Ps. 48.1 (Yhwh and his city)

“Yhwh / is great – and most worthy / of praise!” Several translations incorporate this line with the following making it, “…most worthy of praise in the city…”. That, however, I think is a mistake for two reasons. First, by placing Yhwh’s name as the very first word spoken the psalmist is drawing our attention to the fact that Yhwh is the one who makes city into Zion, the building into a Temple. It is his name/presence that enlivens and leavens these realities. It is crucial that this is understood as it is Yhwh’s indwelling that, as we will see, imbues Zion with its ‘forever’ reality and stability and will come to make it a physical manifestation of his covenantal endurance with Israel. Furthermore, it is because of his indwelling presence that Zion will take on the characteristics of these opening lines: “great” and “worthy of praise”. As we will see, for the psalmist, by emphasizing Yhwh here, he is not assuring us that Zion is ‘only a symbol’; rather, it is precisely in his recognition of Yhwh’s greatness and of his supremacy as an object of praise that Zion will be more fully revealed in all of its splendor. In other words, there is no ‘competition’ between Yhwh and his ‘mountain’. Yhwh can give as much of himself to Zion as possible without ever being in danger of being lost in the exchange. The second reason for seeing this as the opening is a formal one: if one brackets this section off then the remaining operates very smoothly as a description of Zion as it participates within Yhwh’s beauty and glory.