[502] Horsley, who takes this view, translates -- "And every one shall say of Zion, He was born there:" on which he has the following note: -- "Unusquisque, every one. Christian doctors are almost unanimous in referring these words to Christ, and think that the cause is here assigned why those who hitherto were strangers, and even mortal enemies to each other, are now to be numbered among the citizens of Jerusalem, namely, because Christ shall be born there, [501] whose office it is to gather together into the unity of faith and hope of eternal life, men who were scattered like members torn from the body. If it is demanded why Jerusalem was so highly distinguished, let this short answer be deemed sufficient, Because it so pleased God. b. PSALM 87 The foregoing psalm was very plain and easy, but in this are things dark and hard to be understood. Psalm 87. Psalms 87 Commentary, One of over 110 Bible commentaries freely available, this one volume concise commentary provides a condensed look at nearly every verse in the Bible Hi, Sign out Some learned men, I am aware, defend this opinion, by supposing that the words, the people, are to be supplied, although it is the capital of Judea which is specified. 4 I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me: behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this man was born there. The nature and glory of the church. Psalm 87:3 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here and at the end of verse 6. 3 Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. 87 1-3 He founded Zion on the Holy Mountain— and oh, how God loves his home! (3.) Of the Sons of Korah. Zion’s sons shall be registered with honour (v. 6): "The Lord shall count, when he writes up the people, and takes a catalogue of his subjects, that this man was born there, and so is a subject by birth, by the first birth, being born in his house—by the second birth, being born again of his Spirit." Commentary for Psalms 87 . The favour and protection of God are the only sure rest and comfort of the soul in this evil world. His foundation is in the holy mountains. [501] "But of Zion it shall be said, He and He were born there; i.e., not one, but many men of note." It being quite a common thing among the Hebrews to put a relative without its antecedent, [495] this manner of speaking ought not to seem harsh or strange. A word list at the end explains words with a *star by them. The name of Rahab is put for Egypt in many other parts of Scripture; and this signification is very suitable to the present passage, the object of which is to portray the magnificent amplitude of the Church, which as yet was only matter of hope. Scarcely, say they, will there be found among the Tyrians, the Egyptians, the Ethiopians, and other nations, a man to each of them worthy of praise; so that if such an one be found among them, he may be pointed at with the finger, on account of his rarity; but in Zion man and man shall be born; [500] that is to say, the number of such men among the Jews shall be great. Here the question is not about earthly polity, but spiritual government; for the pure religion, and the true worship of God, and the doctrine of godliness, were at that time to be found nowhere but in Jerusalem. Selah. Selah. A Song. 3 Glorious things are said of you, city of God: # 87:3 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here and at the end of verse 6. It is a highly honorable condition which is spoken of, the language implying, that when God shall take a census of the people on whom he will be graciously pleased to confer the highest honor, he will write them as belonging to Zion, rather than to Babylon or any other cities; for to be one of the common people among the citizens of Zion, will be a greater distinction than to be invested with the highest rank anywhere else. The exposition of the Christian doctors is, at first sight, plausible from its ingenuity; but it is destitute of solidity. Holiness is the strength and firmness of the church. Bible > Bible Commentary; Charles H. Spurgeon’s Treasury of David; Psalm; Psalm 87; Charles H. Spurgeon’s Treasury of David << Psalm 86 | Psalm 87 | Psalm 88 >> (Read all of Psalm 87) Exposition - Explanatory Notes and Quaint Sayings Hints to the Village Preacher - Works Upon This Psalm TITLE. Moreover, the prophet shows his singular love to the Church, and the singular care and zeal which he exercised about her, to encourage and stir up all the godly, by his example, to cultivate and manifest the same zeal, agreeably to what is stated in another psalm, "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem! Psalm 87 Bible Commentary. To the Chief Musician on Neginoth. There is this difference, which is always to be remembered, that while other cities were founded and built by the guidance and power of God, merely for the sake of civil government, Jerusalem was his peculiar sanctuary, and his royal seat. -- Fr. 28:16 stands the city he founded; 2 the Lord # Ps. Psalms 87 Commentary, One of over 110 Bible commentaries freely available, this commentary was written by the Thomas Coke, one of the founders of the Methodist Church in the United States. Commentary on Psalm 84:8-12 (Read Psalm 84:8-12 ) In all our addresses to God, we must desire that he would look on Christ, his Anointed One, and accept us for his sake: we must look to Him with faith, and then God will with favour look upon the face of the Anointed: we, without him, dare not show our faces. (4-7) 1-3 Christ himself is the Foundation of the church, which God has laid. everyone there is talking about you! What a glorious distinction of the Church, that even those who held her in contempt shall come flocking to her from every quarter, and that those who desired to see her completely cut up and destroyed, shall consider it the highest honor to have a place among the number of her citizens, and to be accounted such! -- Fr. Psalm 87:1. Whence it follows that a right judgment cannot be formed of the happiness of the Church, except when we estimate it according to the standard of God's word. From the low and despised condition of the whole people, from the many and terrible enemies who pressed hard upon them on all sides, from the small number who had sufficient courage to surmount the obstacles in their way, from the new and unlooked-for changes which were daily springing up, from the danger there was lest the state of affairs gradually sinking more and more into decay, should at length become desperate, it was difficult to cherish the hope that the holy city would be restored. PSALM 87. [500] "These nations, as amongst those best known to the Jews, typify the entire Gentile world; and are intended to declare the accession of all the earth to the faith of Christianity." Christ is the true temple; all our springs are in him, and from him all our streams flow. To this the divine love is to be traced as its source; but the end of such a choice was, that there might be some fixed place in which the true religion should be preserved, and the unity of the faith maintained, until the advent of Christ, and from which it might afterwards flow into all the regions of the earth. This triumphal song was probably occasioned by the same event as the forty-sixth [see on [618]Ps 46:1, title]. Selah. And the singers as the players upon instruments: all my springs are in thee. As the country was mountainous, we are rather to understand the prophet as having in his eye the several neighboring and contiguous mountains which formed a chain around Jerusalem; for we will see in another place that Jerusalem was surrounded by mountains, (Psalm 125:2.) The foregoing psalm was very plain and easy, but in this are things dark and hard to be understood. 5 And it shall be said of Zion, Man and man is born in her. Exposition. Psalm 87 A Psalm [or] Song for the sons of Korah. The reading literally is, That which is spoken in thee are glorious things. Zion, for the temple's sake, is here preferred, I. Of Zion it shall be said by all her neighbours that this and that man were born in her, many men of renown for wisdom and piety, and especially for acquaintance with the words of God and the visions of the Almighty—many prophets and kings, who should be greater favourites of heaven, and greater blessings to the earth, than ever were bred in Egypt or Babylon. Some make the first words of the psalm to be part of the title; it is a psalm or song whose subject is the holy mountains—the temple built in Zion upon Mount Moriah. In the second, it is added, that the Philistines, Tyrians, and Ethiopians, who hitherto had been so much at variance with the people of God, shall now be brought into as cordial harmony with them as if they were Jews by birth. I name them off, those among whom I’m famous: Egypt and Babylon, also Philistia, even Tyre, along with Cush. The meaning of this verse is obscure, partly from its abrupt brevity, and partly from the ambiguity of one word. 68:25. All of them shall voluntarily renounce their own countries in which they had before proudly boasted. A Song. A maskil of Heman the Ezrahite. Explanatory Notes and Quaint Sayings . 3 Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. LORD, you are the God who saves me; day and night I cry out to you. 2:2. I will reckon them my people as much as Israel when they shall receive the gospel of Christ, and own them as born in Zion, born again there, and admitted to the privileges of Zion as freely as a true-born Israelite." 3. The church has a foundation, so that it cannot sink or totter; Christ himself is the foundation of it, which God has laid. (Psalm 137:5). That it may not be thought that the prosperity of the Church is of such a perishable and transitory nature, it is declared, that the Most High himself will establish her It is not surprising, as if it had been said, to find other cities shaken, and subject from time to time to a variety of vicissitudes; for they are carried round with the world in its revolutions, and do not enjoy everlasting defenders. These are glorious things. The word springs is, beyond all controversy, to be here taken metaphorically; but interpreters are not agreed as to the explanation of the metaphor. A Song. The true and natural meaning then is, that God chose the holy mountains in order to found and erect his city in the midst of them. Psalm 86 Psalm 90 Psalm 87-89 New King James Version (NKJV) The Glories of the City of God A Psalm of the sons of Korah. Men had cities, and boasted of them; but God had a city He founded in the holy mountains. This, then, explains why the prophet celebrates Jerusalem as possessing the high distinction of having God for its master-builder, its founder and protector. The occasion for this psalm is unknown, but some have suggested that it might have been following the destruction of the Assyrian Army in the days of Hezekiah, following which, all the nations of the world of that era sent gifts and presents to Hezekiah in honor of the occasion. A psalm of the Sons of Korah. It is an encomium of Zion, as a type and figure of the gospel-church, to which what is here spoken is very applicable. 8-13). Psalm 87 Bible Commentary. But as this might be considered unsupported by the usage of the Hebrew term, I am rather inclined to adopt, as most suitable to the subject in hand, the opinion that lookings is the proper translation, the root of the word signifying an eye. It is therefore said that those who formerly were deadly enemies, or entire strangers, shall not only become familiar friends, but shall also be ingrafted into one body, that they may be accounted citizens of Jerusalem. 4 “I will record Rahab # 87:4 A poetic name for Egypt and Babylon. It pleased the Father, and all believers are well pleased with it too, that in him should all fulness dwell. 7:16. 48:1 the holy mount # Isa. 60:1]; See Isa. His foundations are in the holy mountains. "The persons who are here said to sing," he observes, "accompanied by musical instruments, are the people spoken of in verse 6. Let us not be ashamed of the church of Christ in its meanest condition, nor of any that belong to it, nor disown our relation to it, though it be turned ever so much to our reproach, since such glorious things are spoken of it, and not on iota or tittle of what is said shall fall to the ground. 2. Zion’s interest shall be strengthened and settled by an almighty power. It was much to the honour of Zion, and is to the honour of the gospel-church, that there God is served and worshipped with rejoicing: his work is done, and done cheerfully; see Ps. Of Zion it shall be said that the law which went forth out of Zion, the gospel of Christ, shall be an instrument to beget many souls to God, and the Jerusalem that is from above shall be acknowledged the mother of them all. Note, (1.) The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, in its introductory note on this psalm, says that it’s “difficult to postulate an original life-situation for the psalm. This is probably the name of the *musicians in the The *temple was the house of God … Psalm 55 Bible Commentary. שׁיר מזמור קרח לבני libnei korach mizmor shiir. Holiness is the strength and firmness of the church. This passage is to be understood as referring to effectual calling. 3 # [Isa. more than all the other dwellings of Jacob. 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