Psalm 15 Continued…
Psalms 15:1 Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill?
The KJV translates “sanctuary” as “tabernacle.” The tabernacle of the Old Testament was a type of tent, though very large and elaborate, but here David is referring to the tent he had just set up on Mount Zion. A tent is a temporary, movable house that is easily struck and it can be quickly pitched. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob chose to live in a tent, though they were wealthy men and could have lived in a palace had they wanted to do so. They were content to live in a tent, and they were ready to move at a moment’s notice and to comply with a command from God.
God had become a Pilgrim down here. He pitched his tent in the wilderness, in Shiloh, on Mount Zion, and wherever the nation of Israel sojourned at the time. The tent where the Ark of the Covenant resided is where Israel met with God through their priests. David longed to enter this tent, but the Law of Moses stood before the tent like a barrier to keep him out. Someone has changed the verse to read thus, “Yahweh, who shall be a guest in your tent?” I think this is a wonderful way to think of God. David saw God as a Host; the kind of host who would have only honorable guests. The rest of the psalm describes the type of person that can expect to be invited to be a guest in the house of God. Let’s remember, we are His invited Guests, and therefore, we must try to conduct ourselves in a way that brings Him honor, and lives up to His expectations.
“Who may live on your holy hill?” A hill is a symbol of something permanent. David wanted to provide a house for God that was more than a tent on Mount Zion, something that was permanent; he wanted to build a temple on Mount Moriah. We read in 2 Samuel 7:2, “He said to Nathan the prophet, ‘Here I am, living in a palace of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.’” David didn’t believe he should live in a palace while the Shekinah presence of God dwelt in a tent. God must have been aware of how David felt, since he was delighted to promise David that for having such a good and generous thought, his house, his dynasty, should last forever.
So, in this verse we have two opposite truths of pilgrimage and permanence. As Christians, we cannot have any permanent roots down here, but we can have them in God’s holy hill. These bodies of flesh are only a temporary tent for our souls; our spirit yearns to be with Him in whom we have believed. We may be pilgrims down here, but we will be eternally with Him in heaven.
PRAY
Father we know that this earth is not our home. May our hearts never be settled until they rest with you forever in heaven!