Psalm 34:8–10; Antiphon, Psalm 145:16—The antiphon should be familiar to us, as it is part of the prayer before a meal which Luther included in the Catechism. The psalmist David then says to taste and see that the Lord is good. How are we to do this? St Peter tells us that we should be like newborn infants, longing for the pure spiritual milk. We have tasted that the Lord is good, for we have heard His Word of forgiveness and salvation, we have eaten of His Holy Supper, and we long for more.
This psalm could be apply entitled, “Praise from a Cave.” It is simply titled; “A Psalm of David when he pretended madness before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he departed.” A fugitive from Saul, David went to the Philistine city of Gath but found no refuge there and narrowly escaped. Those events are recorded in 1 Samuel 21:10-22:1. Following that, David went to the cave at Adullam where many desperate men joined him. This joyful and wise psalm seems to have been written from that cave, and sung in the presence of those men.
The structure of this psalm is an acrostic, or nearly so. Each verse begins with another letter of the Hebrew alphabet, except for the letter ‘waw’. The purpose of the acrostic format in this psalm mainly seems to be as a device used to encourage learning and memorization.
Abimelech was probably a title given to rulers among the Philistines; the ruler’s proper name was Achish (1 Samuel 21:10).
The theme for this coming Sunday Proper is “Eat and Live”. The Lord’s own people, the Jews, grumbled when Jesus told them that He is the Bread of Life that came down from heaven. They saw Him only as a man, not the Savior who had been promised from the very beginning in the Garden of Eden after the Fall (Genesis 3:15). Their own expectations of God’s promised Deliverer blinded them to the fact that He was standing before them.
Christ Jesus offers His gift of eternal salvation to all who will receive it. He calls them, and the Father draws them to Him. But some, because of the hardness of their hearts and the blindness of their sin, reject the good gift that God has for them. May we ever nourish our faith through our regular church attendance, hearing the word of God preached and proclaimed, and receiving the body and blood of Christ.
Collect for Psalm 34: Lord, graciously hear us, for we seek you alone. Calm our bodies and minds with the peace which passes understanding, and make us radiant with you; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Sources;
Schnorr von Carolsfeld woodcut the Sermon on the Mount used with permission for personal and congregational use copyright © WELS
Collect for Psalm 34, For All the Saints A Prayer Book For and By the Church Vol. IV, The American Lutheran Publicity Bureau, © 1996 Delhi, NY
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