Psalms 34:5

It has wonderfully revived and comforted them; witness Hannah, who, when she had prayed, went her way, and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad. When we look to the world we are darkened, we are perplexed, and at a loss; but, when we look to God, from him we have the light both of direction and joy, and our way is made both plain and pleasant.

They looked to him, and were lightened,....

God's favor to the pious generally, and to himself specially, is celebrated. looked--with desire for help. lightened--or, "brightened," expressing joy, opposed to the downcast features of those who are ashamed or disappointed (Ps 25:2, 3).

They looked unto him, and were lightened. The psalmist avows that his case was not at all peculiar, it was matched in the lives of all the faithful; they too, each one of them on looking to their Lord were brightened up, their faces began to shine, their spirits were uplifted. What a means of blessing one look at the Lord may be! There is life, light, liberty, love, everything in fact, in a look at the crucified One. Never did a sore heart look in vain to the good Physician; never a dying soul turned its darkening eye to the brazen serpent to find its virtue gone. And their faces were not ashamed. Their faces were covered with joy but not with blushes. He who trusts in God has no need to be ashamed of his confidence, time and eternity will both justify his reliance.

FROM THE CONNECTION we are to understand the pronoun “him” as referring to the word “Lord” in the preceding verse. “They looked unto the Lord Jehovah, and were lightened.” But no man ever yet looked to Jehovah God, as he is in himself, and found any comfort in him, for “our God is a consuming fire.” An absolute God, apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, can afford no comfort whatever to a troubled heart. We may look to him, and we shall be blinded, for the light of Godhead is insufferable, and as mortal eye cannot fix its gaze upon the sun, no human intellect could ever look unto God, and find light, for the brightness of God would strike the eye of the mind with eternal blindness. The only way in which are can see God is through the Mediator Jesus Christ. “Till God in human flesh I see, My thoughts no comfort find,—“ God shrouded and veiled in the manhood,—there we can with steady gaze behold him, for so he cometh down to us, and our poor finite intelligence can understand and lay hold upon him. I shall therefore use my text this morning, and I think very legitimately, in reference to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ—“They looked unto him, and were lightened;” for when we look at God, as revealed in Jesus Christ our Lord, and behold the Godhead as it is apparent in the Incarnate Man, who was born of the Virgin Mary, and was crucified by Pontius Pilate, we do see that which enlightens the mind, and casts rays of comfort into our awakened heart. And now this morning, I shall first invite you, in order to illustrate my text, to look to Jesus Christ in his life on earth, and I hope there are some of you who will be lightened by that. We shall then look to him on his cross. Afterwards we shall look to him in his resurrection.

FROM THE CONNECTION we are to understand the pronoun “him” as referring to the word “Lord” in the preceding verse. “They looked unto the Lord Jehovah, and were lightened.” But no man ever yet looked to Jehovah God, as he is in himself, and found any comfort in him, for “our God is a consuming fire.” An absolute God, apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, can afford no comfort whatever to a troubled heart.

They looked unto him - Instead of הביטו hibbitu, they looked, several of Dr. Kennicott’s and De Rossi’s MSS. have הביטו habbitu, with the point pathach, “Look ye.” And their faces were not ashamed - Some MSS., and the Complutensian Polyglot, make this clause the beginning of a new verse and as it begins with a vau, ופניהם upheneyhem, “and their faces,” they make it supply the place of the verse which appears to be lost; but see what is said in the introduction before the first verse.

They looked unto him - That is, they who were with the psalmist. He was not alone when he fled to Abimelech; and the meaning here is, that each one of those who were with him looked to God, and found light and comfort in Him. The psalmist seems to have had his thoughts here suddenly turned from himself to those who were with him, and to have called to his remembrance how they “all” looked to God in their troubles, and how they all found relief. And were lightened - Or, “enlightened.” They found light. Their faces, as we should say, “brightened up,” or they became cheerful. Their minds were made calm, for they felt assured that God would protect them. Nothing could better express what often occurs in the time of trouble, when the heart is sad, and when the countenance is sorrowful - a dark cloud apparently having come over all things - if one thus looks to God. The burden is removed from the heart, and the countenance becomes radiant with hope and joy. The margin here, however, is, “They flowed unto him.” The Hebrew word, נהר nâhar, means sometimes “to flow, to flow together,” Isa 2:2; Jer 31:12; Jer 51:44; but it also means “to shine, to be bright;” and thence, “to be cheered, to rejoice,” Isa 60:5. This is probably the idea here, for this interpretation is better suited to the connection in which the word occurs. And their faces were not ashamed - That is, they were not ashamed of having put their trust in God, or they were not disappointed. They had not occasion to confess that it was a vain reliance, or that they had been foolish in thus trusting him. Compare Job 6:20, note; Psa 22:5, note; Rom 9:33, note; 1Jn 2:28, note. The idea here is, that they found God to be all that they expected or hoped that he would be. They had no cause to repent of what they had done. What was true of them will be true of all who put their trust in God.