Psalm 27:5

For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(5) Pavilion.—A booth or hut; also of the lair of wild beasts (Psalm 10:9; Jeremiah 25:38). (Comp. Job 38:40.)

Secret of his tabernacle.—Better, hiding place of his tent (ôhel), the regular word for the tent of the congregation, but also used generally of a habitation of any kind—not necessarily of the tent set up for the ark by David at Zion (2Samuel 6:17). The clause, “He shall set me up upon a rock”—i.e., for safety—shows that the tent is also used figuratively for shelter; but there may also be a thought of the sure asylum to be found in the tabernacle of the congregation.

Benson Commentary

Psalm 27:5-6. In the time of trouble he shall hide, or, hath hid me — Justly do I prize the house and service of God so highly, both because I am under such vast obligations to him for his former protection and favours, and because all my confidence and hope of security depend upon him; in the secret of his tabernacle — Into which mine enemies cannot come; or, as it were in the secret of his tabernacle he shall hide me — That is, in a place as safe as the holy of holies, termed God’s secret place, (Ezekiel 7:22,) into which none might enter but the high-priest, and he only one day in a year. He alludes to the ancient custom of offenders fleeing to the tabernacles or altars for safety. He shall set me upon a rock — Upon a place high and inaccessible, strong and impregnable, where I shall be out of the reach of mine enemies. The temple was thought a safe place for Nehemiah to lie hid in, Nehemiah 6:10; but the safety of believers is not in the walls of the temple, but in the God of the temple, and their comfort in communion with him. My head shall be lifted up above mine enemies —

He will advance me above them, and give me a complete victory over them. Therefore will I offer sacrifices of joy — Hebrew, תרועה, terugnah, of shouting, or resounding, that is, of thanksgiving and praise, which used to be accompanied with the sound of trumpets and other instruments.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

27:1-6 The Lord, who is the believer's light, is the strength of his life; not only by whom, but in whom he lives and moves. In God let us strengthen ourselves. The gracious presence of God, his power, his promise, his readiness to hear prayer, the witness of his Spirit in the hearts of his people; these are the secret of his tabernacle, and in these the saints find cause for that holy security and peace of mind in which they dwell at ease. The psalmist prays for constant communion with God in holy ordinances. All God's children desire to dwell in their Father's house. Not to sojourn there as a wayfaring man, to tarry but for a night; or to dwell there for a time only, as the servant that abides not in the house for ever; but to dwell there all the days of their life, as children with a father. Do we hope that the praising of God will be the blessedness of our eternity? Surely then we ought to make it the business of our time. This he had at heart more than any thing. Whatever the Christian is as to this life, he considers the favour and service of God as the one thing needful. This he desires, prays for and seeks after, and in it he rejoices.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For in the time of trouble - When I am surrounded by dangers, or when affliction comes upon me.

He shall hide me - The word used here means to hide; to secrete; and then, to defend or protect. It would properly be applied to one who had fled from oppression, or from any impending evil, and who should be "secreted" in a house or cavern, and thus rendered safe from pursuers, or from the threatening evil.

In his pavilion - The word "pavilion" means "tent" or "tabernacle." The Hebrew word - סכה sukâh - means properly a booth, hut, or cot formed of green branches interwoven: Jonah 4:5; Job 27:18; see the notes at Isaiah 4:6. Then it is applied to tents made of skins: Leviticus 23:43; 2 Samuel 11:11. It thus is used to denote the tabernacle, considered as the dwelling-place of God on earth, and the meaning here is, that God would hide him as it were in His own dwelling; He would admit him near to Himself; He would take care that he should be protected as if he were one of His own family; as a man protects those whom he admits to his own abode.

In the secret of his tabernacle - In the most retired and private part of His dwelling. He would not merely admit him to His premises; not only to the vestibule of His house; not only to the open court, or to the parts of His house frequented by the rest of His family; but he would admit him to the private apartments - the place to which He Himself withdrew to be alone, and where no stranger, and not even one of the family, would venture to intrude. Nothing could more certainly denote friendship; nothing could more certainly make protection sure, than thus to be taken into the private apartment where the master of a family was accustomed himself to withdraw, that he might be alone; and nothing, therefore, can more beautifully describe the protection which God will give to His friends than the idea of thus admitting them to the secret apartments of His own dwelling-place.

He shall set me up upon a rock - A place where I shall be secure; a place inaccessible to my enemies. Compare Psalm 18:1-2; Psalm 19:14 (margin); Psalm 61:2; Psalm 71:3. The meaning is, that he would be safe from all his enemies.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

4, 5. The secret of his confidence is his delight in communion with God (Ps 16:11; 23:6), beholding the harmony of His perfections, and seeking His favor in His temple or palace; a term applicable to the tabernacle (compare Ps 5:7). There he is safe (Ps 31:21; 61:5). The figure is changed in the last clause, but the sentiment is the same.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

He shall hide me; or, hath hid me; or, useth to hide me. Justly do I prize the house and service of God so highly, both because I have such vast obligations to him for his former protection and favours, and because all my hope, and confidence, and security depends upon him.

In the secret of his tabernacle; in his tabernacle, into which mine enemies cannot come; and in a secret place in it, where, if they come, they cannot find me. Or, as it were (for the note of similitude is oft understood)

in the secret of his tabernacle, i. e. in as safe a place as the holy of holies, which is called God’s secret, Ezekiel 7:22, where none might come but the high priest, and he but one day in a year. He alludes to the ancient custom of offenders, who used to flee to the tabernacle or altar, where they esteemed themselves safe, 1 Kings 2:28.

Upon a rock; a place high and inacessible, strong and impregnable.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion,.... This, with what follows, is given as a reason why the psalmist desired to dwell in the house of the Lord; because he considered it as a pavilion or booth, as the word (h) signifies in which he should be hid by the Lord, in times of trouble and distress, either through the heat of persecution, or of inward anxiety of mind, caused by the working of a fiery law; the allusion being, as some think, to the shepherd's tent or booth, into which he sometimes takes a poor sheep, and protects it from the scorching heat of the sun at noon: and of such use is the tabernacle of the Lord; see Isaiah 4:6;

in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; alluding either to the tents of generals of armies, who receive into them those whom they would protect from the insults and injuries of others; or rather to the most holy place in the tabernacle, called the secret place, Ezekiel 7:22; typical of Christ, the hiding place of his, people, in whom their life is hid, and where it is safe and secure;

he shall set me up upon a rock; where he would be above and out of the reach of his enemies; meaning Christ, comparable to a rock for its height, he being higher than the kings of the earth, than the angels in heaven, than the heavens themselves, and much more than the sons of men; see Psalm 61:2; and for shelter and safety, he being a munition of rocks, a strong tower, a place of defence, and rock of refuge; and for firmness, solidity, and strength, he being able to bear the whole weight of the building of the church, and every believer laid upon him; and for duration, he being more immovable than rocks and mountains; so that such who are set up upon him are in the most safe and secure state imaginable.

(h) "in tugurio suo", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Michaelis.

Geneva Study Bible

For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

5. For he shall conceal me in his pavilion in the day of trouble,

He shall hide me in the hiding-place of his tent;

Upon a rock shall he lift me up.

He will be secured from danger as one who is sheltered from heat and storm, or safe from assault in some inaccessible rock fortress. Cp. Psalm 31:20; Isaiah 4:6; and the expression his hidden or secret ones in Psalm 83:3.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 5. - For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion; in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me. This is not to be understood literally. David means that his spirit will find a refuge with God in times of trouble, not (as some Jewish expositors argue) that he will actually hide from his enemies inside the tabernacle. From such a sacrilege he would have shrunk. He shall set me up upon a rock (comp. Psalm 18:2; Psalm 61:2). The "Rock" is God himself, who is always David's final Refuge. Psalm 27:5

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

There is only one thing, that he desires, although he also has besides full satisfaction in Jahve in the midst of strangers and in trouble. The future is used side by side with the perfect in Psalm 27:4, in order to express an ardent longing which extends out of the past into the future, and therefore runs through his whole life. The one thing sought is unfolded in שׁבתּי וגו. A life-long dwelling in the house of Jahve, that is to say intimate spiritual intercourse with the God, who has His dwelling (בית), His palace (היכל) in the holy tent, is the one desire of David's heart, in order that he may behold and feast upon (חזה בּ of a clinging, lingering, chained gaze, and consequently a more significant form of expression than חזה with an accusative, Psalm 63:3) נעם ה (Psalm 90:17), the pleasantness (or gracefulness) of Jahve, i.e., His revelation, full of grace, which is there visible to the eye of the spirit. The interpretation which regards amaenitas as being equivalent to amaenus cultus takes hold of the idea from the wrong side. The assertion that בּקּר בּ is intended as a synonym of חזה בּ, of a pleased and lingering contemplation (Hupf., Hitz.), is contrary to the meaning of the verb, which signifies "to examine (with ל to seek or spie about after anything, Leviticus 13:36), to reflect on, or consider;" even the post-biblical signification to visit, more especially the sick (whence בּקּוּר הלים), comes from the primary meaning investigare. An appropriate sense may be obtained in the present instance by regarding it as a denominative from בּקשׁ and rendering it as Dunash and Rashi have done, "and to appear early in His temple;" but it is unnecessary to depart from the general usage of the language. Hengstenberg rightly retains the signification "to meditate on." בּהיכלו is a designation of the place consecrated to devotion, and לבקּר is meant to refer to contemplative meditation that loses itself in God who is there manifest. In Psalm 27:5 David bases the justification of his desire upon that which the sanctuary of God is to him; the futures affirm what Jahve will provide for him in His sanctuary. It is a refuge in which he may hide himself, where Jahve takes good care of him who takes refuge therein from the storms of trouble that rage outside: there he is far removed from all dangers, he is lifted high above them and his feet are upon rocky ground. The Chethb may be read בּסכּה, as in Psalm 31:21 and with Ewald 257, d; but, in this passage, with אהל alternates סך, which takes the place of סכּה in the poetic style (Psalm 76:3; Lamentations 2:6), though it does not do so by itself, but always with a suffix.

(Note: Just in like manner they say in poetic style צידהּ, Psalm 132:15; פּנּהּ, Proverbs 7:8; מדּה, Job 11:9; גּלּהּ, Zechariah 4:2; and perhaps even נצּהּ, Genesis 40:10; for צידתהּ, פּנּתהּ, מדּתהּ, גּלּתהּ, and נצּתהּ; as, in general, shorter forms are sometimes found in the inflexion, which do not occur in the corresponding principal form, e.g., צוּרם, Psalm 49:15, for צוּרתם; מגוּרם, Psalm 55:16, for מגוּרתם; בּערמם, Job 5:13, for בּערמתם; בּתבוּנם, Hosea 13:2, for בּתבוּנתם; פּחם; Nehemiah 5:14, for פּחתם; cf. Hitzig on Hosea 13:2, and Bttcher's Neue Aehrenlese, No. 693.)