Commentary Critical And Explanatory On The Whole Bible

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

1. fulness -- everything.

world -- the habitable globe, with

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

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

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

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

4. lifted up his soul -- is to set the affections (Ps 25:1) on an object; here,

vanity -- or, any false thing, of which swearing falsely, or to falsehood, is a specification.

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

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

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

10. Lord of hosts -- or fully, Lord God of hosts (Ho 12:5; Am 4:13), describes God by a title indicative of supremacy over all creatures, and especially the heavenly armies (Jos 5:14; 1Ki 22:19). Whether, as some think, the actual enlargement of the ancient gates of Jerusalem be the basis of the figure, the effect of the whole is to impress us with a conception of the matchless majesty of God.