148 The Testimony, May 2006 Bible Workshop Developing Bible study skills 3. Psalm 34 and ’s experiences Peter Forbes

HIS STUDY is designed to highlight a the life of David. A Bible with marginal references number of different aspects of Bible study, will probably direct our attention to 1 Samuel T as follows: 21:10: “And David arose, and fled that day for fear • that Bible study is not difficult or the pre- of , and went to Achish the king of ”; but serve of the intellectual although in the psalm David speaks of “Abime- lech”, the historical account speaks of “Achish”. • the need to give careful attention to the We ask, Is the psalm related to this event? text Although the marginal reference takes us to • the importance of context 1 Samuel 21, the difference in name might indicate • the value of comparing Scripture with that it is speaking of a different event from the Scripture psalm. We should note the difference and not simply assume that our marginal reference is cor- • the value of recording and preserving rect. We can answer this question by reviewing information found. the context of the Samuel account to see if it fits the title of the psalm. In both 1 Samuel 21:13 and the title of Psalm  You will need: 34 the phrase “he changed his behaviour before” Bible with marginal references occurs. Further, this phrase is not found anywhere Concordance or computerised Bible else in the Bible; this can be discovered using the Online Bible’s search phrase facility. We will The title of Psalm 34 says: “A Psalm of David, return to the relevance of context in understand- when he changed his behaviour before Abime- ing the psalm later. lech; who drove him away, and he departed”. It is suggested that the historical narrative which and Achish describes this event is to be found in 1 Samuel There is a more important issue that we must 21:10-15. resolve first: Why speak of Achish in 1 Samuel The issues we wish to investigate are: 21:10 and Abimelech in Psalm 34? This is where • Can we establish whether “Abimelech” in the our concordance or computerised Bible will be psalm is “Achish” in 1 Samuel 21:10? of great value. • Is it possible to see similar concerns in both the psalm and 1 Samuel 21?  Look up Achish and • What are the main concerns in the psalm? Abimelech in a concord- • Who are the “children” of Psalm 34:11? ance or computerised Bible It is assumed that the psalm titles are part of Scripture, and thus inspired comments. If this is A search for the name ‘Achish’ reveals that it correct, there is value to be gained from looking is found twenty-one times in Scripture. All but at the psalm titles. Establishing that the psalm two relate to two occasions when David went to titles are part of Scripture is outside the scope of the , as recorded in 1 Samuel 21 and this article. However, a start would be to review 1 Samuel 27–29. The other two relate to an event the way in which the title of Psalm 18 forms part in the early reign of . of the historical account in 2 Samuel 22. Many of the occurrences of ‘Abimelech’ are to do with the lives of Abraham (Gen. 20,21) and Psalm 34 and 1 Samuel 21 Isaac (Gen. 26). A further block, in Judges 8–10, As stated above, we learn from the title of Psalm relate to a son of Gideon, as does the reference 34 that it was prompted by a historical event in in 2 Samuel 11:21. 1 Chronicles 18:16 refers to The Testimony, May 2006 149

“Abimelech the son of Abiathar” the priest, and his fear of Saul and Achish (vv. 4,6). not the “Abimelech/Achish” of David’s time. On reading the psalm a further question arises. We now ask, What does the name ‘Abimelech’ Is it possible to decide who the children of verse 11 signify? The Hebrew breaks into three parts: are? We can do so by reading on past the chapter Ab-i-melech. division at the end of 1 Samuel 21 into 1 Samuel Ab means ‘father’ 22. 1 Samuel 22 opens with David’s flight to the i makes ‘father’ into ‘my father’ cave of Adullam, where he was joined by 400 melech means ‘king’. men. It would appear that the psalm was spoken Achish was able to say, ‘My father is king’, thus to them in the cave. David became their leader demonstrating that his kingship was one which and instructed them by using his own experiences was passed from father to son rather than being before Saul and Achish and the wonderful way a consequence of his own military conquests. in which God had delivered him. Having learnt Therefore ‘Abimelech’ is a title, like ‘Pharaoh’, the fear of the Lord himself, he now teaches those not a proper name. We conclude, therefore, that who come to him in the cave “the fear of the the man whom David “changed his behaviour LORD” (Ps. 34:11). before” had the name ‘Achish’, but his title was Interestingly, part of the psalm (vv. 12-16) ‘Abimelech’. was used subsequently by Peter (1 Pet. 3:10-12) to encourage brethren and sisters who were Why was Psalm 34 written? experiencing persecution, like David and those Having established that Psalm 34 is speaking of who came to him in the cave. Your marginal the events of 1 Samuel 21:10-15, we can now con- references will provide you with the link, but sider it alongside the historical record in 1 Samuel that is another subject. You might like to follow to see what prompted the writing of the psalm. it up for yourself.

 Read 1 Samuel 21:10–22:5 Relating different parts of Scripture and Psalm 34 We have seen from this study that it is important to think of related parts of Scripture during our Now is a good time to read 1 Samuel 21:10–22:5 reading. We should not always assume that there and Psalm 34. As you do so, be alert to key words is no relationship between two passages simply and try to work out David’s state of mind, in both because of differences between the two passages. the historical record and the psalm. A reflection on names and their distribution in There is a theme common to both the historical Scripture has helped us to understand the rela- record and the psalm. It is ‘fear’. tionship between two seemingly different names. 1 Samuel 21. David “fled that day for fear of Saul” By thinking of the theme of 1 Samuel 21 and then (v. 10); David “was sore afraid of Achish” reading Psalm 34 carefully, we have seen how the (v. 12). psalm reflects David’s concerns in the historical Psalm 34. ‘Fear’ is mentioned in verses 4, 7, 9 and account. Further, we have seen the way in which 11. Also, ‘troubles’ are mentioned in verses David learnt from his experiences and then taught 6 and 17. others. It is important to be able to learn lessons There are other themes common to both 1 Samuel for life from our Bible study. Just acquiring facts 21 and Psalm 34, but we will focus on this one. and knowledge is sterile. According to 1 Samuel 21, David fled in fear from Saul, but when he was before Achish he was even  Record your findings more afraid. This is seen in the repeated use of ‘fear’ and ‘troubles’ in the psalm. So it is clear that As stated in the previous article, it is important the psalm, written after David’s deliverance from to make notes of our findings in a location where Achish, reflects his feelings at that time. they are easily accessible. Maybe underlining the Having noticed this link between 1 Samuel 21 words ‘fear’ and ‘trouble’ in both the psalm and and Psalm 34, we must ask, How is David’s fear 1 Samuel 21 will help. Also, it might be worth reflected in the psalm? How did he respond to writing 1 Samuel 21:10 against the title of Psalm his fear of Saul and Achish? Athough David is 34, and Psalm 34 against 1 Samuel 21:10, so that afraid of both Saul and Achish, the psalm shows when you read these passages again you will be a different side of him. He is encouraging ‘fear’ reminded of your discoveries. You might also put of God (vv. 7,9), as He has delivered David from Psalm 34:11 against 1 Samuel 22:2.