gates of Solomon's Temple; or, what seems to us much more appropriate in the mouth of those who are now standing before the gates, as the portals dating back into the hoary ages of the past (עולם as e.g., in Gen 49:26; Isa 58:12), the time of the Jebusites, and even of Melchizedek, though which the King of Glory, whose whole being and acts is glory, is now about to enter. It is the gates of the citadel of Zion, to which the cry is addressed, to expand themselves in a manner worthy of the Lord who is about to enter, for whom they are too low and too strait. Rejoicing at the great honour, thus conferred upon them, they are to raise their heads (Job 10:15; Zec 2:4), i.e., lift up their portals (lintels); the doors of antiquity are to open high and wide.[1]
Then the question echoes back to the festal procession from Zion's gates which are wont only to admit mighty lords: who, then (זה giving vividness to the question, Ges. §122, 2), is this King of Glory; and they describe Him more minutely: it is the Hero-god, by whom Israel has wrested this Zion from the Jebusites with the sword, and by whom he has always been victorious in time past. The adjectival climactic form עזּוּז (like למּוּד, with ı̆ instead of the ă in חנּוּן, קשּׁוּב) is only found in one other passage, viz., Isa 43:17. גּבּור מלחמה refers back to Exo 15:3. Thus then shall the gates raise their heads and the ancient doors lift themselves, i.e., open high and wide; and this is expressed here by Kal instead of Niph. (נשׂא to lift one's self up, rise, as in Nah 1:5; Hos 13:1; Hab 1:3), according to the well-known order in which recurring verses and refrain-like repetitions move gently onwards. The gates of Zion ask once more, yet now no longer hesitatingly, but in order to hear more in praise of the great King. It is now the enquiry seeking fuller information; and the heaping up of the pronouns (as in Jer 30:21, cf. Psa 46:7; Est 7:5) expresses its urgency (quis tandem, ecquisnam). The answer runs, “Jahve Tsebaoth, He is the King of Glory (now making His entry).” צבאות ה is the proper name of Jahve as King, which had become His customary name in the time
- ↑ On the Munach instead of Metheg in והנּשׂיאוּ, vid., Baer's Accentsystem vii. 2.
