Psa 24:3-7 | Clarke | e4.org | Verse 3. Who shall ascend ] Who is sufficiently holy to wait in his temple? Who is fit to minister in the holy place?

‏ Psalms 24:3-7

Verse 3. Who shall ascend] Who is sufficiently holy to wait in his temple? Who is fit to minister in the holy place?

Verse 4. He that hath clean hands] He whose conscience is irreproachable; whose heart is without deceit and uninfluenced by unholy passions.

Who hath not lifted up his soul] Who has no idolatrous inclination; whose faith is pure, and who conscientiously fulfils his promises and engagements.

Verse 5. He shall receive the blessing] Perhaps alluding to Obed-edom, at whose house the ark had been lodged, and on whom God had poured out especial blessings.

And righteousness] Mercy: every kind of necessary good. It is the mercy of God that crowns the obedience and fidelity of good men. For what made them good and faithful? God's mercy. What crowns their fidelity? God's mercy.

Verse 6. This is the generation] This is the description of people who are such as God can approve of, and delight in.

That seek thy face, O Jacob.] It is most certain that Elohey, O God, has been lost out of the Hebrew text in most MSS., but it is preserved in two of Kennicott's MSS., and also in the Syriac, Vulgate, Septuagint, AEthiopic, Arabic, and Anglo-Saxon. "Who seek thy face, O God of Jacob."

Selah.] That is, It is confirmed; it is true. The persons who abstain from every appearance of evil, and seek the approbation of God, are those in whom God will delight.

Verse 7. Lift up your heads, O ye gates] The address of those who preceded the ark, the gates being addressed instead of the keepers of the gates. Allusion is here made to the triumphal entry of a victorious general into the imperial city.

In the hymn of Callimachus to Apollo, there are two lines very much like those in the text; they convey the very same sentiments. The poet represents the god coming into his temple, and calls upon the priests to open the doors, &c.

αυτοινυνκατοχηεςανακλινεσθεπυλαως

αυταιδεκληιδεςογαρθεοςουκετιμακραν

"Fall back, ye bolts; ye pond'rous doors, give way;

For not far distant is the god of day."

Callim. Hymn in Apol., ver. 6, 7.

The whole of this hymn contains excellent sentiments even on the subject of the Psalms.

Everlasting doors] There seems to be a reference here to something like our portcullis, which hangs by pullies above the gate, and can be let down at any time so as to prevent the gate from being forced. In the case to which the psalmist refers, the portcullis is let down, and the persons preceding the ark order it to be raised. When it is lifted up, and appears above the head or top of the gate, then the folding doors are addressed: "Be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors;" let there be no obstruction; and the mighty Conqueror, the King of glory, whose presence is with the ark, and in which the symbol of his glory appears, shall enter. Make due preparations to admit so august and glorious a Personage.