3). He Calls On The People To Taste Of YHWH, And To Learn To Fear Him (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 Psalms 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 1 Peter 2:3). It is only the testing of the rebellious that causes Him to be angry (Exodus 17:2). Note the term ‘strong man' (gbr). The ‘poor man' of Psalms 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 (Exodus 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 (Matthew 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 (Psalms 34:8). Those who seek YHWH will not lack for any good thing. Whatever the circumstances He will provide for them (compare again Matthew 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 Matthew 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 (Genesis 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 Proverbs 4:1; Proverbs 5:7; Proverbs 7:24; Proverbs 8:32 and compare for the idea Proverbs 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 Psalms 34:11, to the singular ‘man' and ‘he' in Psalms 34:12, to you (singular) in Psalms 34:13, while possible, also counts against it, especially when we consider the abrupt movement from Psalms 34:11 to Psalms 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' (Psalms 34:9), especially when combined with the mention of ‘fearing Him' in Psalms 34:7, while ‘you children' can be seen as paralleling ‘you His saints' and as being admirably contrasted with the ‘young lions' (Psalms 34:10).
Indeed this stanza may reasonably be seen as satisfactorily capping off the two exhortations in Psalms 34:8-9, while at the same time contrasting the young lions in Psalms 34:10 with his ‘children' (the young lions with the children of the lion of Judah, see Genesis 49:9).