A Study by Scott Sperling Psalm 48 - Great is the Lord   A song. A psalm of the sons of Korah.   1 Great is the Lord, and most worthy of praise, in the city of our God, His holy mountain. 2 It is beautiful in its loftiness, the joy of the whole earth. Like the utmost heights of Zaphon is Mount Zion, the city of the Great King.   3 God is in her citadels; He has shown Himself to be her fortress. 4 When the kings joined forces, when they advanced together, 5 They saw her and were astounded; they fled in terror. 6 Trembling seized them there, pain like that of a woman in labor. 7 You destroyed them like ships of Tarshish shattered by an east wind. 8 As we have heard, so have we seen In the city of the Lord Almighty, in the city of our God: God makes her secure forever.                  Selah    9 Within Your temple, O God, we meditate on Your unfailing love. 10 Like Your name, O God, Your praise reaches to the ends of the earth; Your right hand is filled with righteousness. 11 Mount Zion rejoices, the villages of Judah are glad because of Your judgments.   12 Walk about Zion, go around her, count her towers, 13 Consider well her ramparts, view her citadels, That you may tell of them to the next generation. 14 For this God is our God forever and ever; He will be our guide even to the end.   This psalm is a song of praise to the Lord for His protection and deliverance.  The protection of the children of God is, in this psalm, reflected in the beauty and safety of the city of God:  “Great is the Lord, and most worthy of praise, in the city of our God, His holy mountain.  It is beautiful in its loftiness, the joy of the whole earth.  Like the utmost heights of Zaphon is Mount Zion, the city of the Great King” (vss. 1-2). “How great Jehovah is, essentially none can conceive; but we can all see that He is great in the deliverance of His people, great in their esteem who are delivered, and great in the hearts of those enemies whom He scatters by their own fears” [Spurg. 360].  “As God shows His greatness and glory in all His works, and specially in His care for, respect unto, and operation in His church; so should He have glory and praise from His church, for and from all His works, but specailly for His care of her” [Dickson, 278].  At times, though, it is difficult to praise Him, not because He is not worthy of praise, but because it is difficult to find words to express the greatness of God.  He is “worthy” of our loud and continuous “praise”.  “It is not possible for us to praise God too much or in strains too exalted, for He is ‘most worthy of praise’” [Plumer, 536]. For the children of Israel, God’s Spirit was present on Mount Zion, “His holy mountain.”  God’s mere presence was certainly enough to make mount Zion “beautiful in its loftiness, the joy of the whole earth.”  “God’s presence makes any place notable and desirable.  It makes a stone in the wilderness a Bethel.  It makes Jerusalem the most famous city in the world.  The birth of Jesus made Bethelhem, and His residence made Nazareth famous to all coming time.  But all these were otherwise poor places, and the latter of them was even infamous” [Plumer, 536]. Though the city of God, Jerusalem, was fortified, its safety lie only in the fact that God was present:  “God is in her citadels; He has shown Himself to be her fortress” (vs. 3). The citadels would not protect very well without the presence of God, as became evident later after God’s Spirit left the city.  “His saints must not trust in fortresses, castles, palaces; but in God alone” [Plumer, 533].  We too must show this same attitude.  We should not trust in the things of the world for safety.  Our bank accounts, our worldly standing, our physical stature—none of these things are sufficient to fully protect us.  Only God is a mighty fortress.  And note, “He has shown Himself to be her fortress.”  We can be sure that God is willing and sufficient to protect His people, because we have recorded so many instances throughout history where He has done so. The Psalmist gives a brief account of a recent instance of God’s protection:  “When the kings joined forces, when they advanced together, they saw her and were astounded; they fled in terror.  Trembling seized them there, pain like that of a woman in labor.  You destroyed them like ships of Tarshish shattered by an east wind” (vss. 4-7).  Apparently, the enemy was seized with a panic before they were even able to begin their attack. “No sooner did they perceive that the Lord was in the Holy City, than they took to their heels.  Before the Lord came to blows with them, they were faint-hearted, and beat a retreat” [Spurgeon, 361].  “Heart and hand, courage and strength, counsel and resolution fail a man, when he seeth God to be his party, and to be prevailing against him” [Dickson, 279]. For the Psalmist, this eye-witnessed event greatly strengthened his faith:  “As we have heard, so have we seen, in the city of the Lord Almighty, in the city of our God:  God makes her secure forever” (vs. 8).  To read of the Lord’s great works is one thing, but to see and recognize the work of the Lord in one’s own life, is a great strengthener of faith.  We should always be attentive to God’s work in our lives.  God is working all of the time.  If we don’t see His work, it is not that He is not working, it is that we are not recognizing His work in our lives. But recognizing God’s work in our lives is not enough.  We must respond to it in praise to Him:  “Within Your temple, O God, we meditate on Your unfailing love.  Like Your name, O God, Your praise reaches to the ends of the earth; Your right hand is filled with righteousness.  Mount Zion rejoices, the villages of Judah are glad because of Your judgments” (vss. 9- 11). “As it is a good thing patiently to wait on God’s loving-kindness in the use of the means, when troubles and dangers come; so it is a good thing for the godly, after receiving the fruit of their faith, hope and patience, to observe the grace gotten of God, which made them to meditate upon and look unto His loving-kindness, and so to strengthen themselves in their resolutions to follow this blessed course hereafter as the faithful do here” [Dickson, 281]. In this psalm, the people praise God’s “judgments”; they praise that His “right hand is filled with righteousness.”  The people of God need not fear God’s “judgments”, rather they can praise Him for them.  God’s people are right with God, through Jesus Christ, who has taken upon Himself the judgments of God’s people. The Psalmist concludes by exhorting God’s people to survey the land where the Spirit of God dwells:  “Walk about Zion, go around her, count her towers, consider well her ramparts, view her citadels, that you may tell of them to the next generation” (vss. 12-13).  Now as Christians, the Spirit of God dwells within us.  And so we could apply these verses by taking a survey of our lives since our bodies are cities where the Spirit of God dwells.  One would hope that we would be able to see a positive change in our lives since the time we received the Spirit of God. For the Psalmist, the purpose of making a survey of the towers, ramparts and citadels of the city of God is so “that you may tell of them to the next generation”  (vs. 13). “A reason why people when young and vigorous should study God’s word and the history of His dealings with His church is that they may have something instructive and profitable to talk about to the next generation.  All should publish the glory of God” [Plumer, 537].  There are two reasons to tell of the strength of God in His city to the next generation:  that they may have faith in future deliverances; and that they too may glorify God and give Him praise for His protection. Oh Lord, may we be diligent in telling the next generation of Your love and protection, of Your mighty works and great deliverances, for indeed You are “our God forever and ever”, and “our guide even to the end.”  Men and countries come and go, but the Spirit of God lives among His people forever.   ----------- Bibliography and Suggested Reading Alexander,     Joseph     Addison.     The     Psalms     Translated     and Explained .  Edinburgh: Andrew Elliot, 1864.  Anonymous.        A    Plain    Commentary    on    the    Book    of    Psalms . Philadelphia:  Henry Hooker and Co., 1857. Barnes,    Albert.        Notes    on    the    Book    of    Psalms .        New    York:      Harper & Brothers Publishing, 1871. Bonar,   Andrew.   Christ   and   His   Church   in   the   Book   of   Psalms .     New York:  Robert Carter & Brothers, 1860. Calvin,   John.      A   Commentary   on   the   Book   of   Psalms .      3   Vols.     Oxford:   D.   A.   Talboys,   1840.   (Originally   published   in   Latin in 1557).  Clarke,   Adam.   The   Holy   Bible   with   a   Commentary   and   Critical Notes .        Vol.    III.        London:        William    Tegg    &    Co.,    1854.      (Originally published in 1831).  Cowles,   Henry.      The   Psalms   with   Notes,   Critical,   Explanatory and Practical .  New York:  D. Appleton & Co., 1872. Darby,    John    Nelson.        Practical    Reflections    on    the    Psalms .      London:  Robert L. Allan, 1870. Delitzsch,     Franz.          Biblical     Commentary     on     the     Psalms. Edinburgh:        T    &    T    Clark,    1892.    (Originally    published    in 1860). Dickson,   David.   An   Explication   of   the   Other   Fifty   Psalms,   from Ps. 50 to Ps. 100. Cornhill, U.K.:  Ralph Smith, 1653.  Exell,    Joseph    S.    and    Henry    Donald    Spence-Jones,    eds.    The Pulpit   Commentary .   Vols.   17,   18,   &   19.   New   York:   Funk   & Wagnalls Company, 1884.  Hengstenberg,   F.   W.      Commentary   on   the   Psalms .      Edinburgh:     T & T Clark, 1864. Henry,   Matthew.      An   Exposition   of   All   the   Books   of   the   Old   and New     Testament .          Vol.     II.          London:     W.     Baynes,     1806. (Originally published in 1710). Horne,   George.   A   Commentary   on   the   Book   of   Psalms.       New York:  Robert Carter & Brothers, 1854. Jamieson,     Robert;     Fausset,     A.     R.;     Brown,     David.          A Commentary:   Critical,   Experimental,   and   Practical   on   the   Old and   New   Testaments.       Glasgow:      William   Collins,   Queen’s Printer, 1863. Kidner,    Derek.    Psalms     (in    2    Vols.).    Downers    Grove,    IL: InterVarsity Press, 2008 (first published in 1975). Kirkpatrick,   A.    F.    The    Book    of    Psalms    with    Introduction    and Notes    –    Books    II    and    III     (from    The    Cambridge    Bible    for Schools    and    Colleges).    Cambridge,    UK:    University    Press, 1895. Lange,   John   Peter,   ed.   and   Philip   Schaff,   trans.      A   Commentary on    the    Holy    Scriptures:    Critical,    Doctrinal,    and    Homiletical .      New York:  Charles Scribner & Co., 1865.  Maclaren,    Alexander.    The    Psalms     (in    3    Vols.,    from    The Expositor’s    Bible,    ed.    by    W.    R.    Nicoll).    New    York:   A.    C. Armstrong and Son, 1901. Perowne,   J.   J.   Stewart.      The   Book   of   Psalms:      A   New   Translation with Explanatory Notes .  London:  George Bell & Sons, 1880. Plumer,   William   S.      Studies   in   the   Book   of   Psalms .      Philadelphia:     J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1872. Scott,   Thomas.   Commentary   on   the   Holy   Bible ,   Vol.   III.   London: James Nisbet, 1866. Spurgeon,   Charles.      The   Treasury   of   David .      6   Vols.      London: Marshall Brothers, Ltd., 1885. Tholuck,   Augustus.      A   Translation   and   Commentary   of   the   Book of Psalms .  Philadelphia:  Martien, 1858. Trapp,   John.      A   Commentary   on   the   Old   and   New   Testaments . Vol.   II   (Ezra   to   Psalms).      Edmonton,   Canada:   Still   Waters Revival    Books    (www.PuritanDownloads.com).    (Originally published c. 1660). VanGemeren,   Willem A.,   (Gaebelein,   Frank   E.,   ed).      Expositor’s Bible   Commentary ,   Vol.   5   –   Psalms   to   Song   of   Songs.      Grand Rapids, MI:  Zondervan, 1991. -- Most    of    these    books    (those    in    the    public    domain)    can    be downloaded,    free    of    charge,    from    the    Classic    Christian Library,  at: http://www.ClassicChristianLibrary.com