By John Owen
"Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof. Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generation following. For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even unto death." -- Ps. xlviii. 12-14. [381]
Many expositors think this psalm to be an epinikion, -- a triumphant song of thanksgiving after some great deliverance at Jerusalem. Some apply it to the times of Asa, when Zerah and the Ethiopians tame with an army against Jerusalem of ten hundred thousand men; others apply it to the times of Jehoshaphat, when the Moabites, and Ammonites, and mount Seir (the Edomites), were gathered together against Judah; and others, again, to the days of Hezekiah, when Sennacherib and his army came against Jerusalem and were destroyed. They ground their interpretation upon verses 4-6, "Lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by together. They saw it" (but they could come no farther), "and so they marvelled; they were troubled, and hasted away. Fear took hold upon them there, and pain, as of a woman in travail:" -- which is a description of some great consternation that befell the enemies of God, and the enemies of Jerusalem, when they drew near unto it. So the Jews do interpret these verses, "Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof. Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces;" -- that, notwithstanding this great and dreadful attempt, whether by the Ethiopians, or by the Moabites, or Sennacherib, there is not one tower broken down of Zion or of Jerusalem, but all things are safe and well. For my own part, I should rather judge this psalm to be composed by David, and purely mystical and prophetical. It is easy to manifest that all the foregoing psalms are so. And the close of the former psalm is the calling of the Gentiles, where he saith, "God reigneth over the heathen; God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness," verse 8. And in verse 9, you read, in the margin of your Bibles, better than in the text, "The voluntary of the people are gathered unto the people of the God of Abraham." The people were become a willing people in the day of his power. However, all conclude that these words are a graphical, description of the defence that God will at all times give his church, which the psalmist doth set before our eyes.
Look upon it, and observe what a diligent view he requires to be taken of what he here proposes. He looks upon Zion as a well-fortified garrison, not like to be carried in haste by the enemy. And he would have you well consider, too, what the fortifications are; therefore he distributes his direction into so many particulars:-- "Walk about Zion;" this is the way whereby you may come to see how Zion is fortified. It may be you have gone a little way in walking, and have seen much, but do not cease, "Go round about her;" see if you can find one weak place, where she is likely to be attacked by the enemy. "Tell the towers," -- cast up the number of them, and see that they are not few; which is what a man of judgment and understanding would do, if he were to take a view of a fortified place, and consider whether it would hold out against a strong enemy. "Mark ye well her bulwarks;" or, "Set your heart to her bulwarks;" consider them, -- do not take a general view of these fortifications of Zion, but ponder and consider whether they are likely to hold out or not, and whether you may put your trust in them. "Consider her palaces;" which were the great and eminent buildings in and about Zion, called in some place, "palaces of ivory," with which they were greatly adorned. So that here is this direction given, to take a very strict, sedate, considerate view of the fortifications of Zion; since it would certainly be attacked by great and powerful enemies. There are two things added:-- One is, the particular end wherefore they should do so: "That ye may tell it to the generation following," since other ages of the church would have the use of it; -- the other is, the ground why all this would be of benefit to them and the generations following: "For this God is our God in covenant, and that for ever and ever, and will be our guide unto death."
