Psalm 86 LXX/87 MT; Joshua 2; John 4:14; 7: 37-39; Galatians 4:26-7
My deepest apologies to those who have read an earlier version of this blog, or who have listened to the matching podcast. In a careless moment, I mistook the fourth Psalm for matins (which should be Psalm 87 LXX/88 Hebrew) and took us into an unwarranted moment of light, reading the Psalm that proceeds its, Psalm 86/87. Indeed, all six of the Psalms read at the beginning of Matins, and interspersed with prayers, are penitential reverently repentant. Please accept this error as a moment of respite, and take a “holiday” from the tone of early Matins to consider the city of Zion, which has glory because the LORD founded her in the Old Testament, and has shown the faithful that she is a historical type of that heavenly city to which we are called as citizens. In the next episode, Light from the Psalter 13, we will resume the series of six penitential psalms for Orthros.
The psalm is short, and striking:
On the holy mount stands the city He founded;
the LORD loves the gates of Zion
more than all the dwelling places of Jacob.
Glorious things of you are spoken,
O city of God. SelahAmong those who know Me I mention Rahab and Babylon;
behold, Philistia and Tyre, with Cush.
“This one was born there,” they say.
And of Zion it shall be said,
“This one and that one were born in her”;
for the Most High Himself will establish her.
The LORD records as He registers the peoples,
“This one was born there.” SelahSingers and dancers alike say,
“All my springs are found in you.”
The movement of the Psalm is simple: We begin by seeing how significant Zion, or Jerusalem, is in the eyes of God; we move on to see how even Gentiles can be made citizens of that place, as if they were actually born there; we finish by hearing the exultation of those who speak, and those who move (singers and dancers) attribute their strength to the sustenance that is found in God’s city.
The historical and theological importance of the city of Jerusalem cannot be exaggerated, when we consider its place in the Scriptures: it was in Zion that the mysterious Melchizedek served the LORD; it was on mount Zion that Abraham obeyed God in the matter of sacrificing Isaac, and was given a ram, pointing forward to Jesus; it was in Jerusalem that David reigned, so that Zion became the capital of united Israel; it was in Zion that the temple was built by Solomon, according to God’s command; it was at that temple that Israel’s worship was centered, and sacrifices were made; it was into that city that Jesus rode, showing that He fulfilled all the feasts and rites of the temple; it was on the mount, just outside the city wall, where Jesus Himself was crucified; it was in Jerusalem that the apostles were first given the Holy Spirit, and from there sent out to evangelize; it was in Jerusalem that the first council of apostles was convened. Glorious things are spoken of the Jerusalem of history, and rightly so!
Earthly Jerusalem, then, was of great importance to the people of the Old Testament, and in the establishment of the Christian Church. But, as St. Paul makes clear, it is of most importance because it, along with the holy Temple, point to God’s heavehly dwelling place, of which we are made citizens, whatever, our background, when we are “born from above” (John 3:1-21; 1 Peter 1:2, 23). The apostle Paul explains:
The Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. For it is written,
“Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear;
break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor!
For the children of the desolate one will be more
than those of the one who has a husband.” (Gal 3:26-27)
In the apostle’s explanation, the heavenly Jerusalem is not simply a place where God’s people are born, but pictured as our mother, the matrix from which we are born. Think also about the vision of St. John, in which the heavenly Jerusalem, made up of all God’s people, comes down from heaven, prepared as a bride for Jesus. In Galatians, Paul considers the previous “barrenness” of Jerusalem, and rejoices in the present time when this poor barren mother, who despairs of having children, now has countless children, due to the blessing of God. What a surprise that the small group of Christians, whose hope, Jesus, *was slain by treacherous men, now was becoming a thriving, fruitful, and godly community. Perhaps it was the case that in the time of Jesus, and even going into the Acts of the Apostles, many of those who should have been spiritual children of Jerusalem rejected their Savior. Now, instead, says St. Paul, God is making for the new heavenly Jerusalem MANY children, and not simply from Israel, but from all the nations! Even more glorious things will be spoken of Jerusalem, even as we see the entrance of all those who come to live in her as her children.
These many children may surprise us, but we should have seen these surprises coming. The second part of this Psalm reminds us of the notorious Rahab, and how even she found a place camped, with her rescued family, near to the gates of Israel. Alert to the might of the true God, she had said this to the Hebrew spies in Joshua 2:9-12:
I know that the Lord has given you this land and that a great awe of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below. Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you.
And so, Rahab not only was given the kindness of Israel, but was added to her number, became one of the matriarchs from whom Jesus was born, and is celebrated in both Hebrews and James as an example of great faith. It was as if she had been actually born in Israel, and not as a prostitute in Jericho. St. Cyril of Jerusalem reminds us of the way that the LORD can naturalize sinners:
Pass now, pray, to the others who were saved by repentance. Perhaps even among the women someone will say, “I have committed fornication and adultery. I have defiled my body with every excess. Can there be salvation for me?” Fix your eyes, woman, on Rahab, and look for salvation for yourself too. For if she who openly and publicly practiced fornication was saved through repentance, will not she whose fornication preceded the gift of grace be saved by repentance and fasting? For observe how she was saved. She said only this: “Since the Lord, your God, is God in heaven above and on earth below.” “Your God,” she said, for she did not dare call him her God, because of her wantonness. If you want scriptural testimony of her salvation, you have it recorded in the Psalms: “I will think of Rahab and Babylon among those who know me.” Oh, the great lovingkindness of God, which is mindful even of harlots in Scripture. He did not say merely, “I shall think of Rahab and Babylon,” but added, “among those who know me.” The salvation procured by repentance is open to men and women alike. (Catechetical Lectures 2.9. FC 61:100-101)
God, then, can change our allegiance and even our past, putting us within His own heavenly city, and using each of us as an example of His lovingkindness! The mercy shown to Rahab, and to other Gentiles of the Old Testament, pointed forward to the time of the new covenant, when Gentiles would be offered a place at the Holy Table, and become adopted children and naturalized citizens of God’s heavenly city.
“Among those who know Me I mention Rahab and Babylon;
behold, Philistia and Tyre, with Cush—
“This one was born there,” they say.
And of Zion it shall be said,
“This one and that one were born in her.”
Everything hinges around Jesus, the God-man, who both fulfilled the calling of Israel, and was the New Adam, the true human being in which everything can be made what it was meant to be.
All human beings are given the staggering opportunity to “know” God intimately, and to be attached to His people, so that God declares “This one and that one were born in her.” For we are born of the Spirit, and from above, if we belong to Christ. This declaration of God is very solemn, as the LORD both records and registers the birth. In the words of the visionary John, “our names are recorded in the Lamb’s book of life,” a book that was established “ from the foundation of the world” (Rev 13:8).
With this kind of assurance, and with an eye to the richness of that heavenly city, we can sing and dance with those who celebrate God’s lovingkindness. We know that God has prepared for us a place that has everything necessary for healing, life, and growth into the very likeness of the One who created us. As Jesus told the Samaritan woman, “Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again; the water that I will give him will becomein him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:14).
A little later in John’s gospel, we read of what he said to all the people gathered for the feast in Jerusalem,
“If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified (John 7:37-39).
For the crowd with Jesus at the feast, for the Samaritan woman, for the Cushites, for Rahab, that Holy Spirit had not yet been given; but to us, He has been given, for He was bestowed on the Church at the day of Pentecost, and that spring of water nourishes us daily as we grow into the likness of God. Jesus sanctified the waters on Theophany, showing us how our baptism leads us to know the true God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And so, even more than the singers and dancers of Psalm 86/7, we cry out “All my springs are found in you!” We know ourselves to be citizens of that heavenly city, and we watch for it to come in fullness, rejoicing in all that God has already given. Glorious things are spoken of historical Jerusalem—how much more glory will we see when that heavenly City emerges, prepared for Christ, and including us as its inhabitants!
Edith M. Humphrey 