John Calvin Commentary Psalms 27:4

"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)

One thing have I desired. Some consider this a prophecy of the perpetuity of David’s kingdom, on which not only his own personal happiness depended, but also the happiness of his whole people; as if he had said, "I am so well contented with this singular proof of God’s favor, that I can think of nothing else night and day."

In my opinion, however, it seems a simpler interpretation to view the words as meaning that although David was banished from his country, deprived of his wife, bereft of his relatives, and, in short, dispossessed of his possessions, yet he was not as eager for the recovery of these things as he was grieved and afflicted by his banishment from God’s sanctuary and the loss of his sacred privileges.

Under the word one, there is an implied antithesis, in which David, disregarding all other interests, displays his intense affection for the service of God, so that it was more bitter to him to be an exile from the sanctuary than to be denied access to his own house. Therefore, David's desire for only one thing—namely, to dwell in the house of the Lord—must be understood as a single, focused longing. For there is no probability that he means by this some secret wish which he suppressed, since he distinctly proclaims what it was that chiefly troubled him. He also adds steadiness of purpose, declaring that he will not cease to reiterate these prayers. Many may be seen initially driven by great impetuosity, whose ardor, over time, not only languishes but is almost immediately extinguished. By declaring, therefore, that he would persevere in this wish throughout his whole life, he thus distinguishes himself from hypocrites.

We must, however, observe what motive so powerfully stimulated David. "Surely," some may say, "he could have called on God beyond the precincts of the temple. Wherever he wandered as an exile, he carried with him the precious promise of God, so that he did not need to place such great value on the sight of the external edifice. He appears, through some crude notion, to suppose that God could be confined by wood and stones."

But if we examine the words more carefully, it will be easy to see that his object was altogether different from a mere sight of the noble building and its ornaments, however costly. He speaks, indeed, of the beauty of the temple, but he places that beauty not so much in the beauty visible to the eye, as in its being the celestial pattern that was shown to Moses, as it is written in Exodus 25:40:

And look that thou make them after this pattern which was showed thee in the mount.

Since the design of the temple was not framed by human wisdom but was an image of spiritual things, the prophet directed his eyes and all his affections to this. Therefore, the madness of those who twist this passage to support pictures and images is truly detestable; these, instead of deserving to be numbered among temple ornaments, are more like dung and filth, defiling all the purity of holy things.

We should now consider whether the faithful are to be like-minded under the Christian or Gospel dispensation. I admit, indeed, that we are in very different circumstances from the ancient fathers. However, insofar as God still preserves his people under a certain external order and draws them to him by earthly instructions, temples still have their beauty, which deservedly should draw the affections and desires of the faithful to them. The Word, sacraments, public prayers, and other similar aids cannot be neglected without a wicked contempt of God, who reveals himself to us in these ordinances as in a mirror or image.