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1.
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How amiable. This Hebrew word is a play on the name
David.
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Are thy tabernacles. Not an allusion to the Feast of
Tabernacles (the wrong word!), but to the Great Tent of the Congregation which
David had established on mount Zion (v. 7).
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2.
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My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the
Lord (cp. 42:1,2; 63:1). Several other psalms (3, 4, 55) stress
David’s eager longing to join in worship on the Day of Atonement (see Par.
5). His flight seems to have taken place at that time of the year (2 Sam. 16:1;
17:28,29).
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Fainteth. At the time of his flight David was a sick
man (see notes, Psa. 38).
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My heart (mind) and my flesh (his stricken body)
— i.e., David’s whole being — crieth out for the living
God.
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4.
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Blessed are they that dwell in thine house. David sent
the high priests and the ark of the covenant back into Jerusalem (2 Sam.
15:24-29), and rightly so. It was a fine act of faith — to wit: “If
I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me again, and
shew me both it, and his habitation.”
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They will be still praising thee. That is, they will be
“ever singing thy praise” (RSV).
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5.
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Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee. An
expression of the (almost justified?) envy which David felt for those able to
make a Day of Atonement / Feast of Tabernacles pilgrimage to Zion.
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In whose heart are the ways of them. That is, who is
always thinking of a pilgrimage to Zion. “In whose heart are the highways
to Zion” (RSV).
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6.
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Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the
rain also filleth the pools. The Jordan valley was now for David a vale of
tears, yet in due time it would become the scene of great blessing. Baca
(tears) would become Berachah (blessing)!
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8.
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O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer: give ear, O God of
Jacob. In this allusion David compares his own flight with that of Jacob
(Gen. 28). He knew that after that flight Jacob returned, blessed and
prosperous; so David hoped likewise for himself.
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10.
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For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand
(i.e., as RSV, elsewhere). I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my
God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. Here “the tents of
wickedness” signifies the rebel army of Absalom, encamped in the field in
pursuit of David and his band.
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11.
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No good thing will he withhold from them that walk
uprightly. David is withheld from the worship he yearns to express;
nevertheless God’s blessing and forgiveness are not withheld from him even
in exile.
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2.
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My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the
Lord: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. These words of
deep yearning, for personal access to the sanctuary of the Lord, describe
perfectly the king’s frustrated desire for communion with God at the time
of his leprosy:
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“I said, I shall not see the Lord, even the Lord, in the
land of the living: I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the
world... The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the
father to the children shall make known thy truth... What is the sign that I
shall go up to the house of the Lord?” (Isa. 38:11,19,22; cp. Psa. 42:1-4;
102:1-7,11).
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The living God is ‘the God of the living
creatures’, i.e., the God that inhabits the cherubim (Isa. 37:4,16;
see references, Psa. 42:2).
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3.
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Even thine altars. The first portion of v. 3 is
parenthetical: this phrase runs on directly from v. 2.
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Lord of hosts is also one of Hezekiah’s (and
Isaiah’s) favorite Names of God (Isa. 37:16 again).
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6.
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The valley of Baca suggests the Beqah valley in
Lebanon, the route by which Sennacherib’s 200,000 Jewish prisoners would
be marched away from their homeland. So it was for them a valley of tears. But
in their unexpected return along the “highways of Zion” (cp. v. 5
here; contrast Isa. 33:7,8), after the destruction of the Assyrian army, they
would find it a valley of rain and pools because, in this special
Year of Jubilee, God “opened the windows of heaven” and gave lavish
blessing on the Land (cp. Isa. 35:8,9; 40:3; 2 Chron. 32:27-29).
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8-10.
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Hezekiah’s personal prayer.
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9.
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Behold, O God our shield. It is not the beauty of the
place that attracts the psalmist to Zion, but the beauty of the Person of the
God who dwells there. As God was a shield to Abraham when he made an enemy of
the king of Sodom (Gen. 15:1), so now Hezekiah, in dire straits from the
Assyrian siege, needed God as his shield.
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“Shield” here is magen (translated
“defence” in Psa. 89:18), where it is parallel with
“king” (cp. NIV mg. rendering of “sovereign”).
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And look upon the face of thine anointed may be read
now with reference to Hezekiah.
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10.
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The tents of wickedness are now the Assyrian
encampments round the city of Jerusalem.
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11.
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For the Lord God is a sun and shield. In Exod. 14:20
the angel of the Lord was brightness and light and protection to Israel; but he
was cloud and darkness and destruction to the Egyptians. And now, in a scene
reminiscent of the first Passover, the same angel gives both overshadowing care
to Jerusalem and judgment upon the camp of the enemy (Isa. 37:36).
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12.
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O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.
Hezekiah had insisted that his people emulate him in this (2 Chron. 32:7,8;
2 Kings 18:5,19,21-24; 19:10).
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3.
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Thine altars (plural) is most appropriate to the Day of
Atonement, when (1) the altar of burnt offering, (2) the altar of incense,
and (3) the mercy-seat were all involved in the great annual atonement.
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4,8.
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Selah, as always, is appropriate to altars and
sacrifice (Psalms Studies, Book #1, Introduction).
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4.
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Blessed are they that dwell in thine house (cp. Psa.
65:4, another Day of Atonement psalm). There would be priests living in the
temple when on duty.
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6.
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Baca. “Tears” of repentance on the Day of
Atonement are followed by exultant joy (cp. vv. 2,4) when forgiveness is
assured.
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7.
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They go from strength to strength, every one of them in
Zion appeareth before God. On the Day of Atonement, the temple courts would
be packed with devout worshipers.
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10.
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For a day in thy courts, especially when it is the Day
of Atonement, is better than a thousand spent elsewhere.
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11.
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For the Lord God is a sun and shield. This is an
allusion to the manifestation of the Shekinah Glory, and also to the cloud of
incense shrouding the high priest, “that he die not” (Lev.
16:13).
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The Lord will give grace and glory. “Grace”
is one of the outstanding Bible words for the forgiveness of sins. It was
signified to the people on the Day of Atonement by the high-priestly blessing
(Num. 6:24-26), and by the shining forth of the “Glory” of the Lord
(Psa. 80:1).
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12.
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O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.
This emphasizes justification by faith, or trust, and not by works
— a situation especially true and relevant on the Day of
Atonement.
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1.
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How amiable are thy tabernacles. John 7 presents an
interesting picture of the tension in the mind of Jesus, between eagerness to be
present at a Feast of the Lord and distaste for a sustained encounter there with
his adversaries.
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3.
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Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a
nest for herself, where she may lay her young. A poignant parallel occurs in
Luke 9:58:
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“Birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath
not where to lay his head.”
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6.
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Baca (sig. weeping). Gethsemane was a place of tears
for Jesus: “strong crying and tears” (Heb. 5:7). Yet that same
experience became a well, with rain and pools — that
is, a source of indomitable strength (v. 5; Luke 22:43; cp. Psa. 42:5,11; Isa.
35:10; Jer. 31:9).
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9.
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Look upon the face of thine anointed (i.e., Messiah or
Christ). This implies a face uplifted in prayer, which is the repeated picture
in the gospels of a Christ in crisis.
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10.
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A day in thy courts. The LXX has Day One, as in
John 20:1; consider also v. 17 there: The day of Christ’s resurrection was
undoubtedly the day on which, as the true High Priest on the true “Day of
Atonement”, he ascended to heaven to present the tokens of his perfect
sacrifice in the presence of his Father, from thence to return to his waiting
brethren with the great blessing of the High Priest: “Peace be unto
you” (John 20:26).
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Is it significant also that Christ’s total public
ministry would have been just over a thousand days?
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A doorkeeper in the house of my God may be seen, now,
to be — not an office of humility and servitude, as some suppose —
but an office of high authority and control: It is the doorkeeper, at the last,
who will decide who shall enter the Temple of the Lord and who shall be turned
aside (Mark 11:16; Matt. 25:10-12; Luke 13:25; John 10:7,9).
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11.
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For the Lord God is a sun. (1) The transfiguration
(Matt. 17:1-13; Mark 9:2-13; Luke 9:28-36)? (2) The crucifixion? While darkness
enshrouded Golgotha, God’s Glory shown upon and encouraged Christ (see
notes, Psa. 22:22-31).
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And a shield — i.e., always protecting the Lord
Jesus from his enemies and those who would kill him — until the time when
he was ready to be offered; the gospels contain numerous examples of
this.
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1.
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Amiable. LXX “beloved”, NEB
“dear” — the best New Testament word of all to describe those
in Christ.
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Thy (i.e., the Lord’s) tabernacles are so
much better than my (i.e., man’s) tabernacle. While in the
one, man longs to be clothed upon with the other, which is coming from heaven
with Christ (2 Pet. 1:13,14; 2 Cor. 5:2). “Longeth” in Psa. 84:2 is
s.w. “groan” in 2 Cor. 5:2!
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2.
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My heart and my flesh crieth out. The word means:
“exult” or “sing for joy” (RSV); but this verse is not
usually read that way. And the Hebrew preposition means, not for, but
unto the Living God.
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3.
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Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a
nest for herself, where she may lay her young. The sentimental pictures of
sparrow or swallow nesting upon the altar of God is obviously wide of the mark;
this could only be so if the altar were abandoned — and that is plainly
not the case here (v. 4). (Of course, nothing would hinder the small birds from
nesting in the confines and precincts of the temple — in its many nooks
and crannies.) But if this phrase is put in parenthesis, all is quite clear: The
psalmist (David in exile? Hezekiah in illness? cp. Isa. 38:14!) yearns for a
settled home close to the living God, in the same way as the mother bird
longs for a safe nest for her young (cp. Matt. 10:29).
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Nevertheless, in a figurative sense, this reminds us of the
mother Hannah bringing her young child Samuel (a son of Korah!) (the one whom
she asked of the Lord) to leave him in the Lord’s house:
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“For this child I prayed: and the Lord hath given me my
petition which I asked of him: Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord; as
long as he liveth he shall be lent to the Lord” (1 Sam.
1:27,28).
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And in like manner also, we see another “sparrow”
(Luke 12:6), the young mother Mary, bringing her young Jesus to lay him in the
arms of the priest in the Lord’s house (Luke 2:21,22).
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4.
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Blessed (happy). Three times the psalmist uses this
word: once (here) wistfully, once (v. 5) resolutely, and once (v. 12) in deep
contentment.
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5.
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Blessed is the man in whose hearts are the ways of them.
This is very poor; note the italics. It should read (a) the ways of Zion
(Jer. 31:21; Isa. 35:8,9), or (b) the ways of God. “The natural heart is a
pathless wilderness, full of cliffs and precipices. When the heart is renewed by
grace, a road is made, a highway is prepared for our God (Isa. 40:3,4)”
(F. Fysh).
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6.
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The valley of Baca. The baca was a balsam
tree; its name (“the weeping one”) was probably derived from the
“tears” of gum or resin which it exuded. The valley of Rephaim,
where David defeated the Philistines with the help of God’s
“army” (2 Sam. 5:22-25), was filled with mulberry, or balsam, trees
(s.w. baca), in which David heard a “marching” as a
signal to go forth himself. It was in this same place that the thirsty and
dispirited David was refreshed by the devotion and love of his friends, who
broke through the line of the enemy to secure him water from the well of
Bethlehem (2 Sam. 23:13-17)!
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7.
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They go from strength to strength. They renew their own
strength (Isa. 40:31), because they are transformed from depending on their own
strength to depending on God’s. This was the lesson learned by
Paul:
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“And he [i.e., the Lord] said unto me, My grace is
sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly
therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may
rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in
necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I
am weak, then am I strong” (2 Cor. 12:9,10; cp. Isa. 40:29).
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In similar fashion, “The path of the righteous is
likened to the light of dawn, which goes on increasing in brightness and
intensity as the day advances, until at length it reaches its full
splendour” (Prov. 4:18; cp. 2 Sam. 23:4) (A. Crawford, Proverbs, p.
101).
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And again, Paul uses similar expressions when he speaks of
believers receiving the righteousness of God “from faith to
faith” (Rom. 1:17; cp. v. 12 here), and being “changed into the
same image from glory to glory” (2 Cor. 3:18; cp. v. 11
here).
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Every one of them in Zion appeareth before
God. Notice the italics again. This might read: (1) he (the high
priest?) hath looked upon God — Day of Atonement language; or (2)
he (the Christ) hath looked unto God.
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In Zion. The ultimate experience:
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“And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount
Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his
Father’s name written in their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven,
as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard
the voice of harpers harping with their harps: And they sung as it were a new
song before the throne... and no man could learn that song but the hundred and
forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth... These are they
which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among
men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb” (Rev.
14:1-4).
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8.
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The God of Jacob, as in Psa. 46:7,11. It was Jacob who
wept (v. 6 here; Hos. 12:3,4) and in his weakness prevailed, because he forsook
his own “strength” for the strength of God (Gen.
32:24-32).
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9.
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Thine anointed, as in Psa. 132:10, a psalm of both
David and Hezekiah.
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10.
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I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than
to dwell in the tents of wickedness. When Korah died because of his
rebellion against the authority of Moses and Aaron, his sons did not — but
rather departed from his “tents of wickedness” (Num. 16:26; 26:11)
— deliberately disavowing their father’s apostasy in the
establishment of a rival tabernacle.
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A doorkeeper in the house of my God. What an honor this
would be!:
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“Lift up your heads, O ye gates [i.e., doorkeepers], and
the King of glory shall come in” (Psa. 24:7,9).
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11.
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No good thing will he withhold from them that walk
uprightly (cp. Lev. 26:13). In this psalm, one detail after another (vv.
2-7,10-12) is eloquent about the life of a true child of God. Even those
experiences which do not seem to be good, but rather grievous, nevertheless work
together for ultimate good to those who truly love God (Rom.
8:28-32).
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“What if the things promised transcend my brightest
dreams? Is that a reason for doubting them? Is anything too hard for the Lord?
Have I not received from Him even the little of good I now possess? Shall I say
that He can do no better? Shall I set myself up against His own
declaration?” (R. Roberts).
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