This Book of Psalms ends its golden stream in a cataract of praise. The last Psalms are Hallelujah Psalms; this one begins and ends, as several others do, with «Hallelujah.»
Psalms 147:1. Praise ye the LORD: for it is good to sing praises unto our God;
His «our God,» whether he be the God of other men or not.' He is «our God» by his choice of us, and by our choice of him; «our God» by eternal covenant, to whom we also pledge ourselves: «This God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death.» Then let us «sing praises unto our God,» for «it is good» so to do.
Psalms 147:1. For it is pleasant; and praise is comely.
It is the most pleasurable of all exercises; it is the occupation of heaven. «It is pleasant;» it is delightful to the heart. Nothing tends to lift us out of sorrow and trouble like giving ourselves to singing the high praises of God. «It is good;» «it is pleasant;» «it is comely:» it is becoming, fitting, beautiful. Praise and Jehovah should go together. He is so worthy-to be praised that, to withhold his praises, would be an uncomely thing; but to adore him, to magnify him, is the very beauty of holiness.
Psalms 147:2. The LORD doth build up Jerusalem: he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel.
There is the first reason for praise. The Jews were pleased to behold their city rising out of the heap of ruins, they were glad to see the scattered ones, the outcasts, coming back to their native place, and entering into citizenship in Zion. Shall not the Church of God, of which Jerusalem was a type, praise God that he is steadily and solidly building up a Church to his praise and glory? He is building it out of strange materials; outcast sinners, who were far from him by wicked works, are brought nigh by the blood of Christ. Stones from nature's quarry are changed into living stones, and then built up into a living temple for his praise. «Jehovah doth build up Jerusalem.» Not the minister, not the workers in the church, but the Lord himself does it. «He gathereth together the outcasts of Israel.» An uplifted Christ draws all men to him; the gathering power is with him. «Unto him shall the gathering of the people be.» Let us praise God that this does take place in a measure in our midst, and in other churches where his name is honoured.
Psalms 147:3. He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.
He is such a condescending God that he walks the hospitals, and is familiar with despondency, and enters in sympathy into the cases of distress which others shun because they are unable to help. Where he comes as the Good Physician, «He healeth the broken in heart.»
Psalms 147:4. He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names.
I call your attention, dear friends, to the wonderful change from the sick to the stars, from the broken in heart to the starry hosts of heaven. Our God is equally at home with the little and with the great; with stars, which to us are countless, and with men, who to us are comfortless. God is just as great in dealing with our sorrows as in guiding the stars in their courses. He is as great as he is good, and as good as he is great.
Psalms 147:5. Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.
There are three things here predicated of him, first, that he is great in himself, great in the vastness of his being; next, that he is of great power; and, then, that he is of great, yea, of infinite understanding. Here is the mercy of it all, that he brings that greatness, that vastness of power, that infinity of knowledge, to bear upon poor broken hearts, that he is just as wise in meeting our distresses as he is in marshalling the stars that he has made. Oh, what a God is ours!
Psalms 147:6. The LORD lifteth up the meek; he casteth the wicked down to the ground.
Ours is a singular God; there is none like him. He is undoing all the things that are, turning things upside down. The lowly, he lifts up; but the proud, he throws down to the ground, even into the dust. This is his way; and this is always a special note in the songs of God's people. Remember how Mary sang, «He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.» This singular behavior of our God, who has no respect unto the persons of men, is a special cause for our thankfulness; therefore, let us magnify his name.
Psalms 147:7. Sing unto the LORD with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God:
Let every form of melody and harmony be consecrated to him. Give him thanks-giving and thanks-living; and as he is always giving to you, take care that you give to him what you can, namely, your thanks.
Psalms 147:8-19. Who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains. He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry.
God, the Infinite One, makes the clouds; not the laws of nature, which are dead, inoperative things without him; but Jehovah himself fashions the clouds, and prepares the rain. There is an infinite wisdom about the preparation of every raindrop, and the sending it in such form and way that it shall be balanced upon each blade of grass, and shall hang there glittering in its perfection, and nourish even the least herb of the field. Only infinite wisdom could have thought of or prepared a single shower of rain. This rain is for the grass; does God think of the grass? Yes, not only of the cedars of Lebanon, but of grass, and not only of the grass that grows in the fruitful meadow, but of those little tufts which are here and there upon the rugged mountains. He thinks of clouds, and of rain, and of grass which he makes to grow upon the mountains, that he may feed cattle. Does God, the high and lofty One, stoop to give to the beast his food? Ah! and more than that, he feeds all those wild birdlings that seem of no use to men, the young ravens which clamor for the parent bird to return, and fill them when they are hungry. Does God turn feeder of ravens? Ah, so it is; then, again, blessed be his name! Praise ye the Lord, for it is good to sing praises to such a condescending God as this. I am sure that you can draw the inferences for your own comfort. Do you seem like a little bit of grass on the bare mountain-side? He has clouds and rain for you. Do you seem like a neglected bird in its nest, crying for food? He who feeds the ravens will feed you. The Hebrew has it, «the sons of the ravens,» and if God gives food to the sons of the ravens, he will certainly feed his own sons.
Psalms 147:10-11. He delighteth not in the strength of the horse; he taketh not pleasure in the legs of man. The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.
Again, you see, it is the same strain; it is not the great things or the mighty things that attract him, but the little things, and the weak things, and the despised things.
Psalms 147:12-13. Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem; praise thy God, O Zion. For he hath strengthened the bars of thy gates; he hath blessed thy children within thee.
There shall be special hallelujahs from God's own people. His holy city and his holy hill should magnify the thrice-holy God. O beloved, if we are indeed children of that Jerusalem which is from above, which is the mother of all believers, let us prepare a new song to the Lord our God for all his mercy to us. Praise him in your own houses, in «Jerusalem.» Praise him in his own house, in «Zion.» Let your praise thus be continuous, where you dwell and where he dwells: «He hath strengthened the bars of thy gates.» The fortifications are finished, and he has made all secure; therefore, magnify his name.
Psalms 147:14. He maketh peace in thy borders, and filleth thee with the finest of the wheat.
When the Church is peaceful, and when the gospel fills the saints, and they feed upon it, and feel it to be the very finest of the wheat, should not God be praised? Does not the hallelujah come in here again? Praise ye the Lord for spiritual meat, and spiritual peace, and spiritual security.
Psalms 147:15. He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth: his word runneth very swiftly.
Oriental kings made a point of having swift postal arrangements by which they could send their decrees to the extremity of their dominions, sometimes on horses, and sometimes on swift dromedaries; but God's command, God's decree, God's «word runneth very swiftly.» He dwells in the midst of his people, and forth from Zion he sends his decree; he dispatches his couriers, and they run very swiftly to work his will. It is so in providence; it is assuredly so in grace. As to providence, see what God does :
Psalms 147:16. He giveth snow like wool:
People say, nowadays, «It snows.» They said among the Hebrews, «HE giveth snow.» There seems to be a tendency to get further and further away from God in these very learned days. If this is all that science can do for us, put God further off, it shall be our injury rather than our benediction. «He giveth snow like wool.» The flakes are like the fleece, and fall softly. Snow clothes the earth with a white, warm garment, as the well-washed sheep are clothed with wool.
Psalms 147:16. He scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes.
There are black frosts and white frosts; and you know how, sometimes, vegetation appears to be burnt up with cold. It is God who does it all: «He scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes.
Psalms 147:17. He casteth forth his ice like morsels :-The hailstones come like morsels, like crumbs, that is the word, like crumbs of ice; or, as the ice is formed upon the lake, it comes like crusts.
Either way, «He casteth forth his ice like morsels:»
Psalms 147:17. Who can stand before his cold.
If God displays himself as fire, who can stand against his burnings? Or if he chooses to display himself in cold, there is as much of consuming force about intense cold as about vehement heat: «Who can stand before his cold?»
Psalms 147:18. He sendeth out his word, and melteth them:-
The icebergs float southward, and are melted. The rivers that had been held in chains of ice leap into liberty, and all at the word of the Lord: «He sendeth out his word, and melteth them.»
Psalms 147:18. He causeth his wind to blow, and the waters flow.
«This is the result of the laws of nature.» So say those who are still in nature's darkness. «This is the work of God,» say those who have come out of that darkness into his marvelous light.
Psalms 147:19. He showeth his word unto Jacob,
Observe that, when God's people know God's Word, it is as much the work of God as when the waters are loosed from their bands of ice.
Psalms 147:19. His statutes and his judgments unto Israel.
The Lord does it according to his own sovereign will.
Psalms 147:20. He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they have not known them. -Praise ye the LORD.
Here, you see again, is a peculiar reason for thanksgiving: «Praise ye Jehovah.» «It is good to sing praises unto our God, for he hath dealt with us in a special manner, with peculiar and discriminating grace. ‘He hath not dealt so with any nation; and as for his judgments, they have not known them.'» Therefore are they silent, but let us not be dumb. With such a revelation as we have, with such teachings of his Spirit to make the Lord known to us, let us not be ungrateful, but ever praise his name.