Psalms 84:1 «To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm for the sons of Korah. » How amiable [are] thy tabernacles, O LORD of hosts!
A Psalm] Or the same subject with the forty-second, and made when David was banished, either by Saul or Absalom, or else when busied abroad in his wars, 2 Samuel 8:1,14, and so debarred from the use of God's public ordinances.
Ver. 1. How amiable are thy tabernacles] viz. For thy word's sake that is there preached, and thy worship there performed. The Protestants at Lyons, in France, called their place for public meeting to serve God Paradise. Chrysostom calleth it the place of angels and archangels, the kingdom of God, yea, heaven itself (Hom. 36, ad 1Co 14:1-40). Another calleth it, The heavenly exchange between God and his people; they present duty, he confers mercy. Luther saith he would not live in paradise without the ordinances; as with them he could frame to live in hell itself: and a small village with a godly pastor, and a good people in it, is an earthly paradise, saith he. If that Italian martyr could date his letter, From the delectable orchard of the Leonine prison, what may we think of the free use of the ordinances? what of heaven? nam facile litera transfertur ad Spiritum.