Psalm 48 is a Song of Zion (Psalms 46, 48, 76, 84, 87 and 122), a hymn of praise of Zion, sung during a procession. All these psalms focus, in one way or another and to varying degrees, on Zion/Jerusalem. The psalm is also part of the Elohistic Psalter (using the word Elohim for God more frequently than Yahweh). Scholars normally understand the Elohist literary strand of the Pentateuch to be a northern tradition. The Psalm is a hymn to the glory of God. Some scholars think it comes from the late Persian period (ca. 430–330 B.C.). However, I am tempted to think that the reference to the failed attack by Sennacherib of Assyria (see Isaiah 37) in which 185,000 Assyrians were struck down, by the hand of the Lord. Could the text come from Isaiah? One might consider it a royal wisdom psalm. The psalm has a logical progression, even if it has abrupt changes. The phrase “city of our God” gives us an opportunity to discuss the past, present, and future rule of Jerusalem. Zion is the seat of the power of God and is therefore a fortress that makes kings who assault it tremble and fell. The lavish praise of Zion points toward the sure and just rule of God. Singing songs of Zion for Christians today is a way of participating in the hope for the rule of God. It is a communal hymn focusing upon Jerusalem as the city of God and has a concern with a conflict between Israel and the nations where God saves Israel. It reworks certain old myths by historicizing them. It reflects an ideal rather than a real battle. It contains of a ritual, suggesting that the psalm reflects a ritualized commemoration of a divine victory.
The Superscription is A Song (shir). A Psalm of the Korahites.
Psalm 48:1-3 establishes a festive and majestic tone immediately. The psalm focuses on the congregation at worship. 1 Great is the Lord (yahweh)[1] and greatly to be praised in the city of our God. The opening sentiment is common in the Psalter we find it verbatim also at Psalms 96:4 and 145:3. We find the sentiment outside the Psalter at I Chronicles 16:25. With variations, we also find it at Psalms 35:27 and 40:16). The holy mountain of God, referring to the hill called Mount Zion, 2 beautiful in elevation, 2,510 feet above sea level at its highest point, is the joy of all the earth. The city is becoming a metaphor for what we are to find in God. Thus, God is the joy of all the earth. However, we find this idea of the significance of Jerusalem for the earth elsewhere in the OT. For example, Isaiah 2:2, where it will be the highest of mountains and nations shall stream to it. The notion of Israel as a source of universal blessing has its roots in the very earliest stratum of the concept of election. God chose Abraham to be the one through blessing will flow to all the families of the earth (Genesis 12:3). The dynastic tradition of David and the temple viewed Jerusalem, and especially Zion, as a continuation of the promise to Abraham to bless the nations by becoming the epicenter of global blessing. The psalm identifies it further as Mount Zion,[2] in the far north, Zaphon, referring to the mountain where Baal resided in Ugaritic myths, Yahweh absorbing qualities of Baal, including his place of residence,[3] the city of the great King,referring to God. Mount Zion was one of several sacred mountains in ancient Israel, but early in Israel's history acquired the status of primus inter pares. Mount Sinai was the site of Israel's most important religious revelation (Exodus 20). Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal were designated by Moses as sites on which the Israelites were to celebrate their reception of the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 11:29-30). Nevertheless, Mount Zion, as the location of the temple of Solomon, the biblical tradition extolled far more regularly and extravagantly than any other religious site. Zion is symbolically central, even though its near neighbor the Mount of Olives is taller. 3 Within its citadels, God has shown himself a sure defense. The ability of Jerusalem to defend itself becomes a metaphor for the safety and defense we can find in God. We find an example of Israel relating the social aspect of the lordship of God to the conquering of alien peoples in its own history and especially to its experiences of its own election by God and the conquest of the land that he had given it.[4] Verses 4-7 refer to the kings assembling. 4 Then 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; 6 trembling took hold of them there, pains as of a woman in labor, 7 as when an east wind shatters the ships of Tarshish. Tarshish as used in biblical texts suggests is a faraway place in the western Mediterranean, reachable by boat, most famously in Jonah 1:3. The Tarshish fleet represents well-built boats that are capable of long journeys. Some scholars will say that this assembling of kings refers to Sennacherib and the sudden departure of his armies in 701, which we find in II Kings (18:17), Isaiah (chapters 33 and 36) and II Chronicles (32:9), as well as the extra-biblical Annals of Sennacherib. Although Sennacherib's invasion may lie in the background of the lines, the text as it stands now is literary rather than historical. We should see this as a representation of the saving deeds of God. Verses 8-11, they have heard and seen in the city of the Lord, which the Lord establishes forever. 8 As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God, (found only here and in verse 1 in the Bible) which God establishes forever. Selah. The physical presence of the God in the Jerusalem makes Jerusalem inviolable. Like most ancient Near Eastern civilizations, ancient Israel localized its patron deity in its political, social, and religious capital. The centralization of political, social, and religious power was the preeminent achievement of King David when he captured the ancient Jebusite city of Jerusalem and made it the seat of Israelite society (II Samuel 5, an achievement that experienced some resistance from the northern tribes of Israel). However, Ezekiel 10-11 portray the divine presence leaving the city, which allows its conquest. 9 We ponder your steadfast love (hesed), O God, in the midst of your temple. Such faithful care by God is localized in the Temple, where God resides. 10 Your name, which expresses the divine essence, O God, like your praise, reaches to the ends of the earth. Victory fills your right hand. The city becomes a metaphor of the steadfast love of God and the offering of praise to God. 11Let Mount Zion be glad, let the towns of Judah rejoice because of your judgments. The same phenomenon can be disaster for enemies and joy to God's people. The city rejoices in the divine judgment of retribution against the assembled enemies. The poet may personify Mount Zion. In verses 12-14, the congregation is to walk around Zion and note its towers and ramparts. The psalm ends as it began, with a focus on the greatness of the city and its God. 12 Walk about Zion, go all around it, count its towers, 13 consider well its ramparts; go through its citadels, describing a ritual of walking around the city walls as found in Nehemiah 12, that you may tell the next generation 14 that this is God, our God forever and ever. They designed processions around the temple and city to leave an indelible impression to being home. Knowledge of God must be from generation to generation.
God will be our guide forever (‘al mavet, “over death,” but many translations follow the tradition of the Septuagint). However, the word could be a corruption of the same word we find in verse 46, alamot, and if so, the process of transmission misplaced it from the superscription in Psalm 49.
No city in the world evokes as much passion -- love and adoration -- and heated political opinions as the city of Jerusalem. The writer of this psalm is virtually euphoric about a city that -- already in his own time -- was an ancient city. Why? Moreover, what does this paean to the city of God say to us today? He refers to Jerusalem as the city of God. What other town would dare to market itself in such a manner?
What was the city of God like in ancient times? By the time the Bible mentions Jerusalem, it was already an ancient city. It may go back to the Copper Age in its founding. The area is a mountainous region with steep valleys on three sides, and only 60 miles to the south is Beersheba and a vast desert. If an ancient city survived in the Middle East over many centuries, then you know it had a water supply. Thus, Jericho, which some think may be the oldest city in the annals of human history, survived because of its natural water springs. Jerusalem was no exception. The Gihon spring offered the ancient city a water supply, its longevity ensured as a city protected on three sides by steep valleys. Its location in the mountains ensured its lifespan.
The city's first center of activity was in the southern area on a hill sometimes known as Ophel hill. After David captured it about 1004 B.C., Israel referred to it as the City of David as well as the Citadel. This area in the south part towered above the valleys below. To the east was the Kidron Valley, to the south the Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna) and to the west, the Tyropoeon Valley. The city was a wedge-shaped stronghold, a natural fortress that not surprisingly the psalms invoked as a metaphor frequently.
The Bible mentions the city as early as Genesis 14 (Salem), where Melchizedek governed it. Tradition associates the city with Moriah (although scholars are divided regarding this assertion), where Abraham was ready to sacrifice his son Isaac.
Finally, the city was a frequent site of joyous celebrations. Such an occasion no doubt inspired this psalm. David danced and rejoiced when worship leaders brought the Ark of the Covenant to the city coinciding with the advent of his regency there. Solomon threw a huge party when he dedicated the temple (I Kings 8:13-14). King Josiah also gathered the people of Israel together for an enormous Passover observance, one of the greatest of all time. II Chronicles 35:18 declares that no Passover ever celebrated could equal it. Yet, less than 50 years later, the city was in ruins, Judah was desolate and Babylonian soldiers carted many of its inhabitants to their city, an exile that lasted more than 70 years.
In Jesus' day, Jerusalem was an occupied city, but its religion flourished thanks in part to the presence of the second temple. The Babylonians had destroyed the temple Solomon built. When the Jewish people returned from exile, they built the second temple at the behest of the last of Judah's Old Testament prophets, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. King Herod had completed the temple's most recent renovations.
Then the city disappeared forever, it would seem, when the Romans, led by Titus, destroyed it in A.D. 70.
What can we say of the city of God now?
Although the city was in ruins following the campaign of Titus, people still lived in the region. When Pope Urban II announced a crusade to the east to evict the "infidels" and the antichrist who had positioned himself there, Christians, Muslims and Jews were living there in relative peace.
Today, the city is a flashpoint for international political movements. I do not want to have an extended discussion of this. Christian connection to Israel and Jerusalem has a theological component. As Paul makes clear in Romans 9-11, Christians have a deep connection with the Jewish people. They are our spiritual ancestors. Christianity arose out of a Jewish root. Today, to respect and nourish that relationship involves respecting the role Israel and Jerusalem play in the life and thought of the Jewish people. In my journey to Israel, among the meaningful and memorable moments was the stop at the Wailing Wall. This outdoor synagogue is a place of prayer. With all the tensions in the area, I found myself longing for peace. I wrote my prayer on a small piece of paper and placed it in the wall. Christians can always include a prayer for the peace of this city.
Here is the unofficial national anthem of Jerusalem.
Oh Jerusalem of gold and of light and of bronze;
I am the lute for all your songs.
But as I sing to you, my city,
and you with crowns adorn,
I am the least of all your children,
of all the poets born.
Your name will scorch my lips forever,
like a seraph's kiss, I'm told.
If I forget thee, golden city,
Jerusalem of gold.[5]
What can we say of the city of God someday?
The Book of Revelation describes Jerusalem as a holy city, seeing an updated version of the city descending from heaven. This New Jerusalem is a vision of a post-mortal life that is everything for which John's audience of beleaguered and suffering Christians yearned. Whereas the Christian believer in this life suffered persecution, the threat of death and all manner of distress, in the next life he or she would rejoice in the presence of God. No more tears. No more death. Moreover, one's new existence in this holy city (located on or in an entirely new heaven and earth) would be beautiful by comparison. We find the details in Revelation 21.
What is the relevance of the city of God today? To answer this question, let us look at the psalm itself. It develops the city of God as a metaphor for God.
First, if this magnificent city, Jerusalem, is a fortress and stronghold, so is God. Do we not go through those experiences in life during which we need shelter -- some place that is safe and secure? God is this refuge, and the city of God described here in Psalm 48 is a metaphor for the overwhelmingly superior nature of the stronghold that is God.
Second, God's love is forever (verses 8-9). It does not wax and wane. It is certain and anticipated.
Third, God is to receive praise (verse 1). Yes, this is part of the relevance of this psalm. The psalmist reminds us that the magnificence of the city of God evokes praise from us.
Fourth, the city of God points to its creator, architect, and defender who will be our guide forever (verse 14). As Americans, we must be reminded of the mighty deeds and acts of our forefathers and foremothers who secured our liberty. In the same way, we must continue to remind ourselves that God, who has been our guide in the past, will be our guide in the future.
In writing about the city of God, I find it hard not to think of Augustine at this point.
The sack of Rome by the Visigoths in 410 left Romans in a deep state of shock, and many Romans saw it as punishment for abandoning traditional Roman religion for Christianity. In response to these accusations, and to console Christians, Augustine wrote The City of God, arguing for the truth of Christianity over competing religions and philosophies and that Christianity was not responsible for the sack of Rome, but instead was responsible for its success. He attempted to console Christians, writing that even if enemies imperiled the earthly rule of the empire, the city of God would triumph. Augustine fixed his eyes firmly on heaven, a theme of many Christian works of late antiquity, and despite Christianity's designation as the official religion of the empire, Augustine declared its message to be spiritual rather than political. Christianity, he argued, should concern itself with the mystical, heavenly city, the New Jerusalem, rather than with earthly politics.
The book presents human history as a conflict between what Augustine calls the earthly city and the city of God, a conflict that in which God has determined victory for the latter. The mark of the city of God is people who forgo earthly pleasure to dedicate themselves to the eternal truths of God, now revealed fully in the Christian faith. The earthly city, on the other hand, consists of people who have immersed themselves in the cares and pleasures of the present, passing world.
[1] According to Charles Briggs, the use of both divine ascriptions (proper name Yahweh, v. 1, and generic title God, v. 14) shows the layers of editing this psalm has undergone, with the single reference to Yahweh suggesting a later addition to an otherwise Elohistic psalm (see Briggs, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Psalms [Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1907], vol. 1, 400-04).
[2] The etymology of the name Zion is uncertain, with roots from Hebrew, Arabic, Syriac and even Hurrian (a non-Semitic language) having been suggested. Whether the original name was derived from "castle" (Hebrew), "dry land" (Arabic), "tower" (Syriac), or "river or brook" (Hurrian), by the time of Zion's elevation in Hebrew memory, all of these and other connotations were associated with the spot.
[3] This is, of course, hyperbole (unless we are to assume that the psalmist is writing from the perspective of Israel's deep south -- the Negev? -- which seems unlikely). Any number of mountains were much farther north in Israel than Mount Zion, and it is more likely that the psalmist is actually referring to Mount Zaphon, an ancient Canaanite name for modern Jebel Aqra, the highest mountain in Syria, located on the Mediterranean coast near the mouth of the Orontes River. In biblical Hebrew, tsaphon (or zaphon, although the first Hebrew letter is pronounced ts rather than z) is usually translated "north," as here, but the same word is translated in Isaiah 14:13 as the proper toponym: "I will sit on the mount of assembly on the heights of Zaphon." To equate Mount Zion and Mount Zaphon (or at least to associate them) would be the psalmist's way of overlaying (or exercising religious and cultural hegemony over) the earlier Canaanite sacred tradition with the later Israelite tradition: the God of Mount Zion is the God of Mount Zaphon as well. The image extends the universal idea expressed earlier in the same verse.
[4] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 50.
[5] --Naomi Shemer, from the song, "Yerushalayim shel Zahav" ("Jerusalem of Gold"), Israel's unofficial national anthem.
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