One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple.
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Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
4. "One have I asked of the Lord, this will I require." For one petition have I asked the Lord, this will I require. "That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life" (ver. 4). That as long as I am in this life, no adversities may exclude me from the number of them who hold the unity and the truth of the Lord's faith throughout the world. "That I may contemplate the delight of the Lord." With this end, namely, that persevering in the faith, the delightsome vision may appear to me, which I may contemplate face to face. "And I shall be protected, His temple." And death being swallowed up in victory, I shall be clothed with immortality, being made His temple.
House; the tabernacle, (Haydock) or temple, (Calmet) unless he may rather allude to God's presence and union, or his enjoyment in heaven. (Berthier)
He had already expressed a similar wish, Psalm xxv. 8. (Calmet)
"When we love what God approves, he will surely grant our request. "(St. Augustine)
David esteemed it as a special benefit to be in the Catholic Church, which is the only true house of God. (Worthington)
Delight; beauty and sweetness, as the Hebrew implies. Many of the ancients read, "the will "voluntatem, with Sixtus V But the edition of Clement VIII agrees with the Hebrew and Oriental versions. (Calmet)
To comply with God's will, is the only means of arriving at his beatific vision. (Haydock)
David was more grieved at being kept at a distance from the tabernacle, than from his own family. He envied the happiness of those who could attend the divine worship. (Menochius)
