Sermon Tone Analysis

Psalm 48, The City of God, the Beauty of Zion

The Meaning of Jerusalem:

With regard to the meaning of the original name there is no concurrence of opinion.

The oldest known form, Uru-sa-lim, has been considered by many to mean either the "City of Peace" or the "City of (the god) Salem," but other interpreters, considering the name as of Hebrew origin, interpret it as the "possession of peace" or "foundation of peace."

It is one of the ironies of history that a city which in all its long history has seen so little peace and for whose possession such rivers of blood have been shed should have such a possible meaning for its name.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Zion:

Sunny; height, one of the eminences on which Jerusalem was built.

It was surrounded on all sides, except the north, by deep valleys, that of the Tyropoeon (q.v.) separating it from Moriah (q.v.), which it surpasses in height by 105 feet.

It was the south-eastern hill of Jerusalem.

When David took it from the Jebusites (Joshua 15:63; 2 Samuel 5:7), he built on it a citadel and a palace, and it became "the city of David" (1 Kings 8:1; 2 Kings 19:21, 31; 1 Chronicles 11:5).

In the later books of the Old Testament this name was sometimes used (Psalm 87:2; 149:2; Isaiah 33:14; Joel 2:1) to denote Jerusalem in general and sometimes God's chosen Israel (Psalm 51:18; 87:5).

In the New Testament (see SION) it is used sometimes to denote the Church of God (Hebrews 12:22) and sometimes the heavenly city (Revelation 14:1).

God identifies with Jerusalem, and particularly with Mount Zion as He does with no other place on earth.