LIFT UP YOUR HEADS, YOU GATES
March 1, 2022

A. Starting point: Rev. 7:12

“Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.”
B. Praying from: PSALM 24
Meaning
The different parts of Psalm 24 at first seem only loosely connected to each other, opening with an affirmation of God’s authority as Creator of everything and everyone, moving to an entrance worship that asks who can enter the holy place and receive God’s blessing, and ending with a liturgical interchange between a priest at the head of the returning army and a priest manning the gates of the city or the temple. Stepping back to reconsider the whole, however, allows us to identify more coherence than is possible at first glance.
Context
Psalm 24 is a hymn of praise to God, who is celebrated as the King of glory (vv. 7–10) in what appears to be a liturgical interchange between two priests. Below, we will suggest that the final stanza (vv. 7–10) describes a dialogue between a priest attending the ark of the covenant at the head of the victorious Israelite army as it returns to the sanctuary in Jerusalem and a priest at the gates of Jerusalem or the temple precincts. Thus, the psalm praises God the Warrior who has given his people victory over their enemies. This final celebrative stanza is preceded by an entrance liturgy asking who can enter the holy place and, before that, an affirmation of the authority of God as the Creator of everything and everybody.

Text

“The earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.
2 For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods.
3 Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place?
4 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.
5 He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
6 This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.
7 Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.
8 Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.
9 Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.
10 Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah.”

C. Praying Time:
Comment
24:1–2. God the Creator
The psalmist begins with a hearty affirmation that everything, animate and inanimate, belongs to the Lord. He owns everything and everyone, and everything and everyone are completely dependent on him. After all, according to the psalmist in verse 2, God created everything and everyone. He thus has authority over all.

The earth was created by placing it on the primordial waters. While it is debated whether or not Genesis 1 assumes the existence of the waters when God began his acts of creation (implied in the translation of Gen. 1:1–2 in the NRSV) or whether the text describes the creation of the waters from nothing (so the NIV), here the waters are pre-existent, and the creative act is the founding of the land. Contrary to ancient Mesopotamian creation accounts (Walton 2009 and 2011), though, there is not a hint of conflict between the Lord and the sea in the description of creation (but see Ps. 74:13–17).
24:3–6. Who can enter the holy place?
The psalmist then pointedly asks who can enter the holy space, particularly the sanctuary. Like Psalm 15, this section of Psalm 24 is essentially an ‘entrance liturgy’ to the sanctuary. The mountain of the LORD is a reference to Zion on which the temple was built, and access was restricted to those who had a right relationship with God.

The sanctuary was not an open, public space. The Levites were charged with protecting it from violation, and indeed one group of Levites was specifically designated as gatekeepers (1 Chr. 26:1–19). As in Psalm 15, the psalmist answers his own question by citing certain qualifications for entry, beginning with the general statement that one must have clean hands and a pure heart. In other words, worshippers who wish to enter the sanctuary must be innocent both inside and outside. They must be innocent in their actions and their minds, including their motives. For the psalmist, right action and thinking would be defined by the law in general, but verse 4 goes on to specify two criteria for entry. It is debated, however, exactly to what these criteria refer. The NIV represents one approach, understanding the psalmist to refer to false worship. The person who is allowed entry into the holy place must not worship an idol or offer oaths in the name of a false god. Others (see the NET Bible) render the verse as referring to more general integrity (‘who does not lie, or make promises with no intention of keeping them’). The issue is how to understand the Hebrew words šāw’ in verse 4c and mirmâ in verse 4d. The literal rendering of the former is ‘worthless’ or ‘lie’, but it is sometimes used of idols, in the sense of a ‘worthless object’ (Ps. 31:6; Jon. 2:8). On the other hand, the latter term is not used anywhere else to refer to false gods, which thus strengthens the case for the type of translation offered by the NET Bible.

Although the psalmist expresses stringent ethical theological qualifications for entry into the sanctuary, ‘the liturgy is not so much a self-righteous declaration of innocence as it is a solemn admission of dependence on the merciful grace of God’ (Wilson 2002: 450). Indeed, one who does not have clean hands or a pure heart can restore relationship with God by sincere repentance and the offering of atoning sacrifices.

Verses 5–6 describe the benefits that come to those who pass the test and can proceed to the holy place. God blesses and vindicates them. The best description of God’s blessing is found, for example, in Deuteronomy 27–28, where the curses and blessings of the covenant are listed. The blessings come on those who are obedient to the law of God, an idea similar to what we find in this psalm. The blessings presuppose a harmonious relationship with God, and the psalmist goes on to state that the blessed one will have a harmonious relationship with other people of God and will enjoy material prosperity, large happy families and victory in warfare. Such blessing will characterize those who seek your face, God of Jacob (the NIV here follows the Septuagint by adding ‘God of’, which may be suggested by v. 5). The idiom of the ‘face of God’ refers to God’s intimate presence, which at the time of the psalm was encountered most dramatically in the sanctuary where God chose to make his presence manifest.
24:7–10. Lift up your heads, you gates!
The final stanza contains a liturgical interchange between two unidentified persons. We must reconstruct the scene based on the content of their words. The first voice requests that the gates be opened to allow the King of glory to enter. The King of glory is obviously God. The request to open the gates is stated in what appears to be a poetic personification of the gates that they ‘lift up’ their heads. Since ancient gates swung open to the side and did not rise up like a medieval castle’s gate over a moat (which would close it), we take this as a figurative, not a literal, description. In the Bible, the idiom of ‘lifting one’s head’ (Gen. 40:13; Ps. 110:7; Luke 21:28) denotes joy and celebration. The gates could be those of the city of Jerusalem or perhaps the gates that led into the temple precincts, but in any case, the King of glory seeks entrance. While the first voice requests entrance, the second voice asks for identification: Who is this King of glory? As we explore the scene further, we will realize that the questioner knows full well who the King of glory is. However, the question allows for more praise, as the first speaker calls back, The LORD strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. This answer associates God with warfare and permits us to recognize the scene more precisely. The most likely scenario is that the army of Israel has returned from a successful battle against the enemy. When obedient Israel warred at God’s command against their enemies, they would take the ark of the covenant with them as a symbol of his presence as Warrior. Thus, as they return after the victory, the priests leading the way and carrying the ark would ask entry of a priest who was on the walls to open up the gates so they could return. God has manifested his glory in battle. He is the Lord Almighty, which is more literally translated ‘Lord of Hosts’, the hosts being his army.

D. THE A-MEN OF ROMANS 16:20, 24, 27
16:20 “And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. A-men.”