Psalms 48:2

Beautiful for situation,.... This, and what follows, are said of the city of God, the city of Jerusalem, which was delightfully situated on an eminence, in a wholesome air; the brook Kidron gliding

Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King. Beautiful for situation - rather, 'in its elevation' [ nowp (H5131)].

The joy of the whole earth: Jerusalem may be so called here, as it is also , not actually, as if all people did rejoice in it, or for it; but, 1. Fundamentally or causally, because here was very great cause or ground or rejoicing for the Gentile world, if they had understood themselves, or their true interest; because here God was graciously present and ready to hear and answer the just desires and prayers, not only of the Israelites, but of any stranger, of what nation soever, according to Solomon’ s prayer, , &c.; and here the Gentiles might find that God, whom like blind men they groped for, as the Greek phrase implies, ; and here they might be informed of the nature and properties, as also of the mind and will, of the almighty and everlasting God, of which they were so grossly ignorant, and of that Messias who was the desire of (and consequently matter of great joy unto) all nations, . And, 2. Prophetically, because the joyful doctrine of the gospel was to go from thence unto all nations; of which see ,3 Mic 4:1,2. Yet these words may be and are by others rendered and understood thus, the joy of the, or this, (for here is an emphatical article,) whole land. On the sides of the north, i.e. which is on the northern part of Jerusalem. But because Josephus and some others affirm that Mount Zion stood southward from Jerusalem, this clause possibly may be added to signify that Zion is not here to be understood strictly and properly for that mountain, or part of the mountain so called, but for that other mountain, or part of the same mountain upon which the temple was built, which was strictly called Moriah, but is here called Zion, because that name was far better known in Scripture, as being oft put for the temple, as , and for the whole city, and for the church of God, in a multitude of places of Scripture. The city of the great King, i.e. the city of God, as it was now called, , who justly calls himself a great King, , as being King of kings, and Lord of lords, .

Psalms 48:2 Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, [is] mount Zion, [on] the sides of the north, the city of the great King.Ver. 2. Beautiful for situation] A beautiful nymph, so R. Solomon. Or, beautiful for the branch that droppeth balsam, saith Moller; Pulcher surculo, beautiful branch, that is, for the ark there seated. Or, for the tract and climate, as Joshua 12:23, situated on the north side of Jerusalem, as Isaiah 14:13, in a cold, dry, and clear air, as Job 37:22. Sanantur illi, qui illic infirmi conveniunt, saith Kimchi, they which come thither weak are made well. The joy of the whole earth] Not only of the whole land, because thither three times a year the tribes went up, the tribes of the Lord unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord, Psalms 122:4, not only of the East, whereof Jerusalem was held and called the queen, Urbium totius Orientis clarissima, saith Pliny, see Lamentations 1:1, but also of the whole earth, Sumen totius orbis, as one calleth it, and Rabshakeh himself (in that more ingenuous than Strabo) confesseth Judea to be a land of grain and wine, of bread and vineyards, Isaiah 36:17. Hence it is called the excellency of Jacob, Psalms 47:4, the goodness of the Lord for wheat and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd; for all which men should come to sing in the height of Zion; but especially for spiritual blessings, that their souls might be as watered gardens, and they not sorrow any more at all, Jeremiah 31:12; but come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads, Isaiah 35:10, for the grace of God, that bringeth salvation to all men, therehence appearing, Titus 2:11 Isaiah 2:3-4. If Plutarch could say of Rome in Numa’ s time, that the neighbour villages, sucking in the air of that city, breathed righteousness; how much better might the same be said of this city of the great King, where God himself was resiant, and his sincere service was established! Psalms 132:13.

(2) Situation.—Heb., nôph. A word only found here, but explained from a cognate Arabic word to mean elevation. And this feature is quite distinctive enough of Jerusalem to lend confirmation to this explanation—“Its elevation is remarkable.” (See Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, p. 170.) On the other hand, an adverbial use—highly beautiful or supremely beautiful (comp. Lamentations 2:15, “The perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth”) may be all that the poet intends. Sides of the north.—A common phrase, generally taken to mean the quarter or region of the north (see Ezekiel 38:6; Ezekiel 38:15; Ezekiel 39:2; Isaiah 14:13), but which, from the various uses of two words making it up, might mean northern recesses or secret recesses, according as we adopt the derived or the original meaning of tsâphôn. With the former of the two meanings we should see a reference to the relative position of the Temple and its precincts to the rest of the city. For the identification of the ancient Zion (not to be confounded with the modern Zion) with the hill on which the Temple stood, see Smith’s Bib. Dict., art. “Jerusalem.”(Comp. Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, p. 171.) If, on the other hand, we elect to render secret, or hidden, or secure recesses, we have a figure quite intelligible of the security and peace to be found in God’s holy city: Beautiful for elevation, The whole earth’s joy; Mount Zion, a secure recess, City of the great King. And the thought is taken up in the word refuge in the next verse. (Comp. Ezekiel 7:22, where the Temple is actually called “Jehovah’s secret place.”)

Verse 2. The joy of the whole earth] Commentators have been greatly puzzled to show in what sense Zion, or the temple, could be said to be the joy of the whole earth. If we take the earth here for the habitable globe, there is no sense in which it ever was the joy of the whole earth; but If we take כל הארץ col haarets, as signifying the whole of this land, (and it has no other meaning,) the assertion is plain and easy to be understood, for the temple was considered the ornament and glory of the whole land of Judea.

2. Beautiful for situation] Rather, as R.V., beautiful in elevation. Cp. Psalms 50:2. “Its elevation,” writes Dean Stanley, “is remarkable; occasioned not from its being on the summit of one of the numerous hills of Judaea, like most of the towns and villages, but because it is on the edge of one of the highest tablelands of the country.… To the traveller approaching Jerusalem from the west or east, it must always have presented the appearance … of a mountain city; breathing, as compared with the plains of Jordan, a mountain air; enthroned, as compared with Jericho and Damascus, Gaza or Tyre, on a mountain fastness” (Sinai and Palestine: pp. 170, 171). May not the poet also have in mind that ‘ideal’ elevation of which the prophets speak? e.g. Isaiah 2:2; Micah 4:1. the joy of the whole earth] Lamentations 2:15 combines this phrase with that of Psa 50:2. “Is this the city that men called, The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth?” Cp. Isaiah 60:15. on the sides of the north] Thus rendered, the words appear to be a topographical description of the situation of Mount Zion to the north of the city; or, if we render, on the sides of the north is the citadel of the great King, a description of the position of the Temple. But ‘Mount Zion’ in this Psalm is not a part of the city but the whole city (Psalms 48:11-12); a merely topographical description would be frigid in the extreme; the rendering involves a doubtful construction; and it gives a very inadequate meaning to the phrase the sides of the north. This phrase occurs elsewhere in Isaiah 14:13; Ezekiel 38:6; Ezekiel 38:15; Ezekiel 39:2; and in all these passages it means the recesses or remotest quarters of the north. In Isaiah 14:13 “the uttermost parts of the north” (R.V.) are mentioned as the locality of the sacred mountain, which according to Asiatic mythology was the abode of the gods. This mountain, corresponding to the Olympus of the Greeks, was the Meru of the Indians, the Alborg of the Persians, the Arâlu of the Assyrians and Babylonians. It would seem that the Psalmist boldly calls Mount Zion the uttermost parts of the north with reference to this mythological idea. According to this interpretation Psalms 48:1-2 may be rendered as follows: Great Is Jehovah, and exceeding worthy to be praised, In the city of our God is his holy mountain. Beautiful in elevation, a Joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, The uttermost parts of the north, the citadel of the great King. The sacred mountain of our God is not in the remote recesses of the north, but in the very midst of the city of His choice. Zion is in reality all that the Assyrians claim for their fabled mount of the gods. Their king too may style himself ‘great,’ but Zion is the citadel of One Who is in truth the great King, for He is the King of all the earth (Psalms 47:2; Psalms 47:7).

Beautiful for situation - The word rendered “situation” - נוף nôph - means properly “elevation, height,” (Ges.

1-3. These verses declare the glory of God in Zion, and the glory of Zion in the whole earth, first, for her strength and beauty, but chiefly as the abode and city of God.