Psalm 84:4

Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee. Selah.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Psalm 84:4. Blessed, &c. — “Here the metaphor is dropped, and the former sentiment expressed in plain language;” are they that dwell in thy house — That constantly abide in, or frequently resort to, thy house; intending either the priests and Levites, who kept constant watch there; or such devout Jews as Anna, Luke 2:37, who were there continually. They will be still praising thee — They are constantly employed in that blessed and glorious work, of praising and serving thee, in the place which thou hast appointed for that end. Observe, reader, “Blessed are, not the mighty and opulent of the earth, but they that dwell in God’s house, the ministers of the eternal temple in heaven, the angels and the spirits of just men made perfect; their every passion is resolved into love, every duty into praise; hallelujah succeeds hallelujah; they are still, for ever, praising thee. And blessed, next to them, are those ministers and members of the church here below, who, in disposition, as well as employment, do most resemble them.” — Horne.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

84:1-7 The ordinances of God are the believer's solace in this evil world; in them he enjoys the presence of the living God: this causes him to regret his absence from them. They are to his soul as the nest to the bird. Yet they are only an earnest of the happiness of heaven; but how can men desire to enter that holy habitation, who complain of Divine ordinances as wearisome? Those are truly happy, who go forth, and go on in the exercise of religion, in the strength of the grace of Jesus Christ, from whom all our sufficiency is. The pilgrims to the heavenly city may have to pass through many a valley of weeping, and many a thirsty desert; but wells of salvation shall be opened for them, and consolations sent for their support. Those that press forward in their Christian course, shall find God add grace to their graces. And those who grow in grace, shall be perfect in glory.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Blessed are they that dwell in thy 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 here spoken of as a blessed, or as a happy lot, in contradistinction from those who had only the opportunity of occasionally going up to worship. Compare the notes at Psalm 65:4.

They will be still praising thee - 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

(a) 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

(b) there will be 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 thee for ages of ages;" that is, forever.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

4. This view is favored by the language here, which, as in Ps 15:1; 23:6, recognizes the blessing of membership in God's family by terms denoting a dwelling in His house.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

They that constantly or frequently resort to and abide in thy house; either the priests and Levites, who kept continual watch there; or other devout Jews who were there perpetually, as Anna, Luke 2:37. For they are continually employed in that blessed and glorious work of praising and serving thee in the place which thou hast appointed for that end.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Blessed are they that dwell in thy house,.... The house of God, in his tabernacles and courts; referring to the priests and Levites, who were frequently officiating there, in their turns, night and day; and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Gibeon, where the ark and tabernacle were, who had frequent opportunities of attendance on divine worship: and happy are those who have a name and place in the church of God, who abide there, and never go out; see Psalm 65:4, the Targum is,

"blessed are the righteous, &c.''

and the Arabic version, "blessed are all they that dwell, &c", they are happy on account of their settlement, and also on account of their work, as follows:

they will be still praising thee; which is delightful employment; for praise is pleasant and comely; and in which they are continually and constantly engaged, as their mercies return upon them, as they do every day; and especially on Lord's days, or at the stated times of public worship; such will bless and praise the Lord, both for temporal and spiritual blessings, as long as they live; see Hebrews 13:15.

Selah. See Gill on Psalm 3:2.

Geneva Study Bible

Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee. Selah.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

4. Blessed] Or, happy, as in Psalm 1:1; and so in Psalm 84:5; Psalm 84:12. Not those who are “of the household of God” in the wider sense (Psalm 23:6; Psalm 27:4; cp. Ephesians 2:19), but the actual ministers of the Temple appear to be meant. They can be still, i.e. again and again, raising their Hallelujahs.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 4. - Blessed are they that dwell in thy house. As the Korahite Levites did, being "keepers of the gates" of the Lord's house (1 Chronicles 9:19; 1 Chronicles 26:1). They will be still praising thee. It is their privilege to be always praising thee. "The speaker regards the temple as predominantly the house of praise" (Cheyne). Psalm 84:4

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

How loved and lovely (ידידות) is the sacred dwelling-place (plur. as in Psalm 43:3) of the all-commanding, redemptive God, viz., His dwelling-place here below upon Zion! Thither the poet is drawn by the deeply inward yearning of love, which makes him pale (נכסף from כּסף, to grow pale, Psalm 17:12) and consumes him (כּלה as in Job 19:27). His heart and flesh joyfully salute the living God dwelling there, who, as a never-failing spring, quenches the thirst of the soul (Psalm 42:3); the joy that he feels when he throws himself back in spirit into the long-denied delight takes possession even of his bodily nature, the bitter-sweet pain of longing completely fills him (Psalm 63:2). The mention of the "courts" (with the exception of the Davidic Psalm 65:5, occurring only in the anonymous Psalms) does not preclude the reference of the Psalm to the tent-temple on Zion. The Tabernacle certainly had only one חצר; the arrangement of the Davidic tent-temple, however, is indeed unknown to us, and, according to reliable traces,

(Note: Vid., Knobel on Exodus, S. 253-257, especially S. 255.)

it may be well assumed that it was more gorgeous and more spacious than the old Tabernacle which remained in Gibeon. In Psalm 84:4 the preference must be given to that explanation which makes את־מזבּחותיך dependent upon מצאה, without being obliged to supply an intermediate thought like בּית (with hardening Dagesh like בּן, Genesis 19:38, vid., the rule at Psalm 52:5) and קן as a more definite statement of the object which the poet has in view. The altars, therefore, or (what this is meant to say without any need for taking את as a preposition) the realm, province of the altars of Jahve - this is the house, this the nest which sparrow and swallow have found for themselves and their young. The poet thereby only indirectly says, that birds have built themselves nests on the Temple-house, without giving any occasion for the discussion whether this has taken place in reality. By the bird that has found a comfortable snug home on the place of the altars of Jahve in the Temple-court and in the Temple-house, he means himself. צפּור (from צפר) is a general name for whistling, twittering birds, like the finch

(Note: Vid., Tobler, Denkbltter aus Jerusalem, 1853, S. 117.)

and the sparrow, just as the lxx here renders it. דּרור is not the turtle-dove (lxx, Targum, and Syriac), but the swallow, which is frequently called even in the Talmud צפור דרור ( equals סנוּנית), and appears to take its name from its straightforward darting, as it were, radiating flight (cf. Arabic jadurru of the horse: it darts straight forward). Saadia renders dûrı̂je, which is the name of the sparrow in Palestine and Syria (vid., Wetzstein's Excursus I). After the poet has said that his whole longing goes forth towards the sanctuary, he adds that it could not possibly be otherwise (גּם standing at the head of the clause and belonging to the whole sentence, as e.g., in Isaiah 30:33; Ewald, 352, b): he, the sparrow, the swallow, has found a house, a nest, viz., the altars of Jahve of Hosts, his King and his God (Psalm 44:5; Psalm 45:7), who gloriously and inaccessibly protects him, and to whom he unites himself with most heartfelt and believing love. The addition "where (אשׁר as in Psalm 95:9; Numbers 20:13) she layeth her young," is not without its significance. One is here reminded of the fact, that at the time of the second Temple the sons of the priests were called פּרחי כהנּה, and the Levite poet means himself together with his family; God's altars secure to them shelter and sustenance. How happy, blessed, therefore, are those who enjoy this good fortune, which he now longs for again with pain in a strange country, viz., to be able to make his home in the house of such an adorable and gracious God! עוד here signifies, not "constantly" (Genesis 46:29), for which תּמיד would have been used, but "yet," as in Psalm 42:6. The relation of Psalm 84:5 to Psalm 84:5 is therefore like Psalm 41:2. The present is dark, but it will come to pass even yet that the inmates of God's house (οἰκεῖοι τοῦ Θεοῦ, Ephesians 2:10) will praise Him as their Helper. The music here strikes in, anticipating this praise.