Yahweh loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.
Parallel Translations
-
Yahweh loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.
-
The LORD loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.
-
The LORD loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.
Cross-references (6)
Passages linked to Psalms 87:2 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 132:13-14 For Yahweh has chosen Zion. He has desired it for his habitation. “This is my resting place forever. I will live here, for I have desired it.
- Deuteronomy 12:5 But to the place which Yahweh your God shall choose out of all your tribes, to put his name there, you shall seek his habitation, and you shall come there.
- Psalms 78:67-69 Moreover he rejected the tent of Joseph, and didn’t choose the tribe of Ephraim, But chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which he loved. He built his sanctuary like the heights, like the earth which he has established forever.
- 2 Chronicles 6:6 but now I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.’
- Isaiah 14:32 What will they answer the messengers of the nation? That Yahweh has founded Zion, and in her the afflicted of his people will take refuge.
- Joel 2:32 It will happen that whoever will call on Yahweh’s name shall be saved; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who escape, as Yahweh has said, and among the remnant, those whom Yahweh calls.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 2 Jehovah loveth the gates of Zion above all…
2 Jehovah loveth the gates of Zion above all the dwellings of Jacob. Here we are taught that all the excellence of the holy city depended on the free choice which God had made of it. With this agrees what is stated in Psalm 78:60, 67, that God rejected Shiloh, the tribe of Ephraim, and the tabernacle of Joseph, that he might dwell in Zion which he loved. The prophet then points out the cause why God preferred that one place before all others; and the cause which he assigns is, not the worth of the place itself, but the free love of God. If it is demanded why Jerusalem was so highly distinguished, let this short answer be deemed sufficient, Because it so pleased God. 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, then, explains why the prophet celebrates Jerusalem as possessing the high distinction of having God for its master-builder, its founder and protector. Farther, he attributes to the divine favor and adoption whatever excellence it possessed above other places. In putting Zion for Jerusalem, and the gates for the whole compass of the city, there is a double synecdoche.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 87:2 The LORD loveth the gates of Zion…
Psa 87:2 The LORD loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.
Ver. 2. The Lord loveth the gates of Zion] Nothing but his mere love moved him to make choice of it, above all other places, there to declare his power, presence, and goodness. He first chose it for his love, and then loved it for his choice; and so he doth his Church.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain The gates, i.e. the city gates, being oft put…
The gates, i.e. the city gates, being oft put for cities, as Deu 15:7; 16:5; Psa 9:14.
Of Zion; largely so called, as was now said, to wit, of Jerusalem, which was built upon and near Mount Zion. He saith Zion rather than Jerusalem, to intimate that he loved Jerusalem for Zion’s sake, or for the temple, which is oft said to be in Zion; which place he loved and chose for his peculiar dwelling-place.
Read full note →
More than all the dwellings of Jacob; more than all other places of the land of Canaan in which the Israelites dwelt. For although the tabernacle was for a season in some other parts of the land, yet the temple, the place of God’s fixed residence, was no where but in this city.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain The Lord loveth the gates of Zion,.... Which the…
The Lord loveth the gates of Zion,.... Which the Targum interprets of the schools, as preferable to the synagogues: the Lord loves Zion herself; that is, the church, and therefore has chosen it for his habitation, took up his rest and residence in it, has founded it, and set Christ as King over it, and by whom he has redeemed it; and he loves her gates, the public ordinances; he loves them that come to Zion's gates, and wait and worship there, and who enter in and become members thereof; and he loves what is done there, he being there publicly prayed unto, and publicly praised by a large number of his people; where his word is faithfully preached, and reverently attended to, and his ordinances truly administered, and the graces of his saints exercised on him: wherefore, because all this is done socially, and in a public manner, and so much for his own manifestative glory, he esteems these
more than all the dwellings of Jacob; the private habitations of his people; yet he has a regard to these, the bounds of which he fixed from eternity, and where he was delighting himself before they were in being; and he loves the persons that dwell in them, and what is done there in a right manner, as closet and family worship; but when these are put in competition with public worship, the latter is preferred unto them, because done by more, and more publicly; Zion and its gates, the church and its ordinances, are preferable to all the dwellings of Jacob put together.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Zion - That is, Zion itself, or Jerusalem, which…
Zion - That is, Zion itself, or Jerusalem, which was built upon and near Mount Zion. He saith Zion rather than Jerusalem, to intimate that he loved Jerusalem for Zion's sake, or for the temple, which he chose for his peculiar dwelling place.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 2. The Lord loveth the gates of Zion…
Verse 2. The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.] That is, he preferred Zion for his habitation, to be the place of his temple and sanctuary, before any other place in the promised land. Mystically, the Lord prefers the Christian Church to the Jewish: the latter was only a type of the former; and had no glory by reason of the glory that excelleth. To this position no exception can be made.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Psa 87:2. The Lord loveth the gates of Zion…
Psa 87:2. The Lord loveth the gates of Zion — That is, the city of Zion, or Jerusalem, gates being often put for cities. He saith Zion rather than Jerusalem, to intimate that he loved Jerusalem for Zion’s sake, or for the temple, which he chose for his peculiar dwelling-place. He loved the gates of the temple, of the houses of doctrines, as the Chaldee interprets it; more than all the dwellings of Jacob — More than all other places of the land of Canaan in which the Israelites dwelt. For though the tabernacle was for a season in some other parts of the land, yet the temple, the place of God’s fixed residence, was nowhere but in this city of Zion. Concerning this God had said, This is my rest for ever; here will I dwell, for I have desired it. There he met his people, and conversed with them, received their homage, and showed them the tokens of his favour. From which we may infer how well he loved those gates; God indeed loved, and loves, the dwellings of Jacob. He has a gracious regard to religious families, and accepts their family worship; yet he loves the gates of Zion better; not only better than any, but better than all the dwellings of Jacob. God was worshipped in the private dwellings of Jacob; and family worship is family duty, which must by no means be neglected; yet when they come in competition, public worship is to be preferred before private.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain The Lord loveth the gates of Zion - Compare…
The Lord loveth the gates of Zion - Compare Psa 78:68. The gates of a city were the places of concourse; where business was transacted; where courts were held. The particular allusion here seems to be to the thronging multitudes pressing into the city for public worship - the numbers that gathered together at the great feasts and festivals of the nation; and the meaning is, that he looked with more pleasure on such multitudes as they thronged the gates, pressing in that they might worship him, than on any other scene in the land.
More than all the dwellings of Jacob - Than any of the places where the descendants of Jacob, or where his people dwell. Much as he might be pleased with their quiet abodes, with their peace, prosperity, and order, and with the fact that his worship was daily celebrated in those happy families, yet he had superior pleasure in the multitudes that crowded the ways to the place where they would publicly acknowledge him as their God.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 2. Gates of Zion—A metonomy for Zion itself. The…
2. Gates of Zion—A metonomy for Zion itself. The gates anciently were places of public assemblage: “I will declare all thy praises in the gates of Zion.” Psa_9:14.
The dwellings of Jacob—The comparison is well calculated to revive the ancient love of Jerusalem, and to encourage the returned exiles to take residence there.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 2. the gates of Zion] A poetical expression for…
2. the gates of Zion] A poetical expression for the city, specially appropriate with reference to the thought of the crowd of pilgrims (Psa_122:2) entering it from all nations (Isa_60:11; Rev_22:14).
more than all the dwellings of Jacob] Better than any of the other cities of Israel, though they too are goodly (Num_24:5, where the same word is rendered ‘tabernacles’).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain The Lord loveth the gates of Zion . (comp.…
The Lord loveth the gates of Zion . (comp. Psa_78:68) More than all the dwellings of Jacob; i.e. "more than all the other dwellings more than Shiloh, more than Kirjath-jearim, more than any other of the ark"s resting places.
The principles of the Divine preference.
Read full note →
These are seen
I IN THE GREATER LOVE OF GOD FOR ZION THAN FOR ALL THE DWELLINGS OF JACOB. Not a few of those dwellings were spacious, magnificent, wealthy, adorned, and inhabited by men who feared God; but yet, because in Zion God"s glory was more revealed, his grace seen, his truth declared, his people blessed, and because there that in man which God ever most of all delights in the spiritual life, the life of trust, of love, of devotion to God found its chief nourishment, expression, and delight, therefore the Lord loved the gates of Zion more, etc.
II IN THE CHARACTERS GOD APPROVES. The name of Jacob suggests one of these at first sight apparently strange preferences. "Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated." How many people have been puzzled over that statement, endorsed as it is by the actual dealing of God with the two men? Esau was a man richly endued with gifts such as men everywhere have highly esteemed. He had courage, affection, generosity, strength; whilst Jacob too seldom shows any quality which wins our admiration, and far too often he is guilty of that which excites contempt. And yet the Lord preferred him. The reason was that in him, however encrusted with what was sordid, base, and mean, there was yet the germ and seed, the potency and promise, of the life of God in his soul. There were reverence of and trust in God, and the yearning after the better life; there were the seeds of the life eternal, and they so sprang up at last that God"s chosen name for himself was, "I am the God of Jacob." But in Esau, with all his magnificence, courage, and other virtues, there does not seem to have been anything of the kind.
III IS THE COMPOSITION OF THE SCRIPTURES. What large space is given to what in human esteem seems the chronicling of very small affairs; whilst of the great empires, events, and personalities of the world, scarce any note is taken none at all, except when and because they are brought into contact with the people of God! But for that they would have been passed over in complete silence. Palestine what a little shred of the earth"s surface it is! The Jews what an insignificant people they have always been! Their great men Abraham, Joseph, Moses, David, and the rest how small to ordinary human sight they appear! But how colossal were Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Greece, Rome, and their heroes! Yet we learn scarce anything of them from the Bible. And the explanation is the same: in the little land, and amongst the despised people, the life of God was to be found as it was not in all the mighty ones of the world.
IV IN OUR LORD"S PREFERENCE OF GRACE TO GIFTS. (See Luk_10:20) His disciples were exultant over their gifts, but he tells them to rejoice rather in that grace which was the common inheritance of every faithful disciple. Gifts did not, and do not necessarily, carry along with them the life of God in the soul; but grace always does.
V IS THE ORDERING OF GOD"S PROVIDENCE. What a series of changes does the history of the world show! Empires rising, falling, disappearing. What a fragment of the history of the whole is all that the most learned know! Oblivion has covered the records of well nigh all peoples. They had their day; were doubtless thought much of by their contemporaries, and more of by themselves; they did, we may be sure, many things many of them, probably, great exploits, notable deeds. But who knows anything of them now? They all have "waxed old, like a garment, and as," etc. (Heb_1:12) But of the Church of God, the company of people who in all ages have loved and feared his Name, there has been no disappearance, their name has endured as none other has. God has preserved them alive, as it is this day.
VI IN THE DOCTRINE OF THE CROSS. How contemptible that seemed in the apostolic age, and, to many, seems so still! Yet to it has been given power to effect a moral change in mankind that nothing else has ever been capable of. Philosophy has done her best; but she left, notwithstanding all her teachings, the whole world lying in wickedness. But "Christ and him crucified" was preached, and we know the result of that. It was, as it is, "the power of God unto salvation unto every one that believeth." Therefore has God put honour upon that preaching such as he has given to none other. Divine life is in it, as myriads of saved souls know, and it is not found elsewhere.
CONCLUSION. Remember that God acts upon these same principles in our own individual life. He loves everything, however mean it may seem, which leads our souls to him; he cares for nothing, however much esteemed, that leads them away from him. S.C.
HOMILIES BY R. TUCK Ver. 2. The Divine interest in Zion.
Taking Zion as a poetical name for Jerusalem, the temple city, and as the representative of every place where public and united worship is offered to God. Zion is still, for us, the pious name for God"s house. The point prominent is this that we should love God"s house and worship is not in any sense surprising; but it is a surprise of condescension and grace that God should love our sanctuaries, and find his pleasure in our worship. Yet even this we are permitted to realize, and this the saints of God have realized. The historical associations of this psalm cannot be fixed. It certainly does not belong to the Davidic age, for its outlook is too wide, its spirit too liberal and too comprehensive. It may reflect the more hopeful feeling of the returned exiles; it does match precisely the feeling expressed in some of the later chapters of Isaiah, notably the sixtieth. But it must be admitted that a rigid exclusiveness rather than a liberal inclusiveness characterized the returned exiles; and the psalm is altogether too generous for them. The suggestion that it belongs to the time of Hezekiah is certainly to be preferred. When the Assyrian power was humbled by the overthrow of Sennacherib, it seemed, to excited feeling, that Judah was to be the world"s deliverer, and Jerusalem was likely to become the centre of a confederacy of delivered nations. That was the hope of Hezekiah; it was the promise of the moment, which gains expression in the psalm. In 2Ch_32:22, 2Ch_32:23, the events immediately following on the deliverance from Assyria are indicated. "And many brought gifts unto the Lord to Jerusalem, and presents to Hezekiah King of Judah; so that he was magnified in the sight of all nations from henceforth." Hezekiah piously recognized that all the honour coming to him was really due to God, who had showed such favour to his servant, his city, and his people.
I GOD IS INTERESTED IN ZION BECAUSE OF WHAT HE HAS DONE FOR IT. Illustrate how those whom we tend and care for the babe, the invalid creep into our very hearts. So if we join in raising a new church building, how dear it becomes to us! God had given ages of care to his Zion, so it had become inexpressibly dear to him. See the pathetic pleadings, which reveal deep feeling, as in Hosea.
II GOD IS INTERESTED IN ZION BECAUSE OF WHAT HE CAN BE TO IT. We specially love those for whom we feel we can do all they need. Illust.: mother"s feeling for her babe. God can "supply all our need," and it must be infinitely pleasant to be able to make "all grace abound.
III GOD IS INTERESTED IN ZION BECAUSE OF WHAT IT CAN BE TO HIM. Zion can need, and so draw out his fulness. Zion can trust, and so respond to his trustworthiness. Zion can worship, and so glorify him. Zion Can be beautiful, and so show forth his praise. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Ver. 2. The Lord loveth the gates, etc. The…
Ver. 2. The Lord loveth the gates, etc. The gates of a walled city give access to it and power over it, and are therefore naturally here put for the whole. The Hebrew participle (loving) implies constant and habitual attachment. J.A. Alexander.
Ver. 2. The Lord loveth the gates of Zion. Because of the going out and coming in of the people of God. Thus indeed the disposition of lovers is shown, that they are filled with a remarkable affection of love towards those places through which those whom they love frequently pass, as doors and gates, and those ways which they daily traverse. What other reason could God have for loving the gates of Zion? Musculus.
Read full note →
Ver. 2. The gates of Zion are the doctrines of the Gospel, the tabernacles of Jacob are the teachings of the law, the law was accomplished in the gospel; therefore it is said that "the Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob." "Plain, Commentary", 1859.
Ver. 2. The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more, etc. No doubt the prayers which the faithful put up to heaven from under their private roofs were very acceptable unto him; but if a saint's single voice in prayer be so sweet to God's ear, much more the church choir, his saints' prayers in concert together. A father is glad to see any one of his children, and makes him welcome when he visits him, but much more when they come together; the greatest feast is when they all meet at his house. The public praises of the church are the emblem of heaven itself, where all the angels make but one concert. William Gurnall.
Ver. 2. The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all, etc. It is here assumed that the Lord loves the dwellings of Jacobhe loves those that are true Israelites. These are succeeded by the name Christian, for the Christian Church is now become the true Israel of God. He loves his saints on account of that image of himself which they bear; he loves them on account of those graces which are infused into them when they are renewed by the Spirit; he loves them on account of the relation they stand in to him as his people, and as his church, who are qualified for the duties of the relation by that love of their Father, that reliance upon his care, that delight in his person, that enjoyment in his service, which belongs to dutiful and affectionate children. He loves them because they imitate his perfections in some humble measurebecause they receive the word of his mouthbecause they are ready to obey every call of his providence, setting themselves in the paths of his testimony wherever he may directbecause they yield themselves to God, as those that are alive from the dead, and their bodies as instruments of righteousness, no longer walking after the deeds of the flesh, but after the will of God. He takes a delight in them; the Lord delighteth in the righteous; he knoweth their way; he loves, approves, and confirms them. The most common occupations of lifethe honest industry of the servants of God, is looked upon by him with approbation. By these they show forth their Father, and the praises of him who called them from darkness to light. The most ordinary duties of our calling become sacrifices to God, and religious duties, when performed in the Spirit, and directed to the great end of glorifying God. He looks with peculiar complacency on the dwellings of his people on account of those domestic devotional acknowledgments of his majesty which are there maintained, when the head walks before his family as a priest to offer praise and thanksgiving; this attracts peculiar approbation and delight. He loves to see his people training up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and their children walking after them in the paths of that obedience which he has enjoined. He delights to see the course of purity which runs in Christian families. He loves to see the progress which the younger parts of religious families make in piety, while they grow in grace, and in favour with God and man. He looks down with peculiar delight on such circles as these: there he deigns his presence, and bestows peculiar blessings. However obscure the dwellings of Jacob may be, to him they are open and manifest at all times; and whether in cottages or in palaces, his eye rests there with complacency; and he says of such places, "Here will I dwell forever and ever." Prayer and devotion sanctify every family, and diffuse a spirit of piety through all the avocations of life, so that we need not retire from the world, but are rather called to show forth the virtues of the Christian life in it.
But it is said, that, although "he loves the dwellings of Jacob", yet "he loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob" that nothing in the dwellings of Jacob so much attracts his attention as the people of God connected together in a spiritual capacity.
(1.) In the first place, the Divine Being regards with peculiar complacency the worship of his saints on its own account.
(2.) On account of that union of mind and consent of heart, evinced in the assembling of God's people together, and constituting themselves into a church.
(3.) Because of the testimony which the church bears toward the truth.
(4.) Upon account of that deference to his authority, which is evinced by maintaining and keeping up the practice of those institutes which rest entirely on that authority.
(5.) By making the assembly of the saints the grand means of conversion.
(6.) That peculiar presence of God is generally vouchsafed to his saints, and made manifest to them, although it be hidden from the world, which induces the conviction that God is present of a truth.
(7.) The Divine Being shows his preference of the gates of Zion to the dwellings of Jacob, by continually maintaining in operation those gifts which are for the edification of the saints, and without which the union of the saints would be with difficulty maintained.
(8.) The Divine Being shows his preference to Zion by that marvellous protection which is afforded to the interests of the church of God: whereby, though weak, and frequently reduced to a handful of disciples, yet they have been protected, and their society on earth continued. Robert Hall.
Ver. 2. Some absent themselves from public worship, under pretence that they can serve the Lord at home as well in private. How many are apt to say, they see not but their time may be as well spent at home, in praying, reading some good book, or discoursing on some profitable subject, as in the use of ordinances in public assemblies! They see not but private prayer may be as good to them as public, or private reading and opening the Scripture as profitable as public preaching; they say of their private duties, as Naaman of the waters of Damascus, 2Ki 5:12: May I not serve the Lord as acceptably, with as much advantage, in private exercises of religion? May I not wash in these and be clean? They see not the great blessings God has annexed to public worship more than to private. Oh, but if it be thus, if one be as good as the other, what means the Lord to prefer one before the other? To what purpose did the Lord choose the gates of Zion, to place his name there, if he might have been worshipped as well in the dwellings of Jacob? How do men of this conceit run counter to the Lord? He prefers the gates of Zion, not only before one or some, but before all the dwellings of Jacob; and they prefer one such dwelling before the gates of Zion. David Clarkson.
Ver 2-3.
1. The foundation of Zion.
(a) It is but one: "foundation."
(b) It is the Lord's: "his."
(c) It is in conformity with holiness: "holy mountains."
(d) It consists of eternal purposes.
(e) It is built up on immutable principles.
(f) It is situated in a glorious position.
2. The favour enjoyed by Zion.
(a) God "loves the dwellings of Jacob." He led, fed,
guarded, lighted, visited them.
(b) He loves Zion "better"; and gives all those blessings
in a richer form.
(c) There are more to love.
(d) Their occupations are more spiritual.
(e) Their songs and worship are more enthusiastic.
(f) Their testimony is more powerful.
(g) Their knowledge of truth is more clear.
(h) Their fellowship is on a scale more heavenly. Let us
be in the Church, and love her.
3. The fame of Zion. "Glorious things are spoken",
(a) of her in history;
(b) in her by ministry;
(c) for her by Jesus;
(d) about her in prophecy.
Here is a fruitful theme.
Psalms 87:3*
Ver 3. Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. This is true of Jerusalem. Her history, which is the story of the nation of which she is the capital, is full of glorious incidents, and her use and end as the abode of the true God, and of his worship, was preeminently glorious. Glorious things were taught in the streets, and seen in her temples. Glorious things were foretold of her, and she was the type of the most glorious things of all. This is yet more true of the church: she is founded in grace, but her pinnacles glow with glory. Men may glory in her without being braggarts, she has a lustre about her brow which none can rival. Whatever glorious things the saints may say of the church in their eulogies, they cannot exceed what prophets have foretold, what angels have sung, or what God himself has declared. Happy are the tongues which learn to occupy themselves with so excellent a subject, may they be found around our fire sides, in our market places, and in all the spots where men most congregate. Never let thy praises cease, O thou bride of Christ, thou fairest among women, thou in whom the Lord himself hath placed his delight, calling thee by that pearl of names, Hephzibah, "for my delight is in her." Since the Lord has chosen thee, and deigns to dwell in thee, O thou city of beauty, none can rival thee, thou art the eye of the world, the pearl, the queen of all the cities of the universe; the true "eternal city", the metropolitan, the mother of us all. The years to come shall unveil thy beauties to the astonished eyes of all peoples, and the day of thy splendour shall come to its sevenfold noon.
Selah. With the prospect before him of a world converted, and the most implacable foes transformed into friends, it was meet that the Psalmist should pause. How could he sing the glories of new born Tyre and Ethiopia, received with open arms into union with Zion, until he had taken breath and prepared both voice and heart for so divine a song.
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than…
Psa_87:2
The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.
Read full note →
The gates of Zion
I. God has always shown a particular respect to houses set apart for His worship. Nor is He less present with us than He was with His ancient worshippers. Now God, dwelling in a tent and a temple, prefigured the incarnation of our Saviour, who having taken upon Him our nature, dwelt, or tabernacled among us.
II. Worshipping God in such places is more conducive to the spiritual improvement of the worshippers than elsewhere.
1. The character and perfections of God never appear with such bright lustre as in the sanctuary, where numbers of His faithful subjects are assembled before Him, to present the sacrifices of prayer and thanksgiving.
2. The worship performed in the house of God is the most direct testimony of our homage and obedience.
3. Worshipping God in such places animates and strengthens us in our devotional exercises.
4. Worshipping God in the sanctuary contributes to promote peace and happiness among all orders and degrees of men.
III. The importance of a regular attendance upon the services that are there performed. Like the impotent man at the pool of Bethesda, we must continue our attendance till it please God to give a blessing to the means of His own appointment. (John Ramsay, M. A.)
Gods peculiar regard to places set apart for Divine worship
I. That God bears a different respect to places set apart and consecrated to His worship, from what He bears to all other places designed to the uses of common life.
1. Those eminent interposals of the Divine providence for the erecting and preserving such places, will be one pregnant and strong argument to prove the difference of Gods respect to them, and to others of common use.
2. The second argument for the proof of the same assertion shall be taken from those remarkable judgments shown by God upon the violators of things consecrated and set apart to holy uses. A coal, we know, snatched from the altar, once fired the nest of the eagle, the royal and commanding bird; and so has sacrilege consumed the families of princes, broken sceptres, and destroyed kingdoms.
3. The ground and reason why God shows such a concern for these things is that He has the sole property of them. It is a known maxim, that in Deo Runt jura omnia; and consequently, that He is the proprietor of all things, by that grand and transcendent right founded upon creation. Yet, notwithstanding, He may be said to have a greater, because a sole property in some things, for that He permits not the use of them to men, to whom yet He has granted the free use of all other things. Now, this property may be founded upon a double ground.
(1) Gods own fixing upon and institution of a place or thing to do His peculiar use. When He shall say to the sons of men, as He spoke to Adam concerning the forbidden fruit, of all things and places that I have enriched the universe with, you may freely make use for your own occasions; but as for this spot of ground, this person, this thing, I have selected and appropriated, I have enclosed it to Myself and My own use; and I will endure no sharer, no rival or companion in it: he that invades them, usurps, and shall bear the guilt of his usurpation. Now upon this account, the gates of Zion, and the tribe of Levi, became Gods property. He laid His hand upon them, and said, These are Mine.
(2) The other ground of Gods sole property in any thing or place is the gift, or rather the return of it made by man to God; by which act he relinquishes and delivers back to God all his right to the use of that thing, which before had been freely granted him by God.
II. That God prefers the worship paid Him in such places above that which is offered Him in any other places whatsoever.
1. Because such places are naturally apt to excite a greater reverence and devotion in the discharge of Divine service than places of common use. The place properly reminds a man of the business of the place, and strikes a kind of awe into the thoughts, when they reflect upon that great and sacred Majesty they use to treat and converse with there: they find the same holy consternation upon themselves that Jacob did at his consecrated Bethel, which he called the gate of heaven: and if such places are so, then surely a daily expectation at the gate is the readiest way to gain admittance into the house.
2. Because in such places it is a more direct service and testification of our homage to Him. For surely, if I should have something to ask of a great person, it were greater respect to wait upon him with my petition at his own house, than to desire him to come and receive it at mine. (R. South, D. D.)
Gods love for the gates of Zion
I. The Lord loves the dwellings of Jacob--He loves those that are true Israelites. These are succeeded by the name Christian, for the Christian Church is now become the true Israel of God. He loves His saints on account of that image of Himself which they bear: He loves them on account of those graces which are infused into them when they are renewed by the Spirit; He loves them on account of the relation they stand in to Him as His people, and as His Church, who are qualified for the duties of the relation by that love of their Father, that reliance upon His care, that delight in His person, that enjoyment in His service which belongs to dutiful and affectionate children.
II. He loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob--nothing in the dwellings of Jacob so much attracts His attention as the people of God connected together in a social capacity. He regards with peculiar complacency the worship of His saints--
1. On its own account, as a yielding to Him that which is His prerogative.
2. On account of that union of mind and consent of heart evinced in the assembling of His people together and constituting themselves into a Church.
3. On account of that deference to His authority which is evinced by maintaining and keeping up the practice of those institutes which rest entirely on that authority.
III. Consider how it is that God manifests this complacency in the gates of Zion above the dwellings of Jacob.
1. By making the assembly of the saints the grand means of conversion,
2. By continually maintaining in operation those gifts which are for the edification of the saints, and without which the union of the saints would be with difficulty maintained.
3. By that marvellous protection which is afforded to the interests of the Church of God; whereby, though weak, and frequently reduced to a handful of disciples yet they have been protected, and their society on earth continued. (R. Hall, M. A.)
Gods regard for His Church
I. The important fact implied. The Lord loveth the dwellings of Jacob, i.e. the righteous in their personal and domestic capacities.
1. He loves them in their individual character as His people.
2. He loves them in their domestic capacity (Psa_128:1-6.; Pro_20:7; Jer_31:1-40.),
3. He loves them in all their religious services.
II. The glorious declaration given. He loveth the gates of Zion better, etc. That is, He greatly prefers the public assemblies of His people over all the dwellings of Jacob.
1. The evidences of this preference.
(1) The special promises given. One of the most ancient promises is, Wherever My name is recorded, etc. Then the one given to Solomon, My eyes, and Mine heart shall be there continually. Wherever two or three, etc.
(2) The Divine manifestations afforded. In His house He reveals His truth, and faithfulness, and goodness, and grace, etc.
(3) The invaluable blessings communicated. Here He says to the benighted chaotic minds. Let there be light, etc. Here He speaks to heavy-laden, sin-sick souls, Go in peace--thy sins are forgiven thee.
(4) By perpetuating the public assemblies of His saints despite of all opposition.
2. What reasons can be assigned for this affectionate preference. It is in Zion, or the public assemblies of His saints,
(1) That the graces and holy feelings of Gods people are most fully displayed.
(2) On account of the holy and happy harmony which is exhibited. Here men are brought together, to hear, and love, and pray.
(3) Because it is the pillar and ground of truth.
(4) Because of its resemblance to heaven.
Application.
1. Do we love the gates of Zion? What evidences do we give? Speak for it; think of it; pray for it; labour for it.
2. What advantages have we derived from it? Justification, comfort, holiness, longing for heaven. (J. Burns, D. D.)
Zion the spiritual centre
The glory of a nation is in the quality of its manhood and womanhood. It is not determined by the number of square miles that it may possess, not by its geographical position, nor by its commerce, but by its men. There is a little village in the west of Scotland that has to-day no commercial value, but it is great because David Livingstone was born there. We come to this truth, then, that--
1. Personality gives value to place. Bethlehem was but an insignificant Eastern village; it was not the centre of any trade, it was off the main highway of commerce. It is the personality of Jesus that gives value to Bethlehem.
2. Zion is great also because God records His name there. He loves the gates of Zion. A peculiar blessing ever attaches to the house of God. This is the place where the feet of our God rest, and is thereby made glorious. It is here where this man and that man was born into the new life of God.
3. We come then to this further truth that Zion is the place where souls are born. This is where men are detached from the world and attached to Christ, where they are polished and perfected. In all these souls born in Zion, God sees wonderful possibilities.
4. Let me say further that in Zion God is always wanting to work on the men born there, and to bring the best out of them. Aarons rod was to him only a piece of ordinary timber, a dead stick, with no possibility of life in it; but when he laid it up in the sanctuary, and God began to work His silent wonders on it, Aaron gazed with astonishment on the transformed stick as he saw it bearing buds and blossoms and ripe almonds. We often wonder what God can ever make of the men and women that are born in Zion. They come in late, some of them, and come in sighing and moaning, Give me back my lost years. There is a sense in which God cannot do this, but there is another sense in which He can. I will restore unto you the years that the caterpillar and the locust and the palmerworm have eaten. Where sin abounded grace did much more abound. It is a significant fact known to botanists that the late flowering plants have often the most magnificent blossoms. Of late florists have been treating plants to what is known as the cold process. The plants are kept in an ice-house so that the blooms are repressed. This repression really does the plant no harm. They blossom all the more freely and rapidly when brought into a warm atmosphere. Many a man has for years been kept in a kind of spiritual ice-house, but some day, in the warmth of a gracious revival, he breaks out into unexpected splendour and glowing wonder. A recent writer states that an Apollo has been discovered in Rome amid a heap of rubbish. It was headless, and had only one arm. A sad sight. The artists beautiful work marred by the rough handling of time and the weather. How many of Christs works of art-saved men--get mutilated, debased, crushed, ruined. Some want a spiritual limb, an eye, a hand, a foot. They are full of defects and incompleteness; but it is the glory of God to work on them till not a coarse fibre is left, and His redemptive power produces in them spiritual completeness.
5. What lots of different material there is in Zion for God to work on. There are so many different characters, many of them unpromising and unlikely that God has much to do. Yet He never despairs. Out of Peter, that handful of sand blown away by a maidens breath, God brings the man of rock-like solidity. He cares for the stars, will He not care for the man and woman for whom His own Son died upon the cross? The God who works with completeness in the starry realms will bring out perfectness in you, His own child.
6. And believe me, our God does not work haphazardly. He has a plan. It doth not yet appear what we shall be. No, God has not finished with us yet.
7. But all this must begin down here. When God counts up the people, He shall say this man and that was born there. The only important question about any Church is, Are souls born there? This was the glory of the ancient Church. Multitudes turned to the Lord. What value the Bible places on the individual! Christ thought very little of the tyranny of numbers. This old Jew saw them coming from the most unlikely places. From Rahab and Babylon, Philistia and Tyre and Ethiopia; all sorts and conditions of men were to find a resting-place, a home within the walls of Gods Zion. Gods house is not a select club for the rich. It is a home for all. What an honour to open the gates of Zion to the night-wanderer and the outcast. (A. J. Campbell.)
A Divine preference and its reasons
When the Roman soldier went out to fight, his battle-cry was Pro aris et focis--that is, for altars and hearths. It was not of his fields that he thought, it was not of his beeves--or at any rate it was not of these in the first place, but of treasures he held dearer still, the inmates of his dwelling, the honour of his gods. Now, it is these two thoughts, of home and of sanctuary, that are brought together in the text. What are the dwellings of Jacob? Are they not just the peaceful homesteads scattered up and down the land, in which families dwelt together in unity with themselves, and in covenant with their God? And what are the gates of Zion? Are they not a symbol of the common convocations when they gathered for religious worship--to pray, to praise, and to sacrifice?
I. Gods regard for the family. We may prove it by various facts, and in especial by three,
1. Consider the place God has given to the family in the economy of nature. For what is home--home, I mean, where it attains its destined ideal and fulfils its appropriate ends? It is a means of protection for the young, hiding them in their defenceless years from the sight of evil and the strife of tongues. It is a ministry of refreshment for the old, calming and recruiting them in their hours of weariness after the bustle and fret of toil. And it is a school of charity for all.
2. Consider the place God has given the family in the kingdom of grace. Let us never forget that there is a law of heredity in grace. There exists a principle of transmission, on which Scripture lays abundant stress, by which the generations are made one, linked together in a chain of blessing.
3. Consider, too, the place that God has given the family in the discipline of Christ. Can there possibly be a stronger proof of the honour which God sets on the household than the fact that to the households keeping and to the households care He entrusted the most precious treasure of heaven, the noblest life on earthy
II. Gods greater regard for the Church. The text says that, good and beautiful as home is, the assembly of the saints is better. And why? Why is it that, while God delighted in these peaceable habitations, each beneath its vine and fig-tree, the nurseries of brave young men and pure and gentle maidens, sons as plants grown up in their youth, daughters as corner-stones polished after the similitude era palace, He took still greater delight in the temple services at Jerusalem?
1. The Churchs fellowship is more catholic. However close, however sacred, and however enriching the fellowship of the family is, it is the fellowship of those that are one in blood. As such it is circumscribed. And there is an element of selfishness in it, innocent selfishness if you will, permissible selfishness, but selfishness notwithstanding, a certain home-contrariness which may easily turn to exclusiveness, coldness towards the wants, and indifference towards the interests, of those beyond. But in the fellowship of the Church the range is extended, the horizon is enlarged. We are out on the open platform of grace.
2. The Churchs testimony is more public. Home means privacy, home means seclusion; there is the erection of a certain barrier, the intervention of a certain screen. And therefore the witness of home, however consistent and faithful, may be said to begin and to end with the inmates of home; it is seldom far-reaching, because little observed. It is otherwise with the Church; publicity is of its very essence. The character of the Church is maintained, the ends of the Church are fulfilled, not when it edifies itself merely, but when it makes confession to the world.
3. The Churchs character is more spiritual. The Church is the special abode of the Holy Ghost, whose living and personal presence gives meaning to every privilege and might to every agency, purifying the Churchs life, prospering the Churchs work. And, in comparing the Church with the family, may we not say that the Church has ampler provisions, finer adaptations, more sacred and select appliances, more ample and effective energies, for the maintenance of Gods worship, the proclamation of His message, and, as a consequence of both, the saving and the sanctifying of souls?
4. The Churchs experiences are more permanent. There are duties and joys of the domestic life which it would be wrong to say, I am acting and feeling now as I shall act and feel in heaven, for we shall be changed in more ways than we think, if by grace we get there. But we can say so of worship. For the exercises of worship are spiritual, they are therefore abiding and unalterable; the future can make no real change in them. Both home and Church have their close connection with the heavenly life. But while home life prepares for it, Church life anticipates it. The one is a training, the other is an earnest.
III. The principle of the text, with its elevation of Church over home, in the aspects, and for the purposes we have spoken of, is suggestive of various practical lessons.
I. It means comfort for the homeless. Though God has denied you the lesser good, He offers you the greater. If He has shut the door of home, He has thrown wide the door of the Church.
2. The text suggests a caution to those who have homes. For though the Church may be a substitute for home, home can in no wise be a substitute for the Church. Beware of imagining that it may. See to it that the home points upwards to the Church. Teach your children to take their place at the Churchs services. Accustom them to bear a share in the Churchs work. Always keep before them the duty of communicating at the Churchs table, and making avowal of the Churchs Lord. (W. A. Gray.)
Public worship to be preferred before private
Public worship is to be preferred before private. So it is by the Lord, so it should be by His people. So it was under the law, so it must be under the Gospel.
1. The Lord is more glorified by public worship than private. God is then glorified by us when we acknowledge that He is glorious. And He is most glorified when this acknowledgment is most public.
2. There is more of the Lords presence in public worship than in private. He is present with His people in the use of public ordinances in a more especial manner, more effectually, constantly, intimately.
3. Here are the clearest manifestations of God. Here He manifests Himself more than in private. Why was Judah called a valley of vision, but because the Lord manifested Himself to that people in public ordinances?
4. There is more spiritual advantage to be got in the use of public ordinances than in private. Whatever spiritual benefit is to be found in private duties, that, and much more, may be expected from public ordinances when duly improved. There is more spiritual light and life, more strength and growth, more comfort and soul refreshment.
5. Public worship is more edifying than private. In private you provide for your own good, but in public you do good both to yourselves and others. And that is a received rule, that good is best which is most diffusive, most communicative. Example has the force of a motive; we may stir up others by our example (Zec_8:20-21).
6. Public ordinances are a better security against apostasy than private, and therefore to be preferred: an argument worthy our observation in these backsliding times.
7. Here the Lord works His greatest works; greater works than ordinarily He works by private means.
8. Public worship is the nearest resemblance of heaven. In heaven, so Ear as the Scripture describes it to us, there is nothing done in private, nothing in secret, all the worship of that glorious company is public (Heb_12:22-23). They make one glorious congregation, and so jointly together sing the praises of Him that sits on the throne, and the praises of the Lamb, and continue employed in this public worship to eternity.
9. The examples of the most renowned servants of God, who have preferred public worship before private, is a sufficient argument.
10. Public worship is the most available for the procuring of the greatest mercies, and preventing and removing the greatest judgments.
11. The precious blood of Christ is most interested in public worship, and that must needs be most valuable which has most interest in that which is of infinite value. The blood of Christ has most influence upon public worship, more than on private: for the private duties of Gods worship, private prayers, meditation, and such like, had been required of, and performed by, Adam and his posterity, if he had continued in the state of innocency; they had been due by the light of nature, if Christ had never died, if life and immortality had never been brought to light by the Gospel. But the public preaching of the Gospel, and the administration of the federal seals, have a necessary dependence upon the death of Christ. As they are the representations, so they are the purchase of that precious blood; as Christ is hereby set forth as crucified before our eyes, so are they the purchase of Christ crucified, so are they the gifts of Christ triumphant.
12. The promises of God are more to public worship than to private (Exo_20:24; Isa_4:5; Isa_55:2-3; Psa_36:8-9). (D. Clarkson.)
The gates of Zion
The gates of our Zion ought to be--
I. Greeting gates. Think how the welcoming heart of Jesus opened itself to all sorts and conditions of men during His earthly life--to the leper, the Samaritan woman, the thief on the cross, etc. Surely, if the Church is to represent her Lord, her gates ought to be gates of greeting.
II. Established and guarding gates. Our churches stand for great facts and doctrines--like God, the humanity and Deity of Jesus, the authority of Scripture, the atonement, the sacredness of the Sabbath, righteousness, beneficence, etc.
III. Loved gates. What our Lord loves we should love. And especially your own Church should you thus love.
IV. Supported gates, Every Church-member should be willing and glad to do his share toward the support of worship.
V. Attractive gates. So winning, so wrapped in genial and cheerful atmosphere should our Church services be, so evident in their holding forth the attractive Christ, that the Churchless throng should be constrained to enter and to share. (Homiletic Monthly.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.