One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after. A most emphatic introduction of the new topic! Amid all my joy and jubilation, there is still one thing which I need, which I entreat Jehovah to grant—that thing I shall continue to seek after until I obtain it, viz.
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. The psalmist is evidently debarred access to the sanctuary; he feels his exclusion from it a terrible privation; he longs to be there—to "dwell" there (comp.
Psalms 26:8); to offer there "sacrifices of joy" (Psalms 27:6); to sing there psalms of thanksgiving. He would fain also behold the beauty of the Lord— τὴν τερηνότητα, LXX.—" all that is engaging and gracious in his revelation of himself" (Kay); "not the outward beauty of the sanctuary, but the gracious attributes which its ritual symbolized" ('Speaker's Commentary').
And to inquire in his temple. It has already appeared, from Psalms 5:7, that the word "temple" or "palace" (heykal) was applied in David's time to the tabernacle.