Psalms 34:15

Psa 34:15 The eyes of the LORD [are] upon the righteous, and his ears [are open] unto their cry.

Ver. 15. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous] He seeth and weigheth the wrongs they sustain for peace sake, and they shall be no losers thereby; provided that their pursuit of peace proceed from the filial fear of God, which David here professeth to teach, Psa 34:11. God’s eyes are intent, his ears attent, to these righteous ones. Palam, clam (as Aben Ezra here), openly, secretly, he wilt right them and recompense them. Should not God see, as well as hear, saith another, his children should want many things. We apprehend not all our own wants, and so cannot pray for relief of all. He (of his own accord without any monitor) is wont to aid us.

And his ears are open to their cry] Heb. are to their cry. Or, as St Peter hath it, His ears are into their prayers; to show, that though their prayers are so faint and feeble that they cannot enter into the ears of the Lord of hosts, yet that he will bow down and incline his ears unto, nay, into their prayers, their breathings, Lam 3:56.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Psa_34:15-16

The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and His ears are open unto their prayers.

The countenance of the Lord is against them that do evil.

The eye of God

We all know well how much and often the Holy Scriptures speak of the blessed God, attributing to Him, under a figure, various human things, such as bodily members and organs, and mental feelings. It is an obvious caution, to warn people against understanding all these expressions literally; but it is a caution, one would think, not very necessary in these days. The opposite one, however, is needed, for in our excessive fears of corporeal conceptions of God, the thought of Him is becoming altogether vague and unreal. Our simplicity is our best wisdom, and we should think of God as He is vividly and simply and, as far as our powers can conceive of Him, truly set forth to us in Holy Scripture. The eye of God is, then, over the righteous to protect and comfort them, and His ear open to their prayers, to hear and answer them; while His countenance, not less all-seeing, is turned in displeasure and wrath upon those who do evil, so as to punish them with destruction. His eye is turned upon the good in love, and upon the bad in anger. Consider, then, ye who know well what it is to feel and love the sight of a parents eye turned on you in approving affection, how God desires, by speaking so, to be regarded by you as looking upon you. Think how, when you have been trying to please your earthly parents, how, perhaps, when you have been trying to overcome some unkind or unworthy temper, some angry or sullen feeling, you have felt their eye turned upon you in tender and loving approbation, and have been encouraged to conquer the evil spirit who was assailing you. And God thus represents Himself to you, and bids you remember that His eye is over the righteous. But His countenance is against them that do evil. He seeth not less the sinners. His eyes are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. Let none suppose that he shuns, or can shun, the eye of God by disregarding it. It is the folly of the foolish bird which shuts its own eyes, and then thinks itself unseen. I would I might, by Gods grace, waken up in the hearts of some of you the thought of the eye of God; the thought of the ever-present, ever-wakeful, heart-searching, tender, paternal eye of God, which is over you His own redeemed children! (G. Moberly, D. C. L.)

An encouraging theology

I. that God is specially interested in the existence of man on this earth (Psa_34:15-16).

1. Man is His offspring.

2. Man is His suffering offspring.

II. that God is mainly concerned with the moral distinctions of men on this earth.

1. Two classes of moral character are represented in the verses, and they are spoken of--

(1) As wicked, and righteous.

(2) As those that trust in Him and those that hate the righteous.

(3) As those that do evil, and those that are His servants. His servants are represented as broken in heart and contrite in spirit.

2. He sees all the other distinctions amongst men, physical, intellectual, social, political, religious. But these moral distinctions interest Him most, they are more affecting to His heart, more vital to the happiness of His creatures, more fundamental to the weal of His universe.

III. that God evermore treats men according to the moral character which they sustain on this earth.

1. Look at His conduct towards the righteous.

(1) He superintends them; His eyes and His ears are towards them. He keeps a vigilant watch over them.

(2) He hears them. No mothers ears are half so quick to catch the cries of a suffering child as His ears to catch the cries of His afflicted people.

(3) He is nigh them. Not in a mere local or physical sense, but in the sense of tenderest sympathy and regard.

(4) He saves them. Deep, tender, and constant is His interest in them.

2. Look at His conduct towards the wicked.

(1) He is against them for their ruin (Psa_34:16).

(2) He allows their sin to destroy them (Psa_34:21). (Homilist.)

The face of the Lord

Our eye is dimmer than the eye of the men of old time for the vision of the face of God. We have greater thoughts, no doubt, about His name, His nature, His purposes, His methods. But His countenance, flashing with intelligence, clouding with sorrow, beaming with love, as it looks out on us through the Creation, seems to escape us. Nature is very beautiful, very glorious, very terrible; but there is no speculation in the eye wherewith she beholds us. Less cultivated peoples seem to discern a presence, to hear a voice, to feel a touch of some living being in all the play and movement of the Creation. To our wise ones it is but the manifestation of vital force, the constant, pitiless swing of the wheels of a vast vital mechanism. But the face of the Lord, to those whose eye is open to behold it, is not veiled; it looks out on them still through its organs of expression in Nature and in man.

I. the lofty and patient method of god in guiding and ruling mankind. The face of the Lord is against them that do evil; not the weight of His hand as yet. God gives to man a large liberty to do evil. In truth, we hardly realize how large and high is His method. We constantly expect that His hand of force will close upon us in some self-willed, sinful course which we are bent on pursuing; and if He fails to meet us, if the path seems open, if the sun shines, if the birds sing, and the fruits of pleasure hang pendent from the boughs, we are tempted to instruct our own consciences, and to say, God cannot be so sternly set against our self-willed course after all. It is truly fearful to realize the rude limits of our power to corrupt, to torment, to madden His children; to make the world a place of wailing, and life a bitter protest against the goodness and righteousness of His reign. How much are you adding daily to the pain and sorrow of the Creation? Do you never wonder that the iron hand of Gods power does not close firmly round you, and make you feel that there are limits beyond which you shall not use your fearful prerogative of freedom--beyond which you shall not fill Gods seed-field with the seeds of misery and death? But the hand is still open; still dropping, broadcast, blessings on your life.

II. let us study the forms in which the face of God is against mans evil, and how it bears upon his life.

1. There is the face of God in the daylight of Creation (Gen_3:8-13). Shame, fear, and a great rout of base and slavish passions enter with sin, and drive out that childs frank joy and trust with which man was made and meant to look up to God. Nature is, in one sense, impassive. But the evil-doer finds an expression on her countenance, a frown on her brow, which startles and appals him. The flash of the lightning across the murderers path reveals to him something more than the splendour of electric fire. The splendour departs--a dull, sad shadow settles over the world. The evil-doer loses all sense of a living presence in Nature. Life gets drained of its interest, the world of its beauty, the future of its hope. The face of God ceases to affright. It ceases even to appear behind the veil of the invisible. What does this mean? Is it that all barriers are withdrawn, and that the evil-doer has the universe and eternity before him in which to work out his malignant will? Nay, it means that the sinner has passed out of the light of Gods countenance, out of the sphere of his freedom, into the grasp of Gods terrible hand. This is what is meant by falling into the hands of the living God.

2. The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, in the moral instincts, the moral judgments, of their fellows, and in the whole order of the human world. A man, let us say, walks about burdened with a great, guilty secret. What is it which makes him feel as if every man whom he meets was acquainted with it, and was trying to shame him? What but the face of God looking out on him through the face of man, His image?

3. The face of the Lord looks out on men through the various forms of the discipline of life. There is a striking instance of what I mean in 1Ki_17:9-18. Day by day you are brought into contact with a mind and a will outside you, not only by what you see, but also by what you endure.

4. The face of the Lord looks out against them that do evil, through the gathering glooms of death. A man hardened in sin may walk at ease through nil the pathways of the world, crying, Where is the Lord? in impious defiance or presumptuous scorn. But to every man in death the face reappears--never to vanish again through eternity. Men who have been recovered from apparent death, and have gone through all the experience of dying, tell strange tales of how in one burning moment the buried past reappears. The whole scroll of life unrolled, clear and orderly, before them; every thought, passion, incident, experience, standing out with startling vividness before the minds eyed and all in the clear daylight. No mist or confusion upon them; all risen again before the face of God. And that vision is for over. The vain show vanishes; the illusion is for ever ended. (J. B. Brown, B. A.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ver. 15. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous. He observes them with approval and tender consideration; they are so dear to him that he cannot take his eyes off them; he watches each one of them as carefully and intently as if there were only that one creature in the universe. His ears are open unto their cry. His eyes and ears are thus both turned by the Lord towards his saints; his whole mind is occupied about them: if slighted by all others they are not neglected by him. Their cry he hears at once, even as a mother is sure to hear her sick babe; the cry may be broken, plaintive, unhappy, feeble, unbelieving, yet the Father's quick ear catches each note of lament or appeal, and he is not slow to answer his children's voice.

Ver. 15. His ears are open unto their cry. The word "open" is not in the original, but the meaning is that the ear of God is propense, and in a leaning kind of posture, towards the cries of the righteous; the word may here be taken emphatically, as many times in Scripture it is, for some worthy, choice, and excellent strain of righteousness. Those who are worthy and righteous indeed, the ear of God, I say, is propense, and leans and hangs towards them and their prayers, according to that of So 2:14, "Let me hear thy voice, for sweet is thy voice." There is a kind of naturalness and pleasantness between the ear of God and the prayers, and petitions, and cries of such a righteous man. Joh 15:7. John Goodwin.

Ver. 15. His ears are open unto their cry. Hebrew, Are to their cry, or as St. Peter hath it, His ears are into their prayers 1Pe 3:12; to show that though their prayers are so faint and feeble that they cannot enter into the ears of the Lord of Hosts, yet that he will bow down and incline his ears unto, nay, into their prayers, their breathings. La 3:56. John Trapp.

Ver. 15-17. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. Strangers may howl, and we take little notice what they ail--it is a venture whether we relieve them or no; but if our children cry, being in great distress, we hasten to their help. Our relation to God may well strengthen our hope that our desires shall be heard. He that can cry, Abba, Father, may be confident of the success of his suit, and that God will deal with him as a son. George Swinnock.

Ver. 15. Our observant God. Eyes and ears both set on us.

Psalms 34:16*

Ver. 15-17. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. See Psalms on "Ps 34:15" for further information.

Ver. 15-17. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. See Psalms on "Ps 34:15" for further information.

Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Psa 34:15-16. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous — This is added to show that the practice of these duties (Psa 34:13-14) is the true and best, and, indeed, the only way to see that good proposed and promised; both because such righteous persons, howsoever they may meet with affronts and injuries from men, are under the special care of God, signified in this verse, and those who do the evils there forbidden shall find, to their cost, that God is their enemy, Psa 34:16. The face of the Lord — That is, his anger, often called his face, because anger discovers itself in a person’s face; is against them that do evil — That commit known sin in any instances, especially in those above mentioned. To cut off the remembrance of them, &c. — Utterly to root them out and destroy them, and so to deprive both them and their children of that worldly happiness, which is the only thing that they desire, and seek by their wicked courses.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

16. (Psa 34:15). The eyes of Jehovah (are) towards the righteous, and his ears towards their cry. The inducement to comply with the foregoing precepts is that God will protect his servants from those dangers against which neither violence nor craft can secure them. They have no need neither to speak guile or break the peace, in order to be safe from injury. Another watches over them, whose vigilance cannot be eluded or exhausted. The eyes of the Lord are to the righteous, i.e. open to them, or turned towards them, so that he continually sees their true condition, and his ears are directed to their cry, or open to receive it. This, without a figure, means, that he is constantly apprised of their necessities and ready to receive their prayers, in which assurance that of safety and abundance is fully comprehended.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained (1850) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

34:15-16 The Lord distinguishes between wise and foolish people; he shows his concern for the wise by rescuing them from trouble (34:15, 17-20), but he destroys the foolish (34:16, 21).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

eyes of the Lord are upon-- (Psa 32:8; Psa 33:18).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

15. The eyes of Jehovah are upon the righteous. The best support of our patience is a firm persuasion that God regards us, and that according as every man perseveres in a course of uprightness and equity, so shall he be preserved in peace and safety under his protection. In order, therefore, that the faithful may not think that they are exposed to the caprice of the world, while they are endeavoring to keep themselves innocent, and that they may not, under the influence of this fear, go astray from the right path, David exhorts them to reflect upon the providence of God, and to rest assured that they are safe under his wings. He says, then, that the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, to preserve them, in order that the good and simple may persevere the more cheerfully in their uprightness. At the same time, he encourages them to supplication and prayer, if at any time the world should unjustly persecute them. In saying that the ears of the Lord are open to their cry, he teaches that the man who is wantonly and unjustly persecuted, will find a ready and suitable remedy in all afflictions, by calling upon God as his avenger. On the other hand, he declares, that although God sometimes appears to wink at the misdeeds of men, and seems to overlook them, because he does not inflict immediate punishment upon them, yet nothing escapes his inspection. Whilst the wicked, says he, by reason of their impunity harden themselves in sin, God is watching, that he may cut off their remembrance from the earth, (1 Peter 5:10.) He speaks particularly of this kind of punishment, because the ungodly not only expect that they shall be happy during their whole life, but also imagine that they shall enjoy immortality in this world. Peter, in his First Epistle, In his First Epistle, (1 Peter 3:10, 11, 12,) he quotes the 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16 verses of this psalm. He quotes from the Septuagint.

“Lesquels il espargne pour un temps, afin de les ruiner eternellement.” — “Whom he spares for a time, to destroy them eternally.” — Fr.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(15) The eyes.—A verse quoted in 1Pe_3:12. (See New Testament Commentary). This psalm had a deep hold on the national mind. With the expression, “his ears to their cry,” we may compare the phrase, “to have a person's ear.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15. With the first line cp. Psa_33:18. More literally, toward the righteous, as R.V. renders here but not there, though the prepositions are the same.

his ears &c.] Lit., his cars are toward their cry for help: cp. my cry for help was in his ears (Psa_18:6).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous,.... These are the same with them that fear the Lord, and do good; not that they become righteous in the sight of God, or are justified before him, by their fear of him, and by their good works; but these are the fruits and effects of grace, showing them to be righteous persons; for it is only by the righteousness of Christ that men are righteous before God: and upon these the eyes of the Lord are; not only his eye of Providence, to watch over them, protect them, and supply them with good things, but his eye of love; with complacency and delight he looks upon them, as clothed with the righteousness of his son; and it is with pleasure he looks upon them, that being well pleasing in his sight; seeing by it the law is magnified and made honourable; nor does he ever withdraw his eyes from them, Job 36:7;

and his ears are open unto their cry; for though they are righteous, they are sometimes in distress; their afflictions are many; the good days they are to see are hereafter; and at those times they cry unto the Lord; which is to be understood of prayer, and of the vehemency and fervency of it, when they have the ear of God, and he shows himself to be a God hearing and answering prayer.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous - This is another of the ways in which the psalmist says that life will be lengthened out, or that those who desire life may find it. The Lord will be the protector of the righteous; he will watch over and defend them. See the notes at Job 36:7.

And his ears are open unto their cry - That is, when in trouble and in danger. He will hear them, and will deliver them. All this seems to be stated as the result of the experience of the psalmist himself; He had found that the eyes of God had been upon him in his dangers, and that His ears had been open when he called upon Him Psa 34:6; and now, from his own experience, he assures others that the way to secure life and to find prosperity is to pursue such a course as will ensure the favor and protection of God. The general thought is, that virtue and religion - the love of truth, and the love of peace - the favor and friendship of God, will tend to lengthen out life, and to make it prosperous and happy. All the statements in the Bible concur in this, and all the experience of man goes to confirm it.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

This is added to prove his last assertion, to wit, that the practice of these duties, Psa 34:13,14, is the true and best, and indeed the only, way to see that good proposed and promised Psa 34:12; both because such righteous persons, howsoever they may meet with affronts and injuries from men, are under the special care and favour of God, in this verse; and those who do the evils there forbidden shall find to their cost that God is their enemy, Psa 34:16.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

15-22. These closing words are devoted to an earnest digest of the moral government of God in redeeming the humble and contrite, and punishing the wicked.

Broken heart… contrite spirit—Comp. Psa_51:17; 1Sa_16:7.

Saveth—Besides the national salvation of the covenant people, the Old Testament rises often to the New Testament apprehension of the salvation of individuals, whether Jew or Gentile, of a given class, in the text denominated those of a “contrite spirit.” Thus, also, it speaks of the “meek,” (Psa_76:9;) the “humble,” (Psa_22:29;) the “upright,” (Pro_28:18;) but not of the “wicked.” Psa_18:41.

Keepeth his bones—Compare Mat_10:30.

Redeemeth—The word first occurs Gen_48:16, where it marks an advance in christological terminology, as the words “righteousness,” “believed,” “reckoned,” or imputed, do in Gen_15:5. Jehovah is the Redeemer, but as under the law the redeemer must be a kinsman of the redeemed, (see Lev_25:24-25; Rth_2:20; Rth_4:1-8,) so Jehovah here assumes that relation, and in this idea the doctrine of the incarnation finds its Old Testament germ. See Job_19:25; Heb_2:14-18.

Shall be desolate—Better, Shall be guilty; so, also, in Psa_34:21. They shall not be classed with, and hence not treated as, the guilty. See on Psa_26:9.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous. (comp. Job_36:7 Psa_33:18 1Pe_3:12; and see the comment on Psa_33:18) And his ears are open unto their cry. The specific statement of ver. 6 is now generalized. What God had done in the case of the psalmist, he will do in all other similar cases. His eyes will be open to his people"s needs, and his ears attend unto their prayers. (2Ch_6:40)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The eyes of Yahweh are on the righteous

Here "the eyes of Yahweh" refer to his careful watching. "The righteous" is a reference to righteous people. AT: "Yahweh carefully watches over the righteous people" (See: Metonymy and Nominal Adjectives)

his ears are directed toward their cry

Here Yahweh is represented by his "ears." To be directed toward something means to pay attention to it. AT: "he pays attention to their cry" or "he answers their cry" (See: Synecdoche)

to cut off the memory of them from the earth

Yahweh will cause people to so completely forget them when they die that it is as if he used a knife to cut off any memory of them. AT: "so that when they are dead, people will forget them completely" (See: Metaphor)

Yahweh hears

Here "hears" means that Yahweh desires to respond to them. AT: "Yahweh pays attention to them" (See: Idiom)

translationWords

Yahweh

righteous

cry

evildoer

cut off

earth

trouble

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

seek peace in your place.

and pursue it elsewhere.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.