Psalms 34:16 - Exposition

The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. Conversely, God turns away his face from the wicked, anti punishes them by causing their very memory to perish from among men (comp. Job 18:17 ; Psalms 109:13 ; Proverbs 10:7 ). The natural wish for continuance, which causes men to build themselves monuments, and erect other great works, and delight in offspring, and seek to establish their families, and create entails, and have their portraits taken, and "call the lands after their own names" ( Psalms 49:11 ), was especially strong in the Hebrew race, and made the threat that their remembrance should be cut off peculiarly terrible to them.