“A Psalm of David. O LORD, who may abide in Your tent? Who may dwell on Your holy hill? He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness, and speaks truth in his heart” (Psa 15:1–2).
Like Psalm 14, Psalm 15 alludes to the generation of the flood, but from a completely different angle. In Psalm 14, God looks down and sees a world filled with people who have corrupted their ways (Psa 14:1; Gen 6:11–12). “There is no one who does good, not even one” (Psa 14:1, 3). The man in Psalm 15, however, is described as a second Noah, one who is “blameless, righteous, and walks with God” (compare Psa 15:2 with Gen 6:9; 7:1). The connection between this impeccable man and Noah is further strengthened by the priestly imagery. Just as Noah built an altar upon a mountain to offer sacrifices for the renewal of the world (see Gen 8:4, 20–21), so this blameless and righteous man abides in God’s “tent” and “dwells upon his holy mountain” (Psa 15:1; 24:3).
Because this righteous priest-king will never be shaken, we have a forever priest in the tent of God pleading our case before the Father and making intercession for us.
These parallels to Noah, coupled with the strong gravitational pull of the Davidic-Messianic context of the Psalter (Psalm 1–2, 8, 18–19, 20–21), suggest that David is not merely encouraging personal piety, though he certainly does that, but is also pointing forward to humanity’s Savior.
Because this righteous priest-king will never be shaken (Psa 15:5; see Psa 16:8; 17:5; 21:7 [8]), we have a forever priest in the tent of God pleading our case before the Father and making intercession for us. Through this perfectly righteous priest-king, we too may enter boldly into God’s tent and abide with him forever (see Psa 16:8–11).
“This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek” (Heb 6:19–20).
