Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Psalms 84:2

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Psalms 84:2. My soul longeth — It is a Levite that speaks, who ardently longs to regain his place in the temple, and his part in the sacred services.

My heart and my flesh — All the desires of my soul and body; every appetite and wish, both animal and spiritual, long for thy service.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Psalms 84:0 Joy in God’s house

On account of the difficulties and dangers people faced in travelling from remote areas to Jerusalem, some Israelites could visit the temple only once or twice each year. The present psalm reflects the joy and satisfaction of one such traveller as he comes to the temple to worship (1-2). Even the birds who make their nests in the temple courtyard have meaning for this man. As they find rest in their nests, so he finds rest in God’s house (3-4).
The traveller is so pleased to have arrived at the temple, that the troubles he experienced on the journey now seem nothing. Although he was faint and weary in a waterless country, God strengthened him to go on (5-7). As he offers praise to God he does not forget to pray for the king (8-9). He finds such joy in worshipping in God’s house, that he would gladly put up with any difficulties, no matter how tiring the journey, just to stand at the door. He would rather go through hardships and be at the temple than remain at ease but be far away from God. The almighty God alone is the source of all true blessing (10-12).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

“How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Jehovah of Hosts! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of Jehovah; My heart and my flesh cry out unto the living God. Yea, the sparrow hath found her a house, where she may lay her young, Even thine altars, O Jehovah of hosts, My King, and my God. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: They will be still praising thee. (Selah)”

“Amiable” The marginal reading here is `lovely,’ which appears preferable.

“My heart and my flesh cry out unto the living God” “Our hearts, O God, were made for thee; and never shall they rest until they rest in thee.” These immortal words of Augustine always come to mind in the contemplation of the thought written here. There is a deep and unquenchable thirst in the hearts of all men for the knowledge of God, and nothing on earth can satisfy it except the worship and adoration of the Creator. Those who do not worship God do not have to wait until the Judgment Day to be lost; they are lost already. Apart from the love of God, no man has any sure anchor; but those who truly seek God and faithfully strive to serve him have laid hold upon the hope `in Christ,’ “a hope both sure and stedfast and which enters into that which is within the veil” (Hebrews 6:19).

“The sparrow… and the swallow” Small birds had built nests in the temple area, perhaps in crevices and small niches within the temple itself; but the mention of `altars’ cannot be taken as a place where such nests were built. Daily fires upon the temple altars would surely have prevented that. The peace and security which these small creatures found in their temple location suggested to the psalmist the peace and security that he himself felt in coming there to worship.

The mention of the safe nesting place of these tiny birds recalls the plaintive words of Our Savior, who said, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven have nests; but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head” (Luke 9:58).

“Blessed are they that dwell in thy house” This blessing of God’s worshippers occurs in all three divisions of the psalm, in the last verse of Division No. 1, in the first verse of Division No. 2, and in the last verse of Division No. 3.

The intense longing of the psalmist for his presence in God’s temple has been used by some as evidence that the psalmist was at the time of this hymn compelled to be absent from the temple, either by exile, illness, or some other hindrance. We cannot find any evidence whatever of such a thing in the psalm.

“The longing after God and the sanctuary, in the first part of this psalm, does not necessarily imply exile from its premises; because such longings for God may be felt when men are nearest to Him, and are, in fact, an element of that nearness.”Alexander Maclaren, Vol. II, p. 441.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

My soul longeth - The word used here means properly to be pale; then, to be faint or weak; and then, to pine after, to long for, to desire earnestly. It would properly denote such a longing or desire as to make one faint or exhausted; that is, it indicates intense desire. In Psalms 17:12, it is applied to a hungry lion; “Like a lion that is greedy of its prey.” In Genesis 31:30, it conveys the idea of intense desire: “Because thou sore longedst after thy father’s house.” For an illustration of the sentiment here expressed, see the notes at Psalms 42:1-2.

Yea, even fainteth - Is exhausted; fails of its strength. The word means properly to be completed, finished; then to be consumed, to be spent, to waste or pine away. Genesis 21:15; Jeremiah 16:4; Lamentations 2:11; Job 19:27.

For the courts of the Lord - The word used here refers to the different areas around the tabernacle or temple, within which many of the services of public worship were conducted, and which were frequented by different classes of persons. See the notes at Matthew 21:12.

My heart and my flesh - My whole nature; my body and my soul; all my desires and aspirations - all the longings of my heart are there. The body - the flesh - cries out for rest; the heart - the soul - for communion with God. Our whole nature demands the benefits which spring from the worship of God. Body and soul were made for his service, and the necessities of neither can be satisfied without religion.

Crieth out - The word used here - רנן rânan - means properly to give forth a tremulous sound; then, to give forth the voice in vibrations, or in a tremulous manner; and thence it may mean either to utter cries of joy, Leviticus 9:24; Job 38:7; Isaiah 12:6, or to utter a loud wail Lamentations 2:19. Its common application is to joy Psalms 98:4; Psalms 132:16; Psalms 65:8; and it might be rendered here, “Sing unto the Lord,” or “Rejoice unto the Lord.” The connection, however, seems to demand that it be understood as the cry of earnest longing or desire.

For the living God - God, the true God, considered as living, in contradistinction from idols, always spoken of as dead. Compare Psalms 63:1.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

I have observed, that in the second verse a more than ordinary ardor of desire is expressed. The first verb, כספ, casaph, signifies vehemently to desire; but not contented with this word, David adds, that his soul fainteth after the courts of the Lord, which is equivalent to our pining away, when, under the influence of extreme mental emotion, we are in a manner transported out of ourselves. He speaks only of the courts of the tabernacle, because, not being a priest, it was not lawful for him to go beyond the outer court. None but the priests, as is well known, were permitted to enter into the inner sanctuary. In the close of the verse, he declares, that this longing extended itself even to his body, that is, it manifested itself in the utterance of the mouth, the languor of the eyes, and the action of the hands. The reason why he longed so intensely to have access to the tabernacle was, to enjoy the living God; not that he conceived of God as shut up in so narrow a place as was the tent of the ark, ⁽⁴⁵⁸⁾ but he was convinced of the need he had of steps, by which to rise up to heaven, and knew that the visible sanctuary served the purpose of a ladder, because, by it the minds of the godly were directed and conducted to the heavenly model. And assuredly, when we consider that the sluggishness of our flesh hinders us from elevating our minds to the height of the divine majesty, in vain would God call us to himself, did he not at the same time, on his part, come down to us; or, did he not at least, by the interposition of means, stretch out his hand to us, so to speak, in order to lift us up to himself.

(458) “Comme estort le pavillon de l’Arche.” — Fr.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Psalms 84:1-12 is a beautiful psalm of the tabernacles of God.

How amiable are thy tabernacles, O LORD of hosts! My soul longs, even faints for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God ( Psalms 84:1-2 ).

Jesus said, "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled" ( Matthew 5:6 ). What a beautiful expression this is of the psalmist. "My heart, my flesh cries out for the living God." Dr. Henry Drummond in his book, The Natural and the Supernatural, says there is within the very protoplasm of man little tentacles that are reaching out for God. My heart, my flesh crying out for Thee, O Lord. And then he said,

Yea, the sparrow hath found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O LORD of hosts, my King, and my God. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee ( Psalms 84:3-4 ).

So he had noticed that the swallows had returned to Capistrano and made their nest in the house of God and he is excited over this. No, they're in the tabernacles. They didn't first come to San Juan, they came to the tabernacle and there in the altars of God they made their little nest to lay their young. We don't have swallows, thankfully, around here, because they are dirty. But we do have sparrows that make their nest in the eaves over here, and every time I walk past and I hear the little sparrows and I see them going up in the eaves and all, carrying grass up in there, I think of this particular psalm of David, how that the birds, the sparrows have made their nest and all there at Your altar.

Oh, how blessed it is to be there in the place where praises are going up to God continually. How blessed it is to dwell in the tabernacle and the sanctuary of the Lord and just a place where praises are being offered.

Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee ( Psalms 84:5 );

Now the word blessed is happy. "Happy is the man whose strength is in the Lord." The man who has learned to draw his strength from the Lord.

in whose hearts are the ways of them. Who through passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; and the rain also fills the pools ( Psalms 84:5-6 ).

The valley of Baca is a phrase that we don't quite understand. It would appear to be sort of a dry place. Who even when he passes through dry places it becomes a well and the rain fills the pools.

They go from strength to strength, every one of them that appeareth before the Lord in Zion. O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer: give ear, O God of Jacob ( Psalms 84:7-8 ).

And then the final thought:

Behold, O God our shield, and look upon the face of your anointed. For a day in your courts is better than a thousand anywhere else. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness ( Psalms 84:9-10 ).

Moses chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. "A day in Thy courts is better than a thousand anyplace else. I'd rather be a doorkeeper, Lord, in Your house, the lowest place in the house of God than the highest place in the house of Baal."

For the LORD God is a sun and a shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: and no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly ( Psalms 84:11 ).

Isn't that a beautiful promise? I love that promise, "No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly."

O LORD of hosts, blessed [or happy] is the man that trusts in thee ( Psalms 84:12 ).

So happiness to the man whose strength is in the Lord. Happiness to the man whose trust is in the Lord. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

The dwelling places of the Lord of armies were His temple and its courtyards. This is where God abode in a localized sense during this period of Israel’s history. He promised to meet with His people in a special way there, mainly through the mediation of the Levitical priests. The ordinary Israelite could not enter the temple building proper but could worship God in its courtyards.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

1. Longing for the Lord’s presence 84:1-4

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Psalms 84

This psalm, like Psalms 42, 43, expresses the writer’s desire for the Lord’s sanctuary. It is one of the pilgrim or ascent psalms that the Israelites sang as they traveled to the sanctuary to worship God (cf. Psalms 120-134). In it, the unknown writer declared the blessed condition of those who go to the temple to pray to Yahweh. The sons of Korah were those who arranged and or sang this psalm in Israel’s public worship.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord,.... The courts of the tabernacle now at Gibeon, though the ark was in Zion, 2 Chronicles 1:3 as the court of the priests, and the court of the Israelites, in which latter the people in common stood: after these David longed; he longed to enter into them, and stand in them, and worship God there; which soul longings and hearty desires were the fruits and evidences of true grace, of being born again; so newly born souls desire the sincere milk of the word, and the breasts of Gospel ordinances, as a newly born babe desires its mother's milk and breast; and he even "fainted", through disappointment, or length of time, being impatient of the returning season and opportunity of treading in them; see

Psalms 42:1,

my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God; he only inwardly desired, and secretly fainted, but audibly cried out in his distress, and verbally expressed, great vehemence, his desire to enjoy the living God: it was not merely the courts, but God in them, that he wanted; even that God which has life in himself, with whom is the fountain of life; who gives life to others, natural, spiritual, and eternal, and in whose favour is life; yea, whose lovingkindness is better than life, and which was the thing longed and thirsted after: and these desires were the desires of the whole man, soul and body; not only he cried with his mouth and lips, signified by his flesh, but with his heart also, sincerely and heartily; his heart went along with his mouth.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

To the chief musician upon Gittith. A psalm for the sons of Korah.

      1 How amiable are thy tabernacles, O LORD of hosts!   2 My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.   3 Yea, the sparrow hath found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O LORD of hosts, my King, and my God.   4 Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee. Selah.   5 Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them.   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 God.

      The psalmist here, being by force restrained from waiting upon God in public ordinances, by the want of them is brought under a more sensible conviction than ever of the worth of them. Observe,

      I. The wonderful beauty he saw in holy institutions (Psalms 84:1; Psalms 84:1): How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! Some think that he here calls God the Lord of hosts (that is, in a special manner of the angels, the heavenly hosts) because of the presence of the angels in God's sanctuary; they attended the Shechinah, and were (as some think) signified by the cherubim. God is the Lord of these hosts, and his the tabernacle is: it is spoken of as more than one (thy tabernacles) because there were several courts in which the people attended, and because the tabernacle itself consisted of a holy place and a most holy. How amiable are these! How lovely is the sanctuary in the eyes of all that are truly sanctified! Gracious souls see a wonderful, an inexpressible, beauty in holiness, and in holy work. A tabernacle was a mean habitation, but the disadvantage of external circumstances makes holy ordinances not at all the less amiable; for the beauty of holiness is spiritual, and their glory is within.

      II. The longing desire he had to return to the enjoyment of public ordinances, or rather of God in them, Psalms 84:2; Psalms 84:2. It was an entire desire; body, soul, and spirit concurred in it. He was not conscious to himself of any rising thought to the contrary. It was an intense desire; it was like the desire of the ambitious, or covetous, or voluptuous. He longed, he fainted, he cried out, importunate to be restored to his place in God's courts, and almost impatient of delay. Yet it was not so much the courts of the Lord that he coveted, but he cried out, in prayer, for the living God himself. O that I might know him, and be again taken into communion with him! 1 John 1:3. Ordinances are empty things if we meet not with God in the ordinances.

      III. His grudging the happiness of the little birds that made their nests in the buildings that were adjoining to God's altars, Psalms 84:3; Psalms 84:3. This is an elegant and surprising expression of his affection to God's altars: The sparrow has found a house and the swallow a nest for herself. These little birds, by the instinct and direction of nature, provide habitations for themselves in houses, as other birds do in the woods, both for their own repose and in which to lay their young; some such David supposes there were in the buildings about the courts of God's house, and wishes himself with them. He would rather live in a bird's nest nigh God's altars than in a palace at a distance from them. He sometimes wished for the wings of a dove, on which to fly into the wilderness (Psalms 55:6); here for the wings of a sparrow, that he might fly undiscovered into God's courts; and, though to watch as a sparrow alone upon the house-top is the description of a very melancholy state and spirit (Psalms 102:7), yet David would be glad to take it for his lot, provided he might be near God's altars. It is better to be serving God in solitude than serving sin with a multitude. The word for a sparrow signifies any little bird, and (if I may offer a conjecture) perhaps when, in David's time, music was introduced so much into the sacred service, both vocal and instrumental, to complete the harmony they had singing-birds in cages hung about the courts of the tabernacle (for we find the singing of birds taken notice of to the glory of God, Psalms 104:12), and David envies the happiness of these, and would gladly change places with them. Observe, David envies the happiness not of those birds that flew over the altars, and had only a transient view of God's courts, but of those that had nests for themselves there. David will not think it enough to sojourn in God's house as a way-faring man that turns aside to tarry for a night; but let this be his rest, his home; here he will dwell. And he takes notice that these birds not only have nests for themselves there, but that there they lay their young; for those who have a place in God's courts themselves cannot but desire that their children also may have in God's house, and within his walls, a place and a name, that they may feed their kids beside the shepherds' tents. Some give another sense of this verse: "Lord, by thy providence thou hast furnished the birds with nests and resting-places, agreeable to their nature, and to them they have free recourse; but thy altar, which is my nest, my resting-place, which I am as desirous of as ever the wandering bird was of her nest, I cannot have access to. Lord, wilt thou provide better for thy birds than for thy babes? As a bird that wanders from her nest so am I, now that I wander from the place of God's altars, for that is my place (Proverbs 27:8); I shall never be easy till I return to my place again." Note, Those whose souls are at home, at rest, in God, cannot but desire a settlement near his ordinances. There were two altars, one for sacrifice, the other for incense, and David, in his desire of a place in God's courts, has an eye to both, as we also must, in all our attendance on God, have an eye both to the satisfaction and to the intercession of Christ. And, lastly, Observe how he eyes God in this address: Thou art the Lord of hosts, my King and my God. Where should a poor distressed subject seek for protection but with his king? And should not a people seek unto their God? My King, my God, is Lord of hosts; by him and his altars let me live and die.

      IV. His acknowledgment of the happiness both of the ministers and of the people that had liberty of attendance on God's altars: "Blessed are they. O when shall I return to the enjoyment of that blessedness?" 1. Blessed are the ministers, the priests and Levites, who have their residence about the tabernacle and are in their courses employed in the service of it (Psalms 84:4; Psalms 84:4): Blessed are those that dwell in thy house, that are at home there, and whose business lies there. He is so far from pitying them, as confined to a constant attendance and obliged to perpetual seriousness, that he would sooner envy them than the greatest princes in the world. There are those that bless the covetous, but he blesses the religious. Blessed are those that dwell in thy house (not because they have good wages, a part of every sacrifice for themselves, which would enable them to keep a good table, but because they have good work): They will be still praising thee; and, if there be a heaven upon earth, it is in praising God, in continually praising him. Apply this to his house above; blessed are those that dwell there, angels and glorified saints, for they rest not day nor night from praising God. Let us therefore spend as much of our time as may be in that blessed work in which we hope to spend a joyful eternity. 2. Blessed are the people, the inhabitants of the country, who, though they do not constantly dwell in God's house as the priests do, yet have liberty of access to it at the times appointed for their solemn feasts, the three great feasts, at which all the males were obliged to give their attendance, Deuteronomy 16:16. David was so far from reckoning this an imposition, and a hardship put upon them, that he envies the happiness of those who might thus attend, Psalms 84:5-7; Psalms 84:5-7. Those whom he pronounces blessed are here described. (1.) They are such as act in religion from a rooted principle of dependence upon God and devotedness to him: Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee, who makes thee his strength and strongly stays himself upon thee, who makes thy name his strong tower into which he runs for safety, Proverbs 18:10. Happy is the man whose hope is in the Lord his God,Psalms 40:4; Psalms 146:5. Those are truly happy who go forth, and go on, in the exercises of religion, not in their own strength (for then the work is sure to miscarry), but in the strength of the grace of Jesus Christ, from whom all our sufficiency is. David wished to return to God's tabernacles again, that there he might strengthen himself in the Lord his God for service and suffering. (2.) They are such as have a love for holy ordinances: In whose heart are the ways of them, that is, who, having placed their happiness in God as their end, rejoice in all the ways that lead to him, all those means by which their graces are strengthened and their communion with him kept up. They not only walk in these ways, but they have them in their hearts, they lay them near their hearts; no care or concern, no pleasure or delight, lies nearer than this. Note, Those who have the new Jerusalem in their eye must have the ways that lead to it in their heart, must mind them, their eyes must look straight forward in them, must ponder the paths of them, must keep close to them, and be afraid of turning aside to the right hand or to the left. If we make God's promise our strength, we must make God's word our rule, and walk by it. (3.) They are such as will break through difficulties and discouragements in waiting upon God in holy ordinances, Psalms 84:6; Psalms 84:6. When they come up out of the country to worship at the feasts their way lies through many a dry and sandy valley (so some), in which they are ready to perish for thirst; but, to guard against that inconvenience, they dig little pits to receive and keep the rain-water, which is ready to them and others for their refreshment. When they make the pools the ram of heaven fills them. If we be ready to receive the grace of God, that grace shall not be wanting to us, but shall be sufficient for us at all times. Their way lay through many a weeping valley, so Baca signifies, that is (as others understand it), many watery valleys, which in wet weather, when the rain filled the pools, either through the rising of the waters or through the dirtiness of the way were impassable; but, by draining and trenching them, they made a road through them for the benefit of those who went up to Jerusalem. Care should be taken to keep those roads in repair that lead to church, as well as those that lead to market. But all this is intended to show, [1.] That they had a good will to the journey. When they were to attend the solemn feasts at Jerusalem, they would not be kept back by bad weather, or bad ways, nor make those an excuse for staying at home. Difficulties in the way of duty are designed to try our resolution; and he that observes the wind shall not sow. [2.] That they made the best of the way to Zion, contrived and took pains to mend it where it was bad, and bore, as well as they could, the inconveniences that could not be removed. Our way to heaven lies through a valley of Baca, but even that may be made a well if we make a due improvement of the comforts God has provided for the pilgrims to the heavenly city. (4.) They are such as are still pressing forward till they come to their journey's end at length, and do not take up short of it (Psalms 84:7; Psalms 84:7): They go from strength to strength; their company increases by the accession of more out of every town they pass through, till they become very numerous. Those that were near staid till those that were further off called on them, saying, Come, and let us go to the house of the Lord (Psalms 122:1; Psalms 122:2), that they might go together in a body, in token of their mutual love. Or the particular persons, instead of being fatigued with the tediousness of their journey and the difficulties they met with, the nearer they came to Jerusalem the more lively and cheerful they were, and so went on stronger and stronger,Job 17:9. Thus it is promised that those that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength,Isaiah 40:31. Even where they are weak, there they are strong. They go from virtue to virtue (so some); it is the same word that is used for the virtuous woman. Those that press forward in their Christian course shall find God adding grace to their graces, John 1:16. They shall be changed from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18), from one degree of glorious grace to another, till, at length, every one of them appears before God in Zion, to give glory to him and receive blessings from him. Note, Those who grow in grace shall, at last, be perfect in glory. The Chaldee reads it, They go from the house of the sanctuary to the house of doctrine; and the pains which they have taken about the law shall appear before God, whose majesty dwells in Zion. We must go from one duty to another, from prayer to the word, from practising what we have learned to learn more; and, if we do this, the benefit of it will appear, to God's glory and our own everlasting comfort.