Psalm 27: Yahweh My Light and Salvation
A Psalm of David.
1 Yahweh is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? Yahweh is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? 2 When the wicked came against me to eat up my flesh, my enemies and foes, they stumbled and fell. 3 Though an army may encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war may rise against me, in this I will be confident.
4 One thing I have desired of Yahweh— that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of Yahweh all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of Yahweh, and to inquire in His temple.
“We shall do great injustice to this mystical aspiration of the Psalmist, if we degrade it to be the mere expression of a desire for unbroken residence in a material temple [which incidentally did not exist at the time that David wrote this. The tabernacle had been dissolved and only the ark of the covenant remained.] He was no sickly, sentimental seeker after cloistered seclusion. He knew the necessities and duties of life far better than in a cowardly way to wish to shirk them, in order that he might loiter in the temple, idle under the pretence of worship. Nor would the saying fit into the facts of the case if we gave it that low meaning, for no person had his residence in the temple. And what follows in the next verse would, on that hypothesis, be entirely inappropriate. ‘In the secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me.’ No one went into the secret place of the Most High, in the visible, material structure, except the high priest once a year. But this singer expects that his abode will be there always; and that, in the time of trouble, he can find refuge there.” (Alexander McLaren)
“Yahweh is my light’ - He is to me the source of light. That is, He guides and leads me. Darkness is the emblem of distress, trouble, perplexity, and sorrow; light is the emblem of the opposite of these. God furnished him such light that these troubles disappeared, and his way was bright and happy. ‘And my [eternal] salvation’ - That is, [it is] He [Who] saves or delivers me.” (Albert Barnes “Whom shall I fear?"
“‘Yahweh is the strength of my life — for the word ‘strength’ the ASV margin has stronghold; thus God is here recognized as the... Stronghold (or Fortress) of the believer. Martin Luther's great hymn, ‘A Mighty Fortress is our God,’ is founded upon this passage. In Romans 8:31, we have the New Testament elaboration of what is taught here. ‘If God be for us, who can be against us?’” (Burton Coffman) “‘Of whom shall I be afraid?’- “No one has power to take life away while He defends me.” (Albert Barnes) “He gives unto them eternal life, so that they have no reason to be afraid that they shall come short of heaven and happiness; nor need they fear them that kill the body and can do no more; nor any enemy whatever, who cannot reach their spiritual life, nor hurt that, nor hinder them of the enjoyment of eternal life.” (John Gill)
“‘When the wicked came against me to eat up my flesh,' that is to attempt to destroy me, 'my enemies and foes, they stumbled and fell.’ The Lord put stumbling blocks in their way, and retarded their march, and hindered them from executing their designs; and they fell into the hands of David, and were subdued under him, or fell by death; and these past instances of divine goodness the psalmist calls to mind, to keep up his heart and courage, and animate and strengthen him against the fears of men, of death and hell.” (John Gill)— that is, destruction in hell.
"Though an host - an ‘army;’ ‘should encamp against me,’ in battle array, or prepared for battle, ‘my heart shall not fear’ for God had shown Himself superior to the power of hostile armies, and the psalmist felt assured that he might confide in Him. ‘Though war should rise against me’ -… Though it should be proclaimed, and though all preparation should be made for it, I will not be afraid.” (Albert Barnes)—‘ in this will I be confident’ - that my Light and strength is Yahweh of [the Heavenly] hosts, who is pledged to the support of Israel of every age.
“‘One thing I have desired of Yahweh— that I will seek after: That I may dwell in the house of Yahweh all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of Yahweh, and to inquire in His temple.' A great many people say, ‘One thing have I desired,’ and fail in persistent continuousness of the desire. No man gets rights of residence in God’s house for a longer time than he continues to seek for them. The most advanced of us, and those that have longest been like Anna, who ‘departed not from the Temple,’ day nor night, will certainly eject ourselves unless, like the Psalmist, we use the verbs in both tenses, and say, ‘One thing have I desired . . . that will I seek after.’ John Bunyan saw that there was a back door to the lower regions close by the gates of the Celestial City. There may be men who have long lived beneath the shadow of the sanctuary, and at the last will be found outside the gates.
But the words of the text not only suggest, by the two tenses of the verbs, the continuity of the desire which is destined to be granted, but also by the two verbs themselves-desire and seek after-the necessity of uniting prayer and work. Many desires are unsatisfied because conduct does not correspond to desires. Many a prayer remains unanswered because its prayers never do anything to fulfil their prayers. I do not say they are hypocrites; certainly they are not consciously so, but I do say that there is a large measure of conventionality that means nothing, in the prayers of average Christian people for more holiness and likeness to Jesus Christ.
Dear friends! if we truly wish this desire of dwelling in the house of the Lord to be fulfilled, the day’s work must run in the same direction as the morning’s petition, and we must, like the Psalmist, say, ‘I have desired it of the Lord, so I, for my part, will seek after it.’ Then, whether or not we reach absolutely to the standard, which is none the less to be aimed at, though it seems beyond reach, we shall arrive nearer and nearer to it; and, God helping our weakness and increasing our strength, quickening us to ‘desire,’ and upholding us to ‘seek after,’ we may hope that, when the days of our life are past, we shall but remove into an Upper Chamber, more open to the sunrise and flooded with Light; and shall go no more out, but ‘dwell in the house of Yahweh forever.’” (Alexander McLaren)
5 For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; in the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a Rock. 6 And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me; therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to Yahweh. 7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice! Have mercy also upon me, and answer me. 8 When You said, “Seek My face,” My heart said to You, “Your face, Lord, I will seek. 9 Do not hide Your face from me; do not turn Your servant away in anger; You have been my help; Do not leave me nor forsake me, O God of my salvation. 10 When my father and my mother forsake me, then Yahweh will take care of me. 11 Teach me Your way, O Lord, and lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies. 12 Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries; for false witnesses have risen against me, and such as breathe out violence. 13 I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of Yahweh in the land of the living [after the Great Judgement in Psalm 26]. 14 Wait on Yahweh; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart [to do the work of God].
Wait, I say, on Yahweh!