Ps. 87.2 (Yhwh's bride)

Yhwh loves / the gates of Zion 
more than / all the dwellings of Jacob. 

This verse bares a rather striking resemblance to psalm 84.11, which reads, “I choose waiting at the threshold of the house of God, more than dwelling in the tents of wickedness.” There, as here, we have the ‘threshold’ (here, ‘gate’) as the object of affection, greater than other forms of dwelling. In both, also, the ‘love-of-the-lesser’ (threshold/gates) highlights the magnitude and unique love that is bestowed upon the object (in Ps. 84: the Temple; here: Zion). They are, it seems of a categorically different nature than every other form of dwelling; they are not just ‘quantitatively’ different but ‘qualitatively’ superior than everything else. There are important differences, however. Psalm 84 establishes the contrast between the holy Temple and the ‘dwellings of the wicked’. Here, the contrast is between two realms of ‘goodness’: Zion and Jacob’s dwellings. It seems plausible that ‘Jacob’s dwellings’, as a contrast to Zion, refers to other cities in Israel that Yhwh does, in fact, favor. However, it seems as if his superior ‘love’ is reserved for Zion. Second, Psalm 84 describes the love of the psalmist for the Temple. Here, God himself moves into that position. It is Yhwh’s love that is at focus here. That is a profoundly important point. Zion itself is, to God, an object not only of affection and beauty, but of love. These two insights now need to be combined with a third, and that is that these two opening verses serve as a type of thematic introduction to the rest of the psalm. As such, we need to note that in the remainder of the psalm Zion is portrayed not only as a woman but as the mother of all of God’s children. She is, in other words, a type of bride of Yhwh. It is at this point that we can see how this unique love of Yhwh for Zion operates: it is the unique love of a spouse. While Yhwh may indeed love other dwellings of Jacob, his sole and unique love is for Zion. It is her that will receive his love and, thereby, become the ‘mother of all the living’. She is the one who will be ‘impregnated’ with his love and be ‘fruitful and multiply’. To be in Zion is to be within the sphere of God’s gaze as bride-groom and, crucially, as father. Through her the children of the world become children of God. Through her the ‘City of God’ becomes the center of the ‘Kingdom of God’.