Reflections on Psalm 87

 

Psalm 87 (Contemporary English Version)


1. (A psalm and a song by the people of Korah.) Zion was built by the LORD on the holy mountain,
   
2. and he loves that city more than any other place in all of Israel.
   
3. Zion, you are the city of God, and wonderful things are told about you.
   
4. Egypt, Babylonia, Philistia, Phoenicia, and Ethiopia are some of those nations that know you, and their people all say, "I was born in Zion."
   
5. God Most High will strengthen the city of Zion. Then everyone will say, "We were born here too."
   
6. The LORD will make a list of his people, and all who were born here will be included.
   
7. All who sing or dance will say, "I too am from Zion."

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Psalm 87 is difficult to understand. True, it praises Jerusalem as the city of God, but there seems to be more beneath the surface that is difficult to grasp. Jerusalem has nothing of which to boast other than as the City of God. It is where God chose to establish His people and His temple, and as Believer's Bible Commentary states, "it will be reckoned as the place where the nations experience spiritual rebirth, because the Most High Himself shall establish her in that place of universal sovereignty." The significance in all this, as I understand it, is of Jerusalem in pointing people to God. Its as if Jerusalem serves as God's earthly abode. God is not just "out there somewhere" but He is here among us residing in Jerusalem. The significance of counting Jerusalem as one's birthplace is in being birthed spiritually. Coming to know and worship the true God, the God of Israel. I have never been to Jerusalem, but it can be considered my spiritual birthplace in the sense that Christianity was born there as was the Christian church.