Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

24:3-6 Who Receives Blessing from Him? This section reminds the worshipers of a recurring theme in the OT: although every Israelite may attend worship at the sanctuary (the hill of the Lord, his holy place), not everyone will really receive blessing (v. 5) or will genuinely enjoy the status of righteousness (v. 5). God expects his people to embrace their privileges from their hearts, and to show that in their behavior (vv. 4, 6). This theme appears elsewhere in the Psalms (e.g., Ps. 15:1-5; 51:16-19) as well as in Proverbs (e.g., Prov. 15:8) and the Prophets (e.g., Isa. 1:11-17). The Hebrew for clean (Ps. 24:4) can also be translated "innocent"; clean hands are those that have acted innocently toward others (Gen. 20:5; Ps. 26:6; 73:13). Likewise the pure heart is the one cleansed of all unworthy motives toward other people. (The LXX [Gk.] for "pure heart" lies behind the sixth beatitude, Matt. 5:8.) Thus true piety is shown both in hunger for God (Ps. 24:6) and in fair and generous dealing with one another (v. 4). to what is false. I.e., to idols.