Psalm 24 opens by saying one of the things about God I find most encouraging in this season of life: to Yahweh belongs the world and all that is in it (Psalm 24:1–2). He owns it all, and therefore his help is unlimited, regardless of how impossible any particular situation seems. The problem is that the next few verses seem to put God’s help beyond our reach. David asks, “Who can ascend the mountain of the LORD?” He answers, “He who has clean hands and a pure heart” (Psalm 24:3–5).

Not many Bible readers I know would identify as clean-handed and pure-hearted, not in an absolute sense. In fact, I don’t think David, the author of the psalm, would claim to be absolutely pure-hearted. Here’s the good news nestled in the middle of Psalm 24: David makes clear what he means by pure-hearted, and it doesn’t mean having a past free from massive moral failure.

Those Who Seek

The good news comes in verse 6: David says that those with pure hearts and clean hands are people who pursue Yahweh, those who seek his face.

Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. (Psalm 32:6 ESV)

A student saw me in the coffee shop yesterday morning and asked what I was reading. I shared this thought with them, and they said it reminded them of Jesus’s words: “Seek first the kingdom of God … ” (Matthew 6:33). It reminds me of another passage in the Sermon on the Mount:

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. (Matthew 7:7–8, ESV)

Both of these passages from Matthew, like Psalm 24, root the identity of God’s people in seeking God, not in being free from moral failure. The author of Psalm 24 knows all about massive, public moral failure. Being without fault has never been what it means to be God’s people, not since Genesis 3.

Speaking of Genesis, the part of verse six that makes most clear what it means to be pure-hearted comes in the very last word, “Jacob.” David refers to God as “the God of Jacob.”¹

Jacob

Let’s read verse six one more time paying attention to the last word:

Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. (Psalm 32:6 ESV)

By speaking of Yahweh as “the God of Jacob,” David offers a subtle but clear reminder of the character of both God and his people. Jacob was a mess. For over twenty years, his selfishness and lies ruined his family. His brother determined to kill him, and his mom sent him away to live with her brother. But after twenty years of “exile” in Paddan-Aram, Jacob returned home a changed man — not perfect but one who was actively seeking the LORD. He prayed in desperation,

I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I’ve become two camps. Please deliver me from the hand of my brother … (Genesis 32:10–11 ESV)

Conclusion

You have options when you read “pure-hearted” and “clean-handed” in Psalm 24. You can let the voice of your fear tell you what those words mean, or you can let 24:6 and the story of God give you the context. David wants you to remember that Yahweh is the God of Jacob.

Jacob is someone I can identify with.² Like me, it took Jacob decades to figure out what it means to follow God. When Jacob turned the corner, he recognized his insufficiency, and he sought the LORD. This is something we can all do. We can’t live lives free of failure, but we can turn and seek the LORD daily, hourly. Those who are pure-hearted like Jacob have access to the God who owns all that fills the world (Psalm 24:1–2). The God of Eden is our Father. Those who are pure-hearted like Jacob can expect to receive the Father’s help (Psalm 24:5).

This kind of realization about Psalm 24:1–6 prepares us to say the final verses (24:7–10) with a smile and with joy — joy that fills the eyes with apocalyptic visions of personified gates and Yahweh himself coming to live with us:

Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, mighty in battle! Lift up your heads, O gates! And lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory! Selah (Psalm 24:7–10 ESV)

1. Here, the ESV follows the Septuagint rather than the Hebrew in BHS, which reads, “This is the generation of those who pursue him, those who seek your face,” O Jacob (BHS Psalm 24:6). I read “Jacob” in the Hebrew of BHS as a vocative (in function). David turns from addressing the LORD — “Those who seek your face” — to addressing the LORD’s people. He calls out to God’s people with the name Jacob, reminding them of what it looks like to be full of faults and yet seek the LORD. ↩
2. In this post, you’ll find a few rhyming that I wrote about Jacob: Grab the Heel, an expression of why I find his story so meaningful. ↩