Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 24:7
Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.
7. Lift up your heads ] As though they were too low and mean for the entrance of “the high and lofty one” who comes, and in token that all resistance is at an end.
ye everlasting doors ] Or, ye ancient doors, venerable with unknown antiquity.
and the King &c.] Or, that the King of glory may come in. The Ark, “which is called by the Name, even the name of the Lord of hosts that sitteth upon the cherubim” (2Sa 6:2) was the symbol of Jehovah’s majesty and the pledge of His Presence among His people (Num 10:35-36). When the ark was lost, “the glory departed from Israel” (1Sa 4:21). Cp. Psa 19:1, note.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
7 10. The procession has reached the ancient gates of Zion. They are summoned to open high and wide to admit their true King.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Lift up your heads, O ye gates – Either the gates of the city, or of the house erected for the worship of God; most probably, as has been remarked, the former. This may be supposed to have been uttered as the procession approached the city where the ark was to abide, as a summons to admit the King of glory to a permanent residence there. It would seem not improbable that the gates of the city were originally made in the form of a portcullis, as the gates of the old castles in the feudal ages were, not to open, but to be lifted up by weights and pullies. In some of the old ruins of castles in Palestine there are still to be seen deep grooves in the posts of the gateway, showing that the door did not open and shut, but that it was drawn up or let down. (The Land and the Book, vol. i. p. 376. One such I saw at Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight; and they were common in the castles erected in the Middle Ages.) There were some advantages in this, as they could be suddenly let down on an enemy about to enter, when it would be difficult to close them if they were made to open as doors and gates are commonly made. Thus understood, the heads of the gates would be the top, perhaps ornamented in some such way as to suggest the idea of a head, and the command was that these should be elevated to admit the ark of God to pass.
And be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors – The doors of a city or sanctuary that was now to be the permanent place of the worship of God. The ark was to be fixed and settled there. It was no longer to be moved from place to place. It had found a final home. The idea in the word everlasting is that of permanence. The place where the ark was to abide was to be the enduring place of worship; or was to endure as long as the worship of God in that form should continue. There is no evidence that the author of the psalm supposed that those doors would be literally eternal, but the language is such as we use when we say of anything that it is permanent and abiding.
And the King of glory shall come in – The glorious King. The allusion is to God as a King. On the cover of the ark, or the mercy-seat, the symbol of the divine presence – the Shekinah – rested; and hence, it was natural to say that God would enter through those gates. In other words, the cover of the ark was regarded as his abode – His seat – His throne; and, as thus occupying the mercy-seat, He was about to enter the place of His permanent abode. Compare Exo 25:17, Exo 25:20, Exo 25:22.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 24:7-8
Lift up your heads, O ye gates.
The ascension of Christ
It is generally admitted by expositors that these words have a secondary, if not a primary, reference to the return of the Mediator to heaven, when He had accomplished the work of human redemption. Bishop Horsley affirms that the Jehovah of this Psalm must be Christ; and the entrance of the Redeemer into the kingdom of His Father is the event prophetically announced. But you will say, Are we to rejoice in the departure of our Lord from His Church? Suppose that Christ had not been exalted to the right hand of God, would not the supposition materially affect our spiritual condition? The resurrection of Christ was both the proof and consequence of the completeness of His mediatorial work. If He had remained in the grave we could only have regarded Him as a man like one of ourselves: we could not have looked on Him as our substitute. It is easy to certify ourselves of the indispensableness of the resurrection, but why may not the risen Mediator remain with His Church? We reply, the reception of our nature, in the person of our surety, into heavenly places, was necessary to our comfort and assurance. So long as Christ remained on earth there was no evidence that He had won for our nature readmission to the paradise from which it had been exiled. If He had not returned to the Father we must always have feared that our redemption was incomplete. The plan of redemption was designed to reveal to the world the Trinity of the Godhead. There could not have been the thorough manifestation of the Divinity of the Son had not Christ ascended up on high. His ascension and exaltation may well furnish us with great matter of rejoicing. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
The two ascensions of Christ
The King of glory is our Lord Jesus Christ, as we acknowledge Him every morning in the Te Deum, Thou art the King of glory, O Christ. He is the King of glory, the Giver and Owner of life and glory; the Brightness of His Fathers glory and the express Image of His Person. That holy Son had on the day of His incarnation emptied Himself of His glory for a while, and had become like unto the meanest of His creatures. On the day of His crucifixion He offered up all His humiliation, for a sacrifice to His Father; on His resurrection day He showed Himself ready to take His glory again; and on this ascension day He actually took it. The King of glory is Christ the Lord of Hosts, and the gates which He commands to be opened to Him are the gates of heaven–the gates of His own chief city, to which He is returning as David returned to Jerusalem, after His triumphant warfare against His and our enemies. He returns, as the Lord mighty in battle, having bruised Satan under His feet, first in His temptation, then in His passion on the Cross, lastly in His descent into hell. And as David came accompanied by his guards and soldiers, who had been fighting on his side, and could not but rejoice, as faithful and dutiful subjects, in their kings victory; so the Psalm represents the Son of David returning to the Fathers right hand with a guard of angels; who, as they come near the holy and awful gate, cry aloud and say, Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors. But 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 Saviours 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. Now observe the answer made this second time. Christ ascending the first time, to intercede for us at His Fathers 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 forever, 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 in 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 trod the wine press alone, and of the people there was none with Him. He wrestled with death, hell, and Satan alone: alone He went up into heaven. Thus He showed Himself the Lord mighty in battle, mighty in that single combat. 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. 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 habitations, all those who shall have been raised from their graves and found worthy. This is Christs second and more glorious ascension, in which He will be visibly and openly accompanied by the souls and bodies of the righteous, changed and made glorious, like unto His glorious body. The angels and saints will come with Him from heaven, and both they and all good Christians will return with Him thither. (J. Keble.)
The three processions
I. The primary reference of the text. See the account of the removal of the ark from the house of Obed-Edom to Jerusalem.
II. The similar scene in the New Testament. The triumphal procession on palm Sunday. That procession could boast but few circumstances of dignity and majesty.
III. The spiritual passage of Christ by faith into the stronghold of the heart of man.
1. The heart is susceptible of comparison in many particulars with the literal city of Jerusalem.
2. The remedy is to be found in admission of Christ into the heart. He alone can thoroughly cleanse the desecrated temple.
3. Therefore lay aside your pride and self-righteousness, and become Christs disciples.
IV. The second advent is hastening forward. That progress is to be triumphant in character. Its issue must be certain victory. (E. M. Goulburn, D. C. L.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 7. Lift up your heads, O ye gates] The address of those who preceded the ark, the gates being addressed instead of the keepers of the gates. Allusion is here made to the triumphal entry of a victorious general into the imperial city.
In the hymn of Callimachus to Apollo, there are two lines very much like those in the text; they convey the very same sentiments. The poet represents the god coming into his temple, and calls upon the priests to open the doors, c.
,
;
“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.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The question was put, Who shall ascend into Gods hill and holy place? Psa 24:3; to which answer hath been given, and the persons described, Psa 24:4-6. 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 Zion, 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 Davids desires and hopes that God would make them such in some sort, because he loved the gates of Zion, Psa 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 its doors were constantly fixed in one place; and if the sins of Israel did not hinder, 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 lift 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 or lower; or that by this figurative address to the gates he might signify 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 literal sense of the place, yet there is also a mystical sense 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 itsself; so this place may also contain a representation, either of Christs 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. Compare Psa 47:5; 68:25; Act 2:33; Eph 4:8.
The King of glory; the glorious King Jehovah, 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, 1Co 2:8; Jam 2:1, both for that glory which is inherent in him, and that which is purchased by him for his members.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
7-10. The entrance of the ark,with the attending procession, into the holy sanctuary is pictured tous. The repetition of the terms gives emphasis.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Lift up your heads, O ye gates,…. By which the gates of hell are not meant; nor are the words to be understood of the descent of Christ thither, to fetch the souls of Old Testament saints from thence; who the Papists dream were detained in an apartment there, as in a prison, called by them “limbus patrum”; seeing these, immediately upon their separation from the body, were in a state of happiness and glory, as the parable of the rich man and Lazarus shows; and since Christ, at his death, went, in his human soul, immediately into heaven, or paradise, where the penitent thief was that day with him: nor do the words design the gates of heaven, and Christ’s ascension thither, shut by the sins of men, and opened by the blood of Christ, by which he entered himself, and has made way for all his people; though this sense is much preferable to the former. The Jewish interpreters understand the phrase of the gates of the temple, which David prophetically speaks of as to be opened, when it should be built and dedicated by Solomon, and when the ark, the symbol of Jehovah’s presence, was brought into it, and the glory of the Lord filled the house; so the Targum interprets this first clause of “the gates of the house of the sanctuary”; though the next of “the gates of the garden of Eden”; but the words are better interpreted, in a mystical and spiritual sense, of the church of God, the temple of the living God, which is said to have gates, Isa 60:11; and is itself called a door, So 8:9; where the open door of the Gospel is set, or an opportunity of preaching the Gospel given, and a door of utterance to the ministers of the word, and the doors of men’s hearts are opened to attend to it; and indeed the hearts of particular believers, individual members of the church, may be intended, or at least included in the sense of the passage; see Re 3:20; and it may be observed, that the new Jerusalem is said to have gates of pearl, through which Christ, when he makes his glorious appearance, will enter in his own glory, and in his father’s, and in the glory of the holy angels;
and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors; or “the doors of the world” n; which some understand of the kingdoms and nations of the world, and of the kings and princes thereof, as called upon to open and make way for, and receive the Gospel of Christ into them, and to support and retain it; but it is best to interpret it of the church and its members, whose continuance, perpetuity, and duration, are here intimated, by being called “everlasting doors”; which may be said to be “lifted up”, as it may respect churches, when those things are removed which hinder communion with Christ; as their sins, which separate between them and their God, and the wall of unbelief, behind which Christ stands; and sleepiness, drowsiness, coldness, lukewarmness, and indifference; see Isa 59:2; and when public worship is closely and strictly attended on, as the ministration of the word and ordinances, prayer to God, which is the lifting up the heart with the hands to God, and singing his praise: and as it may respect particular believers; these doors and gates may be said to be lifted up, when their hearts are enlarged with the love of God; the desires and affections of their souls are drawn out towards the Lord, and the graces of the Spirit are in a lively exercise on him; and when they lift up their heads with joy in a view of Christ coming to them. This must not be understood as if they could do all this of themselves, any more than gates and doors can be thought to open and lift up themselves;
and the King of glory shall come in; the Lord Jesus Christ, called the Lord of glory, 1Co 2:8; who is glorious in himself, in the perfections of his divine nature, as the Son of God; being the brightness of his Father’s glory, and the express image of his person; and in his office as Mediator, being full of grace and truth, and having a glory given him before the world was; and which became manifest upon his resurrection, ascension to heaven, and session at God’s right hand; and particularly he is glorious as a King, being made higher than the kings of the earth, and crowned with glory and honour; and so the Targum renders it , “the glorious King”; and he is moreover the author and giver, the sum and substance, of the glory and happiness of the saints: and now, as the inhabitants of Zion, and members of the church, are described in the preceding verses, an account is given of the King of Zion in this and the following; who may be said to “come into” his churches, when he grants his gracious presence, shows himself through the lattices, and in the galleries of ordinances, in his beauty and glory; takes his walks there, and his goings are seen, even in the sanctuary; and where he dwells as King in his palace, and as a Son in his own house; and he may be said to come into the hearts of particular believers, when he manifests himself, his love and grace, unto them, and grants them such communion as is expressed by supping with them, and by dwelling in their hearts by faith,
n “ostia mundi”, Gejerus, Schmidt.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The festal procession has now arrived above at the gates of the citadel of Zion. These are called , 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 ( 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.
(Note: On the Munach instead of Metheg in , 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 ( 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 (like , with instead of the a in , ) is only found in one other passage, viz., Isa 43:17. 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. ( 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).” is the proper name of Jahve as King, which had become His customary name in the time of the kings of Israel. is a genitive governed by 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 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.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| 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,Psa 24:8; Psa 24:10. 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 7:13; Dan 7:14. 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.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
7. Lift up your heads, O ye gates! The magnificent and splendid structure of the temple, in which there was more outward majesty than in the tabernacle, not being yet erected, David here speaks of the future building of it. By doing this, he encourages the pious Israelites to employ themselves more willingly, and with greater confidence, in the ceremonial observances of the law. It was no ordinary token of the goodness of God that he condescended to dwell in the midst of them by a visible symbol of his presence, and was willing that his heavenly dwelling-place should be seen upon earth. This doctrine ought to be of use to us at this day; for it is an instance of the inestimable grace of God, that so far as the infirmity of our flesh will permit, we are lifted up even to God by the exercises of religion. What is the design of the preaching of the word, the sacraments, the holy assemblies, and the whole external government of the church, but that we may be united to God? It is not, therefore, without good reason that David extols so highly the service of God appointed in the law, seeing God exhibited himself to his saints in the ark of the covenant, and thereby gave them a certain pledge of speedy succor whenever they should invoke him for aid. God, it is true, “dwelleth not in temples made with hands,” nor does he take delight in outward pomp; but as it was useful, and as it was also the pleasure of God, that his ancient people, who were rude, and still in their infancy, should be lifted up to him by earthly elements, David does not here hesitate to set forth to them, for the confirmation of their faith, the sumptuous building of the temple, to assure them that it was not a useless theater; but that when they rightly worshipped God in it, according to the appointment of his word, they stood as it were in his presence, and would actually experience that he was near them. The amount of what is stated is, that in proportion as the temple which God had commanded to be built to him upon mount Sion, surpassed the tabernacle in magnificence, it would be so much the brighter a mirror of the glory and power of God dwelling among the Jews. In the meantime, as David himself burned with intense desire for the erection of the temple, so he wished to inflame the hearts of all the godly with the same ardent desire, that, aided by the rudiments of the law, they might make more and more progress in the fear of God. He terms the gates, everlasting, because the promise of God secured their continual stability. The temple excelled in materials and in workmanship, but its chief excellence consisted in this, that the promise of God was engraven upon it, as we shall see in Psa 132:14, “This is my rest for ever.” In terming the gates everlasting, the Psalmist, at the same time, I have no doubt, makes a tacit contrast between the tabernacle and the temple. The tabernacle never had any certain abiding place, but being from time to time transported from one place to another, was like a wayfaring man. When, however, mount Sion was chosen, and the temple built, God then began to have there a certain and fixed place of abode. By the coming of Christ, that visible shadow vanished, and it is therefore not wonderful that the temple is no longer to be seen upon mount Sion, seeing it is now so great as to occupy the whole world. If it is objected, that at the time of the Babylonish captivity the gates which Solomon had built were demolished, I answer, God’s decree stood fast, notwithstanding that temporary overthrow; and by virtue of it, the temple was soon after rebuilt; which was the same as if it had always continued entire. The Septuagint has from ignorance corrupted this passage. (550) The Hebrew word ראשים, rashim, which we have rendered heads, is no doubt sometimes taken metaphorically for princes; but the word your, which is here annexed to it, sufficiently shows that we cannot draw from it another sense than this — that the gates lift up their heads, otherwise we must say, Your princes. Some, therefore, think that kings and magistrates are here admonished of their duty, which is to open up the way, and give entrance to God. This is a plausible interpretation, but it is too much removed from the design and words of the prophet. Above all, from the natural sense of the words, we may perceive how foolishly and basely the Papists have abused this passage for the confirmation of the gross and ridiculous notion by which they introduce Christ as knocking at the gate of the infernal regions, in order to obtain admission. (551) Let us, therefore, learn from this, to handle the holy word of God with sobriety and reverence, and to hold Papists in detestation, who, as it were, make sport of corrupting and falsifying it in this manner, by their execrable impieties. (552)
(550) The Septuagint reads, Αρατε πύλὰς οἱ ἄρχοντες ὑμῶν, which may be rendered, “Ye princes, lift up your gates.” The reading of the Vulgate is similar: “ Attollite portas principes vestras “ and so is that of the Arabic and Ethiopic. But that rendering, as Calvin justly observes, inadmissible; for in the Hebrew text, the affix כם, kem, your, is joined to ראשי, roshey, heads, and not to שערים, shearim, gates. Although, however the reading of the Septuagint may be translated as above, “Ye princes, lift up your gates,” Hammond thinks it more probable, that the translators intended οἱ ἄρχοντες ὑμῶν , your princes, to represent ראשיכם, rashekem, as myertin, by mistake, the construction of the sentence, so your heads, as to give this reading, “Your heads, or princes, lift up the gates, instead of, “Ye gates, lift up your heads.”
(551) “ Par lesquels ils introduissent Christ frappant a la porte pour entrer les enfers.” — Fr.
(552) “ Qui comme sacrileges execrables tienent pour jeu de la corrompre et falsifier en ceste sorte.” — Fr.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(7) Gates.The LXX. and Vulgate miss this fine personification, by rendering princes instead of heads.
Lift up your gates, O princes.
The sacrifice of the poetry to antiquarianism, by introducing the idea of a portcullis, is little less excusable. The poet deems the ancient gateways of the conquered castle far too low for the dignity of the approaching Monarch, and calls on them to open wide and high to give room for His passage.
Everlasting doors.Better, ancient doors, gates of old; an appropriate description of the gates of the grim old Jebusite fortress, so venerable with unconquered age. For lam in this sense comp. the giants of old (Gen. 6:4), the everlasting hills (Gen. 49:26, &c.), and see Note to Psa. 89:1.
The King of glory shall come in.This name, in which the claim for admission is made, connects the psalm immediately with the ark; that glory, which had fled with the sad cry Ichabod, has returned; the symbol of the Divine presence and of victory comes to seek a lasting resting-place.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
7. Lift up your heads, O ye gates Here is a sudden transition, a new scene introduced. We may suppose the procession to have now reached the foot of Mount Zion, and to have begun the ascent to that part of the hill where the ark was to be deposited. For the responsive parts of Psa 24:7-10, see the introduction. The call upon the gates to open, is a call upon the guards to perform this service. See Psa 118:19-20; Isa 26:2.
Everlasting doors Doors of eternity. “Gates of old,” is not an adequate rendering. The language transcends historic limit, and becomes typically prophetic. The historic day and occasion were eventful; not inferior to any in the history of the nation next to the passover and the exodus. The “King of glory” cannot mean King David, nor “everlasting doors” the city gates. The “King of glory” is “Jehovah strong and mighty, Jehovah mighty in battle,” “Jehovah of hosts;” and the “everlasting doors” can fitly apply to none other than those of the heavenly Zion, the “Jerusalem which is above.” Gal 4:26. The passage is Messianic, and parallel to Psa 68:18; Eph 4:8; and prophetically belongs to the events after the crucifixion, when Christ, having expiated sin, and by his resurrection conquered death and finished “love’s redeeming work,” triumphantly entered “not into the holy places made with hands, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.” Heb 9:24. The Church of England properly appoints this psalm as one to be read on Ascension Day. “This psalm is no doubt prophetic, or rather, typical in itscharacter, and most fitly in its application celebrates the return of Christ as the King of glory to his heavenly throne.” Perowne. According to a common rule of Messianic prophecy, what in the Old Testament is applied to Jehovah, in the New is applied to Christ. So the title, “King of glory.” here. Compare, on the principle, Jer 17:10; Rev 2:23
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Call To Let YHWH Enter His Holy City, Bringing About A Revelation Of Who He Is ( Psa 24:7-10 ).
Psa 24:7
‘Lift up your heads, O you gates,
And be you lifted up, you ancient (everlasting) doors,
And the King of glory will come in.’
The call now goes out that YHWH might enter in and take possession of what has been His from ancient times. For from of old it had been the city of the Most High God, Who was clearly identified as YHWH, both by its own priest from ancient times (who identified God Most High as Abraham’s God), and by Abraham specifically (Gen 14:18-24).
The gates are to ‘lift up their heads’. Comparison with Job 10 15 suggests that this indicates a pride in what is about the happen. The gates can lift up their heads because, although His coming has been delayed, He is here at last. The King of glory will pass through the gates of Zion to His new dwelling place on the mount.
Note the emphasis on the ancientness of the city. All Israel knew of Salem as the place from which in the distant past blessing had come to Abraham, and to whose king-priest Abraham had paid his dues because he was the priest of the Most High God. The word ‘olam, often translated everlasting, rather indicates ‘into the ancient past’, or ‘into the far distant future’. It would only later (in the far distant future) come to mean ‘everlasting’. At this time there was no concept of strict everlastingness, except as time without end when looking into the future.
So those ancient gates are now to open in order to admit ‘the King of glory’ as the Ark passes through them. He is seeking His rightful earthly dwelling place. Like his son Solomon, David was aware that ‘even the heaven of heavens could not contain Him’ (1Ki 8:27), yet he gratefully recognised that YHWH was also pleased to invisibly manifest Himself on earth on His sacred throne, the Ark of the Covenant of YHWH, and would henceforth do so in His holy city, Jerusalem. Note 2Sa 6:2 where the Ark of God ‘is called by the Name, even the Name of YHWH of hosts, who sits on the cherubim’ while once the Ark had been captured ‘the glory had departed’ (1Sa 4:21-22).
For us the Tabernacle and Temple in which the Ark was housed has been replaced by the people of God as the Temple of the Holy Spirit (1Co 3:16; 2Co 6:16), and our cry is therefore that the living God, the King of Glory, might enter among us, His people, and subsequently reveal His glory.
Psa 24:8
‘Who is the King of glory?’
The question then comes back, ‘Who is the King of glory?’ Let Him be identified if He is to enter and take possession of His holy city. How can they be sure that He has the right?
Psa 24:8
‘YHWH strong and mighty,
YHWH mighty in battle.
The reply is powerful. He is ‘YHWH the Strong and Mighty’, He is ‘YHWH Who has proved Himself mighty in battle’. That is why the usurpers have been turned out of Jerusalem. That is why the Philistines have fled before David. That is why the city is His. And all this is further evidenced by their past history, written in their sacred writings, which reveal how He has delivered His people again and again, commencing with the defeat of mighty Egypt, and continuing with all that followed. So let them recognise that it is the Strong One and the Mighty One, the Great Victor, Who seeks to enter in.
We can compare for this the words of Exo 15:2-3; Exo 15:18, ‘YHWH is my strength and my song, and He is become my deliverance’ — ‘YHWH is a man of war, YHWH is His Name’ — ‘YHWH will reign for ever’. Here then parallel ideas are proclaimed in proclamation of a new deliverance.
For us this is a reminder that our God is strong and well able to fight our battles and protect us, and that our Redeemer came as the mighty One in order to deliver us through His cross (Isa 59:16-20), and as the King of glory.
Psa 24:9
Lift up your heads, O you gates,
Yes, lift them up, you everlasting doors,
And the King of glory will come in.’
Again the call comes. Let the ancient gates be opened that the King of glory might enter. The point is being emphasised by repetition. The required twofold witness must be given.
Psa 24:10
‘Who is this King of glory?’
Again the question comes back, ‘Who is this King of glory?’ But possibly this time we are to understand a request for more information about this Mighty One Who is about to enter. Who and What is He?
Psa 24:10
‘YHWH of hosts,
He is the King of glory.’ (Selah).
And now is given the decisive reply, it is ‘YHWH of hosts, He is the King of glory’. YHWH of hosts is a comprehensive title. It includes the thought that He is the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and of the sun, moon and stars, and of all their host (Gen 2:1, compare Isa 24:3), and of the heavenly beings (Psa 148:2; 1Ki 22:19). And it also includes the thought that He is the Lord of the hosts of Israel (Jos 5:14; 1Sa 17:45; and often). He is thus the One Who has all power in heaven and on earth, and Who is over all. He is the One Who leads forward His people to victory. He is the Almighty. He is truly the King of glory.
‘Selah.’ Again a musical notation probably suggesting, ‘pause and think of that’.
Meditation.
We may see also on this Psalm a picture of Jesus making His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, when, as Creator of heaven and earth, He entered Jerusalem as its King to approach the Temple mount, offering Himself to a world who would not receive Him. And it is even more a picture of His even more triumphal entry into Heaven after His resurrection, when He ascended and entered the new Jerusalem, ascending the heavenly Mount Zion (Heb 12:22) in order to receive His crown. But how different were the welcomes of earth and Heaven.
‘The earth is YHWH’s and its fullness,
The world, and those who dwell in it.
For he has founded it upon the seas,
And established it upon the floods.’
Initially we have here the declaration of the great power of the Creator. And this we know was the power of the One Who was about to seek entry into Jerusalem. For it was from a position of such power that He came among us as a man upon earth. ‘All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made’ (Joh 1:3). For He ‘is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, for in Him were all things created, in the heavens and on the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers, all things have been created through Him and to Him, and by Him all things hold together’ (Col 1:15-17). He is the One ‘by Whom also He made the worlds, Who being the outshining of His glory and the stamped out image of His substance, and upholding all things by His word of power –’ (Heb 1:3). This was the One Who sought to enter Jerusalem in humility on an asses colt as its King, and Who in return was spurned, rejected and crucified.
But rising again He sought again to enter Jerusalem, but this time it was the heavenly Jerusalem, and in this case the angels waved their palm branches in welcome, and the Lord of the heavenly Temple bid Him welcome. He was not wanted on earth, but Heaven had waited for this moment.
‘Who shall ascend into the hill of YHWH?
And who shall stand in his holy place?’
‘He who has clean hands, and a pure heart,
Who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood,
And has not sworn deceitfully.
He will receive a blessing from YHWH,
And righteousness from the God of his salvation.’
As Jesus rode onwards into Jerusalem we can here the question from those who stand by. ‘Who can ascend into the hill of the Lord, and Who will stand in His holy place?.’ And the reply comes, ‘He Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth’ (Isa 53:9; 1Pe 2:22), ‘Who when He was reviled, did not revile again, Who when He suffered did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him Who judges righteously’ (1Pe 2:23). ‘He Who knew no sin’ (2Co 5:21). ‘He Who was tempted in all points like we are, and yet without sin’ (Heb 4:15). He Whose hands were clean and Whose heart was pure, Who had not lifted up His soul to falsehood and deceit, and had not sworn deceitfully.’ This is the One Who will receive the blessing of YHWH. But He needed to receive no righteousness, for He was righteous through and through, and He Himself was the God of salvation. Yet in spite of that He had no welcome on earth, for they could not bear the way that His life shone out. And so they consigned Him to the cross.
But, once He was risen, how different was the story for as He rode towards the heavenly Jerusalem the angels ran to meet Him and bid Him welcome, rejoicing in His sinlessness which He had retained in spite of His sojourn among the cesspits of humanity, and the Lord of Glory Himself came forward to receive Him personally and welcome back His Son, and sat Him at His Own right hand far above all.
‘This is the generation of those who seek after him,
That seek your face, Oh Jacob. (Selah).’
For here was the perfect example of those who seek Him, of those who seek the God of Jacob. This was the son of Jacob, Who alone among all the sons of Jacob, had sought God truly from the heart. And it was because of this that He would be able to lead many sons of Jacob to glory.
‘Lift up your heads, O you gates,
And be you lifted up, you everlasting doors,
And the King of glory will come in.’
And as Jesus approached the holy mount in Jerusalem on the asses colt the call came from Heaven, ‘lift up your heads O you gates, and be lifted up you everlasting doors. That the King of glory might come in.’ They cried it out as loudly as they could. They could not believe that no one heard, it was so clear to them. But earth was deaf to their cries, and no one opened the doors for Him, and when He entered the Temple He was ignored, and when He cleansed it He was crucified for His pains. The earthly Temple in Jerusalem had no place for the King of glory.
But how different again it was after His resurrection. For as He approached the heavenly city of Jerusalem and the call came for the gates to be opened up, the angels ran and vied to remove the bars, that they might be the first to welcome back the One Who was the Joy of Heaven.
‘Who is the King of glory?’
This was the question that with supercilious faces was asked by the chief priests and the scribes and the people of Jerusalem. Who is this man? Whose son is He? Have you not heard what these people are saying about you? But as the angels asked the question it was not because they did not know the answer, but in order that it might ring out to all creation, this is the King of glory.
‘YHWH strong and mighty,
YHWH mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, O you gates,
Yes, lift them up, you everlasting doors,
And the King of glory will come in.’
Had Jerusalem but known it, the One Who entered could have changed the world. But they did not know. The strong and mighty One, mighty in battle was among them and they knew it not. And He would need all of that. For the battle lay ahead and it was against forces that no man could ever have dreamed of. For as He hung on the cross He disarmed the principalities and powers which had for so long held men in darkness, and made an open show of them, triumphing over them in the cross (Col 2:15).
And thus when after His resurrection He was welcomed though the gates of the new Jerusalem, it was as the victor leading a host of captives in His train (Eph 4:8).
‘Who is this King of glory?’
Again the angel cry goes up in order to glorify the Victor. Who is this King of glory Who leads these captives in His train?
‘YHWH of hosts,
He is the King of glory.’ (Selah).
And the reply comes, ‘He is YHWH of Hosts (Mat 28:19; Php 2:8-11), He is the King of glory’. The King had returned to the glory that was His before the world was (Joh 17:5).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Welcome of the King
v. 7. Lift up your heads. O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of Glory shall come in. v. 8. Who is this King of Glory? v. 9. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of Glory shall come in. v. 10. Who is this King of Glory?
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
DISCOURSE: 529
THE ASCENSION OF CHRIST TYPIFIED
Psa 24:7-10. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of Glory shall come in. Who is this 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.
THE various rites and ceremonies of the Mosaic law were extremely useful to the Jews, not merely as means whereby they were to serve their God, but as vehicles of instruction to their minds. It is true indeed that the instruction which would be conveyed by them was very imperfect; but still it was such as best suited their infant minds, and such as was well calculated to stir up in them a desire after a fuller comprehension of the things contained in them: they were to the nation at large what the parables of our Lord were to the Scribes and Pharisees of his clay; they were means of fixing the attention of the people, and of stimulating them to inquiry. But to us, who have the true light reflected on those things, they are of far greater value: for, seeing them in connexion with the things typified by them, we behold a fitness and a beauty in them, which the people of God under the Jewish dispensation could have no idea of. Let us illustrate this from the psalm before us. This psalm was written on the occasion of carrying up the ark from the house of Obed-edom to Mount Zion. The ark was the symbol of the Divine presence: and the carrying it up in so solemn and triumphant a way conveyed to the spectators this important truth, that to have God nigh unto them, where he might be sought and consulted at all times, even in the very midst of them, was an inestimable privilege. But we behold in that ceremony the ascension of our blessed Lord to the heavenly Zion, whither he is gone for the benefit of all his waiting people. The character by which he is described is infinitely more intelligible to us than it could be to those who lived before his advent, and the benefit to be derived from his elevation is proportionably more clear. This will appear whilst we consider,
I.
The character here given of our ascended Lord
His ascension, as we have already said, was here represented
[The priests, with the Levites who bare the ark, demanded, in elevated strains, admission for it within the tabernacle that had been reared for its reception. The terms used, though not strictly applicable to the tabernacle, were proper to it in a figurative sense, as representing the heaven of heavens, the peculiar residence of the Deity. In this view it is said, Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors! The Levites within the tabernacle, on hearing this demand, are represented as inquiring in whose behalf it is made, and who this King of glory is. The reply being satisfactory to those who had the charge of the tabernacle, the ark is borne in, and deposited in the place prepared for it.
Agreeably to this representation we may conceive of Jesus at his ascension, attended by a host of ministering angels, who, on their arrival at the portals of heaven, demand admission for their Divine Master. The angels within inquire who that man can be in whose behalf such a claim is made. Twice is the inquiry made, and twice the answer is returned; and on the entrance of the Lord into those heavenly mansions we may conceive that the whole celestial choir unite in one exulting acclamation, The King of glory! the King of glory!]
But the character here given of him deserves more attentive consideration
[The essential dignity of our Lord is that first mentioned. As the King of glory, and the Lord of glory, he could claim heaven as his own. There he had from all eternity been in the bosom of the Father: there he had had a glory with the Father before the worlds were made. From thence he had descended, for the purpose of executing the Fathers will. Though he had assumed our nature, and was found in fashion as a man, yet was he from all eternity in the form of God, and thought it no robbery to be equal with God. He was the brightness of his Fathers glory, and the express image of his person. He was one with God, in glory equal, in majesty co-eternal: in a word, he was the mighty God, the great God and our Saviour, God over all, blessed for evermore. Well therefore might his attendant angels call on the hosts of heaven to open wide the portals of those glorious mansions for his admission; since the heaven of heavens were from all eternity his proper, his peculiar residence.
But he is further described as the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. The reason of his descent from heaven had been to rescue a ruined world from the dominion of sin and Satan, death and hell. The god of this world had his vassals in complete subjection: as a strong man armed he kept his house, and all his goods were in peace. But Jesus entered into conflict with him, and bound him and spoiled his goods; or, in other words, delivered from his sway millions of the human race, who had not only been led captive by him at his will, but would ultimately have been bound with him in chains of everlasting darkness. True indeed, he himself received a wound in the engagement; (his heel was bruised:) but he inflicted a deadly wound on the head of his enemy [Note: Gen 3:15.], and vanquished him for ever. It may be said indeed that he himself died in the conflict: he did so, and appeared to be crucified through weakness: but it was not through weakness that he died, but in compliance with his own engagement to make his soul an offering for sin. His death was to be the very means of victory: it was through death that he overcame him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and delivered them who through fear of death were all their life-time subject to bondage. On his cross he not only spoiled all the principalities and powers of hell, but made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it: and in his ascension he led them captive, bound, as it were, to his chariot-wheels. This constituted a further claim to the mansions of heaven. It had been covenanted on his Fathers part, that after his conflicts on earth he should be raised in his manhood to the right hand of God, and that, thus enthroned, he should put every enemy under his feet [Note: Psa 110:1.]. This was now to be fulfilled: the victory was gained: and nothing now remained to complete the glorious work but the installation of Messiah on his promised throne. Hence the exulting reply to the inquiry, Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle; the Lord of Hosts, He is the King of glory! and, as such, he comes to take possession of his throne, and calls on all the hosts of heaven to celebrate and adorn his triumphs.]
But to participate the joy expressed in our text, we should understand
II.
The interest we have in his ascension
It is not as a private individual that he has ascended, for then we should have mourned as Elisha did for Elijah, and as the Apostles were disposed to do, when he advertised them of his intentions to depart from them. But we have reason rather to rejoice in his departure, yea, far more than if he had continued upon earth to the present hour [Note: Joh 14:28.]: for he is ascended,
1.
As our Great High Priest
[The office of the High Priest was but half performed when he had slain the sacrifice: he must carry the blood within the veil, to sprinkle it upon the Mercy-seat; and he must burn incense also before the Mercy-seat. Now our blessed Lord was to execute every part of the priestly office; and therefore he must carry his own blood within the veil, and present also before the Mercy-seat the incense of his continual intercession. Agreeably to this we are told, that by his own blood he is entered into the Holy Place, having obtained eternal redemption for us; that he is gone to appear in the presence of God for us; and that he ever liveth to make intercession for us [Note: Heb 7:25; Heb 9:12; Heb 9:24.]. What a blessed thought is this! Have I a doubt whether my sins shall be forgiven? Behold, he is at this very moment pleading in his Fathers presence the merit of his blood, which is a sufficient propitiation not for my sins only, but also for the sins of the whole world. Have I a doubt whether God will hear my unworthy petitions? Behold, Jesus, my Great High Priest, will secure, by his own prevailing intercession, an everlasting acceptance both of my person and services at the hands of Almighty God.]
2.
As our living Head
[Jesus is the Head and Representative of his people; insomuch that they may not improperly be said to be even at this time sitting in and with him in heavenly places [Note: Eph 2:6.]. But he is also our Head of vital influence, having all fulness of spiritual blessings treasured up in him, in order that we may receive out of it according to our necessities [Note: Col 2:9.]. Adam at first had, as it were, a treasure of grace committed to his own custody; and he lost it even in Paradise. How much more then should we lose it, who are corrupt creatures in a corrupt world, if it were again left in our own keeping! But God has now taken more effectual care for us. He has given us into the hands of his own Son: and our life is now placed out of the reach of our great Adversary; it is hid with Christ in God. Do we want wisdom, or righteousness, or sanctification, or complete redemption? it is all treasured up for us in Christ, who is made all unto us [Note: 1Co 1:30.]. It is out of his inexhaustible fulness that we all receive [Note: Joh 1:16.]: and, as the sun in the firmament is the one source of all the light that we, or any other of the planets, receive, so is Christ, of all the spiritual blessings that are enjoyed on earth: He is head over all things to the Church; and he filleth all in all [Note: Eph 1:22-23.].]
3.
As the Forerunner of all his people
[By that very name is he called, in reference to his entrance within the veil [Note: Heb 6:19-20.]. Indeed previous to his departure he expressly told his disciples, that he was going to prepare a place for them, in order at a future period to come and take them to himself, that they might be with him for ever [Note: Joh 14:2-3]. He is gone up to heaven as the first-fruits, which sanctified and assured the whole harvest [Note: 1Co 15:20.]. Soon is he coming again from thence, to take home his people who wait for him. Not one will he leave behind. At whatever period or place they died, they shall hear his voice, they shall meet him in the air, they shall be ever with the Lord [Note: Joh 5:28. 1Th 4:16-17.]. When he was upon the earth he appeared like other men, and died laden with the iniquities of a ruined world: but in due time he will appear again, without sin, in all the glory of his Father and of his holy angels, to the complete and everlasting salvation of all who look for him [Note: Heb 9:28. 1Th 4:18.]. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.]
Improvement
Is our blessed Lord ascended to the highest heavens? then,
1.
Let our affections be where He is
[This is the improvement which St. Paul himself teaches us to make of this subject [Note: Col 3:1-2. with Php 3:17; Php 3:20.] What is there worth a thought, in comparison of this adorable Saviour, who has died for us, and is yet every moment occupied in the great work of our salvation, exerting all his influence with the Father in our behalf, and communicating continually to our souls all needful supplies of grace and strength? ]
2.
Let our dependence be upon him
[It may be said, that, having been quickened from the dead, we have now a new and spiritual life within us; but it must not be forgotten, that the life we have is not so committed to us, that we have it in, and of, ourselves: as light in our dwellings is derived from, and altogether dependent on, the sun in the firmament, so is the life that is infused into our souls entirely derived from, and dependent on, the Lord Jesus Christ. Hence St. Paul says, I live: yet not I; but Christ liveth in me: and then he adds, And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me [Note: Gal 3:20.]. Thus it must be with us: we must remember that all our fresh springs are in him: and from him must we derive all our vital energy, as branches from the stock, and as members from the head. A life of faith on him is equally necessary for every human being: in ourselves we are all wretched and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked; and to him must we equally be indebted for eye-salve to restore our sight, for raiment to cover us, and for gold to enrich our souls [Note: Rev 3:17-18.]. To him must we go for it from day to day; and from him must we obtain it, without money and without price [Note: Isa 55:1.].]
3.
Let us be looking forward to, and preparing for, a similar entrance into his glory
[St. Paul assures us, that when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we also appear with him in glory [Note: Col 3:3-4.]. Yes; as soon as ever the judgment shall be past, then shall he, at the head of his redeemed people, demand admission for them all into the highest heavens: Lift up, &c. &c and the King of glory, with all his redeemed, shall enter in. What shouts will then resound throughout all the courts of heaven! The King of glory! The King of glory! No other name will then be heard but that of our Redeeming God, to whom all possible praise and honour and glory will be ascribed, even to Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever. Look then for this glorious period, and haste unto it, as the consummation of all your hopes, and the completion of all your joys [Note: 2Pe 3:12.]: and by adding virtue to virtue, and grace to grace, ensure to yourselves an entrance, not like that of a mere wreck, but like a ship in full sail, even an abundant entrance into the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ [Note: 2Pe 1:5; 2Pe 1:10-11.].]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
What a sublimity there is in these blessed words; and what a rich treasure they contain, in reference to the person and glory of our almighty Mediator! So important a doctrine was the triumph of Jesus, that God the Holy Ghost was pleased to shadow it forth in the Old Testament church, when the ark was conducted with all the splendour and gracefulness of holy worship to Mount Zion. See 1Ch 15:1-29 etc. But the glorious, event itself was accomplished when the Lord Jesus Christ, having finished redemption-work upon earth, ascended to his throne in heaven. The disciples, and those that looked on, when Jesus gradually went up from the Mount of Olives, in presence of the many who were gathered together, saw, and wondered as they beheld, and were no doubt absorbed in contemplation, until the clouds received him out of their sight. Act 1:9 . But they knew not what was going on in heaven, but which this scripture records. Perhaps angels; or perhaps the church of the redeemed above, who had died in the faith of Christ before the wonders of his redemption had been wrought; perhaps both angels and the spirits of just men made perfect, were those who demanded the gates and everlasting doors to lift up their heads, at the approach of the almighty Conqueror. For angels, we are told, are at the gates of the New Jerusalem. Rev 21:12 . And, surely, the souls of the redeemed in glory, who had gained entrance there by virtue of Christ’s blood and righteousness, must have been longing with holy desires for the return of the Lord Jesus, Supposing then, that this holy company were those who demanded the gates to open; or supposing it was Jesus himself, how suited is the demand, by way of gracing his triumph! Angels kept the gates of heaven, and angels had kept the way to the tree of life, when man was turned out of Paradise. Gen 3:24 . Jesus had opened that way, by his blood, into the holy place, and now demanded entrance as our forerunner, into the holy place not made with hands, even heaven itself, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Heb 9:11-12 . The inquiry, Who is this King of glory? seems to have been made with a view to heighten the triumphs of the Lord. Angels, when Jehovah brought his first begotten into the world, were commanded to worship him. And now, when he is returned from the spoils of war, and hath led captivity captive, let all heaven adore him. Who is this King of glory? Pause, Reader, contemplate that King of glory in thy nature; and while thou art beholding him, who is one with the Father over all, God blessed forever, in the essence of Jehovah, behold him no less the Man, even thy brother, in the nature of manhood; and by the union of both in one person, even Christ, thus behold the king of glory, at whose approach those gates and doors, which but for him would have been everlastingly shut, were thrown open, and Jesus entered as the forerunner of his people, to take possession in their name. Oh, the astonishing mercies of redemption! Oh, the miracle of miracles contained in the love of Jehovah to our poor nature, as manifested in Jesus Christ! But Reader, let us not dismiss the subject yet. The Holy Ghost hath caused the demand for the opening of heaven’s gates to be twice made, at the entrance of Jesus, and as often the answers of the glories of his person and victories to be made. Well may we therefore go over them again. And is there not, besides Christ’s entrance into glory, another beautiful sense of these words, and, without violence to their meaning, capable of being made of them? Doth not the Lord Jesus demand admission into the hearts of his people, when, as he saith himself, Behold I stand at the door and knock? Rev 3:20 . Doth he not find in every individual instance of his redeemed, the door resolutely shut against him? And unless he who demands entrance puts in his hand by the hole of the door, and opens for himself, would not the heart remain everlastingly shut and bolted against him to all eternity? Son 5:4 ; Joh 1:11-12 . Blessed Jesus, how precious is it to know thee to be both King of grace, and King of glory!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 24:7 Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.
Ver. 7. Lift up your heads, O ye gates, &c. ] Here he calleth unto hell gates, say the Papists; to the heavens, say others, to give way to Christ’s ascension thereinto, as the firstfruits, and the opener of the way to all his members; and he doubleth the same speech, Psa 24:9 , for the joy that he had in the contemplation thereof; bidding them again and again lift up and be lifted 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. Justin. p. 55. Recipite Christum in portas novae Hierosol. (Cyril). There are at this day to be seen at Rome the ruins of Constantine’s triumphal arch erected at that time when he entered the city triumphing over the tyrant Maxentius, quem vicit signo crucis, who conquored by the sign of the cross, as Eusebius reporteth; making Christ to triumph at Rome, after those ten bloody persecutions; with which triumph this psalm may fitly be compared, saith a learned interpreter. Our late annotators tell us of a fashion in ancient times, that when they would solemnize the entrance of any prince, or others that had well deserved of the public, they would break down the walls, and pull off the gates of the city; partly for more flee entrance, and partly to show that their city needed no wall 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 custom. Or, as Calvin and others will have it, to the temple to be set up by Solomon; which he wisheth were done, that so he might bring in the ark of the covenant, hitherto transportative, into the place of its rest, Psa 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 be abundantly lifted up through faith, with a joyful and assured welcome of the King of glory, who will thereupon come in to them, by the ravishing operation of his love, benefits, and graces.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psalms
THE GOD WHO DWELLS WITH MEN
Psa 24:7 – Psa 24:10
This whole psalm was probably composed at the time of the bringing of the ark into the city of Zion. The former half was chanted as the procession wound its way up the hillside. It mainly consists of the answer to the question ‘Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?’ and describes the kind of men that dwell with God, and the way by which they obtain their purity.
This second half of our psalm is probably to be thought of as being chanted when the procession had reached the summit of the hill and stood before the barred gates of the ancient Jebusite city. It is mainly in answer to the question, ‘Who is this King of Glory?’ and is the description of the God that dwells with men, and the meaning of His dwelling with them.
We are to conceive of a couple of half choirs, the one within, the other without the mountain hold. The advancing choir summons the gates to open in the grand words: ‘Lift up your heads, O ye gates! even lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in.’ Their lofty lintels are too low for His head to pass beneath; so they have to be lifted that He may find entrance. They are ‘everlasting doors,’ grey with antiquity, hoary with age. They have looked down, perhaps, upon Melchizedek, King of Salem, as he went forth in the morning twilight of history to greet the patriarch. But in all the centuries they have never seen such a King as this King of Glory, the true King of Israel who now desires entrance.
The answer to the summons comes from the choir within. ‘Who is this King of Glory?’ the question represents ignorance and possible hesitation, as if the pagan inhabitants of the recently conquered city knew nothing of the God of Israel, and recognised no authority in His name. Of course, the dramatic form of question and answer is intended to give additional force to the proclamation as by God Himself of the Covenant name, the proper name of Israel’s God, as Baal was the name of the Canaanite’s God, ‘the Lord strong and mighty; the Lord mighty in battle,’ by whose warrior power David had conquered the city, which now was summoned to receive its conqueror. Therefore the summons is again rung out, ‘Lift up your heads, O ye gates! and the King of Glory shall come in.’ And once more, to express the lingering reluctance, ignorance not yet dispelled, suspicion and unwilling surrender, the dramatic question is repeated, ‘Who is this King of Glory?’ The answer is sharp and authoritative in its brevity, and we may fancy it shouted with a full-throated burst-’The Lord of Hosts,’ who, as Captain, commands all the embattled energies of earth and heaven conceived as a disciplined army. That great name, like a charge of dynamite, bursts the gates of brass asunder, and with triumphant music the procession sweeps into the conquered city.
Now these great words, throbbing with the enthusiasm at once of poetry and of devotion, may, I think, teach us a great deal if we ponder them.
I. Notice, first, their application, their historical and original application, to the King who dwelt with Israel.
A brief consideration of each expression is all which can be attempted here. ‘Who is this King of Glory?’ The first idea, then, is that of sovereign rule; the idea which had become more and more plain and clear to the national consciousness of the Hebrew with the installation of monarchy amongst them. And it is very beautiful to see how David lays hold of that thought of God being Himself the King of Israel; and dwells so often in his psalms on the idea that he, poor, pale, earthly shadow, is but a representative and a viceroy of the true King who sits in the heavens. He takes off his crown and lays it before His throne and says: ‘Thou art the King of Israel, the King of Glory.’
The Old Testament meaning of that word ‘glory’ is a great deal more definite than the ordinary religious use of it amongst us. The ‘glory of God’ in the Old Testament is, first and foremost, the supernatural light that dwelt between the cherubim and was the manifestation and symbol of the divine Presence. And next it is the sum total of all the impression made upon the world by God’s manifestation of Himself, the Light, of which the material and supernatural light between the cherubs was but the emblem; all by which God flames and flashes Himself upon the trembling and thankful heart; that glory which is substantially the same as the Name of the Lord. And in this brightness, lustrous and dark with excess of light, this King dwells. The splendour of His regalia is the brightness that emanates from Himself. He is the King of Glory.
Next, we have the great Name, ‘the Lord,’ Jehovah, which speaks of timeless, independent, unchanging, self-sufficing being. It declares that He is His own cause, His own law, His own impulse, the staple from which all the links of the chain of being depend, and not Himself a link, the fontal Source of all which is.
We say: ‘I am that which I have become; I am that which I have been made; I am that which I have inherited; I am that which circumstances and example and training have shaped me to be.’ God says: ‘I AM THAT I AM.’ This name is also significant, not only because it proclaims absolute, independent, underived, timeless being, but because it is the Covenant name, and speaks of the God who has come into fellowship with men, and has bound Himself to a certain course of action for their blessing, and is thus the Lord of Israel, and the God, in a special manner, of His people.
‘The Lord mighty in battle.’ A true warrior-God, who went out in no metaphorical sense, but in prose reality, fought for His people and subdued the nations under them, in order that His name might be spread and His glory be known in the earth.
And then, still further, ‘the Lord of Hosts,’ the Captain of all the armies of heaven and earth. In that name is the thought to which the modern world is coming so slowly by scientific paths, that all being is one ordered whole, subject to the authority of one Lord. And in addition to that, the grander thought, that the unity of nature is the will of God; and that as the Commander issues His orders over all the field, so He speaks and it is done. The hosts are the angels of whom it is said: ‘Bless the Lord all ye His hosts; ye ministers of His that do His pleasure.’ The hosts are the stars that fill the nightly heavens, of whom it is said, ‘He bringeth out their host by number.’ The hosts are all creatures that live and are; and all are the soldiers and servants of this conquering King. Such is the name of the Lord that dwelt with Israel, the great conception that rises before this Psalmist.
II. Now turn to the second application of these great words, that speak to us not only of the God that dwelt in Zion in outward and symbolical form, by means of a material Presence which was an emblem of the true nearness of Israel’s God, but yet more distinctly, as I take it, of the Christ that dwells with men.
The devout hearts in Israel felt that there was something more needed than this dwelling of Jehovah within an earthly Temple, and the process of revelation familiarised them with the thought that there was to be in the future a ‘coming of the Lord’ in some special manner unknown to them. So that the whole anticipation and forward look of the Old Testament system is gathered into and expressed by almost its last words, which prophesy that ‘the Lord shall suddenly come to His Temple,’ and that once again this King of Glory shall stand before the everlasting gates and summon them to open.
And when was that fulfilled? Fulfilled in a fashion that at first sight seems the greatest contrast to all this vision of grandeur, of warlike strength, of imperial power and rule with which we have been dealing; but which yet was not the contrast to these ideas so much as the highest embodiment of them. For, although at first sight it seems as if there could be no greater contrast than between the lion might of the Jehovah of the Old Testament, and the lamb gentleness of the Jesus of the New, if we look more closely we shall see that it is not a relation of contrast that exists between the two. Christ is all, and more than all, that this psalm proclaimed the Jehovah of the Old Covenant to be. Let us look again from that point of view at the particulars already referred to.
He is the highest manifestation of the divine rule and authority. There is no dominion like the dominion of the loving Christ, a kingdom based upon suffering and wielded in gentleness, a kingdom of which the crown is a wreath of thorns, and the sceptre a rod of reed; a dominion which is all exercised for the blessing of its subjects, and which, therefore, is an everlasting dominion. There is no rule like that; no height of divine authority towers so high as the authority of Him who rules us so absolutely because He gave Himself for us utterly. This is the King, the Prince of the kings of the earth, because this is the Incarnate God who died for us.
Christ is the highest raying out of the divine Light, or, as the Epistle to the Hebrews calls it, ‘the effulgence of His glory.’ The true glory of God lies in His love, and of that love Christ is the noblest and most wondrous example. So all other beams of the divine character, bright as their light is, are but dim as compared with the sevenfold lustre of the light that shines from the gentle loving-kindness of the heart of Christ. He has glorified God because He shows us that the divinest thing in God is love.
For the same reason, He is the mightiest exhibition of the divine power-’the Lord strong and mighty.’ There is no work of God’s hand, no work of God’s will so great as that by which we are turned from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God. The Cross is God’s noblest revelation of power; and in Him, His weakness, His surrender, His death, with all the wonderful energies that flow from that death for man’s salvation, we see the divine strength made perfect in the human weakness of Jesus. The Gospel of Christ ‘is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.’ There is divine power in its noblest form, in the paradoxical shape of a dying man; in its noblest effect, salvation; in its widest sweep to all who believe.
‘‘Twas great to speak a world from nought,
‘Tis greater to redeem.’
Christ is ‘the Lord mighty in battle.’ True, He is the Prince of peace, but He is also the better Joshua, the victorious Captain, in whom dwells the conquering divine might. Through all the gentleness of His life there winds a martial strain, and it is not in vain that the Evangelist who was most deeply penetrated by the sweetness of His love, is the one who most often speaks of Him as overcoming, and who has preserved as His last words to His timid followers, that triumphant command, ‘Be of good cheer! I have overcome the world.’ He has conquered for us, binding the strong man, and so He will spoil his house. Sin, hell, death, the devil, law, fear, our own foolish hearts, all temptations that hover around us-they are all vanquished foes of a ‘Lord’ that is ‘mighty in battle.’ And as He overcame, so shall we if we will trust Him.
Christ is the Commander and Wielder of all the forces of the universe. As one said to Him in the days of His flesh, ‘I am a man under authority, and I say to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. So do Thou speak and Thy word shall be sovereign.’ And so it was. He spake to diseases and they vanished. He spake to the winds and the seas and there was a great calm. He spake to demons, and murmuring, but yet obedient, they came out of their victims. He flung His word into the recesses of the grave, and Lazarus came forth, fumbling with the knots on his grave-clothes, and stumbling into the light. ‘He spake and it was done.’ Who is He, the utterance of whose will is sovereign amongst all the regions of being? ‘Who is the King of Glory?’ ‘Thou art the King of Glory, O Christ!’ ‘Thou art the Everlasting Son of the Father.’
III. And now, lastly, let me ask you to look, and that for a moment, at the application of these words to the Christ who will dwell in our hearts.
What a strange contrast, and yet what a close analogy there is between the victorious tones and martial air of this summons of my text. ‘Lift up your heads, O ye gates! that the King of Glory may come in,’ and the gentle words of the Apocalypse: ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear My voice and open the door, I will come in to him.’ But He that in the Old Covenant arrayed in warrior arms, summoned the rebels to surrender, is the same as He who, in the New, with the night-dews in His hair, and patience on His face, and gentleness in the touch of His hand upon the door, waits to enter in. Brethren! open your hearts, ‘and the King of Glory shall come in.’
And He will come in as a king that might seek to enter some city far away on the outposts of his kingdom, besieged by his enemies. If the King comes in, the city will be impregnable. If you open your hearts for Him He will come and keep you from all your foes and give you the victory over them all. So, to every hard-pressed heart, waging an unequal contest with toils and temptations, and sorrows and sins, this great hope is given, that Christ the Victor will come in His power to garrison heart and mind. As of old the encouragement was given to Hezekiah in his hour of peril, when the might of Sennacherib insolently threatened Jerusalem, so the same stirring assurances are given to each who admits Christ’s succours to his heart-’He shall not come into this city, for I will defend this city to save it for Mine own sake’ Open your hearts and the conquering King will come in.
And do not forget that there is another possible application of these words lying in the future, to the conquering Christ who shall come again. The whole history of the past points onwards to yet a last time when ‘the Lord shall suddenly come to His temple,’ and predicts that Christ shall so come in like manner as He went up to heaven. Again will the summons ring out. Again will He come arrayed in flashing brightness, and the visible robes of His imperial majesty. Again will He appear, mighty in battle, when ‘in righteousness He shall judge and make war.’ For a Christian, one great memory fills the past-Christ has come; and one great hope brightens the else waste future-Christ will come. That hope has been far too much left to be cherished only by those who hold a particular opinion as to the chronology of unfulfilled prophecy. But it should be to every Christian heart ‘the blessed hope,’ even the appearing of the glory of Him who has come in the past. He is with and in us, in the present. He will come in the future ‘in His glory, and shall sit upon the throne of His glory.’ All our pardon and hope of God’s love depend upon that great fact in the past, that ‘the Lord was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory.’ Our purity which will fit us to dwell with God, our present blessedness, all our power for daily strife, and our companionship in daily loneliness, depend on the present fact that He dwells in our hearts by faith, the seed of all good, and the conquering Antagonist of every evil. And the one light which fills the future with hope, peaceful because assured, streams from that most sure promise that He will come again, sweeping from the highest heavens, on His head the many crowns of universal monarchy, in His hand the weapons of all-conquering power, and none shall need to ask, ‘Who is this King of Glory?’ for every eye shall know Him, the Judge upon His throne, to be the Christ of the Cross. Open the doors of your hearts to Him, as He sues for entrance now in the meekness of His patient love, that on you may fall in that day of the coming of the King, the blessing of the servants who wait for their returning Lord, that ‘when He cometh and knocketh, they may open unto Him immediately.’
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 24:7-10
7Lift up your heads, O gates,
And be lifted up, O ancient doors,
That the King of glory may come in!
8Who is the King of glory?
The Lord strong and mighty,
The Lord mighty in battle.
9Lift up your heads, O gates,
And lift them up, O ancient doors,
That the King of glory may come in!
10Who is this King of glory?
The Lord of hosts,
He is the King of glory. Selah.
Psa 24:7-10 The gates/ancient doors must refer to the gates of Jerusalem at the temple (Psa 24:3). They are personified so as to greet the King of glory, YHWH, as He comes to His house/temple after a victory (cf. Exo 14:14; Exo 15:3; Deu 1:30; Deu 3:22, i.e., holy war). It is probable that a procession with the ark of the covenant symbolized YHWH’s coming back to the temple. Notice all the commands.
1. lift up your heads BDB 669, KB 724, Qal imperative
2. be lifted up BDB 669, KB 724, Niphal imperative
3. that the King of glory may come in BDB 97, KB 112, Qal imperfect used in a jussive sense
4. lift up your head same as #1
5. be lifted up same as #2, but Qal imperative
6. same as #3
The UBS Handbook (p. 241) suggests that Psa 24:7 is the liturgical cry of the pilgrims coming to worship. If so, then Psa 24:8; Psa 24:10 might be a liturgical Levitical response. I think Psa 24:1-6 comprises a Levitical liturgy spoken by the gatekeepers of the temple.
Psa 24:10 There is no verbal in this verse. The to be verb is supplied for English readers as it was by ancient Hebrew readers.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
This is a study guide commentary, which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.
These discussion questions are provided to help you think through the major issues of this section of the book. They are meant to be thought-provoking, not definitive.
1. How are Psalms 15 and Psalms 24 related?
2. Define falsehood in its OT sense.
3. What does it mean to seek Your face?
4. To what event does Psa 24:7-10 seem to be a liturgical mantra?
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
everlasting doors = age-abiding entrances. The tabernacle (or tent) of David, on Mount Zion, was not ancient. This looks forward to the fulfilment of prophecy in times yet to come.
King of glory = Glorious king. The repeated question points us both to Psa 22:6 (“a worm, and no man”) and to Psa 23:1 (The Shepherd).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 24:7-8
Psa 24:7-8
“Lift up your head, O ye gates;
And be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors:
And the King of Glory will come in.
Who is the King of Glory?
Jehovah strong and mighty,
Jehovah mighty in battle.”
It is inconceivable that David could have written anything like this about himself; and therefore the extravagant language of these last four verses is said to be a reference to the ark of the covenant that was being returned from Obed-Edom by King David. Of course, the ark was a symbol of God’s presence; but it seems to us that even the sacred ark of the covenant is not a sufficient explanation of words such as these. In a very limited and accommodative sense, perhaps they may be applied to placing that symbol of God’s presence in Jerusalem; but something far more wonderful than that event most certainly appears (to us) in the majesty and exalted extravagance of the terminology in this passage.
Any real application of these words to David’s entering Jerusalem with the ark of the covenant could be only in a dimly typical sense of the far more wonderful Ascension of Christ into Heaven after his resurrection from the dead.
“This is a prophetic reference to the entry of the Lord Jesus Christ into heaven, after he had been raised from the dead. He was accompanied by the angels of God. A great multitude watched as the heavenward bound company disappeared into the clouds above.
Yes, the Old Testament Ark of the Covenant with its mercy seat above was a type of the Lord Jesus Christ, as was the veil also, that separated between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies; and the words of this psalm may indeed be applied to the entry of that ark into Jerusalem in a typical sense. Jerusalem also, in the same figure, is considered typical of heaven itself, or the New Jerusalem which is the mother of us all.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 24:7-10. This is a prophecy of the ascension of Jesus and the reception that was accorded him. It is figurative, of course, and represents a call upon his celestial city to open its gates to the conquering king. A short time ago he left the city for a sojourn in the world of mankind. He met the enemy of souls in battle and came off the victor. He was suffered to become the victim of murderous hands and was put to death. But even death did not hold him in its grasp, because his own Shepherd was with him and brought him forth again to die no more. His great mission into yonder’s world was accomplished and he was returning to the Eternal City as the greatest conqueror the universe ever knew or was destined ever to know. Now the gates of the city were bidden to admit this King of glory. He entered and was seated at his Father’s right hand, where he is now reigning as King of kings and Lord of lords.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Lift: Psa 118:19, Psa 118:20, Isa 26:2
King: Psa 21:1, Psa 21:5, Psa 97:6, Hag 2:7, Hag 2:9, Mal 3:1, 1Co 2:8, Jam 2:1, 2Pe 3:18, Rev 4:11
shall: Psa 68:16-18, Psa 132:8, Num 10:35, Num 10:36, 2Sa 6:17, 1Ki 8:6, 1Ki 8:11, Mar 16:19, Eph 4:8-10, 1Pe 3:22
Reciprocal: Exo 15:21 – answered 1Sa 18:7 – answered 2Sa 6:12 – So David Ezr 3:11 – they sang Psa 5:2 – my King Psa 19:2 – Day unto Psa 20:9 – let Psa 29:3 – God Psa 45:1 – touching Psa 47:5 – God Psa 65:4 – causest Psa 68:18 – ascended Psa 68:24 – even Psa 78:61 – glory Son 5:2 – Open Isa 6:3 – one cried unto another Isa 63:1 – is this Zec 14:16 – the King Mat 25:34 – the King Joh 6:21 – they willingly Act 7:2 – The God Act 10:36 – he is Eph 1:17 – the Father
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 24:7. Lift up your heads, O ye gates The questions, Who shall ascend Gods hill, namely, to worship? and, Who shall stand in his holy place, to minister before and serve him? being answered, the psalmist proceeds to speak next of the introduction of the presence of him into that place whom they were to worship, namely, the great and glorious Jehovah. For what would it signify that they were prepared to worship, if HE whom they were to worship were not present to accept and bless his worshippers? David speaks here of the gates and doors, either, 1st, Of his royal city Zion, through which the ark was now to pass to the tabernacle which he had built for it. And he calls these doors everlasting, either on account of the durableness of the matter of which they were made; or from his desires and hopes that God would make them everlasting, or of long continuance, because he loved the gates of Zion, Psa 87:2. Or, he speaks, 2d, Of the gates of the court of the tabernacle, or of the tabernacle itself, into which the ark, the emblem of the divine presence, was now to be brought. Or, 3d, When composing this Psalm, he might look forward in a spirit of prophecy to the temple, beholding it as already built, and accordingly might address his speech to the gates and doors of it, terming them 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; whereas the temple and its doors were constantly fixed in one place; and, if the sins of Israel had not hindered, would have abode there for ever, that is, as long as the Mosaic dispensation lasted, or until the coming of the Messiah, as the phrase, for ever, is very commonly taken in the Old Testament. These gates he bids lift up their heads, or tops, by allusion to those gates which have a portcullis, the head of which, when it is lifted up, rises conspicuous above the gates, and accordingly makes the entrance higher, and more magnificent. But though this be the literal sense of the place, yet it has also a mystical sense, and that too designed by the Holy Ghost. 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 Christs 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 of glory The glorious King Jehovah, who resided in the Shechinah, or glory, over the ark, the symbol of his presence, and between the cherubim. Or, the Messiah, the King of Israel, and of his church, called the King, or Lord of glory, 1Co 2:8; Jas 2:1, both for that glory which is inherent in him, and that which is purchased by him for his members.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
24:7 {c} Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.
(c) David desires the building up of the temple, in which the glory of God should appear and under the figure of this temple, he also prays for the spiritual temple, which is eternal because of the promise which was made to the temple, as it is written, Psa 132:14.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
2. Entry of the King 24:7-10
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Evidently David pictured in his mind the closed gates of Jerusalem as though they were heads bowed. He called on these personified gates to lift their heads so the great King could enter. Normally people bowed their heads as majesty passed, but in this figure the gates did the reverse. Lifting up the gates refers to making the gates higher, larger, so such a glorious God could enter.