Psalms 46:4 - Exposition

There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God. In contrast with the scene of tumult and disturbance in the world at large, which the writer has presented to us in Psalms 46:2 , Psalms 46:3 , he now shows us, resting in perfect peace and tranquillity, "the city of God," threatened, indeed, by the nations, but undismayed by them, and calmly trusting in the protection of the God who is "in the midst of her." To this city he assigns a "river, the streams whereof make her glad;" imagery in which we may recognize the perennial fountain of God's grace—that "pure river of water of life," which, welling forth from the throne of God and of the Lamb, continually refreshes and gladdens the Church of Christ ( Revelation 22:1 ), whether her dwell-tug-place be the earthly or the heavenly Jerusalem. The holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High (comp. Psalms 43:3 ). The direct application is, of course, to the earthly Jerusalem, which the armies of Sennacherib were threatening.