Hebrew Highlights 145 – The
Shalom, This
is Yuval Shomron, coming to you from
PSA 48:1-2 (A Song; a Psalm of the
sons of Korah.) Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, In the city of our God, His holy mountain. Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole
earth, Is Mount Zion in the far north, The city of the
great King.
Anyone who visits the Holy City of
Jerusalem will agree that she is beautiful.
Despite the obvious Middle Eastern flavor of some neighborhoods, or
perhaps because of it,
This Psalm, is of course referring to
what we today call the “Old City”, since modern day Jerusalem, with its 700,000
residents, only began to appear outside the old city walls a mere 150 years
ago.
The words “beautiful in elevation”,
which are poetically correct, would be more accurately translated as beautiful
in view. From almost any apartment or
business window in
To the North, you behold the agricultural
areas of
Even at street level, you see
beauty. All the buildings surrounding
you are made of the glaring white “Jerusalem Stone” quarried nearby. Even after the yellow of aging sets in, the
walls have a particularly profound look to them. And of course, as portrayed in the song
“Jerusalem of Gold”, whenever the sun is rising or setting, the whole city
lights up like a gilded menorah.
When you visit the
I suppose some would argue that the
phrase “the joy of the whole earth” is debatable, since so much of the world
seems to despise
Frankly, I don’t take into account
those who hate her, as they are the same ones who hate
Now let’s quickly read verses 8-14, “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 her forever. Selah. We have thought on Thy lovingkindness, O God,
In the midst of Thy temple. As is Thy
name, O God, So is Thy praise to the ends of the earth; Thy right hand is full
of righteousness. Let
No other city has received an
“eternal” mandate from God. And this is
not allegorical or theoretical. There
WILL BE an eternal New Jerusalem, and her ramparts will be glorious.
The sons and daughters of today’s
But the Heavenly Father will continue
to pour out His mercies on His favored city until she says, “Blessed is He who
comes in the name of the Lord.” We WILL
see Messiah reigning as King is this city.
In the mean time, “Walk about
Maybe our children, our maybe still we
ourselves, will hear the shofar blast, and see His coming in the clouds! We may witness His pierced feet touch down
again on the
Shalom, shalom from