Psalms

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Psalm 24

1 A psalm of David. The Lord owns the earth and all it contains, the world and all who live in it. 2 For he set its foundation upon the seas, and established it upon the ocean currents.⁠ 3 Who is allowed to ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may go up to his holy dwelling place? 4 The one whose deeds are blameless who has clean hands and a pure heart^*, who does not lie,⁠ or make promises with no intention of keeping them.⁠ 5 Such godly people are rewarded by the Lord, and vindicated by the God who delivers them. 6 Such purity characterizes the people who seek his favor, Jacob’s descendants, who pray to him. (Selah) 7 Look up, you gates. Rise up, you eternal doors.⁠ Then the majestic king will enter.⁠ 8 Who is this majestic king? The Lord who is strong and mighty. The Lord a mighty man in battle.⁠ 9 Look up, you gates. Rise up, you eternal doors. Then the majestic king will enter. 10 Who is this majestic king? The Lord of Heaven’s Armies. He is the majestic king. (Selah)

Texts in conversation

Compare Numbers 10:35 and Psalm 24:10

Hebrew Bible

Summary

Psalm 24 draws on an ancient Near Eastern image of a divine warrior entering heavenly gates and reshapes it into a ritual welcoming the ark into the temple. Like Numbers 10, the language marks God’s return to dwell and rule among the people.

Passages

Numbers 10:35

Hebrew Bible

33 So they traveled from the mountain of the Lord three days’ journey; and the ark of the covenant of the Lord was traveling before them during the three days’ journey, to find a resting place for them. 34 And the cloud of the Lord was over them by day, when they traveled from the camp. 35 And when the ark traveled, Moses would say, “Rise up, O Lord! May your enemies be scattered, and may those who hate you flee before you!” 36 And when it came to rest he would say, “Return, O Lord, to the many thousands of Israel!”

750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Numbers

Psalm 24:10

Hebrew Bible

5 Such godly people are rewarded by the Lord, and vindicated by the God who delivers them. 6 Such purity characterizes the people who seek his favor, Jacob’s descendants, who pray to him. (Selah) 7 Look up, you gates. Rise up, you eternal doors. Then the majestic king will enter. 8 Who is this majestic king? The Lord who is strong and mighty. The Lord a mighty man in battle. 9 Look up, you gates. Rise up, you eternal doors. Then the majestic king will enter. 10 Who is this majestic king? The Lord of Heaven’s Armies. He is the majestic king. (Selah)

600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Psalms

References

"... Many texts that reflect the Zion-Sabaoth theology evince the belief that in earlier periods the ark sometimes left its abode to go to war. What is crucial for our purposes is that the ark’s movement entailed God’s own movement. Thus, when an old poetic fragment in the Book of Numbers describes the ark going to war and returning, it also refers simply to God’s travel out of and back to its normal place of rest ... The terminology associated with the Zion-Sabaoth theology and the ark occurs frequently in connection with the Shiloh temple, where God dwelt throughout the period of the Judges (see, e.g., 1 Samuel 1.11). It also occurs often in the story of the ark’s ascent to its new home in Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6:2 and 18). This terminology is especially prominent in Psalm 24, which was sung whenever the ark entered the temple – that is, when Yhwh entered the temple. This occurred not just when the ark first entered the temple in Solomon’s time, but on a repeated basis, either after battle or on a holiday such as the New Year’s festival, which commemorated Yhwh’s victory in the primordial battle against chaos ..."

Benjamin D. Sommer, The Bodies of God and the World of Ancient Israel (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), 85.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

Psalms150 psalms

Compare Numbers 10:35 and Psalm 24:10

Summary

Passages

Numbers 10:35

Psalm 24:10

References

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