I. (48:1–3) The Lord, the King, Resides in Zion. The opening stanza celebrates Jerusalem (“the city of our God”; cf. 46:4; 87:3) as the place at which “God has made himself known as a fortress.” The theme, “Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised” (48:1; 96:4; 145:3), is expounded via reflection on how the unique position of the Jerusalem sanctuary is intended eventually to serve all nations.

The term “his holy mountain” (48:1) is a common designation for the temple mount (also called the “holy hill”; cf. 2:6; 3:4; 15:1; 43:3; 87:1; 99:9), the area at the northern end of the tongue of land called the “city of David” (2 Sam. 5:7).405 This is the place David acquired as the location for the sanctuary (2 Sam. 24:18–25), connected to Mount Moriah, where Abraham took Isaac (Gen. 22:2; cf. 2 Chron. 3:1).

A number of features show that the psalm is portraying Jerusalem with poetic imagination, a way of enabling the worshiping congregation to envision the place of this site in God’s larger scheme for the whole world. For example, the psalm calls the place “beautiful in elevation” and the “joy of all the earth” (48:2). As a matter of fact, the elevation of the Temple Mount is lower than that of the Mount of Olives directly to the east, and thus the temple is not physically visible to the surrounding nations. But the Israelite worshiper can picture the day when God will make it spiritually visible and draw the rest of the world to its rites (Isa. 2:1–5; cf. comments on Psalms 46:1–47:9; 48:9–11).406

By the same token the psalm locates Mount Zion “in the far north.” This expression appears elsewhere in the Bible as the name for a mysterious, and possibly mythical, location (Isa. 14:13; Ezek. 38:6, 15; 39:2)—which lends an air of God’s mysterious presence and purposes to a site that to the eye of sense is unremarkable.407

Jerusalem is also the “city of the great King” (a term Jesus uses for it; Matt. 5:35). As the great King, the Lord intends to make himself known eventually to all humankind (Mal. 1:14).

God resides in his sacred city through the sanctuary, in which his people come most fully into his presence. Believing worshipers can embrace their privileged place in God’s plan; reflecting on his greatness can help them to enjoy the idea that ultimately all nations will share in these privileges.

II. (48:4–8) The Kings of the Earth Thwarted from Attacking Her. These verses recount an event in which Gentile “kings assembled” to assault Jerusalem but were foiled, both by the impression Jerusalem’s magnificence made on them (vv. 5–6) and by an “east wind” that destroyed their fleet. The song presents what seems to be an actual event, although there is no way to identify which event this is—or whether, for example, it is an apocalyptic presentation of something yet to come. As Kidner puts it, “The language is sweeping enough to celebrate the great victories in ‘the wars of the Lord,’ and to anticipate the end itself.”408

“Ships of Tarshish” (v. 7) looks like a standard expression for vessels seaworthy enough to sail great distances on the open sea (1 Kings 10:22; 22:48; Isa. 2:16; 23:1, 14; 60:9; Ezek. 27:25). Jonah hired passage on a ship bound for Tarshish, most likely a location at the western end of the Mediterranean Sea (Jonah 1:3). It would require a great wind indeed to disable such a fleet, which would display God’s commitment to his people in a way that no one could ignore. The lesson here is that “God will establish” his city “forever” (48:8).

III. (48:9–11) The Lord’s Presence Brings Joy to His People. The people assembled for worship reflect on how God has displayed his “steadfast love,” not simply in personal deliverance and forgiveness but in preserving them as his people, whom he called so that his praise might reach “to the ends of the earth”—that is, so that the Gentiles would come to know him (cf. Mal. 1:14).

These great acts of deliverance for Jerusalem display God’s “righteousness” (48:10), which here (as often in the OT) refers to his faithfulness to keep his promises; the “judgments” (v. 11) have fallen on those who would oppress and destroy God’s people. “Mount Zion” and the worshipers on it may indeed “be glad,” and the “daughters of Judah” (the towns and villages) “rejoice” (cf. 97:8)!

IV. (48:12–14) Zion Endures to Tell the Next Generation. The singing congregation invites people to admire Zion and review its strength. As verses 1–3 had already made clear, this is not simply the city’s material defenses.

The people addressed in verses 12–13 could be Gentiles from the surrounding nations (cf. 47:1), but it is more likely that they are the fellow worshipers in the sanctuary. This makes sense of the references to “our God” and “us” (v. 14), the community worshiping in Jerusalem (for “our God”; cf. v. 1).

These worshipers know that the people of God are secure, and so they can “tell the next generation” of their security. Part of the responsibility of the faithful is to pass lessons on to coming generations (78:4, 6; 102:18); by singing of these things, the worshipers take their place in the historical stream down which God pours his grace, confident that “he will guide us forever” (48:14).409