Psalms 24:7

7. Lift up your heads, O ye gates Here is a sudden transition, a new scene introduced. We may suppose the procession to have now reached the foot of Mount Zion, and to have begun the ascent to that part of the hill where the ark was to be deposited. For the responsive parts of Psalms 24:7-10, see the introduction. The call upon the gates to open, is a call upon the guards to perform this service. See Psalms 118:19-20; Isaiah 26:2.

Everlasting doors Doors of eternity. “Gates of old,” is not an adequate rendering. The language transcends historic limit, and becomes typically prophetic. The historic day and occasion were eventful; not inferior to any in the history of the nation next to the passover and the exodus. The “King of glory” cannot mean King David, nor “everlasting doors” the city gates. The “King of glory” is “Jehovah strong and mighty, Jehovah mighty in battle,” “Jehovah of hosts;” and the “everlasting doors” can fitly apply to none other than those of the heavenly Zion, the “Jerusalem which is above.” Galatians 4:26. The passage is Messianic, and parallel to Psalms 68:18; Ephesians 4:8; and prophetically belongs to the events after the crucifixion, when Christ, having expiated sin, and by his resurrection conquered death and finished “love’s redeeming work,” triumphantly entered “not into the holy places made with hands, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.” Hebrews 9:24. The Church of England properly appoints this psalm as one to be read on Ascension Day. “This psalm is no doubt prophetic, or rather, typical in itscharacter, and most fitly in its application celebrates the return of Christ as the King of glory to his heavenly throne.” Perowne. According to a common rule of Messianic prophecy, what in the Old Testament is applied to Jehovah, in the New is applied to Christ. So the title, “King of glory.” here. Compare, on the principle, Jeremiah 17:10; Revelation 2:23