Psalm CXLVII
1 Praise ye the Lord!
For it is good to sing psalms unto our God;
For it is pleasant; and praise is comely.
2 The Lord doth build up Jerusalem: he gathereth together the outcasts of
Israel.
3 He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.
4 He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names.
5 Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.
6 The Lord lifteth up the meek: he casteth the wicked down to the ground.
7 Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto
our God:
8 Who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepai-eth rain for the earth, Who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains.
9 He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry.
10 He delighteth not in the strength of the horse: he taketh not pleasure in
the legs of a man.
11 The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his
mercy.
12 Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem! praise thy God, O Zion.
13 For he has strengthened the bars of thy gates; he hath blessed thy children within thee.
14 He maketh peace in thy borders, and filleth thee with the finest of the
wheat, 16 He sendelh forth his commandment upon earth: his word runneth very swiftly.
16 He giveth snow like wool: he scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes.
17 He casteth forth his ice like morsels: who can stand before his cold?
18 He sendeth out his word, and melteth them:
He causeth his wind to blow, and the waters flow.
19 He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto
Israel.
20 He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they
have not known them.
Praise ye the Lord.
The God of Israel, what he has done, what he does, what he can do — this is the “Hallelujah” note of his song. So glad- ““‘*” ^’*“” some is the theme, that in verse 1 we find a contribution for it levied on Psa, xxxiii. 1, xcii. 1, and cxxxv. 3; each must furnish their quota of testimony to the desirableness of giving praise to such a God.
The theme is stated in verse 2, and then expatiated upon n.f- theme. onwards to the end of verse 11, where the Septua,gint finish
Another Halle-
448 rsALM cxLvii — Israel’s praise to him who
the Psalm, casting the remaining verses into a Psahn by itself. It is probably one of those songs of Zion which the Holy Ghost gave to Israel under Nehemiah and Ezra, when the circumstances of that partial restoration furnished an appropriate occasion for celebrating the joy of the still greater restoration in the latter days, when Messiah should go up at the head of them. Let us remark upon verse 4. It sets’ forth the true greatness and grandeur of Israel’s God, who can attend at once to every wound of every broken-hearted one, and to the glorious host of stars. This power of attending so carefully to what is minute is peculiar to Jehovah. And he “counts” or determines the number of the stars, just as he does the dust of Jacob (Num xxiii. 10) — assigning each his “name,” according to his quality, as Adam did to the creation in Paradise on a limited scale, (Gen. ii. 20). His resources are inexhaustible, for “His understanding is infinite,” as well as his “power.”” Sing to Jehovah a responsive song’ i^Xl)-
like what we find in Nehem. xii. 27-43. For he, the God of creation, feeds even the ravens (Luke xii. 24 may be Christ’s quotation of these words), disagreeable as these ravens often seem to man; and, judging not as man does, he delights in his children’s reverend faith, not in displays of warlike pomp and military valour (ver. 10) — yes, in his children’s godly fear, and in their hope also.
“In the hopers for his mercg.”
Prophetic Is not this equivalent to Jude 21, “who look for the mercy of the Lord Jesus” at his coming; and in 1 Pet. i. 1 3, “who hope for the grace that is to be brought them at the appearing of Jesus Christ.” And it is at that day when (ver. 12-14) shall be fully realised, Israel getting back again “the fat of wheat,” as Moses sang, (Deut. xxxii. 14). On that day they will remember how, long ago, they had appealed to Jehovah as able to reverse their captivity, even as he changed night unto day, winter into summer, the floods into dry land, (Psa. lxxiv. 1 5-1 7). He who commands and forthwith snow appears, and who summons the frost to serve him and then dissolves it (see ver. 15-18), he it is who reverses Israel’s desolation, sending his word, relaxing their bonds, and causing rivers of milk and honey to flow in their land, and themselves walk on the shady banks. This is the God of Israel, who selected his people as a peculiar people, in ages past, “declaring his word to Jacob, his statutes and ordinances to IsraeV — the revealer of the way of salvation, and the appointor of the types that foreshadowed better things, all which Israel enjoyed. He has been sovereign from the first; he will act in sovereignty to the last. In times past, “He dealt not thus with any heathen nation;” and to the end it will be seen that he has done for Israel, in sovereign grace, more than he has done for all other peoples. “Hallelujah,” then! Let a sovereign God be praised on earth now, even as he shall be by the “voice of much people in heaven” (Psa. xix. 1), who see him glorified in his mysterious dealings and terrible judgments. Let us take up this calmly triumphant song of Israel’s praise to the sovereign Jehovah, who blesseth and rejoiceth over their nation restored to frosperity.