Psalm 84 Commentary by Dennis Edwards
Some commentators believe David is the author of the
psalm and point to the similarities to Psalm 42 and Psalm 43. Others believe it
was written later by the sons of Korah. If David wrote the Psalm, it may have
been written at the time of Absalom’s rebellion, when David had to flee
Jerusalem and leave behind the Tabernacle of the Lord.
Psalm 84:1-3 How
amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of
hosts! My soul longs, yea, even faints for the courts of the Lord: my heart and my flesh cry
out for the living God. Yea, the sparrow hath found a house, and the swallow a
nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King,
and my God.
As in Psalm 42, where his
heart is panting and thirsting for God, the author is longing and fainting to
be in God’s presence once again. The tabernacle represented being in the
presence of God, as the Holy Spirit dwelt within the tabernacle. The author
cries out for that place of sanctuary that he experienced in the tabernacle. He
cries out for that place of rest that his heart and mind have experienced
before and need once more. He uses the imagery of the swallow nesting and
caring for her chicks to symbolise the rest and peace we find in God’s
presence.
Jesus Himself has said,
“Come unto Me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.
Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me for I am meek and lowly of heart, and ye
shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and My burden is light,”
Matthew 11:28-30. Jesus is the tabernacle in which dwells the presence of God.
In Him we find rest, peace, and protection.
Psalm 84:4 Blessed are
they that dwell in thy house: they will be still (or continually) praising Thee.
Selah.
Apostle Paul tells us
that in everything we should give thanks for it is God’s will we praise Him
continually, 1 Thessalonians 5:18. The author of Psalm 84 is longing for the
pleasant times he had in the tabernacle praising God.
Psalm 84:5 Blessed is the
man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them.
Happy is the man who has
the Lord as his strength. In Jeremiah 17:5 we read, “Cursed be the man that
trusts in man, and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from the Lord.”
Psalm 118:8, which some have stated is the middle verse of the Bible states
likewise: “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.” In
1 Samuel 2:9b we find, “For by strength shall no man prevail.”
It is not by our own
strength that we will prevail but through Christ which strengthens us. For we
are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. “Not by might, nor by
power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord,” Zechariah 4:6b. “Some trust in
chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the Lord our
God,” Psalm 20:7. “For the name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous
run into it and are safe,” Proverbs 18:10. It is because we wait upon the Lord
in prayer and thanksgiving that we are able to mount up with wings like eagles,
that we are able to run and not be weary, and walk and not faint, Isaiah 40:31.
Psalm 84:6 Who passing
through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also fills the pools.
The valley of Baca
signifies a valley of weeping, or a time of testing, tribulation, or dryness of
spirit and soul. When we pass through such a valley during our pilgrimage of
life, if we draw nigh to the Lord in that moment of affliction, He promises to
be with us and turn that valley of weeping into one of rejoicing. “He has
turned my mourning into dancing. Though weeping may endure for a night, joy
comes in the morning,” Psalm 30:11&5b.
In Hebrews 12:11 we read, “Now no chastening, (or
valley of weeping), at the moment seems to be joyous, but grievous:
nevertheless afterward, (as we yield to the Lord and draw closer to Him as a
result of the “chastening”, whatever it may be), it yields the peaceable fruit
of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.”
Our valley of Baca, or
valley of weeping, is what God wants to use to transform our hearts and lives,
that we may be more useful vessels in His hands. In Ezekiel 36:26, we see the
goal that God has for us: “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit
will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh,
and I will give you a heart of flesh.”
God wants to transform
our hearts. It’s not instantaneous, though we may experience a momentary transformation
when we were initially saved or had our God experience, or were filled with the
Holy Ghost. But afterwards, it’s a slow process where God refines us in the
refining fires of tribulation that He allows in our lives.
In James 1:2-4 we find, “My
brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this,
that the trying of your faith works patience. But let patience have her perfect
work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”
Apostle Peter makes the
same point that it is a process. In 2 Peter 1:5-7 we read, “And beside this,
giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to
knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness love.”
We who follow God are in
a process of sanctification. We need to put off the old self and be renewed in
our minds and put on the new self, being recreated in the likeness of God,
Ephesians 4:20-24. Apostle Paul goes on to say that we should “not be conformed
to this world: but be transformed by the renewing of our minds, that we may
prove (or demonstrate) what is the good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of
God,” Romans 12:2.
Psalm 84:7 They go from
strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appears before God.
We that trust in the
Lord, that abide in Him, will get stronger and stronger in the Lord. As our
outward man perishes our inward man is renewed day by day. Those light
afflictions which we endure for a moment work in us an eternal weight of glory.
We look not on the things that are seen, but on the things that are not seen, 2
Corinthians 4:16-18. We desire a better country than the earthy, a heavenly:
wherefore God is not ashamed to be called our God: for He has prepared for us a
city, cut out without hands in the heavenly dimension, Hebrews 11:16.
Psalm 84:8 O Lord God of hosts, hear
my prayer: give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah.
We want God to hear our
prayers. We remind Him in prayer, that He has said He will hear our prayers and
respond. “If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves,
and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear
from heaven, and I will forgive their sin, and will heal their land,” 2
Chronicles 7:14. “Call upon Me, and I will answer you,” Jeremiah 33:3.
Psalm 84:9 Behold,
O God our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed.
God is a shield for His
people. We are reminded of Psalm 91, the Psalm of protection, that we abide
under the shadow of the Almighty. “He covers us with His feathers, and under
His wings shall we trust; His truth shall be our shield and armour,” Psalm
91:4.
Psalm 84:10 For a day in
thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house
of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
A day in God’s presence
is better than a thousand living in the lust of the eyes, the lust of the
flesh, and in the pride of life. For the world and its lusts shall pass away,
but he that does the will of God shall abide with Him forever, 1 John 2:17.
Psalm 84:11 For the Lord God is a sun and
shield: the Lord will
give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk
uprightly.
“For eye has not seen,
nor ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man the things that God
has prepared for them that love Him,” 1 Corinthians 2:9. “In My Father’s house
are many mansions … I go to prepare a place for you … that where I am, there
you may be also,” John 14:2-3. “And God shall wipe away all tears from their
eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, neither crying, neither
shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away,”
Revelation 20:4.
Psalm 84:12 O Lord of hosts, blessed
is the man that trusts in thee.
Blessed, or happy and
contented is the man that trusts in God. As Solomon concluded, “Let us hear the
conclusion of the whole matter: fear God and keep His commandments for this is
the whole duty of God,” Ecclesiastes 12:13. Or as we see in Psalm 144:15,
“Happy is that people, that is in such a case, (that have no complaining in
their streets, but only thanksgiving and praise): yea, happy is that people,
whose God is the Lord.”
Published September 18, 2026
