Babylon was famous in the realm of human success and glory. It was the continuation of Babel, where man endeavored to glorify himself by building a tower to heaven. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, built a great and powerful empire, a monument to man's success and glory.

Philistia was very close to the holy land. According to the Bible, the Philistines were clever in handling the holy things in a human way. When the ark of God was captured and brought into their country, they devised a way to deal with it. Having contacted the holy land and having learned about the holy things from the holy land, the Philistines became adept in handling holy things according to human wisdom. Today there are many people who are not in the holy things but are very close to these things and have their human way to handle them.

According to the Bible and to history, Tyre was a commercial country, a country of merchandise and of high civilization. Their traffic in commerce was their glory. There are many "Tyres" on earth today.

The last place was Cush (Ethiopia). Cush was a place from which people came to learn of the holy land. The queen of Sheba, for example, came from Ethiopia to learn of Solomon. The Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8 also came to the holy land to learn. Hence, in history, Cush, or Ethiopia, also had a name and a reputation.

The people from these five places represent all the people on earth. The people in these places boasted of their "giants," saying, "This one was born there" (v. 4b). Egypt could say that the Pharaohs were born there, and Babylon could say that Nebuchadnezzar was born there. But what does God say concerning Zion? He declares, "This one and that one were born in her." Moses, Joshua, David, Elijah, Peter, Paul, Luther, Calvin, Wesley, Zinzendorf, Darby, Watchman Nee, and so many others were born in Zion. Eventually, even the unique One, Christ, who is the totality of all the saints as the One who is all the saints and in all the saints (Col. 3:11), was born there. This is God's counting, God's record, regarding Zion.

Not all the saints born in Zion are famous ones. Rather, among the singers and the dancers (v. 7), there are many unknown ones. We today may be the unknown ones, but we can sing and praise the Lord, saying of Zion, the city of God, "All my springs are in you." Let Egypt boast of the Nile and let Babylon boast of the Euphrates. They do not have the springs, but we in Zion have them.