Psa 23:1-6 expressed a longing after the house of Jahve on Zion; Psa 24:1-10 celebrates Jahve's entrance into Zion, and the true character of him who may enter with Him. It was composed when the Ark was brought from Kirjath Jearim to Mount Zion, where David had caused it to be set up in a tabernacle built expressly for it, 2Sa 6:17, cf. 2Sa 11:11, 1Ki 1:39; or else, which is rendered the more probable by the description of Jahve as a warrior, at a time when the Ark was brought back to Mount Zion, after having been taken to accompany the army to battle (vid., Ps 68). Psa 15:1-5 is very similar. But only Psa 24:1-6 is the counterpart of that Psalm; and there is nothing wanting to render the first part of Psa 24:1-10 complete in itself. Hence Ewald divides Psa 24:1-10 into two songs, belonging to different periods, although both old Davidic songs, viz., Psa 24:7-10, the song of victory sung at the removal of the Ark to Zion; and Psa 24:1-6, a purely didactic song pre-supposing this event which forms an era in their history. And it is relatively more natural to regard this Psalm rather than Psa 19:1-14, as two songs combined and made into one; but these two songs have an internal coherence; in Jahve's coming to His temple is found that which occasioned them and that towards which They point; and consequently they form a whole consisting of two divisions. To the inscription לדוד מזמור the lxx adds τῆς μιᾷs σαββάτου[1] (= שׁל אחד בשׁבת, for the first day of the week), according to which this Psalm was a customary Sunday Psalm. This addition is confirmed by B . Tamı̂d extr ., Rosh ha - Shana 31a, Sofrim xviii. (cf. supra p. 19). In the second of these passages cited from the Talmud, R. Akiba seeks to determine the reasons for this choice by reference to the history of the creation.
Incorporated in Israel's hymn-book, this Psalm became, with a regard to its original occasion and purpose, an Old Testament Advent hymn in honour of the Lord who should come into His temple, Mal 3:1; and the cry: Lift up, ye
- ↑ The London Papyrus fragments, in Tischendorf Monum. i. 247, read ΤΗ ΜΙΑ ΤΩΝ ΣΑΒΒΑΤΩΝ. In the Hexaplarian text, this addition to the inscription was wanting.
