Psalm 48

A Song. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. 

1 Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised in the city of our God!

The celebration continues from the previous psalm. God has ascended to his throne above it all (Psalm 46) and at the same time has taken up residence in the city of Jerusalem, in his temple. He is both God with us, and God above us; God who is sovereign over all and God who is an ever present help in trouble. The fact that God has moved into the city is the theme of this psalm. God has come into our neighborhood, and because of that we are secure. Growing up I remember the church building often referred to as the Lord’s house, as if he lived there and we went to visit him each week. We were careful not to raise our voices or run in his place because it was different from other buildings. While I appreciate the respect that I was taught for this space in which we met with God each week, it’s not accurate to refer to a building as God’s house today. It was accurate in ancient Israel. God’s presence filled the temple and he reigned between the cherubim of the ark of the covenant. This was evidenced initially by the glory of God like a cloud filling the temple supernaturally on its dedication today as Solomon prayed. Isaiah had a similar experience (Isaiah 6). That all changed one day in Jerusalem, when believers gathered near Solomon’s portico and the Spirit of God fell and filled his people, his living temple. God doesn’t live in temples built by human hands. He has taken up residence in his people, the church. So when this psalm speaks about the beauty and security of Jerusalem, God’s city, it is actually a metaphor for the church. We are blessed to live in such a place, a community where each member is a temple where the spirit of God has taken up residence. May we reflect the One who is living inside of us, ruling over us and everything while simultaneously remaining constantly with us, dwelling in our inmost being. 

His holy mountain,

2 beautiful in elevation, is the joy of all the earth, Mount Zion, in the far north, the city of the great King.

3 Within her citadels God has made himself known as a fortress.

The centerpiece of the city of God is Mount Zion, the location of the temple mount and the ark of the covenant. As long as God is living in his city, it will be secure for all who dwell in it, for He himself is her fortress. She is both strong and beautiful, elevated above all other mountains, including Zaphon, the center of Baal worship and the location of the divine assembly of the gods. In physical terms it’s likely that Zaphon (translated literally as “far north” in the ESV) was a much more beautiful mountain. Like other sacred mountains -- Olympus in Greece and the man -made Ziggurats and pyramids, Zaphon was believed to be a place where heaven touched earth. Humans have always gone upward to meet with the gods because mountains are the closest they could get to the heavens (before the advent of flight). But the psalmist is declaring that humble Mt. Zion, not really a mountain but rather one of the hills in the rolling landscape of Judea where God chose to dwell in a modest temple made in the days of Solomon. It is not the building itself of the city in which it is located, but it is the God who dwells there -- this is what makes the city beautiful and secure. Jesus is the fulfillment of this idea of God dwelling with his people. God living in a building was something special alright, but it doesn’t compare to God literally moving into our neighborhood as a full human being. Jesus had next door neighbors in Nazareth who had no idea that the kid next door was YHWH, yet this is what the gospel teaches. Isaiah says that the messiah had no beauty or majesty or attractiveness that we would be drawn to him. In fact, in the same moment when the fullness of God’s love was on display, the ugliness of human brutality that was there as well. How has a place of death and torture become the most beautiful site on the planet? Why do we adorn our buildings and our bodies with an instrument of humiliation and death? How can we speak of the cross as being beautiful? It’s better than Zaphon or Olympus. It is the place in time where God visited us and demonstrated his unconditional love for every human being. Mt. Calvary, in the region of ancient Mt. Zion has taken its place as the most beautiful place on the planet because of what happened there. 

4 For behold, the kings assembled; they came on together.

5 As soon as they saw it, they were astounded; they were in panic; they took to flight.

The psalmist is not describing any actual event that I’m aware of, unless it is a dramatic retelling of Sennacherib’s invasion in 701 BC. The details of that event do not match this exactly. The Assyrian army ravaged the entire country before camping outside Jerusalem. After mocking the Jewish officials and preparing for the final assault, they panicked and retreated when they woke up to find the bulk of their army dead from a plague. We’ll grant the psalmist some poetic license and understand that perhaps it was this event that inspired the writing, and the principle remains the same going forward. Kings and foreign nations will come against Israel, but when they see that God dwells within his holy city, they will get out while they’ve got the chance. Perhaps the people even sang this song when a century later the Babylonian army surrounded the city as the Assyrians had. Of course, the outcome was far different -- a national catastrophe followed. Seventy years of captivity was evidence that God had moved out of his holy city and allowed a foreign army to plunder it. However, this non-battle that is described here has a familiar ring to it. It reminds me of the battle of Armageddon depicted in Revelation and 2 Thessalonians. Jesus, riding on a war horse with the name “King of Kings and Lord of Lords” tattooed on his thigh will turn back the assembled armies with the breath of his mouth. It is a surprising and overwhelming victory, the likes of which we haven’t seen since that Assyrian invasion. Jesus said this of his church, his holy city which he himself inhabits, “the gates of death itself will not prevail against the church”. No army of evil and death can resist the advance of the gospel. The truth of God’s unconditional love expressed in the person of Jesus is a plague to the Devil and his angels. It is like acid on their skin and laser beams in their eyes. It cannot be resisted. So take your place in the church today and live as a holy temple of God. The enemy will flee when he sees that you are serious. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 

6 Trembling took hold of them there, anguish as of a woman in labor.

7 By the east wind you shattered the ships of Tarshish.

Verse 6 continues to describe the experience of the Assyrian army when they awoke to find the bulk of their army deceased from a plague. They would have assumed this was an act of the gods -- either their gods turning on them or the Hebrew God. The poet uses the metaphor of a woman in labor, seized by pain that she cannot control, but that is controlling her. The army had a sense of loss and the fear of a power beyond their control. The invisible plague was not something they could fight; their weapons were useless, and so they were filled with a sense of dread. The reference to the ships of Tarshish may be referring to another event entirely unrelated to Israel’s history. The Phoenicians, based in Tyre (modern Lebanon) had a trade network stretched across the Mediterranean, including as far west as Carthage and Spain, one of the possible locations of Tarshish (Tarsus). Their cargo ships hugged the coastline, but no doubt there must have been a well-known naval disaster caused by a storm on the sea. Like every other natural disaster in the world, this was likely attributed to the gods, in this case, to YHWH as the one who shatters the power of armies on land and merchants on the sea. These scenes of fear and panic by the nations are designed to contrast with that of Israel who rests secure in God’s city. The same God who destroys armies in a night and sends the wealth of nations to the bottom of the sea is the God who defends his people. So today, Christians should be the last group of people to express fear, knowing that our security is ultimately in a God whose steadfast love will keep us safe eternally.

8 As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the LORD of hosts, in the city of our God, which God will establish forever. Selah

In a reference back to Psalm 46, the psalmist affirms the truth that God will make the city secure forever. The source of this confidence is based on two pieces of evidence. First, “we have heard.” There are historical records and stories that have been passed down. These have been written in the pages of books that likewise have been carefully copied and preserved. Stories of Noah and Moses, Joshua, Deborah, Samson, Gideon, David and Jonathan to name a few. We have heard that our God is the One who will save us and keep us secure. Second, “we have seen.” Our own personal experience verifies God’s salvation. While experience can be subjective, it is practically inarguable if the one having the experience is confident of it. Think of the blind man whom Jesus healed, “I don’t know who he is (I haven’t even heard about him), but I know that I was blind and now I see.” This phrase is also echoed in John’s testimony in the first verses of 1 John, “that which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes and looked upon, and our hands have touched, this we proclaim to you.” This is a statement of personal testimony by an eyewitness who has nothing to gain by lying. The psalmist has experienced God’s miraculous deliverance and can declare without a doubt that God guards his people with an army of angels. We are his city and he has established it forever. If you listen to people on social media you’d think that the church was in her last days, being corrupted and destroyed by either the right or the left. The church will exist long after the superpowers of this world have crumbled. The U.S. will at some point go the way of other nations before it. It may not be in my lifetime, but something different will follow, generational changes make that inevitable. But my hope is not in this nation and her people. My hope is in Jesus Christ and his church. The city of  God will endure forever. This is a government and a community without end. We have heard and we have seen. 

9 We have thought on your steadfast love, O God, in the midst of your temple.

10 As your name, O God, so your praise reaches to the ends of the earth. Your right hand is filled with righteousness.

The psalmist meditates on the uniqueness of God as compared to the gods of the nations. First, He is known by his steadfast love, his faithful, undeserved favor. This is not a thing that Baal and the other gods of the ancient pantheon were known for. Likewise, they were not known for their justice or righteousness. Instead they were capricious and needy. Israel is privileged to have this great God live in their midst, in a temple that they had built for that purpose. God’s reputation is universal. He is the creator of everything and everything by its very existence testifies to God’s greatness. Take a moment to ponder the beauty and wisdom of all that God has made. They are expressions of his steadfast love. Consider the good things that come from God’s right hand, his powerful, favored hand. He bestows common grace to all people, the privilege of life, love and family; the blessings of food and rest; the beauty and order of a planet that teems with life and runs like clockwork. He also rules in righteousness, a moral order that is woven into human nature as an aspect of the imago dei. With few psychopathic exceptions, humans intuit right and wrong and have a common moral understanding of the inherent value of life and liberty. We are not like the animals (again, there are exceptions when men and women set their hearts on denying the imago dei). The founders of our nation recognized that we are endowed by the Creator with the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This internal moral framework comes from God’s right hand, his righteousness. As the modern temple of God, the church is to be a place where God’s steadfast love and his justice are sourced. This should be what the church is known for, grace and truth, love and righteousness. Love that is faithful, forgiving, and divine; moral goodness that places others before self and is not indifferent to the poor. 

11 Let Mount Zion be glad! Let the daughters of Judah rejoice because of your judgments!

The psalmist calls for joy at the victory of God over the enemies of Judah. The city of Jerusalem itself is glad (Mount Zion) and the daughters of Judah (the lesser cities) rejoice because of God’s just judgment on their enemies. The phrase “daughters of Judah” is a metaphor in the OT for the smaller cities in Judah with Jerusalem being the “mother city”. The judgments here refers to the defeat of the Assyrian army, one of the cruelest war machines to exist in the ancient world. No doubt the literal daughters (women) of Judah would have rejoiced as well given the treatment of women by a conquering army. They men were tortured and lifted up on poles or taken away into captivity. The women would have been raped and taken captive as well, their children slaughtered before their eyes because they were of no use to the army. Unspeakable horrors like these were part and parcel of the barbaric times in which the Bible was written. We take this for granted living in a secure country where the justice system works much better. For the Jews of this day, they were celebrating the fact that their world did not end as expected. Imagine what our celebration will be like when we take up residence in the new Jerusalem! How much more clearly will we see the victory of God over the enemies of sin and death. How much greater will our security and peace be in that place and time! The church gives us a taste of that peace, security and victory. No matter what happens in this life, we have a community and we have a future. The church (Mt Zion, the new home of God) is glad and all of the congregations (Daughters of Judah) rejoice at God’s justice -- both his punishment of the forces of evil and the person of the Devil but the vindication of the saints through his justice dealt upon Jesus in the cross. 

12 Walk about Zion, go around her, number her towers,

13 consider well her ramparts, go through her citadels, that you may tell the next generation

14 that this is God, our God forever and ever. He will guide us forever. [Septuagint; another reading is (compare Jerome, Syriac) He will guide us beyond death]

The psalmist concludes his boast about the strength and beauty of Zion with an invitation. “Come see for yourselves.” Walk around, count the towers, set your heart on her walls, tour her palaces and defensive buildings. This is the finest city you will ever see in the ancient world (although most people are never going to travel to another country anyway, at least not of their own free will). The people are proud of their capital, especially after the stunning defeat of the Assyrians before her gates. And while they know that God gave them that extraordinary victory as an act of grace, they are still proud of what their hands have done. This seems to be a model of creativity -- do the work and give God the credit for it. The men of Hezekiah’s days did absolutely everything they could do to secure victory against terrible odds. They hoped against all hope that an act of God would stay the force of the Assyrians pillaging the city. We must do our part in the battle against the forces of evil. Yes we pray, “deliver us from evil”, but we also work to make the choices and take the actions that keep us from falling to temptation. The church is that fortress in which we live. Safely inside her protective boundaries and high vantage points we can spot danger coming and rest knowing that obedience to God’s laws is its own reward. The walls, towers, and citadels are representative of various aspects of the church. The same things that made cities secure does so for us today. The walls serve as barriers so that the church is unstained by the corruption in the world. The towers give us perspective, the big picture, the God’s eye view of the terrain, and they allow us to signal truth to the world. The citadels represent God’s house, his palace/temple in our midst. God has moved into our neighborhood and we’ll never be alone again. This is the beauty of Zion, of the church, that we celebrate in this psalm.