Psalms 24

1. THE earth is the LORD’s, and the fulness thereof;

The world, and they that dwell therein.

2. For he hath founded it upon the seas,

3. Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD?

4. He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; Who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity. And hath not sworn deceitfully.

5. He shall receive a blessing from the LORD, And righteousness from the God of his sal- vation.

6. This is the generation of them that seek after him,

That seek thy face, O God of Jacob. [Selah

7. Lift up your heads, O ye gates;

And be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors:

And the King of glory shall come in.

8. Who is the King of glory?

The LORD strong and mighty,

The LORD mighty in battle.

9. Lift up your heads, O ye gates;

Yea, lift them up, ye everlasting doors:

And the King of glory shall come in.

10. Who is this King of glory?

The LORD of hosts,

He is the King of glory.

[Selah

THIS grand choral hymn was in all probability composed and sung on the occasion of the removal of the ark from the house of Obed-Edom to the city of David on Mount Zion (2 Sam. 6). It was a day of solemn gladness and triumph. No long period had elapsed since David had wrested the stronghold of Zion from the last remnant of the hill-tribes of the Canaanites which lingered in Palestine. Henceforth this mountain-city, deemed by its ancient inhabitants impregnable, was selected by the conqueror as the seat of the royal residence, and the centre of religious worship; and thither, after having subdued his enemies, he determined to bring the ark, which for nearly fifty years had been left neglected at Kirjath-Jearim. It is difficult for us to conceive the feelings, at once of the most exalted and fervent patriotism and of the deepest religious enthusiasm, which would be awakened in the hearts of the people by such an event. The land was now indeed their own land; the king of their choice reigned over them; the most sacred emblem of Jehovah’s presence and blessing was to be fixed in a central and permanent abode. King and priests and people, the elders of Israel and the captains over thousands (1 Chr. 15: 2), in solem procession, and with all the accompaniments of music and song, conducted the ark to its resting-place on the holy mountain. It was then that this majestic anthem rose to heaven: “Jehovah’s is the earth, and the fulness thereof;” and the gates of that gray old fortress were bid to lift themselves up, as being too narrow to admit the King of glory. P.

This Psalm consists of two distinct and, it may seem at first sight, unconnected parts. The first praises God as the universal sovereign by right of creation (vs. 1, 2), and describes the moral requisites to intimate communion with Him (vs. 3-6). The second represents Him, in a striking figurative form, as entering some place provided for His residence (vs. 7-10). The idea common to both parts is the supremacy of God, both in holiness and majesty. A.—In each we have question and answer, as in Psalm 15, which belongs to the same period. The first half replies to the question, “Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord, and who shall stand in His holy place?” The answer is a description of the men who dwell with God. The second half deals with the correlative inquiry, “Who is the King of glory?” and describes the God who comes to dwell with men. Both portions are united by a real internal connection, in that they set forth the mutual approach of God and man which leads to communion. A. M.

Adopted into Israel’s hymn-book, this Psalm became an Old Testament advent hymn in honor of the Lord, who should come to His temple (Mal. 3 : 1) ; and the cry, " Lift up your heads, O ye gates," acquired essentially the same meaning as the voice of the herald in Isa. 40 : 3 : " Prepare ye Jehovah’s way, make level in the desert a highway for our God." In the New Testament consciousness, the place of the first advent is taken by the second, the coming of the Lord of glory to His Church, which is His spiritual temple, and which is called upon in this Psalm to prepare a worthy reception for Him. D.—Most fitly, in its Christian application, this Psalm celebrates the return of Christ as the King of glory to His heavenly throne, and the inauguration of that dominion which He thence exercises in the world. It will be fully accomplished when the doors of all hearts, all temples, and all kingdoms shall be thrown wide before Him ; when He shall be acknowledged upon earth as He is acknowledged in heaven. P.

1. The earth is the Lord’s by the sovereign right of Creatorship, the right to a thing which we intuitively recognize as resting in him that made it. This right covers the earth and all that fills it ; the inhabited world and all that dwell therein. The Hebrew for " world" means the earth considered as productive and inhabited, the fitting abode of man. C.

2. For He above the seas has settled it, and above the streams has fixed it. The pronoun is emphatic ; He and no one else. He has made the earth what it is, and is therefore the sovereign, both of it and its inhabitants. The idea is not that of subterraneous waters bearing up the land, but simply that of the habitable earth, raised above the surface of the waters which surround it. The sense of the two verses, taken in connection, is that since Jehovah is the God who collected the waters and caused the dry land to appear, He is the rightful sovereign of the habitable earth and of those whom it sustains. A.—He is the owner of the world, because its creator. He has founded it upon seas, i.e., the ocean and its floods ; for the waters were before the dry land was created, and the latter emerged from them at God’s omnipotent word. D.

All the parts and regions of the earth are the Lord’s, all under His eye, all in His hand ; so that, wherever a child of God goes, he may comfort himself with this, that he does not go off his Father’s ground. That which falls to our share of the earth and its productions is but lent to us, it is the Lord’s ; what is our own against all the world is not so against His claims. H.—Under man’s tutored hand the world is coming to a greater fulness than ever, but it is all the Lord’s ; the field and the fruit, the earth and all earth’s wonders are Jehovah’s. We look also for a sublimer fulness when the true ideal of a world for God shall have been reached in millennial glories, and then most clearly the earth will be the Lord’s and the fulness thereof. S.

3-6. David takes the occasion of the inauguration of the tabernacle on Mount Zion to inculcate the fundamental principles of morality, above all, purity of heart, as the conditions of acceptance. Cook.

3,4. Heaven is God and God is heaven. How can a soul possess God, and find its heaven in possessing Him ? Certainly only by likeness to Him, and loving Him. The old question, " Who shall stand in the holy place ?" has no answer in the Gospel, which reduces the conditions, or negatives the old reply. The common sense of every conscience answers, and Christianity answers, as the Psalmist does, " He that hath clean hands and a pure heart." A. M.—It is not stately walls nor beauteous spires that tell for Christ, nor eloquent sermons, nor artistic anthems, but lives that are clean, hearts that are glad with the light of Christ, and hands that are loaded with mercy. Anon.

4. The true worshipper of Christ must possess a moral fitness. There must be : 1. Rectitude of conduct. " He that hath clean hands." The ceremonially unclean were not allowed to touch the sacred things of the Temple, and certainly the morally impure, whose hands are defiled with wrong-doing, cannot enter into hallowed fellowship with God. The conscience that is not upright in the practical, commonplace duties of life cannot be sincere and blameless in the solemn worship of God. 2. Purity of heart. " And a pure heart." It is not enough for the outward life to be consistent, the inward experience must be holy. The inner life is everything to us ; if we are wrong there, we are wrong everywhere and in everything. There is a moral sympathy between the worshipper and the worshipped, and the tendency is to become increasingly like the object of our adoration. The holy God can accept nothing but what is the offering of a holy heart. Hence the perpetual need of the sanctifying merits of the great Mediator ; without His aid the best effort of the worshipper is imperfect and impure. 3.

Truthfulness of thought and speech. “Who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity.” “Unto vanity, i.e., either the perishing things of earth or falsehood, which signification passes over into a wider one of moral evil in general; or false gods, idols. It may be taken here in the widest sense of all that the human heart puts in the place of God.” P.—The word “vanity” is used for things vain and empty; also for things false and for idols; and is perhaps used comprehensively for sin. The man described here, therefore, is he who has not given his heart in love to any sin. C.—"Nor sworn deceitfully;" or inured his tongue to any dishonoring of God, or deceiving of others. Perjury is here instanced for the rest, as one of the most heinous. But Peraldus reckoneth up four and twenty several sins of the tongue, all which every burgess of the New Jerusalem is careful to avoid, as no way becoming his pure lip. Trapp.

Accepted worshippers are such as make conscience of being inwardly as good as they seem to be outwardly; they have pure hearts. We make nothing of our religion if we do not make heart-work of it. This is a pure heart which is sincere and without guile in covenanting with God, which is carefully guarded, which is purified by faith and conformed to the image and will of God. They are such as do not set their affections upon the things of this world; as do not lift up their souls unto vanity, whose hearts are not carried out inordinately toward the wealth of the world, the praise of men, or the delights of sense; who do not choose these things for their portion. They are such as deal honestly both with God and man. In their covenant with God and their contracts with men they have not sworn deceitfully, nor broken their promises, violated their engagements. Those that have no regard to the obligations of truth or the honor of God’s name are unfit for a place in God’s holy hill. H.

An honest, earnest, true heart; a hand that will not stain itself with unjust gain, or hold an unequal balance, or sign a deceitful letter; a tongue that will not twist itself to a falsehood or take up an evil report; a soul that points as true as a compass to highest ideal of manhood or womanhood—these are the marks and qualities of God’s people everywhere. And when these qualities are exalted and manifested, when a Christian means one whose word is his bond, who can be trusted with unknown treasure, whose praise is an honor and whose friendship is a jewel of priceless value; one who does his duty toward his fellow-men as a service to his

God; one whose outward integrity is the proof of his inward purity—then the Church will have great praise and large triumph. H. Van Dyke.

A Christian that is evangelically “perfect” is made up of these two parts—holiness and righteousness; though holiness be the chief, as that which doth difference the saint, yet righteousness is so requisite that there can be no true Christian without it. The saint is described sometimes by a “pure heart,” so also sometimes by “clean hands,” because he has both; the holiness of his heart is seen at his fingers’ ends. Swinnock.—It is not he who fasts or watches so many days, nor he who divides his own among the poor, nor he who preaches to others, nor he who lives quietly, kindly, and friendly; nor, in fine, is it he who works all virtuous and all good works that ever any man spoke or read of, but it is he alone who is pure within and without. Luther.

God will be served with the whole heart; for all our good is in God, and therefore all our hearts must make out after God. God must have perfect obedience in the desire and endeavor, or else He will have none. Certainly that which must make any man acceptable is not so much that there is somewhat done, but that that which God commands is done, or done in regard of the endeavor; for that indeed will be acceptable; though we cannot do all at once, if we bring somewhat to God as a part, and acknowledging the whole debt, work for the remainder, it will be accepted. If thou hast an upright heart, and dost bring God but part and labor after the whole, He will accept it; but if thou bringst Him ten times more than a sincere heart can bring Him, it will not be acceptable. Burroughs.—Christ could not, if He would, take a man to His right hand whose heart was not the home of simple trust and thankful love, whose nature and desires were unprepared for that blessed world. A. M.

How greatly they err who consider the old economy as nothing but a burdensome ritual, a round of ceremonies, never penetrating beneath the surface! Here, in the praise-book of the nation, in the songs of the sanctuary, is incorporated an utterance that passes by altar, and sacrifice, and incense, and makes no mention of ancestral names however great or sacred, and insists simply upon purity of heart and conduct as the prerequisites for acceptable worship. T. W. C.

5. “He shall receive the blessing from Jehovah, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.” Then that righteousness, which he who honestly attempts to comply with such requirements will soon find that he does not possess, is to be received from above, not elaborated from within; is a gift from God, not a product of man’s toils. God will make us pure, that we may dwell with Him. A. M.—To receive righteousness is to have the gift of righteousness, grace to resemble God in His essential attributes, and conformity to the Divine will and the Divine nature. It also includes the substantial fact of justification, for such a man has righteousness imputed to him. It is a phrase of great importance in its bearings upon the doctrinal teaching of the Psalms. The man who brings the conditions of acceptance, honesty of heart, and uprightness in dealings, will receive grace for grace. Cook.

“He shall receive his righteousness,” saith the prophet; and “the gift of righteousness,” saith the apostle. It is then another, to be given us and to be received by us, which we must seek for. And whither shall we go for it? Job alone dispatcheth this point (15: 15; 4: 18; 25: 5). Not to the heavens or stars, they are unclean in his sight. Not to the saints, for in them he found folly. Not to the angels, for neither in them found he steadfastness. Now, if none of these will serve, we see a necessary reason why Jehovah must be a part of this name, “the Lord our righteousness.” Lancelot Andrewes.—They do not ascend the hill of the Lord as givers but as receivers, and they do not wear their own merits, but a righteousness which they have received. Holy living ensures a blessing as its reward from the thrice Holy God, but it is itself a blessing of the New Covenant and a delightful fruit of the Spirit. S.

6. “This is the generation seeking Thee, those seeking Thy face (O Jehovah), (the true Israel).” The sudden apostrophe to God Himself makes the sentence more impressive without making it obscure. The distinction here made between the nominal and real Israel was peculiarly necessary on occasions which were suited to flatter the national pride of the chosen people, such as that of Jehovah’s solemn entrance into Zion, as the peculiar God of Israel. A.—This is the generation of those who seek Thy face—the real Jacob—in the same sense in which the Scriptures speak of the true Israel: “They are not all Israel who are of Israel,” but only they who are “Israelites indeed in whom is no guile.” (See Rom. 9: 6 and John 1: 47.) On an occasion like this it was specially pertinent to impress the sentiment that none could hope for the favor of the Great and Holy God save such as came before Him pure in heart and hand; humbly seeking His face in the spirit of His true and sincere worshippers. C.

The men who receive righteousness are the men who seek it from God. “This is the generation of them that seek Him, that seek Thy face,” and, as the last words ought to be rendered, “This is Jacob, the true Israel.” To desire is to have; to seek is to possess; to wish is to be enriched with all this purity. A. M.—This is the generation of seekers. Heaven is a generation of finders, of possessors, of enjoyers of God. But here we are a generation of seekers. It is a state of seeking here because it is a state of want; we want something alway. Sibbes.

7-10. The entry of Jehovah as King of glory into His sanctuary. The festal procession has now reached the gates of the city of Zion. “The singers go before; the minstrels follow after;” and in the midst of these is the ark, “whose name is called by the name of the Lord of Hosts, that dwelleth between the cherubim” (2 Sam. 6: 2); so that the entry of the ark is the entry of Jehovah Himself into Zion (Num. 10: 35). P.—The procession is now supposed to have arrived at the entrance of the citadel or walled town of Zion, the acropolis of Jerusalem. The gates of this acropolis are those personified in this fine apostrophe. They are called perpetual or everlasting on account of their antiquity, and not in mere anticipation of their subsequent duration. They are called upon to raise their heads, that He who is about to enter may not debase Himself by stooping to pass through them. A.

To the gates of the citadel of Zion the cry is addressed, to expand themselves conformably with the dignity of the Lord who is entering in and for whom they are too mean and diminutive. Rejoicing in the great honor of which they are deemed worthy, the ancient doors are to open themselves high and wide. Then from the gates of Zion, which are wont to allow only great lords to enter, there echoes back to the festal procession the question, “Who, then, is this glorious king?” and they describe Him more particularly: it is the heroic God, by means of whom Israel has wrested this Zion from the Jebusites with the sword, and by means of whom it has hitherto always proved victorious. D.

8. The answer is prompt and clear. The Lord, the Creator, the performer of all His promises; strong to overcome all resistance, mighty to maintain the cause of the oppressed. The Lord mighty in war. The repetition is emphatic. War implies the encounter of good and evil. The Lord defends the right and defeats the wrong. M.

10. The gates of Zion again put their question; no longer, however, hesitatingly, but in order once more to hear the praise of the great King. The gates are silent and open, and Jehovah, enthroned above the cherubim of the sacred ark, enters Zion. D.

There is a more material variation in the answer, where instead of the two phrases, Jehovah strong and mighty, Jehovah mighty in battle, the Psalmist substitutes the single but still more expressive title, Jehovah Zobaoth or of Hosts. This description of Jehovah as the God of heaven no less than of earth, while it sensibly strengthens the expressions of v. 8, at the same time brings us back in the conclusion to the sublime assertion of v. 1, the universal sovereignty of God. The whole Psalm is then brought to a solemn and sonorous close by making the answer echo the terms of the interrogation, He is the King of glory! These points of difference between vs. 8 and 10 impart a beautiful variety to the repeated sentence, without impairing in the least the rhetorical or musical effect of the repetition itself, which is followed only by the customary indication of a pause, both in the sense and the performance. A.

The closing note is inexpressibly grand. Jehovah of hosts, Lord of men and angels, Lord of the universe, Lord of the worlds, is the King of glory. All true glory is concentrated upon the true God, for all other glory is but a passing pageant, the painted pomp of an hour. The ascended Saviour is here declared to be the Head and Crown of the universe, the King of glory. Our Immanuel is hymned in sublimest strains. Jesus of Nazareth is Jehovah Sabaoth. S.

Look at the application of these words to the Christ who will dwell in your hearts. The very central idea of the Gospel is this, that if you will open the gates of your hearts, He will come in, in all the plenitude of His victorious power, and dwell in your hearts, their Conqueror and their King. A. M.

The Saviour permitted His exaltation to be revealed through the ascension, in that He thereby made known His boundless dominion over heaven and earth, and made His Godhead manifest. Before the foundation of the world had the Lord possessed this boundless dominion, and His Godhead was evident and known in heaven; but through His ascension He entered again into His former glory, which He had resigned at His incarnation. But what a difference! The Man-Jesus receives a share in the omniscience and omnipresence of the Son of God. The Son of God and the Man-Jesus are one person; and this one Divine and human person has the Divine dominion which the Son of God had from all eternity. Caspars.

Human nature is, at this moment, the most glorious of created natures, taken, in its assumption by the Son, into a nearness of union with the Godhead which none other enjoys; and where our Head is, there all His true members shall in due time be. As the man Christ Jesus passed through all suffering into glory, even so His people, exposed to dangers which others never knew, and made triumphant through His Spirit dwelling in them, rise to honors with which others can never be crowned; and, living monuments of all those Divine perfections which were displayed in their redemption, living records of the glory of God, they will awaken among the hosts of heaven a song which throughout eternity will be ever new. Dods.

For God to adorn His Son with all this glory in His ascension, thus to make Him ride conqueror up into the clouds, thus to go up with sound of trumpet, with shout of angels and with songs of praises, and, let me add, to be accompanied also with those that rose from the dead after His resurrection, who were the very price of His blood—this does greatly demonstrate that Jesus Christ by what He has done has paid a full price to God for the souls of sinners, and obtained eternal redemption for them; He had not else rode thus in triumph to heaven. Consider those glorious circumstances that accompany His approach to the gates of the everlasting habitation. The everlasting gates are set, yea, bid stand open: “Be ye open, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in.” The King of glory is Jesus Christ, and the words are a prophecy of His glorious ascending into the heavens, when He went up as the High Priest of the Church, to carry the price of His blood into the holiest of all. Bunyan.—Yes, but not He alone. When the triumphs of the chariots of God swept behind Him in their unseen procession, the everlasting portals closed not after them. They are open still, open to us and to our race, and through them pass and shall pass till the end of time the thronging souls of the redeemed. He went to prepare a place for those He loved. He went as the great forerunner of His people, and we must follow in His course. Where the Head is there should the members be; and our treasure, our life, our affection are meant to be with Him at the right hand of God Furrar.