Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 34:8

O taste and see that the LORD [is] good: blessed [is] the man [that] trusteth in him.

8. O taste &c.] Make but trial, and you will perceive what His goodness is toward them who fear Him. Cp. Psa 27:13. The adaptation of the words in 1Pe 2:3 follows the rendering of the LXX, . It is significant that the words are there applied to Christ. See Bp. Westcott’s Hebrews, pp. 89ff.

blessed &c.] Or, happy is the man that taketh refuge in him. Cp. Psa 2:12; and Psa 1:1; Psa 32:2; but the word for man here is a different one. It means properly a strong man, and suggests the thought that be he never so strong in himself, man’s only true happiness is in dependence on Jehovah.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

O taste and see – This is an address to others, founded on the experience of the psalmist. He had found protection from the Lord; he had had evidence of His goodness; and he asks now of others that they would make the same trial which he had made. It is the language of piety in view of personal experience; and it is such language as a young convert, whose heart is filled with joy as hope first dawns on his soul, would address to his companions and friends, and to all the world around; such language as one who has had any special comfort, or who has experienced any special deliverance from temptation or from trouble, would address to others. Lessons, derived from our own experience, we may properly recommend to others; the evidence which has been furnished us that God is good, we may properly employ in persuading others to come and taste his love. The word taste here – taam – means properly to try the flavor of anything, Job 12:11; to eat a little so as to ascertain what a thing is, 1Sa 14:24, 1Sa 14:29, 1Sa 14:43; Jon 3:7; and then to perceive by the mind, to try, to experience, Pro 31:18.

It is used here in the sense of making a trial of, or testing by experience. The idea is, that by putting trust in God – by testing the comforts of religion – one would so thoroughly see or perceive the blessings of it – would have so much happiness in it – that he would be led to seek his happiness there altogether. In other words, if we could but get men to make a trial of religion; to enter upon it so as really to understand and experience it, we may be certain that they would have the same appreciation of it which we have, and that they would engage truly in the service of God. If those who are in danger would look to him; if sinners would believe in him; if the afflicted would seek him; if the wretched would cast their cares on him; if they who have sought in vain for happiness in the world, would seek happiness in him – they would, one and all, so surely find what they need that they would renounce all else, and put their trust alone in God. Of this the psalmist was certain; of this all are sure who have sought for happiness in religion and in God.

Oh make but trial of His love;

Experience will decide

How blessd are they – and only they –

Who in His truth confide.

Blessed is the man that trusteth in him – Compare the notes at Psa 2:12.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Psa 34:8-14

O taste and see that the Lord is good.

Important exhortation

I. A call to the enjoyment of divine goodness (Psa 34:8). Two things are necessary to the enjoyment of this goodness:

1. Freedom from a sense of guilt.

2. A sense of true gratitude.

(1) Enjoying Gods goodness involves trust in Him.

(2) Trust in Him ensures true blessedness.

II. A call to higher religious experience (Psa 34:9-10). We are to follow on to know the Lord, to forget the things that are behind, and press on to the things that are before. There is no want to them that fear Him.

1. Want is a calamity.

2. The higher the religious experience the less liability to want.

III. A call to the instructions of experience. (Psa 34:11).

1. The highest teaching is the teaching of the Lord.

2. Youth is the best season for this teaching.

3. Teaching children religion is worthy the dignity of the greatest men.

IV. A call to obey the conditions of longevity (Psa 34:12-14).

1. Men desire long life.

2. Moral excellence is conducive to long life. (Homilist)

Taste and see

This is the language of experience, and that of no common character. The psalmist desires that all who might be partakers of his trial might be sharers in his deliverance. He tells us–

I. of his experience. Paul, as David, speaks of having tasted of the heavenly gift. The word is most emphatic, for the sense of taste includes most of the others–sight and smell and touch. And certainly it is so in spiritual things. There are among those who are called Christians three distinct classes. There are, first, those who hear without seeing; there are those who both hear and see, without tasting; and there are those in whom all three combine–to whom faith cometh by hearing, in whom faith groweth by seeing, in whom faith is perfected and consummated by tasting.

II. the invitation. Those who have had the experience of the psalmist cannot but desire it for others.

III. the blessing. Such a man is blessed, even in the trust itself; and the blessing is one which not even the errors of his own weak judgment shall destroy, which not even the infirmity of his own frail purpose shall impair. (Thomas Dale, M. A.)

The invitation of the psalmist

The psalms are placed in the centre of the Bible, like the heart in the centre of the body. The heart is the seat of life. The psalms are the life of religion. Other parts of the Bible describe religion, but the psalms are religion itself. He who reads them sincerely cannot but be religious; and he who appropriates them to himself will find life, health and energy imparted to his whole spiritual being.

I. As invitation. O taste and see, etc. It is not see and taste. Before we taste a substance we generally look at it. But here, we must taste before we can see. There must be a relish for Divine things before we can see and enjoy God. That which we are to see is–that the Lord is good. The Christian knows and feels this. He sees it in Nature, in his own frame, the structure of the body, its union with the soul. And in that soul itself, and, especially, its redemption by Christ.

II. the character referred to–the man that trusteth in God. It is not knowledge, intellect, eloquence, believing, or even power to work miracles, or to show a martyrs zeal, but trust is that which is here spoken of. Confidence in God is meant. Even amongst men this has great power. What will even man do for another in whom he trusts? What will not that woman do for the man in whom she confides?

III. the blessing promised. It is more the statement of a fact than a promise, for the man is blessed who trusts in God. By the very action upon his own mind and heart of the trust he places in God. It gives the soul a holy boldness, a sure peace. And not only is he blessed in himself, but he becomes a blessing to others. His light shines before men so that they, too, glorify God. (W. Blood, M. A.)

Recreating the palate

This confident and jubilant appeal comes at the end of a series of splendid testimonies such as might be heard at many a fervent experience meeting. One man confesses that he had once been enmeshed in multitudinous fears which had crippled his walk towards Zion: I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears! A group of cheery witnesses testified that in past days their faces had been clouded with sorrow, because the sunshine had gone out of their souls: They looked unto Him, and were lightened! One man confessed that he had been in many a tight place, closely beset by powerful temptations: And this poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. And then it seems as though the individual testimonies merge into one strain of triumphant assurance–The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him. Now, out of these testimonies, and as their consequence, there issues a mighty appeal, O taste and see that the Lord is good. Do not trust to hearsay! Do not be contented with the testimonies of others, with merely theoretical knowledge! Become experimental, and judge for yourselves! Taste and see! But can everybodys palate be trusted to give an accurate judgment? We know that there are serious differences in the powers of discernment in the material palates of men. One man appreciates a flavour which to another is repugnant. One palate can discern an exquisite flavour where another discovers nothing but insipidity. And may the differences not be equally manifest in moral and spiritual spheres? Jonathan Edwards described the moral sense by the figure of a palate, and he regarded it as a faculty by which we are to appreciate the differences between the evil and the good. But can a palate always be trusted? Let us lay down one or two principles which are operative in other realms than the conscience. It is perfectly true that a neglected power becomes atrophied. In art we can impair the artistic palate by communion with bad work. Ruskin is for ever emphasizing the peril of holding communion with bad artistic work. Such communion vitiates the aesthetic conceptions, and their power of fine discernment is impaired. The principle holds true of literature. If we want to keep a delicate literary palate we must maintain our fellowship with the rarest literary products. If, however, we leave the masterpieces, and take up our abode with the unrefined and commonplace, our very power will lose something of its fine perception, and may eventually cease to register any dependable judgment. Is it otherwise with the religious palate? Take what we call the moral sense. Surely our experience justifies the assertion that this particular power can be so neglected and abused by evil communion that its judgments are rendered perfectly untrue. The Bible declares that some mens moral perceptions are so perverted that they call good evil, and evil good. Sweet they call bitter, and bitter they call sweet. They declare that revenge is sweet, and the mood of forgiveness is stale and flavourless. And surely we may say that even in higher regions still, in the distinctively spiritual, our powers can be so used that we cease to readily apprehend and appreciate God. It is possible for men to refuse to have God in their thought, and the consequence is that by their own refusal they are given up to a reprobate mind, which may at length leave them in an insensible mood which can only be described as past feeling. How, then, can we say to these people, Taste, see that the Lord is good? What would be the value of their judgment? Can their palate be depended upon? They may taste, and then turn away in sheer indifference. Now a man perfectly well knows when he is destitute of taste for these things. But has he any desire to be different? The appeal of my text is to men and women who have no taste for the highest, but who desire to acquire it. Bring thy neglected or perverted palate, and see what can be done with it! Let me reverse the order of the text, for the key of our difficulty is to be found in the second clause, Blessed is the man who trusteth in Him. Now, a man can begin with trust in God who has yet no taste for the things of God. Now the text affirms that the assured result of such trust is a condition of blessedness, Blessed is the man who trusteth in Him. In what does this blessedness consist? Let us redeem it for a moment from all suggestions of futurity, and the maturing of desire in some transfigured and glorified life. The future has vast treasures hid in its secret chambers, and he who trusts in the Lord is heir to them all! I will restore health unto thee. When we surrender the life to God, the wondrous energies of the Spirit commence the blessed ministry of re-creation, the renewal of tone, and faculty, and function. And in this restoration there is involved the cleansing and refinement of the palate. When we are sickly and diseased we have a distaste for the good, but when the sickliness begins to pass the natural appetite is restored and good food becomes toothsome, blow this is what the Lord accomplishes for those who put their trust in Him. He makes new men of them! We become new men and new women in Christ Jesus, and in that transfigured spiritual life is to be found our eternal blessedness. And so this is my plea to you. At present your higher taste may be a positive distaste; your palate may be perverted and untrue. When you pray you have no delight in the communion. When you sing it provides you no joy. Well now, commit yourself unto the Lord, even though in the committal there be no present delight. Offer Him all the powers of your personality, all the activities in your life, and let them be impressed and governed by His all-controlling will. Trust in Him, and the sickness shall be driven out of your soul, and your restored powers shall begin to be exercised in fine and discerning freedom. And in the general restoration your palate shall share, and you shall acquire a relish for the things that are excellent! You shall have joy in His communion. (J. H. Jowett, M. A.)

The invitation to enjoy the goodness of God

I. we are reminded that the Lord is good. He is originally, essentially, unchangeably, supremely good. I feel at a loss to express how good He is. What immense families does God continually provide for in air and earth and seal And chiefly is His goodness seen in the gift of the Lord Jesus Christ. To Him let all the contrite, the troubled, the tempted come and find help. And all this for sinners.

II. the best way of knowing this goodness is by tasting it. That is–apply it, make trial of it and prove it for yourselves. There is such a thing as experimental religion. Many have full knowledge of the theory of religion, but no experience of it. They have long known its truths, but never felt their power. Oh, the miseries of preaching to such persons, who need no information–these, who feel no emotion. Oh, what a perpetual contradiction is there between your creed and your conduct! You are not happy; and yet, somehow or other, you contrive not to be miserable! But this is not the case with all: there are some who have tasted that the Lord is gracious. You know that the Lord is good by your own experience. Now, you will observe, that we, at first, seek for the blessings of salvation, only from a sense of our sin and guilt; for we have not enjoyed them before. But after we have possessed, then we desire them, not only from a sense of want, but also from a sense of relish and remembrance. Yes; then we call to mind what we have been favoured with, and long for more. Then, secondly, it produces a fuller conviction of the truth of these things. Now, I think, I can trust any poor unlettered man in the presence of the most subtle philosopher, who would endeavour to persuade him that honey was sour, and that gall was sweet. Why, he would say to the tempter,–would you argue me out of my very senses? You may reason–you may ridicule; but you can never convince me.

III. the invitation to induce others to acquire this knowledge for themselves. O taste and see that the Lord is good; . . . Blessed is the man that trusteth in Him. Now, this tasting has several things connected with it.

1. This is very distinguishable from party zeal. There are some individuals who are never satisfied without bringing others over to their own peculiar views and feelings. It is not enough for them that persons should follow Christ, they must walk with them.

2. This invitation is distinguishable from mere relative affection, for it must reach others; it must extend to strangers. To care for our own is most praiseworthy, but our care must not stop there.

3. We must expect reproach in giving this invitation. There is something very singular in this. Who are censured for their attempts to relieve others by charity? They are not considered as interferers, if they venture to heal the sick, or feed the hungry. If persons do not approve of the manner, they give them credit for the deed. And yet when you endeavour to save others you are considered as busybodies. Oh, they will say, You go to heaven your own way, let us go our way. We do not interfere with you: be as religious as you please, but keep your religion to yourselves. A man cannot keep his religion to himself. If he has any, it will manifest itself. We cannot but speak the things we have seen and heard. (W. Jay.)

The goodness of God

1. Consideration of this subject has a tendency to fix our minds in a state of tranquillity and satisfaction. Perfect goodness is at the head of the world; and, therefore, all may be expected to take place in it that the most benevolent mind can desire.

2. The goodness of God is the proper object of our warmest praises. We must be lost in insensibility if we can contemplate it without feeling ourselves prompted to adoration and thanksgiving.

3. The goodness of God shows us the folly and baseness of sin. All moral evil is an abuse of the love, and disobedience to the authority, of that Being who is always doing us good, and whose character comprehends in it every excellence which can be a reason for affection and veneration.

4. The goodness of God ought to be imitated by us. No being can have a higher or nobler ambition. Thus shall we be His genuine offspring, and secure His particular favour and protection.

5. The goodness of God should engage us to put our trust in Him. How should the reflection that He reigns revive our hearts, and dissipate our anxieties I What may we not hope for from His boundless goodness! How safe are all our interests under His management! (R. Price, D. D.)

The saints experience of the Divine goodness

Though God be infinitely good in Himself, and in the dispensation of the fruits of tits goodness unto all His creatures; yet tits distinguishing goodness and blessings are extended only to whom He manifests Himself in another way than He doth unto the world, and who believe on His Son according to the Gospel.

I. these behold and experience the goodness of his nature. God is love. In this was manifested, etc. Would you have just views of it, endeavour to share in its blessed effects. We may say of Gods goodness, what Christ said to the woman of Samaria: If thou knewest the gift of God, etc. How refreshing and satisfying must be the experience of the Divine goodness and love; concerning which the prophet Jeremiah foretells, they shall come and flow together (Jer 31:12-14).

II. taste and see the goodness of God in his attributes. His condescending grace was manifested toward you, when you were altogether unworthy of His favour. His clemency appears in the moderating the necessary chastisements which He sees needful to inflict.

III. taste and see that the Lord is good in his dispensations, both of providence and grace. All the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth.

1. Every blessing, every change, every bereavement shall be sanctified to you, and work together for your good.

2. You may also behold and experience that the Lord is good in the dispensations of His grace.

IV. taste and see the goodness of the Lord in his ordinances. Every Divine institution is a conduit through which He conveys His best blessings; a market place wherein they get spiritual provisions; a sanctuary where they behold His power and glory.

V. taste and see that the Lord is good in his covenant. What admirable goodness hath God displayed in entering anew into covenant with us, after we had broken the first covenant. It is the covenant of peace, of love and of life; the covenant of hope, and of the promises confirmed by the death of Christ and sealed with His blood. All good and nothing but good, grace and glory, with every good is to be found here. (W. McCulloch.)

An invitation to participate in the goodness of the Lord

I. something assumed. That the Lord is good.

1. God is infinitely good.

2. Independently good.

3. Absolutely good.

4. Unchangeably good.

5. Universally good.

6. Eternally good.

II. something implied. That the goodness of the Lord may be seen and tasted.

1. In the creation.

2. In the provision made for all creatures.

3. In the redemption of the world by Jesus Christ.

4. In the means of grace.

5. In the rewards of heaven.

III. something enjoined. O taste and see, etc. This invitation, request, or admonition is–

1. Divine in its origin.

2. Reasonable in its nature.

3. Pleasurable in its exercise.

4. Profitable in its result.

Inferences:–

1. There is something more in religion than the mere profession, or outward form; there is the exercise of mental powers; a tasting and seeing the Lord is good. This is personal, and known only to ourselves.

2. How wretched those are who forego these pleasures–who know nothing but animal gratification and sensual pleasure.

3. Those who enjoy personal piety are anxious for others to realize the same enjoyment.

4. If the Lord is good, let us learn the design of that goodness (Rom 2:4). (Sketches of Four Hundred Sermons.)

Experimental evidence of Gods goodness

I. the fact alluded to in the text. We minify the atonement when we consider it merely as one, perhaps the best, of several possible plans of salvation. There is no other way, no other name by which God can save, even if the nature and character of the sinner admitted of others. This plan and this name are rooted and grounded in the nature of God. Mercy and Truth, or Justice, have met together; Righteousness, or Justice, and Peace, or Pardon, have kissed each other.

II. the doctrine of the text. Taste and see. Religion is a blessed, blissful, glorious experience. It casts out fear, drives away doubt, and sweetens the whole of human life. Religion is love, and love is an experience of the mind, heart, and soul. We love a father, husband, wife, parent, and a child, and we know it. We know it by experience–by the witness of the human spirit. Love to God is lodged in human experience, in human consciousness, just where all other loves are lodged, and we may know that we love God just as readily as we know that we love our parents. We have but one witness to the fact of all human loves; but to the fact of Divine love we have two witnesses–our own spirit and the Spirit of God. This makes assurance doubly sure. Our spirit says we love God, and Gods Spirit in ours says we love Him.

III. the exhortation which is implied in the interjection O! Ye hungry, poor, here is bounty and richness, without money and without price. Here is a sight that is satisfying, and a taste that fills the soul with infinite fulness. It is the only goodness worthy of the name; the perfection of goodness. Ye who are trying to find God in Nature, O come here, and learn Him as He is seen in grace, and then Nature will not be so intricate as it now seems to be. O, ye doubting Christianity, whose lives are full of sorrow and darkness, come out into the light and enjoy the fulness of blessing; even the direct witness of the Holy Ghost. (R. G. Porter.)

Value of experience

The appeal to experiment is–

1. Very simple. Simple in the two senses: as opposed to what is complex, or complicated and requires an acute and trained mind. The glory of the Gospel is that it is for the common mind, the average man. He who knows enough to commit sin knows enough to be saved.

(1) It is simple as opposed to what is subtle. The snare of argument is sophistry, which can array argument so as to appear to prove what is not true. Macaulay can so write even history as to sway the reader to either side of a controversy.

(2) Very certain. Experiment may be trusted where argument is unreliable and misleading. It is safe to distrust any reasoning that contradicts known experience. Froude says prussic acid and gum arabic are essentially, elementally, the same. It is not so; but, if they are, one kills, the other is harmless. Many a logician distrusts the very argument he uses to convince others. But no sane man ever disputed the testimony of his senses.

2. In matters of religion we may not experiment by our senses, but may by our reason and conscience, which are the senses of the soul. Communion with God is the most convincing of all arguments for the Being of God, and the practical demonstration of the efficacy of prayer. No experiment is more simple in nature, more certain in results, more sublime in conclusiveness. The oratory is also the observatory whence we get the clearest views of God and celestial things. (Homiletic Monthly.)

Religion pleasant to the religious

This excellence and desirableness of Gods gifts is a subject again and again set before us in Scripture (Isa 25:6; Isa 61:1-3; Hos 14:5-7; Psa 81:13-16). Other passages in the Psalms speak of this blessedness, besides the text (Psa 4:7; Psa 16:6; Psa 19:10; Psa 28:7; Psa 65:4). The pleasures of sin are not to be compared in fulness and intensity to the pleasures of holy living. The pleasures of holiness are far more pleasant to the holy than the pleasures of sin to the sinner. None can know, however, the joys of being holy and pure but the holy. Let no persons, then, be surprised that religious obedience should really be so pleasant in itself, when it seems to them so distasteful. Let them not be surprised that what the pleasure is cannot be explained to them. It is a secret till they try to be religious. None other than God the Holy Spirit can help us in this matter, by enlightening and changing our hearts. So it is; and yet I will say one thing, by way of suggesting to you how great the joys of religion are. Is there any one who does not know how very painful the feeling of a bad conscience is? Persons accustom themselves and lose this feeling; but, till we blunt our conscience, it is very painful. And why? It is the feeling of Gods displeasure, and therefore it is so painful. Consider then: if Gods displeasure is so distressing to us, must not Gods favour be just the reverse? And this is what it is to be holy and religious. It is to have Gods favour. I hope there are some of you who take a pleasure in thinking of God, in blessing Him for the mercies of the Gospel, and in celebrating Christs death and resurrection. These persons have tasted and tried. I trust they find the taste so heavenly, that they will not need any proof that religion is a pleasant thing. Let such persons, then, think of this, that if a religious life is pleasant hero, in spite of the old Adam interrupting the pleasure and defiling them, what a glorious day it will be if we are blessed hereafter with an entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven! (J. H. Newman, D. D.)

The appeal to experiment

Knowledge comes to us in three main channels: first, argument addressed to the reason; second, testimony addressed to faith; and third, experiment, which appeals to consciousness. Here the appeal is to experiment. The language is drawn from the sphere of the senses. We are told to taste and see, as though each sense were an eye, and the result was vision. There are five senses, and taste is perhaps the simplest, earliest exercised, and most satisfactory of them all. Our eyes and ears may deceive us, but seldom our taste. Experiment is here set before us as something open to all, a short, simple, safe way of testing the reality of God and His goodness. Argument is not simple nor certain, but often very subtle and unsafe. Testimony is generally safe, but may be mistaken. But experiment impresses us all as to be depended on. We none of us distrust the evidence of our own senses. The text affirms the possibility of making an experiment upon God which shall be conclusive. The agnostic says that God cannot be known, because He is outside of the sphere of sense. We answer, Of course He cannot be known by sense, but must be tested by faculties intended for such experiments, namely, our reason, conscience, love, sensibilities, and faith. (A. T. Pierson, D. D.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 8. O taste and see that the Lord is good] Apply to him by faith and prayer; plead his promises, he will fulfil them; and you shall know in consequence, that the Lord is good. God has put it in the power of every man to know whether the religion of the Bible be true or false. The promises relative to enjoyments in this life are the grand tests of Divine revelation. These must be fulfilled to all them who with deep repentance and true faith turn unto the Lord, if the revelation which contains them be of God. Let any man in this spirit approach his Maker, and plead the promises that are suited to his case, and he will soon know whether the doctrine be of God. He shall taste, and then see, that the Lord is good, and that the man is blessed who trusts in him. This is what is called experimental religion; the living, operative knowledge that a true believer has that he is passed from death unto life; that his sins are forgiven him for Christ’s sake, the Spirit himself bearing witness with his spirit that he is a child of God. And, as long as he is faithful, he carries about with him the testimony of the Holy Ghost; and he knows that he is of God, by the Spirit which God has given him.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Taste, i.e. consider it seriously, and thoroughly, and affectionately; make trial of it by your own and others experiences. This is opposed to those slight and vanishing thoughts which men have of it.

Good, i.e. merciful and gracious, to wit, to all his people.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

8. taste and seetry andexperience.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

O taste, and see that the Lord [is] good,…. He is essentially, infinitely, perfectly, immutably, and solely good in himself; and he is communicatively and diffusively good to others: he is the author of all good, but not of any evil, in a moral sense; this chiefly regards his special grace and goodness through Christ: all the divine Persons in the Godhead are good; the Father is good, he has good designs towards his people, has provided good things for them, made good promises to them, and bestows good gifts on them: the Son is good; the good Shepherd that has laid down his life for the sheep; he is the fountain of all grace and goodness to his churches, and to particular believers; he has wrought a good work for them, the work of redemption, and he speaks a good word on their behalf in the court of heaven: the Spirit is good; he works good things in the hearts of the sons of men, and shows good things unto them; and gracious souls, such as the psalmist here calls upon, are capable of tasting and discerning how good the Lord is in some measure; see Ps 119:103. While unregenerate, their taste is vitiated, and remains unchanged, and sin is what they feed upon with pleasure, and so detest everything that is good; but in conversion a new taste is given, so as to have a saving experimental knowledge of the grace and goodness of God in Christ, an application of it to them; and in such manner as to live upon it, and be nourished by it; and though this is not a superficial taste of things, like that of hypocrites, nor a single one only, being frequently repeated; yet it is but a taste in comparison of the enjoyment of it in the heavenly state; and every taste now influences and engages trust in the Lord, as follows;

blessed [is] the man [that] trusteth in him; [See comments on Ps 2:12]; the Targum renders it, “that trust in his word”.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

8. Taste and see that Jehovah is good. In this verse the Psalmist indirectly reproves men for their dulness in not perceiving the goodness of God, which ought to be to them more than matter of simple knowledge. By the word taste he at once shows that they are without taste; and at the same time he assigns the reason of this to be, that they devour the gifts of God without relishing them, or through a vitiated loathing ungratefully conceal them. He, therefore, calls upon them to stir up their senses, and to bring a palate endued with some capacity of tasting, that God’s goodness may become known to them, or rather, be made manifest to them. The words literally rendered are, Taste and see, for the Lord is good; but the particle כי, ki, for, is taken exegetically. David’s meaning, therefore, is, that there is nothing on the part of God to prevent the godly, to whom he particularly speaks in this place, from arriving at the knowledge of his goodness by actual experience. From this it follows, that they also are infected with the common malady of dulness. This doctrine is confirmed by the promise immediately added, Blessed is the man who trusteth in him; for God never disappoints the expectations of those who seek his favor. Our own unbelief is the only impediment which prevents him from satisfying us largely and bountifully with abundance of all good things.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(8) Taste.Comp. Heb. 6:4 ; 1Pe. 2:3.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

8. Taste and see “Tasting stands before seeing; for spiritual experience leads to spiritual knowledge, and not conversely.” Delitzsch.

Man The word here is not the generic term for the human race, but specially denotes a mighty man, a man of strength and renown, as 1Ch 9:13; 1Ch 12:18; et al., such as were wont to trust in themselves.

Trusteth Literally, takes refuge, as in Isa 14:32. The word is almost entirely used religiously for trust in God. See on Psa 2:12

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

3). He Calls On The People To Taste Of YHWH, And To Learn To Fear Him (8-11).

Psa 34:8-11

T ‘Oh taste and see that YHWH is good,

Blessed is the strong man (gbr) who takes refuge in him.

Y Oh fear YHWH, you his saints,

For there is no want to those who fear him.

C The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger,

But those who seek YHWH will not want any good thing.

L Come, you children, listen to me,

I will teach you the fear of YHWH.’

David’s experience now turns his thoughts to all who fear YHWH. They too can taste and see that YHWH is good, by taking refuge in Him, just as he had when in the presence of Achish. It is such a one who will be truly blessed (compare Psa 27:13). It is an indication of His love towards us that He allows us to put Him to the test in this way as long as our heart is true. He is not unwilling to be put to the test by a genuinely seeking heart (see 1Pe 2:3). It is only the testing of the rebellious that causes Him to be angry (Exo 17:2). Note the term ‘strong man’ (gbr). The ‘poor man’ of Psa 34:6 has now become strong because he is taking refuge in YHWH.

Then confident that all who ‘taste and see’ will discover the truth of his words and experience the goodness of YHWH, he calls on them as ‘His holy ones’ (those who are His holy people (Exo 19:5-6) and have genuinely separated themselves to Him and to the covenant) to fear YHWH, recognising that for those who do so there will be no lack. If we ‘seek first the Kingly Rule of God and His righteousness’ everything will be added to us (Mat 6:33). It was as true in the Old Testament as it is in the New.

The ‘young lions’ are the young lions approaching their full strength who have no responsibility but to look after themselves. They do not yet have a pride to look after. All the animals fear them and leave any carcases to them as soon as they approach, and they can keep anything that they find for themselves. Thus they have everything going for them. And yet even they can sometimes suffer hunger, in spite of their great strength and ferocity. Even they can seek food and not find it. But how different it is for those who are strong in YHWH (Psa 34:8). Those who seek YHWH will not lack for any good thing. Whatever the circumstances He will provide for them (compare again Mat 6:33). Note that the promise relates to ‘good things’, that is what God thinks is good for them. It is not a rain cheque on God. It is a guarantee to meet what He sees as their real needs (compare Mat 7:11 where the same idea in mind).

‘Come, you children, listen to me, I will teach you the fear of YHWH.’ The Psalmist now calls his ‘children’ to listen to him while he teaches them the fear of YHWH which has been described in 9. The young lions go hungry because they do not fear YHWH but the children of the lion of Judah (Gen 49:9) will not need to do so if they fear YHWH.

It was a difficult decision as to whether to link this stanza with the previous ones or the ones that follow, for the pattern of Proverbs might be seen as suggesting the latter (see Pro 4:1; Pro 5:7; Pro 7:24; Pro 8:32 and compare for the idea Pro 14:26). And certainly the moral exhortations which follow might be seen as teaching ‘the fear of YHWH’, a phrase which occurs fourteen times in Proverbs. But there are three things which make this doubtful:

1) In no case in Proverbs is such an exhortation followed by a question, as it would be here. Always there it continues with further exhortation.

2) The change from ‘you’ (plural) in Psa 34:11, to the singular ‘man’ and ‘he’ in Psa 34:12, to you (singular) in Psa 34:13, while possible, also counts against it, especially when we consider the abrupt movement from Psa 34:11 to Psa 34:12 (not ‘which man of you’ but ‘what man is he’).

3) There are better parallels in the Psalm which definitely seem to link the stanza back to what has gone before. Thus ‘I will teach you the fear of YHWH’ parallels and complements ‘O fear YHWH you His saints, for there is no want to those who fear Him’ (Psa 34:9), especially when combined with the mention of ‘fearing Him’ in Psa 34:7, while ‘you children’ can be seen as paralleling ‘you His saints’ and as being admirably contrasted with the ‘young lions’ (Psa 34:10).

Indeed this stanza may reasonably be seen as satisfactorily capping off the two exhortations in Psa 34:8-9, while at the same time contrasting the young lions in Psa 34:10 with his ‘children’ (the young lions with the children of the lion of Judah, see Gen 49:9).

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

DISCOURSE: 552
EXPERIMENTAL RELIGION ENFORCED

Psa 34:8. O taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man that trusteth in him.

THERE is, in the minds of many, a prejudice against experimental religion, insomuch that the very name of Christian experience is an object of reproach. But, what is repentance, but a sense of sorrow on account of sin? And what is faith, but a resting of the soul on Gods promised mercy in Christ? And what is love, but a going forth of the soul in kindly affections towards God and man? The heart is the proper seat of religion: My son, says God, give me thine heart: and, to imagine that we can have hopes and fears, joys and sorrows, excited in the soul, and yet not possess any consciousness of such feelings, is a mere delusion. I mean not to decry those exercises of the mind which are purely intellectual; for they are necessary in their place. But it is not in them that piety consists: they may lay the foundation for piety; but there must be a superstructure of holy affections, before the edifice of religion can be complete.
This is intimated in the words before us: in which it will be proper to notice,

I.

The experience recommended

That the Lord is good, will admit of no doubt
[This is seen throughout all the works of Creation; every one of which bears the stamp and character of wisdom and love Nor is it less visible in the dispensations of Providence: for, though we see them very partially, and are constrained to wait the issue of events in order to form a correct judgment respecting them, yet, from what we have seen, who can but acknowledge that God is good to all, and that his tender mercy is over all his works? But most of all does his goodness appear in the great mystery of redemption. Who can reflect on that stupendous act of mercy, the giving of his only-begotten Son to die for us, and to bear our sins in his own body on the tree? Who can reflect on the sending of his Holy Spirit to instruct and sanctify us, and on the providing for his people an inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled, and never-fading, reserved for them in heaven? Who, I say, can take ever so slight a survey of these wonders, and not say with the Psalmist, O how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men [Note: Psa 31:19.]! ]

Let us, then, taste and see how good the Lord is
[A man who had been immured all his days in a dungeon would have no conception of the radiance of the sun, in comparison of that which he would acquire by being subjected to the action of its meridian rays: nor will a person who has merely heard,and read of Gods goodness be able to form an estimate of it, in comparison of what he would after having had the love of God shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost. In the one state he might say, I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear; but, on his transition from it, he might add, Now mine eye seeth thee. This is what I would wish respecting you: I would wish all the goodness of God to pass before you, if not in visible splendour and in audible sounds, yet in a way perceptible to the organs of faith.
But how is this to be attained? I answer, As Moses was put into the clift of the rock, that he might be capable of sustaining the manifestations of Gods glory [Note: Exo 33:18-19.], so you must be found in Christ; and then you shall behold all the glory of God shining forth in his face.]

That we may be stirred up to seek this experience, let us notice,

II.

The blessedness resulting from it

A just view of Gods goodness will lead us to trust in him
[They that know thy name, says David, will put their trust in thee, They will go to him with all their guilt to be pardoned, and all their corruptions to be mortified, and all their wants to be supplied. Those who know him not, are ever prone to limit either his power or his willingness to save: but those who have tasted how gracious he is [Note: 1Pe 2:3.], will commit to him their every concern, and trust him for body and for soul, for time and for eternity ]

And need I ask, whether persons so doing shall be blessed?
[Verily it is not in the power of language to declare the full extent of their blessedness. What tranquillity possesses their minds! It is well said, that their peace passeth understanding, and their joy is unspeakable and glorified. Conscious as they are of their ill desert, they nevertheless feel assured of mercy through the blood of sprinkling. Sensible as they are of a body of sin and death, and almost sinking under its weight, they yet can say, Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! Knowing by bitter experience, also, the power and subtlety of Satan, they yet anticipate a final victory over him, and doubt not but that he shall soon be for ever bruised under their feet. As for death, they have learned to number it amongst their treasures [Note: 1Co 3:22.]: and they look forward to a habitation infinitely better than any that this world can afford, even to a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

In every view that can be conceived, these persons are blessed; as indeed the whole Scripture testifies: but more especially does David assure us of it, when, in a solemn appeal to God himself, he says, O Lord God of Hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee [Note: Psa 84:12.].]

Address

Are there any amongst you who doubt the blessedness of religion?
[Sure I am, that you can never have had any just experience of it. And what would you yourselves say to any one who should presume, under such circumstances, to judge of earthly things? Would you not reply, you are incompetent to judge? So, then, I say to you, Go first and taste whether God be not good to them that seek him. If you can truly say, that you have sought him with deep penitential sorrow, and he has shut up his bowels of compassion from you; that you have prostrated yourselves at the foot of the cross, and the Lord Jesus has spurned you from his foot-stool; and that you have truly and unreservedly given yourselves up to God, and he has denied you the assistance of his grace; if you will say, that, whilst you have thus turned with your whole heart to God, and retained no allowed sin within you, God has cast out your prayer, and refused to be gracious unto you; I will allow you to be judges in this matter. But where is the man that will dare to stand up and say to the Lord Jesus Christ, Thou hast declared that thou wouldst on no account cast out any who came to thee; but thou hast falsified thy word in reference to me, and suffered me to seek thy face in vain? No: there never yet existed an occasion for such a reproach, nor ever shall, as long as the world shall stand. I say, then, that those who doubt the blessedness of true religion are in darkness even to this very hour, and speak evil of the things which they understand not. And, if they pretend that they have endeuvoured to taste whether God were good, and found him not to be so, I hesitate not to say, that the fault has not been in God, but in themselves, in that their taste has been vitiated, and their souls rendered incapable of spiritual discernment.]

To those who have tasted that the Lord is gracious,
[I would say, Be not satisfied with a taste. God invites you to eat and drink abundantly [Note: Son 5:1.], till you are even satisfied with his goodness [Note: Jer 31:14.]. Such is your privilege, as David has declared: How excellent is thy loving-kindness, O God! therefore shall the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings: they shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures [Note: Psa 36:7-8.].

And be careful that you do not become weary of the Lord. We read of some, who, having tasted of the heavenly gift, and been made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and having tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, yet so fell away, as never to be renewed unto repentance [Note: Heb 6:6.]. Beware, lest that ever become your state. Beware, lest ye so crucify the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. If men who have never tasted of his grace commit iniquity, they bring no particular disgrace upon religion: but if you, who profess godliness, offend, you cast a stumbling-block before the whole world; who conclude, from what they see in you, that there is not a sufficiency of love in Christ to make you happy, or of grace to make you holy. I pray you, bring not such dishonour upon him, or such guilt upon your own souls: but so acquaint yourselves with him, that you may be at peace; and so delight yourselves in him, that your souls may be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, whilst you are praising him with joyful lips [Note: Psa 63:5.].]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

All these verses are beautiful representations of the fulness; suitableness; completeness, and all-sufficiency of a God in Christ to answer all the wants of his people. And is there not a vast elegance in the comparison taken from the hunger and rapacity of the lion, even the impetuousness of the young lion, to that of the patience and silent waiting of the faithful believer? A life of faith will find food in everything, because it is all founded in Christ. The young lions may, and will lack, because nothing will supply their voracious appetites but that which is carnal.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Psa 34:8 O taste and see that the LORD [is] good: blessed [is] the man [that] trusteth in him.

Ver. 8. O taste and see, &c. ] viz. With the mouth of your mind, and with the eyes of your faith perceive, and experiment the goodness of God in choosing and using such instruments as the angels, and otherwise, in the manifold expressions of his love to us; wherein if we take not comfort the fault is merely in ourselves; we being like him who hath pleasant and nourishing meat, but will not make use of it. The saints taste how good the Lord is, and thence long after him. Optima demonstratio est a sensibus. As he that feels fire hot, or as he that tasteth honey sweet, ye need not use arguments to persuade him to believe it; so here, let a man but once taste that the Lord is good, and he will thenceforth, as a new born babe, desire the sincere milk of the word, 1Pe 2:2-3 , neither will he take any more content in the world’s tasteless fooleries than in the white of an egg or a dry chip. Gustato spiritu desipit omnis caro, saith Gerson, All flesh is savourless to him that hath tasted of the Spirit. Paul, after his rapture, looked with scorn and pity on all the world’s glittering poverty. His mouth doth not water after homely provisions, who hath lately tasted of delicate sustenance. Oh, let us get spiritual senses habitually exercised to discern good and evil, Heb 5:14 . It is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing, saith our Saviour to the Jews: q.d. Ye accept my words because ye have not the Spirit, ye have but flesh, that is, a common knowledge, no sound taste; and therefore it is that my words relish not with you.

Blessed is the man, &c. ] See Psa 2:12 . See Trapp on “ Psa 2:12 “

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 34:8-14

😯 taste and see that the Lord is good;

How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!

9O fear the Lord, you His saints;

For to those who fear Him there is no want.

10The young lions do lack and suffer hunger;

But they who seek the Lord shall not be in want of any good thing.

11Come, you children, listen to me;

I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

12Who is the man who desires life

And loves length of days that he may see good?

13Keep your tongue from evil

And your lips from speaking deceit.

14Depart from evil and do good;

Seek peace and pursue it.

Psa 34:8-14 Because YHWH is good (BDB 373 II), His faithful followers (i.e., saints, BDB 872) are admonished to

1. taste BDB 380, KB 377, Qal imperative, cf. Heb 6:5

2. see BDB 406, KB 1157, Qal imperative (quoted by Peter in 1Pe 2:3 from LXX)

3. take refuge BDB 340, KB 337, Qal imperative

4. fear BDB 431, KB 432, Qal imperative

5,6. come (BDB 229, KB 246, Qal imperative ), listen (BDB 1033, KB 1570, Qal imperative ) to the psalmist teach the fear of YHWH, Psa 34:11

The results of their actions are

1. there is no want, Psa 34:9 b; Psa 23:1

2. they will not be in want of any good thing, Psa 34:10 b; Psa 84:11

3. long life, Psa 34:12

Here are the psalmist’s teachings for a long, happy life.

1. keep your tongue from evil and lips from speaking deceit BDB 665, KB 718, Qal imperative, cf. Psa 12:3-4; Psa 15:2-3; Psa 73:8-9; Jas 3:5-12

2. depart from evil BDB 693, KB 747, Qal imperative, cf. Psa 37:27; Isa 1:16

3. do good BDB 793, KB 889, Qal imperative, cf. Psa 37:27; Isa 1:17

4. seek peace BDB 134, KB 152, Piel imperative, cf. Mar 9:50; Rom 14:19; 1Co 7:15; 2Co 13:11; 1Th 5:13; Heb 12:14; Jas 3:17-18

5. pursue peace BDB 922, KB 1191, Qal imperative, cf. same as #4

Notice the balance between what YHWH does for the faithful follower and what they must do for themselves. There are choices and consequences, both positive and negative (the next strophe is a partial list)!

Peter quotes from this Psalm in 1 Peter 3.

1. 1Pe 3:10 Psa 34:12-13

2. 1Pe 3:11 Psa 34:14

3. 1Pe 3:12 Psa 34:15-16

He sees it fitting into his emphasis of a united fellowship (i.e., let all be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit, not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead, 1Pe 3:8-9).

Psa 34:8 the Lord is good Good (BDB 373 II) is a key word in this strophe (cf. 1Th 5:15).

1. YHWH is good (adjective), Psa 34:8, cf. Psa 25:8; Psa 86:5; Psa 100:5; Psa 106:1; Psa 107:1; Psa 118:1; Psa 118:29; Psa 145:9; 1Ch 16:34; Ezr 3:11; Jer 33:11; Nah 1:7

2. those who seek Him will not be in want of any good thing (BDB 481 construct BDB 375), Psa 34:10, cf. Psa 84:11

3. fear of YHWH brings a long, good (BDB 373) life, Psa 34:12

4. depart from evil and do good (BDB 373), Psa 34:14

5. notice the use of good in Rom 8:28

Psa 34:9

NASB, NKJVsaints

NRSV, NJBholy ones

TEVpeople

JPSOAconsecrated ones

REBholy people

The adjective (BDB 872) can denote

1. the Messiah, Psa 16:3 (as David’s ultimate seed)

2. the angels or heavenly counsel, Job 5:1; Job 15:15; Psa 89:5-7; Dan 8:13; Zec 14:5

3. faithful followers

a. priests Num 16:5; Num 16:7; Psa 106:16 (Aaron)

b. Levites 2Ch 35:3

c. prophets 2Ki 4:9

d. Nazirites Num 6:5; Num 6:8

e. Israel Exo 19:6; Lev 11:44-45; Lev 20:7; Lev 20:26; Lev 21:6; Num 15:40; Deu 7:6; Deu 14:2; Deu 14:21; Deu 26:19; Deu 28:9

Here it refers to faithful followers.

Psa 34:10

NASB, NKJV,

NRSV, NJBlions

LXX, PESHITTArock

REBprinces

NEBunbelievers (from an Arabic root)

The MT has lions. The question is to whom does the imagery refer? It seems best to contrast them with the humbled, the afflicted, or the poor (BDB 776) of Psa 34:2; Psa 34:6.

Psa 34:11 children This is literally sons (BDB 119). In Wisdom Literature the teacher is called father and the students sons (i.e., Pro 1:8; Pro 4:1; Pro 4:10; Pro 4:20; Pro 6:1; Pro 6:20; Pro 24:13; Pro 24:21).

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

taste, &c. Referred to in 1Pe 2:3.

Blessed = How happy. See App-63.

man = strong man. Hebrew. geber. App-14. Trusting not in his own strength, but in Jehovah.

trusteth in = fleeth for refuge to. Hebrew. hasah. App-69.I.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

The Goodness of God

O taste and see that the Lord is good;

Blessed is the man that trusteth in him.Psa 34:8.

1. No man who looks thoughtfully around him and within can fail to feel at times, as Plato felt, that he needs some wiser and more certain guidance than his own if he is ever to learn what God really is; that God Himself must speak to him and show Himself to him if he is to be sure that God is good, friendly, accessible. Even if we believe that God has spoken to us and shown Himself to us, that we have seen Him in Christ Jesus and found Him altogether good, yet at times, when the burden of all this unintelligible and self-contradictory world lies heavily upon us, or when our own life is darkened by some misery to which there seems neither relief nor end, we lose our assurance; we falter where we firmly trod: God seems to shroud Himself in some inaccessible heaven, to retire behind thick clouds we cannot penetrate, to become doubtful to us once more, so that we can no longer see or say that He is good.

It is an unspeakable relief and comfort to hear any voice which assures us, in clear and cordial tones, that God is good, despite our doubts and fears, that the sun of His love is shining down on the world, though it be hidden from us by the dark clouds that hang about our hearts. And if the voice be that of a man such as we are, yet better and wiser than we are, and wiser and better mainly because he has passed through many such experiences as those by which we are troubled and has found out what they meanthen surely he can give us not comfort only, but the very succour that we most need.

2. Now the author of this psalm stands in the front rank of those poets who have devoted themselves to the study of the ethical aspects and problems of human life, and he is able to interpret the inner world of character and motive and passion with a precision and a delicacy, a truth and a power never surpassed. Confessedly also, despite the grievous transgression, he so bitterly rued, he was a man after Gods own heart; a man whose goodness was not of the narrow, ascetic, forbidding type which repels men, but of that large, cordial, and manly type which is most winning and attractive. Nor can we well doubt that his experience was wider and more varied than ours, embraced more radical vicissitudes, swept a larger circle, covered more distant extremes. And not only did he run through the whole gamut of human experience, but at the very time he sung this psalm he was involved in those clouds of undeserved loss, pain, reproach, under which we too often lose our faith in the goodness of God. It would have been pardonable if, under stress of so hard and unmerited a fate, he had brooded over it till the goodness of God had become as doubtful to him as it often becomes to us under the lesser strain of trials not to be compared with his. But it is from the thick darkness of his adversity that he comes forth, with manly and cheerful courage, to assure us that the Lord is good, and to dwell enjoyingly on the blessedness of the man who trusts in Him. Such a testimony, given by such a man at such a moment, may well touch and reassure our hearts. What are our powers of insight as compared with his? or what our troubles as compared with his? That, with his powers, he saw no reason to doubt the goodness of the Lord; that, under his burden, he held fast his confidence in Godthis should at least bring some little hope to our hearts when they are heavy and doubtful and sad. And if we believe that he was not only a poet, but an inspired poet, we have in his words a Divine revelation as well as the result of his own illuminated reason and far-reaching experience. It is God who speaks to us and assures us that He is good, and will do us good, however we doubt or distrust Him.

The following letter was written by Canon Liddon to Dr. King, Bishop of Lincoln, one of his oldest friends, in the second week of his illness, which was destined to proved fatal: God has laid His hand very heavily upon me; and I have been through the fireI greatly needed it. Nothing [is] more wonderful in Him than His goodness to such as I am. Pray for me, that I may learn how to be humble and patient, and that this visitation (in the Day of Account) may not be seen to have been as nothingor worse than nothinginstead of a great means of grace.1 [Note: Life and Letters of H. P. Liddon, 384.]

Lifelong our stumbles, lifelong our regret,

Lifelong our efforts failing and renewed,

While lifelong is our witness, God is good,

Who bore with us till now, bears with us yet,

Who still remembers and will not forget,

Who gives us light and warmth and daily food;

And gracious promises half understood,

And glories half unveiled, whereon to set

Our heart of hearts and eyes of our desire;

Uplifting us to longing and to love,

Luring us upward from this world of mire,

Urging us to press on and mount above

Ourselves and all we have had experience of,

Mounting to Him in loves perpetual fire.2 [Note: Christina G. Rossetti.]

I

The Approach to God

1. The Psalmist invites us to put God to the most practical of tests. O taste and see. Of our five senses taste is the most homely; of our five senses taste is the most personal; for what we see, and hear, and smell, and touch, we share with others, but in a peculiarly personal sense the taste is our own. As the proverb says: There is no disputing about taste. Moreover, the sense of taste is a peculiarly gracious gift of the Creator to us, for, so far as we can tell, we might easily be nourished with food which we did not taste, and all those processes of digestion might go on unconsciously, like the feeding of an engine. But He has given us this faculty of taste, by which we discriminate the different flavours of the food we eat, and get a relish from variety. Now, it is this one of the sensesthe most homely, the most personal, and the most gratuitousthat is taken as the image to be used for urging upon us the experience of God. Taste is the command. It is as if God came to us with this generous proposal, I would not have you choose Me until you have tasted Me, nor would I force Myself upon you unless your taste decide. In a marvellous way He puts Himself at our disposal for us to try. Taste and see that the Lord is good.

There is an Indian story of a queen who proved the truth by tasting the food. The story tells how her husband, who dearly loved her, and whom she dearly loved, lost his kingdom, wandered away with his queen into the forest, left her there as she slept, hoping she would fare better without him, and followed her long afterwards to her fathers court, deformed, disguised, a servant among servants, a cook. Then her maidens came to her, told her of the wonderful cooking, magical in manner, marvellous in flavour and fragrance. They are sure it is the long-lost king come back to her, and they bid her believe and rejoice. But the queen fears it may not be true. She must prove it; she must taste the food. They bring her some. She tastes and knows. And the story ends in joy. O taste and see that the Lord is good.1 [Note: 1 Amy Wilson Carmichael, Things as they are in India, 253.]

2. The secret of goodness can be found only by personal experience. Men know what sin is, by experience. They do not know what holiness is, and they cannot obtain the knowledge of its secret pleasure, till they join themselves truly and heartily to Christ, and devote themselves to His servicetill they taste, and thereby try. One may ask, Of what value, of what distinct force and bearing, as an evidence of truth, is this appeal to experimental proof? To this we may answer, first, that while the mere fact of any religious or ethical system making such an appeal would by no means prove its truth, for a false system might profess to do the same, still no system could be true which shrank from it. It would argue a consciousness of being untrue to the realities of things, otherwise it would not fear the ordeal of experience. So far, therefore, it is a fair presumption in favour of the Bible that throughout its language, expressed or implied, is Taste and see. And this presumption, it is next to be observed, rises into positive inductive proof, in proportion to the duration, extent, and diversity of the trial. As in experimental philosophy we arrive at a general law by an induction of particular instances, and the result is satisfactory in proportion to the multiplication of concurring instances and the absence of antagonistic ones, so is it with the argument for the Bible as derived from experimental proof. In this case the induction is overwhelming. From the beginning it has been undergoing this ordeal. Millions have tried it, and have set to their seal that Gods Word is true. From age to age the testimony has rolled on, swelling in its progress into one mighty and majestic volume. And thus, borne on the echoes of successive generations, the voice of that testimony has reached our ears, and the burden of its cry is still the same, O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.

It is in his inner experience of the glorified Christ that we are to look for the secret and source of Raymund Lulls doctrine and lifewhat he thought, what he was, what he suffered. And this must be true of all true missionaries. They do not go out to Asia and to Africa to say, This is the doctrine of the Christian Church; or, Your science is bad. Look through this microscope and see for yourselves and abandon such error; or, Compare your condition with that of America and see how much more socially beneficial Christianity is than Hinduism or Confucianism or Islam. Doubtless all this has its placethe argument from the historic evidences of Christianity, the argument from the coherence of Christianity with the facts of the universe, the argument from fruits. But it is also all secondary. The primary thing is personal testimony: This I have felt. This He has done for me. I preach whom I know.1 [Note: R. E. Speer, Some Great Leaders in the World Movement, 46.]

Experience bows a sweet contented face,

Still setting to her seal that God is true:

Beneath the sun, she knows, is nothing new

All things that go return with measured pace,

Winds, rivers, mans still recommencing race:

While Hope beyond earths circle strains her view,

Past sun and moon, and rain and rainbow too,

Enamoured of unseen eternal grace.

Experience saith, My God doth all things well:

And for the morrow taketh little care,

Such peace and patience garrison her soul:

While Hope, who never yet hath eyed the goal,

With arms flung forth, and backward floating hair,

Touches, embraces, hugs the invisible.2 [Note: Christina G. Rossetti, Verses, 105.]

3. This is a mode of proof available to every man, without distinction or exception. It requires neither learning nor logic to conduct it. The appeal is simply this, Taste and see; trust in the Lord and thou shalt be blessed. Whatever doubts there might have been before the time of our Lord Jesus Christ, there can be little doubt now that this experience of the great souls is meant to be the experience of every soul. For ever since our Lord and Master came to us in that homely speech of His, and proposed that we should taste Him, eat His flesh, and drink His blood, and ever since He reminded us that it is in that kind of intimate personal communion that life comes, and not otherwise, He has made it clear that there is with Him no selection. He does not choose the people at His banquet; He does not say, Let the rich or let the worthy come. The whole point of it is, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in; whosoever will, let him drink; come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

Madame Guyon possessed the feminine rather than the masculine relation between the soul and God; but that is the beauty of this relationthat it does not depend upon sex or age; it is equally significant to the woman as to the man. There is something essentially delicate and sweet in this woman-soul opening to God. Follow the process. She comes in stillness and quietness and solitude to wait upon Him. She utters His name, and pauses; she says a word to Him, and waits to listen; she will not speak much, lest she should not hear. Presently she hears; it is the response, He is coming. Oh, my soul, be still; hush thy words; He is here! He speaks, and now she speaks again, and presently from speech to silence she comes into the sanctuary of His presence, and there it is all stillactivity which does not move. Oh, the joy, the rapture of what seems passionless passion! He is speaking, she is hearing; the soul is throbbing on the heart of God. What a marvellous experience it is, this tasting God!1 [Note: R. F. Horton.]

Has the love of Christ worked any real change in Our feelings towards God? Has there broken out yet in our hearts the beautiful bright spring of thankfulness, or the deep fount of holy sorrow? Have we ever felt the promptings of remorse, the pangs of penitence, as we thought of the goodness of God in giving us Jesus Christ? Has the goodness of the Lord ever got a hold of our hand and turned us right round, and begun to lead us gently along the road that ends in a new mind about God, a mind at peace with Him? That is what Gods goodness leads to. If you have not seen the sunshine streaming down that lane, the sun has never shone for you. If you have never heard that in the patter of the rain, it has yet to fall a new way for you. If the sweetest voice you ever heard on earth never sounds in that strain, there is a music in it yet for you. If your fathers wisdom, your teachers help, your friends love have not pointed out this track, there is a meaning in them hitherto missed by you. Oh, never say you have known the goodness of God as it can be known, as He would have it known, if it does not sometimes make you bow your head in your prayer and stop speechless, and nearly break your heart. Speak not of Gods goodness if it has not cast you at the feet of Christ; if it has not made you feel after and find the hem of His garment, and hold on for dear life.1 [Note: R. W. Barbour, Thoughts, 30.]

4. The test must be applied under certain conditions, if the result is to prove satisfactory. Look at Psa 34:13-14 of this psalm. Does a man want that taste of God? Then Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it. The tongue that is to taste God must be true, the lips into which that food is to pass must be pure, and the life must be a life that is compatible with so high a companionship and so intimate a communion. Oh, then, you say, it is impossible to me; for my lips are unclean, and my tongue is untrue; what you say is possible for the good is not possible for me, the bad. But read on to Psa 34:18The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. So it appears that there are two conditions for this tasting of God. The one is that you shall be perfectly pure in heart and speech, and then you can taste Him; but if you are not pure, if you are defiled with sin, then you shall be contrite and broken-hearted, and your God will come that you may taste Him. It is not His intention that any should go unfed at the banquet which He has laid for the children of men.

A very popular picture of Watts which usually holds the spectator spellbound is taken from the Arthurian Epic. Riding through the forest, with its tangled vegetation graphically painted, Sir Galahad has suddenly caught a glimpse of the mystic Sangreal, which was concealed from all ordinary vision.

The times

Grew to such evil that the holy cup

Was caught away to Heaven, and disappeard.

The knights of King Arthur had gone in search of this hidden treasure. At the same time and in the same place, one could see it and another could not. The knights had the vision of the Grail in proportion to their purity. To some of them who saw it, it appeared veiled with a luminous cloud. But Sir Galahad, the knight of pure heart and unselfish living, who lost himself to save himself, beheld the glorious thing itself, clear and distinct. It is at this supreme moment when the heavenly vision appears to him that he is painted by the artist. He dismounts from his white horse, and stands bareheaded with fascinated eyes gazing upon the glorious vision revealed to him in the luminous sky through a break in the trees, and lighting up his face and armour. The inner meaning of the subject will come to us as the view of the Grail came to Sir Galahad, when our eye is single and our heart is pure, suddenly and unexpectedly; and we shall find that the idea which underlies the whole picture, and makes it lovely with a loveliness far surpassing that of hue and form so vividly delineated, is an intensely modern one, and as applicable to our day as to the far-off times of King Arthur.1 [Note: Hugh Macmillan, The Life-Work of G. F. Watts, 175.]

II

The Discovery of the Goodness of God

1. The soul that tastes makes a great discovery; it finds that God is good. It is a stupendous act of courage by which the soul of man pushes through the tangled jungle of natural powers that stop his progress and embarrass him; and thrusts himself through; and emerges into the open spaces under a clear sky; and finds himself face to face with God. Those powers have had him as their own. He has been their creature, their captive prey. He has been carried to and fro by feeling, instincts, desires, appetites, interests, ambitions. So he has grown. So it has always been. Passions, fears, hates, joys, lovesthese welled up from unknown sources; these made him their puppet. Whither they impelled he went. They were strong in their grip. They were terribly, horribly real.

Yet through all this wild riot the spirit thrust its way, like a tender blade through the grass and stony soil. Up it came. It showed itself a new and strange force amid the mob of tyrannous impulses that tugged and strained to beat it down. Still it persevered; still it insisted; still it drew itself upward, beyond all that clung and encumbered, seeking still the intangible, the unseen. It threw all competing experiences aside, it pressed on towards a secret goal of its own; it strove, it wrestled, it sought in all strange places, and on lonely mountain-peaks, and in hidden silences. It sought something that haunted and fled, and escaped and returned; and was very near, yet very far; something that for ever evoked and yet for ever evaded. It sought it through blundering incantations and bloody rites, and down by foul ways and by weird devices. It sought and failed, and cried aloud in its failure and cut its flesh with knives; it tore itself, it foamed, it went mad. It lost itself in obscure magic. Yet still it sought that which its heart desired.

At last out of a wilderness of effort, strewn with the wreckage of a thousand false hopes, it arrived; it found; it felt; it touched; it knew. Lo! this, this is God. This is what explains all. This is it. This is the experience that it craved; this is the consummation; this is religion. O taste and see (so man cried) how gracious the Lord is! Spirit and spirit meet. Soul and God are one. How deep the peace! How keen the joy! Blessed! blessed is the man that putteth his trust in Him.1 [Note: H. Scott Holland, Vital Values, 40.]

In the Divinity Hall at Aberdeen John Duncan was impressed with Dr. Mearnss prayers to the Great King, and his cogent reasonings convinced him intellectually of the existence of the living God. The gain was to him invaluable. It was Dr. Mearns, he frequently said to me, who satisfied me of the existence of God; and through life he remembered the debt with lively gratitude. But the conviction had been reached by a logical process, without any more direct mental perception; rather his reason accepting, than his mind seeing it. The next stage of light seems almost to belong to the operation of the Spirit of God, and to involve on his part a special resistance in not following it up to spiritual fruit. It was the breaking in of a light which he looked back upon to the last as an era in his life, and spoke of as a season of indescribable joy. His own words to me were nearly if not exactly these: I first saw clearly the existence of God in walking along the bridge at Aberdeen; it was a great discovery to me; I stopped and stood in an ecstasy of joy at seeing the existence of God. I think he also added, I stood and thanked God for His existence. To another friend he said, When I was convinced that there was a God, I danced on the Brig o Dee with delight.1 [Note: A. Moody Stuart, Recollections of John Duncan, 17.]

Expecting Him my door was open wide:

Then I looked round

If any lack of service might be found,

And saw Him at my side:

How entered, by what secret stair,

I know not, knowing only He was there.2 [Note: T. E. Brown, Old John and Other Poems, 181.]

I shall never forget the hour when I first discovered that God was really good. I had of course always known that the Bible said He was good; but I had thought it only meant He was religiously good; and it had never dawned on me that it meant He was actually and practically good, with the same kind of goodness as He has commanded us to have. The expression, the goodness of God, had seemed to me nothing more than a sort of heavenly statement, which I could not be expected to understand. And then one day I came, in my reading of the Bible, across the words, O taste and see that the Lord is good, and suddenly they meant something. The Lord is good, I repeated to myself. What does it mean to be good? What but this, the living up to the best and highest that one knows. To be good is exactly the opposite of being bad. To be bad is to know the right and not to do it, but to be good is to do the best we know. And I saw that, since God is omniscient, He must know what is the best and highest good of all, and that therefore His goodness must necessarily be beyond question. I can never express what this meant to me. I had such a view of the real actual goodness of God that I saw nothing could possibly go wrong under His care, and it seemed to me that no one could ever be anxious again. And over and over since, when appearances have been against Him, and when I have been tempted to question whether He had not been unkind, or neglectful, or indifferent, I have been brought up short by the words, The Lord is good; and I have seen that it was simply unthinkable that a God who was good could have done the bad things I had imagined.1 [Note: Mrs. Pearsall Smith.]

The Lords goodness surrounds us at every moment. I walk through it almost with difficulty, as through thick grass and flowers.2 [Note: R. W. Barbour, Thoughts, 107.]

He took his pain and all the trials of his days, and said, They say there is a better land, but it is hard to believe. Thus he was a true pilgrim, for it is only stupid people who think that the vision of the loveliest city in the loveliest land dims the pilgrims eyes to the fair beauties of this world. He did not make the most of two worlds; but as he lived to be worthy of that city with foundations, God counted him worthy to find along the dusty road of traffic and toil and pain the well of deep joys which only the true pilgrim can discover. These wells were at many stages of the days road: he found one deep spring of pure, sparkling water in the morning reading of the Bible and hymn-book; another when his hands were clasped in prayer.3 [Note: Love and Life: The Story of J. Denholm Brash, 198.]

2. The true standard of goodness we find in Jesus Christ. Ordinary human nature measures its purity and nobility by itself, by the customs of society, by the decrees of law courts, by the maxims of current philosophy. The blessed life takes its estimate from the doctrine and spirit of Jesus. This means a higher-toned goodness which we call holiness, and applies only to those who, besides being virtuous in their actions, are possessed with an unaffected enthusiasm of goodness, and besides abstaining from vice, regard even a vicious thought with horror. Here is an ideal which ordinary ethics not only do not reach, but do not even attempt. When Jesus says, If ye know these things, blessed are ye if ye do them, the test is as spiritual as it is practical. These things include what He referred to as a pure heart; an inner life, that is, which is utterly true to both the great commands, as He interpreted and emphasized them. How much more this means than the honesty which keeps men out of prison, and the kindness which makes daily life tolerable, no words are needed to show. The blessed life receives Christ Jesus as Lord; that is the open secret of its ethical and spiritual superiority to every other life.

(1) The hope of the world lies in its vision of goodness, in its realization of character. The only radical and final remedy for human misery is in the remoulding of human character. It is a potent truth, alike for good and ill, that character is influenced by environment. But it is even more true and potent that environment is influenced by character. The elevation of individual character is an old highway to social happiness, but it is confessedly difficult, and many eager philanthropists have sought for shorter cuts. Sooner or later, however, the return has to be made to the only road. What it all comes to is that the blessed life is ultimately the only hope of humanity. Christendom may sadly fail to teach or to exemplify this hope. But that is not the failure of Christianity. For the needs of the whole world, Christianity has never yet been tried. The modern Christian, like the ancient Israelite, is continually forsaking the true God to worship idols. Hence the Churchs impotence to bless the world. But if only the profession of Christianity did mean on all hands the embodiment of the blessed life, full churches would be but a small fraction of the result. Much more may be affirmed with no less trutheven this, that the curses of civilization (which may well alarm unbelief) would come to an end as surely as noxious bacteria in sunlight; society would be leavened with even more certainty than yeast leavens dough; human sorrows would be brought to their natural and tolerable minimum; and the nations would be in such assurance of permanent peace that the millions expended on murderous battleships could be utilized for the abolition of poverty and the enrichment of humanity.

There is one signal service which the appeal of the Christian character is peculiarly apt to render in the cause of faith. It is often the only power which can confront the steady, surreptitious, miserable pressure with which the sins of Christians fight against the work of Christ. It may be that the contest between these two forces covers by far the greater part of the whole battlefield; and that, while critics and apologists, with their latest weapons (or with the latest improvement of their old ones), are charging and clashing amid clouds of dustwith the world still thinking that here at last is the real crisisthe practical question between belief and disbelief is actually being settled for the vast majority of men by the silent and protracted conflict between the consistent and the inconsistent lives of those who alike profess themselves Christians; the conflict between the contrasted experience of Christs Presence manifest in goodness, and Christs Name dishonoured in hypocrisy, or blindness, or indifference.1 [Note: Francis Paget, Bishop of Oxford, 178.]

(2) Goodness is attainable through faith in Christ. For men and for nations alike, life is largely if not wholly made up of habits. The blessed life, whether on the large or the small scale, is certainly a question of blessed habit. But this is not the whole case. Destiny, we know, turns on character, just as character is decided by habits. But habits are neither more nor less than the repetition of acts. Let the first act be worthy, then let repetition confirm it, and habit becomes not only easy but the sure prophecy of destiny. The true beginning of the blessed life is plain, viz., to receive Christ Jesus as Lord. The repetition of that supreme act of the soul, as each day dawns and throughout all the duties it brings, is the pledge of the habit which makes character. That character not only ensures destiny but contributes in the interim to other characters and destinies on every hand. Social reform yields no hope of any golden age without purified and ennobled individual character. For that, there is no such ideal or guarantee on earth as the blessed life which is rooted and built up in Jesus Christ.

In June, G. F. Watts wrote asking Shields to lunch any day at Little Holland House. He knew nothing of the work Shields was commencing, but said: I should like to have an occasional chat about serious art. I wish you would kindly send me a line and tell me the correct colours for the draperies of Faith. I know you are an authority. To which Shields replied: For answer to your question and compliment, I am no authority. I know none on the subject but the Authority of the Word revealed. Paul declared Faith is Gods gift. She is heaven-born. She is the assurance of heavenly things to mortals shut in by sensuous things, therefore the skies hue is hers, her mantle and her wings: and for her robe, whiteunspotted. And this because they who seek righteousness by works fail of that which only Faith gives. The fine linen of the Saints symbolizes their righteousness in the Apocalypse, and it is said that their robes were made white in the blood of the Lamb. If I seek where alone I look to find, this is what is given me, and it is the best I can offer in response to your question. I bow to tradition only where it agrees with the written Word.2 [Note: E. Mills, Life and Letters of Frederic Shields, 309.]

3. Having once tasted, we must continue tasting. Those who have once tasted of God, have contracted a passion that grows in being fed. Because they have tasted they must come again and again to stay an appetite which, though always being met, is always on the increase. The tasting of this meat is not to be the tasting of an occasional delicacy, it is to be the eating of daily bread.

There was a man who once lived in a place where, close to his house, he had a spring of water. At a little distance from him, there was another spring. We shall call the spring close to his house, the nether spring, and the other, a little way off, the upper spring. So he had the nether and the upper spring. The nether spring looked very pleasant when the sun was shining; the water sparkled in its rays; yet, when looked at more closely, the water was black and dark, and very often grew muddy, and the flowers on the side of it never lasted long; and people who drank a great deal of the water from the nether spring seemed to grow sick. The other spring, a little way off, came out of the rock; it required a great deal of patience to get it; but if the cup was held long enough, it would always get filled, and you were never sick from it.

Now this man who lived in the cottage near the nether spring always went to it; he did not like the trouble of going to the upper spring. He had not sufficient patience. So it went on for many years. At last he came to the nether spring and it was dry, not a drop of water in it. So he was obliged to go to the upper spring; he had to wait some time, but at last he had a cup of nice, pure water. It was so sweet, and he enjoyed it much. He had never before tasted such water. The nether spring flowed on again, but ever after he went to the upper; and when asked why he went so far, he said, I cannot leave the upper spring; having once tasted it, I cannot go back to the nether spring.1 [Note: James Vaughan.]

III

Satisfaction in the Goodness of God

1. Those who discover the goodness of God are content to trust Him. To be religious is to trust God, and to do that is to be free from the fear of evil. He who trusts shall not be afraid of evil tidings, his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord. To be religious is to keep Gods commandments, and the path of rectitude cannot but be the path of happiness. Of course we must not disguise the fact that to be truly religious is to deny ones self and to take up the cross. But even that carries with it its own blessedness. Suffering and sacrifice for the good of another bring to ones soul a peculiar sweetness and satisfaction. How much more must this be the case when it is done for God! Take my yoke upon you, said Christ, not concealing that His religion is a yoke, and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

Miss Trotter was penurious in small things, but her generosity could rise to circumstances. Her dower was an annuity from the estate of Mortonhall. She had a contempt for securities, and would trust no bank with her money, but kept all her bills and banknotes in a green silk bag that hung on her toilet-glass. On each side of the table stood a large white bowl, one of which contained her silver, the other her copper money. One day, in the course of conversation, she said to her niece, Do ye ken, Margaret, that Mrs. Thomas R is dead? I was gaun by the door this morning, and thought I would just look in and speer for her. She was very near her end, but quite sensible, and expressed her gratitude to God for what He had done for her and her fatherless bairns. She said she was leaving a large, young family with very small means, but she had that trust in Him that they would not be forsaken, and that He would provide for them. Now, Margaret, yell tell Peggy to bring down the green silk bag that hangs on the corner of my looking-glass, and yell tak twa thousand pounds out o it, and gie it to Walter Ferrier for behoof of thae orphan bairns; it will fit out the laddies, and be something to the lassies. I want to make good the words, that God wad provide for them, for what else was I sent that way this morning, but as a humble instrument in His hands?1 [Note: J. A. Doyle, Susan Ferrier, 18.]

2. He who has tasted the goodness of God and has learned the secret of happiness will seek to share his experience with others. Fire will cease to have either heat or light as it burns, before the blessed life will be hidden away in heart-secrecies, buried like the one talent in useless seclusion. Every man or woman who rises above carnality and custom and selfishness into the pure brightness and calm strength of communion with Christ must go on to exemplify His word, Ye are the salt of the earth; ye are the light of the world. Egoism is as intolerable without altruism as altruism is impossible without egoism. In the blessed life there is no conflict between these two. Rather do they supplement and stimulate each other. The human self, by very reason of its enrichment beyond utterance through receiving Christ Jesus as Lord, will never cease to feel, and act upon the feeling

O that the world might taste and see

The riches of His grace!

The arms of love that compass me

Would all mankind embrace.

When persons only wish for the happiness of another, and when they never pass a day without doing a kindness, how can they be otherwise than happy? And when difficulties are very great they have only to ascend to the level of doing the will of God; they will be happy still. If they are determined to act rightly, to live as the best men and women have lived, there is no more difficulty of unbelief. They see, not having seen, they go out trusting in God, but not knowing whither they go. There is no delight in life equal to that of setting the world right, of reconciling things and persons to one another, by understanding them, not by embittering them. True sympathy with every one is the path of perfect peace.1 [Note: B. Jowett, in Life and Letters, ii. 402.]

A poor man came home one day and brought five peaches: nice beautiful peaches. He had four sons; he gave one to each and one to his wife. He did not say anything, but just gave them. At night he came home again, and then he said, How were the peachesall nice? I will tell you what each of the four boys said.

The eldest boy said, Oh yes, father, delicious. I ate my peach, and then I took the stone very carefully, and went and planted it in the garden, that we may have another peach-tree some day. Well, said the father, very prudent; look out for the future.

Then the little boy said, Oh, father, twas exceedingly nice. I ate all mine, and mother gave me half hers, and I threw away the stone. Well, said the father, I am glad you liked it, but perhaps if you had been a little older, you would have acted differently.

The second boy said, Yes, father, I will tell you what I did with mine; I picked up the stone my little brother threw away, broke it, and ate the kernel; I enjoyed that exceedingly; but I did not eat my peach, I sold it. I could buy a dozen peaches with what I got for it. The father said, That may be right, but I think it was a little covetous.

Then he said to the third boy, Well, Edward, what did you do with your peach? Edward came forward reluctantly; but in answer to his father, he replied, I took it to poor little George, who is sick down the lane. He would not take it, so I left the peach on his bed and ran away.

Which of the four peaches was sweetest? Taste and see the way to enjoy anything.1 [Note: James Vaughan, Sermons to Children, i. 67.]

Literature

Arnold (T.), Sermons, v. 163.

Ballard (F.), Does it Matter what a Man Believes? 234.

Bosanquet (C.), The Man after Gods own Heart, 82.

Holland (H. S.), Vital Values, 36.

Simeon (C.), Works, v. 240.

Smith (Mrs. Pearsall), The God of all Comfort, 90.

Symonds (A. R.), Fifty Sermons, 280.

Vaughan (J.), Sermons to Children, i. 57.

Voysey (C.), Sermons, xv. (1892), No. 31.

Christian World Pulpit, xv. 145 (R. F. Horton).

Expositor, 2nd Ser., iv. 410 (S. Cox).

Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible

taste: Psa 63:5, Psa 119:103, Son 2:3, Son 5:1, Heb 6:4, Heb 6:5, 1Pe 2:2, 1Pe 2:3, 1Jo 1:1-3

Lord: Psa 36:7, Psa 36:10, Psa 52:1, Jer 31:14, Zec 9:17, 1Jo 4:7-10

blessed: Psa 2:12, Psa 84:12

Reciprocal: Exo 3:8 – I am Num 10:29 – come 2Sa 17:29 – to eat Psa 1:1 – Blessed Psa 25:2 – O Psa 32:10 – but Psa 40:4 – Blessed Pro 16:20 – whoso Isa 30:18 – blessed Jer 17:7 – General Dan 3:28 – hath sent Rom 12:2 – prove Rev 22:17 – let him that heareth

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Psa 34:8. O taste and see that the Lord is good That is, kind, merciful, and gracious, namely, to all his people. The goodness of God, here spoken of, includes both the amiableness and benevolence of his nature, and the bounty and beneficence of his providence and grace; and, in calling us to taste and see this, the psalmist means that we should seriously, thoroughly, and affectionately consider it, and make trial of it by our own experience; which is opposed to those slight and vanishing thoughts that men usually have of the divine goodness. It is not sufficient that we find him to be a bountiful benefactor to us, but we must relish and take delight in his goodness manifested in and by his gifts, and in the contemplation of his infinite perfections and boundless love; and must be so convinced and persuaded of his goodness, as thereby to be encouraged, in the worst of times, to trust in him, and cast our care upon him.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

David called on the people to experience the Lord’s goodness personally by relying on Him in their times of distress. He assured them that if they did, He would not disappoint them.

"David gave a threefold witness of what the Lord does for His own: He saves (Psa 34:4-8), He keeps (Psa 34:7), and He satisfies (Psa 34:8)." [Note: Wiersbe, The . . . Wisdom . . ., p. 158.]

Young, self-reliant lions occasionally cannot provide for their own needs adequately, but people who trust in the Lord never suffer such a fate (cf. Mat 6:33).

"It is not an empty promise of affluence but an assurance of His responsible care . . . [cf. Deu 6:24; Deu 8:3; Rom 8:28; Rom 8:37]. This theme is now pursued in the next section, especially Psa 34:12-14." [Note: Kidner, p. 140.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)