Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 118:19

"Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will enter into them, I will give thanks unto Jehovah." — Psalms 118:19 (ASV)

The gates of righteousness. —This is explained by the next verse as the gate of the Temple, where the righteous, that is, 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 Psalm 24:0, and summoning the gates to open on its approach.