Psalm 27:4

  4  One²⁵⁹ thing have I desired⁷⁵⁹² of^{4480, 854} the LORD,³⁰⁶⁸ that will I seek after;¹²⁴⁵ that I may dwell³⁴²⁷ in the house of¹⁰⁰⁴ the LORD³⁰⁶⁸ all³⁶⁰⁵ the days of³¹¹⁷ my life,²⁴¹⁶ to behold²³⁷² the beauty of⁵²⁷⁸ the LORD,³⁰⁶⁸ and to enquire¹²³⁹ in His temple.¹⁹⁶⁴

One thing:  A numeral from H258 [i.e., to unify]; properly united, that is, one; or (as an ordinal) first.[S]  Single by union; undivided; the same.[W]  have I desired:  A primitive root; to inquire; by implication to request; by extension to demand.[S]  To ask, inquire, request.[SS]  will I seek after:  A primitive root; to search out (by any method; specifically in worship or prayer); by implication to strive after.[S]  To seek , search, look for, inquire about.[SS]  To make pursuit; to attempt to find or take.[W]  that I may dwell:  A primitive root; properly to sit down (specifically as judge, in ambush, in quiet); by implication to dwell, to remain; causatively to settle, to marry.[S]  Have opportunity of constant attendance upon God.[JW]  Not literal “dwelling”, but spiritual (Psalms 15:1, 23:6; John 14:23; Revelation 3:12).  To have a perpetual enjoyment of God’s realized grace and presence (John 8:35).  All other blessings are included in this, so that this “one thing” is, and shall always be, the Psalmist’s ruling desire.[JFB]  To abide in, to inhabit, to have a fixed residence in a place.[C]  To continue; to be fixed in attention; to hang upon with fondness.[W]  in the house of:  Probably from H1129 abbreviated; a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etc.[S]  my life:  From H2421; alive; hence raw (flesh); fresh (plant, water, year), strong; also (as noun, especially in the feminine singular and masculine plural) life (or living thing), whether literally or figuratively.[S]  to behold:  A primitive root; to gaze at; mentally to perceive, contemplate (with pleasure); specifically to have a vision of.[S]  To see; mostly mentally or prophetically.[WW]  [Mentally] to delight.[KWSB]  the beauty of:  From H5276 [i.e., to be agreeable (literally or figuratively)]; agreeableness, that is, delight, suitableness, splendor or grace.[S]  Pleasantness, grace, favour; the beauty of the Lord denotes whatever in the Lord is sweet, pleasant, and salutary to the sinner, and therefore His virtues of goodness and grace together with all their signs and effects.—Venema in Hengstenberg.[WW]  Pleasantness, delightfulness.[B]  The splendor of the Lord.[WSD]  to behold the beauty of the LORD:  That there I may delight myself, in the contemplation of Thy amiable and glorious majesty, and of Thy infinite wisdom, holiness, justice, truth, and mercy.[JW]  To searchingly meditate thereon (viz., on His beauty:  His beautiful grace, wisdom, and love, experimentally seen by His people, Psalm 90:17:  “the goodness of the Lord”) in His sanctuary (Hengstenberg).  The Hebrew, “to behold in it”, an idiom expressing the delight which gazing continually into it gives.  Compare James 1:25.  In the literal sense, not even the priests dwelt always in the sanctuary.  What follows as the result of “dwelling in the house of the Lord” is figurative (verse 5)—“In the time of trouble … He shall hide me … in the secret of His tabernacle”; therefore the dwelling in the house of the Lord must be figurative too.  The being hidden by God in a secret place of safety, or sanctuary, is the result of spiritual abiding in and with Him.[JFB]  and to inquire:  A primitive root; properly to plough, or (generally) break forth, that is, (figuratively) to inspect, admire, care for, consider.[S]  To inspect, seek; look after; consider.[SS]  To look into or after attentively, to enquire with great care and diligence; to look at with pleasure, to behold with admiration, to admire.[WW]  Contemplate with admiration.[B]  “Inquiry”, in the sense of meditation, possibly self-searching.[TW]  The connotation here seems to mean “do research” or “make thorough inquiry”, the purpose being to learn more and more about God and His purposes.[Henry Morris]  in His temple:  Probably from H3201 [i.e., to be able] (in the sense of capacity); a large public building, such as a palace or temple.[S]  Temple (place of God as King); temple (of heavenly temple).[CW]  Palace; used generally of heaven, but also of the holy place.[B]

     He expresses his great love and affection to the house of God: "One thing I have desired," and in this he was constant.   "THAT (emphatically) I will seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life."  For three ends:--1. "To behold the beauty of the Lord."  To taste how good and gracious He is.  2. "To inquire in His temple."  There to search the mind of God.  3. "To offer in His temple sacrifices of joy and to sing praises to the Lord."  And this was another argument of his security:  "For in the time of trouble He will hide me in His pavilion—He shall set me upon a rock, and my head shall be lifted up."[Adam Clarke]