Psalms 84:3 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Yea, the sparrow hath found a house That is, a habitation, namely, a nest, as it follows. Even thine altar Or nigh thine altar, as the Hebrew particle, את, eth, often signifies, and is rendered by the Seventy and the Chaldee, Judges 4:11. In the Hebrew it is altars, namely, that of burnt-offerings, and the other of incense: near which these birds might be truly said to have their nests, if, as is probable, they were either in some part of the tabernacle or temple, in which the altars were; or in some buildings belonging to or near them. Thus Bishop Patrick understands the verse, whose paraphrase is, “It grieves me, O mighty Lord, whose subject I am, and infinitely engaged for thee, to see the very birds, who know nothing of thee, enjoy that liberty which is denied me; who am here lamenting my distance from thee, when the sparrows and the ring-doves” (Hebrew, דרור, deror, which the Seventy render τρυγων, a turtle, and others a wild-pigeon) “have their constant residence at thy house; and there live so undisturbed, that they build their nests, and bring forth their young in the rafters of it.” The passage, however, is interpreted somewhat differently by several expositors, who read it thus: My heart, &c., crieth out for the living God, (yea, as a sparrow, till she finds a house, and a swallow a nest for herself, where to lay her young,) for thine altars, &c., that is, my heart, &c., crieth out for thine altars, &c. Or thus, “The sparrow findeth a house, &c., but when shall I find access to what I far prefer to a house of my own, the house of God?” Others again read, Even as the sparrow, that is, with the same joy and delight as the sparrow findeth her house, and the swallow (or wild-pigeon) her nest, where she hath laid (so שׁתה, shata, properly means) her young; so should I find thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my king and my God. This last seems the most just and easy exposition of the words. But whichsoever of the interpretations may be preferred, “the design of the passage,” as Dr. Horne has justly observed, “is evidently to intimate to us, that in the house, and at the altar of God, a faithful soul findeth freedom from care and sorrow, quiet of mind, and gladness of spirit; like a bird that has secured a little mansion for the reception and education of her young. And there is no heart endued with sensibility which doth not bear its testimony to the exquisite beauty and propriety of this affecting image.”