But there is a deeper desire in the psalmist's heart than the enemies' destruction. He wishes that they should be turned into God's friends, and he wishes for their chastisement as the means to that end. "That they may seek Thy face, Jehovah," is the sum of his aspirations, as it is the inmost meaning of God's punitive acts. The end of the judgment of the world, which is continually going on by means of the history of the world, is none other than what this psalmist contemplated as the end of the defeat of that confederacy of God's enemies--that rebels should seek His face, not in enforced submission, but with true desire to sun themselves in its light, and with heart-felt acknowledgment of His Name as supreme through all the earth. The thought of God as standing alone in His majestic omnipotence, while a world is vainly arrayed against Him, which we have traced in vv. 5-7, is prominent in the close of the psalm. The language of ver. 18 is somewhat broken, but its purport is plain, and its thought is all the more impressive for the irregularity of construction. God alone is the Most High. He is revealed to men by His Name. It stands alone, as He in His nature does. The highest good of men is to know that that sovereign Name is unique and high above all creatures, hostile or obedient. Such knowledge is God's aim in punishment and blessing. Its universal extension must be the deepest wish of all who have for themselves learned how strong a fortress against a world in arms that Name is; and their desires for the foes of God and themselves are not in harmony with God's heart, nor with this psalmist's song, unless they are, that His enemies may be led, by salutary defeat of their enterprises and experience of the weight of God's hand, to bow, in loving obedience, low before the Name which, whether they recognise the fact or not, is high above an the earth. PSALM LXXXIV. 1 How lovely are Thy dwellings, Jehovah of Hosts! 2 My soul longs, yea, even languishes, for the courts of Jehovah, My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. 3 Yea, the sparrow has found a house, And the swallow a nest for herself, where she lays her young, Thine altars, Jehovah of Hosts. My King and my God. 4 Blessed they that dwell in Thy house! They will be still praising Thee, Selah. 5 Blessed the man whose strength is in Thee, In whose heart are the ways! 6 [Who] passing through the valley of weeping make it a place of fountains, Yea, the early rain covers it with blessings. 7 They go from strength to strength, Each appears before God in Zion. 8 Jehovah, God of Hosts, hear my prayer, Give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah.