Psalms 48:2 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Beautiful for situation, &c.— The expression of mount Sion's being the joy of the whole earth, seems to allude to the promise made to the patriarch, that in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed. And the law, the Christian law, may be said literally to have gone out from mount Zion into all lands. On the sides of the north, or north side [lies] the city of the great king, means the city of Jerusalem. It may be asked, why this circumstance is mentioned as an encomium upon the hill of Sion, that Jerusalem lay on the north of it: The answer is, that it is mentioned as a proof of its greater security; for the hill of Sion was almost inaccessible on any other side, than towards the north; and here it was defended by Jerusalem, which was exceedingly strong: But though the psalmist mentions this as a material circumstance, he shews that it was not in the strength of it that he confided, but in the presence and protection of God; God is known in her palaces for a refuge.