He himself, indeed, uses a similar figure. He tells us, in another Psalm, written on this same occasion, that so blessed did he feel those to be who enjoyed the privilege of "dwelling in God's house," and so ardent was his longing to participate in their joy, that he half-envied the swallows who constructed their nests upon its roof. (Ps. lxxxiv.) He was not without his solaces in this season of reverse and calamity. He had many faithful adherents still clinging to him in his adversity. The best and bravest chieftains from the tribes on the other side of the Jordan supplied his drooping followers with the produce of their rich pasture lands. "_Shobi of Ammon, and Machir of Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite_"--these brought, besides camp utensils, "_wheat, and barley, and flour, and parched corn, and beans, and lentiles, and parched pulse, and honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of kine, for David, and for the people that were with him, to eat: for they said, The people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness._" (2 Sam. xvii. 27-29.) Glorious, too, was Nature's temple around him. Its pillars the mountains--the rocks its altar--the balmy air its incense--the range of Lebanon, rising like a holy of holies, with its reverend curtain of mist and cloud, and snowy Hermon towering in solemn grandeur above all, as the very throne of God! Yet what were these compared with JERUSALEM, the place of sacrifice, the resting-place of the Shekinah-glory, the city of solemnities, "_whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord_?" (Ps. cxxii. 4.) This wounded Hart pants for the water-brooks of Zion; Nature's outer sanctuary had no glory to him, "by reason of the glory that excelleth." The God who dwelleth between the cherubim had "_chosen Zion, and desired it for His habitation_," saying, "_This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it_." (Ps. cxxxii. 13, 14.) With the windows of his soul, like Daniel, thrown "open _towards Jerusalem_," and his inner eye wistfully straining to its sunny heights, his ear catching the cadence of its festive throng, he seems to say, "_If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy._" (Ps. cxxxvii. 5, 6.)