Clergy/Leaders’ Mail-list No. 0-159 (Bible Reading Notes)

PSALM 24 (From ‘Encounter with God’ – Sunday 13 Aug 2000)

LET ME IN!

How comfortable are you about the prospect of entering into the presence of God? Are you ready to seek his face?

This psalm reads like a dramatic liturgy. Maybe its original setting was something like this: a happy procession climbs the hill towards the closed gates of Jerusalem, led by David the king, with priests bearing the ark of the Covenant, recently retrieved from the Philistines. (See 2 Sam 6:12-15) They sing in praise of the Creator (vs 1,2), then a priest’s voice rings out, asking who has the right to seek the Lord (v 3). The crowd replies with words affirming that religion is rooted inwardly in the heart, not in outward show (vs 46).

As the procession approaches the closed gates, a herald calls for them to be opened (v 7). From the walls comes the challenge: ‘Who is this King of glory?’ (v 8). The reply could be interpreted rhetorically as referring to the warrior king standing below. The gates stay shut. Again the herald calls and is challenged (v 9). The fullthroated answer of the people is ‘Jehovah of hosts’ (ASV)

the Creator who is our supreme covenantking (see 1 Sam 4:4; Isa 6:3) a title which resonates throughout the Old Testament. No lesser being can gain entry to the holy city in which, symbolically, he reigns.

Perhaps that is how the psalm came into being. Certainly in its present form it has been a liturgy significant to the Jewish people. Is it significant to you? Can you embrace its sequence of thought?

Contemplate your supreme Creator Lord. Affirm your own readiness, through repentance and reaffirmation of trust, to travel his way. Rejoice that Jesus, the Redeemer now seated in glory (see Heb 10:12), has ascended the hill and opened the way for you to live in God’s presence. No wonder this psalm is a favourite lectionary choice for Ascension Day!

What truths affirmed in this psalm might possibly prompt your uncommitted friends to seek the Lord? Pray for them now.

– Brian Hill

Copyright Scripture Union, 2000

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