(19) The gates of righteousness.--This is explained by the next verse as the gate of the Temple, where the righteous, i.e., Israel alone, entered. There does not seem the least reason for taking the words here in any but this literal sense, though doubtless they are capable of endless spiritual applications. We must imagine a procession chanting the triumphal song as in Psalms 24, and summoning the gates to open on its approach.

Verse 19. - Open to me the gates of righteousness. The great gate of the temple being now reached, admission to the interior is requested. The gates are called "the gates of righteousness,"

(1) as gates which none but the righteous ought to enter (see the next verse); and

(2) as gates through which access is gained to the sanctuary of him who alone is truly righteous, and the source of all righteousness in others. I will go into them, and I will praise the Lord. Praise could be given to God any where; but it was most appropriately offered "in the courts of the Lord's house, even in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem" (Psalm 116:19).

118:19-29 Those who saw Christ's day at so great a distance, saw cause to praise God for the prospect. The prophecy, ver.Open to me the gates of righteousness,.... The doors of the sanctuary or tabernacle, so called, because none but righteous persons might enter in at them, or who were clean in a ceremonial sense; and because sacrifices of righteousness were here offered. The words are addressed to the porters, or Levites, that kept the doors of the tabernacle, to open them. The Targum is,

"open to me the gates of the city of righteousness;''

Jerusalem, so called Isaiah 1:26; the gates of which were opened to David, when he took it from the Jebusites. An emblem of the church or city of God, the gates of which are opened to the righteous to enter into now; and of the New Jerusalem, and of the heavenly glory, into which the saints will have an abundant entrance hereafter; see Isaiah 26:1. Moreover, these may be the words of the Messiah, requiring the gates of heaven to be opened to him by his blood, he having obtained redemption for his people; see Psalm 24:7;

I will go in to them, and I will praise the Lord: at the gates of the tabernacle David entered, and praised the Lord for his deliverance and salvation, and for the many favours and honours bestowed on him; and in the church of God do the saints praise him, as they will do in heaven to all eternity; and where Christ, as man, is praising his divine Father, Psalm 22:22.