Psalms 27:5

Pavilion - Tabernacle; dwelling.

Tabernacle - A tent, booth or dwelling.

He shall hide me in his pavilion - בסכה besuccoh, in his tabernacle. I would make his temple my residence; I would dwell with God, and be in continual safety. Pavilion comes from papilio and παπιλιων, a butterfly. It signifies a tent made of cloth stretched out on poles, which in form resembles in some measure the insect above named.

In the secret of his tabernacle - Were there no other place, he would put me in the holy of holies, so that an enemy would not dare to approach me.

He shall set me upon a rock - He shall so strengthen and establish me, that my enemies shall not be able to prevail against me. He shall hide me where they cannot find me, or put me out of the reach of the fiery darts of the wicked. He who lives nearest to God suffers least from temptation. "Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to thee: resist the devil and he will flee from thee."

For in the time of trouble - When I am surrounded by dangers, or when affliction comes upon me.

He shall hide me - The word used here means to hide; to secrete; and then, to defend or protect. It would properly be applied to one who had fled from oppression, or from any impending evil, and who should be "secreted" in a house or cavern, and thus rendered safe from pursuers, or from the threatening evil.

In his pavilion - The word "pavilion" means "tent" or "tabernacle." The Hebrew word - סכה sukâh - means properly a booth, hut, or cot formed of green branches interwoven: Jonah 4:5; Job 27:18; see the notes at Isaiah 4:6. Then it is applied to tents made of skins: Leviticus 23:43; 2 Samuel 11:11. It thus is used to denote the tabernacle, considered as the dwelling-place of God on earth, and the meaning here is, that God would hide him as it were in His own dwelling; He would admit him near to Himself; He would take care that he should be protected as if he were one of His own family; as a man protects those whom he admits to his own abode.

In the secret of his tabernacle - In the most retired and private part of His dwelling. He would not merely admit him to His premises; not only to the vestibule of His house; not only to the open court, or to the parts of His house frequented by the rest of His family; but he would admit him to the private apartments - the place to which He Himself withdrew to be alone, and where no stranger, and not even one of the family, would venture to intrude. Nothing could more certainly denote friendship; nothing could more certainly make protection sure, than thus to be taken into the private apartment where the master of a family was accustomed himself to withdraw, that he might be alone; and nothing, therefore, can more beautifully describe the protection which God will give to His friends than the idea of thus admitting them to the secret apartments of His own dwelling-place.

He shall set me up upon a rock - A place where I shall be secure; a place inaccessible to my enemies. Compare Psalm 18:1-2; Psalm 19:14 (margin); Psalm 61:2; Psalm 71:3. The meaning is, that he would be safe from all his enemies.

27:5 The secret - In his tabernacle, into which mine enemies cannot come. He alludes to the ancient custom of offenders, who used to flee to the tabernacle or altar. Rock - A place high and inaccessible.