Psalms 84:12

8-12 In all our addresses to God, we must desire that he would look on Christ, his Anointed One, and accept us for his sake: we must look to Him with faith, and then God will with favour look upon the face of the Anointed: we, without him, dare not show our faces. The psalmist pleads love to God's ordinances. Let us account one day in God's courts better than a thousand spent elsewhere; and deem the meanest place in his service preferable to the highest earthly preferment. We are here in darkness, but if God be our God, he will be to us a Sun, to enlighten and enliven us, to guide and direct us. We are here in danger, but he will be to us a Shield, to secure us from the fiery darts that fly thick about us. Through he has not promised to give riches and dignities, he has promised to give grace and glory to all that seek them in his appointed way. And what is grace, but heaven begun below...

O LORD OF HOSTS, BLESSED IS THE MAN THAT TRUSTETH IN THEE - Blessed in every respect. His lot is a happy one; happy in thy friendship; happy in being permitted to worship thee; happy in the blessings which religion scatters along his path here; happy in thy sustaining grace in times of trial; happy in the support given in the hour of death; happy in the eternity to which he is going. Oh that all men would try it, and experience in their own souls the happiness - the real, genuine, deep, permanent joy - of trusting in God; of believing that there is a God; of confiding in his character; of leaning on him in every situation in life; of relying on his mercy, his grace, and his faithfulness, in the hour of death!...

EXPOSITION This psalm, attributed (see title) to the "sons of Korah," or the Korahite Levites (see 1 Chronicles 26:1; 2 Chronicles 20:19), describes the blessedness of their position as dwellers in the house of God, and keepers of its thresholds. Its date is uncertain, but must fall earlier than the Captivity, since the temple is standing (Psalms 84:1, Psalms 84:10), and there is an anointed king upon the throne (Psalms 84:9). The psalm falls into three equal stanzas or strophes, each of four verses, the ends of th

O LORD OF HOSTS, BLESSED IS THE MAN THAT TRUSTETH IN THEE,.... For grace and glory, and every good thing; that trusts in the Lord at all times, and not in the creature, or in an arm of flesh; but in the Lord of hosts and armies, in whom is everlasting strength, and is the sun and shield of his people: happy are such that trust in him, whether they have ability or opportunity of going up to the house of the Lord, or not; they are happy that have and make use thereof, and so are they that trust in the Lord, whether they have or not; they are safe, being as Mount Zion, which can never be removed; and do and shall enjoy perfect peace and solid comfort here, and eternal happiness hereafter; see Jeremiah 17:5. The Targum is, "blessed is the man that trusteth in thy Word;'' in Christ, the essential Word....

To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm for the sons of Korah. It is thought, by some interpreters, that Gittith signifies the winepress. They must have been a very godly people who sang such songs as this in the time of the treading out of the grapes. Oh, that the day were come when the common places of our ordinary industries should be sanctified by psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs! Alas, at the winepress, men too often sing loose and lascivious songs; but these ancient people of God did not so. This Psalm is a song to the chief musician, and it is mainly concerning the house of God and the pilgrimage to it. Every sacred song should be sung at its best, we should call out the chief musician in every hymn that is dedicated to the service of the Lord. «To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm for the sons of Korah.» I have often reminded you that these sons of Korah owed th...

PSALM 84-89 Psalms 84 In View of the Sanctuary _ 1. Heart longings (Psalms 84:1)_ 2. In the sanctuary (Psalms 84:8) The two next Psalms are of the sons of Korah, who themselves are monuments of saving grace. (They were saved from the fate of Korah; see Numbers 26:10 .) In these precious outpourings of the heart for the sanctuary of the Lord, we read prophetically the heart longings of the remnant of Israel. They are not yet in possession of the fullest blessings but look forward now to an early realization of all their hopes of being at His altars again. And all they long for will be their happy and l

LXXXIV. A PILGRIM PSALM. Psalms 84:3. sparrow (rather little bird generally) and SWALLOW are metaphorical for pious Jewish pilgrims. As the birds find their nests and homes, so the Jew, worthy of the name, finds his rest and joy in proximity to the altars of his God. Altars may be a poetical plural, like holy places in Psalms 68:35 (_cf._ especially Psalms 132:5; Psalms 132:7). To take the words as if they meant that the birds in the literal sense found a home at the altar would involve manifest absurdity. The swallow still haunts the temple-mosque at Jerusalem, but an altar with its crowd of worshippers and its sacrifices

TRUSTETH. places his confidence. Hebrew. _batah._ App-69. TO THE CHIEF MUSICIAN. App-64....

The pilgrims" prayer, and the ground of their confidence....

PSALMS 84 DESCRIPTIVE TITLE The Longing of a Levite for the Habitations of Jehovah in Zion, with Inspiring Memories of a Past Pilgrimage and Exultant Joy in Renewed Service. ANALYSIS Stanza I., Psalms 84:1-4, In the Intense Longing of his soul, the Psalmist Draws a Picture from Memory of the Joyous Scene in the Temple Courts, where Birds and Men Evermore Offer Praise. Stanza II., Psalms 84:5-9, He traces a Pilgrim Journey Zionwards; recalling the Cheer by the Way, the Growing Enthusiasm, the Final Hope, and the Impassioned Prayer for the King. Stanza III., Psalms 84:10-12, Renewed Experience of his Lev