comply with
such requirements will soon find that he does not possess, is to be
received from above, not elaborated from within; is a gift from God, not
a product of man's toils. God will make us pure, that we may dwell with
Him. Nor is this all. The condition of receiving such a gift has been
already partially set forth in the preceding clause, which seems to
require righteousness to be possessed as the preliminary to receiving
it. The paradox which thus results is inseparable from the stage of
religious knowledge attained under the Mosaic Law. But the last words of
the answer go far beyond it, and proclaim the special truth of the
gospel, that the righteousness which fits for dwelling with God is given
on the simple condition of _seeking_ Him. To this designation of the
true worshippers is appended somewhat abruptly the one word "Jacob,"
which need neither be rendered as in the English version as an
invocation, nor as in the margin, with an unnecessary and improbable
supplement, "O God of Jacob;" but is best regarded as in apposition with
the other descriptive clauses, and declaring, as we have found David
doing already in previous psalms, that the characters portrayed in them,
and these only, constituted the true Israel.

This is the generation of them that seek Him,
That seek Thy face--(this is) Jacob.

And so the first question is answered, "Who are the men who dwell with
God?"--The pure, who receive righteousness, who seek Him, the true
Israel.

And now the procession has reached the front of the ancient city on the
hill, and stands before the very walls and weather-beaten gates which
Melchizedek may have passed through, and which had been barred against
Israel till David's might had burst them. National triumph and glad
worship are wonderfully blended in the summons which rings from the lips
of the Levites without: "Lift up your heads, O ye gates! and be ye lift
up, ye doors (that have been from) of old!" as if even their towering
portals were too low, "and the King of glory shall come in." What force
in that name here, in this early song of the King! How clearly he
recognises his own derived power, and the real Monarch of whom he is but
the shadowy representative! The newly-conquered city is summoned to
admit its true conqueror and sovereign, whose throne is the ark, which
was emphatically named "the glory,"[S] and in whose train the earthly
king follows as a subject and a worshipper. Then, with wonderful