Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Psalms 87:2

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Psalms 87:2. The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. — That is, he preferred Zion for his habitation, to be the place of his temple and sanctuary, before any other place in the promised land. Mystically, the Lord prefers the Christian Church to the Jewish: the latter was only a type of the former; and had no glory by reason of the glory that excelleth. To this position no exception can be made.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Psalms 87:0 Citizens of God’s city

This psalm looks forward to the gathering of people of all nations into Zion, the city of God. It is a picture of God’s gracious act in welcoming all who want to be his people, regardless of their nationality (cf. Matthew 8:11; Matthew 28:19; Galatians 3:28; Galatians 4:26; Ephesians 2:13-19; Revelation 21:22-24).

God loves his city, the place where he dwells among his people (1-3). He brings men and women from former enemy nations and places them in his city (4). He gives them equal rights as his children along with the faithful of Israel and those of other, far off nations (5-6). All the faithful rejoice together in the refreshment and delight of God’s city (7).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

ZION IS GOD'S DWELLING PLACE

"His foundation is in the holy mountains. Jehovah loveth the gates of Zion More than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. (Selah)"

"In the holy mountains" God's foundations are there in the holy mountains. Their holiness is due to God's presence there, not the other way around. God is not there because the mountains are holy, but they are holy because God is there.

"God loveth the gates of Zion" This choice of Zion as God's dwelling place on earth is as inscrutable as his choice of the "Seed of Abraham" through whom God would bring the Christ and salvation to all men.

"Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God" These words announce that God Himself is about to speak "glorious things of the city of God," the wonderful words spoken in the next three verses.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

The Lord loveth the gates of Zion - Compare Psalms 78:68. The gates of a city were the places of concourse; where business was transacted; where courts were held. The particular allusion here seems to be to the thronging multitudes pressing into the city for public worship - the numbers that gathered together at the great feasts and festivals of the nation; and the meaning is, that he looked with more pleasure on such multitudes as they thronged the gates, pressing in that they might worship him, than on any other scene in the land.

More than all the dwellings of Jacob - Than any of the places where the descendants of Jacob, or where his people dwell. Much as he might be pleased with their quiet abodes, with their peace, prosperity, and order, and with the fact that his worship was daily celebrated in those happy families, yet he had superior pleasure in the multitudes that crowded the ways to the place where they would publicly acknowledge him as their God.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

2Jehovah 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 Psalms 78:60, 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. Farther, 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.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Psalms 87:1-7 :

His foundation is in the holy mountains. The LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all of the dwellings of Jacob ( Psalms 87:1-2 ).

So it's sort of a psalm which extols the city of Jerusalem which is known as Zion also.

Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me: behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this man was born there ( Psalms 87:3-4 ).

Now I don't understand that particular verse, so no comment.

And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her ( Psalms 87:5 ):

I guess these people were born in other cities and so forth, but of Zion it will be said, "This man was born in her,"

and the Highest himself shall establish her. The LORD shall count, when he writeth up the people, that this man was born there. As well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there: all my springs are in thee ( Psalms 87:5-7 ).

Now that last part is the thing that inspires me. "All my springs are in Thee." God, You are the source of life. All of my springs are in Thee. And I draw my life, Lord, from Thee. The source-giver of life. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

1. The importance of Zion 87:1-3

God chose Zion as the place where He would meet with His people in a special sense. He met with them by residing in the temple and having fellowship with them through His priests. Among all the mountains near Mt. Zion, this one was His choice for habitation, and as such was the foundation of His dealings with the Israelites. There were some beautiful hilly sites in Israel, but this one was the best because God chose to make it His abode. Other ancient Near Eastern nations believed their gods lived in beautiful high mountains such as Mt. Carmel and Mt. Hermon. Zion was the city of God because God chose to make His earthly residence there in the temple.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Psalms 87

This psalm speaks about the glories of Zion, where the temple stood. The presence of God reigning among His people at this site constituted a blessing to them and to all other nations. John Newton’s great hymn "Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken" is a commentary on this psalm.

"The language of the poet is anything but flowing. He moulds his brief sentences in such a daring and abrupt manner that only a few characteristic features are thrown into bold relief while their inner connection is left in the dark." [Note: Weiser, pp. 579-80.]

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

The Lord loveth the gates of Zion,.... Which the Targum interprets of the schools, as preferable to the synagogues: the Lord loves Zion herself; that is, the church, and therefore has chosen it for his habitation, took up his rest and residence in it, has founded it, and set Christ as King over it, and by whom he has redeemed it; and he loves her gates, the public ordinances; he loves them that come to Zion's gates, and wait and worship there, and who enter in and become members thereof; and he loves what is done there, he being there publicly prayed unto, and publicly praised by a large number of his people; where his word is faithfully preached, and reverently attended to, and his ordinances truly administered, and the graces of his saints exercised on him: wherefore, because all this is done socially, and in a public manner, and so much for his own manifestative glory, he esteems these

more than all the dwellings of Jacob; the private habitations of his people; yet he has a regard to these, the bounds of which he fixed from eternity, and where he was delighting himself before they were in being; and he loves the persons that dwell in them, and what is done there in a right manner, as closet and family worship; but when these are put in competition with public worship, the latter is preferred unto them, because done by more, and more publicly; Zion and its gates, the church and its ordinances, are preferable to all the dwellings of Jacob put together.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

A psalm or song for the sons of Korah.

      1 His foundation is in the holy mountains.   2 The LORD loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.   3 Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. Selah.

      Some make the first words of the psalm to be part of the title; it is a psalm or song whose subject is the holy mountains--the temple built in Zion upon Mount Moriah. This is the foundation of the argument, or beginning of the psalm. Or we may suppose the psalmist had now the tabernacle or temple in view and was contemplating the glories of it, and at length he breaks out into this expression, which has reference, though not to what he had written before, yet to what he had thought of; every one knew what he meant when he said thus abruptly, Its foundation is in the holy mountains. Three things are here observed, in praise of the temple:-- 1. That it was founded on the holy mountains, Psalms 87:1; Psalms 87:1. The church has a foundation, so that it cannot sink or totter; Christ himself is the foundation of it, which God has laid. The Jerusalem above is a city that has foundations. The foundation is upon the mountains. It is built high; the mountain of the Lord's house is established upon the top of the mountains,Isaiah 2:2. It is built firmly; the mountains are rocky, and on a rock the church is built. The world is founded upon the seas (Psalms 24:2), which are continually ebbing and flowing, and are a very weak foundation; Babel was built in a plain, where the ground was rotten. But the church is built upon the everlasting mountains and the perpetual hills; for sooner shall the mountains depart, and the hills be removed, than the covenant of God's peace shall be disannulled, and on that the church is built, Isaiah 54:10. The foundation is upon the holy mountains. Holiness is the strength and stability of the church: it is this that will support it and keep it from sinking; not so much that it is built upon mountains as that it is built upon holy mountains--upon the promise of God, for the confirming of which he has sworn by his holiness, upon the sanctification of the Spirit, which will secure the happiness of all the saints. 2. That God had expressed a particular affection for it (Psalms 87:2; Psalms 87:2): The Lord loveth the gates of Zion, of the temple, of the houses of doctrine (so the Chaldee), more than all the dwellings of Jacob, whether in Jerusalem or any where else in the country. God had said concerning Zion, This is my rest for ever; here will I dwell. There he met his people, and conversed with them, received their homage, and showed them the tokens of his favour, and therefore we may conclude how well he loves those gates. Note, (1.) God has a love for the dwellings of Jacob, has a gracious regard to religious families and accepts their family-worship. (2.) Yet he loves the gates of Zion better, not only better than any, but better than all, of the dwellings of Jacob. God was worshipped in the dwellings of Jacob, and family-worship is family-duty, which must by no means be neglected; yet, when they come in competition, public worship (cæteris paribus--other things being equal) is to be preferred before private. 3. That there was much said concerning it in the word of God (Psalms 87:3; Psalms 87:3): Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God! We are to judge of things and persons by the figure they make and the estimate put upon them in and by the scripture. Many base things were spoken of the city of God by the enemies of it, to render it mean and odious; but by him whose judgment we are sure is according to truth glorious things are spoken of it. God said of the temple, My eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually; I have sanctified this house, that my name may be there for ever,2 Chronicles 7:16. Beautiful for situation is Mount Zion,Psalms 48:2. These are glorious things. Yet more glorious things are spoken of the gospel-church. It is the spouse of Christ, the purchase of his blood; it is a peculiar people, a holy nation, a royal priesthood, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Let us not be ashamed of the church of Christ in its meanest condition, nor of any that belong to it, nor disown our relation to it, though it be turned ever so much to our reproach, since such glorious things are spoken of it, and not on iota or tittle of what is said shall fall to the ground.