Ps. 48.9 (the center of Zion)

.  “O God / we have reflected / upon your lovingkindness – in the midst / of your temple.” In a sense, this verse is the central one of the psalm both geographically and thematically. We have already noted how important it is where, precisely, one stands (literally and otherwise) in relation to Zion. The kings of the earth have been placed ‘outside of Zion’, thereby representing both the fact that they are not citizens and their antagonistic/antithetical approach to it. They only ‘see’ Zion and are not a part of the covenantal community that ‘hears’ about Zion. From the kings we moved into the City (the city of Yhwh Sabaoth and our God). Now, for the first time, the actual temple within the city is explicitly mentioned. If Zion represents the center of the world, the temple represents the center of Zion. And here, at the very center, we find the most important of covenantal terms: lovingkindness. This, then, is a type of ‘holy of holies’ in the psalmist’s contemplation.  And, as one moves more centrally into Zion the closer one comes to the very source of Zion, that which makes it ‘everlasting’. It is, indeed, the covenantal bond itself (as we have already argued). The covenant creates Zion, and resides in it. It is perhaps of note that the Name of God is typically what is understood to dwell “in the midst of the temple” or his “glory”. Yet, here, it is his covenantal bond. It is a profoundly important statement. It is this reality, in Zion’s very center, that represents what the “kings of the earth” have utterly no access to. And, perhaps more importantly, it is God’s lovingkindness that is now understood to be that which defended Zion and her ‘children’ by casting down the kings of earth, shrouding them with fear and causing them to writhe and shatter. Conversely, as we will see, it is God’s lovingkindness that bathes Zion in joy for those who are her citizens and makes of her (to her smallest detail) an object of contemplation and delight; what makes Zion ‘shimmer’. And, as everything has contracted to this point in the psalm so too will, in the following verses, everything begin to expand away from it, as if it were some sun (or, heart) that enlivens the world.