Psalm 84, What Everyone Must Do

This is a magnificent Psalm about pilgrimage.  In the midst of Psalms about Israel’s longing for the land come one that is a call to every individual, not just to the community of individuals.  It speaks to Israel in every time period, even when they do not have a temple, even though v1-2 sets the state by their longing for the temple.  Today, many Jewish people have this longing.  Because the temple is the “tabernacle” (dwelling place) of God, even the birds that nest in the area are blessed (v3-4). 

But notice: blessed is the man whose heart is set on pilgrimage.  It doesn’t say the man who is at the temple.  That is certainly a blessing (Ps. 134 at the end of the Pilgrim Songs exclaims the blessedness of that man).  But what if there is no temple?  Quite likely that is the time period for this Psalm.  It is a time when the community (nation) is suffering: they “pass through the Valley of Baca (tears)” (v6).  But their suffering is a time of blessing because of their hearts are set on God, on being in His presence.  Truly, “blessed is the man who trusts in You” (v12)!

Now, let us meditate on this Psalm in the context of today’s war in Israel.  What does it say to a Jewish person?  What does it say to a Palestinian, or an American?  First, we want to emphasize, it is a call to individuals.  Blessed is the man, singular, both in v5 and 12.  You can have two Jews or Arabs or Europeans.  If one trusts in the Lord he is blessed; if one does not trust the Lord he is not blessed.  This Psalm says that even in the OT a relationship with God was personal.  Remember, “Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness” (Gen. 15:6).

Then secondly, the issue is trust.  It is not whether you are standing within the courtyard of the temple.  This blessedness can be experiences with or without the actual temple because the issue is “pilgrimage.”  The pilgrim is never at the temple himself; he is on the way there and anticipating being there.  But the blessedness of God is experienced during the journey.  Along the way the pilgrim learns the faithfulness of God and is encouraged in his own faith.

With this background, now let me share two passages from Ezekiel 39 which is somewhat of a “concluding” passage to God promise to bring Israel back to the land and to save Israel.  When God is finished both the Gentiles and the people of Israel will finally see that God was at work in all the things that happened to Israel during the times of the Gentiles.  Specifically, Israel’s enemies must trust God that He was at work and it was not their power and might that carried the day.  They must accept that God has not cast Israel out, that He is still keeping His promise to Abraham.  Israel must trust God that He was working among them through their sufferings.  They will trust God’s work by repenting of sin, a trust that will be the result of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. 

Ezek 39:23: The Gentiles shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity: because they were unfaithful to Me, therefore I hid My face from them.  I gave them into the hand of their enemies, and they all fell by the sword.

Ezek 39:27-29: ‘When I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and I am hallowed in them in the sight of many nations, then they shall know that I am the LORD their God, who sent them into captivity among the nations, but also brought them back to their land, and left none of them captive any longer.  And I will not hide My face from them anymore; for I shall have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel,’ says the Lord God.