PSALMS 84
1 (To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm for the sons of Korah.)
How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Yahweh hosts!
Dedication: the sons of Korah had survived divine judgment (Num.16) to minister in the temple. O how wonderful is the mercy of God (Pslm. 103.12; pslm. 108.4).
Amiable Hb. ydiyd = beloved) same root as David. .this is my Beloved (David), Tabernacles Hb.mishkan = protective tent, (God) habitation; plur, suggests courts, faithful saints are Gods dwelling places (1 Cor.3.16,17) (God manifestation).
This psalm is a song of a pilgrimage to the great Temple in Jerusalem, perhaps on the occasion of the great annual feasts. The pilgrim's heart overflows with joy at reaching the courts or dwelling place of God on the Holy Mount, after a long testing and travail through sorrowful, hazardous valleys. All the servants of God who embrace the Truth and the Hope of Israel make this metaphorical journey. So the psalm gives encouragement to the saints in all ages whether in ancient Israel, apostolic times, the period of the two witnesses, or these last days who make that spiritual journey to Zion.
How lovely are thy dwelling places. The end put before the beginning. A common prophetic arrangement. "God knoweth the end from the beginning" (Isa 46:10). All things are known to God (Dan.2.21-23, Dan 4.17, Amos 3.7) Present tense. But prophetic, certain to be realised - Tabernacle of Witness and Solomon's Temple - type of the future great temple and city of the Great King (Ezk 40-48), where the immortal Melchizadek king - priests will dwell, "beautiful for situation on the sides of the North." *
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2 My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of Yahweh: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living EL.
My soul longeth for the courts of Yahweh. He beholds the order and beauty of the temple worship after his long and thirsty journey in his mind's eye, soon to be realised. Longeth (pined), fainteth Hb, kacaph = to turn pale; kaiah ~ to cease; the implication is that he is almost done, swallowed up in the desert (Pslm.119.81; 2 Cor.1.8, 2 Cor.11.23-28). My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. He shouts for joy with his whole being.*
My soul longeth
...from the same sense of present desolation we groan together, heart and flesh crying out for the living God.
This made up the principal part of the sufferings of Christ. In the midst of much people, he was as a sparrow on the house-top -a pelican in the wilderness alone in the surrounding desolation. This is an experience that continues for every son of God.
There are plenty of people and plenty of activity, but neither the people nor what they are doing has any interest for those who are Christ's. In this respect we suffer with him, even if we are not the objects of direct persecution.
We are not at liberty to unite with the present world as regards its aims and principles and pleasures. We do not belong to it if we belong to Christ; for he expressly said "I am not of this world," and he affirmed the same fact of his disciples, saying, "Ye are not of this world."
Bro Roberts - 'God a sun and shield'
6 Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools.
7 They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before Elohim.
8 O Yahweh Elohim of hosts, hear my prayer: give ear, O Elohim of Jacob. Selah.
9 Behold, O Elohim our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed.
10 For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my Elohim, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
2 My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of Yahweh: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living EL.
My soul longeth for the courts of Yahweh. He beholds the order and beauty of the temple worship after his long and thirsty journey in his mind's eye, soon to be realised. Longeth (pined), fainteth Hb, kacaph = to turn pale; kaiah ~ to cease; the implication is that he is almost done, swallowed up in the desert (Pslm.119.81; 2 Cor.1.8, 2 Cor.11.23-28). My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. He shouts for joy with his whole being.*
3 Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O Yahweh hosts, my King, and my Elohim.
The sparrow is a clean bird which can be eaten aswell the migratory swallow (Deut 14:11-20). The sparrow never leaves her nest in the stone walls of the temple precincts; the swallow leaves but returns to her same nest under the roofing cedars where her family is nurtured. Such observation affords the force of the Psalmists own addiction to the holy courts and altars of Israel's God (Jhn.2.17, 14.3, I Cor.16.15). As God provides for the humblest of birds (the sparrow) and the most wonderfully aeronautic (the swallow) so this reassures the psalmist of the certainty of his Faith and Hope, whatever the smallness of present things (Zech. 4.I0, Heb. 11.6).
Even thine altars, O Yahweh Tsabaoth, my King and my God. An ellipsis requiring the reader to complete the missing part. The two altars - the brazen altar of sacrifice, the golden altar of incense represent expiation and fellowship in Christ though renunciation of sin's flesh and heart-felt prayer (spiritual mindedness), for the sweet incense is the prayers of the saints (Rev.8.3)
"He hath made him sin for us who knew no sin" (2Cor.5.21);
"We have an altar whereof they have no right to eat" Heb.I3.10-16, Rev.6.9,10).
The psalmist is in love with the fundamentals of saving Truth embodied in Christ and portentous of mighty armies and victories.*
4 Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee. Selah.
Blessed are they that dwell in thy house, They will be still praising thee. True happiness is only to be found in God's house. For those worthy to enter into the courts of Yahweh they shall have joy for evermore, there will be no more tears, no more pain, no more death, they will receive beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness.
(Isa.61.3, Rev.20 ; 1sa 4:6).*
5 Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them.
Blessed is the man ...whose heart are the ways (highways to Zion). Strength Hb. = security Ways Hb. mcillah = highway, staircase.
He relies on God's strength, not his own (Jhn.3.27, 5.19, 30,8.28; 2Cor.12. 7-9). God's strength is made perfect in weakness. His security is not in the abundance of earthy possessions or skills or status, but in Yahweh alone.
His heart is on future things, the ascent to Zion
"Who is this that cometh from Edom with dyed garments, travelling in the greatness of his strength. It is I Yahweh mighty to save''.*
*Bro Richard Lister
The Apocalyptic Messenger, March 2005
11 For Yahweh Elohim is a sun and shield: Yahweh will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.
Here we have a most encouraging picture of the kindness of Him with whom we have to do. This character is the central glory of revelation.
We fail, perhaps, at all times to remember it sufficiently. Many things help to cloud it from our view. Our weakness, our shortcomings, our pre-occupations in other directions, the weariness of the constant fight of faith, and other things, prevent us from realising as constantly as we might, that the Eternal Father, who invites us to Himself by Christ, is full of tenderness and compassion, and overflowing with loving-kindness to such as keep His covenant, and even abounding in long- suffering and goodness towards those who are far from Him.
Our failure in this respect is part of the weakness of our present nature; but our failure to apprehend does not interfere with the fact. God is love, even if we faint and fail.
The everlasting hills are not endangered when we grow tired and sleepy. The strength of God is in no way diminished when we die. So His loving-kindness is none the less because we forget. Yea, it operates sometimes in the inverse ratio of our weakness.
Bro Roberts - 'God is a sun and shield'
12 O Yahweh hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee