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Psalms 24
It will be seen that it is written to be chanted in responsive parts, with two choruses. To comprehend it fully it should be understood that Jerusalem, as the city of God, was by the Jews regarded as a type of heaven. It so occurs in the Apocalypse, whence we have adopted it in our poetical and devotional aspirations. The court of the tabernacle was the quarter of the Lord’s more immediate residence—the tabernacle his palace, and the ark his throne. With this leading idea in mind, the most cursory reader—if there be such as cursory readers of the Bible—cannot fail to be struck with the beauty and sublimity of this composition, and its exquisite suitableness to the occasion.
The chief musician, who seems to have been in this case the king himself, appears to have begun the sacred lay with a solemn and sonorous recital of these sentences:
“The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof;
The world, and they that dwell therein.
For he hath founded it upon the seas,
And established it upon the floods.”
The chorus of vocal music appears to have then taken up the song, and sung the same words in a more tuneful and elaborate harmony; and the instruments and the whole chorus of the people fell in with them, raising the mighty declaration to heaven. There is much reason to think that the people, or a large body of them, were qualified or instructed to take their part in this great ceremonial. The historical text says, “David, and all Israel with him, played upon all manner of instruments,” etc.
We may presume that the chorus then divided, each singing in their turns, and both joining at the close—
“For he hath founded it upon the seas,
And established it upon the floods.”
This part of the music may be supposed to have lasted until the procession reached the foot of Zion, or came in sight of it, which, from the nature of the enclosed site, cannot be till one comes quite near to it. Then the king must be supposed to have stepped forth, and begun again, in a solemn and earnest tone—
“Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?
Or who shall stand in his holy place?”
To which the first chorus responds—
“He that hath clean hands and a pure heart,
Who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.”
And then the second chorus—
“He shall receive the blessing from the Lord,
And righteousness from the God of his salvation.”
This part of the sacred song may, in like manner, be supposed to have lasted till they reached the gate of the city, when the king began again in this grand and exalted strain—
“Lift up your heads, O ye gates,
And be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors,
That the King of Glory Note: That is, “Glorious King.” may come in!”
repeated then, in the same way as before, by the general chorus.
The persons having charge of the gates on this high occasion ask—
“Who is this King of Glory?”
To which the first chorus answers—
“It is Jehovah, strong and mighty—
Jehovah mighty in battle,”
which the second chorus then repeats in like manner as before, closing with the grand universal chorus,
“He is the King of Glory! He is the King of Glory!”
We must now suppose the instruments to take up the same notes, and continue them to the entrance to the court of the tabernacle. There the king again begins—
“Lift up your heads, O ye gates,
And be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors,
That the King of Glory may come in!”
This is followed and answered as before—all closing, the instruments sounding, the chorus singing, the people shouting—
“He is the King of Glory!”
“How others may think upon this point,” says Dr. Delany, “I cannot say, nor pretend to describe; but for my own part, I have no notion of hearing, or of any man’s ever having seen or heard, anything so great, so solemn, so celestial, on this side the gates of heaven.”
Christian preachers and poets have delighted to apply this noble psalm to our Lord’s ascension; and in this application there is certainly much force and beauty. None has produced this application with more triumphant energy, than Young, whose “Night Thoughts” is, with all its faults, a wonderful poem, which will, we doubt not, in no long time, recover more than all the popularity it once possessed. This is the passage, which he who has read once, forgets not soon—
“In his blessed life
I see the path, and in his death the price,
And in his great ascent the proof supreme,
Of immortality. And did he rise?
Hear, O ye nations! hear it, O ye dead!
He rose! he rose! he burst the bars of death.
Lift up your heads, ye everlasting gates!
And give the King of Glory to come in.
Who is the King of Glory? He who left
His throne of glory for the pangs of death.
Lift up your heads, ye everlasting gates!
And give the King of Glory to come in
Who is the King of Glory? He who slew
The ravenous foe that gorged all human race.
The King of Glory, He whose glory filled
Heaven with amazement at his love to man,
And with divine complacency beheld
Powers most illumined ’wildered in the theme.”
There is yet another application, and which, indeed, as Hengstenberg remarks, is not so much an application as a translation. The Psalmist addresses the gates of Zion, and commands them to open that the glorious King may enter in. What in the first instance was only a poetical figure, becomes within the spiritual domain a reality. What the external gates would have done, if they had been endued with reason, will in reality be performed by hearts which are capable of comprehending the majesty and glory of the approaching King. Here the doors and gates will in reality open. They will give to the King that wide and ready entrance, which once they gave to the world and to sin. Happy they who have heard the summons, and who have been able to open wide the portals of the heart, that the King of Glory might come in and take possession of it wholly—saying,
“Welcome, great Guest; this house, mine heart,
Shall all be thine:
I will resign
Mine interest in ev’ry part:
Only be pleased to use it as thine own
Forever, and inhabit it alone.”—Quarles.