34 could be read as a beautiful response of praise and instruction based upon some unknown incident in which David was delivered from danger. Our difficulty in understanding the psalm arises from its historical setting:104 “A Psalm of David when he feigned madness before Abimelech, who drove him away and he departed.”105 I am immediately troubled by these words. Should David have been in Gath? Is his feigned insanity consistent with the dignity of the office of a king? Should God be praised because David pretended to be insane and thus escaped danger? Should others be taught (cf. vv. 11-22) on the basis of this kind of behavior? How can a psalm which condemns deceit (v. 13) be based upon the actions of a deceiver?
One might reason that these questions surface because of an inaccurate perception of the incident referred to in the superscription.106 Actually the opposite is true. The more one studies 1 Samuel 21:10-15 in context, the more distressing becomes David’s conduct when he was pursued by Saul. While I had previously viewed this time in David’s life as one of spiritual vitality and personal piety, a more careful study reveals that he was a man with feet of clay. Since the superscription is intended to turn our attention to the historical setting of the psalm, let us begin by considering David’s conduct as he fled from Saul. We will approach this broadly at first, looking at the context in which 1 Samuel 21:10-15 is found, and then consider the incident in Gath specifically.
The death of Goliath and the rout of the Philistines (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 fallaciously 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 bread107 and the sword he had taken from Goliath.
David’s flight to 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).108 David acknowledged to Abiathar, the only son of Ahimelech to survive the massacre at Nob, that he was morally responsible for the slaughter (v. 22).
How was it possible for David, in the words of Psalm 34, to “seek and pursue peace” (v. 14) with a sword? When David went out to do battle with Goliath he said that he did not require a sword for the Lord was on his side:
“This day the Lord will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the Lord’s and He will give you into our hands” (1 Sam. 17:46-47).
God was not only able to deliver David from Goliath without a sword, but He could also protect 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?
In 1 Samuel 25 we find David and his men living in the wilderness of Paran (v. 1). There David gave Nabal’s shepherds protection without requiring payment. He therefore requested from Nabal a token of his appreciation (vv. 5-8). Nabal foolishly denied this request, refusing to acknowledge that David was the coming king of Israel, as his wife Abigail testified (v. 30). David impetuously set out to attack Nabal, intending to kill him and every male heir. Only by the wise and godly intervention of Abigail was David turned from his act of vengeance (vv. 9-35).109 Surely David was not “seeking peace” in the way he instructed others to do in Psalm 34.
One final incident must be mentioned before we turn to David’s first flight to Gath in 1 Samuel 21. David made a second flight to Achish in Gath in 1 Samuel 27. In this instance it is very clear that David fled to this Philistine city out of fear and unbelief:
Then David said to himself, “Now I will perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than to escape into the land of the Philistines. Saul then will despair of searching for me any more in all the territory of Israel, and I will escape from his hand” (1 Sam. 27:1).
In contemporary terms, David must have thought, “Better Red than dead.” David fled to the Philistines because he didn’t believe God could spare his life any other way.
David’s actions were based upon pragmatism rather than on principle. He was willing to make an alliance with Israel’s enemies in order to feel safe and secure. The Philistines who once fled from David, the warrior of Israel (1 Sam. 17:50-52), were now David’s allies to whom he looked for protection from Saul. In order to win Achish’s favor, David convinced him that he was conducting raids upon Israelite towns, while actually he was attacking the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites (27:8-12). David even told Achish that he would fight with him against the Israelites (28:1-2) which it appeared he was willing to do until a protest was raised by the Philistine commanders (29:1-5).
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. After all, Israel and the Philistines were enemies and at war as nations. 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.”
I do not find it possible to praise David for the deception which characterized his actions while fleeing from Saul (cf. also 1 Sam. 27:8-12). Neither can I excuse David’s fraudulence in these events on the grounds of situational ethics, reasoning that in this “time of war” deceit was allowable.110 While Kidner attempts to minimize the wrong done here by referring to David’s deception as “abject clowning,”111 I find this an inadequate explanation. Let us be honest; this is not the same kind of “deception” we practice when we leave a light on in the house at night, allowing the burglar to conclude that we are home. This was deliberate lying. David’s actions, or at least some of them, were wrong. Not only are we hard-pressed to praise David for his cunning, we ar
Reply:Maybe your brain needs to be fed something but ancient drivel written thousands of years ago.
While you are reading this stuff to keep the faith, you are denying your brain which is probably constipated from all the BS you've been stuffing into it.
Your brain thirsts for more depth and insight and wisdom than "Blessed are they when they shall cast thy little ones against the stones"
How about Plato, Aristotle, Euripdes, Aeschylus, Epicurus, Lucretius, Marcus Aurelius, Herodutus, Homer, Vergil, Cicero, Julius Caesar, Archimedes, Euclid, Xenophon, Ovid, Horace?
Ever read anything by these guys? I would hazard as guess that you've read NOTHING even in translation.
I've read them all in the Latin and Greek originals.
That's why I'm never lacking for words to rip apart the lies and propaganda of the religious right that blames America's woes on gays and liberals and Jews and whatever, when in reality it's the death of the American mind enslaved by religious fanaticism.
A religious education is one totally lacking in science, logic and classical history of Greece, Babylon, Egypt or Rome.
All you know of Egypt is that's where the Israelites supposedly were slaves and escaped miraculously when led by Moses.
You've never read the Egyptian Book of the Dead and read the 44 negative statements the dead recite to Osiris which reveals an ethic far superior to that of that idiot Moses.
You've never read the Epic of Gilgamesh, where the creation myths and flood story in YOUR Bible came from.
And beyond that, you've never read farther afield and studied the Bhagavad-Gita or Upanishads from India, the Dhamapada, part of the Tripitaka or Buddhist cannon. You've never been curious and studied the Bardol Thodol or Tibetan Book of the Dead.
So, I'll give you an overview of the entire Psalms in a nutshell.
They are poems, some meant to be sung, some chanted in unison by a voice choir, and are an example of really grandiose, repetitive and rather pitiful poetic style. The coronation hymns which come close to King worship, are so grandiose and megalomanic, that few pagan coronoation hymns could compare.
The rest basically say the exact same thing over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again....
"Oh God, please deliver my enemies into my hand so I can gut these worthless idol worshipping heathens with my sword and rip their women apart and put their towns to flame. Yes Lord, you are righteous and will not deliver us to the hands of these heathen vermin who are silly enough to worship gods like Ishtar and Baal and Ra and Moloch and Dagon who clearly do not exist, while YOU, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Rebecca and the whole gang of idiots in the Torah, actually DO exist. We know that because we have faith."
Yes, there's only so long your brain can be fed BS like this before it, like an stomach fed nothing but junk food, will vomit it out. Your brain is sick of being fed junk.
So stop reading the Bible and going to Bible studies and immerse yourself in the Illiad and the Odyssey, Caesar's Gallic Wars, Lucretius' De Rerum Naturae, the wisdom of Marcus Aurelius, stoic and roman emperor. Study the logical mind as revealed by Euclid and Archimedes.
Learn why a simple number caused a murder in ancient Greece because one simple number [the irrational square root of 2] threatened to collapse the entire Pythagorean school of philosophy.
And while you are at it. Try something more MODERN
Carl Sagan: Cosmos [based on the PBS series]
Carl Sagan: The Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
Dan Barker: Losing Faith in Faith
Ruth Hermence Green: The Born Again Skeptic's Guide To The Bible
Judith Hayes : The Happy Heretic
The Encylopedia of Biblical Errancy
Stephen Hawking: A brief History of Time
Stephen Hawking God Created the Integers--Man Created All the Rest
Richard Dawkins The God Delusion
Thomas Paine Age of Reason
Thomas Paine Rights of Man
Thoreau Walden
Thoreau On Civil Disobedience
Desmond Morris The Naked Ape
Desmond Morris The Human Zoo
Theodosius Dobzhansky Mankind Evolving
Darwin On the Origin of the Species
Gould Panda's Thumb: More Reflections in Natural History
And as your online source of fun.
The Skeptic's Annotated Bible
Now feed your brain some real food and it's like switching from a daily McDonald's Big Mac Super Value Meal to going on the Weight Watcher's Program.
You'll be healthier in body, mind and soul. Your brain will thank you.
As the Romans said: Mens sana in corpore sano.
teeth sundance
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