Psalms 24 commentary

We ourselves are not our own; our bodies, our souls, are not. Even those of the children of men are God's, who know him not, nor own their relation to him. A soul that knows and considers its own nature, and that it must live for ever, when it has viewed the earth and the fulness thereof, will sit down unsatisfied. It will think of ascending toward God, and will ask, What shall I do, that I may abide in that happy, holy place, where he makes his people holy and happy? We make nothing of religion, if we do not make heart-work of it. We can only be cleansed from our sins, and renewed unto holiness, by the blood of Christ and the washing of the Holy Ghost. Thus we become his people; thus we receive blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of our salvation. God's peculiar people shall be made truly and for ever happy. Where God gives righteousness, he designs salvation. Those that are made meet for heaven, shall be brought safe to heaven, and will find what they have been seeking.

The splendid entry here described, refers to the solemn bringing in of the ark into the tent David pitched for it, or the temple Solomon built for it. We may also apply it to the ascension of Christ into heaven, and the welcome given to him there. Our Redeemer found the gates of heaven shut, but having by his blood made atonement for sin, as one having authority, he demanded entrance. The angels were to worship him, Heb 1:6: they ask with wonder, Who is he? It is answered, that he is strong and mighty; mighty in battle to save his people, and to subdue his and their enemies. We may apply it to Christ's entrance into the souls of men by his word and Spirit, that they may be his temples. Behold, he stands at the door, and knocks, Rev 3:20. The gates and doors of the heart are to be opened to him, as possession is delivered to the rightful owner. We may apply it to his second coming with glorious power. Lord, open the everlasting door of our souls by thy grace, that we may now receive thee, and be wholly thine; and that, at length, we may be numbered with thy saints in glory.

PSALM 24.

As God stands related to all mankind as their Creator and Governor, David, from this consideration, magnifies the special favor which God manifested towards the children of Abraham, in choosing them to be his peculiar people, in preference to the rest of mankind, and in erecting his sanctuary as his house that he might dwell among them. He shows, at the same time, that although the sanctuary was open to all the Jews, God was not near to all of them, but only to those who feared and served him in sincerity, and who had cleansed themselves from the pollutions of the world, in order to devote themselves to holiness and righteousness. Moreover, as the grace of God was more clearly manifested after the temple was built, he celebrates that grace in a strain of splendid poetry, to encourage true believers with the more alacrity to persevere in the exercise of serving and honoring him.

A Psalm of David.

Psalm 24:1-4

1. The earth is Jehovah’s, and the fullness thereof; “Son contenu.” — Note, Fr. marg. “That is, its contents.” the world, and they that dwell therein: 2. For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods. 3. Who shall ascend unto the hill of Jehovah? who shall stand in his holy place? 4. He who is clean of hands, and pure of heart; who hath not lifted up his soul to vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.

1. The earth is Jehovah’s. We will find in many other places the children of Abraham compared with all the rest of mankind, that the free goodness of God, in selecting them from all other nations, and in embracing them with his favor, may shine forth the more conspicuously. The object of the beginning of the psalm is to show that the Jews had nothing of themselves which could entitle them to approach nearer or more familiarly to God than the Gentiles. As God by his providence preserves the world, the power of his government is alike extended to all, so that he ought to be worshipped by all, even as he also shows to all men, without exception, the fatherly care he has about them. But since he preferred the Jews to all other nations, it was indispensably necessary that there should be some sacred bond of connection between him and them, which might distinguish them from the heathen nations. By this argument David invites and exhorts them to holiness. He tells them that it was reasonable that those whom God had adopted as his children, should bear certain marks peculiar to themselves, and not be altogether like strangers. Not that he incites them to endeavor to prejudice God against others, in order to gain his exclusive favor; but he teaches them, from the end or design of their election, that they shall then have secured to them the firm and peaceful possession of the honor which God had conferred upon them above other nations, when they devote themselves to an upright and holy life. “Qu’adonc ils entrerent en ferme et paisible possession de l’honneur que Dieu leur a fait par dessus les autres nations.” — Fr. In vain would they have been collected together into a distinct body, as the peculiar people of God, if they did not apply themselves to the cultivation of holiness. In short, the Psalmist pronounces God to be the King of the whole world, to let all men know that, even by the law of nature, they are bound to serve him. And by declaring that he made a covenant of salvation with a small portion of mankind, and by the erection of the tabernacle, gave the children of Abraham the symbol of his presence, thereby to assure them of his dwelling in the midst of them, he teaches them that they must endeavor to have purity of heart and of hands, if they would be accounted the members of his sacred family.

With respect to the word fullness, I admit that under it all the riches with which the earth is adorned are comprehended, as is proved by the authority of Paul; but I have no doubt that the Psalmist intends by the expression men themselves, who are the most illustrious ornament and glory of the earth. If they should fail, the earth would exhibit a scene of desolation and solitude, not less hideous than if God should despoil it of all its other riches. To what purpose are there produced so many kinds of fruit, and in so great abundance, and why are there so many pleasant and delightful countries, if it is not for the use and comfort of men? “Car a quelle fin font produits des fruits de tant de sortes, et en telle abondance, et qu’il y a tant de vieux de plaisance, si non pour l’usage et commodite des hommes?” — Fr. Accordingly, David explains, in the following clause, that it is principally of men that he speaks. It is his usual manner to repeat the same thing twice, and here the fullness of the earth, and the inhabitants of the world, have the same meaning. I do not, however, deny that the riches with which the earth abounds for the use of men, are comprehended under these expressions. Paul, therefore, (1 Corinthians 10:26) when discoursing concerning meats, justly quotes this passage in support of his argument, maintaining that no kind of food is unclean, because, “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.”

PSALM 24

Psa 24:1-10. God's supreme sovereignty requires a befitting holiness of life and heart in His worshippers; a sentiment sublimely illustrated by describing His entrance into the sanctuary, by the symbol of His worship--the ark, as requiring the most profound homage to the glory of His Majesty.

1. fulness--everything.

world--the habitable globe, with

they that dwell--forming a parallel expression to the first clause.

2. Poetically represents the facts of Ge 1:9.

3-4. The form of a question gives vivacity. Hands, tongue, and heart are organs of action, speech, and feeling, which compose character.

hill of the Lord--(compare Psa 2:6, &c.). His Church--the true or invisible, as typified by the earthly sanctuary.

5. righteousness--the rewards which God bestows on His people, or the grace to secure those rewards as well as the result.

6. Jacob--By "Jacob," we may understand God's people (compare Is 43:22; 44:2, &c.), corresponding to "the generation," as if he had said, "those who seek Thy face are Thy chosen people."

7-10. The entrance of the ark, with the attending procession, into the holy sanctuary is pictured to us. The repetition of the terms gives emphasis.

The earth is the Lord's - He is the Creator and Governor of it; it is his own property. Men may claim districts and kingdoms of it as their property, but God is Lord of the soil.

The fullness thereof - "All its creatures." - Targum. Every tree, plant, and shrub; the silver and the gold, and the cattle on a thousand hills.

They that dwell therein - All human beings.

He hath founded it upon the seas - He not only created the vast mass, but separated the land from the waters, so that the mountains, etc., being elevated above the waters, appear to be founded on them, and notwithstanding all the tossings and ragings of the ocean, these waters cannot prevail. It is established upon the floods, and cannot be shaken.

Who shall ascend - Who is sufficiently holy to wait in his temple? Who is fit to minister in the holy place?

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.

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.

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 אלהי 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, Ethiopic, 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.

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, etc. Αυτοι νυν κατοχηες ανακλινεσθε πυλαως, Αυται δε κληιδες· ὁ γαρ Θεος ουκ ετι μακραν; "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.

Who is this King of glory? - This is the answer of those who are within. Who is this glorious King, for whom ye demand entrance? To which they reply: -

The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle - It is Jehovah, who is come to set up his abode in his imperial city: He who has conquered his enemies, and brought salvation to Israel. To make the matter still more solemn, and give those without an opportunity of describing more particularly this glorious Personage, those within hesitate to obey the first summons: and then it is repeated, Psa 24:9.

Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in - To which a more particular question is proposed: - Who is He, This King of glory? To which an answer is given that admitted of no reply. The Lord of hosts - he who is coming with innumernble armies, He is this King of glory. On which, we may suppose, the portcullis was lifted up, the gates thrown open, and the whole cavalcade admitted. This verse seems to have been spoken before the ark appeared: Who is this (זה zeh) King of glory? when its coming was merely announced. In the tenth verse the form is a little altered, because the ark, the symbol of the Divine Presence, had then arrived. Who is He, (מי הוא mi hu), this King of glory? Here He is, to answer for himself. "The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him."

Though this Psalm has all the appearance of being an unfinished piece, yet there is a vast deal of dignity and majesty in it; and the demands from without, the questions from those within, and the answers to those questions, partake of the true sublime; where nature, dignity, and simplicity, are very judiciously mingled together. The whole procedure is natural, the language dignified, and the questions and answers full of simplicity and elevated sentiments.

Several, both among ancients and moderns, have thought this Psalm speaks of the resurrection of our Lord, and is thus to be understood. It is easy to apply it in this way: Jesus has conquered sin, Satan, and death, by dying. He now rises from the dead; and, as a mighty Conqueror, claims an entrance into the realms of glory, the kingdom which he has purchased by his blood; there to appear ever in the presence of God for us, to which he purposes to raise finally the innumerable hosts of his followers; for in reference to these, He is the Lord of hosts; and, in reference to his victory, He is the Lord mighty in battle.

Seas - The whole collection of waters, as well as the sea and the rivers running into it, as that great abyss of waters which is contained in the bowels of the earth.

The hill - Zion or Moriah, the place of God's sanctuary and special presence. Having asserted God's dominion over all mankind, he now proposes an important question, by whom God will be served, and his blessing enjoyed? Stand - To minister before him. Standing is the posture of ministers or servants. Who shall serve God, with God's acceptation. Holy place - In the place which he hath sanctified for his service.

He - Whose actions and conversation are holy and unblameable. Pure heart - Careful to approve itself to God, as well as to men; ordering a man's very thoughts and affections according to God's word. Vanity - Who doth not value or desire the vain things of this life, such as honours, riches, pleasures; but makes God his portion.

The blessing - Grace and glory, and all other good things.

The generation - The true progeny which God regards. Face - His grace and favour, which is often called God's face.

Lift up - He speaks here of the gates and doors of the temple, which by faith and the spirit of prophecy, he beheld as already built, whose doors he calls Everlasting, not so much because they were made of strong and durable materials, as in opposition to those of the tabernacle, which were removed from place to place. These gates he bids lift up their heads, or tops, by allusion to those gates which have a portcullis, which may be let down or taken up. And as the temple was a type of Christ, and of his church, and of heaven itself; so this place may also contain a representation, either of Christ's entrance into his church, or into the hearts of his faithful people, who are here commanded to set open their hearts and souls for his reception: or of his ascension into heaven, where the saints or angels are poetically introduced as preparing the way, and opening the heavenly gates to receive their Lord and king, returning to his royal habitation with triumph and glory. The king - The Messiah, the king of Israel, and of his church, called the King, or Lord of glory, 1Cor 2:8 James 2:1, both for that glory which is inherent in him, and that which is purchased by him for his members.

The Lord - He is no ordinary person, no other than Jehovah, who hath given so many proofs of his almightiness, who hath subdued all his enemies, and is now returned in triumph.

Lift up - The same verse is repeated again, to awaken the dulness of mankind, who are so hardly brought to a serious preparation for such solemnities; and to signify the great importance of the matter, contained under these expressions.

Of hosts - Under whose command are all the hosts of heaven and earth, angels and men, and all other creatures.

1. THe earth is the LORD'S, and the fulness thereof : the world, and they that dwell therein.

All the Creatures, and especially the Inhabitants wherewith it is replenished. God's general Dominion over, and Interest in all Persons and places, seems to be here premised and asserted, Either, 1. To shew his right to Chuse any Nation whom he pleased to be his peculiar People: Which priviledge being conferred upon the Israelites, was a great stumbling Block to the Heathen Nations, Or 2. To set forth the singular kindness and mercy of God to Israel, who chose them out of all the Nations of the World to be near to him, and to have special acquaintance with him, although otherwise he had no other Relation to them, then what he had to all mankind, to wit, that of a Creator and Governor. Or, 3. To demonstrate the Excellency of the Jewish worship, and Religion above all others, because the God whom they served, was the God and Maker of the whole World, when the Gods of the Gentiles were sorry Idols, and esteemed by themselves to be but Local and confined Deities.

Marginal references: Exod. 9. 29▪ & 19. 5. De[illegible: 1+ letters]. 10. 14. [illegible: 1 word], 41. 11. [illegible: 1 word] ▪ [illegible: 1+ letters]0. 12. 1 Cor. 10. 26. 28.

2. For he hath founded it upon the seas , and established it upon the floods .

Justly have I said, that the Earth is the Lord▪ s, for he made it, and laid the Foundation of it, and that in a wonderful manner.

By the Seas and Floods, he means the whole Collection of Waters, as well the Sea and Rivers running into it, as that great Abyss of Waters which is contained in the Bowels of the Earth, of which see Gen. 7. 11. and 49. 25. 2 Pet. 3. 5. This is here mentioned as an Evidence of God's wise and powerful and gracious Providence, that he hath built so vast▪ a Building upon so weak a Foundation, as the Waters are. Mic. 6. 2. and that although the Waters are lighter than the Earth, and therefore are naturally inc[illegible: 1+ letters]ned to be above it, as they were at first, yet God hath so far over-ruled the inclinations of Nature, that the Waters shall as it were deny themselves and run down into Channels, and Caverns of the Earth, that so the Earth may be a Convenient Habitation for men and beasts. See Gen. 1. 9. Exod. 20. 4. Psal. 104. 6.

By the Seas and Floods, he means the whole Collection of Waters, as well the Sea and Rivers running into it, as that great Abyss of Waters which is contained in the Bowels of the Earth, of which see Gen. 7. 11. and 49. 25. 2 Pet. 3. 5. This is here mentioned as an Evidence of God's wise and powerful and gracious Providence, that he hath built so vast▪ a Building upon so weak a Foundation, as the Waters are. Mic. 6. 2. and that although the Waters are lighter than the Earth, and therefore are naturally inc[illegible: 1+ letters]ned to be above it, as they were at first, yet God hath so far over-ruled the inclinations of Nature, that the Waters shall as it were deny themselves and run down into Channels, and Caverns of the Earth, that so the Earth may be a Convenient Habitation for men and beasts. See Gen. 1. 9. Exod. 20. 4. Psal. 104. 6.

Marginal references: Job. 38. 6. Psal. 104. 5. & 136. 6.

3. Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD ? and who shall stand in his holy place ?

To wit, Sion or Moriah, the place of God's Sanctuary, and special Presence. This is here subjoyned, Either, 1. By way of Opposition, though God is the God of the whole World, yet he is in a peculiar manner the God of Israel, and to be worshipped no where but in their Holy place. Or 2. As an Inference. Having asserted and proved Gods Authority and Dominion over all mankind, and Consequently their Obligations, to serve and worship him, he now proposeth a most necessary and important Question, especially in those times, when all Nations except Israel, were under deep Ignorance and Errors herein, Namely, where and how, and by whom God will be served, and his Favour and Blessing may be enjoyed. The place is here described, and the qualification of the Persons in the following Verses.

To wit, to Minister before him, as this Word is commonly used with respect either to Men, as 1 Kings 1. 2. Compare with 10. [illegible: 1+ letters]. Dan. 1. 5. 19. or to God, as Deut. 10. 8. and 18. 7. Dan. 7. 10. Zech. 3. 4. Standing is the posture of Ministers or Servants. So the Sence is, Who shall serve God, to wit, with Gods acceptation, and to his own Advantage.

In the place which he hath sanctified for his Service.

Marginal references: Psal. 1[illegible: 1+ letters]. 1.

4. He that hath clean hands , and a pure heart ; who hath not lift up his soul unto vanity , nor sworn deceitfully .

Whose actions and Conversations are Holy and unblamable. It is here very observable, that the Charecter of a right and acceptable Worshipper of God is not taken from his Nation, and Relation to Abraham; nor from all those costly and laborious Rites and Ceremonies of the Law, in which the generality of the Israelites pleased themselves, but in Moral and Spiritual Duties, which most of them Grosly neglected.

Purged from Hypocrisie, and inward Filthiness, and careful to approve it self to God▪ as well as to Men, ordering a Man's very Thoughts and Affections according to God's Word. This is fitly added, because a man may keep his Hands clean in good Measure, upon meer Worldly Motives, or with an evil Design, or without any respect to God.

Either, 1. Who doth not worship Idols, which are oft called Vanities in Scripture. Or 2. Who doth not swear vainly or falsly, the Phrase here being much the same with that in the third Commandement, of taking God's Name in Vain. But that seems to be a quite differing Phrase, and the Name of God there mentioned, determins the Sence of that general Phrase to Oaths, which, without that Addition, or something Equivalent is never, to my knowledge, used in Scripture in that Sence. Nor do all those learned Men, who so expound this place give one instance of that signification of this Phrase. And for their other Argument for that Sence, that this Clause is conjoyned with the next, by the Conjunction Vau, and therefore is to be explained by it, it seems to have no weight, because the same Conjunction joyns the two first Characters together, and yet it is confessed that clean Hands and a pure Heart, are two distinct and very differing things. Or rather, 3. Who doth not immoderately value and affect, or ardently desire (as this very Phrase of listing up the Soul doth oft signifie, as Deut. 24. 15. Psal. 25. 1. Ier. 22. 27. and 44. 14. Ezek. 24. 25. Hosea 4. 8.) the vain things of this present Life and World, such as Honours, Riches, Pleasures, and the like, which are oft called Vain things, or Vanities in Scripture, as Psal. 4. 2. and 119. 37. Eccles. 1. 2. and 12. 8. And this is very fitly mentioned as a Character of a truly good Man, because hereby he [illegible: 1 word] distinguished from all ungodly men whatsoever, whose inseparable Property, this is both in the Old and New Testament noted to be, to love Vanity, and to set their Hearts chiefly upon the Good things of this Life, such as Corn and Wine, Psal. 4. 2. 6, 7. and to have their Portion in this Life, Psal. 17. 14. and to mind Earthly things, Phil. 3. 19. and to be Friends of the World, Iam. 4. 4. and to Love the World, and the things of the World, 1. Ioh. 2. 15. Whereas good men are every where described to be such as make God their Portion, Psal. 16. 5. and prize and desire his Favour and Service infinitely, more than all the enjoyments of this Life, yea, even than Life it self, Iob 23. 12. Psal. 4. 6, 7. and 63. 3. and 119. 72. and such as are weaned from Earthly things, Psal. 131. 1, 2. and have their affections set on things above, not on things of the Earth, Col. 3. 2. and lay not up their Treasure in Earth, but in Heaven, Mat. 6. 19, 20. all which is directly opposite to this lifting up the Soul to Vanity.

Heb. unto, ot with deceit, (i. e.) Falsly, or with a purpose of deceiving or injuring others thereby. Under this Negative the contrary Affirmative is included, that he is one who when he is called to swear, doth swear in Truth, in Iudgment, and in Righteousness, Ier. 4. 2.

Marginal references: Isa. 33. 15. 16.; Heb. [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] of Hands.

5. He shall receive the blessing from the LORD , and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

(i. e.) The Blessings which God hath promised to his Church and People, to wit, Grace and Glory, and all other Good things▪ as they are summed up, Psal. 84. 11. He and he only shall be truly Blessed.

Which is added significantly▪ by way of Opposition to the Blessings, which men received either from the Priests or from other men, which were oftentimes given unto unworthy Persons, and in that Case were without any effect or benefit, whereas God's blessings are given only to good Men, and are always effectual for their Good.

(i. e.) The blessed Fruit or reward of his Righteousness, as the Work is oft put for the reward of it, as Levit. 19. 13. Iob 7. 2. Psal. 109. 20. Or, kindness or mercy, and those Benefits which flow from it, which are oft called by the Name of Righteousness, as Iudg. 5. 11. 1 Sam. 12. 7. Psal. 48. 11. and 112. 9.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word] ▪ [illegible: 1 word] ▪ [illegible: 1+ letters].

6. This is the generation of them that seek him , that seek thy face , ‖ O Jacob r Selah.

The true Progeny which God regards. Whereby he reflects upon them, who boasted of and trusted to their curnal Generation, or Descent from Iacob.

To wit, God, mentioned in the end of v. 5. or his Face, as it is more fully expressed in the next Clause. (i. e.) That make it their Care and Study to know him and his Mind, and Will, and to please and serve him, as this Phrase is usually understood.

(i. e.) His Face, by a familiar Change of the Person; of which many Instances have been already Noted, and his Face, (i. e.) His Grace and Favour, which is oft called God's Face, as Gen. 4. 14. Exod. 33. 14, 15. Psal. 16. 11. and 17. 2. and 44. 3. And so this Phrase is used, 2 Chron. 7. 14. Psal. 27. 8. Hos. 5. 15.

7. Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye▪ everlasting doors and the King of glory shall come in. ,.

So the Sence is, that seek the true Church, here called Iacob, that desire the knowledge of it, and Conversation with it, in which Sence many are said to seek Solomons Face, as the Phrase is in the Hebrew, 1 Kings 10. 24. 2 Chron. 9. 23. and the Harlot to seek her Lovers Face▪ Prov. 7. 15. And so this is by some expounded of the Gentiles, who enquired after the true Church, and finding it in Iacob, were desirous to become Proselytes, and to joyn themselves to the Church of Iacob or Israel. But it must be remembred that the Psalmist is not here speaking, of the calling of the Gentiles, but only of the Character or Qualification of the true Iacobites or Israelites, who cannot conveniently be said to seek the Face of Iacob, (i. e.) Their own. And the Phrase of seeking the Face of Iacob or of the Church, is no where used in Scripture. Or, as it is in the Margent, O God of Iacob. But that seems to be too large a Supplement▪ Or▪ this is Iacob, the Pronoun this being easily understood out of the beginning of the Verse. Or, the Generation (which may in the same manner be supplied) of Iacob, Iacob being here put not for the Person, but for the posterity, of Iacob, as it is Gen. 49. 7. Numb. 23. 7. 10. 23. Deut. 32. 9. Psal. 14. 7. or for the Church or people of God, which is oft called Iacob or Israel, as Isa. 14. 1. and 41. 8. and 44. 1, 5, 21. &c. So the Sence is, this and this only is the true Iacob or Israel, or Church of God, and all others are so only in Name and Title, although they be descended lineally from him. Or, in Iacob, the Particle in being here understood, as it is in Psal. 2. 12. and 17. 12. and in many other places. So the Sence of the place is, this is the true Generation of them, that seek God's Face in Iacob. (i. e.) Either in Iacobs Land, or Sanctuary, the only place where God was to be sought: Or, among the Iacobites, or Israelites. By which he insinuates, what is expressed, Rom. 9. 6. that, all are not Israel, that are of Israel, and that all were not Israelites indeed, that were sprung from Iacob, but only those of them who were such as he described, v. 4. Comp. Io[illegible: 1+ letters]. 1. 47. Rom. 228, 29.

The question was put; Who shall ascend into God's Hill and Holy place, v. 3. To which Answer hath been given, and the Persons described, v. 4, 5, 6. But because there still were impediments in the way, and there were Gates and Doors to this Holy place, to shut out those who would ascend thither, therefore he poetically speaks to those Gates, to open and let in the King of Glory, who would make way for his Subjects and followers. Here is a Representation of a Triumphant entrance of a King into his Royal City and Palace; for which the Gates use to be enlarged, or at least Wide opened. He speaks here of the Gates and Doors, Either, 1▪ Of his Royal City of Sion, through which the Ark was at this time to be brought to the Tabernacle, which David had built for it, called Everlasting, Either from the solidity and durableness of the Matter, or from David's Desires and Hopes, that God would make them such in some sort, because he loved the Gates of Sion, Psal. 87. 2▪ Or rather, 2. Of the Temple, which by Faith and the Spirit of Prophecy, he beheld as already built, and accordingly addresseth his Speech to it, whose Doors he calls Everlasting, not so much because they were made of strong and durable Materials, as in Opposition of those of the Tabernacle, which were removed from place to place, whereas the Temple and it's Doors were constantly fixed in one place, and, if the sins of Israel did not hinder [illegible: 1+ letters]were to abide there for ever, (i. e.) As long as the Mosaical dispensation was to last, or until the coming of the Messias, as that Phrase is very commonly taken in the Old Testament. These Gates he bids li[illegible: 1+ letters]t up their Heads, or Tops either by allusion, to those Gates which have a Portcullis at the top of them, which may be let down or taken up, and accordingly makes the Entrance either higher and lower: Or, that by this figurative Address to the Gates, he might signifie the Duty of the People, to make their Gates higher and Wider, to give their King a more Magnificent entrance. But though this be the litteral Sence of the place, yet there is also a Mystical Sence of it, and that too designed by the Holy Ghost. And as the Temple was undoubtedly a Type of Christ, and of his Church, and of Heaven it self, so this place may also contain a Representation, Either of Christ▪ s entrance into his Church, or into the Hearts of his faithful People, who are here Commanded to set open their Hearts and Souls, which are not unfitly called everlasting Doors, for his Reception: Or of his Ascension into Heaven, where the Saints or Angels are poetically introduced as preparing the way, and opening the Heavenly Gates to receive their Lord and King, returning to his Royal Habitation, with Triumph and Glory. Comp. Psal. 47. 5. and 68. 25. Act. 2. 33. Eph. 4. 8.

t The glorious King Ie[illegible: 1+ letters]ovah, who dwelt in the Temple, and between the Cherubims, Or the Messias, the King of Israel, and of his Church, called the King, Or Lord of Glory, 1 Cor. 2. 8. Iam. [illegible: 1+ letters]. 1. both for that Glory which is Inherent in him, and that which is purchased by him for his Members.

Marginal references: Psal. 98. [illegible: 1+ letters].

8. Who is the King of glory ? the LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battel .

This seems to be a Prolepsis, or removal of an Objection: You will say, What is the cause of this imperious Call? and why, or for whom must those Gates be opened, in so solemn and Extraordinary a manner?

This contains an Answer to the question, He is no ordinary Person, no meaner and no other than Iehovah, who hath given so many Proofs of his Almightiness, who hath subdued all his Enemies, and is now returned in Triumph. Here is in this, and the foregoing Verse, a sacred Dialogue between several Persons. And some suppose that the Sacred Musitians, which attended upon the Service of the Ark and Tabernacle, and were doubtless employed in this Solemnity, 2 Sam. 6. [illegible: 1+ letters]. were divided into two Quires, whereof one spake the former, and the other the latter Verse.

9. Lift up your heads, O ye gates, even lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in .

The same Verse is repeated again, Partly to shame and awaken the Dulness of mankind, who are so hardly brought to a serious Preparation for such Solemnities: and Partly, to signifie the great worth and importance of the Matter, contained under these Expressions.

10. Who is this King of glory? the LORD of host , he is the King of glory, Selah.

Under whose Command are all the Hosts of Heaven and Earth, Angels and Men, and all other Creatures.

Preparation for the Reception of the Lord Who Is About to Come

Psa 23:1-6 expressed a longing after the house of Jahve on Zion; Psa 24:1-10 celebrates Jahve’s entrance into Zion, and the true character of him who may enter with Him. It was composed when the Ark was brought from Kirjath Jearim to Mount Zion, where David had caused it to be set up in a tabernacle built expressly for it, 2Sa 6:17, cf. 2Sa 11:11, 1Ki 1:39; or else, which is rendered the more probable by the description of Jahve as a warrior, at a time when the Ark was brought back to Mount Zion, after having been taken to accompany the army to battle (vid., Ps 68). Psa 15:1-5 is very similar. But only Psa 24:1-6 is the counterpart of that Psalm; and there is nothing wanting to render the first part of Psa 24:1-10 complete in itself. Hence Ewald divides Psa 24:1-10 into two songs, belonging to different periods, although both old Davidic songs, viz., Psa 24:7-10, the song of victory sung at the removal of the Ark to Zion; and Psa 24:1-6, a purely didactic song pre-supposing this event which forms an era in their history. And it is relatively more natural to regard this Psalm rather than Psa 19:1-14, as two songs combined and made into one; but these two songs have an internal coherence; in Jahve’s coming to His temple is found that which occasioned them and that towards which They point; and consequently they form a whole consisting of two divisions. To the inscription לדוד מזמור the lxx adds τῆς μιᾷs σαββάτουThe London Papyrus fragments, in Tischendorf Monum. i. 247, read ΤΗ ΜΙΑ ΤΩΝ ΣΑΒΒΑΤΩΝ. In the Hexaplarian text, this addition to the inscription was wanting. (= שׁל אחד בשׁבת, for the first day of the week), according to which this Psalm was a customary Sunday Psalm. This addition is confirmed by B . Tamı̂d extr ., Rosh ha - Shana 31 a, Sofrim xviii. (cf. supra p. 19). In the second of these passages cited from the Talmud, R. Akiba seeks to determine the reasons for this choice by reference to the history of the creation.

Incorporated in Israel’s hymn-book, this Psalm became, with a regard to its original occasion and purpose, an Old Testament Advent hymn in honour of the Lord who should come into His temple, Mal 3:1; and the cry: Lift up, ye gates, your heads, obtained a meaning essentially the same as that of the voice of the crier in Isa 40:3 : Prepare ye Jahve’s way, make smooth in the desert a road for our God! In the New Testament consciousness, the second appearing takes the place of the first, the coming of the Lord of Glory to His church, which is His spiritual temple; and in this Psalm we are called upon to prepare Him a worthy reception. The interpretation of the second half of the Psalm of the entry of the Conqueror of death into Hades-an interpretation which has been started by the Gospel of Nicodemus (vid., Tischendorf’s Evv. apocrypha p. 306f.) and still current in the Greek church, - and the patristic interpretation of it of the εἰς οὐρανοῦς ἀνάληψις τοῦ κυρίου, do as much violence to the rules of exegesis as to the parallelism of the facts of the Old and New Testaments.

Psa 24:1-6

Jahve, whose throne of grace is now set upon Zion, has not a limited dominion, like the heathen deities: His right to sovereignty embraces the earth and its fulness (Psa 50:12; Psa 89:12), i.e., everything that is to be found upon it and in it.In 1Co 10:26, Paul founds on this verse (cf. Psa 50:12) the doctrine that a Christian (apart from a charitable regard for the weak) may eat whatever is sold in the shambles, without troubling himself to enquire whether it has been offered to idols or not. A Talmudic teacher, B. Berachoth 35a, infers from this passage the duty of prayer before meat: He who eats without giving thanks is like one who lays hands upon קדשׁי שׁמים (the sacred things of God); the right to eat is only obtained by prayer.

For He, הוא, is the owner of the world, because its Creator. He has founded it upon seas, i.e., the ocean and its streams, נהרות, ῥέεθρα (Jon 2:4); for the waters existed before the dry land, and this has been cast up out of them at God’s word, so that consequently the solid land, - which indeed also conceals in its interior a תּהום רבּה (Gen 7:11), - rising above the surface of the sea, has the waters, as it were, for its foundation (Psa 136:6), although it would more readily sink down into them than keep itself above them, if it were not in itself upheld by the creative power of God. Hereupon arises the question, who may ascend the mountain of Jahve, and stand above in His holy place? The futures have a potential signification: who can have courage to do it? what, therefore, must he be, whom Jahve receives into His fellowship, and with whose worship He is well-pleased? Answer: he must be one innocent in his actions and pure in mind, one who does not lift up his soul to that which is vain (לשּׁוא, according to the Masora with Waw minusculum). (ל) נשׂא נפשׁ אל, to direct one’s soul, Psa 25:1, or longing and striving, towards anything, Deu 24:15; Pro 19:18; Hos 4:8. The Kerî נפשׁי is old and acknowledged by the oldest authorities.The reading נפשׁי is adopted by Saadia (in Enumoth ii., where נפשׁי is equivalent to שׁמי), Juda ha-Levi (Cuzari iii. 27), Abulwalid (Rikma p. 180), Rashi, Kimchi, the Sohar, the Codices (and among others by that of the year 1294) and most editions (among which, the Complutensis has נפשׁי in the text). Nor does Aben-Ezra, whom Norzi has misunderstood, by any means reverse the relation of the Chethîb and Kerî; to him נפשׁי is the Kerî, and he explains it as a metaphor (an anthropomorphism): וכתוב נפשי דוך כנוי. Elias Levita is the only one who rejects the Kerî נפשׁי; but he does so though misunderstanding a Masora (vid., Baer’s Psalterium p. 130) and not without admitting Masoretic testimony in favour of it (וכן ראיתי ברוב נוסחאות המסורת). He is the only textual critic who rejects it. For Jacob b. Chajim is merely astonished that נפשׁו is not to be found in the Masoreth register of words written with Waw and to be read with Jod. And even Norzi does not reject this Kerî, which he is obliged to admit has greatly preponderating testimony in its favour, and he would only too gladly get rid of it.

Even the lxx Cod. Alex. translates: τὴν ψυχὴν μου; whereas Cod. Vat. (Eus., Apollin., Theodor., et al.): τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ. Critically it is just as intangible, as it is exegetically incomprehensible; נפשׁי might then be equivalent to שׁמי. Exo 20:7, an explanation, however, which does not seem possible even from Amo 6:8; Jer 51:14. We let this Kerî alone to its undisturbed critical rights. But that the poet did actually write thus, is incredible.

In Psa 24:5 (just as at the close of Psa 15:1-5), in continued predicates, we are told the character of the man, who is worthy of this privilege, to whom the question in Psa 24:3 refers. Such an one shall bear away, or acquire (נשׁא, as e.g., Est 2:17) blessing from Jahve and righteousness from the God of his salvation (Psa 25:5; Psa 27:9). Righteousness, i.e., conformity to God and that which is well-pleasing to God, appears here as a gift, and in this sense it is used interchangeably with ישׁע (e.g., Psa 132:9, Psa 132:16). It is the righteousness of God after which the righteous, but not the self-righteous, man hungers and thirsts; that moral perfection which is the likeness of God restored to him and at the same time brought about by his own endeavours; it is the being changed, or transfigured, into the image of the Holy One Himself. With Psa 24:5 the answer to the question of Psa 24:3 is at an end; Psa 24:6 adds that those thus qualified, who may accordingly expect to receive God’s gifts of salvation, are the true church of Jahve, the Israel of God. דּור (lit., a revolution, Arabic dahr, root דר, to turn, revolve) is used here, as in Psa 14:5; Psa 73:15; Psa 112:2, of a collective whole, whose bond of union is not contemporaneousness, but similarity of disposition; and it is an alliteration with the דּרשׁיו (Chethîb דרשו, without the Jod plur.) which follows. מבקשׁי פּניך is a second genitive depending on דּור, as in Psa 27:8. Here at the close the predication passes into the form of invocation (Thy face). And יעקב is a summarising predicate: in short, these are Jacob, not merely after the flesh, but after the spirit, and thus in truth (Isa 44:2, cf. Rom 9:6; Gal 6:16). By interpolating אלהי, as is done in the lxx and Peshîto, and adopted by Ewald, Olshausen, Hupfeld, and Böttcher, the nerve, as it were, of the assertion is cut through. The predicate, which has been expressed in different ways, is concentrated intelligibly enough in the one word יעקב, towards which it all along tends. And here the music becomes forte. The first part of this double Psalm dies away amidst the playing of the instruments of the Levitical priests; for the Ark was brought in בּכל־עז וּבשׁירים, as 2Sa 6:5 (cf. 2Sa 6:14) is to be read.

Psa 24:7-10

The festal procession has now arrived above at the gates of the citadel of Zion. These are called פּתחי עולם, doors of eternity (not “of the world” as Luther renders it contrary to the Old Testament usage of the language) either as doors which pious faith hopes will last for ever, as Hupfeld and Hitzig explain it, understanding them, in opposition to the inscription of the Psalm, to be the gates of Solomon’s Temple; or, what seems to us much more appropriate in the mouth of those who are now standing before the gates, as the portals dating back into the hoary ages of the past (עולם as e.g., in Gen 49:26; Isa 58:12), the time of the Jebusites, and even of Melchizedek, though which the King of Glory, whose whole being and acts is glory, is now about to enter. It is the gates of the citadel of Zion, to which the cry is addressed, to expand themselves in a manner worthy of the Lord who is about to enter, for whom they are too low and too strait. Rejoicing at the great honour, thus conferred upon them, they are to raise their heads (Job 10:15; Zec 2:4), i.e., lift up their portals (lintels); the doors of antiquity are to open high and wide.On the Munach instead of Metheg in והנּשׂיאוּ, vid., Baer’s Accentsystem vii. 2.

Then the question echoes back to the festal procession from Zion’s gates which are wont only to admit mighty lords: who, then (זה giving vividness to the question, Ges. §122, 2), is this King of Glory; and they describe Him more minutely: it is the Hero-god, by whom Israel has wrested this Zion from the Jebusites with the sword, and by whom he has always been victorious in time past. The adjectival climactic form עזּוּז (like למּוּד, with ı̆ instead of the ăin חנּוּן, קשּׁוּב) is only found in one other passage, viz., Isa 43:17. גּבּור מלחמה refers back to Exo 15:3. Thus then shall the gates raise their heads and the ancient doors lift themselves, i.e., open high and wide; and this is expressed here by Kal instead of Niph. (נשׂא to lift one’s self up, rise, as in Nah 1:5; Hos 13:1; Hab 1:3), according to the well-known order in which recurring verses and refrain-like repetitions move gently onwards. The gates of Zion ask once more, yet now no longer hesitatingly, but in order to hear more in praise of the great King. It is now the enquiry seeking fuller information; and the heaping up of the pronouns (as in Jer 30:21, cf. Psa 46:7; Est 7:5) expresses its urgency (quis tandem, ecquisnam). The answer runs, “Jahve Tsebaoth, He is the King of Glory (now making His entry).” צבאות ה is the proper name of Jahve as King, which had become His customary name in the time of the kings of Israel. צבאות is a genitive governed by ה and, while it is otherwise found only in reference to human hosts, in this combination it gains, of itself, the reference to the angels and the stars, which are called צבאיו in Psa 103:21; Psa 148:2 : Jahve’s hosts consisting of celestial heroes, Joe 2:11, and of stars standing on the plain of the havens as it were in battle array, Isa 40:26 -a reference for which experiences and utterances like those recorded in Gen 32:2., Deu 33:2; Jdg 5:20, have prepared the way. It is, therefore, the Ruler commanding innumerable and invincible super-terrestrial powers, who desires admission. The gates are silent and open wide; and Jahve, sitting enthroned above the Cherubim of the sacred Ark, enters into Zion.

God's Absolute Propriety.

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, and established it upon the floods.

Here is, I. God's absolute propriety in this part of the creation where our lot is cast, v. 1. We are not to think that the heavens, even the heavens only, are the Lord's, and the numerous and bright inhabitants of the upper world, and that this earth, being so small and inconsiderable a part of the creation, and at such a distance from the royal palace above, is neglected, and that he claims no interest in it. No, even the earth is his, and this lower world; and, though he has prepared the throne of his glory in the heavens, yet his kingdom rules over all, and even the worms of this earth are not below his cognizance, nor from under his dominion. 1. When God gave the earth to the children of men he still reserved to himself the property, and only let it out to them as tenants, or usufructuaries: The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof. The mines that are lodged in the bowels of it, even the richest, the fruits it produces, all the beasts of the forest and the cattle upon a thousand hills, our lands and houses, and all the improvements that are made of this earth by the skill and industry of man, are all his. These indeed, in the kingdom of grace, are justly looked upon as emptiness; for they are vanity of vanities, nothing to a soul; but, in the kingdom of providence, they are fulness. The earth is full of God's riches, so is the great and wide sea also. 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. That which is most remote from us, as that which passes through the paths of the sea, or is hidden in the bottom of it, is the Lord's and he knows where to find it. 2. The habitable part of this earth (Prov. viii. 31) is his in a special manner—the world and those that dwell therein. We ourselves are not our own, our bodies, our souls, are not. All souls are mine, says God; for he is the former of our bodies and the Father of our spirits. Our tongues are not our own; they are to be at his service. Even those of the children of men that know him not, nor own their relation to him, are his. Now this comes in here to show that, though God is graciously pleased to accept the devotions and services of his peculiar chosen people (v. 3-5), it is not because he needs them, or can be benefited by them, for the earth is his and all in it, Exod. xix. 5; Ps. l. 12. It is likewise to be applied to the dominion Christ has, as Mediator, over the utmost parts of the earth, which are given him for his possession: the Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into his hand, power over all flesh. The apostle quotes this scripture twice together in his discourse about things offered to idols, 1 Cor. x. 26, 28. "If it be sold in the shambles, eat it, and ask no questions; for the earth is the Lord's; it is God's good creature, and you have a right to it. But, if one tell you it was offered to an idol, forbear, for the earth is the Lord's, and there is enough besides." This is a good reason why we should be content with our allotment in this world, and not envy others theirs; the earth is the Lord's, and may he not do what he will with his own, and give to some more of it, to others less, as it pleases him?

II. The ground of this propriety. The earth is his by an indisputable title, for he hath founded it upon the seas and established it upon the floods, v. 2. It is his; for, 1. He made it, formed it, founded it, and fitted it for the use of man. The matter is his, for he made it out of nothing; the form is his, for he made it according to the eternal counsels and ideas of his own mind. He made it himself, he made it for himself; so that he is sole, entire, and absolute owner, and none can let us a title to any part, but by, from, and under him; see Ps. lxxxix. 11, 12. 2. He made it so as no one else could. It is the creature of omnipotence, for it is founded upon the seas, upon the floods, a weak and unstable foundation (one would think) to build the earth upon, and yet, if almighty power please, it shall serve to bear the weight of this earth. The waters which at first covered the earth, and rendered it unfit to be a habitation for man, were ordered under it, that the dry land might appear, and so they are as a foundation to it; see Ps. civ. 8, 9. 3. He continues it, he has established it, fixed it, so that, though one generation passes and another comes, the earth abides, Eccl. i. 4. And his providence is a continued creation, Ps. cxix. 90. The founding of the earth upon the floods should remind us how slippery and uncertain all earthly things are; their foundation is not only sand, but water; it is therefore our folly to build upon them.

The Character of True Israelites.

3 Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord ? or who shall stand in his holy place? 4 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. 5 He shall receive the blessing from the Lord , and righteousness from the God of his salvation. 6 This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.

From this world, and the fulness thereof, the psalmist's meditations rise, of a sudden to the great things of another world, the foundation of which is not on the seas, nor on the floods. The things of this world God has given to the children of men and we are much indebted to his providence for them; but they will not make a portion for us. And therefore,

I. Here is an enquiry after better things, v. 3. This earth is God's footstool; but, if we had ever so much of it, we must be here but a while, must shortly go hence, and Who then shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Who shall go to heaven hereafter, and, as an earnest of that, shall have communion with God in holy ordinances now? A soul that knows and considers its own nature, origin, and immortality, when it has viewed the earth and the fulness thereof, will sit down unsatisfied; there is not found among all the creatures a help meet for man, and therefore it will think of ascending towards God, towards heaven, will ask, "What shall I do to rise to that high place, that hill, where the Lord dwells and manifests himself, that I may be acquainted with him, and to abide in that happy holy place where he meets his people and makes them holy and happy? What shall I do that I may be of those whom God owns for his peculiar people and who are his in another manner than the earth is his and its fulness?" This question is much the same with that, Ps. xv. 1. The hill of Zion on which the temple was built typified the church, both visible and invisible. When the people attended the ark to its holy place David puts them in mind that these were but patterns of heavenly things, and therefore that by them they should be led to consider the heavenly things themselves.

II. An answer to this enquiry, in which we have,

1. The properties of God's peculiar people, who shall have communion with him in grace and glory. (1.) They are such as keep themselves from all the gross acts of sin. They have clean hands; not spotted with the pollutions of the world and the flesh. None that were ceremonially unclean might enter into the mountain of the temple, which signified that cleanness of conversation which is required in all those that have fellowship with God. The hands lifted up in prayer must be pure hands, no blot of unjust gain cleaving to them, nor any thing else that defiles the man and is offensive to the holy God. (2.) They are such as make conscience of being really (that is, 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. It is not enough that our hands be clean before men, but we must also wash our hearts from wickedness, and not allow ourselves in any secret heart-impurities, which are open before the eye of God. Yet in vain do those pretend to have pure and good hearts whose hands are defiled with the acts of sin. That is a pure heart which is sincere and without guile in covenanting with God, which is carefully guarded, that the wicked one, the unclean spirit, touch it not, which is purified by faith, and conformed to the image and will of God; see Matt. v. 8. (3.) They are such as do not set their affections upon the things of this world, do not lift up their souls unto vanity, whose hearts are not carried out inordinately towards the wealth of this world, the praise of men, or the delights of sense, who do not choose these things for their portion, nor reach forth after them, because they believe them to be vanity, uncertain and unsatisfying. (4.) 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, nor taken any false oath. Those that have no regard to the obligations of truth or the honour of God's name are unfit for a place in God's holy hill. (5.) They are a praying people (v. 6): This is the generation of those that seek him. In every age there is a remnant of such as these, men of this character, who are accounted to the Lord for a generation, Ps. xxii. 30. And they are such as seek God, that seek thy face, O Jacob! [1.] They join themselves to God, to seek him, not only in earnest prayer, but in serious endeavours to obtain his favour and keep themselves in his love. Having made it the summit of their happiness, they make it the summit of their ambition to be accepted of him, and therefore take care and pains to approve themselves to him. It is to the hill of the Lord that we must ascend, and, the way being up-hill, we have need to put forth ourselves to the utmost, as those that seek diligently. [2.] They join themselves to the people of God, to seek God with them. Being brought into communion with God, they come into communion of saints; conforming to the patterns of the saints that have gone before (so some understand this), they seek God's face, as Jacob (so some), who was therefore surnamed Israel, because he wrestled with God and prevailed, sought him and found him; and, associating with the saints of their own day, they shall court the favour of God's church (Rev. iii. 9), shall be glad of an acquaintance with God's people (Zech. viii. 23), shall incorporate themselves with them, and, when they subscribe with their hands to the Lord, shall call themselves by the name of Jacob, Isa. xliv. 5. As soon as ever Paul was converted he joined himself to the disciples, Acts ix. 26. They shall seek God's face in Jacob (so some), that is, in the assemblies of his people. Thy face, O God of Jacob! so our margin supplies it, and makes it easy. As all believers are the spiritual seed of Abraham, so all that strive in prayer are the spiritual seed of Jacob, to whom God never said, Seek you me in vain.

2. The privileges of God's peculiar people, v. 5. They shall be made truly and for ever happy. (1.) They shall be blessed: they shall receive the blessing from the Lord, all the fruits and gifts of God's favour, according to his promise; and those whom God blesses are blessed indeed, for it is his prerogative to command the blessing. (2.) They shall be justified and sanctified. These are the spiritual blessings in heavenly things which they shall receive, even righteousness, the very thing they hunger and thirst after, Matt. v. 6. Righteousness is blessedness, and it is from God only that we must expect it, for we have no righteousness of our own. They shall receive the reward of their righteousness (so some), the crown of righteousness which the righteous Judge shall give, 2 Tim. iv. 8. (3.) They shall be saved; for God himself will be the God of their salvation. Note, Where God gives righteousness he certainly designs salvation. Those that are made meet for heaven shall be brought safely to heaven, and then they will find what they have been seeking, to their endless satisfaction.

The King of Glory.

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 this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. 9 Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even 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.

What is spoken once is spoken a second time in these verses; such repetitions are usual in songs, and have much beauty in them. Here is, 1. Entrance once and again demanded for the King of glory; the doors and gates are to be thrown open, thrown wide open, to give him admission, for behold he stands at the door and knocks, ready to come in. 2. Enquiry once and again made concerning this mighty prince, in whose name entrance is demanded: Who is this King of glory? As, when any knock at our door, it is common to ask, Who is there? 3. Satisfaction once and again given concerning the royal person that makes the demand: It is the Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle, the Lord of hosts, v. 8, 10. Now,

I. This splendid entry here described it is probable refers to the solemn bringing in of the ark into the tent David pitched for it or the temple Solomon built for it; for, when David prepared materials for the building of it, it was proper for him to prepare a psalm for the dedication of it. The porters are called upon to open the doors, and they are called everlasting doors, because much more durable than the door of the tabernacle, which was but a curtain. They are taught to ask, Who is this King of glory? And those that bore the ark are taught to answer in the language before us, and very fitly, because the ark was a symbol or token of God's presence, Josh. iii. 11. Or it may be taken as a poetical figure designed to represent the subject more affectingly. God, in his word and ordinances, is thus to be welcomed by us, 1. With great readiness: the doors and gates must be thrown open to him. Let the word of the Lord come into the innermost and uppermost place in our souls; and, if we had 600 necks, we should bow them all to the authority of it. 2. With all reverence, remembering how great a God he is with whom we have to do, in all our approaches to him.

II. Doubtless it points at Christ, of whom the ark, with the mercy-seat, was a type. 1. We may apply it to the ascension of Christ into heaven and the welcome given to him there. When he had finished his work on earth he ascended in the clouds of heaven, Dan. vii. 13, 14. The gates of heaven must then be opened to him, those doors that may be truly called everlasting, which had been shut against us, to keep the way of the tree of life, Gen. iii. 24. Our Redeemer found them shut, but, having by his blood made atonement for sin and gained a title to enter into the holy place (Heb. ix. 12), as one having authority, he demanded entrance, not for himself only, but for us; for, as the forerunner, he has for us entered and opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers. The keys not only of hell and death, but of heaven and life, must be put into his hand. His approach being very magnificent, the angels are brought in asking, Who is this King of glory? For angels keep the gates of the New Jerusalem, Rev. xxi. 12. When the first-begotten was brought into the upper world the angels were to worship him (Heb. i. 6); and accordingly, they here ask with wonder, "Who is he?—this that cometh with dyed garments from Bozrah? (Isa. lxiii. 1-3), for he appears in that world as a Lamb that had been slain." It is answered that he is strong and mighty, mighty in battle, to save his people and subdue his and their enemies. 2. We may apply it to Christ's entrance into the souls of men by his word and Spirit, that they may be his temples. Christ's presence in them is like that of the ark in the temple; it sanctifies them. Behold, he stands at the door and knocks, Rev. iii. 20. It is required that the gates and doors of the heart be opened to him, not only as admission is given to a guest, but as possession is delivered to the rightful owner, after the title has been contested. This is the gospel call and demand, that we let Jesus Christ, the King of glory, come into our souls, and welcome him with hosannas, Blessed is he that cometh. That we may do this aright we are concerned to ask, Who is this King of glory?—to acquaint ourselves with him, whom we are to believe in, and to love above all. And the answer is ready: He is Jehovah, and will be Jehovah our righteousness, an all-sufficient Saviour to us, if we give him entrance and entertainment. He is strong and mighty, and the Lord of hosts; and therefore it is at our peril if we deny him entrance; for he is able to avenge the affront; he can force his way, and can break those in pieces with his iron rod that will not submit to his golden sceptre.

In singing this let our hearts cheerfully answer to this call, as it is in the first words of the next psalm, Unto thee, O Lord! do I lift up my soul.

PSAL. XXIV.

A Psalme of David.

THe earth is Iehovahs, and the plentie thereof; the world, and they that sit therein. For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the rivers.

Who shall ascend into the mountaine of Iehovah, and who shall stand in the place of his holinesse? The cleane in hands, and pure in heart, which lifteth not up his soule to false vanitie, neither sweareth to deceit.

He shall receive a blessing from Iehovah, and justice from the God of his salvation. This is the generation of them that enquire for him, of them that seeke thy face, of Iakob Selah.

Lift up yee gates your heads, and be lifted up yee doores of eternitie, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? Iehovah, strong and valiant; Iehovah valiant in battell. Lift up yee gates your heads, and lift up yee doores of eternitie, that the King of glory may come in. Who is he this King of glory? Iehovah of hosts, hee is the King of glory Selah.

Annotations. APsalme of David] unto this title the Greeke addeth, of the first day of the weeke: meaning that this Psalme was wont to be sung in the Temple every first day of the weeke, which now with us is the Lords day, the Christians Sabbath: and of Christ his Church and kingdome, and the entertaining of his Gospell, doth this Psalme treat. In Solomons Temple God ordained Levites with Cymbals, Psalteries and Harpes, and Priests with Trumpets, and other Levites that were singers, and in the time that the burnt-offering began, the song of the Lord began with trumpets and instruments, and they sang praises with the words of David, and of Asaph, 2 Chron. 29. 25,—30. The Hebrew Doctors recording their daily service in the Sanctuary, write thus; They said not the Song, but over the burnt-offerings of the Congregation, and the sacrifices of their peace-offerings that are spoken of in the Law, &c. The Song which the Levites said in the first day, was (Psalm. 24.) The earth is the LORDS, and the plentie thereof. In the second (day) they said (the 48. Psal.) Great is the LORD, and praised vehemently in the citie of our God, &c. In the third they said (the 82. Psalme,) God standeth in the assembly of God, hee judgeth in the middest of the gods. In the fourth they said (the 94. Psalme) O God of vengeances, &c. In the fifth they said (the 81. Psalme,) Shout joyfully unto God our strength, &c. In the sixth they said (the 93. Psalme,) The Lord reigneth, is cloathed with high Majestie, &c. In the Sabbath they said (the 92. Psalme,) A Psalme, a Song for the Sabbath day. Maimony in Misneh, tom. 3. in Tamidin, (or Treat. of the Daily sacrifices,) chap. 6. sect. 7, 8, 9. The earth is Iehovahs] or To Jehovah the earth belongeth. Of him, and by him, and for him are all things; yet in speciall he hath chosen Iakobs posteritie for to be his people, vers. 6. Thus David maketh use of Moses doctrine, who said, Loe, to Iehovah thy God pertaine the heavens, and the heavens of heavens, the earth and all that therein is: notwithstanding, Iehovah set his delight in thy fathers to love them, and did chuse their seed after them, even you above all peoples, as appeareth this day, Deut. 10. 14, 15. See also another use of this doctrine, in 1 Cor. 10. 26, 28. where the Apostle proveth, that every creature in the earth may be used of Christians for food, or otherwise, because all is the Lords, and in Christ ours. plentie] or, fulnesse, that is, all contained therein, as the Chaldee expoundeth it, the creatures thereof. So, the plenty of the sea, Esay 42. 10. the plenty of the citie, Amos. 6. 8. and sundry the like. that sit] that is, dwell or inhabit, as it is noted on Psal. 1. 1. The like manner of speaking the holy Ghost useth also in Greeke, Luke 21. 35. on all them that sit on the face of the whole earth. So Psa. 69. 36. and often otherwhere. Vers. 2. upon the seas] or above them. The earth is said to be founded (or fast setled) upon the seas, (the heapes of waters were called seas, Gen. 1. 10.) because the waters which naturally would stand above the high mountaines, Psal. 104. 6. are by the word of God gathered together, and thrust under the earth, that the drie land might appeare and be inhabited, Exod. 20. 4. Gen. 1. 9. And these which may seeme a most weake and flitting foundation, yet are firme bases, and mighty foundations, Psal. 104. 5. Mic. 6. 2. to magnifie Gods power, who as he brought light out of darknesse, so setleth he the solide earth on the liquid waters; yea, hangeth the earth upon nothing, Iob 26. 7. Vers. 3. Who shall ascend] The Chaldee paraphraseth, Who shal be worthy to ascend unto the mountaine of the house of the Sanctuary of the Lord? Vers. 4. The cleane in hands] He whose hands or palmes are cleane, or free of evill. So Iob 17. 9. This noteth good workes, as purenesse of heart meaneth holy faith and affections, Act. 15. 9. not lifted up his soule] or, my soule. The Hebrew hath two readings; by the letters in the line, his soule, and in the margine, my soule; as if this were spoken in the person of God, and of him; which then may be understood of swearing. For this forme of words is used in the third Commandement, Exod. 20. Thou shalt not lift up (or take up) the name of Iehovah thy God to false vanity. But for Name, here is put Soule. And God is said to sweare by his soule, that is, by himselfe, or his life, Ier. 51. 14. Amos 6. 8. It was also the wont in Israel to take an oath thus, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soule liveth, 1 Sam. 20. 3. 2 King. 2. 2, 4, 6. Also concerning a mans owne soule, in swearing this forme was used, I call God for a record against my soule, 2 Cor. 1. 23. And thus the Chaldee expounds it, which hath not sworne in vaine to the condemnation of his soule. Otherwise, if this be not understood of vaine swearing, the meaning is, he that affecteth not, or regardeth not vanity; for so the lifting up of the soule also signifieth; see Psal. 25. 1. to deceit] or, deceitfully. Vers. 5. He shall receive] or shall take up, or beare away a blessing. justice] or righteousnesse; wherof see Phil. 3. 9. Psal. 69. 28. Hereby also may be meant a benefit, the fruit or reward of righteousnesse. The Greeke turneth it mercy, or almes: and by justice, mercies and benefits are sometimes meant, Iudg. 5. 11. Psal. 112. 9. Dan. 4. 24. Vers. 6. of Iakob] understand, this is the generation of Iakob, or, this is Iakob; these are true Israelites, whom God will acknowledge for his, Ioh. 1. 47. Rom. 9. 6. Iakob when he wrastled with an Angell, saw God face to face, and called the place Peniel, that is, Gods face or presence; there he wept and prayed, and bare away a blessing, Gen. 32. 24, 26, 29, 30. Hos. 12. 4. That history hath use here. Vers. 7. Lift up yee gates &c.] This may first have reference to the gates and doores of the Temple, into which the Arke (the glory of Israel, 1 Sam. 4. 21.) should enter; on which Arke, betweene the Cherubims, God was said to dwell, 1 Sam. 4. 4. 1 King. 8. 1, &c. So the Chaldee expoundeth it, gates of the house of the Sanctuary; though in the 9. verse otherwise, saying, Lift up, O ye gates of the garden of Eden, your heads. Secondly, it may be referred to Christian men, which are the true temple of God, 1 Cor. 3. 17. at the doore of whose hearts he knocketh to have entrance, Rev. 3. 20. doores of eternity] that is, strong durable, everlasting doores: which being referred to the doores of Solomons Temple, note the perpetuall abiding of Gods Arke therein, as 1 King. 9. 3. Psal. 132. 13, 14. whereas before the Arke was removed from place to place, 1 Chron. 17. 5. Or being applied to Christians, it noteth the eternall durance of the Church. that enter may] or, and enter shall the King of glory, that is, the glorious King; So Christ is called the Lord of glory, 1 Cor. 2. 8. Iam. 2. 1. and the opening of the doores before him, signifieth his entrance into, and administration of the Kingdome, as Isa. 45. 1. Vers. 10. Iehovah of hosts] or, as the Hebrew is, Iehovah Tsebaoth, for so the word is used by the Apostles, untranslated in the Greeke, Sabaoth, Rom. 9. 29. Jam. 5. 4. It signifieth hosts or armies standing readie in martiall order, and in battell ray, and comprehendeth all creatures in heaven and in earth, which are prest to doe the will of God, Gen. 2. 1. 1. King. 22. 19. Exod. 12. 41.

PSAL. XXIV.

A Pſalm of David] The Greek addeth, Of the firſt day of the week (Becauſe wont to be ſung in the Temple, on that day) which is now the Chriſtian Sabboth, in memory of Chriſts reſurrection and ruledome over all, which is here celebrated.

Verſ. 1. The earth is the Lords, and the fullneſſe thereof] Hee alone is the true Proprietary, Job 41.11. Deut. 10.14. and the earth is Marſupium Domini, as One ſaith, the Lords great purſe; the keeping whereof hee hath committed to the ſons of men, Pſal. 115.16. like as alſo hee hath given the heavenly bodies to all peoples, Deut. 4.19. every ſtar being Gods ſtorehouſe, which hee openeth for our profit, Deut. 28.12. and out of which hee throweth down riches and plenty into the earth, ſuch as the Servants of God gather, and the reſt ſcramble for. What uſe the Apoſtle putteth this point to, See 1 Cor. 10.26, 28. with the Notes. Other uſes may well bee made of it; as, that Kings and Princes bear not themſelves as Lords of all (the Turk and Pope ſo ſtile themſelves; the great Cham of Tartary every day aſſoon as hee hath dined cauſeth, they ſay, his trumpets to beſounded; by that ſign giving leave to other Princes of the earth (his Vaſſals, as hee conceiteth) to go to dinner) but the Lords vicarii & villici, vicegerents and Stewards, to whom they muſt give an account of all. Again, that Gods dear Children cannot want any thing that is good for them; ſith they have ſo rich a Father, who ſeemes to ſay unto them, as Gen. 45.20. Regard not your ſtuff, for all the good of the land is yours. To him that overcommeth will I give to inherit all things; I have all things. Phil. 4.18 2 Cor. 6.10.

The world, and they that dwel therein] This is Gods univerſall Kingdome by right of Creation, verſ. 2. beſides which hee hath a ſpirituall Kingdome over his elect, (ut docet nos pulcherrimus hic Pſalmus. ſaith Beza) who are here deſcribed, verſ. 4, 5, 6. and encouraged to enlarge their deſires after their Soveraigne in the exerciſe of faith, and uſe of means; and to give him the beſt entertainment, verſ. 7, 8, 9, 10. For the Church is Chriſts Temple; and every faithfull ſoul is a gate thereof to let him in as Rev. 3.20.

Verſ. 2. For hee hath founded it upon the Seas] The ſolid earth hee hath founded upon the liquid waters. This Ariſtotle acknowledgeth to bee a miracle; as alſo that the waters which are naturally above the earth, overflow it not, but are kept within their ſhoares, as within doors and barres. This is the very finger of God, and a ſtanding miracle, worthy to bee predicated to his praiſe all the World over, Job 38.6, 7, 8. &c. See the Notes there. See alſo Gen. 1.9. with the Note.

And eſtabliſhed it upon the floods] Upon the waves and ſurges of the Sea; which, but for Gods decree, would ſoon ſurmount it. The dry land is that which is here called Teb. [non-Latin text not transcribed], the habitable world. And this is Gods univerſall Kingdome, which becauſe leſſe conſiderable, the Prophet ſpeaketh but little of it in compariſon, as haſtening to the ſpirituall.

Verſ. 3. Who ſhall aſcend into the Hill of the Lord] Montem caeleſtem ſignificat, ſaith Vatablus, hee meaneth into Heaven; for the Prophets purpoſe is to ſhew, that although God made all, yet hee will not ſave all; but that there is a ſelect number, c[illegible: 1 letter]lled and called out of the many, who ſhall bee everlaſtingly happy; and theſe are here characterized, as they are alſo, Pſal. 15. wherewith this Pſalm hath great affinity, and is thought to have been compoſed at the ſame time, that is ſaith R. David, poſt ne gotium Ornani Jebuſai, after the buſineſſe with Araunah the Jebuſite, when God by fire from Heaven had pointed out the place where the Temple ſhould bee built, 1 Chro. 21.26. & 22.1.

And who ſhall stand in his holy place?] Stand with the Lamb upon Mount Sion? Tautologia has eſt Hebrais perquam familiaris. Who is a true Member of the Church militant? and ſhall bee no leſte of the Church triumphant?

Ver. 4. He that hath clean hands] The clean in hands, that is, of innocent and unblamable converſation; debet eſſe purus corde, ore, opere, ſaith Kimchi, Immunis [illegible: 1 word] tetig[illegible: 2 letters] [illegible: 1 word] Horat. he muſt not touch that unclean thing, 2 Cor. 6.17. Non magna munera, ſed immunis manus menſ que ſincera Deo placent. Men muſt lift up pure hands in prayer, 1 Tim. 2.8. or elſe their incenſe will ſtinck of the hand that offereth it, Iſa. 1.13. Thoſe that draw neer to God muſt not only have their hearts ſprinkled from an evill conſcience, but their bodies alſo waſhed with pure water, Heb. 10.22.

And a pure heart] Which while Pilat wanted, it nothing profited him to waſh his hands in the preſence of the people. Heaven is an holy place; and they that would go thither, muſt cleanſe themſelves from all filthineſſe of fleſh and ſpirit, perfecting holineſſe in the fear of God, 2 Cor. 7.1. The Serpent could ſcrue himſelf into Paradiſe; but no unclean creature ever came into Gods Kingdome. The Citizens of Heaven muſt here affect purity of heart, aim at it, and in ſome meaſure attain to it too; the old frame of impure motions being diſſolved, &c.

Who hath not lift up his ſoul unto vanity] i. e. Ad id[illegible: 1 letter]la vel opes, ſaith One, that is, to Idolls, or riches, Jer. 22.27. but hath lifted it up in the wayes of the Lord, as Jehoſaphat did, 2 Chron. 17. and David, Pſal. 25.1. not heeding or hankering after the Worlds delights, or the Devills deluſions. Some write the word Shau, ſignifying vanity, with a little Vau, ad indicandum quòd minima vanit as eſt vitanda, &c. to ſhew, that hee who would dwell in Gods holy Mountain, muſt carefully avoid the leaſt vanity that is; keeping Gods Commandement as the apple of his eye, that will bear no jeſts, Prov. 7.2. Some for his Soul, read my Soul; Hee hath not taken in vain my Soul, that is, ſaith R. Obadiah, That ſoul inſpired by God (which I alſo have received) he taketh not in vain, he miſemployeth not to iniquity, but conſecrateth to the ſervice of God, whoſe image and ſuperſcription it beareth.

Nor hath ſworn deceitfully] Or inured his tongue to any other kind of the language of Hell, rotten communication, to the diſhonouring of God, or deceiving of others. Perjury is here inſtanced for the reſt, as one of the moſt hainous. But Peraldus rekoneth up four and twenty ſeverall ſins of the tongue; all which every Burgeſſe of the new Jeruſalem is carefull to avoid, as the Devills drovill, Tom. 1. pag. 264. no way becoming his pure lip.

Verſ. 5. He ſhall receive the bleſſing from the Lord] i. e. Omnimodam felicitatem, all manner of mercies, ſaith Vatablus; hee ſhall bee as happy as heart can wiſh; for great is the gain of godlineſſe. See my Righteous mans Recompence.

And Righteouſneſſe, &c.] i. e. The fruit and reward of Righteouſneſſe, which the Righteous God will not fail to beſtow upon all his; even the Crown of Righteouſneſſe, 2 Tim. 4.8. A grave Interpreter hath here obſerved, that there is ſuch a reciprocation between the deſcription of this reward and the perſons deſcribed,Ameſ. that the bleſſedneſſe aſſured to the perſons exciteth them to the care of piety; and this care of piety bringeth unto them a ſure and firm expectation of bleſſedneſſe.

Verſ. 6. This is the generation of them that ſeek him] Theſe are the true Seekers, farre different from thoſe that now-adayes ſo ſtile themſelves; being no better indeed than the Jeſuites by-blowes, as one wittily calleth them,M. Baxſto[illegible: 1 letter] though they are not yet ſo wiſe as to know their own Father. Theſe are a generation too, but an evil and adulterous, one in theſe laſt and looſeſt times of abounding and abetted Errours.

That ſeek thy face] i. e. Thy favour, that deſire nothing more than to bee in communion with thee and conformity unto thee.

O Jacob] Or, O God of Jacob: As the Church is called Chriſt, 1 Cor. 12.12. So God is here called Jacob; ſuch a neer union there is betwixt him and his people. Or, this is Jacob. So the true Seekers are fitly called, firſt, becauſe Iſraelites indeed, Joh. 1.47. Rom. 9.6. ſecondly, becauſe they ſee God face to face, as Jacob did at Penuel, Gen. 32.24, 26, 29, 30. thirdly, becauſe they alſo, as hee,Adjicitur Sel[illegible: 1 letter] ut often da[illegible: 3 letters] quantoperè haec ſentent ſit conſider[illegible: 2 letters] da. do bear away a bleſſing, Hoſ. 12.4. even Righteouſneſſe from the God of their ſalvation, as in the verſe aforegoing.

Verſ. 7. Lift up your heades O yee gates &c.] Here hee calleth unto Hell-gates, ſay the Papiſts; to the Heavens, ſay others, to give way to Chriſts aſcenſion thereinto, Vatab▪ Juſtin. pag. 55. Recipite Chriſtum in portis novae Hieroſol. Cyril. as the firſt fruites, and the opener of the way to all his Members; And hee doubleth the ſame ſpeech, verſ. 9. for the joy that hee had in the contemplation thereof; bidding them again and again, lift up and bee lifted up; a phraſe or term taken from triumphall arches, or great Portico's ſet up or beautified and adorned for the coming in of great victorious and triumphant Captaines. There are at this day to bee ſeen at Rome the ruines of Conſtantines triumphall arch erected at that time when hee entred the City, triumphing over the Tyrant Maxentius, quem vicit ſigno crucis, as Euſebius reporteth; making Chriſt to triumph at Rome, after thoſe ten bloody perſecutions;Vi[illegible: 1 letter]cars. with which triumph this Pſalm may fitly bee compared, ſaith a learned Interpreter: Our late Annotatours tell us of a faſhion in ancient times, that when they would ſolemnize the enterance of any Prince, or others that had well deſerved of the publick, they would break down the walls, and pull off the gates of the City; partly for more free entrance, and partly to ſhew that their City needed no walls nor gates, as long as they had ſuch a Guardian and Protector within it. It is likely, ſay they, that David by theſe words doth allude to ſome ſuch cuſtome. Or as Calvin and others will have it, to the Temple to bee ſet up by Solomon; which hee wiſheth were done, that ſo hee might bring in the Ark of the Covenant, hitherto tranſportative, into the place of its reſt, Pſal. 132.14. Certain it is, that the Saints, thoſe living Temples of the Lord, are here called upon to lift up their hearts, in the uſe of holy ordinances; yea therein to bee abundantly lifted up through faith, with a joyfull and aſſured wel-come of the King of Glory, who will thereupon come in to them, by the raviſhing operation of his love, benefits, and graces.

Verſ. 8. Who is this King of glory?] The gates are brought in as asking this queſtion, ſaith R. David. This is the Angells admiration at the comming in of Chriſts humanity into Heaven, ſaith Diodate; Rather, it is the queſtion of the faithfull concerning the perſon of their King, whom they hereby reſiſt not; but for their further confirmation, deſire to bee better informed of Him, and his never-enough adored excellencies.

The Lord ſtrong] Jehovah the Eſſentiator, the Eternall God; the moſt mighty and puiſſant Warriour; who if hee do but ariſe only, his enemies are ſcattered; and all that hate him flie before him, Pſal. 68.1.

Verſ. 9. Lift up your heads, &c.] See Verſ. 7. And learn, that in matters of moment wee muſt be more than ordinary earneſt, and importunate with our ſelves and others.

Verſ. 10. Who is this King of glory?] The beſt are acutè obtuſi in the myſtery of Chriſt crucified; and muſt therefore by ſtudy and inquiry grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord Jeſus Chriſt, 2 Pet. 3.18. praying for that Spirit of wiſdome and revelation, for the acknowledgement of him, Epheſ. 1.17.

The Lord of Hoaſts] Hee who hath all Creatures at his beck, and check, the Lord of Sabaoth, Rom. 9.29. Jam. 5.4. where the word ſignifying hoaſts or armes is uſed untranſlated; becauſe well underſtood both by Jews and Gentiles, as is alſo Hoſanna, Hallelujah, Amen.

How very different is this from the ignorant Jewish notion of God which prevailed in our Saviour's day? The Jews said, "The holy land is God's, and the seed of Abraham are his only people;" but their great Monarch had long before instructed them, —"The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof." The whole round world is claimed for Jehovah, "and they that dwell therein" are declared to be his subjects. When we consider the bigotry of the Jewish people at the time of Christ, and how angry they were with our Lord for saying that many widows were in Israel, but unto none of them was the prophet sent, save only to the widow of Sarepta, and that there were many lepers in Israel, but none of them was healed except Naaman the Syrian, —when we recollect, too, how angry they were at the mention of Paul's being sent to the Gentiles, we are amazed that they should have remained in such blindness, and yet have sung this psalm, which shows so clearly that God is not the God of the Jews only, but of the Gentiles also. What a rebuke is this to those wiseacres who speak of the negro and other despised races as though they were not cared for by the God of heaven! If a man be but a man the Lord claims him, and who dares to brand him as a mere piece of merchandise! The meanest of men is a dweller in the world, and therefore belongs to Jehovah. Jesus Christ had made an end of the exclusiveness of nationalities. There is neither barbarian, Scythian, bond not free; but we all are one in Christ Jesus.

Man lives upon "the earth," and parcels out its soil among his mimic kings and autocrats; but the earth is not man's. He is but a tenant at will, a leaseholder upon the most precarious tenure, liable to instantaneous ejectment. The great Landowner and true Proprietor holds his court above the clouds, and laughs at the title-deeds of worms of the dust. The fee-simple is not with the lord of the manor nor the freeholder, but with the Creator. The "fulness" of the earth may mean its harvests, its wealth, its life, or its worship; in all these senses the Most High God is Possessor of all. The earth is full of God; he made it full and he keeps it full, notwithstanding all the demands which living creatures make upon its stores. The sea is full, despite all the clouds which rise from it; the air is full, notwithstanding all the lives which breathe it; the soil is full, though millions of plants derive their nourishment from it. 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 be the Lord's and the fulness thereof. These words are now upon London's Royal Exchange, they shall one day be written in letters of light across the sky.

The term "world" indicates the habitable regions, wherein Jehovah is especially to be acknowledged as Sovereign. He who rules the fish of the sea and the fowl of the air should not be disobeyed by man, his noblest creature. Jehovah is the Universal King, all nations are beneath his sway: true Autocrat of all the nations, emperors and czars are but his slaves. Men are not their own, nor may they call their lips, their hearts, or their substance their own; they are Jehovah's rightful servants. This claim especially applies to us who are born from heaven. We do not belong to the world or to Satan, but by creation and redemption we are the peculiar portion of the Lord.

Paul uses this verse twice, to show that no food is unclean, and that nothing is really the property of false gods. All things are God's; no ban is on the face of nature, nothing is common or unclean. The world is all God's world, and the food which is sold in the shambles is sanctified by being my Father's, and I need not scruple to eat thereof.

In the second verse we have the reason why the world belongs to God, namely, because he has created it, which is a title beyond all dispute. "For he hath founded it upon the seas." It is God who lifts up the earth from out of the sea, so that the dry land, which otherwise might in a moment be submerged, as in the days of Noah, is kept from the floods. The hungry jaws of ocean would devour the dry land if a constant fiat of Omnipotence did not protect it. "He hath established it upon the floods." The world is Jehovah's, because from generation to generation he preserves and upholds it, having settled its foundations. Providence and Creation are the two legal seals upon the title-deeds of the great Owner of all things. He who built the house and bears up its foundations has surely a first claim upon it. Let it be noted, however, upon what insecure foundations all terrestrial things are founded. Founded on the seas! Established on the floods! Blessed be God the Christian has another world to look forward to, and rests his hopes upon a more stable foundation than this poor world affords. They who trust in worldly things build upon the sea; but we have laid our hopes, by God's grace, upon the Rock of Ages; we are resting upon the promise of an immutable God, we are depending upon the constancy of a faithful Redeemer. Oh! ye worldlings, who have built your castles of confidence, your palaces of wealth, and your bowers of pleasure upon the seas, and established them upon the floods; how soon will your baseless fabrics melt, like foam upon the waters! Sand is treacherous enough, but what shall be said of the yet more unstable sea?

Here we have the true Israel described. The men who shall stand as courtiers in the palace of the living God are not distinguished by race, but by character; they are not Jews only, nor Gentiles only, nor any one branch of mankind peculiarly, but a people purified and made meet to dwell in the holy hill of the Lord.

"Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?" It is uphill work for the creature to reach the Creator. Where is the mighty climber who can scale the towering heights? Nor is it height alone; it is glory too. Whose eye shall see the King in his beauty and dwell in his palace? In heaven he reigns most gloriously, who shall be permitted to enter into his royal presence? God has made all, but he will not save all; there is a chosen company who shall have the singular honour of dwelling with him in his high abode. These choice spirits desire to commune with God, and their wish shall be granted them. The solemn enquiry of the text is repeated in another form. Who shall be able to "stand" or continue there? He casteth away the wicked, who then can abide in his house? Who is he that can gaze upon the Holy One, and can abide in the blaze of his glory? Certainly none may venture to commune with God upon the footing of the law, but grace can make us meet to behold the vision of the divine presence. The question before us is one which all should ask for themselves, and none should be at ease till they have received an answer of peace. With careful self-examination let us enquire, "Lord, is it I."

"He that hath clean hands." Outward, practical holiness is a very precious mark of grace. To wash in water with Pilate is nothing, but to wash in innocency is all-important. It is to be feared that many professors have perverted the doctrine of justification by faith in such a way as to treat good works with contempt; if so, they will receive everlasting contempt at the last great day. It is vain to prate of inward experience unless the daily life is free from impurity, dishonesty, violence, and oppression. Those who draw near to God must have "clean hands." What monarch would have servants with filthy hands to wait at his table? They who were ceremonially unclean could not enter into the Lord's house which was made with hands, much less shall the morally defiled be allowed to enjoy spiritual fellowship with a holy God. If our hands are now unclean, let us wash them in Jesu's precious blood, and so let us pray unto God, lifting up pure hands. But "clean hands" would not suffice, unless they were connected with "a pure heart." True religion is heart-work. We may wash the outside of the cup and the platter as long as we please; but if the inward parts be filthy, we are filthy altogether in the sight of God, for our hearts are more truly ourselves than our hands are. We may lose our hands and yet live, but we could not lose our heart and still live; the very life of our being lies in the inner nature, and hence the imperative need of purity within. There must be a work of grace in the core of the heart as well as in the palm of the hand, or our religion is a delusion. May God grant that our inward powers may be cleansed by the sanctifying Spirit, so that we may love holiness and abhor all sin. The pure in heart shall see God, all others are but blind bats; stone-blindness in the eyes arises from stone in the heart. Dirt in the heart throws dust in the eyes.

The soul must be delivered from delighting in the grovelling toys of earth; the man who is born for heaven "hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity." All men have their joys, by which their souls are lifted up; the worldling lifts up his soul in carnal delights, which are mere empty vanities; but the saint loves more substantial things; like Jehoshaphat, he is lifted up in the ways of the Lord. He who is content with the husks will be reckoned with the swine. If we suck our consolation from the breasts of the world, we prove ourselves to be its home-born children. Does the world satisfy thee? Then thou hast thy reward and thy portion in this life; make much of it, for thou shalt know no other joy. "Nor sworn deceitfully." The saints are men of honour still. The Christian man's word is his only oath; but that is as good as twenty oaths of other men. False speaking will shut any man out of heaven, for a liar shall not enter into God's house, whatever may be his professions or doings. God will have nothing to do with liars, except to cast them into the lake of fire. Every liar is a child of the devil, and will be sent home to his father. A false declaration, a fraudulent statement, a cooked account, a slander, a lie —all these may suit the assembly of the ungodly, but are detested among true saints: how could they have fellowship with the God of truth, if they did not hate every false way?

It must not be supposed that the persons who are thus described by their inward and outward holiness are saved by the merits of their works; but their works are the evidences by which they are known. The present verse shows that in the saints grace reigns and grace alone. Such men wear the holy livery of the Great King because he has of his own free love clothed them therewith. The true saint wears the wedding garment, but he owns that the Lord of the feast provided it for him, without money and without price. "He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation." So that the saints need salvation; they receive righteousness, and "the blessing" is a boon from God their Saviour. 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. God first gives us good works, and then rewards us for them. Grace is not obscured by God's demand for holiness, but is highly exalted as we see it decking the saint with jewels, and clothing him in fair white linen; all this sumptuous array being a free gift of mercy.

"This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob." These are the regeneration, these are in the line of grace; these are the legitimate seed. Yet they are only seekers; hence learn that true seekers are very dear in God's esteem, and are entered upon his register. Even seeking has a sanctifying influence; what a consecrating power must lie in finding and enjoying the Lord's face and favour! To desire communion with God is a purifying thing. Oh to hunger and thirst more and more after a clear vision of the face of God; this will lead us to purge ourselves from all filthiness, and to walk with heavenly circumspection. He who longs to see his friend when he passes takes care to clear the mist from the window, lest by any means his friend should go by unobserved. Really awakened souls seek the Lord above everything, and as this is not the usual desire of mankind, they constitute a generation by themselves; a people despised of men but beloved of God. The expression "O Jacob" is a very difficult one, unless it be indeed true that the God of Jacob here condescendeth to be called Jacob, and takes upon himself the name of his chosen people.

The preceding verses correct the inordinate boastings of those Jews who vaunted themselves as the favourites of heaven; they are told that their God is the God of all the earth, and that he is holy, and will admit none but holy ones into his presence. Let the mere professor as he reads these verses listen to the voice which saith, "without holiness no man shall see the Lord." "Selah." Lift up the harp and voice, for a nobler song is coming; a song of our Well-beloved.

These last verses reveal to us the great representative man, who answered to the full character laid down, and therefore by his own right ascended the holy hill of Zion. Our Lord Jesus Christ could ascend into the hill of the Lord because his hands were clean and his heart was pure, and if we by faith in him are conformed to his image we shall enter too. We have here a picture of our Lord's glorious ascent. We see him rising from amidst the little group upon Olivet, and as the cloud receives him, angels reverently escort him to the gates of heaven.

The ancient gates of the eternal temple are personified and addressed in song by the attending cohorts of rejoicing spirits.

"Lo his triumphal chariot waits,

And angels chant the solemn lay. 'Lift up your heads, ye heavenly gates;

Ye everlasting doors, give way."

They are called upon "to lift up their heads," as though with all their glory they were not great enough for the Allglorious King. Let all things do their utmost to honour so great a Prince; let the highest heaven put on unusual loftiness in honour of "the King of Glory." He who, fresh from the cross and the tomb, now rides through the gates of the New Jerusalem is higher than the heavens; great and everlasting as they are, those gates of pearl are all unworthy of him before whom the heavens are not pure, and who chargeth his angels with folly. "Lift up your heads, O ye gates."

The watchers at the gate hearing the song look over the battlements and ask, "Who is this King of glory?" A question full of meaning and worthy of the meditations of eternity. Who is he in person, nature, character, office and work? What is his pedigree? What his rank and what his race? The answer given in a mighty wave of music is, "The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle." We know the might of Jesus by the battles which he has fought, the victories which he has won over sin, and death, and hell, and we clap our hands as we see him leading captivity captive in the majesty of his strength. Oh for a heart to sing his praises! Mighty hero, be thou crowned for ever King of kings and Lord of lords.

"Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in." The words are repeated with a pleasing variation. There are times of deep earnest feeling when repetitions are not vain but full of force. Doors were often taken from their hinges when Easterns would show welcome to a guest, and some doors were drawn up and down like a portcullis, and may possibly have protruded from the top; thus literally lifting up their heads. The picture is highly poetical, and shows how wide heaven's gate is set by the ascension of our Lord. Blessed be God, the gates have never been shut since. The opened gates of heaven invite the weakest believer to enter.

Dear reader, it is possible that you are saying, "I shall never enter into the heaven of God, for I have neither clean hands nor a pure heart." Look then to Christ, who has already climbed the holy hill. He has entered as the forerunner of those who trust him. Follow in his footsteps, and repose upon his merit. He rides triumphantly into heaven, and you shall ride there too if you trust him. "But how can I get the character described?" say you. The Spirit of God will give you that. He will create in you a new heart and a right spirit. Faith in Jesus is the work of the Holy Spirit, and has all virtues wrapped up in it. Faith stands by the fountain filled with blood, and as she washes therein, clean hands and a pure heart, a holy soul and a truthful tongue are given to her.

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.

Whole Psalm. It will be seen that this Psalm was written to be chanted in responsive parts, with two choruses. To comprehend it fully, it should be understood that Jerusalem, as the city of God, was by the Jews regarded as a type of heaven. It so occurs in the Apocalypse, whence we have adopted it in our poetical and devotional aspirations. The court of the tabernacle was the scene of the Lord's more immediate residence —the tabernacle his palace, and the ark his throne. With this leading idea in his mind, the most cursory reader —if there be cursory readers of the Bible —cannot fail to be struck with the beauty and sublimity of this composition, and its exquisite suitableness to the occasion. The chief musician, who was probably in this case the king himself, appears to have begun the sacred lay with a solemn and sonorous recital of these sentences: —

"The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof;

The world, and they that dwell therein.

For he hath founded it upon the seas,

And established it upon the floods."

The chorus of vocal music appears to have then taken up the song, and sung the same words in a more tuneful and elaborate harmony; and the instruments and the whole chorus of the people fell in with them, raising the mighty declaration to heaven. There is much reason to think that the people, or a large body of them, were qualified or instructed to take their part in this great ceremonial. The historical text says, "David, and all the house of Israel played before the Lord, upon all manner of instruments," etc. We may presume that the chorus then divided, each singing in their turns, and both joining at the close —

"For he hath founded it upon the seas,

And established it upon the floods."

This part of the music may be supposed to have lasted until the procession reached the foot of Zion, or came in view of it, which from the nature of the enclosed site, cannot be till one comes quite near to it. Then the king must be supposed to have stepped forth, and begun again, in a solemn and earnest tone —

"Who shall ascend into the holy hill of the Lord?

Or who shall stand in his holy place?"

To which the first chorus responds —

"He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart;

Who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully."

And then the second chorus —

"He shall receive the blessing from the Lord,

And righteousness from the God of his salvation."

This part of the sacred song may, in like manner, be supposed to have lasted till they reached the gate of the city, when the king began again in this grand and exalted strain: —

"Lift up your heads, O ye gates;

And be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors,

And the King of glory shall come in." repeated then, in the same way as before, by the general chorus.

The persons having charge of the gates on this high occasion ask —

"Who is the King of glory?"

To which the first chorus answers —

"It is Jehovah, strong and mighty —

Jehovah mighty in battle." which the second chorus then repeats in like manner as before, closing it with the grand universal chorus,

"He is the King of glory! He is the King of glory!"

We must now suppose the instruments to take up the same notes, and continue them to the entrance to the court of the tabernacle. There the king again begins —

"Lift up your heads, O ye gates;

And be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors;

And the King of glory shall come in."

This is followed and answered as before —all closing, the instruments sounding, the chorus singing, the people shouting —

"He is the King of glory." John Kitto's "Daily Bible Illustrations." Whole Psalm. The coming of the Lord of glory, the high demands upon his people proceeding from this, the absolute necessity to prepare worthily for his arrival, form the subject-matter of this Psalm. E. W. Hengstenberg. Whole Psalm. We learn from the rabbins, that this was one of certain Psalms which were sung in the performance of Jewish worship on each day in the week: — The 24th Psalm on the 1st, the Lord's-day, our Sunday. 48th " 2nd " 82nd " 3rd " 94th " 4th " 81st " 5th " 93rd " 6th " 92nd " 7th, the Jewish Sabbath.

This Psalm, then, appropriated to the Lord's-day, our Sunday, was intended to celebrate the resurrection of Messiah, and his ascension into heaven, there to sit as priest upon God's throne, and from thence to come down bringing blessings and mercies to his people. R. H. Ryland. Whole Psalm. Anthem of praise, performed when the heads of the gates of Jerusalem were lifted up to receive the ark; and those of the Israelites who were ceremoniously clean, were alone permitted to accompany it into the court of the tabernacle. A Psalm of David. Verses 1, 2, chorus. 3. First voice. 4, 5. Second voice. 6. Chorus. 7. Semi-chorus accompanying the ark. 8. Voice from within the gates. 8. Chorus of priests accompanying the ark. 9. Chorus of priests and people with the ark. 10. Voice within the gates. 10. Grand chorus. From "The Psalms, with Prefatory Titles, etc., from the Port Royal Authors," by Mary Anne Schimmelpenninck, 1825. Whole Psalm. How others may think upon this point, I cannot say, nor pretend to describe, but for my own part, I have no notion of hearing, or of any man's ever having seen or heard, anything so great, so solemn, so celestial, on this side the gates of heaven. Patrick Delany, D.D., 1686-1768.

"The earth is the Lord's," that is, Christ's, who is the "Lord of lords" (Revelation 19:16); for the whole world and all the things therein are his by a twofold title. First, by donation of God his Father, having "all power given unto him in heaven and in earth" (Matthew 28:18), even whatsoever things the Father hath are his (John 16:15); and so consequently "made heir of all things." Hebrews 1:2. Secondly, the earth is Christ's and all that therein is, by right of creation, for "he founded it," saith our prophet, and that after a wonderful manner, "upon the seas and floods." . . . All things then are Christ's, in respect of creation, by whom all things were made" (John 1:3); in respect of sustentation, as upholding all things by his mighty word (Hebrews 1:3); in respect of administration, as reaching from one end to another, and ordering all things sweetly (Wisdom 8:1): in one word —"Of him, and through him, and to him, are all things." Romans 11:36. From hence we may learn (1), That Christ is "the King of glory," "Lord of Hosts," even Almighty God. For he that made all, is "Lord over all;" he that is the Creator of heaven and earth is Almighty (saith our Creed); able to do whatsoever he will, and more than he will too —more by his absolute power, than he will by his actual —"able to raise up children unto Abraham" out of the very stones of the street, though he doth not actually produce such a generation. His almightiness evidently proves him to be God, and his founding of the world his almightiness; for "The gods that have not made the heaven and earth shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens." Jeremiah 10:11. (2.) Seeing the compass of the world and all they that dwell therein are the Lord's, it is plain that the church is not confined within the limits of one region, or glued, as it were, to one seat only. The Donatists in old time, would tie the church only to Cartenna in Africa, the Papists in our time to Rome in Italy; but the Scriptures plainly affirm that the golden candlesticks are removed from one place to another, and that the kingdom of God is taken away from one nation and given unto another country that brings forth the fruit thereof; in every region he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted of him. Acts 10:35. John Boys.

"The earth is Jehovah's." The object of the beginning of the Psalm is to show that the Jews had nothing of themselves which could entitle them to approach nearer or more familiarly to God than the Gentiles. As God by his providence preserves the world, the power of his government is alike extended to all, so that he ought to be worshipped by all, even as he also shows to all men, without exception, the fatherly care he has about them. J. Calvin.

"The earth is the Lord's." It is Christ's, by creation (verse 2; John 1:1, 2), and it is his by resurrection (Matthew 28:18), and by his glorious ascension into heaven, where he is enthroned King of the world in his human nature. This Psalm takes up the language of the first Ascension Psalm (Psalm 8.) Christopher Wordsworth, D.D., in loc.

St. Chrysostom, suffering under the Empress Eudoxia, tells his friend Cyriacus how he armed himself before hand: ei me ' bouletai n basilissa e xorisai me, etc. "I thought, will she banish me? 'The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof.' Take away my goods? 'Naked came I into the world, and naked must I return.' Will she stone me? I remembered Stephen. Behead me? John Baptist came into my mind," etc. Thus it should be with every one that intends to live and die comfortably: they must, as we say, lay up something for a rainy day; they must stock themselves with graces, store up promises, and furnish themselves with experiences of God's lovingkindness to others and themselves too, that so when the evil day comes, they may have much good coming thereby. John Spencer.

"The earth is the Lord's." As David, in his youthful days, was tending his flocks on Bethlehem's fertile plains, the spirit of the Lord descended upon him, and his senses were opened, and his understanding enlightened, so that he could understand the songs of the night. The heavens proclaimed the glory of God, and glittering stars formed the general chorus, their harmonious melody resounded upon earth, and the sweet fulness of their voices vibrated to it utmost bounds. Light is the countenance of the Eternal," sung the setting sun: "I am the hem of his garment," responded the soft and rosy twilight. The clouds gathered themselves together and said, "We are his nocturnal tent." And the waters in the clouds, and the hollow voices of the thunders, joined in the lofty chorus, "The voice of the Eternal is upon the waters, the God of glory thundereth in the heavens, the Lord is upon many waters."

"He flieth upon my wings," whispered the winds, and the gentle air added, "I am the breath of God, the aspirations of his benign presence." "We hear the songs of praise," said the parched earth; "all around is praise; I alone am sad and silent." Then the falling dew replied, "I will nourish thee, so that thou shalt be refreshed and rejoice, and thy infants shall bloom like the young rose." "Joyfully we bloom," sang the refreshed meads; the full ears of corn waved as they sang, "We are the blessing of God, the hosts of God against famine."

"We bless thee from above," said the gentle moon; "We, too, bless thee," responded the stars; and the lightsome grasshopper chirped, "Me, too, he blesses in the pearly dew-drop." "He quenched my thirst," said the roe; "And refreshed me," continued the stag; "And grants us our food," said the beasts of the forest; "And clothes my lambs," gratefully added the sheep.

"He heard me," croaked the raven, "when I was forsaken and alone;" "He heard me," said the wild goat of the rocks, "when my time came, and I brought forth." And the turtle-dove cooed, and the swallow and other birds joined the song, "We have found our nests, our houses, we dwell upon the altar of the Lord, and sleep under the shadow of his wing in tranquillity and peace." "And peace," replied the night, and echo prolonged the sound, when chanticleer awoke the dawn, and crowed with joy, "Open the portals, set wide the gates of the world! The King of glory approaches. Awake! Arise, ye sons of men, give praises and thanks unto the Lord, for the King of glory approaches."

The sun arose, and David awoke from his melodious rapture. But as long as he lived the strains of creation's harmony remained in his soul, and daily he recalled them from the strings of his harp. From the "Legend of the Songs of the Night," in the Talmud, quoted in "Biblical Antiquities." By F. A. Cox, D.D., LL.D., 1852.

The pious mind views all things in God,, and God in all things. Ingram Cobbin, 1839.

"He hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods." This founding the land upon the seas, and preparing it upon the floods, is so wonderfully wonderful, that Almighty God asked his servant Job, "Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened?" Job 38:6. Xerxes commanded his soldiers to fetter the waters of Hellispontus; and so God bindeth, as it were, the floods in fetters, at St. Basil plainly, Ligatum est mare præcepto Creatoris quasi compedibus; he saith unto the sea, "Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further, there shall it stay thy proud waves." "He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap; he layeth up the depth in storehouses" (Job 38:11; Psalm 33:7); so that without his leave not so much as one drop can overflow the land. John Boys.

(New translation.) "For he hath founded it upon the seas, and upon streams doth he make it fast." The reference is no doubt to the account of the Creation, in Genesis, the dry land having emerged from the water, and seeming to rest upon it. (Comp. 136:6; Proverbs 8:29.) It would, however, be quite out of place to suppose that in such language we have the expression of any theory, whether popular or scientific, as to the structure of the earth's surface: Job says (26:7), "He hangeth the earth upon nothing." Such expressions are manifestly poetical. See Job 38:6. J. J. Stewart Perowne.

"Upon the seas:" that is, upon the great abyss of water which is under the earth, enclosed in great hollow places, whence the heads of rivers do spring, and other waters bubble out upon the earth. John Diodati.

"Above the floods he hath established it." Both the words (Heb.) (Al) in the two clauses of this verse mean either "above" as we have rendered it, and refer to Genesis 1:9, 10, denoting that Jehovah hath called forth dry land from the midst of the seas, and established it above the floods, and hath set a boundary to the latter never to turn and overflow it (see Job 38:8; Psalm 104. chronologically Psalm 7:9); or "by, or at," as they often denote, and refer to the same subject of the omnipotence of God in relation to the same quoted passages, i.e., that though our globe is situated at or by the floods —is surrounded with mighty waters whose single wave could bury it for ever, still the Lord has so established it that this never can happen. This is a mighty reason why the earth and all its fulness and inhabitants belong to Jehovah. Benjamin Weiss.

Hereby is mystically meant, that he hath set his church above the waters of adversities, so that how high soever they arise, it is kept still above them in safety, and so shall be for evermore; or it may agree thus —he will take in all nations to be in his grace, because all be his creatures; he made them so admirable an habitation at the first, and upholds it still, showing hereby how much he regards them; therefore he will now extend his favour further towards them, by taking them in to be his people. Augustine, quoted by Mayer.

"Who shall ascend?" Indeed, if none must ascend but he that is clean and pure, and without vanity and deceit, the question is quickly answered, None shall, for there is none so: dust is our matter, so not clean; defiled is our nature, so not pure; lighter, the heaviest of us, than vanity, and deceitful upon the balance the best of us; so no ascending so high for any of us. Yet there is One we hear of, or might have heard of to-day, that rose and ascended up on high, was thus qualified as the psalmist speaks of, all clean and pure, no chaff at all, no guile found in his mouth. 1 Peter 2:22. Yes, but it was but One that was so; what's that to all the rest? Yes, somewhat 'tis. He was our Head, and if the Head be once risen and ascended, the members will all follow after in their time. Mark Frank.

"The hill of the Lord," can be no other than a hill of glory. His holy place is no less than the very place and seat of glory. And being such, you cannot imagine it but hard to come by, the very petty glories of the world are so. This is a hill of glory, hard to climb, difficult to ascend, craggy to pass up, steep to clamber, no plain campagnia to it, the broad easy way leads some whither else (Matthew 7:13); the way to this is narrow (verse 14); 'tis rough and troublesome. To be of the number of Christ's true faithful servants is no slight work; 'tis a fight, 'tis a race, 'tis a continual warfare; fastings and watchings, and cold and nakedness, and hunger and thirst, bonds, imprisonments, dangers and distresses, ignominy and reproach, afflictions and persecutions, the world's hatred and our friend's neglect, all that we call hard or difficult is to be found in the way we are to go. A man cannot leave a lust, shake off bad company, quit a course of sin, enter upon a way of virtue, profess his religion, or stand to it, cannot ascend the spiritual hill, but he will meet some or other of these to contest and strive with. But not only to ascend, but to stand there, as the word signifies; to continue at so high a pitch, to be constant in truth and piety, that will be hard indeed, and bring more difficulties to contest with. Mark Frank.

The Psalm begins with a solicitous enquiry, subjoins a satisfactory answer, and closes with a most pertinent but rapturous apostrophe. This is the enquiry, "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place?" This is the answer, "He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart;" "he shall receive the blessing" of plenary remission "from the Lord, and righteousness also from the God of his salvation:" even that perfect righteousness which is not acquired by man, but bestowed by Jehovah; which is not performed by the saint, but received by the sinner; which is the only solid basis to support our hopes of happiness, the only valid plea for an admission into the mansions of joy. Then follows the apostrophe: the prophet foresees the ascension of Christ and his saints into the kingdom of heaven. He sees his Lord marching at the head of the redeemed world, and conducting them into regions of honour and joy. Suitably to such a view, and in a most beautiful strain of poetry, he addresses himself to the heavenly portals. "Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory," with all the heirs of his grace and righteousness, shall make their triumphant entry; "shall enter in," and go out no more. James Hervey.

The Psalm begins with a solicitous enquiry, subjoins a satisfactory answer, and closes with a most pertinent but rapturous apostrophe. This is the enquiry, "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place?" This is the answer, "He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart;" "he shall receive the blessing" of plenary remission "from the Lord, and righteousness also from the God of his salvation:" even that perfect righteousness which is not acquired by man, but bestowed by Jehovah; which is not performed by the saint, but received by the sinner; which is the only solid basis to support our hopes of happiness, the only valid plea for an admission into the mansions of joy. Then follows the apostrophe: the prophet foresees the ascension of Christ and his saints into the kingdom of heaven. He sees his Lord marching at the head of the redeemed world, and conducting them into regions of honour and joy. Suitably to such a view, and in a most beautiful strain of poetry, he addresses himself to the heavenly portals. "Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory," with all the heirs of his grace and righteousness, shall make their triumphant entry; "shall enter in," and go out no more. James Hervey.

It is not he who sings so well or so many Psalms, nor 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 knows all sciences and languages, nor 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. Martin Luther.

It is not he who sings so well or so many Psalms, nor 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 knows all sciences and languages, nor 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. Martin Luther.

"He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart." Shall I tell you, then, who is a moral man in the sight of God? It is he that bows to the divine law as the supreme rule of right; he that is influenced by a governing regard to God in all his actions; he that obeys other commands spontaneously, because he has obeyed the first and great command, "Give me thy heart." His conduct is not conformed to custom or expediency, but to one consistent, immutable standard of duty. Take this man into a court of justice, and call on him to testify, and he will not bear false witness. Give him the charge of untold treasures, he will not steal. Trust him with the dearest interests of yourself or family, you are safe, because he has a living principle of truth and integrity in his bosom. He is as worthy of confidence in the dark as at noonday; for he is a moral man, not because reputation or interest demands it, not because the eye of public observation is fixed upon him, but because the love and fear of God have predominant ascendency in his heart. Ebenezer Porter, D.D., 1834.

Conditions that suit none but Christ. (Bellarmine.) "He that hath clean hands;" "the clean of hands," Margin: —those hands from which went forth virtue and healing; hands ever lifted up in prayer to God, or in blessing to man; hands stretched forth on the cross for the cleansing of the whole world. Isaac Williams, in loc.

"Who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity," is read by Arius Montanus, "He that hath not received his soul in vain." Oh! how many receive their souls in vain, making no more use of them than the swine, of whom the philosopher observes, cujus anima pro sale, their souls are only for salt to keep their bodies from stinking. Who would not grieve to think that so choice a piece should be employed about so vain a use! George Swinnock.

"Nor sworn deceitfully;" or inured his tongue to any other kind of language of hell's rotten communication, to the dishonouring 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 the devil's drivel, no way becoming his pure lip. John Trapp.

Now we come to the four conditions requisite to render such an ascent possible. 1. Abstinence from evil doing: "He that hath clean hands." 2. Abstinence from evil thought: "and a pure heart." 3. Who does that duty which he is sent into the world to do: "That hath not lifted up his mind unto vanity;" or, as it is in the Vulgate, "Who hath no received his soul in vain." And, 4. Remembers the vows by which he is bound to God: "nor sworn to deceive." And in the fullest sense, there was but One in whom all these things were fulfilled; so that in reply to the question, "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?" He might well answer, "No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven." John 3:13. "Therefore it is well-written," says St. Bernard, "that such an High Priest became us, because he knows the difficulty of that ascent to the celestial mountain, he knows the weakness of us that have to ascend." Lorinus and Bernard, quoted by J. M. Neale.

Heaven is not won with good words and a fair profession. The doing Christian is the man that shall stand, when the empty boaster of his faith shall fall. The great talkers of religion are often the least doers. His religion is in vain whose profession brings not letters testimonial from a holy life. William Gurnall.

"He shall receive the blessing;" as before, "Thou shalt set him to be a blessing." Psalm 21:6. His name is never without blessing. In him shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. On the mount of his beatitudes, on the heavenly Mount Sion, crowned as "the Son of the Blessed." "From the Lord;" even "the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ." Ephesians 1:3. Isaac Williams.

"He shall receive . . . righteousness." As for our own righteousness which we have without him, Esay telleth us, "it is a defiled cloth;" and St. Paul, that it is but "dung." Two very homely comparisons, but they be the Holy Ghost's own; yet nothing so homely as in the original, where they be so odious, as what manner of defiled cloth, or what kind of dung, we have not dared to translate. Our own then being no better, we are driven to seek for it elsewhere. "He shall receive his righteousness," saith the prophet; and "the gift of righteousness," saith the apostle. Philippians 3:8, 9; Romans 5:17. 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 (chapter 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." Jeremiah 23:6. Lancelot Andrewes.

"This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face." Christians must be seekers. This is the generation of seekers. All mankind, if ever they will come to heaven, they must be a generation of seekers. Heaven is a generation of finders, of possessors, of enjoyers, seekers of God. But here we are a generation of seekers. We want somewhat that we must seek. When we are at best, we want the accomplishment of our happiness. It is a state of seeking here, because it is a state of want; we want something alway. But to come more particularly to this seeking the face of God, or the presence of God. . . . The presence of God meant here is, that presence that he shows in the time of need, and in his ordinances. He shows a presence in need and necessity, that is, a gracious presence to his children, a gracious face. As in want of direction, he shows his presence of light to direct them; in weakness he shows his strength; in trouble and perplexity he will show his gracious and comfortable presence to comfort them. In perplexity he shows his presence to set the heart at large, answerable to the necessity. So in need God is present with his children, to direct them, to comfort them, to strengthen them, if they need that. Richard Sibbes.

"This is the generation." By the demonstrative pronoun "this," the psalmist erases from the catalogue of the servants of God all counterfeit Israelites, who, trusting only to their circumcision and the sacrifice of beasts, have no concern about offering themselves to God; and yet, at the same time, they rashly thrust themselves into the church. John Calvin.

"That seek thy face, O Jacob." In Proverbs 7:15, and 29:26, we have "seeking the face of" in the sense of seeking the favour of, or showing delight in. Their delight is not in Esau, who got "the fatness of earth" (Genesis 27:39) as his portion. And those writers may be right, who consider Jacob as a name for Messiah, to whom belong the true birthright and blessing. Andrew A. Bonar.

"That seek thy face, O Jacob." He is "the seed of Jacob;" he is "the Holy One of Israel;" "the face of thine Anointed" is the face of him who is both God and man; for "we shall see him as he is." Isaac Williams.

"O Jacob," or O God of Jacob. As the church is called Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12), so God is here called "Jacob;" such a near union there is betwixt him and his people. Or, this is Jacob. So the true seekers are fitly called, first because Israelites indeed (John 1:47; Romans 9:6); secondly, because they see God face to face, as Jacob did at Peniel (Genesis 32:24-30); thirdly, because they also, as he, do bear away a blessing (Hosea 12:4), even "righteousness from the God of their salvation," as in the verse aforegoing. John Trapp.

"Lift up your heads, O ye gates." The gates of the temple were indeed as described, very lofty and magnificent, in proportion to the gigantic dimensions of that extraordinary edifice. But the phrase, "Lift up your heads," refers not so much to their loftiness, as to the upper part being formed so as to be lifted up; while the under portion opened in folding doors. Robert Jamieson, in "Paxton's Illustrations of Scriptures."

"Lift up your heads, O ye gates." At the castle of Banias, in Syria, are the remains of an ancient gate which was drawn up, like a blind, the gate fitting in grooves. This will fully explain the term. John Gadsby.

"Lift up." A phrase or term taken from triumphal arches, or great porticoes, set up, or beautified and adorned for the coming in of great, victorious, and triumphant captains. John Diodati.

"Be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in." Some interpret this of the doors of our heart, according to that (Revelation 3:20), "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him," etc. In the gospel history, we find that Christ had a fourfold entertainment among men. Some received him into house, not into heart, as Simon the Pharisee (Luke 7:44), who gave him no kiss nor water to his feet; some into heart, but not into house, as the faithful centurion (Matthew 8:8), esteeming himself unworthy that Christ should come under his roof; some neither into house nor heart, as the graceless Gergesites (Matthew 8:34); some both into house and heart, as Lazarus, Mary, Martha. John 3:15; Luke 10:38. Now that Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith, and that our bodies may be temples of his Holy Spirit, we must as our prophet exhorts here, lift up our souls, that is, in the words of St. Paul (Colossians 3:2), our affections must be set on things which are above, and not on things which are on earth: if we desire to lift up our hearts unto Christ's verity, we may not lift them up unto the world's vanity; that is, we must not fasten our love too much upon the things of this life, but on those pleasures at God's right hand which are evermore; that as we have borne the image of the first Adam, who was earthly, so we should bear the image of the second Adam, which is heavenly. 1 Corinthians 15:49. The prophane worldling sings a Nunc dimittis unto Christ, and saith as the devils, "Ah! what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth?" (Mark 1:24); and as Job reports his words, "Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways." Job 21:14. On the contrary, the religious soul, enjoying the possession of the Saviour, chanteth a merry Magnificat, and a pleasant Te Deum: she saith unto Christ, as Ruth unto Naomi (Ruth 1:16), "Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee." Nay, death itself shall not part us, for when I am loosed out of my body's prison, I hope to be with Christ; as Ittai then unto David, I say unto Jesus, "As the Lord liveth, and as my lord the king liveth, surely in what place my lord the king shall be, whether in death, or life, even there also will thy servant be." 2 Samuel 15:21. O Lord, which art the God of my salvation, I lift my heart to thee, desirous to seek thee, both in the right ubi —where thou mayest be found, and in the right quando —while thou mayest be found. Psalm 18:47; 25:1. Open my dull ears and hard heart, that thy Son my Saviour may come in and dwell with me. Grant me grace that I may still hear while he calleth, open while he knocketh, and hold him also when I have him; that I may both ascend thine hill, and stand in thy holy place; that I may not only sojourn in thy tabernacle, but also rest and dwell upon the mountain of thine holiness. John Boys.

"Everlasting doors." Heaven's gates are called "everlasting," because they shall endure for ever, or because they be the doors unto the life which is everlasting. John Boys.

Whatever we may think of these things, David thought it high time for him to bid such a messenger welcome, and to open his heart for the receiving of his God. Hear what he saith to his own heart and others: "Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in." And because the door of men's hearts is locked, and barred, and bolted, and men are in a deep sleep, and will not hear the knocking that is at the gate, though it be loud, though it be a king; therefore David knocks again, "Lift up, ye everlasting doors." Why, what haste, saith the sinner? What haste? Why, here's the King at your gates; and that not an ordinary king neither; he is a glorious King, that will honour you so far, if you open quickly, as to lodge within, to take up his abode in your house, to dwell with you. But the soul for all this doth not yet open, but stands still questioning, as if it were an enemy rather than a friend that stood there, and asks, "Who is this King of glory?" Who? He answers again, "It is the Lord of Hosts;" he, that if you will not open quickly and thankfully too, can easily pull your house down about your ears; he is the Lord of hosts, that King who hath a mighty army always at his command, who stand ready to their commission, and then you should know who it is you might have had for your friend; "Lift up, therefore, your heads, O ye gates." Open quickly, ye that had rather have God for your friend, than for your enemy. Oh, why should not the soul of every sinner cry out, Lord, the door is locked, and thou hast the key; I have been trying what I can do, but the wards are so rusty that I cannot possibly turn the key? But, Lord, throw the door off the hinges, anything in the world, so thou wilt but come in and dwell here. Come, O mighty God, break through doors of iron, and bars of brass, and make way for thyself by thy love and power. Come, Lord, and make thyself welcome; all that I have is at thy service; O fit my soul to entertain thee! James Janeway.

He hath left with us the earnest if the Spirit, and taken from us the earnest of our flesh, which he hath carried into heaven as a pledge that the whole shall follow after. Tertullian.

Christ is gone to heaven as a victor; leading sin, Satan, death, hell, and all his enemies, in triumph at his chariot wheels. He has not only overcome his enemies for himself, but for all his people, whom he will make conquerors, yea, "more than conquerors." As he has overcome, so shall they also overcome; and as he has gone to heaven a victor, they shall follow in triumph. He is in heaven as a Saviour. When he came from heaven it was in the character of a Saviour; when on earth he obtained eternal salvation; in heaven he lives as a Saviour; when he comes again from heaven he will come as a Saviour; and when he will return, he will return as a Saviour. He is also gone to heaven as the rightful heir. He is not gone to heaven as a sojourner, but as "the heir of all things." He is the heir of heavenly glory and happiness, and believers are "heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ." Henry Pendlebury, 1626-1695.

O clap your hands together, all ye people; sing unto God with the voice of melody. God is gone up with a merry noise, and the Lord with the sound of the trump." Psalm 47: 1, 5. This Ark, which has saved the world from destruction, after floating on a deluge of blood, rests at length on the mountain. This innocent Joseph, whose virtue has been oppressed by the synagogue, is brought out of the dungeon to receive a crown. This invincible Samson has carried away the gates of hell, and goes in triumph to the everlasting hills. This victorious Joshua has passed over Jordan with the ark of the covenant, and taken possession of the land of the living. This Sun of righteousness, which had gone down ten degrees, returns backward to the place which it had left. He who was "a worm" at his birth, a Lamb in his passion, and a Lion in his resurrection, now ascends as an Eagle to heaven, and encourages us to follow him thither. This day heaven learns to endure man's presence, and men to walk above the stars; the heavenly Jerusalem receives its rightful King, the church its High Priest, the house of God its Heritor, the whole world its Ruler. "O sing praises, sing praises unto our God: O sing praises, sing praises unto our King." Psalm 47:6-8. "God reigneth over the heathen, God sitteth upon his holy seat." "The princes of the people are joined unto" him; "he is very highly exalted" above them. From "The Life of Jesus Christ in Glory," translated from the French of James Nouet.

Christ being now arrived at heaven's doors, those heavenly spirits that accompanied him began to say, "Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in!" to whom some of the angels that were within, not ignorant of his person, but admiring his majesty and glory, said again, "Who is the King of glory?" and then they answered "The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle," and thereupon those twelve gates of the holy city, of New Jerusalem, opened of their own accord, and Jesus Christ with all his ministering spirits entered in. O my soul, how should this heighten thy joy and enlarge thy comforts, in that Christ is now received up into glory? Every sight of Christ is glorious, and in every sight thou shouldst wait on the Lord Jesus Christ for some glorious manifestations of himself. Come, live up to the rate of this great mystery; view Christ as entering into glory, and thou wilt find the same sparkle of glory on thy heart. O! this sight is a transforming sight: "We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." 2 Corinthians 3:18. Isaac Ambrose.

Christ being now arrived at heaven's doors, those heavenly spirits that accompanied him began to say, "Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in!" to whom some of the angels that were within, not ignorant of his person, but admiring his majesty and glory, said again, "Who is the King of glory?" and then they answered "The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle," and thereupon those twelve gates of the holy city, of New Jerusalem, opened of their own accord, and Jesus Christ with all his ministering spirits entered in. O my soul, how should this heighten thy joy and enlarge thy comforts, in that Christ is now received up into glory? Every sight of Christ is glorious, and in every sight thou shouldst wait on the Lord Jesus Christ for some glorious manifestations of himself. Come, live up to the rate of this great mystery; view Christ as entering into glory, and thou wilt find the same sparkle of glory on thy heart. O! this sight is a transforming sight: "We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." 2 Corinthians 3:18. Isaac Ambrose.

Ye that are thus the living temples of the Lord, and have already entertained his sanctifying Spirit into you, do you lift up your hearts in the use of holy ordinances through faith, in joyful desires and assured expectation of him; yea, be you abundantly lift up by faith in the use of holy means who are the everlasting habitation of an everlasting God, with a joyful and assured welcome of him; for so shall you invite and undoubtedly entertain the high and mighty Potentate the Lord Christ into your souls, with the glorious manifestation and ravishing operation of his love, benefits, and graces. And know, O all ye faithful and obedient ones, for your courage and comfort, who, and of what quality this glorious King, the Lord Jesus is, whom the world despises but you honour. Why, he is the Almighty God, of power all-sufficient to preserve and defend his people and church, that in trust of him do love and serve him, against all the strength and power of men and devils that do or shall malign or oppose themselves against them, and to put them to the foil, as we his Israel in the letter have found by experience for your instruction and corroboration that are his people in spirit. George Abbot, in "Brief notes upon the whole Book of Psalms," 1651.

Ye that are thus the living temples of the Lord, and have already entertained his sanctifying Spirit into you, do you lift up your hearts in the use of holy ordinances through faith, in joyful desires and assured expectation of him; yea, be you abundantly lift up by faith in the use of holy means who are the everlasting habitation of an everlasting God, with a joyful and assured welcome of him; for so shall you invite and undoubtedly entertain the high and mighty Potentate the Lord Christ into your souls, with the glorious manifestation and ravishing operation of his love, benefits, and graces. And know, O all ye faithful and obedient ones, for your courage and comfort, who, and of what quality this glorious King, the Lord Jesus is, whom the world despises but you honour. Why, he is the Almighty God, of power all-sufficient to preserve and defend his people and church, that in trust of him do love and serve him, against all the strength and power of men and devils that do or shall malign or oppose themselves against them, and to put them to the foil, as we his Israel in the letter have found by experience for your instruction and corroboration that are his people in spirit. George Abbot, in "Brief notes upon the whole Book of Psalms," 1651.

Oh, what tongue of the highest archangel of heaven can express the welcome of thee, the King of glory, into these blessed regions of immortality? Surely the empyreal heaven never resounded with so much joy: God ascended with jubilation and the Lord with the sound of the trumpet. It is not for us, weak and finite creatures, to wish to conceive those incomprehensible, spiritual, divine gratulations, that the glorious Trinity gave to the victorious and now glorified human nature. Certainly if, when he brought his only-begotten Son into the world, he said, "Let all the angels worship him;" much more now that he, "ascendeth on high, and hath led captivity captive, hath he given him a name above all names, that at the name of Jesus all knees should bow." And if the holy angels did so carol at his birth, in the very entrance into that state of humiliation and infirmity, with what triumph did they receive him now returning from the perfect achievement of man's redemption? and if, when his type had vanquished Goliath, and carried his head into Jerusalem, the damsels came forth to meet him with dances and timbrels, how shall we think those angelic spirits triumphed, in meeting of the great Conqueror of hell and death? How did they sing, "Lift up your heads, ye gates! and be lifted up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in." Surely, as he shall come, so he went; and, "Behold, he shall come with thousands of his holy ones; thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand thousands stood before him;" from all whom, methinks I hear that blessed applause, "Worthy is the Lamb that was killed, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and praise: praise and honour, and glory, and power, be to him that sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb for evermore." And why dost not thou, O my soul, help to bear thy part with that happy choir of heaven? Why art not thou rapt out of my bosom, with an ecstasy of joy, to see this human nature of ours exalted above all the powers of heaven, adored of angels, archangels, cherubim, seraphim, and all those mighty and glorious spirits, and sitting there crowned with infinite glory and majesty? Joseph Hall.

In the twenty-fourth Psalm, we have an account of the actual entrance of Christ into heaven. When the King of England wishes to enter the city of London through Temple Bar, the gate being closed against him, the herald demands entrance. "Open the gate." From within a voice is heard, "Who is there?" The herald answers, "The King of England!" The gate is at once opened, and the king passes, amidst the joyful acclamations of his people. This is an ancient custom, and the allusion is to it in this Psalm. "The Lord ascended with a shout;" he approached the heavenly portal —the herald in his escort demanded an entrance, "Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in." The celestial watchers within ask, "Who is the King of glory?" The heralds answer, "The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle." The question and answer being repeated once more, the gates lift up their heads, and the everlasting doors are lifted up. The Prince enters his Father's palace, greeted with the acclamations of heaven, all whose inhabitants unite in one shout of joy ineffable: "The Lord of Hosts, he is the King of glory!" Christmas Evans.

If we follow our Redeemer in his ascension and session at the right hand of God, where he is constituted Lord of all, angels, principalities, and powers being made subject to him, and where he sits till his enemies are made his footstool, we shall observe the tide of celestial blessedness rise higher and higher still. The return of a great and beloved prince, who should by only hazarding his life, have saved his country, would fill a nation with ecstasy. Their conversation in every company would turn upon him, and all their thoughts and joys concentrate in him. See then the King of kings, after having by death abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light; after spoiling the powers of darkness, and ruining all their schemes; see him return in triumph! There was something like triumph when he entered into Jerusalem. All the city was moved, saying, "Who is this?" And the multitude answered, It is Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth; and the very children sung, Hosannah to the Son of David: blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord; hosannah in the highest! How much greater then must be the triumph of his entry into the heavenly Jerusalem! Would not all the city be "moved" in this case, saying, "Who is this?" See thousands of angels attending him, and ten thousand times ten thousand come forth to meet him! The entrance of the ark into the city of David was but a shadow of this, and the responsive strains which were sung on that occasion would on this be much more applicable. Andrew Fuller.

Why is the song repeated? Why are the everlasting gates invited to lift up their heads a second time? We may not pretend here, or in any place, to know all the meaning of the divine Psalms. But what if the repetition of the verse was meant to put us in mind that our Saviour's ascension will be repeated also? He will not indeed die any more; death can no more have any dominion over him; "there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin." Neither of course can he rise again any more. But as he will come again at the end of the world, to judge the quick and the dead, so after that descent he will have to ascend again. And I say, this second ascension may be signified by the psalmist, calling on the everlasting doors to lift up their heads a second time, and make way for the King of glory. Now observe the answer made this second time, "Who is the King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory." Before it was, "the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle;" now it is "The Lord of hosts." Christ ascending the first time, to intercede for us at his Father's right hand, is called "The Lord mighty in battle." But Christ, ascending the second time, after the world hath been judged, and the good and bad separated for ever, is called "the Lord of hosts." Why this difference in his divine titles? We may reverently take it, that it signifies to us the difference between his first and second coming down to earth, his first and second ascension into heaven. As in other respects his first coming was with great humility, so in this, that he came, in all appearance, alone. The angels were indeed waiting round him, but not visibly, not in glory. "He trode the winepress alone, and of the people there was none with him." He wrestled with death, hell, and Satan, alone. Alone he rose from the dead: alone, as far as man could see, he went up to heaven. Thus he showed himself "the Lord mighty in battle," mighty in that single combat which he, as our champion, our David, victoriously maintained against our great enemy. But when he shall come down and go up the second time, he will show himself "the Lord of hosts." Instead of coming down alone in mysterious silence, as in his wonderful incarnation, he will be followed by all the armies of heaven. "The Lord my God will come, and all his saints with him." "The Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints." "The Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father, and all the holy angels with him." "Thousand thousands will stand around him, and ten thousand times ten thousand will minister unto him." Instead of the silence of that quiet chamber at Nazareth, and of the holy Virgin's womb, there will be the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God accompanying him. Thus he will come down as the Lord of hosts, and as the Lord of hosts, he will ascend again to his Father. After the judgment, he will pass again through the everlasting doors, with a greater company than before; for he will lead along with him, into the heavenly habitation, all those who shall have been raised from their graves and found worthy. Hear how the awful sight is described by one who will doubtless have a high place in that day near the Judge. The great apostle and prophet St. Paul, says, "The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout; and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord." John Keble, M.A.

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In this blessed life

I see the path, and in his death the price,

And in his great ascent the proof supreme

Of immortality. And did he rise?

Hear, O ye nations! hear it, O ye dead!

He rose! He rose! He burst the bars of death.

Lift up your heads, ye everlasting gates!

And give the King of glory to come in.

Who is the King of glory? He who left

His throne of glory for the pangs of death.

Lift up your heads, ye everlasting gates!

And give the King of glory to come in.

Who is the King of glory? He who slew

The ravenous foe that gorged all human race.

The King of glory, he whose glory filled

Heaven with amazement at his love to man,

And with divine complacency beheld

Powers most illumined 'wildered in the theme. Edward Young.

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Lift up your heads, ye gates, and, O prepare,

Ye living orbs, your everlasting doors,

The King of glory comes!

What King of glory? He whose puissant might

Subdued Abaddon, and the infernal powers

Of darkness bound in adamantine chains:

Who, wrapp'd in glory, with the Father reigns,

Omnipotent, immortal, infinite! James Scott.

"Who is the King of glory?" Christ in two respects is "the King of glory." 1. For that all honour and glory belongs properly to him —his is "the kingdom, the power, and the glory" (Matthew 6:13), called in this regard, "The Lord of glory." 1 Corinthians 2:8. 2. For that Christ maketh us partakers of his glory, termed in this respect our glorious Lord Jesus. James 2:1. If the Lord of hosts, strong and mighty in battle, be the King of glory, then Christ (having conquered all his enemies, and made them his footstool, triumphing over death, and the devil which is the founder of death, and sin which is the sting of death, and the grave which is the prison of death, and hell itself which is the proper dominion of the devil and death) is doubtless in himself, "the King of glory." And for as much as he died for our sins, and is risen again for our justification, and is ascended on high to give gifts unto men —in this life grace, in the next glory —what is he less than a "King of glory" towards us, of whom and through whom alone we find that fight his battles are delivered from the hands of all that hate us, and so made victors (1 Corinthians 15:57), yea, "more than conquerors." Romans 8:37. John Boys.

"The Lord strong and mighty." "Strong and mighty" in subduing all adversaries; and overcoming death and the devil who had the power of death. Ludolphus, quoted by Isaac Williams.

"Jehovah of hosts," or, as the Hebrew is, Jehovah Tsebaoth, for so the word is used by the apostles, untranslated in the Greek, Sabaoth. Romans 9:29. It signifieth hosts or armies standing ready in martial order, and in battle array, and comprehendeth all creatures in heaven and in earth, which are pressed to do the will of God. Henry Ainsworth.

The great Proprietor, his estates and his servants, his rights and wrongs.

"The earth is the Lord's."

I. Mention other claimants —idols: pope, man, devil, etc.,

II. Try the suit.

III. Carry out the verdict. Use our substance, preach everywhere, claim all things for God.

IV. See how glorious the earth looks when she bears her Master's name.

Verse 1 (last clause). All men belong to God. His sons or his subjects, his servants or his serfs, his sheep or his goats, etc.

Divine purposes accomplished by singular means.

Founded on the seas. Instability of terrestrial things.

The all-important question.

Verse 4 (first clause). Connection between outward morality and inward purity.

Verse 4 (second clause). Men judged by their delights.

"Clean hands."

I. How to get them clean.

II. How to keep them clean.

III. How to defile them

IV. How to get them clean again.

Character manifested and favour received.

Verse 5 (second clause). The good man receiving righteousness and needing salvation, or the evangelical meaning of apparently legal passages.

Character manifested and favour received.

Verse 5 (second clause). The good man receiving righteousness and needing salvation, or the evangelical meaning of apparently legal passages.

Those who truly seek fellowship with God.

Accommodate the text to the entrance of Jesus Christ into our hearts.

I. There are obstacles, "gates," "doors."

II. We must will to remove them: "lift up."

III. Grace must enable us: "be ye lift up."

IV. Our Lord will enter.

V. He enters as "King," and "King of glory."

The ascension and its teachings.

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I. His title —the Lord of hosts.

II. His victories, implied in the expression. The Lord strong and mighty in battle.

III. His mediatorial title, The King of glory.

IV. His authoritative entrance into the holy place. John Newton's "Messiah."

The mighty Hero. His pedigree, his power, his battles, his victories.

The sovereignty and glory of God in Christ.

WORK UPON THE TWENTY-FOURTH PSALM

In the "Works" of John Boys, 1626, folio, pp. 908-913, there is an Exposition of this Psalm.