A Song of Ascents.
1 Those who trust in the Lord
Are like Mount Zion,
Which cannot be moved, but abides forever.
2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
So the Lord surrounds His people
From this time forth and forever.
3 For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest
On the land allotted to the righteous,
Lest the righteous reach out their hands to iniquity.
4 Do good, O Lord, to those who are good,
And to those who are upright in their hearts.
5 As for such as turn aside to their crooked ways,
The Lord shall lead them away
With the workers of iniquity.
Peace be upon Israel!
The most apropos thing by which to illustrate the permanence of God’s people as God’s people (per the principle given in Romans 11:29)—i.e., that they cannot be moved—is Mount Zion (a poetic synonym for Jerusalem), which despite any geographic changes that God may make when He renews heaven and earth (cf. Isaiah 65:17; 66:22; Revelation 21:1), will abide forever as the same distinct Zion of previous redemption history. This permanence of Zion is ultimately grounded in the permanence of Zion’s King, the divine Messiah, who will establish His throne in Zion (on the Temple Mount) before renewing Creation, and maintain His throne there forever (i.e., even after renewing Creation; see esp. Ezekiel 43:7 and Revelation 22:3-5). — Wechsler, page 300.
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In His paternal solicitude God will ensure that the scepter (a symbol of final and irrefutable political authority) of wickedness—i.e., ungodly authority—is never brought to bear upon the righteous (i.e., those whom He has graciously “reckoned” as righteous) with such strength (and perhaps even allure) that they cannot resist the pressure to do what they know to be wrong. God, who knows us far better than we ourselves, will never allow His children to face a challenge to sin that they cannot overcome (1 Corinthians 10:13). — Wechsler, page 301.
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