Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/4_000_t.lzh/4_056.TXT

Text File | 1994-09-06 | 7KB | 127 lines

them, in which they were at the time of writing this
psalm.
Vet. 1. How amiable are that tabernacles, 0 Lord of
hosts !] Which were erected in the wilderness by Moses
at the command of God, and brought into the land of
Canaan, where the Lord took up his dwelling: here he
was worshipped, and sacrifices offered to him; here he
granted his presence, and commanded his blessing;
here it was in David's time; for as yet the temple was
not built: it is called tabernacles, in the plural number,
because of its several parts: hence we read of a first
and second tabernacle, Heb. ix. 2, 3. there was the
holy place, and the holy of holies, besides the court of
the people; unless it can be thought to refer to the
tabernacle David had built for the ark in Zion, and to
the old tabernacle which was at Gibeon, e Sam. vi.
17. 1 Chron. xxi. 19. the whole was a representation
of the church of God, and the ordinances of it; which
is the dwelling-place of God, Father, Son, and Spirit,
where he is worshippeal, his presence enjoyed, his word
is preached, ordinances administered, and the sacrifices
of prayer and praise offered up; on account of all
which it is very amiable: what made the tabernacle of
Moses lovely was not the outside, which was very
mean, as the church of God outwardly is, through per-
secution, affliction, and poverty; but what was within,
having many golden vessels in it, and those typical of
things much more precious: moreover, here the priests
were to be seen in their robes, doing their duty and
service, and, at certain times, the high-priest in his
rich apparel; here were seen the sacrifices slain and
offered, by which the people were taught the nature
of sin, the strictness of justice, and the necessity and
efficacy of the sacrifice of Christ; here the Levites
were heard singing their songs, and blowing their
trumpets: but much more amiable are the church of
God and its ordinances in Gospel times, where Christ,
the great High-priest, is seen in the glories of his per-
son, and the fulness of his grace; where Zion's priests,
or the ministers of the Gospel, stand clothed, being
full fraught with salvation, and the tidings of it;
where Christ is evidently set forth, as crucified and
slain, in the ministry of the word, and the admini-
stration of ordinances; here the Gospel trumpet
is biown, and its joyful sound echoed forth, and songs
of love and grace are sung by all believers: besides,
what makes these tabernacles still more lovely
are, the presence of God here, so that they are no
other than the house of God, and gate of heaven;
the provisions that are here made, and the com-
pany that are here enjoyed; to which may be added,
the properties of those dwellings; they are light-
some, like the habitations of Israel in Goshen; they
are healthful, no plague comes nigh them; the in-
habitants of them are not sick; their sins are forgiven
them; they are safe, sure, and quiet dwelling-places;
see Isa. xxxii. 18. and xxxiii. 20, e4. and they are
lovely to such, and to such only, who have seen the
unamiableness of sin, and are sick of its tents, and
of enjoying its fading pleasures, and to whom Christ
is precious, and altogether lovely: these have an
intense affection for him, and for his house, word,
worship, and ordinances, and with admiration say, how
amiable, &c.
Ver. 2. My soul Iongeth, yea, even fainteth for the
courts of the Lord, &c.] The courts of the tabernacle
now at Gibeon, though the ark was in Zion, 2 Chron.
i. 3--6. as the court of the priests, and the courtof the
Israelites, in which latter the people in common stood:
after these David longed; he longed to enter into
them, and stand in them, and worskip God there;
which soUl-longings and hearty desires were the fruits
and evidences of true grace, of being born again";
so new-born souls desire the sincere milk of the word,
and 'the breasts of Gospel ordinances, as a new-born
babe desires its mother's milk and breast; and he even
fainted, through disappointment, or length of time,
being impatient of the returning season and opportu-
of treading in them; see Psal. xlii. 1..and lxiii. 1.
and my flesh crieth out for the living 'God; he
only inwardly desired, and secretly fainted, but
bly cried out in his distress, and verbally expressed,
great vehemence, his desire to enjoy the living
God: it was not merely the courts, but God in them,
that he wanted; even that God which has life in him-
self, with whom is the fountain of life; who gives
life to others, natural, spiritual, and eternal, and in
whose favour is life; yea, whose 1oving-kiudness is
better than life, and which was the thing longed and
thirsted after: and these desires were the desires of
the whole man, soul and body; not only he cried with
his mouth and lips, signified by his flesh, but with his
heart also, sincerely and heartily; his heart went along
with his mouth.
Ver. 3. Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, &c.]]
One or other of the houses of men, where to build its
nest; or its nest itself is called an house,as it seems to
be explained in thenextclause: the word here used sig-
nifies any bird; we translate it a sparrow, and so
Kimchi; the Targum renders it the dove; but the
Midrash is, "it is not said as a dove, but as a spar-
" row: the dove takes its young, and returns to its
place; not so the sparrow :" and the swallow a nest
for herself, where she may lay her young; the Septu-
agint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions, have
t the turtle, the stock, or ring-dove: and so the Tar-
gum, which paraphrases this clause, in connexion with
the following, thus: "and the turtle a nest for her-
" self, whose young are fit to be offered up upon thine
"altars :" it is translated a swallow in Prov. xxvi. 2
and has its name in Hebrew from liberty, it not loving
confinement, or because it freely visits the houses of
men without fear: even thine altars, 0 Lord of hosts;
that is, as some understand it, there the swallow builds
a nest, and lays her young; but it can hardly be
thought that this could be done in them, since the
priests were so often officiating at them, and there
were so much noise, fire, and smoke there; it must be
at the sides of them, as the Syriac and Arabic versions
render it, or near unto them; or rather in the rafters
of the house where they were; and the rafters and
bearfro of the temple were of cedar, and in such turtles
have their nests {}; or in the houses adjoining to the
tabernacle; or in the trees that might be near it; see

{s} Vide Theocrit. Idyl. 5.