Psalm 24

Genre:

Entrance – liturgy: For who? Worshipers. Double entrance liturgy, of Yahweh. (Psalms 15 and 24 fits the category)

Structure:

V1-2: Creator/implications of it including ownership and dominion.

V3-6: Opens with a question asking who gets to worship the creator in V1-2. Qualifications for worship. Q&As.

V7-10: Yahweh’s entry: trigger imagery of the ark. Q&As.

Q&As seem to suggests a performance piece: some people ask, some people answer.

V1: Priest making glorious affirmation of who Yahweh is.

V3,6: Worshipers ask “who gets to do this?”, then after explanation by, “that’s us”

V4,5: explanation of “who gets to do this”.

V7, 8b, 9, 10b: entrance of the holy one.

V8a, 10a:

So it’s a cultic piece used in the temple.

Andrew Sloane thinks the ark is like a syringe, once it’s injected God’s glory into the temple, it has no more function. In exile, there’s no mention about the lost of the ark. So it was probably before the fall of Jerusalem.

What does this Psalm do (what’s its primary job)?

Getting people ready for worship.

Takes us on a journey to the temple.

A reflection of the dominion of God.

Geographical presence of God in Jerusalem. In Christian thinking, there is no place on earth that is holier than another place. For Israel, there is: this place is holier than any other place.

Any space can become a holy space when Yahweh’s presence is acknowledged. The earth is Yahweh.

For ANE (3tiered universe), the reason for God’s dominion over the earth was that Yahweh established the waters. ANE thinks the ocean goes all the way above the stars, “ocean of heaven”.

V2: Water is associated with chaos.

Cultic context and cultic form, but also moral and relational, not merely cultic.

V4: “Clean hands”, “pure heart”: moral purity, commitment. Action, character.

Commandments 1&2. 3 or 9: One who does not swear deceitfully. “False testimony” is not equal to “lie”, so “you shall not lie” is actually not part of the ten commandments.

V5: “He will lift up blessings from Yahweh”: rightness from the God of your salvation. To be blessed is for things to go well in your life. Rightness is to be rightly lined up with God and others in your life (relationships). Right status is a gift from Yahweh, and is connected with salvation. Salvation is a force to correct something wrong in the world. Rightness in relationships with others is often connected with salvation.

V6: Identifying the worshippers: We are those who seek your face, we are Jacob.

V7: Lift up: Demanding the gates to be opened, in a metaphorical way. When you lift up your head, you are acknowledging the coming of a king. The gates are acclaiming the coming of a king. Affirmation of God’s kingly rule.

Repetition: For emphasis, to make your point clearer.

V10: “Armies”. Which armies is Yahweh lord of? Israel? Heavenly? Stars (Isaiah)?

This battle imagery is present in the start of the Psalms.

Pre-exilic Israel: Yahweh’s presence was focused in the temple, but not seen as being restricted to it. Because the psalm opened with earth as Yahweh’s.

Worship: not just music. It’s “bodies”, of living sacrifices.