10 For good `is' a day in Thy courts, O Teacher! I have chosen rather to be at the threshold, In the house of my God, Than to dwell in tents of wickedness.
One `thing' I asked of Jehovah -- it I seek. My dwelling in the house of Jehovah, All the days of my life, To look on the pleasantness of Jehovah, And to inquire in His temple.
Jehovah, I have loved the habitation of Thy house, And the place of the tabernacle of Thine honour. Do not gather with sinners my soul, And with men of blood my life, In whose hand `is' a wicked device, And their right hand `is' full of bribes.
Incline not my heart to an evil thing, To do habitually actions in wickedness, With men working iniquity, Yea, I eat not of their pleasant things. The righteous doth beat me `in' kindness. And doth reprove me, Oil of the head my head disalloweth not, For still my prayer `is' about their vexations.
From men, Thy hand, O Jehovah, From men of the world, their portion `is' in life, And `with' Thy hidden things Thou fillest their belly, They are satisfied `with' sons; And have left their abundance to their sucklings. I -- in righteousness, I see Thy face; I am satisfied, in awaking, `with' Thy form!
For those who are according to the flesh, the things of the flesh do mind; and those according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit; for the mind of the flesh `is' death, and the mind of the Spirit -- life and peace;
Send forth Thy light and Thy truth, They -- they lead me, they bring me in, Unto Thy holy hill, and unto Thy tabernacles. And I go in unto the altar of God, Unto God, the joy of my rejoicing. And I thank Thee with a harp, O God, my God.
And it came to pass, after three days, they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both hearing them and questioning them,
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Psalms 84
Commentary on Psalms 84 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
PSALM 84
Ps 84:1-12. (See on Ps 8:1, title, and Ps 42:1, title). The writer describes the desirableness of God's worship and prays for a restoration to its privileges.
1. amiable—not lovely, but beloved.
tabernacles—(Ps 43:3).
2. longeth—most intensely (Ge 31:30; Ps 17:12).
fainteth—exhausted with desire.
courts—as tabernacles (Ps 84:1)—the whole building.
crieth out—literally, "sings for joy"; but here, and La 2:19, expresses an act of sorrow as the corresponding noun (Ps 17:1; 61:2).
heart and … flesh—as in Ps 63:1.
3. thine altars—that is, of burnt offering and incense, used for the whole tabernacle. Its structure afforded facilities for sparrows and swallows to indulge their known predilections for such places. Some understand the statement as to the birds as a comparison: "as they find homes, so do I desire thine altars," &c.
4. This view is favored by the language here, which, as in Ps 15:1; 23:6, recognizes the blessing of membership in God's family by terms denoting a dwelling in His house.
5. (Compare Ps 68:28).
in whose heart … the ways—that is, who knows and loves the way to God's favor (Pr 16:17; Isa 40:3, 4).
6. valley of Baca—or, "weeping." Through such, by reason of their dry and barren condition, the worshippers often had to pass to Jerusalem. As they might become wells, or fountains, or pools, supplied by refreshing rain, so the grace of God, by the exercises of His worship, refreshes and revives the hearts of His people, so that for sorrows they have "rivers of delight" (Ps 36:8; 46:4).
7. The figure of the pilgrim is carried out. As such daily refit their bodily strength till they reach Jerusalem, so the spiritual worshipper is daily supplied with spiritual strength by God's grace till he appears before God in heaven.
appeareth … God—the terms of the requisition for the attendance on the feasts (compare De 16:16),
9. God is addressed as a shield (compare Ps 84:11).
thine anointed—David (1Sa 16:12).
10. I had … doorkeeper—literally, "I choose to sit on the threshold," the meanest place.
11, 12. As a sun God enlightens (Ps 27:1); as a shield He protects.
grace—God's favor, its fruit—
glory—the honor He bestows.
uprightly—(Ps 15:2; 18:23).
12. that trusteth—constantly.