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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Psalms 27:4 - 27:4
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There is only one thing, that he desires, although he also has besides full satisfaction in Jahve in the midst of strangers and in trouble. The future is used side by side with the perfect in Psa 27:4, in order to express an ardent longing which extends out of the past into the future, and therefore runs through his whole life. The one thing sought is unfolded in שִׁבְתִּי וגו. A life-long dwelling in the house of Jahve, that is to say intimate spiritual intercourse with the God, who has His dwelling (בית), His palace (היכל) in the holy tent, is the one desire of David's heart, in order that he may behold and feast upon (חָזָה בְּ of a clinging, lingering, chained gaze, and consequently a more significant form of expression than חָזָה with an accusative, Psa 63:3) נֹעַם ה (Psa 90:17), the pleasantness (or gracefulness) of Jahve, i.e., His revelation, full of grace, which is there visible to the eye of the spirit. The interpretation which regards amaenitas as being equivalent to amaenus cultus takes hold of the idea from the wrong side. The assertion that בִּקֵּר בְּ is intended as a synonym of חָזָה בְּ, of a pleased and lingering contemplation (Hupf., Hitz.), is contrary to the meaning of the verb, which signifies “to examine (with לְ to seek or spie about after anything, Lev 13:36), to reflect on, or consider;” even the post-biblical signification to visit, more especially the sick (whence בִּקּוּר הֹלִים), comes from the primary meaning investigare. An appropriate sense may be obtained in the present instance by regarding it as a denominative from בֹּקֶשׁ and rendering it as Dunash and Rashi have done, “and to appear early in His temple;” but it is unnecessary to depart from the general usage of the language. Hengstenberg rightly retains the signification “to meditate on.” בְּהֵיכָלֹו is a designation of the place consecrated to devotion, and לְבַקֵּר is meant to refer to contemplative meditation that loses itself in God who is there manifest. In Psa 27:5 David bases the justification of his desire upon that which the sanctuary of God is to him; the futures affirm what Jahve will provide for him in His sanctuary. It is a refuge in which he may hide himself, where Jahve takes good care of him who takes refuge therein from the storms of trouble that rage outside: there he is far removed from all dangers, he is lifted high above them and his feet are upon rocky ground. The Chethîb may be read בְּסֻכָּה, as in Psa 31:21 and with Ewald §257, d; but, in this passage, with אֹהֶל alternates סֹךְ, which takes the place of סֻכָּה in the poetic style (Psa 76:3; Lam 2:6), though it does not do so by itself, but always with a suffix.
(Note: Just in like manner they say in poetic style צֵידָהּ, Psa 132:15; פִּנָּהּ, Pro 7:8; מִדָּה, Job 11:9; גֻּלָּהּ, Zec 4:2; and perhaps even נִצָּהּ, Gen 40:10; for צֵידָתָהּ, פִּנָּתָהּ, מִדָּתָהּ, גֻּלָּתָהּ, and נִצָּתָהּ; as, in general, shorter forms are sometimes found in the inflexion, which do not occur in the corresponding principal form, e.g., צוּרָם, Psa 49:15, for צוּרָתָם; מְגוּרָם, Psa 55:16, for מְגוּרָתָם; בְּעָרְמָם, Job 5:13, for בְּעָרְמָתָם; בִּתְבוּנָם, Hos 13:2, for בִּתְבוּנָתָם; פֶּחָם; Neh 5:14, for פֶּחָתָם; cf. Hitzig on Hos 13:2, and Böttcher's Neue Aehrenlese, No. 693.)