Psalms 24:6 - Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

The generation; the true progeny which God regards; whereby he reflects upon them, who boasted and trusted to their carnal generation or descent from Jacob. That seek him, to wit, God, mentioned in the end of Psalms 24:5, or his face, as it is more fully expressed in the next clause; i.e. that make it their care and study to know him, and his mind and will, and to please and serve him, as this phrase is usually understood. Thy face, i.e. his face, by a familiar change of the person; of which many instances have been already noted; and his face, i. e. his grace and favour, which is oft called God's face, as Genesis 4:14 Exodus 33:14,15 Psa 16:11 27:2 44:3. And so this phrase is used 2 Chronicles 7:14 Psalms 27:8 Hosea 5:15. O Jacob; so the sense is, that seek the true church, here called Jacob; that desire the knowledge of it, and conversation with it; in which sense many are said to seek Solomon's face, as the phrase is in the Hebrew, 1 Kings 10:24 2 Chronicles 9:23, and the harlot to seek her lover's face, Proverbs 7:15. And so this is by some expounded of the Gentiles, who inquired after the true church, and finding it in Jacob, were desirous to become proselytes, and to join themselves to the church of Jacob or Israel. But it must be remembered that the psalmist is not here speaking of the calling of the Gentiles, but only of the character or qualification of the true Jacobites or Israelites, who cannot conveniently be said to seek the face of Jacob, i.e. their own. And the phrase of seeking the face of Jacob, or of the church, is no where used in Scripture. Or, as it is in the margin, O God of Jacob. But that seems to be too large a supplement. Or, this is Jacob, the pronoun this being easily understood out of the beginning of the verse. Or, the generation (which may in the same manner be supplied) of Jacob, Jacob being here put not for the person, but for the posterity of Jacob, as it is Genesis 49:7 Numbers 23:7,10,23 Deu 32:9 Psalms 14:7; or for the church or people of God, which is oft called Jacob or Israel as Isaiah 14:1, Isaiah 41:8 44:1,5,21, &c. So the sense is, This and this only is the true Jacob or Israel, or church of God, and all others are so only in name and title, although they be descended lineally from him. Or, in Jacob, the particle in being here understood, as it is in Psalms 2:12, Psalms 17:12, and in many other places. So the sense of the place is, This is the true generation of them that seek God's face in Jacob, i.e. either in Jacob's land or sanctuary, the only place where God was to be sought; or among the Jacobites or Israelites; by which he insinuates what is expressed Romans 9:6, that all are not Israel that are of Israel, and that all were not Israelites indeed that were sprung from Jacob, but only those of them who were such as he described, Psalms 24:4. Compare 1 Thessalonians 1:47 Romans 2:28,29.