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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0;"/><title>Psalm 48 Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</title><link rel="canonical" href="https://biblehub.com/commentaries/expositors/psalms/48.htm" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; cts.dataset.appid=i;cts.src='https://app.protectsubrev.com/catch_rp.js?cb='+Math.random(); document.head.appendChild(cts); }) (window,document,'head','script','rc-anksrH');</script></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/psalms/48.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/bmcom/psalms/48-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="/commentaries/">Commentary</a> > <a href="../">Ellicott</a> > <a href="../psalms/">Psalm</a></div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../psalms/47.htm" title="Psalm 47">◄</a> Psalm 48 <a href="../psalms/49.htm" title="Psalm 49">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</div><div class="chap"><span class= "bld">XLVIII.</span><p>Jerusalem has been in great peril from some coalition either of neighbouring monarchs or of the tributary princes of one of the great world-powers, and has been delivered through some unexplained sudden panic. With this event the poet of this psalm is contemporary. So much is clear from <a href="/context/psalms/48-4.htm" title="For, see, the kings were assembled, they passed by together.">Psalm 48:4-8</a> (see Notes); but on what precise event we are to fix is not so clear. There are resemblances to the deliverance of Jehoshaphat (<a href="/2_chronicles/20-25.htm" title="And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away the spoil of them, they found among them in abundance both riches with the dead bodies, and precious jewels, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away: and they were three days in gathering of the spoil, it was so much.">2Chronicles 20:25</a>), resemblances to the fate of Sennacherib’s host (2 Kings 19), resemblances to other signal changes of fortune in later times of Israel’s history.<p>But if we can enter into the spirit of blended piety and patriotism which makes the poem so expressive of the whole better feeling of the best times of the nation, the recovery of the precise date of its production is immaterial.<p>The rhythm is remarkable. In no poem is the rapid lyric movement more striking.<p><span class= "ital">Title. </span>See Psalms 41<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/48-1.htm">Psalm 48:1</a></div><div class="verse">A Song <i>and</i> Psalm for the sons of Korah. Great <i>is</i> the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, <i>in</i> the mountain of his holiness.</div>(1) <span class= "bld">To be praised.</span>—See <a href="/psalms/18-3.htm" title="I will call on the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from my enemies.">Psalm 18:3</a>, Note.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/48-2.htm">Psalm 48:2</a></div><div class="verse">Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, <i>is</i> mount Zion, <i>on</i> the sides of the north, the city of the great King.</div>(2) <span class= "bld">Situation.</span>—Heb., <span class= "ital">nôph. </span>A word only found here, but explained from a cognate Arabic word to mean <span class= "ital">elevation. </span>And this feature is quite distinctive enough of Jerusalem to lend confirmation to this explanation—“Its elevation is remarkable.” (See Stanley, <span class= "ital">Sinai and Palestine, </span>p. 170.)<p>On the other hand, an adverbial use—<span class= "ital">highly beautiful </span>or <span class= "ital">supremely beautiful </span>(comp. <a href="/lamentations/2-15.htm" title="All that pass by clap their hands at you; they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men call The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth?">Lamentations 2:15</a>, “The perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth”) may be all that the poet intends.<p><span class= "bld">Sides of the north.</span>—A common phrase, generally taken to mean the quarter or region of the north (see <a href="/ezekiel/38-6.htm" title="Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with you.">Ezekiel 38:6</a>; <a href="/ezekiel/38-15.htm" title="And you shall come from your place out of the north parts, you, and many people with you, all of them riding on horses, a great company, and a mighty army:">Ezekiel 38:15</a>; <a href="/ezekiel/39-2.htm" title="And I will turn you back, and leave but the sixth part of you, and will cause you to come up from the north parts, and will bring you on the mountains of Israel:">Ezekiel 39:2</a>; <a href="/isaiah/14-13.htm" title="For you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also on the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:">Isaiah 14:13</a>), but which, from the various uses of two words making it up, might mean <span class= "ital">northern recesses </span>or <span class= "ital">secret recesses, </span>according as we adopt the derived or the original meaning of <span class= "ital">tsāphôn.</span><p>With the former of the two meanings we should see a reference to the relative position of the Temple and its precincts to the rest of the city. For the identification of the ancient Zion (not to be confounded with the modern Zion) with the hill on which the Temple stood, see Smith’s <span class= "ital">Bib. Dict., </span>art. “Jerusalem.”(Comp. Stanley, <span class= "ital">Sinai and Palestine, </span>p. 171.)<p>If, on the other hand, we elect to render <span class= "ital">secret, </span>or <span class= "ital">hidden, </span>or <span class= "ital">secure recesses, </span>we have a figure quite intelligible of the security and peace to be found in God’s holy city:<p>Beautiful for elevation,<p>The whole earth’s joy;<p>Mount Zion, a secure recess,<p>City of the great King.<p>And the thought is taken up in the word <span class= "ital">refuge </span>in the next verse. (Comp. <a href="/ezekiel/7-22.htm" title="My face will I turn also from them, and they shall pollute my secret place: for the robbers shall enter into it, and defile it.">Ezekiel 7:22</a>, where the Temple is actually called “Jehovah’s <span class= "ital">secret </span>place.”)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/48-3.htm">Psalm 48:3</a></div><div class="verse">God is known in her palaces for a refuge.</div>(3) <span class= "bld">Refuge.</span>—See Note, <a href="/psalms/46-1.htm" title="God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.">Psalm 46:1</a>. Prominence should be given to the idea of security from <span class= "ital">height. </span>We might render, “God among her castles is known as a high and secure tower.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/48-4.htm">Psalm 48:4</a></div><div class="verse">For, lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by together.</div>(4) <span class= "bld">The kings.</span>—With the striking picture of the advance and sudden collapse of a hostile expedition that follows, comp. <a href="/context/isaiah/10-28.htm" title="He is come to Aiath, he is passed to Migron; at Michmash he has laid up his carriages:">Isaiah 10:28-34</a>; possibly of the very same event.<p><span class= "bld">The kings.</span>—Evidently known to the writer, but, alas! matter of merest conjecture to us. Some suppose the kings of Ammon, Moab, and Edom, who attacked Jehoshaphat (<a href="/2_chronicles/20-25.htm" title="And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away the spoil of them, they found among them in abundance both riches with the dead bodies, and precious jewels, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away: and they were three days in gathering of the spoil, it was so much.">2Chronicles 20:25</a>); others, the tributary princes of Sennacherib. In his annals, as lately deciphered, this monarch speaks of setting up tributary kings or viceroys in Chaldæa, Phoenicia, and Philistia, after conquering these countries. (See <span class= "ital">Assyrian Discoveries, </span>by George Smith, p. 303.) Others again, referring the psalm to the time of Ahaz, understand Pekah and Rezin (<a href="/2_kings/15-37.htm" title="In those days the LORD began to send against Judah Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah.">2Kings 15:37</a>). The touches, vivid as they are, of the picture, are not so historically defined as to allow a settlement of the question.<p><span class= "bld">Assembled.</span>—Used of the muster of confederate forces (<a href="/joshua/11-5.htm" title="And when all these kings were met together, they came and pitched together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel.">Joshua 11:5</a>).<p><span class= "bld">Passed by</span><span class= "ital">—i.e., marched by. </span>So, according to the time reading, the LXX. A frequent military term (<a href="/judges/11-29.htm" title="Then the Spirit of the LORD came on Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead, and Manasseh, and passed over Mizpeh of Gilead, and from Mizpeh of Gilead he passed over to the children of Ammon.">Judges 11:29</a>; <a href="/2_kings/8-21.htm" title="So Joram went over to Zair, and all the chariots with him: and he rose by night, and smote the Edomites which compassed him about, and the captains of the chariots: and the people fled into their tents.">2Kings 8:21</a>; <a href="/isaiah/8-8.htm" title="And he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.">Isaiah 8:8</a>). Others, “passed away,” but it is doubtful if the verb can have this meaning.<p><span class= "bld">Together.</span>—Notice the parallelism, <span class= "ital">they came together, they passed by together.</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/48-5.htm">Psalm 48:5</a></div><div class="verse">They saw <i>it, and</i> so they marvelled; they were troubled, <i>and</i> hasted away.</div>(5) <span class= "bld">They saw.</span>—A verse like <a href="/psalms/46-6.htm" title="The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted.">Psalm 46:6</a>, vivid from the omission of the conjunctions, wrongly supplied by the Authorised Version. It has reminded commentators of Caesar’s <span class= "ital">Veni, vidi, vici.</span><p><span class= "bld">They </span><span class= "ital">looked, even so were terrified, bewildered, panic-struck.</span><p><span class= "bld">Hasted away.</span>—Or, <span class= "ital">sprung up in alarm.</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/48-7.htm">Psalm 48:7</a></div><div class="verse">Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind.</div>(7) <span class= "bld">Breakest.</span>—It is natural at first sight to connect this verse immediately with the disaster which happened to the fleet of Jehoshaphat (<a href="/context/1_kings/22-48.htm" title="Jehoshaphat made ships of Tharshish to go to Ophir for gold: but they went not; for the ships were broken at Eziongeber.">1Kings 22:48-49</a>; <a href="/2_chronicles/20-36.htm" title="And he joined himself with him to make ships to go to Tarshish: and they made the ships in Eziongaber.">2Chronicles 20:36</a>). And that event may indeed have supplied the figure, but a figure for the dispersal of a <span class= "ital">land army. </span>We may render:<p>With a blast from the east<p>Thou breakest (them as) Tarshish ships.<p>Or,<p>With a blast from the east<p>(Which) breaketh Tarshish ships (thou breakest them),<p>according as we take the verb, second person masculine, or third person feminine.<p>Shakespeare, in <span class= "ital">King John, </span>compares the rout of an army to the dispersion of a fleet—<p>“So, by a roaring tempest on the flood,<p>A whole Armada of convicted sail<p>Is scattered and disjoined from fellowship.”<p>This is preferable to the suggestion that the seaboard tribes were in the alliance, whose break-up the psalm seems to commemorate, and that the sudden dispersion of their Armada ruined the enterprise. Tarshish ships, a common term for large merchantmen (comp. <span class= "ital">East Indiamen</span>)<span class= "ital">, </span>from their use in the Tarshish trade, are here symbols of a powerful empire. Isaiah, in Isaiah 33, compares Assyria to a gallant ship. For the “east wind,” proverbially destructive and injurious, and so a ready weapon of chastisement in the Divine hand, see <a href="/job/27-21.htm" title="The east wind carries him away, and he departs: and as a storm hurles him out of his place.">Job 27:21</a>; <a href="/isaiah/27-8.htm" title="In measure, when it shoots forth, you will debate with it: he stays his rough wind in the day of the east wind.">Isaiah 27:8</a>; and <a href="/ezekiel/27-26.htm" title="Your rowers have brought you into great waters: the east wind has broken you in the middle of the seas.">Ezekiel 27:26</a>, where its harm to shipping is especially mentioned.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/48-8.htm">Psalm 48:8</a></div><div class="verse">As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the LORD of hosts, in the city of our God: God will establish it for ever. Selah.</div>(8) <span class= "bld">As we have heard.</span>—The generations of a religious nation are “bound each to each by natural piety.” Probably here the ancient tale of the overthrow of Pharaoh and his host recurred to the poet’s mind.<p><span class= "bld">God will establish it.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">God will preserve her for ever, i.e., the holy city. </span>This forms the refrain of the song, and probably should be restored between the parts of <a href="/psalms/48-3.htm" title="God is known in her palaces for a refuge.">Psalm 48:3</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/48-9.htm">Psalm 48:9</a></div><div class="verse">We have thought of thy lovingkindness, O God, in the midst of thy temple.</div>(9) <span class= "bld">Thy temple.</span>—This verse seems to indicate a liturgic origin for the psalm.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/48-10.htm">Psalm 48:10</a></div><div class="verse">According to thy name, O God, so <i>is</i> thy praise unto the ends of the earth: thy right hand is full of righteousness.</div>(10) <span class= "bld">According to thy name . . .</span>—“Name” here has plainly the meaning we give it in the phrase, “name and fame.” God’s praise was up to the reputation His great deeds had won. (Comp. <a href="/psalms/138-2.htm" title="I will worship toward your holy temple, and praise your name for your loving kindness and for your truth: for you have magnified your word above all your name.">Psalm 138:2</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">Thy right hand is full of righteousness.</span>—Not like Jove’s, as heathen say, full of thunderbolts, but of justice.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/48-11.htm">Psalm 48:11</a></div><div class="verse">Let mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad, because of thy judgments.</div>(11) <span class= "bld">Daughters of Judah.</span>—Not the maidens of Jerusalem, but the towns and villages of Judah.<p><span class= "bld">Judgments.</span>—Perhaps here, as in <a href="/psalms/119-132.htm" title="Look you on me, and be merciful to me, as you use to do to those that love your name.">Psalm 119:132</a>, with prominent idea of God’s <span class= "ital">customary </span>dealings with His people.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/48-12.htm">Psalm 48:12</a></div><div class="verse">Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof.</div>(12) <span class= "bld">Walk about Zion.</span>—Notice here the strong patriotic feeling of Hebrew song. The inhabitants of the city are invited to make a tour of inspection of the defences which, under God’s providence, have protected them from their foes. We are reminded of the fine passage in Shakespeare’s <span class= "ital">Cymbeline, </span>which gratefully recalls “the natural bravery” of our own island home, or of the national songs about our “wooden walls.” Comparison has also been drawn between this passage and a similar burst of patriotic sentiment from the lips of a Grecian orator (Thuc. Ii. 53); but while the Greek thinks only of the men who made Athens strong, the Hebrew traces all back to God.<p>(12) <span class= "bld">Tell</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e.</span>, <span class= "ital">count. </span>So in Milton, “Every shepherd <span class= "ital">tells </span>his tale,” <span class= "ital">i.e., </span>counts his sheep.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/48-13.htm">Psalm 48:13</a></div><div class="verse">Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell <i>it</i> to the generation following.</div>(13) <span class= "bld">Consider.</span>—The Hebrew word is peculiar to this passage. The root idea seems to be <span class= "ital">divide, </span>and the natural sense of <span class= "ital">divide her palaces </span>is, <span class= "ital">take them one by one and regard them.</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/48-14.htm">Psalm 48:14</a></div><div class="verse">For this God <i>is</i> our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide <i>even</i> unto death.</div>(14) <span class= "bld">Unto death.</span>—The words (‘<span class= "ital">al mûth</span>) are proved by the ancient versions and various readings to be really a musical direction, either placed at the end instead of the beginning, as in <a href="/habakkuk/3-19.htm" title="The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk on my high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.">Habakkuk 3:19</a>, or shifted back from the title of the next psalm. 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