Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

Psalm 48. Like Psalm 46, Psalm 48 is a hymn celebrating Zion as God's special city, which he defends for the sake of the world. It commemorates some great event, in which Gentile powers had besieged Jerusalem but came away dismayed; it recognizes that though material fortresses may have their place, it is crucial that God himself be the defense of his people.

48:1-3 The Lord, the King, Resides in Zion. The mention of his holy mountain (v. 1) and the temple (v. 9) shows that God resides in his sacred city through the sanctuary, in which his people come most fully into his presence. In the far north (v. 2) is apparently an idiom for where God has his throne (cf. Isa. 14:13), and thus the physical location of Mount Zion is not itself the focus here. It is the joy of all the earth, not yet in fact but in God's own plan (cf. Ps. 48:10). Jesus gets a name for Jerusalem, the city of the great King, from v. 2 (cf. Matt. 5:35); the sacredness of the city to God is why one should not take oaths by it.