One thing have I asked of YHWH,
That will I seek after,
That I may dwell in the house of YHWH,
All the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of YHWH,
And to enquire in his temple.
For he has only one goal, and that is to enter more fully into His light and salvation by ‘dwelling in the house of YHWH all the days of his life' in order that he might behold the beauty of YHWH and learn from Him. He does not mean by this that he intends to live perpetually in YHWH's house in a literal sense, but that he may constantly feast at His table and have fellowship with Him (compare Psalms 23:4-5; Psalms 15:1; Psalms 78:19) while he meditates on His beauty (compare Psalms 16:11; Psalms 90:16-17; Psalms 96:6; Psalms 96:9; Isaiah 25:6). The literal element will be when he goes to enquire in His temple. For ‘the temple' as signifying the established Tabernacle see 1 Samuel 1:9; 1Sa 3:3; 2 Samuel 22:7.
He visualises YHWH as some great oriental prince, magnificently arrayed (compare Exodus 28:2) and magnanimous to His guests, and himself as one who has constant access to His Table. ‘Your eyes shall see the king in His beauty' (Isaiah 33:17). A beautiful picture of this is found in the life of Mephibosheth, where one who was lame in both his feet, and therefore in those days to be hidden away, instead dwelt in the king's house and sat daily at the king's table (2 Samuel 9:13). He must often have looked around filled with wonder at the sudden change in his fortunes.
We too should seek constantly to feast with the Lord at His table, enjoying His presence, gazing at the beauty of His life, seeing the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6), and meditating constantly on His words, continually coming to Him and believing on Him so that we might enjoy the Bread of life to the full. ‘I am the Bread of Life, He who comes to Me will never hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst' (John 6:35)
‘And to enquire in His temple.' Not the least of his privileges was that he could approach YHWH in His temple and enquire of His will, in the same way as we can at the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16). The word elsewhere means ‘to seek out, to search out'. Alternately this might mean, ‘reflect upon His sanctuary' (compare Psalms 73:17), as he ‘searches out' its symbolism which reveals something of the nature of God (compare Psalms 27:1; and see Hebrews 8:5, and the whole message of Hebrews).