Psalm 34:19-22

The following is a Bible study posted on our Bible Study Group.

Happy Thursday, Everyone!

I'm feeling VERY pregnant today, and since my brain is tired and a nap is calling, I thought this might be a good day to introduce you to the wonders of commentaries.  Commentaries are simply the writings of fellow believers. They aren't inspired.  They can be wrong!  But they can also be very helpful to us as we try to understand a passage of Scripture.

Bible school students are often asked to purchase complete commentary sets.  I remember when my good friend's husband was in seminary.  He would ask for money for his birthday and Christmas, and all that money would go toward the purchase of his first complete commentary set.  They're expensive!

However, because we live in the age of the Internet, we can access some commentaries for free.  These are usually commentaries from centuries past that have come into public domain.  Especially famous are the works of Matthew Henry or Charles Spurgeon.

Let me help you tour just one commentary website.

~ http://bible.gospelcom.net/
~ Click on "Study Tools"
~ Click on "View Commentaries" under "Classic Commentaries"
~ Scroll down to Psalms, and click on "34" (since we're studying Psalm 34:19-22)

I read through the various commentaries, and I especially liked John Gill's Exposition of the Bible.  So click on "Gill" near the top of the page.  This should take you to http://www.gospelcom.net/eword/comments/psalm/gill/psalm34.htm

The page is very long, but if you scroll down to "Verse 19" you'll be able to read about today's verses.  It's helpful if you have the Bible verses handy as you read, so that you can refer to them.  Here are today's verses:

Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
        But the LORD delivers him out of them all.
        He guards all his bones;
        Not one of them is broken.
        Evil shall slay the wicked,
        And those who hate the righteous shall be condemned.
        The LORD redeems the soul of His servants,
        And none of those who trust in Him shall be condemned. (Ps. 34:19-22, NKJV)

Well, this concludes our study of Psalm 34.  Have you noticed that we've covered many ways that you can study the Bible for yourself?  Next week we're going to begin studying Psalm 100, but I also want to STRONGLY encourage you to choose a Psalm and begin studying it for yourself.  Make notes, verse by verse, on notebook paper.  Use some of the methods we've discussed in previous weeks.  Ask the Lord to guide and enlighten you as you study.  Try to study a verse a day.  And tell us what you learn!  We'd love to hear!

If you would like to participate in our current study, click here to join.

Next - Psalm 100:1

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