Psalm 87 is a dance between particularity and universality.
Concerning particularity, the poem opens with these lines:
On the holy mount stands the city he founded;
the Lord loves the gates of Zion
more than all the dwellings of Jacob.
Glorious things are spoken of you,
O city of God.
The Lord shows a particular affection for Zion. This particularity extends to Israel herself, the chosen people of God. This is a particularity Christians have historically lost track of and have been tempted into supersessionism. As Gentiles, the story of salvation is not our story. As Paul describes in Romans, we are grafted into Israel "contrary to nature." Salvation is particular and we must recognize and submit to that particularity.
But then, in the next lines, a universal note is sounded:
Among those who know me I mention Rahab [Egypt] and Babylon;
Philistia, too, and Tyre, with Cush—
“This one was born there,” they say.
These lines are radical in their vision. Israel's enemies and oppressors, from Egypt to Babylon, are included among God's people. And the vision may be even more radical depending upon the interpretation of the line "This one was born there." Where is "there"? Some interpreters believe "there" refers to Zion, connecting back to the opening lines of the psalm. If so, then Egypt, Babylon, Philistia, Tyre, and Cush are "born in Zion." A truly remarkable claim. It's a stunning vision of inclusion. The nations do not just visit Zion to worship God, they are born citizens. The nations are given birthright citizenship.
In my upcoming book The Book of Love I talk about how salvation is a dance between the particular and the universal. Psalm 87 illustrates that dance. In God's favor toward Zion and Israel salvation is particular. But the particularity of salvation is not narrow, exclusive, or ethnonationalistic. The embrace and scope of the Lord's mercy is universal. In the end, every nation becomes a citizen of Zion.
