Gates. — The LXX. and Vulgate miss this fine personification, by rendering “princes” instead of “heads.”
“Lift up your gates, O princes.”
The sacrifice of the poetry to antiquarianism, by introducing the idea of a “portcullis,” is little less excusable. The poet deems the ancient gateways of the conquered castle far too low for the dignity of the approaching Monarch, and calls on them to open wide and high to give room for His passage.
Everlasting doors. — Better, ancient doors, “gates of old;” an appropriate description of the gates of the grim old Jebusite fortress, “so venerable with unconquered age.” For ôlam in this sense comp. the giants “of old” (Genesis 6:4), the “everlasting hills” (Genesis 49:26, &c.), and see Note to Psalms 89:1.
The King of glory shall come in. — This name, in which the claim for admission is made, connects the psalm immediately with the ark; that glory, which had fled with the sad cry Ichabod, has returned; the symbol of the Divine presence and of victory comes to seek a lasting resting-place.