"To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.
How lovely is your dwelling place,
O Lord of hosts!
2 My soul longs, yes, faints
for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and 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 Lord of hosts,
my King and my God.
4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house,
ever singing your praise! Selah
5 Blessed 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;
each one appears before God in Zion.
8 O Lord 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 dwell in the tents of wickedness.
11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
the Lord bestows favour and honour.
No good thing does he withhold
from those who walk uprightly.
12 O Lord of hosts,
blessed is the one who trusts in you!"
Psalm 84
The loveliness and beauty of this Psalm make it a benediction to read. Its theme takes us to the heart of spiritual experience, for it speaks of communion and fellowship with God, and of the blessedness that that communion brings to the heart. It falls naturally into three stanzas, 1-4, 5-8, 9-12. These stanzas have been variously designated and expounded, as will be seen from the commentaries. As good a way as any to follow, however, is that indicated by the threefold emphasis on the word 'blessed'. This is the heart of the Psalm - the blessedness, the happiness of the life of communion and fellow- ship with God: the blessedness of those that dwell in God's house (4); the blessedness of the man whose strength is in God (5); the blessedness of the man who trusts in Him (12). First of all, the blessedness of the enjoyment of God's Presence occupies the first stanza (1-4). Commentators suggest that this is a pilgrim Psalm, and that its association is the pilgrimage at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles. It is the expression of heart of the pil- grim on the way to the Temple or Tabernacle. He thinks of the house of the Lord, and longs to be there, his heart crying out for Him, and he exclaims 'Blessed are they that dwell there constantly'. We should note the association of ideas between the house of the Lord and the Lord Himself. The two are necessarily linked together. It is the presence of God that gives the Tabernacle its beauty and loveliness. It is not the building that is important but the presence of God there; and the Church today is the people indwelt by God, not the place. Another alternative rendering of 2 reads, 'My soul longed, yea fainted...' - that is, the Psalmist speaks of past experience in which he yearned for God; then he cries out with joy and gladness to welcome the living God, as God breaks through to his longing heart. As the hymn puts it,
Sometimes a light surprises The Christian while he sings...