Tehillim 47–48 | Psalms of the City of God

In the Psalms of the sons of Korach that we have seen so far, we encountered longing for the Temple, grappling with divine concealment, and a royal wedding psalm that praises a mortal king. The psalms we now arrive at take on a slightly different tone. These three psalms seem to be spoken from the perspective of the City of God as an established and secure presence. Psalm 46 describes trust in God even as the world is shaken by turmoil. Psalm 47 presents a majestic ceremony of God’s enthronement — a psalm we recite seven times on Rosh Hashana before the sounding of the shofar, which represents God's coronation. Psalm 48 describes the grandeur and splendor of the City of God, its walls and palaces.

It is striking how Psalms 46–48 echo many motifs from the prophecies of Yeshayahu, particularly from Chapters 24–27 — often referred to as “Yeshayahu’s apocalypse.” This similarity is likely not coincidental. In Sefer Yeshayahu, Zion and the mountain of God serve as central themes that conclude both prophecies of doom and those of redemption. In Chapters 24–27, we encounter two prototypical cities: on one side, the mighty city of humanity, reliant on its pride and strong fortifications — this city is destined to fall: “You have turned walled city to ruin, the palace of strangers to no more town, never to be rebuilt” (Yeshayahu 25:2). In contrast to the crumbling walls, God is a trustworthy and stable refuge: “For You have been a stronghold to the vulnerable” (25:4), and Jerusalem is the secure city: “On that day, this song will be sung in the land of Yehuda: How mighty – this our city: He has turned wall and bulwark to salvation” (26:1).

Many phrases appear both in these chapters of Yeshayahu and in Psalms 46–48, highlighting both sides of this theme. In Yeshayahu (25:12), the term “משגב” describes what God will bring down — referring to human fortifications. But in our psalms, the very same word expresses trust in God, in a repeated refrain: “The God of Yaakov is our refuge (משגב) -Selah” (Tehillim 46:8,12). The breaking of the ships of Tarshish in Psalm 48 (v.8) clearly echoes the mention of Tarshish ships in Yeshayahu 2:16. The entire message of Psalm 46 aligns closely with the message in Yeshayahu 24–27: while the entire world collapses and endures earthquakes and natural disasters (46:3–4; compare with Yeshayahu 24), Jerusalem remains calm and secure because “God is in her midst — it will never crumble” (46:6). God's ascent with the blowing of the shofar in Psalm 47 parallels the shofar sounding in Yeshayahu 27:13, and the enthronement of God over the nations in Psalm 47 is one of Yeshayahu’s central themes.

Psalm 48 appears to take these ideas one step further. The psalm describes the physical strength of Jerusalem — its palaces (whereas in Yeshayahu, palaces are mentioned in the context of their destruction, as a symbol of human pride), its walls and towers (while Yeshayahu described the day of the Lord as one that would bring down walls and towers: “for each tall tower, each impenetrable wall”; Yeshayahu 2:15). On the surface, this focus on physical grandeur seems like the very sin that Yeshayahu warns against! The answer is straightforward and is present throughout the psalm — especially at its beginning and end: this psalm of praise for the City of God is not meant to praise the people who built it, but rather God who dwells within it. The psalm opens with: “Great is the Lord, of highest praise in the city of our God, His holy mountain” (48:2), and closes with: “This is God, our God, forever and ever; He will guide us forever more” (48:15). This message is especially appropriate as a balance to Psalm 45, in which a mortal king is praised. Psalms 46–48 remind us who the true King is.

The concept of praising the City of God as a fortress for those who take refuge in Him already appears in Yeshayahu. There, it is described that in the redemption of Zion, the people will sing a song about the city: “On that day, this song will be sung in the land of Yehuda: How mighty – this our city: He has turned wall and bulwark to salvation” (26:1). Perhaps Psalm 48 is the very song that Yeshayahu was referring to — a psalm celebrating the city of salvation, where God dwells in the midst of His people.