John Calvin Commentary Psalms 84:8

"O Jehovah God of hosts, hear my prayer; Give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah" — Psalms 84:8 (ASV)

O Jehovah, God of Hosts! hear my prayer. David, instead of acting like worldly men, who foolishly and unprofitably distress and torment themselves by inwardly cherishing their desires, very wisely directs his wishes and prayers to God. From this it is also evident that he was not accustomed to indulge in ostentatious boasting, as is the case with many hypocrites, who outwardly display a wonderful, fervent zeal, while the omniscient eye of God sees nothing but coldness in their hearts.

In the first place, he generally implores that God would be pleased to hear him. He next anticipates a temptation that might quite readily arise from his being, at present, apparently cut off from the Church, and he counters it by associating and ranking himself with all true believers under the protection of God.

Had he not been a member of the Church, he could not have said generally, and as it were, on behalf of all its members, Our shield. Having made this statement, he uses language still more expressive of high privilege, citing the royal anointing with which God had honored him by the hand of Samuel (1 Samuel 16:12).

These words, Look upon the face of thy anointed, are very emphatic, and yet many interpreters pass over them very coldly. He encourages himself in the hope of obtaining God’s favor from the fact that he had been anointed king in compliance with a divine command. Knowing, however, that his kingdom was merely a shadow and type of something more illustrious, there is no doubt that in uttering these words, what he aspired to was to obtain divine favor through the intervention of the Mediator, of whom he himself was a type.

“I am personally unworthy,” as if he had said, “that you should restore me, but the anointing by which you have made me a type of the only Redeemer will secure this blessing for me.” We are thus taught that the only way in which God becomes reconciled to us is through the mediation of Christ, whose presence scatters and dissipates all the dark clouds of our sins.