Chapter Eighty-Three

The inscription attributes the psalm to the sons of Korah, Levites, in accord with which are found Ps 83:3 and Ps 83:11 verses, where the writer expresses a desire to be not in the sanctuary itself, where only priests had access, but in the court of the temple, the care of which lay with the Levites. The psalm indicates a forced separation from the temple together with the Levites and the anointed of God (Ps 83:10). By the latter one may mean the king, since from the time of the anointing of Saul to the throne the term “anointed” began to be predominantly applied to kings (1 Sam 12:3; 2 Sam 1:14; Ps 17:51). The king, according to the depiction of the psalm, is devout and belongs to the number of “those walking in integrity” (Ps 83:12). This king should be considered David, and the circumstances of the writing of the psalm – his flight from Jerusalem during persecutions from Absalom, when David was accompanied by Levites who loved him and sympathized with him. The latter understood well the condition of David in his separation from the tabernacle, which they depicted in the psalm. – “Upon the Gittith,” that is, an instrument borrowed from the Philistine city of Gath. The content of the psalm presents a depiction of the grave spiritual condition of a righteous person, forced to live outside the usual and beloved sphere of close communion with God in the place of His special presence, that is, in the tabernacle.

How lovely are Your dwelling places, O Lord, to which my soul strives and which are to me what a nest is to birds (2–4). Blessed are those who live in Your house or those who journey toward it, strengthening themselves as they approach Zion (5–8). Hear us, God, and look upon Your anointed. A single day in Your courts is better than a thousand outside them, for the Lord is a sun and shield bestowing good on the upright (9–13).

Psalm 83:2. How lovely are Your dwellings, O Lord of hosts! Psalm 83:3. My soul longs and even faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out to the living God. Psalm 83:4. Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself where she may lay her young, at Your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God! Psalm 83:5. Blessed are those who dwell in Your house: they will praise You continually. “How lovely are Your dwelling places” – how dear and pleasant to me are Your, O Lord, dwellings! By dwellings one means not only the sanctuary, but also the court of the temple with all its structures. I, says the writer, cry out in soul and body for them (“my soul longs”). I wish to be there where You, O Lord, dwell, and to rejoice in closeness to You. Just as a nest is a place of rest and protection for a bird, so the dwellings of the Lord are a place of rest for every suffering righteous person, where he may in worship, sacrifices, and prayer draw encouragement and strength.

Psalm 83:6. Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, and in whose heart are the paths directed toward You. Psalm 83:7. Passing through the valley of weeping, they make it a place of springs; also the rain covers it with blessings; Psalm 83:8. they go from strength to strength; they appear before God on Zion. But not deprived of blessing will be the one who draws his strength in You, even though he be far from the temple: from the valley of tears which is appointed to him by God, that is, from the place of his exile, he strives to go forth, to ascend the mountain on which stood the Ark of the Covenant, that is, Zion. Such sincere, heartfelt longing for the temple the Lord will bless: all the exiles will be strengthened and the Lord will appear to them in Zion, that is, they will be returned and their exile will end.

Psalm 83:11. For a single day in Your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. The awareness of separation from the temple, the impossibility of taking part in worship was felt so deeply by the exiles that they preferred “one day” in the tabernacle to a thousand outside it, they wished to be even the last, despised (“a doorkeeper in the house of God”), but only to be in the court of the temple, rather than to live among sinful people in an outwardly happy life.

Psalm 83:12. For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; He does not withhold good from those who walk in integrity. Psalm 83:13. O Lord of hosts! Blessed is the man who trusts in You! The writer is confident that his desire to return “to the courts of the Lord” will be fulfilled, because the Lord is “a sun and shield,” that is, He rewards (“bestows favor and honor”) “those who walk in integrity,” which these involuntary exiles were. The awareness of their innocence and the strength of their faith in God creates confidence in receiving protection, which is why the writer calls such people blessed, happy.