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Psalm 87 relates to Ps 86:9 in that it amplifies the eschatological idea of all nations acknowledging the rule of God. This psalm is however more specific. Here Zion is described as a mother (verse 5) who gives birth not only to the people of Israel but, seemingly, to other peoples as well (verse 6). This *Korahite psalm, which is very different from the earlier *Asaphite psalms which view the nations in such a negative light, has generated a vast amount of interpretation over the centuries. It raises questions as to whether these ‘peoples’ are the Jews in the Diaspora, who will always be citizens of Zion; or perhaps proselytes in the Diaspora, thus explaining the references to Rahab and Babylon in verse 4; or perhaps a prophecy to be fulfilled by (Gentile) Christians, who are heirs to this hope. Its interests in Zion, and in God as King there, link it to Psalms 46–48 in the first Korahite collection.

The fact that the text of this psalm is badly damaged does not help. It may have been reconstructed on the basis of the other Zion hymns such as 46 and 48. For example, the reference to ‘holy mountain’ in verse 1 echoes Ps. 48:1; ‘city of God’ in verse 3 is the same as in 46:4 and 48:1,8; 2,9; ‘he founded it’ in verse 5 resembles 48:8; and ‘my springs are in you’ in verse 7 echoes 46:4.²³¹ It is possible to discern a concentric pattern in the structure, whereby verses 1 and 7 cite ‘songs’ of Zion, verses 2 and 6 focus on God’s relationship with Zion, whilst verses 4–6, between the two words *selah, suggest some interlude. The *Septuagint makes some interesting changes: verse 5 starts directly with ‘Mother Zion (mētēr Ziōn), which explicitly elevates the city over other nations, and verse 7 amends the Hebrew word for ‘springs’ to read ‘dwellings’ (pantōn hē katoikia en soi: this requires the change of one Hebrew letter, the omission of another and the addition of the definite article). This now emphasises the physical hope for Jerusalem-as-mother that is expressed here. This more explicit maternal imagery influenced Christian interpretations, as we shall see.

*Targum omits such maternal implications. The ‘gates of Zion’ in verse 2 become ‘the gates of the houses of study that are fixed in Zion’, a particular reference to specific places for the study of the Law in the Diaspora. The end of verse 4 (‘This one was born there’) has a particular Davidic/Messianic reading in that Targum reads it as ‘this king was anointed there’.²³² Verse 5 (‘This one and that one were born in it/her’) now reads ‘King David and Solomon his son were anointed there’.²³³ Later Jewish interpretation, represented by *Rashi, tends to look forward rather than back: making it clear that this is a promise that all exiles will be escorted home, Rashi argues that those coming to Zion from outside are only assimilated or converted Jews. This could be about proselytes, but it is not about the Gentiles.²³⁴

In the light of the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE, Christians often read the psalm in a less physical way, understanding ‘Zion’ to mean ‘the presence of God’. This is clearly the case in texts such as Heb. 12:22–23, and although the psalm is not explicitly used in the New Testament, later writers read it in this light. The most obvious is *Augustine, for whom 87:3 (‘Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God’) is the citation which opens his great work, The City of God. Seen in the light of the destruction of Rome in 410 CE, rather than the devastation of Jerusalem over three hundred years earlier, the sense of an enduring city, where the presence of God eternally dwelt, was paramount in Augustine’s thinking.²³⁵ *Jerome, meanwhile, sees the psalm (with its references to Rahab and Babylon in verse 4) as about the calling of the Gentiles: there is very little in common between Jerome’s sermon and the views noted earlier by Rashi.²³⁶

An interesting link with the previous psalm is the reading of Zion in these verses as a reference to the Virgin Mary. An allegorical reading of verse 5 (‘this one and that one will be born in her’) is seen as referring to the Virgin birth, so that Mary becomes a type of Zion: in this reading the ‘streams of water’ in the Hebrew of verse 7 refer both to Jesus’ birth and to Jesus as the ‘living water’ in John 4. This theme, found in two adjacent psalms, is developed in Christian art, as we shall see.

This ‘birthing imagery’ in verse 5 also resulted in Psalm 87 becoming a ‘baptism psalm’, due mainly to its themes of entry into the church, the mission to the Gentiles, and the water imagery in verse 7. This liturgical use also influenced the composition of several hymns. One is ‘Jerusalem the Golden’, based on Psalm 48 as well as 84 and 87, by *Bernard of Cluny in about 1145.²³⁷ Another interesting use of 87:3 is found in a work by the eighteenth-century hymn-writer, John *Newton: his hymn, ‘Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken’ is used along with other texts such as Ps. 46:4 and Isa. 4:5–6 to speak of a spiritual understanding of the city at a time when nationalistic concerns needed to be addressed. Newton’s version was published in *Olney Hymns in 1779, and later it was used to the tune of *Haydn’s version of the Austrian imperial anthem, which in turn was based on a Croatian folk song. The same tune (known as ‘Austria’) was later used for the German national anthem. Hence just as *Luther’s adaptation of Psalm 46 was used in different ways to address sixteenth-century concerns about the church and state, so too Newton’s reading of Psalm 87 served similar eighteenth-century concerns; these were reinforced by the later adaption of the text to the same tune to serve German nationalistic interests.²³⁸ Psalm 87 can undoubtedly be read in very different theological and political ways.

The composer and musician David Mitchell offers a reconstruction of the Jewish liturgical and musical setting of this psalm from a time when these national concerns would have been more focussed on Jerusalem and its Temple.²³⁹ As we have seen previously, Mitchell uses the Hebrew diacritical marks to create a musical score, and this psalm is pertinent because it again offers several responsorial elements (for example, the citations about Zion in verses 4, 5, 6 and 7).²⁴⁰ In addition, the two occurrences of selah after verses 3 and 6 also allow for some dramatic musical interludes, perhaps with trumpets and cymbals, as with Psalm 82. Unlike Psalm 82, which is a typical Asaphite psalm in its sense of judgement, Psalm 87, as a Korahite psalm, has a clear festal mood, and is an ideal psalm for a reconstruction of Hebrew cantillation and performance. Whilst admitting that the stresses in the Hebrew do not inform us on this matter, Mitchell sets the psalm in triple time, arguing that either duple or triple time fits the rhythm well, thus bringing to life the psalm’s cheerful overall tone. The chorus and the (Korahite) cantor/precentor sing responsorially, in half verses, throughout. Mitchell’s creative adaption of the score in Figure 5 shows how the two halves of each verse are marked by mid-verse divisions indicated by an atnaḥ, represented as an inverted v: such a pause suggests a possible precursor to Christian psalmody sung as *plainchant. The score also reveals how the different notes (for example at the beginning of verse 4) have been extended for dramatic effect.

FIGURE 5 Interpretation of singing of Psalm 87 in its earliest setting.

Reproduced with the kind permission of David Mitchell, Director of Music in Holy Trinity Pro-Cathedral, Brussels; website https://brightmorningstar.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Ps-087.pdf

The liturgical and musical use of the psalm was influenced by its different dramatic forms and its changing moods, and these provided ideal material for the interpretation of this psalm in art, where there are three dominant motifs. The most unusual of these is the so-called ‘Christianisation of Zion’—a theme which was encouraged by Church Fathers such as *Athanasius, whereby Zion is not only the Christian Church, or a type of the Virgin Mary, but Christ Himself. Hence in the *Khludov Psalter (fol.86v) David is represented as a prophet, standing before a Christian basilica set on high ground, with an image of the Virgin and Child on the walls. The inscription reads: ‘David prophesises’ (i.e., about the Incarnation). A second motif, as was seen in Ps. 86:11, is of the Virgin Mary. This is illustrated in the *Pantokrator Psalter (fol. 121r) where the inscription reads: ‘Holy Theotokos’ [or, God-bearer]—referring of course not to Zion, but to Mary. Other images of Mary as ‘Mother Zion’ are found in the *Barberini Psalter (fol. 149r) and *Theodore Psalter (fol. 115v).²⁴¹ Perhaps one of the most telling images is in a twelfth-century manuscript by Jacobus (Biblioteca Vaticana, gr.1162) which has a series of scenes where the Virgin Mary is questioned by Joseph: in one (fol. 170r) Mary is sitting, making her defence in silence, with an open book inscribed (in Greek) with Ps. 87:3.²⁴² A third common motif is to read Zion in the psalm as the Christian Church. The *St Albans Psalter illustrates the upper ‘F’ of the first word of the psalm (‘Fundamenta eius in montibus sanctis’) with a bishop and five clerics consecrating a church.²⁴³

Of course, the alternative Jewish depiction in art is to read Zion literally, as the city of Jerusalem. Moshe *Berger’s image is of the ‘gates of Zion’ (verse 2) which are depicted abstractly, shining in blue and white with red, symbolising a portal to heaven through which the prayers of the people ascend to God and the blessing of God descend to the people.²⁴⁴

The feminine imagery in this psalm has attracted some distinctive observations by Denise Dombkowski Hopkins. Noting that ‘Mother Zion’ stands at the heart of this psalm, she remarks that, unusually in the female personification of Jerusalem, which is often of a woman raped and devastated,²⁴⁵ the female metaphor is here given dignity. She is a place of refuge and pilgrimage, providing a peaceful and universal vision instead of that of aggression as a result of the ‘wounds of war’. This psalm today thus offers a female voice for those who, like the other voices in the psalm, often feel outside the community of faith—by reasons of colour, race, and gender, for example—and allows them a voice of their own.²⁴⁶

The key theme in the reception of this psalm, shared by both traditions, is Zion, whether interpreted literally or allegorically. A key difference is how one reads the female imagery and the inclusion of the outsiders into ‘Mother Zion’.