Psalms 24:6

This [is] the generation of them that seek him,.... The persons above described are such, who in every age are the generation of the children of God, and are accounted by him for a generation; they

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

The generation; the true progeny which God regards; whereby he reflects upon them, who boasted and trusted to their carnal generation or descent from Jacob. That seek him, to wit, God, mentioned in the end of , or his face, as it is more fully expressed in the next clause; i.e. that make it their care and study to know him, and his mind and will, and to please and serve him, as this phrase is usually understood. Thy face, i.e. his face, by a familiar change of the person; of which many instances have been already noted; and his face, i. e. his grace and favour, which is oft called God’ s face, as ,15 Psalms 16:11 27:2 44:3. And so this phrase is used . O Jacob; so the sense is, that seek the true church, here called Jacob; that desire the knowledge of it, and conversation with it; in which sense many are said to seek Solomon’ s face, as the phrase is in the Hebrew, , and the harlot to seek her lover’ s face, . And so this is by some expounded of the Gentiles, who inquired after the true church, and finding it in Jacob, were desirous to become proselytes, and to join themselves to the church of Jacob or Israel. But it must be remembered that the psalmist is not here speaking of the calling of the Gentiles, but only of the character or qualification of the true Jacobites or Israelites, who cannot conveniently be said to seek the face of Jacob, i.e. their own. And the phrase of seeking the face of Jacob, or of the church, is no where used in Scripture. Or, as it is in the margin, O God of Jacob. But that seems to be too large a supplement. Or, this is Jacob, the pronoun this being easily understood out of the beginning of the verse. Or, the generation (which may in the same manner be supplied) of Jacob, Jacob being here put not for the person, but for the posterity of Jacob, as it is ,10,23 Deu 32:9 ; or for the church or people of God, which is oft called Jacob or Israel as 41:8 44:1,5,21, &c. So the sense is, This and this only is the true Jacob or Israel, or church of God, and all others are so only in name and title, although they be descended lineally from him. Or, in Jacob, the particle in being here understood, as it is in 17:12, and in many other places. So the sense of the place is, This is the true generation of them that seek God’ s face in Jacob, i.e. either in Jacob’ s land or sanctuary, the only place where God was to be sought; or among the Jacobites or Israelites; by which he insinuates what is expressed , that all are not Israel that are of Israel, and that all were not Israelites indeed that were sprung from Jacob, but only those of them who were such as he described, .

Psalms 24:6 This [is] the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.Ver. 6. This is the generation of them that seek him] These are the true seekers, far different from those that so style themselves today; being no better indeed than the Jesuits’ by-blows , as one wittily calleth them, though they are not yet so wise as to know their own father (Mr Baxter). These are a generation too, but an evil and adulterous one, in these last and loosest times of abounding and abetted errors. That seek thy face] i.e. Thy favour, that desire nothing more than to be in communion with thee and conformity unto thee. O Jacob] Or, O God of Jacob. As the Church is called Christ, 1 Corinthians 12:12; so God is here called Jacob, such a near union there is between him and his people. Or, this is Jacob. So the true seekers are fitly called, first, because Israelites indeed, John 1:47 Romans 9:6; secondly, because they see God face to face, as Jacob did at Penuel, Genesis 32:24; Genesis 32:26; Genesis 32:29-30; thirdly, because they also, as here, do bear away a blessing, Hosea 12:4, even righteousness from the God of their salvation, as in the verse foregoing. Adiecitur Selah ut ostendatur quantopere haec sententia sit consideranda (Vatab.).

(6) O Jacob.—The address to Jacob is certainly wrong, and therefore many critics, following the LXX. and Syriac, rightly insert, as in our margin, the words “O God of.”

Verse 6. This is the generation] This is the description of people who are such as God can approve of, and delight in. That seek thy face, O Jacob.] It is most certain that אלהי Elohey, O God, has been lost out of the Hebrew text in most MSS., but it is preserved in two of Kennicott's MSS., and also in the Syriac, Vulgate, Septuagint, AEthiopic, Arabic, and Anglo-Saxon. "Who seek thy face, O God of Jacob." Selah.] That is, It is confirmed; it is true. The persons who abstain from every appearance of evil, and seek the approbation of God, are those in whom God will delight.

6. generation] i.e. class, as in Psalms 12:7; Psalms 14:5; Psalms 73:15. that seek him] R.V., that seek after him. Two words for seek are used in this verse. Both may be used of the outward act of visiting the sanctuary; but both come to express the inward purpose of the heart as well. So far as the two words can be distinguished the first denotes the attitude of loving devotion, the second that of inquiry or supplication. O Jacob] The A.V. marg. and R.V. rightly follow the LXX, Vulg., and Syr. in reading O God of Jacob. If the Massoretic text is retained, it must be rendered with R.V. marg., That seek thy face, even Jacob. These are the ideal Jacob, the true people of God. But the construction is harsh; a vocative is needed after thy face; and Jacob does not by itself convey this sense.

This is the generation of them that seek him - This describes the race of those who seek Him; or, this is their character.

6. This is the generation—Such persons as have just been described; these constitute a peculiar race, generation, or kind, separated from the world.