Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 48:8

"As we have heard, so have we seen In the city of Jehovah of hosts, in the city of our God: God will establish it for ever. Selah" — Psalms 48:8 (ASV)

As we have heard, so have we seen - That is, what has been told us, or handed down by tradition, regarding the strength and safety of the city—what our fathers told us concerning its sacredness and its being under God's protection—we have found to be true.

It has been shown that God is its protector, that He dwells in its midst, that it is safe from human assaults, and that it is permanent and abiding.

Everything that had ever been said about the city in this regard was found to be true in this trial when the kings assembled against it.

In the city of the Lord of hosts - The city where the Lord of hosts has taken up His abode, or which He has chosen for His dwelling place on earth. (See the notes on Isaiah 1:24 and Psalm 24:10).

In the city of our God - Of Him who has shown Himself to be our God, the God of our nation.

God will establish it for ever - That is, this had been told them; this is what they had heard from their fathers; and this they now saw verified by the divine interposition in the time of danger.

They had seen that these combined armies could not take the city and that God had mercifully interposed to scatter their forces. Consequently, they inferred that it could not be taken by any human power and that God intended it to be permanent and abiding.

What is said here of Jerusalem is true in a stricter and more absolute sense of the Church: that nothing can prevail against it, but that it will endure to the end of the world. (See the notes on Matthew 16:18).