Happy Friday y’all! I hope you have had a wonderful week and have had a chance to follow along with our weekly reading guide for Psalms! Make sure you’ve read Abby and Courtney’s posts this week, because they are SO good. We are so glad to have you on this journey with us and hope it has taught you as much as it is teaching us.
This week I picked out Psalm 84 to break down for you! This is a good one with some very familiar lines (looking at you Chris Tomlin and Hillsong).
Psalm 84- For the director of music. According to gittith. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.
84- Title: Who are the Sons of Korah and what is gittith?
I did a little digging and found out who the Sons of Korah were- “The Korahites, or the Sons of Korah, were a group of musicians who arranged and sang psalms when Israel gathered to worship, and are responsible for at least 13 Psalms. Although we don’t know the author of this Psalm (84), we do know the musicians.” The Korahite were the descendants of Korah, who was actually the grandson of Levi, the head of one of the 12 tribes of Israel. Gittith is either a musical term or some sort of instrument that is mentioned throughout Psalms that David mentions.
84:1- Where does God live?
Old testament poetry and writing pictures God as living in a heavenly palace from which he sometimes descends. Take for instance this verse from Micah 1, “Look! The Lord is coming from his dwelling place; he comes down and treads the high places of the earth.” (Micah 1:3) Now some people took this literally whereas others thought of it as figuratively. So it’s not exactly known where God lives.
84:2- Why was the author homesick for the temple?
This is hard to tell because we don’t exactly know who wrote Psalm 84. If I had to take an educated guess, I would think it was probably someone who worked or served in the temple and they weren’t able to. Through some research, I have found that some think this Psalm was written when Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, was threatening the temple in Jerusalem. Which could account for the longing the author was feeling.
84:6- What or where was the Valley of Baca?
Again like the question before there is some mystery as to what or where the “Valley of Baca” is. It might refer to a valley of balsam trees that grow in dry areas or it could be just embellished imagery to go along with the theme of dryness.
84:10- A Sam favorite
Alright! I love this verse- “Better is one day in your courts, than a thousand elsewhere.” Mostly because the song “Better is One Day” is a total BOP and I always loved it when we would sing it in contemporary church. And to continue the rest of the verse, “I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.” I love this verse because it shows how much better it is to love the Lord, it’s a love that is better than anything else!
84:11- How is God like a shield?
What’s the purpose of a shield? (to protect). So I give you the “bible school answer”- God protects his people! But really that’s what I think the author is trying to convey. The author is creating a metaphor so that God is like a shield to show how both God and shields protect people.
84:11- Whose walk is blameless?
Nobody's and most definitely not mine! No one is completely blameless before the Lord because we’ve all sinned. That’s kind of the whole reason God sent his son to die on the cross for our sins. BUT when God grants us forgiveness, we become blameless in His sight. It’s such a beautiful thing that even though we sin and fall short God sees us as blameless and enough.
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