seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Psalm 87 Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm. A song.
1 He has founded his city on the holy mountain.
2 The Lord loves the gates of Zion
more than all the other dwellings of Jacob.
3 Glorious things are said of you,
city of God:[a]
4 “I will record Rahab(b) and Babylon
among those who acknowledge me—
Philistia too, and Tyre, along with Cush[c]—
and will say, ‘This one was born in Zion.’”[d]
5 Indeed, of Zion it will be said,
“This one and that one were born in her,
and the Most High himself will establish her.”
6 The Lord will write in the register of the peoples:
“This one was born in Zion.”
7 As they make music they will sing,
“All my fountains are in you.”
a, Psalm 87:3 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here and at the end of verse 6.
b. Psalm 87:4 A poetic name for Egypt
c. Psalm 87:4 That is, the upper Nile region
d. Psalm 87:4 Or “I will record concerning those who acknowledge me: / ‘This one was born in Zion.’ / Hear this, Rahab and Babylon, / and you too, Philistia, Tyre and Cush.”
Short little ditty.... when I read through it... I thought... this is about Jerusalem.... and I was right! I might get the hang of reading poetry yet~ wait.... the commentary says there's an issue in the translation from Hebrew to Greek? What???? I finally think I got it... and the poem has problems????
This is from the easy English site.
This is an important psalm but we do not know who wrote it. It was for the sons of Korah. This is probably the name of the musicians in the temple in Jerusalem. The temple was the house of God that Solomon built. Solomon was the son of David. He was the third king of Israel.
The psalm is about Jerusalem. The psalm calls Jerusalem by the name Zion. Really, Zion was the name of the hill on which Solomon built the temple. The Jews thought that God lived on this hill. It was his home on earth. Because they thought that God was holy (or very, very good) they thought that Zion was holy also. So they called the hill of Zion a "mountain of holiness".
But the psalm is really the story of two Jerusalems! Verses 1-3 are about Jerusalem on earth, the capital city of the Jews. Verses 4-6 are about another Jerusalem. We can see this very clearly in the translation from theGreek Bible below. (The translation above is from the Hebrew Bible.) 250 years before Jesus came to the earth, the Jews translated their Bible into Greek.
This meant that more people could understand it. In some places, the two Bibles are different. We do not know why. We do believe that both translations teach us what is true.
Ok.... same commentary.... here's the rest of their story....
Verses 1 – 2: These verses are about the Jerusalem that is on earth. To give you help to understand this difficult psalm we have shown it like this:
He built it on the mountains of holiness
the LORD loves the gates of Zion
He loves them more than the places where Jacob lives
To the left it is about the LORD God; to the right it is about the Jerusalem on earth, the capital of Israel. The "mountains of holiness" are the hills on which they built Jerusalem. They were holy because they thought that God lived there. "The gates of Zion" means the whole city of Jerusalem. Jacob is another name for Israel, and the land where the Jews lived.
Verses 4 – 6: These verses are about the Church. The person that wrote the psalm did not know about our Church. He thought that people from all over the world were becoming Jews. This was probably true. But the New Testament of the Bible repeats Psalm 87:5 and says that it is about the Church (Galatians 4:26). People come to it from all over the world: Rahab (Egypt), Babylon (Iraq), Philistia, Tyre (Lebanon) and Ethiopia (Sudan) were countries near Israel.
We think that God is speaking in verses 4-6. He says that everyone that is born in Jerusalem is in his book. What does "born in Jerusalem" mean? We believe that it means "born again". This is another way of saying "becoming a Christian". The name of every Christian is in God’s book. He will not forget any of them. They are all included in those that say, "this man was born there". In verse 6, this means "I was born there". Here is Psalm 87:5 in another translation. It is not from the Hebrew Bible. It is from the Greek Bible:
"A man will say, 'Zion is my mother'. This man was born in her. So he ... the *Most High ... will build her up".
It is the translation from the Greek Bible that the New Testament uses. In Galatians 4:26 Paul wrote, "the Jerusalem that is above ... is our mother". Remember, Jerusalem and Zion are the same place.
What does all this mean? It means that when we are born again (or become Christians) we are born in a place called Jerusalem. This is not the Jerusalem that is on earth. It is a Jerusalem that is in heaven, where God lives. The people that live there are all the people that have become Christians. The Jerusalem that is in heaven is made up of people, not buildings.
Verse 7: This verse is difficult to translate. It probably means one of:
· the singers and musicians must use music that is called "All my springs are in you"
· the singers and musicians all say that their springs are in Jerusalem (this means that Jerusalem gives them new life)
There is only one Jerusalem on earth. There was only one true Temple on earth. God instructed Moses how to make a Temple out of tent materials.... then God helped Moses take that Tent to the Promised Land. David moved the tent to Jerusalem and gathered the construction pieces to build a brick and mortor type Temple there. Solomon, David's son, used those construction materials to build the Temple in Jerusalem. Once the Temple was built.... people came from everywhere to worship there.... it would shine in the sun.... up on that hill.... beckoning.... then.... people kept doing poop they knew they shouldn't do.... and God warned them.... then they were put in time out.... their beautiful temple was destroyed.... and they were murdered, castrated, or enslaved..... for hundreds of years... until finally.... they were allowed to return.... and rebuild the Temple.... it wasn't as beautiful as before.... but it was the Temple of God in Jerusalem.... and once again.... people came from everywhere just to be there..... So this poem attempts to explain why they felt the need to rebuild the Temple.... why they felt the need to travel so far just to worship in their Temple.... why they felt the Temple was attached to the souls of the people who worship God.Check it out though.... It talks about Rahab.... That's a name I know..... Rahab was not a jew.... she was a Canaanite.... she helped Joshua's men escape. She believed in our God. She's one of those people who would have traveled no matter how far just to worship God. Like Ruth, who learned from Naomi, and became a follower of our God.... Rahab stepped up for God. Oh... and by the way.... Rahab was a whore!
We are Zion....
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