Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 27

The Lord is my light. —This noble thought appears nowhere else so grandly, though we may compare Isaiah 60:1. The Latin of the Vulgate, “Dominus illuminatio mea,” is the motto of the University of Oxford, and expands in a new but true direction the thought of the ancient psalmist.

To him, Jehovah was the guiding and cheering beacon-fire, proclaiming his victory and showing him the happy homeward way. From this, the belief in God as the source of both moral and intellectual light represents a long but glorious progression, along which the world has been guided by such words as Isaiah 60:1, and even more by the recognition of the incarnate Son as the Light of men (John 1:5; John 3:19; John 12:46, and other passages).

Strength. —Better, defence or bulwark; Heb., maôz, rendered “rock,”Judges 6:26 (margin, strong place); used in Isaiah 17:9 of fortified cities; as here, Psalms 37:39; Psalms 43:2; Septuagint, “shields;” Vulgate, “protector.”

When ... —Literally, In the coming against me (of) the wicked to devour my flesh — my enemies and my foes to me — themselves stumbled and fell.Job 19:22 would allow us to understand "those who eat up flesh" as a figure for slanderers and detractors. However, the context indicates the situation so clearly as that of a warrior that we instead interpret it as a general metaphor for savage and violent attacks. To me, is an emphatic repetition—my enemies, mine.

Though a host. —Literally, Though a camp should encamp.

In this. —Either in this circumstance or in spite of this. . The Septuagint ἐν ταύτῃ, followed by μίαν in the next clause, seems to refer it to the hope about to be expressed. The Rabbinical commentators (e.g., Aben Ezra and Rashi) refer back to the beginning of the psalm. “In this”—namely, that Jehovah is my light—“do I trust.” Rosenmiiller refers it to “the battle” just mentioned, in ipsa pugna.

To behold the beauty. —Literally, to see into the favour — that is, to meditate on the graciousness of God.

To enquire ... —Literally, to look into, either judicially or critically; here, it means “to ponder or meditate.” Ewald, however, and others add, with the notion of pleasure, “refresh myself,” but on doubtful authority. Some Rabbis, connecting bâkar with boker, the morning, render it as, “to attend in the morning,” while some commentators would entirely spiritualise the wish, as if the actual attendance on the House of God were not in the poet’s thoughts. But the words breathe—only in an even higher key—the feeling of Milton’s well-known

“But let my due feet never fail
To walk the studious cloister’s pale,” etc.

A mere transposition of letters would give an easy sense, “to offer in your Temple.”

Pavilion. — A booth or hut; also of the lair of wild beasts (Psalms 10:9; Jeremiah 25:38). (Compare to Job 38:40.)

Secret of his tabernacle. — Better, hiding place of his tent (ôhel), the regular word for the tent of the congregation, but also used generally of a habitation of any kind—not necessarily of the tent set up for the ark by David at Zion (2 Samuel 6:17). The clause, He shall set me up upon a rock—that is, for safety—shows that the tent is also used figuratively for shelter; but there may also be a thought of the sure asylum to be found in the tabernacle of the congregation.