FIGURES IN PSALM 24

In addition to the chiastic structure illustrated below under parallelisms, there are several figures that are significant to Ps 24. 

A. Metonymy

            First, there are at least two instances of metonymy in Ps 24.  Metonymy is a figure by which one name or noun is used instead of another, to which it stands in a certain relation.[1] 

1. Mountain of YHWH (v 3a).  A clear reference to Jerusalem, “the city of the great King” (Ps 48:1—2; cf. Matt 5:35), is made here by metonymy.  The mount footing of the city is put for the city itself.  This may serve as a poetic play on “founded” and “established” in v 1, as the sure foundation of the temple mount concretely illustrates the rock solid founding of Jerusalem and the Davidic throne, which are being commemorated in this psalm. 

2. Innocent hands…clean heart (v 4a).  These two terms are put for a holistic character that pleases YHWH, the whole person is to be innocent and clean.  Innocent hands refer to one’s practical life, while “clean heart” speaks into the inward attitude and motive of the worshipper.  Together they forcefully emphasize the singularity of absolute devotion and holiness required of the worshipper, and that by metonymy. 

B. Anthropopatheia

            This figure is used of the ascription of human passions, actions, or attributes to God.[2]  Interestingly, “the Hebrews had a name for this figure, and called it…Derech Benai Adam, the way of the sons of man.”[3]  This figure is less-than explicitly used in vv 7—10, which present YHWH as actually entering Jerusalem by means of the city wall gates. 

C. Personification

            Poetically, in vv 7 and 9, the “gates…eternal doors” are given the command to open.  In vv 8 and 10, the gates, seemingly, respond to the procession, seeking the identification of the King entering the city.  Jerusalem is often spoken of in feminine pronouns (see e.g., “God, in her palaces, has made Himself known…” Ps 48:3 NAS).  The notion of her, Jerusalem, even having “daughters” (Zech 9:9) and “children” (Matt 23:37) is commonplace in both the Old and New Testaments.  This concrete, organic portrayal of places and things was a convention of the Hebraic worldview.  It strikes the modern Western reader’s ears as odd; having been steeped in the language of abstractions inherited from the influence Greco-Roman thought has had on the development of the Western societies. 

D. Epistrophe

             There is a fine example of epistrophe in v 10a and c of Ps 24.  Epistrophe “is a figure in which the same word or words are repeated as the end of successive sentences or clauses, instead of (as in anaphora) at the beginning.”[4]

                        Who is this King of glory?

            YHWH of Hosts,              |

                            He is the King of glory. (v 10)

This figure brilliantly highlights YHWH as the King of glory, he who enters and dwells in Jerusalem.

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[1] Bullinger, p. 538, op cit.

[2] Ibid., p. 872.

[3] Ibid. 

[4] Ibid., p. 241. 

PARALLELISM IN PSALM 24

A. Parallelisms of specification

1. Specification defined

“In the parallelism of specification, each succeeding stich makes more specific what the opening stich states in general.  In other words, the movement is from general to specific.”^[1]

 

2. Examples of parallelisms of specification in Ps 24

a.         α          The whole earth is YHWH’s,                           and the fullness of it;                                      

β          the habitable world [is YHWH’s],                  and they that inhabit it. (v 1)

The first stich of this couplet first presents the cosmos and its contents in the most general sense, the entire earth and all that in it is; the second stich uses the more specific term “world” (têbêl), which connotes the habitable terrain of the earth, as well as “they that inhabit it.”  This general à specific move, especially in this creational sense, is not unlike what we see in Gen 1 and 2, where the author give the panoramic scenes of Creator God bringing the cosmos into existence in chapter 1, and focusing in on YHWH creating and culturing Eden with a garden nook for to tabernacle with his people.  Psalm 24:1 likely carries the same sense; YHWH is Creator and Owner of all, even all of the inhabitants of the hospitable domains.  In other words, all domains, even those of Israel’s enemies, are under YHWH supreme Kingship and rule.  Moreover, if the foregoing observations on the background are correct, then there may be a ring in this distich of YHWH’s universal Kingship, and especially Israel and Jerusalem. 

b.         α          Who shall go up into the mountain of YHWH?          

            β          Who shall stand up in his holy place? (v 3)

This parallelism also moves from the general, the mountain or hill of YHWH, or Jerusalem, the City of God, to the specific, YHWH’s mediated presence in the tent/tabernacle/temple via the Ark of the Covenant.  The purpose of this was to prepare the pilgrims for the gravity of the worship to which they were going.  It is one thing to go up to Jerusalem, but once there, the worshipper would find themselves in the presence of YHWH, the Most Holy God of Israel!

c.         α          Such is the generation of them that seek him,

             β         that seek his presence—[even] Jacob.  Selah. (v 6)

Granted, the translation is this couplet is a source of disagreement among scholars.  However, if this translation is correct, then here lies another specification parallel.  It may also be arranged in a chiastic structure to highlight the specification.

            i. Such is the generation (α-)

                        ii. of them that seek him, (-α)

                        ii. that seek his presence/face (β-)

            i. [even] Jacob (-β)

The answers to the question regarding who can stand in the holy place in v 3 where answered in terms of the individual in vv 4—5.  In v 6, there is a shift to the corporate community and their desire to seek YHWH.  The general “generation” (or class or group) is used in the first stich, as is the general “seek him.”  The second stich specifies what they seek YHWH for, namely his presence/face and who exactly it is that does seek his presence, “[even] Jacob”!  Like the parallelism of  v 3 above, here too the worshipper is awakened to what lies before them, specifically. 

B. Parallelism of alteration with intensification[2]

1. Alteration defined

            An alteration is when there are series of members that have a particular correspondence, in which the first stich of one series corresponds to the first stich in the next series of member, the second with the second and so on.  For example, the pattern looks something like this.

            A.

               B.

                  C.

            A.

               B.

                  C…etc.

2. Parallelism of intensification defined

“A parallelism of intensification…occurs when the second stich of a couplet restates the first in a more pointed, extreme, or forceful way…we might way the second develops the first by saying, ‘Not only that but more so.’”[3]              

3. Example of parallelism of alteration with intensification in Ps 24

            A1. YHWH’s Right to the City | Lift up…that the King of glory might come in (v 7)

               B1. The Gates Seek Identification | Who is this King of glory? (v 8a)

                  C1. The Coming King Identified | YHWH, strong and mighty;

                                                                                    YHWH, mighty in battle. (v 8b, c)

            A2. YHWH’s Right to the City | Lift up…that the King of glory might come in (v 9)

               B2. The Gates Seek Identification | Who is this King of glory? (v 10a)

                  C2. The Coming King Identified | YHWH of Hosts,

                                                                                    he is the King of glory. (v 10b, c)

                                                                         

            Members A and B are synonymous in both series; the change, the intensification occurs in the C members.  C1 identifies the coming King in terms of what he does, he is “mighty in battle” (v 8c), for example.  In C2, however, the unconditioned title of the God of the armies of Israel is stated without qualification; “YHWH of Hosts, he is the King of glory!”  This key term, this technical title for YHWH is connected with the Ark and the establishment of Jerusalem and her king, David.  C2, therefore, identifies the coming King as the rightful owner of King of the city; it identifies him in terms of Who he is rather than what he does, which intensifies the C member. 

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[1] William W. Klein, Craig L. Blomberg, Robert L. Hubbard contributors, Introduction to Biblical Interpretation.  Thomas Nelson: Nashville, Tennessee (2004), p. 293.

[2] The alteration structure of the parallel is indebted to E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech Used in the Bible: Explained and Illustrated.  Baker Book House: Grand Rapids, Michigan (1968), p. 373.

[3] Klein, et al., p. 295.

KEY TERMS IN PSALM 24

The first term of interest is the mountain of YHWH (Ps 24:3a).  The mountain of YHWH is Mount Zion.  To Messiah, God says, “But as for Me, I have installed My King upon Zion, My holy mountain” (Ps 2:6 NASBU).  Zion is a surrogate for Jerusalem, as Ps 78 makes clear, “On the holy mount stands the city he founded; the LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob. Glorious things of you are spoken, O city of God. Selah” (vv 1—3 ESV, italics added; cf. Ps 15:1; 132:12—14).  As the worshippers coming to Jerusalem neared the terminus of their pilgrimage, it was this mount they saw as they sang the psalm. 

Another term that catches our interest is holy place (24:3b).  This term is used only twice in the Psalms, here and 134:2; in the latter instance, its translation is even more uncertain.  Prudence dictates that we not be read this term too strictly; that is, as denoting the second section of the tripartite temple complex (e.g., 1 Kgs 8:8, 10).  The psalmists, for poetic purposes, will couple the mountain of God/Zion with the temple (in part or in whole) to highlight the worship context of the song.  For instance, Ps 20:2 has “sanctuary” translating the same word (qôdesh) as is here translated “holy place.”  “May he send you help from the sanctuary (qôdesh) and give you support from Zion!” (20:2 ESV, italics added).  This term, therefor, represents the general loci of the temple worship, from whence YHWH’s blessings overflow for his people.

Lift up and vain things of 24:4b are also worth mentioning.  “Lift up” (nâśâ' / nâsâh) represents a case of repetition in this psalm, see vv 4b, 5a, 7a, b, and 9a, b.  Because it has 659 uses in the OT, its semantic range is as far as the east is from the west.  It is an important term for various idiomatic phrases in Hebrew.  In this figurative sense, it can carry a sense of complete dependence on its object, such as in Deut 24:15, where the impoverished laborer has literally “lifted up his soul” (or “set his heart on”) to his daily wages, without which he will parish.  In the Psalter, the idiom occurs three other times (25:1; 86:4; 143:8).  In each of these occurrences, YHWH is the object of devotion for the uplifted soul of the psalmist.  Therefore, the term connotes a singularity of religious devotion in the psalter.  This is significant, granting the object of the verb in Ps 24:4, vain things. 

Vain things (shâv') in 24:4b are idols.[1]  This term is used directly in reference to idols.  For instance, Ps 31:6 says, “I hate those who pay regard to worthless idols (shâv'), but I trust in the LORD” (ESV).   Again, “Yet my people have forgotten me and offered sacrifices to worthless idols!” (Jer 18:15 NET).  Especially in Ezekiel, the idiom “lift up…eyes” is a common one, with “idols” as its object of the longing gaze (see Eze 18:6, 12, 15; 33:25), and is likely to be taken in the same sense in Ps 121:1.  Therefore, the phrase lift up his soul to vain things is a clear reference to idolatry; it is the singularity of devotion that YHWH exacts from his worshippers, but given to the utter worthlessness of idols, which are “no gods” (Jer 5:7). 

King of glory is used only here in Ps 24 (vv 7, 8, 9, and 10).  It may also be translated “glorious King” or “majestic King” (so NET). 

YHWH of Hosts is a name for YHWH that connotes his absolute power as “God of the armies of Israel” (1 Sam 17:45) and even stellar powers (Gen 2:1).  Psalm 24:10 is the first of many instances of the title in the psalter.  Interestingly, the title dos not come into usage until the Samuel literature, 1 Sam 1:3, to be precise.  If 1 and 2 Samuel provide the historical background for the psalm, then this is significant.  The exact phrase, “YHWH of Hosts,” again, is first used in 1 Sam 1:3, in reference to Eli’s worship of YHWH at Shiloh, the then-resting place of the Ark; its last occurrence is 2 Sam 7:27 in David’s response to YHWH’s gracious covenant with him, these two have eight instances between them.  Only once is this title used with any reference to the interim kingship of Saul, which was in Samuel’s instructions, concerning the battle with the Amalekites (1 Sam 15:2f).  Granting, therefore, these textual perimeters, it can be concluded that the title “YHWH of Hosts” is meant to present YHWH as Israel’s mighty Warrior, who commands the armies of Israel for the purpose of establishing the kingdom of David. 

Another point that warrants notice is the title’s peculiar connection with the Ark itself.  In 1 Sam 4:4 and 2 Sam 6:2, the title is conjoined with the Ark and its purpose as YHWH’s throne-footstool. 

YHWH of Hosts / Ark of the Covenant / Enthroned on Cherubim in 1 & 2 Samuel

So the people sent to Shiloh and brought from there the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts, who is enthroned on the cherubim. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God. (1 Sam 4:4 ESV)

And David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baale-judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name of the LORD of hosts who sits enthroned on the cherubim. (2 Sam 6:2 ESV)

  

The phrase “which is called by the name of” (2 Sam 6:2) was probably used to prevent an idolatrous view of the Ark, lest the people begin to think that YHWH was either in the Ark or confined to its presence. 

            These two threads, the connection of the title “YHWH of Hosts” with the establishment of the Davidic dynasty and with the Ark, are tightly tied up in 2 Sam 7, when both David and the Ark of God are settled in Jerusalem.  With both David’s and YHWH’s thrones established in Jerusalem, YHWH gives David “rest from all his surrounding enemies” (7:1; cf. v 9, 11).  YHWH establishes his kingly vice-regent David, who obediently leads the hosts of Israel into the subsequent battles, and YHWH “gave victory to David wherever he went” (8:6, 14).  With Israel’s enemies subdued under the rod of Jesse, and the Ark and YHWH’s king securely planted in Jerusalem, now the blessings of YHWH can flow out of Zion, “Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth!” (Ps 50:2).  Thus, hereafter, the militaristic title of “YHWH of Host” fads from the purview of the Samuel narrative.  Therefore, the references to the mountain of YHWH and his holy place, his tabernacle (v 3), and YHWH being strong and mighty, mighty in battle (v 9b, c), and the unconditional identification of the King of glory as YHWH of Hosts, as a great throng moves in mighty procession toward the walls of Jerusalem, all demonstrate with a good measure of certainty that 2 Sam 6 is the historical background for Ps 24, a liturgical antiphon commemorating the Ark’s triumphal entrance into Zion!

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[1] Leland Ryken, et al., “Idol, idolatry,” pp. 416—18 in Dictionary of Biblical Imagery.  Leland Ryken, James C. Wilhoit, Tremper Longman III editors.  Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP Academic (1998), p. 417.

OUTLINE OF PSALM 24

I. Contemplating the creation’s Creator, YHWH (vv 1—2)

            A. The creational, universal dominion of YHWH (v 1a, b)

1. All the cosmos owned by YHWH: The whole earth is YHWH’s, (v 1a)

2. All the contents owned by YHWH: and fullness of it; (v 1b)

            B. The personal, universal dominion of YHWH (v 1c, d)

                        1. All the provinces owned by YHWH: the habitable world [is YHWH’s], (v 1c)

                        2. All the peoples owned by YHWH: and they that inhabit it. (v 1d) 

C. The grounds for YHWH’s universal dominion (v 2)

1. YHWH provided the world: For he founded it upon the seas, (v 2a)

2. YHWH prepared the world: and established it upon the moving waters. (v 2b)

II. Remembering Jacob’s Redeemer, YHWH (vv 3—6)

            A. Question: Who is right before the Redeemer? (v 3)

1. Who can approach YHWH: Who shall go up into the mountain of YHWH? (v 3a)

2. Who can abide with YHWH: Who shall stand up in his holy place? (v 3b)

            B. Answer: The proper consecration, individual and corporate (vv 4—6)

                         1. The worshipping individual’s identification, He (vv 4—5)

a. His inward qualities: He who has innocent hands, and a clean heart; (v 4a)

b. His outward behavior (v 4b, c)

i. His vertical piety: who does not lift up his soul to vain things, (v 4b)

ii. His horizontal purity: and he who does not swear deceitfully. (v 4c)

c. The benefits of the consecrated individual: He shall lift up a blessing from YHWH; righteousness from the God of his salvation. (v 5)

2. The worshipping community’s identification, them: Such is the generation of them that seek him, that seek his presence—[even] Jacob.  Selah.

III. Celebrating the King of the consummation, YHWH (vv 7—10)

            A. The entrance of the Ark into Jerusalem Q / A # 1 (vv 7—8)

1. The procession’s first request: Lift up your heads, O gates; lift up, O eternal doors, that the King of glory might come in. (v 7)

a. The city’s first question: Who is this King of glory? (v 8a)

b. The procession’s first identification of the King (v 8b, c)

i. YHWH, with power in himself: YHWH, strong and mighty; (v 8b)

                        ii. YHWH, with power in battle: YHWH, mighty in battle. (v 8c)

B. The entrance of the Ark into Jerusalem Q / A # 2 (vv 9—10)

1. The procession’s second request: Lift up your heads, O gates; lift up, O eternal doors, that the King of glory might come in. (v 9)

2. The city’s second question: Who is this King of glory? (v 10a)

3. The procession’s second identification of the King: YHWH of Hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah. (v 10b, c)  

PSALM 24 IN REDEMPTIVE-HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

PSALM 24 (AT)

The whole earth is YHWH’s,                                       1a

    and the fullness of it;                                                    b

the habitable world [is YHWH’s],                                      c

   and they that inhabit it.                                                        d

For he founded it upon the seas,                                 2a

   and established it upon the moving waters.                   b

Who shall go up into the mountain of YHWH?           3a

   Who shall stand up in his holy place?                           b

He who has innocent hands, and a clean heart;         4a

   who does not lift up his soul to vain things,                   b

   and he who does not swear deceitfully.                            c

He shall lift up a blessing from YHWH;                      5a

   righteousness from the God of his salvation.                 b

Such is the generation of them that seek him, 6a

   that seek his presence—[even] Jacob.  Selah.               b

Lift up your heads, O gates;                                        7a

   lift up, O eternal doors,                                                 b

   that the King of glory might come in.                               c

Who is this King of glory?                                           8a

YHWH, strong and mighty;                                              b

   YHWH, mighty in battle.                                                  c

Lift up your heads, O gates;                                        9a

   lift up, O eternal doors,                                                 b

   that the King of glory might come in.                               c

Who is this King of glory?                                           10a

YHWH of Hosts,                                                                 b

   he is the King of glory. Selah.                                           c

In Psalm 24, there are a number of eschatological trajectories that find their termini in the Person and work of Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

The provisional piety that this psalm lays much stress on is high indeed, but it is just that, provisional.  The psalm intimates that the worshipper with “innocent hands” and a “clean heart” may enter in to the “holy place,” seeking the Presence of YHWH.   Who, though, really seeks the presence of the living God, who is a consuming fire?  None; no, not one (Rom 3:10—12).  David’s son himself rhetorically asks, “Who can say, ‘I have made my heart pure; I am clean from my sin’”? (Prov 20:9).  And, again, the answer is none; no, not one.  Something must happen in salvation history, if the communion between God and his people will be accomplished in the grandiose, eschatological intimacy foreshadowed in Psalm 24.  And it has.

           

Second Samuel 6 is the primary background that is commemorated in this psalm.  YHWH comes into Jerusalem, enthroned on the Ark between the cherubim.  This event, however, was only a type or foreshadow of the good things to come, then and now. 

           

In Matt 21, the type finds its antitype in the Person of Jesus.  In this pericope, Jesus himself fulfills the post-exilic promise of YHWH’s return to Jerusalem (Is 62:11; Zech 9:9; Matt 21:5).  With a mighty procession, preceding and following him (21:9a), Jesus rides into Jerusalem enthroned, as it were, sitting on the donkey with her colt as his footstool—an Ark (v 7).  As Jesus entered, the whole city was stirred, asking, “Who is this [King of glory]?” (Ps 24:8, 10 // Matt 21:10, brackets added).  Jesus is YHWH; Jesus is the King of glory, returning to Jerusalem, humble and gentle, enthroned on the Ark. 

           

Jerusalem did not know the time of their visitation, however (Lk 19:44); and they murdered the Lord of glory (1 Cor 2:8).  In this abortion of justice is precisely where Jesus, YHWH of Hosts, would show himself “strong and mighty, mighty in battle” (Ps 24:8b, c).  Taking the King of glory down from his cross of glory (think Johannine theology of the cross), they placed him in the true Ark, Jesus’ tomb.  On that first Easter morning, Mary peered into the Ark and lived (contra. 1 Sam 6:19)! 

           

Mary looked into the tomb and saw the true Ark.  “And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying” (Jn 20:12, italics added).  All that the Ark had been looking toward had been fulfilled in Mary’s sight.  The slab of the sepulcher of Jesus was flanked by two cherubim, one on each end; the slab is the true mercy seat, where the once-for-all atonement was made for God’s people.  The Father set forth Jesus as a propitiation, a hilasmos, for the sins of the world (Rom 3:25, Heb 2:17; 1 Jn 2:2; 4:10).^[1]  Paul, by applying this title to Christ in Rom 3:25, assures us that Christ was the true mercy seat, the reality of the cover of the Ark of the covenant (Heb 9:5).

           

Psalm 24:3b asks, Who shall stand up in his holy place?   The writer to the Hebrews answers; it is only Jesus who can stand up in the true holy place.  “[Jesus] entered the holy place once for all, having appointed eternal redemption” (Heb 9:12 NASBU).  Christ, however, “did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one,” as under the old covenant, “but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us!” (9:24 NASBU). 

           

How are we to apprehend the requisite righteousness from the God of [our] salvation (Ps 24:5b)?  By throwing ourselves on the Mercy Seat of God, God’s hilasmos, Jesus Christ, who with innocent hands and pure heart became sin for us, “so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor 5:21; cf. 1 Pet 2:24).  In him, we will stand in the Most Holy Place,^[2] in the unmediated Presence of God.  We will ascend unto the true City of God, the new Jerusalem, where the gates are always open (Rev 21:25)!

           

This is just one of the many trajectories that are satisfied in Christ.  Another interesting one would be David, who was king of Israel, wearing the ephod, offering sacrifices, and pronouncing blessings over the people (2 Sam 6), thus blurring the strict distinctions between kingship and priesthood in Torah.  This would lead us straightway to the Melchizedekian motif of Ps 110, which too finds its fulfillment in the Priest-Kingship of Jesus (Heb 7, etc.).  

                

The purpose of Ps 24 is to point the people of God back to the future.  It points back to a most momentous event in salvation history, when both YHWH’s and David’s thrones were established in Jerusalem, bringing the Presence of God and peace with all of Israel’s surrounding enemies.  Likewise, it looks to the future, to a time when YHWH would return enthroned on the Ark to Jerusalem; therefore, it looked to the Messiah; it looked, though unwittingly, to the death, resurrection, and heavenly session of Jesus, the Lord of glory in his glory!  Looking still future, it points to the age to come, when, because of Christ our righteousness, all of the elect will enjoy and relish in the unmediated Presence of God in the new creation, the new Jerusalem.

           

Psalm 24 also quickens the heart and mind of the worshipper to the gravity and weightiness of his calling.  Whether then, for those who do not lift up their hearts to vain things or swear deceitfully (Ps 24:4b, c), now (Matt 5; 2 Cor 7:1), or future (Rev 21:27), this psalm stresses that there is a requisite holiness for the people of God, “without which no one will see the Lord” (Heb 12:14)!

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[1] I am indebted to Israel Stevenson, my daughter (16 years), for her observation of the likely Ark/mercy seat imagery (antitype?) in Jn 20, in Jesus’ tomb, having the angels flank the slab as cherubim flanked the mercy seat.    

[2] The description of the new creation as a cube, since “its length and height and width are equal” (Rev 21:16), is surely an allusion to the temple’s Holy of Holies (1 Kings 6:20).