Psalm 131:13
looking for a home
For the Lord hath chosen Sion: he hath chosen it for his dwelling. (Psalm 131:13 DR)
The Psalmist makes reference to Sion, which had shifted in identification by the time of the Psalmist’s writing. Prior to David’s conquering of Jerusalem, “Sion” was a fortress occupied by the Jebusites. However, after David’s capture of the city “Sion” came to mean the “City of David” (cf. 2 Samuel 5:7).
Following David’s death his son Solomon became king and began construction on the temple, which he built on Mt. Moriah (cf. 2 Chronicles 3:1). This temple mount later came to be figuratively referred to as Mt. Sion or Sion, even though it wasn’t the mountain proper or the Old City of David. This transference of meaning would eventually come to encompass Jerusalem the city and the entire nation of Israel figuratively.
The Psalmist is certainly making reference to the temple in this passage and thus is not speaking of the literal Mt. Sion but rather of its transferred figurative meaning for the temple. This transference is not simply a literary device but is is some respect connected to the Ark of the Covenant, which becomes—as it were—a sort of Mt. Sion in itself. We see this accounted when Solomon brings the Ark into the temple:
Then all the ancients of Israel with the princes of the tribes, and the heads of the families of the children of Israel were assembled to king Solomon in Jerusalem: that they might carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of David, that is, out of Sion. (1 Kings 8:1 DR)
It is fascinating to note that the various usages of Sion are included here, for the Ark begins in the literal Sion, the city of David, is accompanied by the princes and heads of families (thus representative of the people of Israel), and is brought out of Sion to become—as it were—the new Sion in the temple. It is thus not the city of Jerusalem per se that is Sion, but rather the place where God’s presence dwells, in this case the Ark of the Covenant.
The people of God would come to be referred to as the “children” of Sion or figuratively as “Sion” itself, even after the destruction of the temple and the eventual loss of the Ark of the Covenant.
The shifting meaning of Sion demonstrates that the Psalmist is speaking prophetically, for Sion is not a physical location on a mountain or in a city, but rather these things are types of the Church as St. Paul notes:
But you are come to mount Sion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the company of many thousands of angels, and to the church of the firstborn, who are written in the heavens, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the just made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new testament, and to the sprinkling of blood which speaketh better than that of Abel. (Hebrews 12:22-24 DR)
St. Paul shows here that all the various aspects of the Old Covenant are shadows of the New, that they pointed beyond themselves to a greater reality that was to come in our Lord Jesus Christ. The Sion which the Lord has chosen “for His dwelling” is forever fulfilled in the New Covenant and the New Jerusalem:
And I John saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice from the throne, saying: Behold the tabernacle of God with men, and he will dwell with them. And they shall be his people; and God himself with them shall be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes: and death shall be no more, nor mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow shall be any more, for the former things are passed away. (Revelation 21:2-4 DR)
St. Augustine pithily summaries the Psalmist’s meaning:
Sion is the Church Herself; She is also that Jerusalem unto whose peace we are running, who is in pilgrimage not in the Angels, but in us, who in her better part waits for the part that will return; whence letters have come unto us, which are every day read. This city is that very Sion, whom the Lord has chosen. (St. Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, 131, 14.)
I found a nice image of a mountain for this animation and used Stretch and some masks to create the upward flow streaks. I also applied some light pixel sorting to the entire image just to give it some more visual interest. In the color correction I applied some streaking to create the mirrored effect which I thought was kind of fun.
Enjoy.
For the Lord hath chosen Sion: he hath chosen it for his dwelling.
(Psalm 131:13 DR)
View a higher quality version of this gif here: