The title above Psalm 34:1–22 attributes the psalm to David “when he changed his behavior before Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away.” The details of this event are recorded in 1 Samuel 21:10–15 (where Achish is another name for Abimelech). In understanding Peter’s decision to quote from Psalm 34:1–22 it is important to recall that David as he wrote this psalm was himself an exile from his own people because of the evil that King Saul directed at David. More, David was a persona non grata even in Gath. This setting makes the psalm extra relevant for Peter’s readers (“elect exiles” as they were, 1 Peter 1:1), for David understood their pressures.
10 For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit;