Psalms 84:9

Behold, O God our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed. BEHOLD, O GOD OUR SHIELD. In the Hebrew, "our shield" stands first for emphasis: all our hope of being shielded from the foe rests on thee: "behold," therefore, all the circumstances of our case, David uses the plural "our," not my, to imply that his people's safety is involved in his. AND LOOK UPON THE FACE OF THINE ANOINTED - (cf. ; ). In looking upon the face of God's Anointed Son, the Father becomes "our shield" from Satan and all evil....

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...

Verse Psalms 84:9. _BEHOLD, O GOD, OUR SHIELD_] We have no Protector but thee. Thou seest the deadly blows that are aimed at us; cover our souls; protect our lives! _LOOK UPON THE FACE OF THINE ANOINTED._] Consider the supplications sent up by him whom thou hast appointed to be Mediator between thee and man-thy _Christ_. But some apply this to _David_, to _Zerubbabel_, to the _people of Israel_; and each has his reasons....

BEHOLD, O GOD OUR SHIELD - Our defense, as a shield is a defense in the day of battle. Compare Psalms 5:12, note; Psalms 18:2, note; Psalms 33:20, note. It is an appeal to God as a protector. The psalmist was an exile - a wanderer - and he looked to God as his defense. AND LOOK UPON THE FACE OF THINE ANOINTED - Look favorably upon; look with benignity and kindness. The word anointed here is the word “Messiah” - משׁיח _mâshı̂yach_ (Greek, Χριστός _Christos_, “Christ”; see the notes at M

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

BEHOLD, O GOD OUR SHIELD,.... Which may be considered either as the character of God, who is addressed, who was David's shield, and the shield of his people, to protect and defend them from their enemies, and is the shield of all the saints; this favour encompasses them as a shield, and his truth is their shield and buckler; his veracity and faithfulness, in keeping covenant and promises; and so is his power, by which they are kept unto salvation; see Psalms 3:3, or else it belongs to other persons and things the psalmist desires God would behold, in agreement with the following clause. Jarchi interprets it of the house of the sanctuary, as a shield unto them; much better Aben Ezra of the king their protector; and makes the sense of the petition to be, that God would save our king; it is best to apply it to Christ, afterwards called a sun and shield; see on...

A Psalm for the sons of Korah. You remember how Korah, Dathan, and Abiram were destroyed because of their rebellion against the Lord, and their revolt against his chosen servant, Moses and Aaron, and you, no doubt, recollect how it is recorded that «the children of Korah died not.» Why they were spared, we cannot tell, except that it was an act of sovereign grace; and if so, I can understand why they were afterwards selected to be among the chief singers in the house of the Lord, for who can sing so sweetly to the God of grace as the men who have been saved by his sovereign, distinguishing grace This Psalm is «for (or, of) the sons of Korah.» «Who can praise the blessed God, Like a sinner saved by grace? Angels cannot sing so loud, Though they see him face to face; Sinless angels ne'er can know What a debt saved sinners owe.»...

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

SHIELD: i.e. God's provision in Messiah. He is our Shield (Genesis 15:1). Faith's shield (Ephesians 6:16). This shield includes: (1) Favour (Psalms 5:12); (2) Salvation (Psalms 18:35); (3) Truth (Psalms 91:4). And "Favour" includes Life (Psalms 30:5); Mercy (Isaiah 60:10); Preservation (Psalms 86:2); Security ...