Psalms 24

Psalms 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 Genesis 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 Psalms 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 ( Psalms 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 Isaiah 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 ( Hosea 12:5 , Amos 4:13 ), describes God by a title indicative of supremacy over all creatures, and especially the heavenly armies ( Joshua 5:14 , 1 Kings 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.