ZION JUXTAPOSED WITH ZAPHON:
‘North’ is a surprising reference to associate with Jerusalem on Mount Zion which was situated in, what would eventually be, the southern kingdom of Judeah. This language in Psalm 48 actually refers to the superiority of Zion with respect to pagan claims of divine rule. The idea in verse 2 is: “Mount Zion beyond the far north”, or “surpassing the far north”. Sumerian influenced Mesopotamian cultures claimed mythical, strategic advantage with their own version of high places conceived as the rendezvous point of the gods. The assembled pantheon of Baal and company on a prominent mountain on the northern border of Palestine/Syria was the idolater’s vested hope for success and salvation (Isaiah 14:13-15). Psalm 48 is waxing poetically polemical at this point – trash talking the false gods of surrounding regions.
Secular near eastern religious studies would have us believe that the evolution of primitive Israel was an amalgamation of various sociological/cultural influences of religious import from their neighbors. While passages like Ps 48:2 denote an interaction of a sort with the pagan cultural environment…the nature of the Hebraic position was a declaration of war and supremacy (Ps 48:4-7) over the non-god’s of the surrounding people’s vain imaginations. The religious authority and claims of the scriptures are obvious, distinct, and utterly countercultural.
The situation of Zion was not powerfully superior merely on account of its material properties, but in the expectation and object of its testimony. Ultimately Mount Zion is representative of the sovereign architectural work of Christ as Chief Cornerstone of His eternally victorious church. Nothing of this sort could ever be justly viewed as the byproduct of the cultural influence of Israel’s contemporaries. This is the marked sophistication and primacy of the revelation and salvation of the Almighty God above and beside Whom there is no other.
This is exactly the point of Ps 48. Modern anthropologist, historians, sociologists, archeologists, and academics of every sort ought to go around the citadels of Zion more carefully (Ps 48:13-14), examine her ramparts more closely for their intrinsic self-attesting value. Spirit led efforts in this regard will be rewarded indeed and will prove valuable for future generations as they are instructed in the ways of the covenant keeping God. On which mountain do you stand to view the other? Zaphon: the pagan ziggurat of The Lord’s enemies… or upon Zion: the rock Jesus Christ?
-Ken Carlton
Link: http://howthebiblefitstogether.org/Genesis/Dan%2011.6-41a%20King%20of%20North%20Zaphon.pdf
(Example of secular perspective)
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