Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 84

How amiable - How much to be loved; how lovely. The word amiable is now used to denote a quality of mind or disposition—as gentle, affectionate, kind. The word used here, however, in the original, means rather dear, beloved—as a token of endearment. Compare the notes at the title to (Psalms 45:0). The idea here is that the place of public worship is dear to the heart, as a beloved friend, a child, a wife, is. There is a strong and tender love for it.

Are your tabernacles - Your dwelling-places. This word might be applied either to the tabernacle or the temple, or to any place where God was supposed to reside, or where his worship was celebrated. The plural form is used here probably because the tabernacle and the temple were divided into two parts or rooms, and each might be regarded as in a proper sense the dwelling-place of God. See the notes at (Matthew 21:12 and following).

O Lord of hosts! - Yahweh of hosts; Yahweh, controlling, ruling, guiding, marshalling all the armies of heaven and earth: compare the notes at (Isaiah 1:9); notes at (Psalms 24:10).

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 from there 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 contrast to idols, always spoken of as dead. .

Yes, the sparrow has found a house - A home; a place where she may abide, build her nest, and rear her young. The word used here, צפור tsippôr, is a name given to a bird from its chirping or twittering. It is rendered "sparrow" in (Leviticus 14:4, margin) and (Psalms 102:7); and is often rendered "bird" (Genesis 7:14; Genesis 15:10, and elsewhere), and "fowl" (Deuteronomy 4:17; Nehemiah 5:18, and elsewhere). It may denote a bird of any kind but is properly applied here to a sparrow, a species of bird very common and abundant in Palestine, a bird that finds its home especially about houses, barns, and similar places.

That sparrows would be likely to gather around the tabernacle and even the altar will not seem improbable, given their well-known habits. “The sparrows which flutter and twitter about dilapidated buildings at Jerusalem, and crevices of the city walls, are very numerous. In some of the more lonely streets they are so noisy as almost to overpower every other sound.

Their chirping is almost an articulate utterance of the Hebrew term (צפור tsippôr), which was used to designate that class of birds. It may be taken for granted that the sparrows are not less numerous in other places where they have similar means for obtaining shelter and building their nests. The sparrows, in their resort to houses and other such places, appear to be a privileged bird. Encouraged by such indulgence, they are not timid—they boldly frequent the haunts of people. The sight of this familiarity reminded me again and again of the passage in Psalm 84:3, where the pious Israelite, excluded from the privileges of the sanctuary, felt as if he could envy the lot of the birds, so much more favored than himself.” —Professor Hackett, “Illustrations of Scripture,” pp. 94, 95.

And the swallow a nest for herself - A place where it may make its nest. The word used here, דרור d^erôr, properly denotes swift flight, a wheeling or gyration; it is applied to birds that fly in circles or gyrations, and the name is thus appropriately given to the swallow. It occurs in this sense only here and in (Proverbs 26:2).

Where she may lay her young - Where she may place her young. The word here is not used in the sense in which we now apply “lay” when we speak of “laying” eggs. It means to place them, to make a home for them, and to arrange them.

Even your altars ... - The altars where you are worshipped. The idea here is that the sparrows and the swallows seemed to have a happy lot, to be in a condition to be envied. Even they might come freely to the place where God was worshipped—to the very altars—and make their home there undisturbed. How strongly in contrast with this was the condition of the wandering, exiled author of the psalm!

Blessed are they that dwell in your house—who are constantly there; whose permanent abode is there. The reference is to the priests and Levites—the ministers of religion—who had their permanent abode near the tabernacle and the temple, and who were wholly devoted to the sacred duties of religion. Their lot is described here as a blessed or happy one, in contrast to those who only had the opportunity of occasionally going up to worship. Compare the notes at Psalms 65:4.

They will be still praising you—They will do it constantly, as their daily employment. It will not be worship begun and ended, but worship continued—the regular business from day to day. Such will heaven be, and this will constitute its glory. There will be:

1. A permanent residence there: Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out (Revelation 3:12); and
2. The constant service of God, such a service that it may be described as perpetual praise.

The Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate render this, “They will praise you for ages of ages;” that is, forever.

Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee — Not merely are they blessed who dwell there permanently, but also the man whose heart is there; who feels that his strength is in God alone, who loves to go there when opportunity is given to him, treading his way to Zion. The idea is that all strength must come from God; that this Strength is to be obtained by waiting on him (compare the notes at Isaiah 40:31), and that, therefore, it is a privilege in this manner to wait on God. Compare Psalms 84:7.

In whose heart are the ways of them — literally, “The ways in their heart.” DeWette renders this, “Who thinks on the ways, or paths, to Jerusalem.” The word “ways” may refer either to the ways or paths that lead to the place of worship, or the ways to God and to heaven. As the allusion, however, is evidently to those who were accustomed to go up to the place of public worship, the meaning is that the man is blessed or happy whose heart is on those ways; who thinks on them; who makes preparation for going up; who purposes in this manner to go up to worship. The sense is weakened in our translation by the insertion of the words “of them.” The literal translation is better: “The ways, that is, the paths, the going up, the journey, to the place of public worship, are in their heart.” Their affections; their thoughts are there.

The word rendered ways, means commonly a raised way, a highway, but it may refer to any public path. It would be applicable to what we call a turnpike (road), as a way constructed for public use. The allusion is to the ways or paths by which the people commonly went up to the place of public worship; and the idea may be well expressed in the language of Watts:

“I love her gates, I love the road.”

The sentiment thus expressed finds a response in thousands of hearts: in the happiness—the peace—the joy—with which true worshippers go to the house of God.

In the mind of the writer of the psalm, this would have an additional beauty and attractiveness, being associated with the thought of the multitudes thronging that path—the groups, the companies, the families—that crowded the way to the place of public worship on their great festal occasions.