Sermon Tone Analysis

*PSALM 84  *

Derek Kidner gives the Psalm the title ‘The Pull of Home’.

‘Longing’, he says, ‘is written all over the Psalm’.

This eager and homesick man is one of the Korahite temple singers, and the mood of the Psalm is not unlike Psalms 42 and 43, which are a product of the same group.

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*INTRODUCTION *

*1.        **General *

*a.       **Expositors Bible Commentary *

This psalm contains a collage of diverse genres: hymn, prayer, lament, and a song of Zion.

As to the time of composition or original life-situation, it is equally difficult to come to an agreement.

The reference to the "anointed one" (v.

9) suggests that the psalm is preexilic.

Its setting may reflect a festive procession to Jerusalem during one of the festivals (see Th. Booij, "Royal Words in Psalm lxxxiv 11," VetTest 36 [1986]: 117-20).

The concern for the temple has suggested to others an exilic date (cf.

v. 10) when the temple was in ruins.

The structural elements reflect the variations in genres:

    A.

Longing for the Courts of the Lord Almighty (vv.

1-4)

        B.

The Blessing on the Pilgrims (vv.

5-7)

            C.

Prayer for God's Blessing on the King (vv.

8-9)

                D.

Hymnic Praise (vv.

10-11)

                    E.

The Blessing of God (v.

12)

*b.       **Derek Kidner *

Psalm 84 expresses the longing of a pilgrim for the joy of participation in the worship of temple courts of Yahweh.

It is a psalm for pilgrimage…festivals…

* Pilgrimages and festivals are concerned with the physical aspects of religion: journey, temple courts, feasting, liturgies, and fellowship with fellow pilgrims, etc.

* These physicals aspects have meaning because they bear spiritual realities with them.

The experiences of pilgrimages and festivals stay with the worshippers when they return to everyday life.

They have seen what they would never have seen had they stayed at home.

* Three times the Psalmist uses the word “blessed”: (i) once wistfully; (ii) once resolutely; and (iii) once in deep contentment.

These can be our guide to exploring the movement of the Psalm.

*2.        **The Sons of Korah *

The Psalm is “/a psalm for the sons of Korah/” [84:1].

* Korah was a great-grandson of Levi - “/Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi/…” [Num.16:1] - and was part of the rebellion against Moses in the wilderness [Num.16].

*a.       **The Role *

The Koharites appear in history with various functions:

* Levites and singers in the time of David (see קָרְחִי), to whom ten of the Psalms are ascribed, Ps. 42 (43)—49, 84, 85, 87, 88.

* They gathered together with the sword to David in Ziglag in order to defend him and his title to the throne: “/the Koharites separated themselves unto David into the stronghold of the wilderness men of might, men of war fit for the battle/…” [1Chr.12:6].

* They were keepers of the temple gates after the Exile: “/the Koharites were over the work of the service, keepers of the gates of the tabernacle/…” [1Chr.9:17].

*a.       **The Korahitic Psalms *

The distinguishing features of the Korahitic type of Psalm meet us in both Psalms [Psa.42 & Psa.43] in the most strong and vivid manner, viz., the being joyous and weeping with God’s anointed, the praise of God the King, and the yearning after the services in the holy place.

And there are, it is true, thoughts that have been coined by David which we here and there distinctly hear in them (cf.

Psa.

42: 2 f., 84: 3, with Psa.

63: 2); but they are reproduced with a characteristic beauty peculiar to the author himself.

We do not, therefore, in the least doubt that Psalm 42 is the poem of a Korahitic Levite, who found himself in exile beyond the Jordan among the attendants of David, his exiled king.

* This Psalm 84 breathes forth the same feelings, and even in other respects bears traces of the same author; Psa.

84: 3; 42: 3; Psa.

84: 2; 43: 3; 84: 4; 43: 4; and the similar use of Psa.

84: 5; 42: 6, cf.

Isa.

49:20, Jer.

32:15.

*3.        **The Context *

Zion appears only once in the Psalm but it reflects a longing for festival worship in Jerusalem and the pilgrimage of worshippers to the autumn festival.

* The great autumn festival is at hand.

The long year’s toil in the field and vineyard is over, the produce of the land is gathered in, and the cycle is about to begin once more with ritual and state ceremony.

* The ground is parched, and all the wadis are dry, but the summer is nearly at an end, and almost before the feast is over the autumn rains may be expected, to soften the earth and make it once more fit for husbandry.

* From every village in the country comes a train of pilgrims and as they draw near to their journey’s end they sing a song like this.

*a.       **Feast of Tabernacles?

*

The Psalm belongs to a sequence of Psalms, the Korah Collection, which express a longing to be worshipping God in his temple, and which seem to have been intended for people travelling to Jerusalem for one of the great festivals, most likely the Feast of Tabernacles.

* For an occasion like Tabernacles, people would set out on pilgrimage from every part of the country.

Their own homes might be a long way from God’s home in Zion, but they had every intention of getting there, and our Psalm reads as if the author would have been among them (BST).

*Summary*

It is a thoroughly heartfelt and intelligent expression of the love to the sanctuary of Yahweh which yearns towards it out of the distance, and calls all those happy who have the like good fortune to have their home there.

* And wherefore should he not do so, since with him a new era for the neglected sanctuary had dawned, and the delightful services of the Lord had taken a new start, and one so rich in song?

With him he shares both joy and brief.

With his future he indissolubly unites his own.

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*THE DISTANT HOME *

*1.        **The Longing *

The Psalmist expresses a passion for the temple and the presence of Yahweh.

*a.       **The Tabernacles *

The preciousness of the tabernacle: “/how amiable are thy tabernacles/…” [84:1].

§  מַה־יְּדִיד֥וֹת - “/amiable/” [84:1], basic meaning is ‘one greatly loved’; ‘having an attractive appearance’; “/Now will I sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard/…” [Isa.5:1];

§  מַה - “/how/” [84:1], ‘an exclamation of amazed glorification’;

§  מִשְׁכְּנוֹתֶ֗יךָ - “/tabernacles/” [84:1], ‘tent’; ‘portable dwelling place of God’; the plural points to the multiple buildings of the temple area: “/let them bring me to thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles/” [Psa.43:3].

§  יְהוָ֥ה צְבָאֽוֹת - “/Lord/ /of/ /hosts/” [84:1], ‘hosts, divisions’; ‘Almighty God’;

*b.       **The Pining *

The pining of the Psalmist: “/my soul longs, yea, even faints/…” [84:2].

§  נִכְסְפָ֬ה - “/longs/” [84:2], niphal perfect, ‘yearn’; ‘have a strong feeling or desire for’; “Like as a lion that is greedy of his prey…” [Psa.17:12];

§  גַם־כָּלְתָ֨ה - “/faints/” [84:2], qal perfect, ‘to finish, complete’; ‘to wear out or fail’; “/I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I wait for my God/” [Psa.69:2];

§  לְחַצְר֪וֹת - “/courts/” [84:2], ‘courtyard’; ‘outward open area’;

*c.        **The Object of His Longing *

The object of the Psalmist’s desire: “/my heart and flesh cry out for the living God/” [84:2].

§  לִבִּ֥י - “/heart/” [84:2], ‘inner being’; ‘mind, will, affections’;

§  וּבְשָׂרִ֑י - “/flesh/” [84:2],

§  יְ֝רַנְּנ֗וּ - “/cry/ /out/” [84:2], ‘shout for joy’; ‘make a long public melody with the focus on joy’;

§  אֶ֣ל אֵֽל־חָֽי - “/living/ /God/” [84:2],

§  לְאֵ֪ל חָ֥י - “/living/” [Psa.42:2],

‘living in contrast to the pagan deities’ OR ‘living in the sense that God is the source of life’; in the present context the latter seems more likely;

*Application*

The Psalmist’s longing was in the light of spiritual and physical desires.

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*2.

**The Language of Love *

*a.       **The Longed-for Location  *

The Psalmist envies the birds: “/yea, the sparrow has found a house/…” [84:3].

§  צִפּ֨וֹר - “/sparrow/” [84:3], ‘birds’;

§  מָ֪צְאָה - “/found/” [84:3], qal perfect, ‘to discover, find out’;

§  בַ֡יִת - “/house/” [84:3], ‘dwelling place’;