Psalms 48:1 - Meaning and Application

The psalmist means to praise Jerusalem and show its greatness, but he begins with the praise of God and his greatness (Psalm 48:1), and he ends with God’s praise and goodness (Psalm 48:14). Whatever we praise, God must be the beginning and the end of our praise. More than that, anything said to honor the church should also honor the church’s God.

What is said here for Jerusalem’s honor is this: the King of heaven claims it. It is “the city of our God” (Psalm 48:1), the city he chose from all the cities of Israel for his name to live there. God said better things about Zion than about any other place on earth: “This is my resting place forever. Here I will live, because I desire it” (Psalm 132:13, Psalm 132:14). It is also “the city of the great King” (Psalm 48:2), the King of all the earth, who is pleased to show himself there in a special way. Jesus uses this truth to show that to swear by Jerusalem is really to swear by God himself (Matthew 5:35), because it is the city of the great King, set apart as the special place of his grace, just as heaven is the special place of his glory.

Jerusalem is also a place lighted by the knowledge of God. “In Judah God is known,” and his name is great there, but especially in Jerusalem, where the priests were stationed to keep and teach this knowledge. In Jerusalem, God is great (Psalm 48:1). In other places, people treated him as small or as nothing at all. Happy is the kingdom, city, family, or heart where God is great, where he comes first, where he is everything. There God is known (Psalm 48:3), and where he is known, he will be honored. No one thinks little of God unless they do not know him.

Jerusalem is also devoted to God’s honor. That is why it is called the mountain of his holiness, because holiness to the Lord is written over it and over all its things (Zechariah 14:20, Zechariah 14:21). This is a privilege of Christ’s church, that it is a holy nation, a special people. Jerusalem, which pointed forward to the church, is called the holy city, even though it was bad in many ways (Matthew 27:53), and it was never called that again after that.

It is also the place God appointed for his public worship. There he is greatly praised, and greatly to be praised (Psalm 48:1). The clearer our view of God and his greatness, the more we should praise him. Those who came from all parts of the land to bring their offerings to Jerusalem had reason to thank God that he not only allowed them to come before him, but promised to accept them, bless them, and count their service as praise and honor to himself. In this way, Jerusalem pointed ahead to the gospel church. The small amount of praise God receives from this earth rises mainly from that church, which is why it is his tabernacle among people.

Jerusalem is also under God’s special protection (Psalm 48:3): “He is known as a refuge.” That means he has shown himself to be a safe place, and his worshipers come to him that way. Those who know him will trust him and seek him (Psalm 9:10). God was known not only in the streets of Jerusalem, but even in its palaces, as a refuge. The great men there turned to God and had real knowledge of him. Religion is more likely to flourish in a city when it rules in the palaces.

For all these reasons, Jerusalem, and especially Mount Zion where the temple stood, was loved and admired everywhere, “beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth” (Psalm 48:2). Its location must have been fitting, since infinite wisdom chose it for the sanctuary. What made it beautiful was that it was the mountain of holiness, because there is beauty in holiness. This world has been covered with shame through sin, so it was right that this place, made beautiful by holiness, should be called the joy of the whole earth. That is, the whole earth had reason to rejoice that God would truly dwell with man on the earth. Mount Zion was on the north side of Jerusalem, and so it protected the city from cold, harsh winds from that direction. Or, if fair weather was expected from the north, they were directed to look toward Zion for it.

The kings of the earth were afraid of Jerusalem too. The fact that God was known in their palaces as a refuge had already been shown in a striking way. Whatever the exact event was, they had had real cause to fear their enemies, because “the kings were assembled” (Psalm 48:4). The nearby princes had joined together against Jerusalem, and their leaders and armies were united for its destruction. They gathered all their strength and marched forward together, sure they would soon take the city that was meant to be the joy of the whole earth, but had become the object of its envy.

Yet God made those enemies fear Jerusalem. Just the sight of the city filled them with terror and stopped their anger, like the sight of Jacob’s tents frightened Balaam away from his plan to curse Israel (Numbers 24:2). “They saw it and were amazed; they fled in terror” (Psalm 48:5). It was not, “I came, I saw, I conquered,” but the opposite, “I came, I saw, I was defeated.” There was nothing in Jerusalem itself that was especially frightening. What they saw reminded them of what they had heard about God’s special presence there and the protection it enjoyed. God put such fear in their minds that they hurried away.

Even though they were kings, and even though they had joined together, they knew they were no match for Almighty God. So fear came on them, and pain (Psalm 48:6). God can take courage away from the strongest enemies of his church, and he can quickly bring pain on those who live comfortably. Their fear at the sight of Jerusalem is compared to the pains of a woman in labor, sharp and hard, sometimes sudden (1 Thessalonians 5:3), impossible to avoid, and part of the curse of sin. Their defeat is also compared to a terrible storm at sea that breaks ships apart, shatters them, and scatters them all over (Psalm 48:7): “You break the ships of Tarshish with an east wind.” Things at sea are exposed to this kind of ruin. God’s terrors are compared to an east wind (Job 27:20, Job 27:21). In that way, he threw their plans into confusion and broke all their schemes. Who can know the power of God’s anger?