This document provides a summary and analysis of Psalms 84, 85, and 86. It examines various passages from each psalm, discussing theological concepts like dwelling with God, finding happiness through nearness to God, turning back to God, and the meeting of loving-kindness and truth. The analysis suggests these psalms convey that true happiness is found through focusing one's heart and soul on God, seeking God's nearness, and responding to adversity by growing closer to God.

1. Psalms Study - Lesson Two
I. Psalm 84
A. Verse 1
1. Note the word yedidot. This is generally translated as lovely, though
the KJB translates it as amiable. Why is “lovely” better?
(The Hebrew word means love. There, thus, is an intensity in the text the
psalmist is seeking to convey, the depth and emotion of love for God’s
dwelling place and being there.)
2. The word for dwelling place is mishcunotecha, which means
tabernacles in Hebrew. What do we think of when we consider the idea
of dwelling places of God?
(Discussion. Recall Pamela Greenberg’s translation - those places we
perceive God.)

2. B. Verse 3
What do you make of the metaphor of the bird making her nest where
she laid her young near God’s altar?
(Some say this bird has made her nest in the spaces between the stones
of the Temple in Jerusalem. That suggests a home close to God, where
we are comforted, protected. R. Hirsch: one seeks its nest where one has
nurtured the most precious treasures in life. We might add that it is also
where we are best supported/nourished.)
C. Verses 4-6
1.Note again the use of the word ashrei, truly happy. It brings to mind
Psalm 1. It’s as if the one who is truly happy is one who is near God,
who lives with God, in God’s dwelling place. This is a person we see
here as one who praises God constantly, puts strength in God, and
undergoes a journey that is described in the following verses.
2.What is that journey, and who is on it?

3. (There are so many possible explanations that come from the various
versions in translation.
One possibility to consider: Praiseworthy are the persons who on
upward paths focus on their hearts (or those whose hearts and minds
are focused on the pilgrim paths), those who pass through the valley of
thorns and tears and transform it into a wellspring.
That is, those on the journey are those who seek to go upward to God
in their lives, knowing that they will always encounter adversity and pain
and respond to those challenges by transforming them into limitless
wellsprings of opportunity to serve and grow closer to God. Those who
use these opportunities in this manner will be blessed with rain and
support from heaven.)
D. Verses 10-12
A day in God’s presence is better than all other days elsewhere. What
could this mean?

4. (One possible idea: we should see each day of being near God as that
day. There’s almost an eternal feel to time should we live each day that
way.)
II. Psalm 85
A. This is a psalm about responding to distance from God that is
created by our straying from God’s ways. How do we return? What’s the
effect of doing so? What are the elements of the nearness that results
from return? Look at verse 4. What does it mean?
(It involves turning. It could be our turning back to God. We might do
the turning and/or God might help us turn back. Or it could be our
hope that God turns back to us. Or it might be both. One thing is clear:
our salvation is very much caught up in our return, our restoration to
nearness to God.
B. Look at verses 10-13, some of the most beautiful verses in sacred or
indeed any other literature.

5. 1.What does it mean that loving-kindness and truth meet?
(This is a powerful idea. It’s not easy for this to happen. Truth can be
hard, tough, and painful, often incompatible with loving-kindness. The
idea here seems to suggest that when the two meet and perhaps
reconcile, both retain their integrity and, at the same time, affect and
improve the other. The truth is softened by kindness, and kindness is
firmed up by meeting truth. It seems like being with God again helps
introduce us to a world in which we have a new sense of loving-
kindness and truth in which they go well with each other and support
each other as foundational to our lives.)
2. Then righteousness and peace kiss. Meaning?
(One of the great challenges of following God is to bring to bear two of
the most important principles of the Divine, that is, that we be both
righteous and “peace-promoting.” When truth and kindness meet in
God’s place, it’s possible for us to see how we can foster peace and
righteousness together. Where peace and righteousness kiss is where
God lives!)

6. 3.We leave the psalm with a keen sense, especially in its last verse, of
how important righteousness is to God. Righteousness is what gazes
down from heaven; it is also what walks before God.
III. Psalm 86
A. Look at verse 4 - Gladden the soul of your servant because to you, O
Lord, do I lift it (my soul). What does this mean?
(I offer up/dedicate/lift up my essence to You, God. You are my focus,
my priority, the One whom I serve and to whom I submit. I pray. I
worship. I offer up deeds of righteousness and loving-kindness that I do
in the world in Your Name. In return, you gladden me at my core.
Through the means of the soul, which guides me to serve You, you
bless me.
This has the feel of the Priestly Blessing.)

7. B. Look at verses 11 and 12. We seek to unite our hearts to focus on
honoring God’s Name, to be wondrous of God’s Name, in allegiance,
awe, and, yes, fear. This has the feel of the call and command of the
great commandment, to love God with all our hearts, as verse 4 does as
to loving God with all our souls.
C. We leave this psalm with this idea of what it means to dwell with
God: Home is where I offer up my soul to God and bring a united heart
in allegiance. And there my soul is gladdened, God loves me, and I am
delivered.