Ps. 34.10 (fear of Yhwh)

“Fear Yhwh / O you his saints – for they / who fear him / have no lack.” The ‘fear of the Lord’ has been so frequently spoken of that I only want to reflect on what this ‘fear’ could mean in our context. The first thing to note is that this ‘fear’ has already been alluded to. The ‘angel of Yhwh’ encamps around those who ‘fear Yhwh’. It is an important point: that the deliverance, defense and battle engaged in by Yhwh’s angel commences and continues for those who are rooted in this ‘fear’. And this is not an idle choice of wording—this ‘fear’ is the root of everything in this psalm; it is the ‘beginning’ and the ‘foundation’. It is, therefore, to be understood as closely aligned with what the psalmist has called “the poor man”, the “humble” and the “children”. The second thing to note is that this ‘fear’ is not at all opposed or even in tension with the ‘blessedness’ that flows towards the man “who seeks refuge in Yhwh”. Indeed, they follow from one another and this verse explicitly makes the connection—they who ‘fear him have no lack’ (i.e, they are ‘blessed’). And, perhaps most importantly, this ‘fear’ of Yhwh, as we have been charting this psalm, is absolutely tied to the intimate presence of Yhwh. As we have seen, the psalmist has been attempting to convince his ‘children’, that Yhwh in fact has his face turned toward them, has in face sent his own angel to protect them and is, in fact, already ‘in their mouths’ to be tasted. Closer and closer has the psalmist made Yhwh to his ‘poor ones’, that hear he continues this descent by calling upon them to ‘fear Yhwh’. Generally, this would seem strange as ‘fear’, even reverence, tends to have associations of respectful distance, of subservience under the gaze of the powerful. And yet, here, the ‘tasting’ of Yhwh is closely matched to ‘fear’ of him and of his showering goodness. There is, then, in the psalmist a very deep understanding that intimacy and fear are not only not mutually exclusive but, in fact, are necessary; they feed into each other. In other words, the deliverance and saving power of Yhwh, his ‘exodus hand’, is closest when one fears him. It may be the ‘beginning of wisdom’ but it is, apparently, also the guiding and continuing light of his presence; it is his ‘terrible beauty’, his ‘glory’. It seems one never abandon’s this fear in favor of intimacy. Rather, the more intimate one becomes with Yhwh the more one enters into this fear. This ‘intimacy’ is confirmed by the fact that the psalmist describes those who experience this as “his saints”. These are his ‘prized possession’, the ‘apple of his eye’ and those he has chosen out of the world in order to make of them a nation of priests to the world. These ‘saints’ are those who ‘have no lack’. Where else do we see this ‘fear’ in this psalm then? The next line does not explicitly mention fear, however, it is very closely worded on this psalm: “The young lion / are in need/ and are hungry- but they / who seek Yhwh / shall not lack / any good thing.” Here, the ‘seeking of Yhwh’ and the provision of “good things” is very similar to our verse where those who ‘fear him’ ‘have no lack.’ This is confirmed by the fact that the verse immediately preceding our verse (on fear) ends on “blessed in the man who seeks refuge in him”. It is, therefore, apparent that to ‘seek Yhwh’ is also very closely aligned to ‘fear of him’. They both initiate Yhwh’s provision and, as we saw, also provide a camp within which the ‘angel of Yhwh’ can ‘encamp’. The final time ‘fear’ is mentioned is when the psalmist calls to himself the ‘children’ to whom he will ‘teach the fear of Yhwh’. Interestingly, the remaining ‘teaching’ consists almost entirely with how and when Yhwh reaches out to those who call to him for deliverance. There are mentions of ‘the wicked’ and the judgment that falls on them, but the focus is not there—it is on how close Yhwh is to the ‘brokenhearted’. Can this be summarized? It would seem that the ‘fear of Yhwh’, in this psalm, is almost synonymous with the humble, the ‘poor man’, the ‘one in need’. Furthermore, they are those who, from this lowly position, ‘seek Yhwh’. In the context of this psalm, it makes sense: the psalmist is attempting to lift these ‘children’s’ eyes from the ground to Yhwh (his first directive is not ‘fear Yhwh!’ but “Look at him and be radiant!”). The grounding of this ‘looking’ is found in his own experience of radical deliverance. This is not a job-like fear of Yhwh; rather, these are the words of man who has been redeemed and who speaks to these ‘children’ from within this delivering light. This ‘fear’ then is one that actually calls for them to turn their eyes toward Yhwh, and not one that asks them to turn them away (as appropriate as that is in other contexts).