Study

a Bible passage

Click a verse to see commentary
Select a resource above

Psalm 84

The Joy of Worship in the Temple

To the leader: according to The Gittith. Of the Korahites. A Psalm.

1

How lovely is your dwelling place,

O L ord of hosts!

2

My soul longs, indeed it faints

for the courts of the L ord;

my heart and my flesh sing for joy

to the living God.

 

3

Even the sparrow finds a home,

and the swallow a nest for herself,

where she may lay her young,

at your altars, O L ord of hosts,

my King and my God.

4

Happy are those who live in your house,

ever singing your praise. Selah

 

5

Happy are those whose strength is in you,

in whose heart are the highways to Zion.

6

As they go through the valley of Baca

they make it a place of springs;

the early rain also covers it with pools.

7

They go from strength to strength;

the God of gods will be seen in Zion.

 

8

O L ord God of hosts, hear my prayer;

give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah

9

Behold our shield, O God;

look on the face of your anointed.

 

10

For a day in your courts is better

than a thousand elsewhere.

I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God

than live in the tents of wickedness.

11

For the L ord God is a sun and shield;

he bestows favor and honor.

No good thing does the L ord withhold

from those who walk uprightly.

12

O L ord of hosts,

happy is everyone who trusts in you.


11. Jehovah God is our sun and shield. The idea conveyed by the comparison derived from the sun is, that as the sun by his light vivifies, nourishes, and rejoices the world, so the benign countenance of God fills with joy the hearts of his people, or rather, that they neither live nor breathe except in so far as he shines upon them. By the term shield is meant, that our salvation, which would otherwise be perilled by countless dangers, is in perfect safety under his protection. The favor of God in communicating life to us would be far from adequate to the exigencies of our condition, unless at the same time, in the midst of so many dangers, he interposed his power as a buckler to defend us. The sentence immediately succeeding, he will give grace and glory, might be viewed as meaning, that those whom God has distinguished by his grace in this world, will at length be crowned with everlasting glory in his heavenly kingdom. But this distinction between grace and glory being, I am afraid, too refined, it will be preferable to explain the sentence as implying, that after God has once taken the faithful into his favor, he will advance them to high honor, and never cease to enrich them with his blessings. 471471     “It is generally agreed, that the subject of this psalm is the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity; in celebrating which, the Psalmist is carried by a prophetic impulse to foretell a much greater deliverance by the coming of Christ.” — Dimock. This interpretation is confirmed by the following clause, He will withhold no good thing from those who walk uprightly, obviously teaching us, that God’s bounty can never be exhausted, but flows without intermission. We learn from these words, that whatever excellence may be in us proceeds solely from the grace of God. They contain, at the same time, this special mark, by which the genuine worshippers of God may be distinguished from others, That their life is framed and regulated according to the principles of strict integrity.

The exclamation with which David concludes the psalm, Blessed is the man who trusteth in thee, seems to refer to the season of his banishment. He had previously described the blessedness of those who dwell in the courts of the Lord, and now he avows, that although he was for a time deprived of that privilege, he was far from being altogether miserable, because he was supported by the best of all consolations, that which arose from beholding from a distance the grace of God. This is an example well worthy of special attention. So long as we are deprived of God’s benefits, we must necessarily groan and be sad in heart. But, that the sense of our distresses may not overwhelm us, we ought to impress it upon our minds, that even in the midst of our calamities we do not cease to be happy, when faith and patience are in exercise.


VIEWNAME is study