Psalm 61:4

I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the covert of thy wings. Selah.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(4) I will abide.—Rather, Let me be a guest in, etc. (Comp. Psalm 15:1; Psalm 27:4.)

Thy tabernacle . . .—It is difficult to decide whether this indicates. the Mosaic tabernacle, and so may be used as an index of the date of the poem; or whether the tent is a general figure for the protection of God, wherever it may be found. It certainly recalls Psalm 23:6.

For ever.—Literally, for ages or æons. For the same plural, see Psalm 145:13.

I will trust . . .—Rather, let me find refuge under the shelter of thy wings. (For the image, see Note Psalm 17:8.)

Benson Commentary

Psalm 61:4. I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever — I shall, I doubt not, be restored to thy tabernacle, from which I am now banished, and, according to the desire of my heart, worship and enjoy thee there all my days. Thus he determines that the service of God shall be his constant business; and all those must make it so who expect to find God their shelter and strong tower. None but his servants have the benefit of his protection. David speaks of abiding in God’s tabernacle for ever, because it was a type and figure of heaven, Hebrews 9:8; Hebrews 9:24. And those that dwell in his tabernacle, as it is a house of duty, during the short time of their abode on earth, shall dwell in that tabernacle which is a house of glory during an endless eternity. I will trust in the covert of thy wings — In the mean time, while I am in danger and trouble, I will cast myself upon thy protection with full confidence. This advantage they have that abide in God’s tabernacle; that in the time of trouble he shall there hide them. And those that have found God a shelter to them, ought still to have recourse to him in all their straits.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

61:1-4 David begins with prayers and tears, but ends with praise. Thus the soul, being lifted up to God, returns to the enjoyment of itself. Wherever we are, we have liberty to draw near to God, and may find a way open to the throne of grace. And that which separates us from other comforts, should drive us nearer to God, the fountain of all comfort. Though the heart is overwhelmed, yet it may be lifted up to God in prayer. Nay, I will cry unto thee, for by that means it will be supported and relieved. Weeping must quicken praying, and not deaden it. God's power and promise are a rock that is higher than we are. This rock is Christ. On the Divine mercy, as on a rock, David desired to rest his soul; but he was like a ship-wrecked sailor, exposed to the billows at the bottom of a rock too high for him to climb without help. David found that he could not be fixed on the Rock of salvation, unless the Lord placed him upon it. As there is safety in Him, and none in ourselves, let us pray to be led to and fixed upon Christ our Rock. The service of God shall be his constant work and business: all must make it so who expect to find God their shelter and strong tower. The grace of God shall be his constant comfort.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever - This expresses the confident assurance that he would be restored to his home, and to the privileges of public worship. The word forever here means perpetually; that is, his permanent home would be there, or he would dwell with God who dwelt in the tabernacle. The word "tabernacle" refers to the sacred tent which was erected for the worship of God, within which were the ark, the tables of the law, the table of showbread, etc. In the innermost part of that tent - the holy of holies - the symbol of the divine presence rested on the mercy-seat or cover of the ark of the covenant. David regarded it as a great privilege to abide near that sacred tent; near to the place of; public worship; near to the place where God was supposed to dwell. See Psalm 23:6, note; Psalm 26:8, note; Psalm 27:4, note. It is possible that his mind looked beyond the tabernacle on earth to an eternal residence in the very presence of God; to his being admitted into his own sacred abode in heaven.

I will trust in the covert of thy wings - Margin, Make my refuge. See the notes at Psalm 17:8. Compare Psalm 36:7; Psalm 57:1. The idea is, that he would seek and find protection in God - as young birds do under the outstretched wings of the parent bird.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

4. I will abide—So I desire to do (compare Ps 23:6).

trust in the covert, &c.—make my refuge, in the shadow (compare Ps 17:8; 36:7).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

I shall, I doubt not, be restored to the tabernacle from which I am now banished, and, according to the desire of my heart, worship and enjoy thee there all my days. In the mean time, whilst I am in danger and trouble, I will cast myself upon thy protection with full confidence.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever,.... Under the protection of the Lord, as in a shepherd's tent, or as in one belonging to a general of an army, where are fulness and safety; See Gill on Psalm 27:5; or else the tabernacle of the congregation is meant; the house of God, the place of divine and public worship, where he desired and determined always to continue, Psalm 23:6; or else the tabernacle which was prefigured by that below, where he knew he should dwell to all eternity. Kimchi, by "for ever", understands a long time; and Jarchi explains it both of this world and of the world to come; which is true, understanding the tabernacle of the church below, and the church above;

I will trust in the covert of thy wings. Or, "in" or "into the secret of thy wings" (z); this he determined to make his refuge for the present time, and while in this world; See Gill on Psalm 57:1.

Selah; on this word; see Gill on Psalm 3:2.

(z) "in abscondito", Pagninus, Montanus; "in occultum", Junius & Tremellius.

Geneva Study Bible

I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the covert of thy wings. Selah.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

4. Let me sojourn in thy tent for ever:

Let me take refuge in the hidingplace of thy wings.

The words are a prayer. In his banishment he prays that he may once more be received as Jehovah’s guest, to enjoy His protection and hospitality, to dwell in the place which He has consecrated by His Presence (Psalm 15:1). In thy tent may mean no more than ‘in thy abode’: but it is natural to connect the metaphor with the ‘tent’ which David pitched for the Ark on Mount Zion (2 Samuel 6:17). Cp. Psalm 27:5-6. ‘Sojourn’ implies the relation of guest to host, and the protection which the guest in Oriental countries claims from his host. “The Arabs give the title of jâr allâh to one who resides in Mecca beside the Caaba.” Robertson Smith, Religion of the Semites, p. 77.

for ever] All my life. Cp. 1 Samuel 1:22; Psalm 23:6. And the revelation of the Gospel has made it plain that life does not end with death.

For the hidingplace (R.V. covert) of thy wings cp. Psalm 57:1, note; Psalm 27:5, “in the hidingplace of his tent shall he hide me”; Psalm 31:20, “Thou shalt hide them in the hidingplace of thy presence.” So the Targ. here in the shadow of Thy Presence (lit. Shechinah).

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 4. - I will abide in thy tabernacle forever. As the psalmist is in exile, at "the end of the earth" (ver. 2), the literal "tabernacle" cannot be intended. A spiritual abiding in the heavenly dwelling, whereof the tabernacle was a type, must be meant (comp. Psalm 18:11). I will trust in the covert of thy wings (comp. Psalm 17:8; Psalm 36:7; Psalm 57:1; Psalm 63:7; Psalm 91:4). The origin of the metaphor is hardly to be sought in the outspread wings of the cherubim on the mercy seat; rather in the brooding wings of birds protecting and defending their young (Deuteronomy 32:11; Matthew 23:37). Psalm 61:4

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Hurled out of the land of the Lord in the more limited sense

(Note: Just as in Numbers 32:29. the country east of Jordan is excluded from the name "the land of Canaan" in the stricter sense, so by the Jewish mind it was regarded from the earliest time to a certain extent as a foreign country (חוצה לארץ), although inhabited by the two tribes and a half; so that not only is it said of Moses that he died in a foreign land, but even of Saul that he is buried in a foreign land (Numeri Rabba, ch. viii. and elsewhere).)

into the country on the other side of the Jordan, David felt only as though he were banished to the extreme corner of the earth (not: of the land, cf. Psalm 46:10; Deuteronomy 28:49, and frequently), far from the presence of God (Hengstenberg). It is the feeling of homelessness and of separation from the abode of God by reason of which the distance, in itself so insignificant (just as was the case with the exiles later on), became to him immeasurably great. For he still continually needed God's helpful intervention; the enveloping, the veiling, the faintness of his heart still continues (עטף, Arab. ‛tf, according to its radical signification: to bend and lay anything round so that it lies or draws over something else and covers it, here of a self-enveloping); a rock of difficulties still ever lies before him which is too high for his natural strength, for his human ability, therefore insurmountable. But he is of good courage: God will lead him up with a sure step, so that, removed from all danger, he will have rocky ground under his feet. He is of good courage, for God has already proved Himself to be a place of refuge to him, to be a strong tower, defying all attack, which enclosed him, the persecuted one, so that the enemy can gain no advantage over him (cf. Proverbs 18:10). He is already on the way towards his own country, and in fact his most dearly loved and proper home: he will or he has to (in accordance with the will of God) dwell (cf. the cohortative in Isaiah 38:10; Jeremiah 4:21) in God's tabernacle (vid., on Psalm 15:1) throughout aeons (an utterance which reminds one of the synchronous Psalm 23:6). With גּוּר is combined the idea of the divine protection (cf. Arabic ǵâr ollah, the charge or proteg of God, and Beduinic ǵaur, the protecting hearth; ǵawir, according to its form equals גּר, one who flees for refuge to the hearth). A bold figure of this protection follows: he has to, or will trust, i.e., find refuge, beneath the protection of God's wings. During the time the tabernacle was still being moved from place to place we hear no such mention of dwelling in God's tabernacle or house. It was David who coined this expression for loving fellowship with the God of revelation, simultaneously with his preparation of a settled dwelling-place for the sacred Ark. In the Psalms that belong to the time of his persecution by Saul such an expression is not yet to be found; for in Psalm 52:7, when it is desired that Doeg may have the opposite of an eternal dwelling-place, it is not the sacred tent that is meant. We see also from its second part that this Psalm 61:1-8 does not belong to the time of Saul; for David does not speak here as one who has drawn very near to his kingly office (cf. Psalm 40:8), but as one who is entering upon a new stage in it.