Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 34

Humble. —See Note on Psalms 9:12. The Septuagint and Vulgate, “the meek.” It means here those who have learned patience in the school of suffering.

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 Psalms 34:2, or it must be general. The Septuagint and Vulgate avoid the difficulty by changing to the second person.

This poor man. —Better, this sufferer — i.e., either the writer, or Israel personified.

The angel of the Lord is an expression which has given rise to much discussion. From comparison with other passages it may be:

1. Any commissioned agent of God, as a prophet (Haggai 1:13).
2. One of the celestial court (Genesis 22:11).
3. Any manifestation of the Divine presence, as the flame in the bush (Exodus 3:2), the winds (Psalms 35:5–6; Psalms 104:4).
4. Jehovah Himself, as in the phrase the angel of his presence (Isaiah 63:9).

It may very well be, therefore, that the psalmist uses it here in a general sense for the Divine manifestation of protection.

We thus avoid the difficulty in the image of one angel encamping round the sufferer, which other commentators try to avoid by supposing angel to mean either a troop of angels, or captain or chief of an angelic army. But for this difficulty, we should connect the psalmist's words immediately with the well-known incident in Jacob's life at Mahanaim, or with the story of Elisha and the horses and chariots of fire round about him. We certainly must not let go the beautiful thought that round God's elect—

“The spangled hosts keep watch in squadrons bright.”

Taste. Compare Hebrews 6:4; 1 Peter 2:3.