Psalms 48

In the crisis of her uttermost peril Jehovah has proved Himself the protector of Zion (Psalms 48:1-8): and the citizens of the rescued city are bidden to deepen their sense of His mercy by reflecting on the marvellousness of the deliverance vouchsafed to them (Psalms 48:9-14). The Ps. is the companion and counterpart to Psalms 46. There the Presence of God in the midst of Zion as the guarantee of her safety, here the safety of Zion which is the result of that Presence, is the leading idea. Reasons have already been given for believing that the Psalm celebrates the escape of Jerusalem from Sennacherib’s threatened vengeance. It is the work of an eyewitness of the deliverance: it appeals to those who knew from what imminent peril they had been saved. The parallels with Isaiah’s prophecies of the time, especially with ch. 33, written partly before (Psalms 48:1-12), partly after (Psalms 48:13-14) the destruction of Sennacherib’s host, should be carefully studied. This Ps. is appointed as a proper Ps. for Whitsunday. Zion is the type of the Christian Church, and the Ps. which celebrates the glory of Zion and her safety under the care of her Divine protector is an appropriate Psalm for the festival which is the birthday of the Church. Title. A Song; a Psalm of the Sons of Korah (R.V.). A Song is the general term: a Psalm further defines it as intended for instrumental accompaniment. See Introd. p. xix f. The LXX adds, “for the second day of the week,” and we know from the Mishnah that the Psalm was recited on that day by the Levites in the Temple Services. See Introd. p. xxvii.

Psalms 48:1-2

1, 2. The theme of the Psalm: the greatness of Jehovah and the glory of His city.

Psalms 48:2

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). “The great king” was a title claimed by the king of Assyria (Isaiah 36:4); and the word for ‘great’ is not that used in Psalms 48:1 (gâdôl) but rab, which corresponds to the Assyrian title sarru rabbu (Schrader, Cuneif. Inser. p. 320). ‘City’ (citadel) is not the same word as in Psalms 48:1 (‘îr), but ḳ ?iryâh, a word which does not occur again in the Psalter, but is found several times in Isaiah (Isaiah 22:2; Isaiah 29:1; Isaiah 33:20). To many commentators it seems inconceivable that the Psalmist should allude to Assyrian mythology. But a writer of Isaiah’s time might easily have become acquainted with the religious ideas of the Assyrians, and the author of the Book of Job does not hesitate to introduce popular mythological ideas.

See Prof. Davidson’s note on Job 26:12 : and cp. Isaiah 27:1.

Psalms 48:3-8

3–8. Jehovah’s revelation of Himself as Zion’s protector in the recent discomfiture of her enemies.

Psalms 48:4

4. For, lo, the kings assembled themselves (R.V.): Sennacherib’s vassal kings (Isaiah 10:8) met at their rendezvous (cp. Psalms 2:2): they passed over together; uniting their forces they crossed the frontier and entered the land of Judah. Cp. Isaiah 8:7-8; Isaiah 28:15. The rendering passed away (R.V. marg.) is possible but unsuitable, for (1) assembled themselves needs some further explanation, and (2) it interrupts the order of the description: it is not until they have seen Jerusalem (Psalms 48:5) that they disperse in confusion. P.B.V. kings of the earth is from the Vulg. Cp. Psalms 76:12.

Psalms 48:5

5. They saw; forthwith they were amazed: They were dismayed, they made haste to flee. Caesar’s boast, Veni, vidi, vici, was reversed. They came to Zion, they saw it, they were smitten with panic terror. Cp. Isaiah 33:3.

Psalms 48:6

6. Trembling took hold of them there: Pangs, as of a woman in travail. Cp. Exodus 15:14-15; and for the phrase though in a different connexion, Isaiah 33:14, “Trembling hath taken hold of the godless.”

Psalms 48:7

7. With an east wind Thou shatterest ships of Tarshish. As he gazes upon the wreck of the Assyrian enterprise, the poet apostrophises God with mingled awe and thankfulness. The language is plainly metaphorical. God’s might is irresistible. He shatters the stately ships of Tarshish with a sudden storm: with equal ease He annihilates the vast Assyrian army. Cp. Isaiah 14:24-27, noting the phrase, “I will break the Assyrian in my land.” For the metaphor comp. Ezekiel 27:26, where the fall of Tyre is described as a wreck; and Isaiah 33:23, where Jerusalem in her extremity (or, according to some commentators, the Assyrian power) is represented as a disabled ship. The east wind, notorious for its destructiveness, is often employed as a symbol of judgement (Job 27:21; Isaiah 27:8; Jeremiah 18:17); and ships of Tarshish,—the largest vessels, such as were employed for the voyage to Tartessus in the S.W. of Spain (cp. ‘East Indiamen’)—were emblems of all that was strong and stately (Isaiah 2:16). The alternative rendering of R.V. marg., ‘As with the east wind that breaketh the ships of Tarshish,’ is grammatically possible, but less suitable.

Psalms 48:8

8. Experience has confirmed what tradition (cp. Psalms 44:1) related of God’s marvellous works on behalf of His people, and justifies the confidence that He will never cease to guard the city of His choice. Cp. Psalms 87:5; Isaiah 62:7. But all such anticipations are conditional: Israel’s unfaithfulness made a literal fulfilment impossible.

Psalms 48:9-14

9–14. The lessons of deliverance.

Psalms 48:10

10. According to thy name] As is thy name (R.V.). God’s revelation of His power and lovingkindness receives worldwide celebration. Cp. Isaiah 33:13. To other nations beside Judah the destruction of the great tyrant’s army was a cause for rejoicing. Cp. Psalms 46:8 ff.; Nahum 3:19. thy right hand is full of righteousness] Ready to be exercised on behalf of Thy people in judgements on their enemies (Psalms 48:11). Cp. Isaiah 33:5.

Psalms 48:11

11. The R.V. assimilates the rendering to that of Psa 97:8, where the same words recur: Let mount Zion be glad, Let the daughters of Judah rejoice. The daughters of Judah are not the maidens of Judah, though the fact that women were wont to celebrate victories with dance and song may have suggested the use of the expression, but the cities of Judah, which had been captured by Sennacherib (Isaiah 36:1), and therefore had special cause for rejoicing at his overthrow. Country towns are regarded as ‘daughters’ of the metropolis. Cp. Numbers 21:25; Joshua 17:11; Joshua 17:16; the word for towns in both cases literally means daughters. 12ff. The inhabitants of Jerusalem had been confined within its walls during the siege: now they can freely walk round, and thankfully contemplate the safety of the walls and towers and palaces so lately menaced with destruction. Cp. Isaiah 33:20. tell] I.e. count, as in Psalms 22:17; Genesis 15:5. The retention of the archaism in R.V. is justifiable for the sake of the connexion with Psalms 48:13, where the same word is used for tell = narrate. But lately the towers had been counted with a very different object by the Assyrian officers reconnoitring the city in preparation for the siege (Isaiah 33:18).

Psalms 48:13

13. bulwarks] The outer wall or rampart. consider] Or, as R.V. marg., traverse. The word occurs here only, and is of doubtful meaning. But the rendering consider suits the context better. In either case the object is to convince themselves of the safety of the city. P.B.V. set up is derived from some Jewish authorities. that ye may tell it] Cp. Psalms 22:30-31; Psalms 44:1.

Psalms 48:14

14. For this God &c.] For such is God [Jehovah] our God for ever and ever. Jehovah is a God who has proved Himself the defender of His city and people, and will continue to be the same for ever. he will be our guide even unto death] Beautiful as is the thought, He (emphatic—He and no other) will be our guide unto death (or, in death, or, over death), it cannot be legitimately extracted from the present text, nor would such an expression of personal faith form a natural conclusion to this wholly national Psalm. Possibly the words ‘al mϋth (rendered unto death) should be read as one, with different vowels, ‘τlβmτth, ‘for ever.’ So the LXX and Symmachus. Possibly the words are the remains of a musical direction like that of Psalms 9, ‘al muth labbηn, meaning ‘set to the tune of mϋth,’ or that of Psalms 46, ‘set to ‘Alβmτth,’ which has been placed at the end of the Ps. (as in Habakkuk 3:19) instead of at the beginning, as is the rule in the Psalter, or which has been accidentally transferred from the beginning of Psalms 49. In this case the clause he will guide us seems incomplete, (though he will save us in Isaiah 33:22 offers an exact parallel), and we must either with Delitzsch suppose that the concluding words are lost; or, with Bickell, Cheyne, and others, transpose words from the first line to the second, and read For (or, That) such is God [Jehovah] our God: He will guide us for ever and ever. Cp. Isaiah 25:9.