John Calvin Commentary Psalms 87

His foundations are in the holy mountains. Those who understand that Jerusalem is meant here, as if it were said to be founded upon the holy mountains, are, in my judgment, mistaken, for the relative is in the masculine gender. I am aware that some learned men defend this opinion by supposing that the words the people are to be supplied, even though the capital of Judea is specified.

But I do not need to say anything to prove what is apparent to everyone: that this interpretation is forced. Some Jewish interpreters have considered it most probable that this opening sentence refers to the psalm itself. Accordingly, they explain foundations as metaphorically denoting the theme, or subject of the poem, because it concerns the holy city Jerusalem, which was situated on mountains.

But I am surprised that they could have been mistaken in such an obvious matter. Since it is quite common among the Hebrews to use a relative pronoun without its antecedent, this way of speaking should not seem harsh or strange. The name of God is mentioned a little later, and we know that He is everywhere represented as having founded Jerusalem.

Some understand the mountains to mean Moriah and Zion, which were the two peaks of a mountain split in two, but this interpretation is too forced. Since the country was mountainous, we should rather understand that the prophet had in mind the various neighboring and contiguous mountains that formed a chain around Jerusalem; for we will see in another place that Jerusalem was surrounded by mountains (Psalms 125:2).

The true and natural meaning, then, is that God chose the holy mountains to found and establish His city in their midst. For a little later, in the continuation of the subject, these words occur: The Highest himself shall establish her. He is indeed the founder of other cities as well, yet we do not read of Him saying this concerning any other city:

This is my rest for ever; here will I dwell; for I have desired it,
(Psalms 132:14).

There is this difference, which must always be remembered: while other cities were founded and built by the guidance and power of God merely for the sake of civil government, Jerusalem was His unique sanctuary and His royal seat. Isaiah also uses a similar expression (Isaiah 14:32): The Lord hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it.

Besides, although the whole country of Judea was consecrated to God, yet He is said to have rejected all the other cities and to have chosen this one for Himself in which to reign. Here the question is not about earthly polity but spiritual government, for the pure religion, the true worship of God, and the doctrine of godliness could at that time be found only in Jerusalem.

Jehovah loveth the gates of Zion above all the dwellings of Jacob. Here we are taught that all the excellence of the holy city depended on the free choice which God had made of it. With this agrees what is stated in Psalm 78:60, 67, that God rejected Shiloh, the tribe of Ephraim, and the tabernacle of Joseph, that He might dwell in Zion which He loved.

The prophet then points out the cause why God preferred that one place before all others; and the cause which he assigns is, not the worth of the place itself, but the free love of God. If it is demanded why Jerusalem was so highly distinguished, let this short answer be deemed sufficient, Because it so pleased God. To this the divine love is to be traced as its source; but the end of such a choice was, that there might be some fixed place in which the true religion should be preserved, and the unity of the faith maintained, until the advent of Christ, and from which it might afterwards flow into all the regions of the earth.

This, then, explains why the prophet celebrates Jerusalem as possessing the high distinction of having God for its master-builder, its founder and protector. Further, he attributes to the divine favor and adoption whatever excellence it possessed above other places. In putting Zion for Jerusalem, and the gates for the whole compass of the city, there is a double synecdoche.

Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God! The reading literally is, That which is spoken in you are glorious things. We must consider the design of the prophet, or rather the object of the Spirit of God, speaking by the mouth of the prophet. From the low and despised condition of the whole people, from the many and terrible enemies who pressed hard upon them on all sides, from the small number who had sufficient courage to surmount the obstacles in their way, from the new and unexpected changes which were daily springing up, and from the danger that the state of affairs, gradually sinking more and more into decay, would eventually become desperate, it was difficult to cherish the hope that the holy city would be restored.

So that despair would not overcome the hearts of the faithful and cause them to falter, the supporting and comforting consideration is set before them: that the Lord has spoken differently concerning the future condition of the Church.

Their attention, undoubtedly, is called away from the present state of affairs and directed to the promises that inspired them with hope for the wonderful glory with which she would be adorned.

Therefore, although nothing appeared to the senses or reason that would greatly rejoice the heart, yet the prophet wanted them to be encouraged by the word to stand, as it were, on a watchtower, waiting patiently for the fulfillment of what God had promised.

In this way, they were admonished to:

1. Direct their attention to the ancient prophecies and to remember especially those contained in Isaiah from the fortieth chapter (Isaiah 40) to the end of the book.
2. Listen to the servants of God, who at that time preached the kingdom of Jesus Christ.

From this it follows that a right judgment of the Church's happiness cannot be formed, unless we estimate it according to the standard of God’s word.

I will make mention of Rahab and Babel. The name of Rahab is used for Egypt in many other parts of Scripture; and this meaning is very well-suited to the current passage, the purpose of which is to portray the magnificent breadth of the Church, which was still only a matter of hope.

It is therefore said that those who previously were deadly enemies, or complete strangers, will not only become familiar friends, but will also be grafted into one body, so that they may be considered citizens of Jerusalem. In the first clause it is said, I will make mention of Egypt and Babylon among my household. In the second, it is added, that the Philistines, Tyrians, and Ethiopians, who until now had been so much in conflict with the people of God, will now be brought into as cordial harmony with them as if they were Jews by birth.

What a glorious distinction of the Church, that even those who held her in contempt will come flocking to her from all directions, and that those who desired to see her completely torn apart and destroyed, will consider it the highest honor to have a place among her citizens, and to be considered as such! All of them will voluntarily renounce their own countries in which they had previously proudly boasted. Wherever they may have been born, whether in Palestine, or Ethiopia, or Tyre, they will profess themselves citizens of the holy city.

The Jewish scholars explain this passage as meaning that very few will arise from other nations who will excel either in mental endowment or in virtuous attainment, but that in Israel such persons will be very numerous. Scarcely, they say, will there be found among the Tyrians, the Egyptians, the Ethiopians, and other nations, one man for each of them worthy of praise; so that if such a one is found among them, he may be pointed out with the finger, because of his rarity. But in Zion man and man shall be born; that is to say, the number of such men among the Jews will be great.

Christian scholars are almost unanimous in referring these words to Christ, and think that the reason is given here why those who until now were strangers, and even mortal enemies to each other, are now to be counted among the citizens of Jerusalem: namely, because Christ will be born there, whose work it is to gather together into the unity of faith and hope of eternal life, people who were scattered like members torn from the body.

The first of these interpretations, being entirely forced, needs no refutation. Moreover, it is very evident that the Jews, motivated by a foolish ambition, twist this passage, as it were, deliberately. The interpretation of the Christian scholars is, at first sight, plausible because of its ingenuity, but it lacks solidity.

The words clearly imply that whatever nation people may belong to, they will willingly renounce their own country to be enrolled in the register of the chosen people. When it is said that they are born there, this does not mean that they are natives of the country and have been brought up in it from their birth, but that they are its citizens. What is added afterwards, The Most High himself will establish her, can just as correctly be translated, will order her; as it is the special work of God to govern His Church by His word.

And it shall be said of Zion, Man and man is born in her. It is asserted in the fourth verse (Psalms 87:4) that new citizens shall be gathered into the Church of God from different parts of the world, and here the same subject is continued. However, another figure is employed: strangers by birth shall be counted among the holy people, just as if they were descended from Abraham.

It had been stated in that same preceding verse (Psalms 87:4) that the Chaldeans and Egyptians would be added to the household of the Church, and that the Ethiopians, Philistines, and Tyrians would be enrolled among her children. Now, by way of confirmation, it is added that the number of the new offspring shall be exceedingly great, so that the city which was for a time uninhabited, and later only sparsely populated, shall be crowded with a vast population. What is promised here in a few words, the prophet Isaiah describes more fully:

Sing, O barren, you who did not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, you who did not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, says the Lord. Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of your habitations; spare not, lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes: for you shall break forth on the right hand and on the left; and your seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited (Isaiah 54:1).

Also,

Lift up your eyes round about, and see; all they gather themselves together, they come to you: your sons shall come from far, and your daughters shall be nursed at your side (Isaiah 60:4).

And in Isaiah 44:5, we find language very similar to this passage, or at least closely resembling it: One shall say, I am the Lord’s; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand to the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel. Nor is the word born inappropriately used to express the fact that the Egyptians, Chaldeans, and others like them, shall be of the flock of God’s people.

Although Zion was not the place of their natural birth, and they were to be grafted into the body of the holy people by adoption, yet since the way we enter the Church is a second birth, this expression is used very appropriately. The condition upon which Christ espouses the faithful to Himself is that they should forget their own people and their father’s house (Psalms 45:11), and that, being formed into new creatures and born again of incorruptible seed, they should begin to be the children of God as well as of the Church (Galatians 4:19).

Indeed, the ministry of the Church, and it alone, is undoubtedly the means by which we are born again to a heavenly life. Incidentally, we should remember the difference the Apostle describes as existing between the earthly Jerusalem—which, being herself a bondwoman, also brings forth children in bondage—and the heavenly Jerusalem, which brings forth free children by the instrumentality of the Gospel.

In the second part of the verse, the stability and enduring character of Zion are expressed. It often happens that the more rapidly cities rise to distinguished eminence, the shorter their prosperity lasts. Lest it be thought that the prosperity of the Church is of such a perishable and fleeting nature, it is declared that the Most High himself will establish her.

It is not surprising, then, to find other cities shaken and subject from time to time to various upheavals, for they are swept along with the world’s changes and do not have eternal protectors. But the opposite is true for the new Jerusalem, which, being founded upon the power of God, will continue even when heaven and earth fall into ruins.