With Psalms 83 the Asaphite division of the Elohistic collection ends; and Psalms 84-89 form an appendix to that collection, which shews but few indications of the hand of the Elohistic editor. It can however still be traced in Psalms 84 in the phrase _Jehovah Elôhîm Tsebâôth_(Psalms 84:8), and in t... [ Continue Reading ]
_How amiable_are _thy tabernacles_) Or, How dear is thy dwelling-place. _Amiable_is no longer used of things, in the sense of _worthy to be loved_. For _dwelling-place_see note on Psalms 26:8. The plural of the original, as in Psalms 43:3, may be -amplificative," expressing the dignity of the house... [ Continue Reading ]
The Psalmist's delight in the house of God.... [ Continue Reading ]
My soul hath pined, yea, even fainted. The verbs are perfects, and it seems best to suppose that he is recalling the earnest longings which are even now finding satisfaction, as his feet stand in the Temple courts, and his heart and flesh sing for joy unto the living God. The latter verb denotes joy... [ Continue Reading ]
The Psalmist envies the privilege of the birds which build their nests within the precincts of the Temple. If even they are allowed to find a home there, surely he may expect a welcome. As at an earlier time the surrounding scenery was eloquent to the poet of his own misfortunes (Psalms 42:7), so no... [ Continue Reading ]
The happiness of those who find a home in the Temple.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Blessed_ Or, _happy_, as in Psalms 1:1; and so in Psalms 84:5_; Psalms 84:12_. Not those who are "of the household of God" in the wider sense (Psalms 23:6; Psalms 27:4; cp. Ephesians 2:19), but the actual ministers of the Temple appear to be meant. They can be _still_, i.e. again and again, raising... [ Continue Reading ]
Yet not only those are happy, who reside within the precincts of the Temple, but those who in the strength of God surmounting every obstacle appear in His Presence and offer their prayers.... [ Continue Reading ]
Happy are the men whose strength is in thee; In whose hearts are the highways (to Zion). Happy are those whose minds are wholly set on pilgrimage to Zion. The phrase is peculiar and _to Zion_must be supplied; but this is preferable to rendering _highways are in their hearts_, and explaining _highw... [ Continue Reading ]
Passing through the vale of Baca they make it a place of springs, Yea, the early rain clotheth it with blessings. The word _Baca_is derived from the root which means _to weep_, but it nowhere means _weeping_, for which words of a different form are used. Here, as in 2 Samuel 5:23, it probably deno... [ Continue Reading ]
_They go from strength to strength_ Instead of fainting on their toilsome journey they gain fresh strength as they advance. Cp. Isaiah 40:31, and for the form of expression, John 1:16; 2 Corinthians 3:18. every one of them _in Zion_ Better as R.V., every one of them appeareth before God in Zion. Th... [ Continue Reading ]
A prayer for favourable audience, uttered apparently by the Psalmist as the leader of the pilgrims on their arrival in the Temple.... [ Continue Reading ]
The Psalmist's prayer for favourable audience in Psalms 84:8 is succeeded, after a musical interlude (_selah_), by a prayer offered by all the pilgrims together. Contrast - _our_shield" with - _my_prayer" (Psalms 84:8), and the singular which recurs in Psalms 84:10. The first line admits of two ren... [ Continue Reading ]
The pilgrims" prayer, and the ground of their confidence.... [ Continue Reading ]
_For a day_&c. The connexion of thought is obscure. _For_apparently introduces a reason for the foregoing prayer. A -good day," i.e. a day of festivity and rejoicing, was regarded as a propitious occasion for preferring requests (1 Samuel 25:8). A day spent in Jehovah's courts was better than a thou... [ Continue Reading ]
_a sun and shield_ R.V., A sun and a shield. Nowhere else in the O.T. is Jehovah directly called a sun, though the ideas conveyed by the metaphor are frequent. Cp. Psalms 27:1; Isaiah 10:17; Isaiah 60:19-20; Malachi 4:2. Perhaps the prevalence of sun-worship in the East led to the avoidance of so na... [ Continue Reading ]
_O Lord of hosts_ The addition of _God_in P.B.V., as in Psalms 84:8, comes from the Roman or unrevised Latin Psalter (see p. lxxii), and is found in some MSS. of the LXX.... [ Continue Reading ]