Psalm 48

{1}Great is the LORD,
and greatly to be praised in the city of our God,
in the mountain of his holiness.
{2} Beautiful for situation,
the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion,
on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.
{3} God is known in her palaces for a refuge.

{4} For, lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by together.
{5} They saw it, and so they marvelled;
they were troubled, and hasted away.
{6} Fear took hold upon them there, and pain, as of a woman in travail.
{7} Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind.

{8} As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the LORD of hosts,
in the city of our God: God will establish it for ever.

{9} We have thought of thy lovingkindness,
O God, in the midst of thy temple.
{10} According to thy name, O God,
so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth:
thy right hand is full of righteousness.

{11} Let mount Zion rejoice,
let the daughters of Judah be glad,
because of thy judgments.

{12} Walk about Zion, and go round about her:
tell the towers thereof.
{13} Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces;
that ye may tell it to the generation following.

{14} For this God is our God for ever and ever:
he will be our guide even unto death."

In its day, the Temple of Solomon must have been an incredible thing to behold. Viewed from the heights of the Mount of Olives, it would have been impressive to anyone, but especially for one who believed in the God who had entered that temple.

And yet, there is an almost inadvertent acknowledgement that it would not always be there. “Walk around Zion,” he said. “Take note of everything so you can tell it to the next generation.”
The next generation, who might not ever see it.

This psalm could have been written by the disciples of Jesus who were awed by the second temple, pointing out things to Jesus. And the Lord might have said them, “Take note of everything so you can tell it to the next generation,” for not one of these stones will be left that has not been thrown down.

The temple, and its eventual restoration looms large in the minds of Jews and Christians to this day. And yet two temples have been destroyed, and it may happen to a third. At the very end of all things, when the new Jerusalem comes down, the tabernacle of God will be with men. The word, tabernacle, is skene, a tent.

Maybe there is a lesson in there for us. God allowed Solomon to build a temple because David his father wanted to, not because God himself wanted one. Jesus told the woman at well in Samaria that the time was coming, rather, was already here, when men would not worship in a place, but in spirit.
 

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