Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. (Psalm 24:3-5)
Before we move on from this verse, there is one more topic I wish to address: what it means to have clean hands and a pure heart. In a literal sense, David’s mention of clean hands alludes to the fact that, before entering the Sanctuary — the House of God’s Presence — it was required for all to immerse themselves in a mikveh in order to be ritually clean. Before entering the Holy Place, the priests were required to wash their hands and feet at the Brazen Laver for the same reason — to be regarded as ceremonially clean, a must before approaching the Holy One of Israel.
On the spiritual side of things, having clean hands means that one is guiltless and innocent of wrongdoing; or we could say, it speaks of the one who has repented of wrongdoing thus having his hands cleansed of guilt. If one expects to approach God, they cannot go into His house with dirty hands, which is to say, having served idols or acted deceitfully. For most of us growing up, you didn’t dare go to the dinner table with dirty hands and face; likewise we shouldn’t enter God’s Presence with the stain of unrepentant sin still on our hands. We must recognize our transgression, be cleansed from unrighteousness and then be received into His Presence.
When it comes to having a pure heart, the meaning should be clear: we mustn’t harbor deceit and wickedness within our heart if we truly desire to draw close to God. There is another layer to this, however, when we look at the wording in Hebrew. The word translated as pure is בר bar which is also rendered as “clean.” What I find to be even more interesting is that the Aramaic word, bar, means “son.” It occurs to me that David hints that those who are worthy of standing in God’s Presence are more than just servants — they are sons and daughters. As it is written, “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you and you shall be My sons and daughters” (2 Corinthians 6:17-18).
Those with the heart of a son willingly turn away from false gods and the deceit of wickedness. Those with the heart of a son desire to go beyond the courtyard experience of the common servant, preferring to reside in the bosom of our Heavenly Father. This does not come without cost, and while the greater cost of this privilege has been paid by Messiah, it is still incumbent upon us to honor our Father’s expectations of how we are to live — He calls us to holiness. With that in mind, let’s close with this admonition: “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded” (James 4:8).
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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