Psalm 34:5

They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(5) Were lightened.—The Hebrew verb means properly “to flow,” but by a natural process, as in the common phrases “streams of light,” “floods of light,” acquired in Aramaic the sense of “shining.” Such must be its meaning in Isaiah 60:5, almost the echo of the thought in the psalm, the thought of a reflex of the Divine glory lighting up the face of those who in trouble seek God. (Theodoret has “He who approaches God, receives the rays of intellectual light.”) We naturally think of the dying Stephen.

As to the construction, the subject must either be supplied from Psalm 34:2, or it must be general. The LXX. and Vulg. avoid the difficulty by changing to the second person.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

34:1-10 If we hope to spend eternity in praising God, it is fit that we should spend much of our time here in this work. He never said to any one, Seek ye me in vain. David's prayers helped to silence his fears; many besides him have looked unto the Lord by faith and prayer, and it has wonderfully revived and comforted them. When we look to the world, we are perplexed, and at a loss. But on looking to Christ depends our whole salvation, and all things needful thereunto do so also. This poor man, whom no man looked upon with any respect, or looked after with any concern, was yet welcome to the throne of grace; the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. The holy angels minister to the saints, and stand for them against the powers of darkness. All the glory be to the Lord of the angels. By taste and sight we both make discoveries, and have enjoyment; Taste and see God's goodness; take notice of it, and take the comfort of it. He makes all truly blessed that trust in him. As to the things of the other world, they shall have grace sufficient for the support of spiritual life. And as to this life, they shall have what is necessary from the hand of God. Paul had all, and abounded, because he was content, Php 4:11-18. Those who trust to themselves, and think their own efforts sufficient for them, shall want; but they shall be fed who trust in the Lord. Those shall not want, who with quietness work, and mind their own business.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

They looked unto him - That is, they who were with the psalmist. He was not alone when he fled to Abimelech; and the meaning here is, that each one of those who were with him looked to God, and found light and comfort in Him. The psalmist seems to have had his thoughts here suddenly turned from himself to those who were with him, and to have called to his remembrance how they "all" looked to God in their troubles, and how they all found relief.

And were lightened - Or, "enlightened." They found light. Their faces, as we should say, "brightened up," or they became cheerful. Their minds were made calm, for they felt assured that God would protect them. Nothing could better express what often occurs in the time of trouble, when the heart is sad, and when the countenance is sorrowful - a dark cloud apparently having come over all things - if one thus looks to God. The burden is removed from the heart, and the countenance becomes radiant with hope and joy. The margin here, however, is, "They flowed unto him." The Hebrew word, נהר nâhar, means sometimes "to flow, to flow together," Isaiah 2:2; Jeremiah 31:12; Jeremiah 51:44; but it also means "to shine, to be bright;" and thence, "to be cheered, to rejoice," Isaiah 60:5. This is probably the idea here, for this interpretation is better suited to the connection in which the word occurs.

And their faces were not ashamed - That is, they were not ashamed of having put their trust in God, or they were not disappointed. They had not occasion to confess that it was a vain reliance, or that they had been foolish in thus trusting him. Compare Job 6:20, note; Psalm 22:5, note; Romans 9:33, note; 1 John 2:28, note. The idea here is, that they found God to be all that they expected or hoped that he would be. They had no cause to repent of what they had done. What was true of them will be true of all who put their trust in God.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

5-7. God's favor to the pious generally, and to himself specially, is celebrated.

looked—with desire for help.

lightened—or, "brightened," expressing joy, opposed to the downcast features of those who are ashamed or disappointed (Ps 25:2, 3).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

They looked; the humble, Psalm 34:2; or they that fear him, Psalm 34:7, when they were in distress. Or it is an indefinite expression.

Unto him; either,

1. Unto the Lord, expressed Psalm 34:4, i.e. they sought and expected help from him. Or rather,

2. Unto this poor man, as it follows, Psalm 34:6, or unto David. So he speaks of himself in the third person, which is usual. So the sense is, when I was delivered, Psalm 34:4, men looked upon me with wonder and astonishment, as one saved in a prodigious manner.

Lightened, i.e. comforted and encouraged by my example. But these and the foregoing words are by the ancient interpreters read imperatively, as an exhortation to others, to whom he oft addresseth his speech, as Psalm 34:3,8,9,11.

Look unto him, ( with an eye of faith and prayer,) and be ye enlightened, i.e. take comfort in the expectation of mercy from him. And then the last words they render thus, and your, Heb. their, (but the change of persons is very frequent in this book,) fear shall not be ashamed. Their faces were not ashamed; they were not disappointed of their hope, but found relief, as I did.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

They looked to him, and were lightened,.... That is, "the humble" ones, Psalm 34:2; and so this is a reason why they should join in praising and magnifying the Lord; these "looked" up to God in prayer and by faith, when in distressed and uncomfortable circumstances, for help and deliverance, and a supply of every needful good thing; and they were "enlightened"; so the Targum renders it, "their faces were enlightened"; as Jarchi and Aben Ezra interpret it, in opposition to what follows: they must have been enlightened before they could look, but by looking to the Lord more light was gained: this chiefly designs the light of joy, peace, and comfort, which is had in a way of believing: some render the word "and flowed" (l), as a river does, that is, to the Lord, as in Jeremiah 31:12. So Kimchi and Ben Melech explain the word; and it denotes both the numbers of them that looked up to the Lord in their distress, and the swiftness of their motion to him, and their earnestness and fervour of mind; so faith is not only a looking to Christ, but a going forth unto him;

and their faces were not ashamed; having what they prayed and looked for, and what they hoped and believed they should have; namely, deliverance and salvation, and so peace and pleasure.

(l) "et confluunt", Junius & Tremellius, Michaelis; "et instar fluvii irruerint", Piscator, Amama; "et confluxerunt", Gejerus.

Geneva Study Bible

They {d} looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed.

(d) They will be bold to flee to you for help, when they see your mercies toward me.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

5. They looked &c.] The subject is to be supplied from the verb. They that looked unto him looked, and were brightened. The earnest gaze of faith and confidence was not in vain. For the phrase cp. Isaiah 31:1; and for illustration see Numbers 21:9; Zechariah 12:10. The Heb. word for brightened is a rare word, found in Isaiah 60:5 (R.V.); but this, not flowed unto him (A.V. marg.) is the right sense. In most editions They flowed is wrongly marked as the alternative to They looked. For the thought cp. Psalm 36:9.

were not ashamed] R.V. shall never be confounded, lit. put to the blush with disappointment: a word which has not met us before in the Psalter, but recurs twice in Psalms 35. (Psalm 35:4; Psalm 35:26), and elsewhere.

The reading of the Massoretic text gives a fair sense, but the ancient Versions (except the Targum) read an imperative in the first clause, and your faces in the second. We should then render, Look unto him and be brightened, that your faces may not be confounded. This reading is in itself probable, and is supported by grammatical considerations. The connexion of thought in Psalm 34:5-6 will then be exactly the same as in Psalm 34:3-4; an invitation, followed by the statement of a fact which supports it.

5, 6. Such experience of Jehovah’s help is not limited to the Psalmist.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 5. - They looked unto him, and were lightened; or, were brightened (Hengstenberg); i.e. had their countenances lighted up and cheered. And their faces were not ashamed. As they would have been if God had made no response to their appeal (comp. Psalm 25:2, 3; Psalm 74:21). Psalm 34:5

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

(Heb.: 34:5-7) The poet now gives the reason for this praise by setting forth the deliverance he has experienced. He longed for God and took pains to find Him (such is the meaning of דּרשׁ in distinction from בּקּשׁ), and this striving, which took the form of prayer, did not remain without some actual answer (ענה is used of the being heard and the fulfilment as an answer to the petition of the praying one). The perfects, as also in Psalm 34:6, Psalm 34:7, describe facts, one of which did not take place without the other; whereas ויּענני would give them the relation of antecedent and consequent. In Psalm 34:6, his own personal experience is generalised into an experimental truth, expressed in the historical form: they look unto Him and brighten up, i.e., whosoever looketh unto Him (הבּיט אל of a look of intense yearning, eager for salvation, as in Numbers 21:9; Zechariah 12:10) brightens up. It is impracticable to make the ענוים from Psalm 34:3 the subject; it is an act and the experience that immediately accompanies it, that is expressed with an universal subject and in gnomical perfects. The verb נהר, here as in Isaiah 60:5, has the signification to shine, glitter (whence נהרה, light). Theodoret renders it: Ὁ μετὰ πίστεως τῷ θεῷ προσιὼν φωτὸς ἀκτῖνας δέχεται νοεροῦ, the gracious countenance of God is reflected on their faces; to the actus directus of fides supplex succeeds the actus reflexus of fides triumphans. It never comes to pass that their countenances must be covered with shame on account of disappointed hope: this shall not and cannot be, as the sympathetic force of אל implies. In all the three dialects חפר (חפר) has the signification of being ashamed and sacred; according to Gesenius and F׬rst (root פר) it proceeds from the primary signification of reddening, blushing; in reality, however, since it is to be combined, not with Arab. hmr, but with chmr (cf. Arab. kfr, כפר, Arab. gfr, gmr), it proceeds from the primary signification of covering, hiding, veiling (Arabic chafira, tachaffara, used of a woman, cf. chamara, to be ashamed, to blush, to be modest, used of both sexes), so that consequently the shame-covered countenance is contrasted with that which has a bright, bold, and free look. In Psalm 34:7, this general truth is again individualised. By זה עני (like זה סיני in Psalm 68:9) David points to himself. From the great peril in which he was placed at the court of the Philistines, from which God has rescued him, he turns his thoughts with gratitude and praise to all the deliverances which lie in the past.