broad easy way leads some whither else (Matthew 7:13); the way to this is
narrow (verse 14); 'tis rough and troublesome. To be of the number of
Christ's true faithful servants is no slight work; 'tis a fight, 'tis a
race, 'tis a continual warfare; fastings and watchings, and cold and
nakedness, and hunger and thirst, bonds, imprisonments, dangers and
distresses, ignominy and reproach, afflictions and persecutions, the world's
hatred and our friend's neglect, all that we call hard or difficult is to be
found in the way we are to go. A man cannot leave a lust, shake off bad
company, quit a course of sin, enter upon a way of virtue, profess his
religion, or stand to it, cannot ascend the spiritual hill, but he will
meet some or other of these to contest and strive with. But not only to
ascend, but to stand there, as the word signifies; to continue at so high
a pitch, to be constant in truth and piety, that will be hard indeed, and
bring more difficulties to contest with.
Mark Frank.
Verses 3, 4. The Psalm begins with a solicitous enquiry, subjoins a
satisfactory answer, and closes with a most pertinent but rapturous
apostrophe. This is the enquiry, "Who shall ascend into the hill of the
Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place?" This is the answer, "He that
hath clean hands, and a pure heart;" "he shall receive the blessing" of
plenary remission "from the Lord, and righteousness also from the God of
his salvation:" even that perfect righteousness which is not acquired by
man, but bestowed by Jehovah; which is not performed by the saint, but
received by the sinner; which is the only solid basis to support our hopes
of happiness, the only valid plea for an admission into the mansions of joy.
Then follows the apostrophe: the prophet foresees the ascension of Christ
and his saints into the kingdom of heaven. He sees his Lord marching at the
head of the redeemed world, and conducting them into regions of honour and
joy. Suitably to such a view, and in a most beautiful strain of poetry, he
addresses himself to the heavenly portals. "Lift up your heads, O ye
gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory,"
with all the heirs of his grace and righteousness, shall make their
triumphant entry; "shall enter in," and go out no more.
James Hervey.
Verses 3, 4. It is not he who sings so well or so many Psalms, nor he who
fasts or watches so many days, nor he who divides his own among the poor,
nor he who preaches to others, nor he who lives quietly, kindly, and
friendly; nor, in fine, is it he who knows all sciences and languages, nor
he who works all virtuous and all good works that ever any man spoke or read
of, but it is he alone, who is pure within and without.
Martin Luther.
Verse 4. "He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart." Shall I tell
you, then, who is a moral man in the sight of God? It is he that bows to
the divine law as the supreme rule of right; he that is influenced by a
governing regard to God in all his actions; he that obeys other commands
spontaneously, because he has obeyed the first and great command, "Give me
thy heart." His conduct is not conformed to custom or expediency, but to
one consistent, immutable standard of duty. Take this man into a court of
justice, and call on him to testify, and he will not bear false witness.
Give him the charge of untold treasures, he will not steal. Trust him with
the dearest interests of yourself or family, you are safe, because he has a
living principle of truth and integrity in his bosom. He is as worthy of
confidence in the dark as at noonday; for he is a moral man, not because
reputation or interest demands it, not because the eye of public observation
is fixed upon him, but because the love and fear of God have predominant
ascendency in his heart.
Ebenezer Porter, D.D., 1834.
Verse 4. Conditions that suit none but Christ. (Bellarmine.) "He that
hath clean hands;" "the clean of hands," Margin:—those hands from which
went forth virtue and healing; hands ever lifted up in prayer to God, or in
blessing to man; hands stretched forth on the cross for the cleansing of the
whole world.
Isaac Williams, in loc.
Verse 4. "Who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity," is read by
Arius Montanus, "He that hath not received his soul in vain." Oh! how many
receive their souls in vain, making no more use of them than the swine, of
whom the philosopher observes, cujus anima pro sale, their souls are only
for salt to keep their bodies from stinking. Who would not grieve to think
that so choice a piece should be employed about so vain a use!
George Swinnock.
Verse 4. "Nor sworn deceitfully;" or inured his tongue to any other
kind of language of hell's rotten communication, to the dishonouring of God,
or deceiving of others. Perjury is here instanced for the rest, as one of
the most heinous. But Peraldus reckoneth up four-and-twenty several sins of
the tongue, all which every burgess of the New Jerusalem is careful to
avoid, as the devil's drivel, no way becoming his pure lip.
John Trapp.
Verse 4. Now we come to the four conditions requisite to render such an
ascent possible. 1. Abstinence from evil doing: "He that hath clean
hands." 2. Abstinence from evil thought: "and a pure heart." 3. Who
does that duty which he is sent into the world to do: "That hath not lifted
up his mind unto vanity;" or, as it is in the Vulgate, "Who hath no
received his soul in vain." And, 4. Remembers the vows by which he is
bound to God: "nor sworn to deceive." And in the fullest sense, there was
but One in whom all these things were fulfilled; so that in reply to the
question, "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?" He might well
answer, "No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from
heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven." John 3:13. "Therefore it
is well-written," says St. Bernard, "that such an High Priest became us,
because he knows the difficulty of that ascent to the celestial mountain, he
knows the weakness of us that have to ascend."
Lorinus and Bernard, quoted by J. M. Neale.
Verse 4. Heaven is not won with good words and a fair profession. The
doing Christian is the man that shall stand, when the empty boaster of his
faith shall fall. The great talkers of religion are often the least doers.
His religion is in vain whose profession brings not letters testimonial from
a holy life.
William Gurnall.
Verse 5. "He shall receive the blessing;" as before, "Thou shalt set
him to be a blessing." Psalm 21:6. His name is never without blessing. In
him shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. On the mount of his
beatitudes, on the heavenly Mount Sion, crowned as "the Son of the Blessed."
"From the Lord;" even "the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Ephesians 1:3.
Isaac Williams.
Verse 5. "He shall receive . . . righteousness." As for our own
righteousness which we have without him, Esay telleth us, "it is a defiled
cloth;" and St. Paul, that it is but "dung." Two very homely comparisons,
but they be the Holy Ghost's own; yet nothing so homely as in the original,
where they be so odious, as what manner of defiled cloth, or what kind of
dung, we have not dared to translate. Our own then being no better, we are
driven to seek for it elsewhere. "He shall receive his righteousness,"
saith the prophet; and "the gift of righteousness," saith the apostle.
Philippians 3:8, 9; Romans 5:17. It is then another, to be given us, and
to be received by us, which we must seek for. And whither shall we go for
it? Job alone dispatcheth this point (chapter 15:15; 4:18; 25:5.) Not to
the heavens or stars, they are unclean in his sight. Not to the
saints , for in them he found folly. Not to the angels, for neither in
them found he steadfastness. Now, if none of these will serve, we see a
necessary reason why Jehovah must be a part of this name, "the LORD our
righteousness." Jeremiah 23:6.
Lancelot Andrewes.
Verse 6. "This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy
face." Christians must be seekers. This is the generation of seekers.
All mankind, if ever they will come to heaven, they must be a generation of
seekers. Heaven is a generation of finders, of possessors, of enjoyers,
seekers of God. But here we are a generation of seekers. We want somewhat
that we must seek. When we are at best, we want the accomplishment of our
happiness. It is a state of seeking here, because it is a state of want; we
want something alway. But to come more particularly to this seeking the
face of God , or the presence of God. . . . The presence of God meant here
is, that presence that he shows in the time of need, and in his
ordinances. He shows a presence in need and necessity, that is, a gracious
presence to his children, a gracious face. As in want of direction, he
shows his presence of light to direct them; in weakness he shows his
strength; in trouble and perplexity he will show his gracious and
comfortable presence to comfort them. In perplexity he shows his presence
to set the heart at large, answerable to the necessity. So in need God is
present with his children, to direct them, to comfort them, to strengthen
them, if they need that.
Richard Sibbes.
Verse 6. "This is the generation." By the demonstrative pronoun
"this," the psalmist erases from the catalogue of the servants of God all
counterfeit Israelites, who, trusting only to their circumcision and the
sacrifice of beasts, have no concern about offering themselves to God; and
yet, at the same time, they rashly thrust themselves into the church.
John Calvin.
Verse 6. "That seek thy face, O Jacob." In Proverbs 7:15, and 29:26,
we have "seeking the face of" in the sense of seeking the favour of, or
showing delight in. Their delight is not in Esau, who got "the fatness of
earth" (Genesis 27:39) as his portion. And those writers may be right, who
consider Jacob as a name for Messiah, to whom belong the true birthright and
blessing.
Andrew A. Bonar.
Verse 6. "That seek thy face, O Jacob." He is "the seed of Jacob;" he
is "the Holy One of Israel;" "the face of thine Anointed" is the face of him
who is both God and man; for "we shall see him as he is."
Isaac Williams.
Verse 6. "O Jacob," or O God of Jacob. As the church is called
Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12), so God is here called "Jacob;" such a near
union there is betwixt him and his people. Or, this is Jacob. So the
true seekers are fitly called, first because Israelites indeed (John 1:47;
Romans 9:6); secondly, because they see God face to face, as Jacob did at
Peniel (Genesis 32:24-30); thirdly, because they also, as he, do bear away
a blessing (Hosea 12:4), even "righteousness from the God of their
salvation," as in the verse aforegoing.
John Trapp.
Verse 7. "Lift up your heads, O ye gates." The gates of the temple
were indeed as described, very lofty and magnificent, in proportion to the
gigantic dimensions of that extraordinary edifice. But the phrase, "Lift
up your heads," refers not so much to their loftiness, as to the upper part
being formed so as to be lifted up; while the under portion opened in
folding doors.
Robert Jamieson, in "Paxton's Illustrations of Scriptures."
Verse 7. "Lift up your heads, O ye gates." At the castle of Banias, in
Syria, are the remains of an ancient gate which was drawn up, like a blind,
the gate fitting in grooves. This will fully explain the term.
John Gadsby.
Verse 7. "Lift up." A phrase or term taken from triumphal arches, or
great porticoes, set up, or beautified and adorned for the coming in of