Psalms 48:12-13

12, 13. Walk about Zion The call is not in the spirit of boasting or self confidence, but of gratitude, that they may witness for themselves the unharmed condition of the city, despite the proud threats and malicious plans of the enemy.

Tell the towers… mark… her bulwarks Count the towers, set your heart to the strongholds. The fortifications of Jerusalem were a marvel to the heathen, as the remains of them are to modern archaeologists. Ruins as old as the days of Solomon and of the first Herod are still traceable. They are seen in the foundations on the south and southwest of the temple, and in the “citadel” on the northwest corner of Zion, just south of the modern Jaffa gate. In this latter place the first forty feet of elevation of the principal tower is allowed to date as far back as Herod the Great, and was, probably, built upon foundations as old as David or Solomon. Rabbi Schwarz, ( Pales., p. 273,) supposes this may be the “house of the heroes,” or the “corner of the armory house,” Nehemiah 3:16-17. Tradition has given it the name of “tower, or fort, of David,” but without authority. See note on Psalms 45:8. Various are the traces of massive, ancient fortifications in Ophel, Moriah, Zion, and the western and northern city walls, which modern discoveries have brought to light. Extensive excavations will do vastly more. But it is not to these physical strongholds, the terror of Zion’s enemies, to which the prophet would confine attention. These, to his eye, bore a higher significance as types and symbols of the surer defences of the living Church of God, in which sense the language of Psalms 48:12-13, finds its true fulfilment. See the notes on Psalms 48:14