Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 34:16
The face of the LORD [is] against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
16. The face of the Lord means the manifestation of His Presence, either as here in wrath (cp. Psa 9:3), or as in Num 6:25, in blessing. See Oehler’s O.T. Theology, 57. Comp. “The Lord looked forth upon the host of the Egyptians and discomfited them” (Exo 14:24).
the remembrance of them ] Or, their memorial; even the name by which they might be remembered. Cp. Psa 9:5-6; Job 18:17. Contrast Psa 112:6.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The face of the Lord – This phrase is synonymous with that in the previous verse: The eyes of the Lord. The meaning is, that the righteous and the wicked are alike under the eye of God; the one for protection, the other for punishment. Neither of them can escape His notice; but at all times, and in all circumstances, they are equally seen by Him.
Is against them that do evil – The wicked; all that do wrong. In the former verse the statement is, that the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, that is, for their protection; in this case, by a change of the preposition in the original, the statement is, that His face is against them that do evil, that is, He observes them to bring judgment upon them.
To cut off the remembrance of them from the earth – To cut off themselves, – their families – and all memorials of them, so that they shall utterly be forgotten among people. Compare Psa 109:13-15. So, in Pro 10:7, it is said, The memory of the just is blessed; but the name of the wicked shall rot. Two things are implied here:
(1) That it is desirable to be remembered after we are dead. There is in us a deep-rooted principle, of great value to the cause of virtue, which prompts us to desire that we may be held in grateful recollection by mankind after we have passed away; that is, which prompts us to do something in our lives, the remembrance of which the world will not willingly let die. – Milton.
(2) The other idea is, that there is a state of things on earth which has a tendency to cause the remembrance of the wicked to die out, or to make people forget them. There is nothing to make men desire to retain their recollection, or to rear monuments to them. People are indeed remembered who are of bad eminence in crime; but the world will forget a wicked man just as soon as it can. This is stated here as a reason particularly addressed to the young Psa 34:11 why they should seek God, and pursue the ways of righteousness. The motive is, that men will gladly retain the remembrance of those who are good; of those who have done anything worthy to be remembered, but that a life of sin will make men desire to forget as soon as possible all those who practice it. This is not a low and base motive to be addressed to the young. That is a high and honorable principle which makes us wish that our names should be cherished by those who are to live after us, and is one of the original principles by which God keeps up virtue in the world – one of those arrangements, those safeguards of virtue, by which we are prompted to do right, and to abstain from that which is wrong. It is greatly perverted, indeed, to purposes of ambition, but, in itself, the desire not to be forgotten when we are dead contributes much to the industry, the enterprise, and the benevolence of the world, and is one of the most efficacious means for preserving us from sin.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
The face of the Lord, i.e. his anger, oft called his face, as Lev 17:10; 20:5; Jer 44:11; Lam 4:16, because anger discovers itself in the face.
Them that do evil, i.e. whose common course, and study, arid business it is to do evil; for else there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not, Ecc 7:20. To cut off the remembrance of them from the earth; utterly to deprive both them and their children of that worldly happiness, which is the only thing that they desire, and seek by their wicked courses.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
16. face . . . againstopposedto them (Lev 17:10; Lev 20:3).
cut off theremembranceutterly destroy (Ps109:13).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The face of the Lord [is] against them that do evil,…. Not against everyone that sins; for the righteous are not without sin; they have sin in them, and they do no good without it; but against them that live in sin, whose course of life is a series of wickedness, and they are workers of iniquity; and have no sense of sin, nor sorrow for it, go on in it without shame or fear; against these the face of the Lord is, he shows his resentment, and stirs up his wrath. For the Lord to be against a man is dreadful; a fearful thing it is to fill into his hands as a God of vengeance; there is no standing before him when once he is angry: and to have the face of God against a man is intolerable, when it is to destroy, and
to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth; so that they shall be no more thought of, nor spoken of, but with contempt and reproach; an everlasting mark of infamy being upon their names; see Pr 10:7.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(Heb.: 34:17-22) The poet now recommends the fear of God, to which he has given a brief direction, by setting forth its reward in contrast with the punishment of the ungodly. The prepositions and , in Psa 34:16 and Psa 34:17, are a well considered interchange of expression: the former, of gracious inclination (Psa 33:18), the latter, of hostile intention or determining, as in Job 7:8; Jer 21:10; Jer 44:11, after the phrase in Lev 17:10. The evil doers are overwhelmed by the power of destruction that proceeds from the countenance of Jahve, which is opposed to them, until there is not the slightest trace of their earthly existence left. The subjects to Psa 34:18 are not, according to Psa 107:17-19, the (evil doers), since the indispensable characteristic of penitence is in this instance wanting, but the (the righteous). Probably the strophe stood originally before the strophe, just as in Lam 2-4 the precedes the (Hitzig). In connection with the present sequence of the thoughts, the structure of Psa 34:18 is just like Psa 34:6: Clamant et Dominus audit = si qui (quicunque) clamant . What is meant is the cry out of the depth of a soul that despairs of itself. Such crying meets with a hearing with God, and in its realisation, an answer that bears its own credentials. “The broken in heart” are those in whom the egotistical, i.e., self-loving life, which encircles its own personality, is broken at the very root; “the crushed or contrite ( , from , with a changeable a , after the form from ) in spirit” are those whom grievous experiences, leading to penitence, of the false eminence to which their proud self-consciousness has raised them, have subdued and thoroughly humbled. To all such Jahve is nigh, He preserves them from despair, He is ready to raise up in them a new life upon the ruins of the old and to cover or conceal their infinitive deficiency; and, they, on their part, being capable of receiving, and desirous of, salvation, He makes them partakers of His salvation. It is true these afflictions come upon the righteous, but Jahve rescues him out of them all, = (the same enallage generis as in Rth 1:19; Rth 4:11). He is under the most special providence, “He keepeth all his bones, not one of them ( ne unum quidem ) is broken” – a pictorial exemplification of the thought that God does not suffer the righteous to come to the extremity, that He does not suffer him to be severed from His almighty protecting love, nor to become the sport of the oppressors. Nevertheless we call to mind the literal fulfilment which these words of the psalmist received in the Crucified One; for the Old Testament prophecy, which is quoted in Joh 19:33-37, may be just as well referred to our Psalm as to Exo 12:46. Not only the Paschal lamb, but in a comparative sense even every affliction of the righteous, is a type. Not only is the essence of the symbolism of the worship of the sanctuary realised in Jesus Christ, not only is the history of Israel and of David repeated in Him, not only does human suffering attain in connection with Him its utmost intensity, but all the promises given to the righteous are fulfilled in Him ; because He is the righteous One in the most absolute sense, the Holy One of God in a sense altogether unique (Isa 53:11; Jer 23:5, Zec 9:9; Act 3:14; Act 22:14). – The righteous is always preserved from extreme peril, whereas evil ( ) slays ( stronger than ) the ungodly: evil, which he loved and cherished, becomes the executioner’s power, beneath which he falls. And they that hate the righteous must pay the penalty. Of the meanings to incur guilt, to feel one’s self guilty, and to undergo punishment as being guilty, (vid., on 1Sa 14:13) has the last in this instance.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(16) To cut off.Notice the fear, so intense and recurring to the Semitic mind, of the extinction of race. (Comp. Psa. 21:10; Job. 18:17, &c)
This verse, according to the sense, should certainly change places with Psa. 34:15. This would disarrange the acrostic, bringing pe before ayin; but, as in Lamentations 2, 3, 4 the same sequence of letters occurs, we are led to the conclusion that the order of the alphabet was not definitely or invariably fixed in respect of these two letters, a license intelligible enough when we remember that tsadde, which follows pe, was often interchanged with ayin, which precedes it.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 34:16 The face of the LORD [is] against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
Ver. 16. The face of the Lord is against them that do evil ] Let not such dream of a long and happy life, as Psa 34:12 . This they are apt to do; but shall be carried from a fool’s paradise to a true prison. For that people may not imagine God to be , and so made up of mercy as to forget his judgments, the wicked are here assured, that the face of the Lord is against them, that he beholdeth them from heaven with a terrible countenance, that he is grievously angry with them, and will surely and severely punish them, and theirs after them.
To cut off the remembrance of them from the earth
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
face. Figure of speech, Anthropopatheia. App-6.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
face: Lev 17:10, Lev 26:17, Jer 44:11, Eze 14:7, Eze 14:8, Amo 9:4
to cut: Psa 10:16, Job 18:17, Pro 10:7, Ecc 8:10, Jer 17:13
Reciprocal: Rth 4:10 – the name Ezr 8:22 – his power and his wrath Job 13:12 – remembrances Psa 109:15 – cut off Pro 15:29 – far Jer 21:10 – I have Jer 23:30 – General Eze 15:7 – I will set Hab 1:13 – of
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
34:16 The {k} face of the LORD [is] against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
(k) The anger of God not only destroys the wicked, but also abolishes their name forever.