Psalm 87
The 87th psalm is about that Jerusalem that shall be, when the Lord shall have appeared and put down His enemies. Then, as Obadiah 1717But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions. (Obadiah 17) says, “Upon Mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness, and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.” Of the city in that coming day it is written in Zechariah 2:4,4And said unto him, Run, speak to this young man, saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein: (Zechariah 2:4) “Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein, for I, saith Jehovah, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her;” and in verse 10: “Sing and rejoice, daughter of Zion, for behold I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith Jehovah.” See also Zechariah 8; Micah 4; Isaiah 4 and 62, which tell of Jerusalem’s coming glory.
What He has founded is in the holy mountains (or mountains of holiness). Verse 1 Thus lets us know that the Jerusalem of the day of the Lord will have a very different character from the city as it is today. Then holiness will be everywhere in the city and the country around it. What a wonderfully blessed place it will be when the Lord reigns there, —the world’s center of peace and of divine glory, as well as holiness.
Rahab (verse 4) is a poetical name given to Egypt; it is found also in Psalm 89, verse 10; and in Isaiah 51, verse 9. The name means “insolence,” some think, and others “tumult.” Egypt and Babylon were Jerusalem’s greatest rivals, the centers of Gentile power when Israel’s glory was fading after Solomon’s reign. Philistia and Tyre on the west, and Ethiopia in the south were neighbors of Israel.
Their greatness is gone, and so will all man’s boasted grandeur disappear when He reigns whose title is supreme.
The first half of this short psalm is concerned with the city; the last half is about those who belong to it.
Christ is the man of whom the psalm tells that was born there; not as an infant, though Bethlehem was but 6 miles south of the city, but as the One who rose the conqueror over death and Satan’s power (See Psalm 2, verses 6-12, which speak of Him as the Son begotten in resurrection).
Through the atoning and delivering power that belong to Him, there will be a new redeemed Israel whose joys are centered in the place of His choice, —Jerusalem.
ML 05/10/1931