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16]] we hear this same grand thought, “the eyes of Jahve are directed towards the righteous.” Ps 34 is one of the eight Psalms which are assigned, by their inscriptions, to the time of David's persecution by Saul, and were composed upon that weary way of suffering extending from Gibea of Saul to Ziklag. (The following is an approximation to their chronological order: Ps 7, 59, Psa 56:1-13, 34, Psa 52:1-9, Psa 57:1-11, Psa 142:1-7, Psa 54:1-7). The inscription runs: Of David, when he disguised his understanding (טעמּו with Dag., lest it should be pronounced טעמו) before Abimelech, and he drove him away (ויגרשׁהוּ with Chateph Pathach, as is always the case with verbs whose second radical is ר, if the accent is on the third radical) and he departed. David, being pressed by Saul, fled into the territory of the Philistines; here he was recognised as the man who had proved such a dangerous enemy to them years since and he was brought before Achish, the king. Psa 56:1-13 is a prayer which implores help in the trouble of this period (and its relation to Psa 24:1-10 resembles that of Ps 51 to Psa 32:1-11). David's life would have been lost had not his desperate attempt to escape by playing the part of a madman been successful. The king commanded him to depart, and David betook himself to a place of concealment in his own country, viz., the cave of Adullam in the wilderness of Judah.