Psalm 87
7 verses · BSBPsalms book hub →
Speaks with:Isaiah 28×1Isaiah 56×1Ephesians 2×1Deuteronomy 12×1Psalms 132×1Psalms 78×1
Summary
Chapter summary
Zion's register of the nations. 'His foundation is in the holy mountains. Jehovah loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God.' Then the astonishment: Rahab (Egypt) and Babylon counted among them that know me; Philistia, Tyre, Ethiopia: 'this one was born there.' 'And of Zion it shall be said, This one and that one was born in her.' Jehovah himself keeps the census. Singers and dancers alike say: 'All my fountains are in thee.'
Context
Poetry · David, Asaph, Sons of Korah, others — Psalms overview
The world behind this chapter
Psalms 87The history
The psalm turns on a register. The LORD shall count, when he writes up the people, that this man was born there. Cities and empires kept birth and census lists, and where a person was entered decided his standing for life — his rights, his taxes, his protection, whether the gate opened for him at all.
The nations entered on this list are Israel's historic tormentors. Rahab is a nickname for Egypt, borrowed from the name of the sea monster. Then Babylon, which burned the temple; Philistia, which raided the coast for centuries; Tyre, the trading power to the north; and Ethiopia, the kingdom up the Nile. These are the enslavers, deporters, raiders, and rivals.
And of each one the psalm says: this man was born there — meaning born in Zion. The register is rewritten so that people from those nations are entered as native citizens of Jerusalem, not as resident foreigners with a lesser status.
The gate is where all of this was transacted. Legal cases, market business, official announcements, and control of entry all happened in the gateway. The sons of Korah, whose name heads this psalm, were the gatekeepers — the men who physically decided who came through.
What it meant to them
Gatekeepers sang that the gate would be opened to Babylon. To a congregation that measured itself against those exact nations, that was a jolt.
It is also one of the shortest psalms in the book, over almost before the shock has time to land — and it ends with singers and players saying all my springs are in thee.
Sources cited
- Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions
- Charles H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Psalms 87. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.