Psalm 84

Authorship

This Psalm was authored by the Korahites.

Outline

(This began as Wendland's Expository Outline, but may be adapted.)

I. The tabernacles of God. (1-3)

A. My soul longs and faints for His courts.

B. My heart and flesh cry out for the living God.

C. The sparrow has found a house there and the swallow a nest where she may lay her young.

(Probably wrote this when he saw the birds nesting outside the temple. A sparrow illustrates God’s care for his people. A swallow heralds the end of winter when it returns, symbolic of the “winters” of our lives.)

II. The valley of God: Blessed are those: (4-7)

A. Who dwell in Your house: they will be still praising thee.

B. Whose strength is in Thee: whose heart are the ways of them.

C. Who, when passing through the valley of Baca (sorrow) make it a well.

1. Rain fills the pools in the valley.

2. They go from strength to strength.

3. Every one of them appears before God in Zion.

III. The anointed of God. (8-10)

A. God hears his prayer.

B. God looks upon his face.

C. He would rather spend a day in the courts of the Lord than a thousand elsewhere.

D. He would rather be a door keeper in the house of God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.

IV. The blessings of God. (11-12)

A. He is sun and shield.

B. He gives grace and glory.

C. He withholds no good thing from those that walk uprightly.

D. He blesses those who trust in Him.