Victorious King
Who Is This King?
This word primarily refers to a large number of people assembled for military purposes, i.e., an army (e.g.,
When men and women call on the name of God, God himself is worshiped (
“Name” in biblical usage correctly describes the person, place, or object and indicates the essential character of that to which the name is given.
Within the scriptural or Jewish categories available to them, no more lofty claim for Jesus could have been made than to associate him so strongly with the personal name of God.
The names of God are the descriptive appellations, designations, and titles he assigns to himself in the Bible, and therefore reveal the fitting ways in which we should think of him and call upon him.
The God of Scripture possesses personal names, titles, and metaphorical names. These names of God are usually descriptions of his character or power. The most important names of God are El—including its plural form Elohim, which was the common term for deity in the Semitic languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic, etc.)—and YHWH, which was the specific name used by the people of Israel by virtue of a special revelation from God given to Moses.
The name YHWH was so sacred that Jews eventually refused to pronounce it, which is why it contains no vowels in surviving manuscripts. Instead, they substituted the word Adonai (“my Lord”). Later translators conflated these two words, adding the vowels of Adonai to the consonants of YHWH to produce the hybrid form Yahowah—or “Jehovah,” as it has become in English. Modern scholars have reconstructed the likely original form Yahweh, which may be translated as “He who is,” “I will be who I will be,” or (as in the Septuagint) “I am.” It is in that latter form that Jesus claimed God’s name for himself (
9005 I. שֵׁם (šēm): n.masc.; ≡ Str 8034; TWOT 2405—1. LN 33.126–33.133 name, i.e., the proper designation of a person, place, or thing (
Turning now to the two great groups in which El or Jahweh forms part of the name, it is to be noted that the former had the first run of popularity. From David until after the Exile, Jah, Je, or Jeho is more common. From the 7th cent. B.C. onwards El is seen to be recovering its ground.
And there can be no doubt that from Moses’ time onwards it was derived from the ‘imperfect’ tense of the verb ‘to be,’ and was understood to mean ‘He who is wont to be,’ or else ‘He who will be.’ This is the explanation given in
Strictly speaking, Yahweh is the only ‘name’ of God. In Genesis wherever the word šēm (‘name’) is associated with the divine being that name is Yahweh. When Abraham or Isaac built an altar ‘he called on the name of Yahweh’ (
Yahweh, therefore, in contrast with Elohim, is a proper noun, the name of a Person, though that Person is divine. As such, it has its own ideological setting; it presents God as a Person, and so brings him into relationship with other, human, personalities. It brings God near to man, and he speaks to the Patriarchs as one friend to another.
A study of the word *‘NAME’ in the OT reveals how much it means in Hebrew. The name is no mere label, but is significant of the real personality of him to whom it belongs. It may derive from the circumstances of his birth (
In the Bible, the idiom of ‘lifting one’s head’ (
. When obedient Israel warred at God’s command against their enemies, they would take the ark of the covenant with them as a symbol of his presence as Warrior. Thus, as they return after the victory, the priests leading the way and carrying the ark would ask entry of a priest who was on the walls to open up the gates so they could return. God has manifested his glory in battle. He is the Lord Almighty, which is more literally translated ‘Lord of Hosts’, the hosts being his army.
Thus, the setting of the psalm is the aftermath of divinely commanded warfare in which God was seen as the One providing the victory over the enemy (see
David then gave an explanation. By question and answer he stated that this King of glory is the LORD, who is mighty in battle. The LORD had shown Himself strong by giving them great victories; so He is the glorious King who will enter the city. One can visualize a procession of triumphant Israelites carrying the ark, the symbol of the Lord’s presence, going up to the sanctuary to praise Him. The ideas in the exhortation (v. 7) and the explanation (v. 8) were repeated in verses 9–10. The repetition stressed the point: The LORD is a glorious King who is coming in. Only pure worshipers can enjoy His presence.
24:7 Lift up your heads The psalmists asks the doors of the temple to open for Yahweh’s entrance. This psalm was most likely used when the ark of the covenant returned from battle (see
24:10 Yahweh of hosts The Hebrew divine title used here, yhwh tseva'oth—which literally translates as “Yahweh of hosts” or “Yahweh of armies”—has military connotations (
The fivefold use of “King of glory” in our text-verse passage, and this King’s identification as the “Lord of hosts,” leads many commentators to believe that this passage is messianic (compare
