Sunday Sermonette: What's in a name?

Psalm 34 requires some explanation, and it's a bit complicated. The name Abimelech appears in the Book of Judges, set long before the putative time of David. However, the word means "father of the king," and presumably must refer to Achish, king of Gath, and the story told in 1 Samuel 21. As you probably won't recall, because we read it a long time ago, David learned via his lover Jonathan that king Saul intended to kill him, so he fled to Nob. As a further complication, he met a priest there named Ahimelek, so it is conceivable that this confused the scribe. David lied to Ahimelek and said that Saul had sent him on a secret mission, and he asked for bread, and a sword. Ahimelek gave him consecrated bread, and the sword of Goliath, the Philistine who David had famously killed. 

However, one of Saul's servants was there so, fearing discovery, David fled again to Gath and king Achish (not to be confused with the dean of the Brown University School of Public Health). However, Achish's servants recognized David and said to him, “Isn’t this David, the king of the land? Isn’t he the one they sing about in their dances:

“‘Saul has slain his thousands,
    and David his tens of thousands’?”

David pretended to be insane, so Achish kicked him out and David fled again to the cave of Adullam. By the way, Saul later found out about all this and had Ahimelek killed. But nobody named Abimelech figures in this story. I must also say that the Psalm itself has nothing evidently to do with any of this.

 

A Psalm of David, when he feigned madness before Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away.

34 I will bless the Lord at all times;
    his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
² My soul makes its boast in the Lord;
    let the afflicted hear and be glad.
³ O magnify the Lord with me,
    and let us exalt his name together!

⁴ I sought the Lord, and he answered me,
    and delivered me from all my fears.
⁵ Look to him, and be radiant;
    so your^[a] faces shall never be ashamed.
⁶ This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him,
    and saved him out of all his troubles.
⁷ The angel of the Lord encamps
    around those who fear him, and delivers them.
⁸ O taste and see that the Lord is good!
    Happy is the man who takes refuge in him!
⁹ O fear the Lord, you his saints,
    for those who fear him have no want!
¹⁰ The young lions suffer want and hunger;
    but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

¹¹ Come, O sons, listen to me,
    I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
¹² What man is there who desires life,
    and covets many days, that he may enjoy good?
¹³ Keep your tongue from evil,
    and your lips from speaking deceit.
¹⁴ Depart from evil, and do good;
    seek peace, and pursue it.

¹⁵ The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous,
    and his ears toward their cry.
¹⁶ The face of the Lord is against evildoers,
    to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
¹⁷ When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears,
    and delivers them out of all their troubles.
¹⁸ The Lord is near to the brokenhearted,
    and saves the crushed in spirit.

¹⁹ Many are the afflictions of the righteous;
    but the Lord delivers him out of them all.
²⁰ He keeps all his bones;
    not one of them is broken.
²¹ Evil shall slay the wicked;
    and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
²² The Lord redeems the life of his servants;
    none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.

Footnotes

1. Psalm 34:5 Gk Syr Jerome: Heb their