Big Idea: Having experienced God’s goodness, we invite others to “taste and see that the Lord is good” and thus experience the assuagement of their fears.

Understanding the Text

In addition to being an alphabetic acrostic,[1] Psalm 34 shares at least three other features with Psalm 25, another acrostic: (1) the waw (the sixth letter of the Hebrew alphabet) is missing from both poems; (2) each closes with a supernumerary verse beginning with the Hebrew letter pe; and (3) the same verb begins each of these closing verses, pedeh (imperative, “redeem,” NIV: “deliver”) in 25:22 (also in 26:11) and podeh (participle, “redeems,” NIV: “rescues”) in 34:17. This verb, as both petition (Ps. 25) and affirmation (Ps. 34), is at the heart of Israel’s life and faith, and these acrostic poems that, at l…