Psalms 34:22

Psa 34:22 The LORD redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.

Ver. 22. The Lord redeemeth the souls of his servants] Though to themselves and others they may seem helpless and hopeless, yet they shall not perish in their sins and for their sins, as do the wicked.

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_34:22

None of them that trust in Him shall be desolate.

No condemnation

The R.V. accurately renders the words: None of them that trust in Him shall be condemned. When we read in the New Testament that we are justified by faith, the meaning is precisely the same as that of our text. Thus, however it came about, here is this psalmist, standing away back amidst the shadows and symbols and ritualisms of that Old Covenant, and rising at once, above all the mists, right up into the sunshine, and seeing, as clearly as we see it, that the way to escape condemnation is simple faith.

I. the people that are spoken of here. None of them that trust in Him. The word that is here translated, rightly, trust, means literally to fly to a refuge, or to betake oneself to some defence in order to get shelter there. There is a trace of both meanings, literal and metaphorical, in another psalm, where we read, amidst the psalmists rapturous heaping together of great names for God: My Rock, in whom I will trust. Now keep to the literal meaning there, and you see how it flashes up the whole into beauty: My Rock, to whom I will flee for refuge, and put my back against it, and stand as impregnable as it; or get myself well into the clefts of it, and then nothing can touch me. Then we find the same words, with the picture of flight and the reality of faith, used with another set of associations in another psalm, which says: He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shelf thou trust. That grates, one gets away from the metaphor too quickly; but if we preserve the literal meaning, and read, under His wings shalt thou flee for refuge, we have the picture of the chicken flying to the mother-bird when kites are in the sky, and huddling close to the warm breast and the soft, downy feathers, and so with the spread of the great wing being sheltered from all possibility of harm. There is one thing more that I would notice, and that is that this designation of the persons as them that trust in Him follows last of all in a somewhat lengthened series of designations for good people. They are these: the righteous--them that are of a broken heart--such as be of a contrite spirit--His servants, and then, lastly, comes, as basis of all, as, so to speak, the keynote of all, none of them that trust in Him. That is to say--righteousness, true and blessed consciousness of sin, joyful surrender of self to loving and grateful submission to Gods will, are all connected with or flow from that act of trust in Him. And if you are really trusting in Him, your trust will produce all these various fruits of righteousness, and lowliness, and joyful service.

II. the blessing here promised. None of them that trust in Him shall be condemned. The word includes the following varying shades of meaning, which, although they are various, are all closely connected, as you will see--to incur guilt, to feel guilty, to be condemned, to be punished. All these four are inextricably blended together. And the fact that the one word in the Old Testament covers all that ground suggests some very solemn thoughts.

1. Guilt, or sin, and condemnation and punishment, are, if not absolutely identical, inseparable. To be guilty is to be condemned.

2. This judgment, this condemnation, is not only present, according to our Lords own great words, which perhaps are an allusion to these: He that believeth not is condemned already; but it also suggests the universality of that condemnation. Our psalmist says that only through trusting Him can a man be taken and lifted away, as it were, from the descent of the thundercloud, and its bolt that lies above his head. They that trust Him are not condemned, every one else is; not shall be, but is, to-day, here and now.

III. the sole deliverance from this universal pressure of the condemnatory influence of universal sin lies in that fleeing for refuge to God. And then comes in the Christian addition, to God, as manifested in Jesus Christ. You and I know more than this singer did, for we can listen to the Master, who says, He that believeth on Him is not condemned; and to the servant who echoes, There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

The Gospel before the Gospel

I. what trust is. We do not need to bewilder ourselves with metaphysical and theological subtleties. We know what it is to run to a refuge from storm or danger. So, then, none of them that flee to Him for refuge shall be condemned.

II. the accompaniments in the devout soul of true trust in God. Has it by its side a real penitence? Does there walk behind it a consistent and steadfast righteousness? Are we not only trusting the Lord, but serving Him? If our faith has drawn after it these things, it is true. If it has not, it is no real flight to the one Refuge. Righteousness in heart and in character and in conduct is the child of trust. True contrition accompanies it in its birth, but is nourished and nurtured by it thereafter.

III. the great reward and blessing of quiet trust. None of them that flee to Him for refuge shall be condemned. The word in its original and literal meaning, signifies desolate. And I would have you to think of the profound truth that is covered by the fact that such a word should afterwards take on the meaning of guilt. It teaches that guilt is desolation. Again, note the profound truth that lies in the other fact that the self-same word means guilty and punishment. For that says to us that criminality and retribution always go together, and that the same thing, in one aspect, is our sin, and, in another aspect, is our hell and punishment. Then, further, note that broad, unconditional, blessed assurance, cast into negative form, but involving a great deal more than a negation, None of them that trust in Him shall be condemned. The reason why they that trust in Him are not condemned is because they that trust in Him, stand in the full sunshine of His love, and are saturated and soaked through and through, if they will, with the warmth and the light and the felicity of its beams. They shall not be condemned, and whom He justifies them He also glorifies. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

A message to the desolate

To be desolate is to be devastated and destroyed. The ruin, whether of temple or of colosseum, is a picture of desolation. It is also loneliness. We have seen the solitary cottage among the Alps. There was no other cottage in sight, only the unbroken mountain range. We have seen the lone cabin on the plains, or the ship on the sea with nothing but the waters beneath and the sky above. These are pictures of desolation and loneliness which, I am inclined to think, find their duplicate in the life of men and women.

I. what are some of the causes?

1. To be misunderstood. The misunderstandings of life are nails to the hands or flames to the body. They cut one off from fellowship; they hurt and hinder and add to the solitude of life. Our Lord was misunderstood, lie was isolated by the very fact that lie was not understood. Therefore, upon at least three different occasions the Father encouraged Him. When He was baptized the voice of approval broke through the skies. When He was transfigured God spoke to Him and encouraged Him with the revelation of His presence, and in the Garden of Gethsemane the angel ministered unto Him. The satisfaction of His heart was found in the consciousness that while men did not understand Him God did. That saved Him from utter desolation. That saves us all from despair. To know that God knows us and understands us is to enjoy the highest spiritual companionship.

2. In proportion as we go far below or far above the common experiences of men do we experience isolation. The cathedral spire and the mountain peak are lonely. They are solitary. They enjoy no companionship. They are exceptions. So the shaft sunk deep in the earth is exceptional. A great emotion whether of joy or grief projects the life out of the ordinary; as an inlet of the sea. There is a loneliness and isolation in great thinking. Thomas Carlyle led a comparatively lonely life, a life of intellectual desolation, partly because he threaded his way up the dizzy heights of thought.

3. When you have a great sorrow it must be met and borne alone. Every soul goes through the valley of the shadow of death essentially alone so far as human help is concerned, which is to say, every heart knows its own sorrow and must bear its own burden. In the greatest griefs there is room only for the soul and God.

4. Sin leads to desolation. There is no real companionship in sin. Sin is destructive of brotherhood and fellowship. It narrows the life. The source of sin is selfishness, and the more selfish a life is the more narrow and lonely and desolate it is. Sin is desolation. It is a desert without a spring. Desolation is hell. We do not know much about the hell of the future, but we do know something of the hell of the present.

II. what, then, shall we do to escape the life of desolation? How shall we people our little world with companions and brighten it with brotherhood and blessings?

1. By a right use of the mind. We do not know precisely what or where the mind is, but we do know that it is the measure of the man. It is the eternal within us. Whatever may happen to the body, if the minds sky is clear, what matters it? If our minds master us, rules and lead us, we will derive an immense amount of good from life, and each one, like St. Catherine of old, will have a secret oratory within which we may retreat.

2. Trust; trust in God. This is an old and well-worn injunction. For centuries men have been urged to trust in God. Why should they? Does it put bread in the pantry and money in the bank? Does it keep disease from the children or sorrows from the home? Why should we trust in God? We should believe that God is with us always. We do or do not believe this. If we do not we are desolate. If we do we are not desolate. (W. Rader.)

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Psa_35:1-28

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

Psa 34:22. The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants — That is, their lives, or their persons, from the malicious designs of all their enemies, from the power of the grave, and from the sting of every affliction. He keeps them from sinning in their troubles, which is the only thing that could do them a real injury, and keeps them from despair, and from being put out of possession of their own souls. None that trust in him shall be desolate — Or, comfortless; for they shall not be cut off from communion with God. And no man is desolate, but he whom God has forsaken, nor is any man undone till he is in hell. Instead of, shall be desolate, in this and the preceding verse, the margin reads, shall be guilty; as the word יאשׁמו, jeshemu, here used, is frequently and properly rendered. Indeed, it includes in it both the idea of guilt and the punishment incurred thereby. Now, they that in the way of true repentance, living faith, and new obedience, trust in the Lord, are both rescued from guilt and the punishment to which it had exposed them. It may not be improper to observe here that, as this is another of the alphabetical Psalms, every verse beginning with a distinct letter of the Hebrew alphabet, except the fifth, which includes two letters; so this verse is a kind of detached sentence, added, as in Psalms 25., beyond the alphabet, perhaps in order that the Psalm might end with a promise rather than a threatening. For a similar reason the Jews repeat a verse at the end of some books of the Old Testament.

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

23. (Psa 34:22) Jehovah redeems the soul of his servants, and guilty shall none be (of) those trusting in him. The precise form of the first clause in Hebrew is, Jehovah redeeming the soul of his servants, which seems to mean that he is doing so now, and that he habitually does so. The soul or vital principle is named because the case was one of life and death. None of those trusting in him shall be recognised and treated as guilty, the opposite of that which had been just asserted of the wicked. The condition and ground of this immunity is faith or trust in God, without which, according to the doctrine of both testaments, there can be no escape from guilt or punishment.

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

Psalms

NO CONDEMNATION

Psa 34:22.

These words are very inadequately represented in the translation of the Authorised Version. The Psalmist’s closing declaration is something very much deeper than that they who trust in God ‘shall not be desolate.’ If you look at the previous clause, you will see that we must expect something more than such a particular blessing as that:-’The Lord redeemeth the soul of His servants.’ It is a great drop from that thought, instead of being a climax, to follow it with nothing more than, ‘None of them that trust in Him shall be desolate.’ But the Revised Version accurately renders the words: ‘None of them that trust in Him shall be condemned.’ There we have something that is worthy to follow ‘The Lord redeemeth the soul of His servants,’ and we have a most striking anticipation of the clearest and most Evangelical teaching of the New Testament.

The entirely New Testament tone of these words of the psalm comes out still more clearly, if we recognise that, not only in the latter, but in the former, part of the clause, we have one of the very keynotes of New Testament teaching. When we read in the New Testament that ‘we are justified by faith,’ the meaning is precisely the same as that of our text. Thus, however it came about, here is this Psalmist, David or another, standing away back amidst the shadows and symbols and ritualisms of that Old Covenant, and rising at once above all the mists, right up into the sunshine, and seeing, as clearly as we see it nineteen centuries after Jesus Christ, that the way to escape condemnation is simple faith. Let us look at both of the parts of these great words. We consider-

I. The people that are spoken of here.

‘None of them that trust in Him’-I need not, I suppose, further dwell upon the absolute identity shown by this phrase between the Old and the New Testament conceptions; but I should like to make a remark, which I dare say I have often made before-it cannot be made too often-that, whatever be the differences between the Old and the New, this is not the difference, that they present two different ways of approaching God. There are a great many differences; the conception of the divine nature is no doubt infinitely deepened, made more tender and more lofty, by the thought of the Fatherhood of God. The contents of the revelation which our faith is to grasp are brought out far more definitely and articulately and fully in the New Testament. But in the Old, the road to God was the same as it is to-day; and from the beginning there has only been, and through all Eternity there will only be, one path by which men can have access to the Father, and that is by faith. ‘Trust’ is the Old Testament word, ‘faith’ is the New. They are absolutely identical, and there would have been a flood of light-sorely needed by a great many good people-cast upon the relations between those two complementary and harmonious halves of a consistent whole, if our translators had not been influenced by their unfortunate love for varying translations of the same word, but had contented themselves with choosing one of these two words ‘trust’ or ‘faith,’ and had used that one consistently and uniformly throughout the Old and New books. Then we should have understood, what anybody who will open his eyes can see now, that what the New Testament magnifies as ‘faith’ is identical with what the Old Testament sets forth as ‘trust.’ ‘None of them that trust in Him shall be condemned.’

But there is one more remark to make on this matter, and that is that a great flood of light, and of more than light, of encouragement and of stimulus, is cast upon that saving exercise of trust by noticing the literal meaning of the word that is rightly so rendered here. All those words, especially in the Old Testament, that express emotions or acts of the mind, originally applied to corporeal acts or material things. I suppose that is so in all language. It is very conspicuously so in the Hebrew. And the word that is here translated, rightly, ‘trust,’ means literally to fly to a refuge, or to betake oneself to some defence in order to get shelter there.

There is a trace of both meanings, the literal and the metaphorical, in another psalm, where we read, amidst the Psalmist’s rapturous heaping together of great names for God: ‘My Rock, in whom I will trust.’ Now keep to the literal meaning there, and you see how it flashes up the whole into beauty: ‘My Rock, to whom I will flee for refuge,’ and put my back against it, and stand as impregnable as it; or get myself well into the clefts of it, and then nothing can touch me.

‘Rock of Ages! cleft for me,

Let me hide myself in Thee.’

Then we find the same words, with the picture of flight and the reality of faith, used with another set of associations in another psalm, which says: ‘He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust.’ That grates, one gets away from the metaphor too quickly; but if we preserve the literal meaning, and read, ‘under His wings shalt thou flee for refuge,’ we have the picture of the chicken flying to the mother-bird when kites are in the sky, and huddling close to the warm breast and the soft downy feathers, and so with the spread of the great wing being sheltered from all possibility of harm. This psalm is ascribed to David when he was in hiding. The superscription says that it is ‘a psalm of David, when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech; who drove him away, and he departed.’ And where did he go? To the cave in the rock. And as he sat in the mouth of it, with the rude arch stretching above him, like the wings of some great bird, feeling himself absolutely safe, he said, ‘None of them that take refuge in Thee shall be condemned.’

Does not that metaphor teach us a great deal more of what faith is, and encourage us far more to exercise it, than much theological hair-splitting? What lies in the metaphor? Two things, the earnest eagerness of the act of flight, and the absolute security which comes when we have reached the shadow of the great Rock in a weary land.

But there is one thing more that I would notice, and that is that this designation of the persons as ‘them that trust in Him’ follows last of all in a somewhat lengthened series of designations for good people. They are these: ‘the righteous’-’them that are of a broken heart’-’such as be of a contrite spirit’-’His servants,’ and then, lastly, comes, as basis of all, as, so to speak, the keynote of all, ‘none of them that trust in Him.’ That is to say-righteousness, true and blessed pulverising of the obstinate insensibility of self alienated from God, true and blessed consciousness of sin, joyful surrender of self to loving and grateful submission to God’s will, are all connected with or flow from that act of trust in Him. And if you are trusting in Him, in anything more than the mere formal, dead way in which multitudes of nominal Christians in all our congregations are doing so, your trust will produce all these various fruits of righteousness, and lowliness, and joyful service. ‘Faith’ or ‘trust’ is the mother of all graces and virtues, and it produces them all because it directly kindles the creative flame of an answering love to Him in whom we trust. So much, then, for the first part of my remarks. Consider, next-

II. The blessing here promised.

‘None of them that trust in Him shall be condemned.’ The word which is inadequately rendered ‘desolate,’ and more accurately ‘condemned,’ includes the following varying shades of meaning, which, although they are various, are all closely connected, as you will see-to incur guilt, to feel guilty, to be condemned, to be punished. All these four are inextricably blended together. And the fact that the one word in the Old Testament covers all that ground suggests some very solemn thoughts.

First of all, it suggests this, that guilt, or sin, and condemnation and punishment, are, if not absolutely identical, inseparable. To be guilty is to be condemned. That is to say, since we live, as we do, under the continual grip of an infinitely wise and all-knowing law, and in the presence of a Judge who not only sees us as we are, but treats us as He sees us-sin and guilt go together, as every man knows that has a conscience. And sin and guilt and condemnation and punishment go together, as every man may see in the world, and experience in himself. To be separated from God, which is the immediate effect of sin, is to pass into hell here. ‘Every transgression and disobedience,’ not only ‘shall receive its just recompense,’ away out yonder, in some misty, far-off, hypothetical future, but down here to-day. All sin works automatically, and to do wrong is to be punished for doing it.

Then my text suggests another solemn thought, and that is that this judgment, this condemnation, is not only present, according to our Lord’s own great words, which perhaps are an allusion to these: ‘He that believeth not is condemned already’; but it also suggests the universality of that condemnation. Our Psalmist says that only through trusting Him can a man be taken and lifted away, as it were, from the descent of the thundercloud, and its bolt that lies above his head. ‘They that trust Him are not condemned,’ every one else is; not ‘shall be,’ but is, to-day, here and now. If there is a man or woman in my audience now who is not exercising trust in God through Jesus Christ, on that man or woman, young or old, cultivated or uncultivated, professing Christian or not, there is bound the burden of their sin, which is the crushing weight of their condemnation.

So my text suggests, that the sole deliverance from this universal pressure of the condemnatory influence of universal sin lies in that fleeing for refuge to God. And then comes in the Christian addition, ‘to God, as manifested in Jesus Christ.’ The Psalmist did not know that. All the more wonderful is it that without the knowledge he should have risen to the great thought of our text-all the more inexplicable unless you believe that ‘holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.’

Wonderful it is still, but not unintelligible, if you believe that. But you and I know more than this singer did; for we can listen to the Master, who says, ‘He that believeth on Him is not condemned’; and to the servant who echoes-and perhaps both of them are alluding to our psalm-’There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.’ My faith, if it knits me to Jesus Christ, unties the bonds by which my sin is bound upon me, for it makes me to share in His Spirit, in His righteousness, in His glory.

And so, dear brethren! the Psalmist, though he did not know it, may point us away to the truth hidden from him, but sunlight clear for us, that by simple trust we may receive the Saviour through whom all our condemnation will pass away, and may be found in Him having the ‘righteousness which is of God by faith.’

‘Not condemned’-Is that all? Are the blessings of the Gospel all to be reduced to this mere negative expression? Certainly not. The Psalmist could have said a great deal more, and in the previous context he does say a great deal more. But to that restrained and moderate statement of the case, which is far less than the facts of the case, ‘he that trusteth is not condemned,’ let us add Paul’s expansion, ‘whom He called them He also justified, and whom He justified them He also glorified.’

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For when they seem to be overcome with great dangers and death itself, then God showeth himself their redeemer.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 22. The Lord redeemeth] Both the life and soul of God's followers are ever in danger but God is continually redeeming both.

Shall be desolate.] Literally, shall be guilty. They shall be preserved from sin, and neither forfeit life nor soul. This verse probably should come in after the fifth. See the introduction to this Psalm.

ANALYSIS OF THE THIRTY-FOURTH PSALM

This Psalm is composed with great art, and this must be attended to by those who would analyze it. The scope of it is to praise God, and to instruct in his fear. Its parts are, in general, the following: -

I. He praises God himself, and calls upon others to follow his example, Ps 34:1-8.

II. He assumes the office of a teacher, and instructs both young and old in the fear of the Lord, Ps 34:9-22.

1. He praises God, and expresses himself thus: - 1. I will bless the Lord. 2. His praise shall be in my mouth. 3. It shall be in my mouth continually. 4. It shall be expressed by a tongue affected by the heart: "My soul shall make her boast in the Lord." 5. And so long would he continue it till others should be moved to do the like: "The humble shall hear thereof, and be glad."

2. Upon which he calls upon others to join with him: "O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together." And to encourage them he proposes his own example: "I sought the Lord," c. Should it be said this was a singular mercy shown to David which others are not to expect, he in effect replies, No, a mercy it is, but it belongs to all that seek God: "They looked unto him," c. But should not this satisfy, and should they rejoin, This poor man (David) cried, and the Lord heard him, but David was in the Divine favour he may be supposed to reply by this general maxim: "The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him" and be they who they may, if they fear God, this is their privilege.

II. Now he assumes the chair of the teacher; and the lessons are two: -

1. That they make a trial of God's goodness: "O taste and see that the Lord is good."

2. That they become his servants: "O fear ye the Lord, for there is no want," c.

And this he illustrates by a comparison: "The young lions (or, the rich and the powerful) may lack and suffer hunger," but they that seek the Lord shall not.

These promises and blessings belong only to them that fear the Lord and lest some should imagine they had this fear, and were entitled to the promise, he shows them what this fear is.

Ale calls an assembly, and thus addresses them: "Come, ye children, and hearken unto me and I will teach you the fear of the Lord." That fear of the Lord which, if a man be desirous of life, and to see many days, shall satisfy him and if he be ambitious to see good, the peace of a quiet soul and a good conscience shall lodge with him.

1. Let him be sure to take care of his tongue: "keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips that they speak no guile."

2. Let him act according to justice: "Depart from evil."

3. Let him be charitable, ready to do good works: "Do good."

4. Let him be peaceable; "Seek peace, and pursue it."

These are the characteristics of those who fear the Lord, and seek him; and they shall want no manner of thing that is good.

It may be objected: The righteous are exposed to afflictions, c., and ungodly men have power and prosperity to which it may be answered: Afflictions do not make the godly miserable, nor does prosperity make the wicked happy. 1. As to the righteous, they are always objects of God's merciful regards: "For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayers." But, 2. "The face of the Lord is against those who do evil," c.

These points he illustrates: -

1. The righteous cries, and the Lord heareth him, and delivereth him out of all his troubles either, 1. By taking them from him or, 2. By taking him from them.

2. "The Lord is nigh to them that are of a broken heart," c. Thus he comforts, confirms and strengthens.

3. Although the afflictions of the righteous are many, yet the Lord delivers him out of them all makes him patient, constant, cheerful in all, superior to all.

4. "He keeps all his bones." He permits him to suffer no essential hurt.

But as to the ungodly, it is not so with them; the very root of their perdition is their malice which they show, 1. To God; 2. To good men.

1. "Evil shall slay the wicked."

2. "And they that hate the righteous shall be desolate."

And then David concludes the Psalm with this excellent sentiment; Though God may suffer his servants to come into trouble, yet he delivers them from it. For it belongs to redemption to free one from misery; for no man can be redeemed who is under no hardship. This shall be done, says David. The "Lord redeemeth the souls of his servants, and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate." The Lord redeems from trouble and affliction, as well as from sin. He knows how to deliver the godly from temptation; and he knows how to preserve them in it. But it is his servants that he redeems, not his enemies. The servant may confidently look to his master for support.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(22) Redeemeth.—Comp. Psa_25:22, which begins with the same letter, out of its place, and the same word.

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

22. A second verse beginning with Pç, like Psa_25:22, where see note.

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 Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants - The literal meaning of this is, that the Lord rescues the lives of his servants, or that he saves them from death. The word “redeem” in its primary sense means to let go or loose; to “buy” loose, or to ransom; and hence, to redeem with a price, or to rescue in any way. Here the idea is not that of delivering or rescuing by a “price,” or by an offering, but of rescuing from danger and death by the interposition of the power and providence of God. The word “soul” here is used to denote the entire man, and the idea is, that God will “rescue” or “save” those who serve and obey him. They will be kept from destruction. They will not be held and regarded as guilty, and will not be treated as if they were wicked. As the word “redeem” is used by David here it means God will save His people; without specifying the “means” by which it will be done. As the word “redeem” is used by Christians now, employing the ideas of the New Testament on the subject, it means that God will redeem His people by that great sacrifice which was made for them on the cross.

And none of them that trust in him shall be desolate - Shall be held and treated as “guilty.” See Psa 34:21, where the same word occurs in the original. They shall not be held to be guilty; they shall not be punished. This is designed to be in contrast with the statement respecting the wicked in Psa 34:21. The psalm, therefore, closes appropriately with the idea that they who trust the Lord will be ultimately safe; that God will make a distinction between them and the wicked; that they will be ultimately rescued from death, and be regarded and treated forever as the friends of God.

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

i.e. Their lives or their persons, from the malicious designs of all their enemies, and from desolation or utter ruin, as it follows.

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

Ver. 22. The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants --with price and with power, with blood and with water. All providential helps are a part of the redemption by power, hence the Lord is said still to redeem. All thus ransomed belong to him who bought them-- this is the law of justice and the verdict of gratitude. Joyfully will we serve him who so graciously purchases us with his blood, and delivers us by his power. And none of them that trust in him shall be desolate. Faith is the mark of the ransomed, and wherever it is seen, though in the least and meanest of the saints, it ensures eternal salvation. Believer, thou shalt never be deserted, forsaken, given up to ruin. God, even thy God, is thy guardian and friend, and bliss is thine.

Ver. 22. The promises of God to his church, and his threatenings of sin recorded in the living book of his word, are not antiquate; no age shall ever superannuate them, or put them out of full force and virtue. What if good persons and good causes do suffer oppression? The poet is a divine in that case--

Informes hiemes reducit

Jupiter; idem

Summovet. Non si male nunc, et olim

Sic erit.

After foul weather comes fair; though it be ill with us now, it will not be always. What if enemies of religion and moths of commonwealth do flourish and prosper, and have all things at will, let it not trouble David and Job; both of them saw as fair a sunshine shut up in a dark cloud, and a world of foul weather following. Edward Marbury.

Ver. 22. Satan cannot tempt longer than God shall give him leave; and he will never suffer thee to be tempted above measure, but will give a good issue unto the temptation. Thou art called to fight under the banner of Christ Jesus, and in the name of the Lord thou shalt be enabled to do valiantly and overcome. If Satan continue his assaults, "God's grace is sufficient for thee." 2Co 12:9. If thy strength be clean gone, God's power shall be magnified the more in thee, and he hath brought thee low that thou mayest not trust in thyself, but in the living Lord, and that the whole praise of the victory might be ascribed unto him. If thy strength did remain, it was not to be leaned unto; and now it is decayed and gone, there is no cause of fear, for the Lord will be thy stay. In the most difficult assaults and tedious encounters, we are exhorted to "be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might." Be of good courage, and God will grant thee an easy, a joyful victory. Satan's drift in tempting is to turmoil, dishearten, and perplex with fears, and drive into despair; and if thou take heart to rest quietly upon God's grace, and fly unto his name, thou shalt put him to flight, thou hast already got the day. Wait but awhile, and these dark mists and terrible storms shall be dispersed. By these temptations the Lord hath taught thee to see by weakness, and the malice of Satan; to deny thine own wisdom and prize his favour, lightly to esteem all things here below, and highly to value mercy reaching to the pardon of sin, and heavenly communion and fellowship with God. And if this bitter potion hath wrought so kindly for thy spiritual good, why shouldest thou be dismayed? Trust in the Lord, be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thee. The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate, John Ball.

Ver. 22. Redemption in its various meanings; faith in its universal preservation; the Lord in his unrivalled glory in the work of grace.

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

The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants. (comp. Psa_25:22 Psa_130:8) Some translate, "The Lord delivers," etc. But the LXX have lurwsetai . And the verb used means primarily, as Dr. Kay says, "to sever," then "to set free, release, emancipate; especially to set free by paying a price; to redeem, or ransom." And none of them that trust in him shall be desolate; rather, shall be held guilty, or shall be condemned the same word as in the preceding verse. (comp. Rom_8:33, Rom_8:34) Those whom God has redeemed he justifies, and saves from all condemnation. They are "passed from death unto life". (Joh_5:24)

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

(Heb.: 34:23) The order of the alphabet having been gone through, there now follows a second פ exactly like Psa 25:22. Just as the first פ, Psa 25:16, is פּנה, so here in Psa 34:17 it is פּני; and in like manner the two supernumerary Phe's correspond to one another - the Elohimic in the former Psalm, and the Jehovic in this latter.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

redeemeth

(See Scofield "Isa 59:20"). See Scofield "Exo 14:30".

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Evil will kill the wicked The evil that the wicked man does will kill him.

will kill Heb. תמותת, [equivalent to] תמית.

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.