Psalms 48:12
March around Zion, encircle her, count her towers,
BSB
ASV
Walk about Zion, and go round about her; Number the towers thereof;
KJV
Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof.
Those who have wisely surrounded Zion and embraced it spiritually climb up onto its towers. There they tell of it to those not able to ascend its turrets.… Always the insidious foe has his eye on it, to see if he can approach and capture it. For Satan has his armies, and with them he lays siege to souls. He has siege engines that he moves up close to the walls so as to take its towers by force. But you, says the psalm, must preach from the towers.… Preach, proclaim, without intermission, without end.
Some think this refers to the ceremony of the triumph; let those who are employed in that solemnity walk round the walls (as they did, Neh. xii. 31 ), singing and praising God.
Walk about Zion; often beat her bounds, even as Israel marched around Jericho. With leisurely and careful inspection survey her. And go round about her. Encircle her again and again with loving perambulations. We cannot too frequently or too deeply consider the origin, privileges, history, security, and glory of the church. Some subjects deserve but a passing thought; this is worthy of the most patient consideration. Tell the towers thereof. See if any of them have crumbled, or have been demolished. Is the church of God what she was in doctrine, in strength and in beauty?
1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The call to survey Zion, or the Church, as a fortified city, is designed to suggest "how well our God secures His fold." This security is perpetual, and its pledge is His guidance through this life.
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
