Ps. 87.1 (in the beginning)

His foundation / is upon holy mountains

This psalm is one of the shortest we have encountered and yet it is probably one of the most laden with layers of depth. In fact, of all the psalms, one finds it difficult to begin commenting upon it because, in a way, each verse contains the entirety of the psalm itself. And this difficulty actually results from a thematic core of the psalm: the interplay between ‘beginning’ and ‘end’. Throughout the psalm, what happens later, historically, is understood to be ‘primary’ or ‘prior’, theologically and essentially. We can see this, in shadow, in the opening verse. Here, Yhwh’s “foundation” is upon “holy mountains”. First, Yhwh’s “foundation” clearly alludes to Zion, his city. This city is variously described as being established by David and by God in the Scriptures. What is important to note, in this regard, is that the ‘mountain’ is not understood to be a ‘primordial’ mountain, in the sense that it stands at the beginning of creation. It comes ‘late in the game’, long after creation and within history. Further, it is a mountain that is obtained. In other words, it something chosen by God. As such, the ‘city’ bears a marked relationship to Israel—the nation that only emerged rather late in history, and emerged purely by the electing covenant of Yhwh. In and of itself, this is rather striking. What is perhaps more striking, however, is that Israel (in David) and Zion both come to have clear overtones to the primordial Man and Land (Adam and Eden). And here we come to the important (indeed, massive) insight: that when Yhwh elects, in history, what he elects actually becomes the primordial source of life. Zion, when it is established long after creation, actually becomes the center (the navel) of creation (a ‘second’ Adam, can really be the ‘first’ Adam…). This is one way God’s people come to see him as the Lord not only of creation, not only of the nations, but of time itself. Zion, the source of all life and blessing to the world, is not necessarily understood to be historically ‘first’. Rather, it is when God elects her, that she becomes the ‘first’ among cities of the world, that she becomes, as we will see later, the ‘mother’ to the world. And so, when we see that God’s ‘foundation’ is upon holy mountains, we need to hear in this God’s election of this mountain and, therefore, its establishment as the primal center and power of the cosmos. In its election, Zion will become the most astonishing power in the created order.