Charles Ellicott Commentary


Charles Ellicott Commentary
"One thing have I asked of Jehovah, that will I seek after; That I may dwell in the house of Jehovah all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of Jehovah, And to inquire in his temple." — Psalms 27:4 (ASV)
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.”