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Matthew Henry |
P S A L M S
PSALM CXLVII.
This is another psalm of praise. Some think it was penned after the
return of the Jews from their captivity; but it is so much of a piece
with
that I rather think it was penned by David, and what is said
may well enough be applied to the first building and fortifying of
Jerusalem in his time, and the gathering in of those that had been
out-casts in Saul’s time. The Septuagint divides it into two; and we
may divide it into the first and second part, but both of the same
import.
I. We are called upon to praise God,
II. We are furnished with matter for praise, for God is to be
glorified,
1. As the God of nature, and so he is very great,
2. As the God of grace, comforting his people,
3. As the God of Israel, Jerusalem, and Zion, settling their civil
state
and especially settling religion among them,
It is easy, in singing this psalm, to apply it to ourselves, both as to
personal and national mercies, were it but as easy to do so with
suitable affections.
| A Call to Praise God; Reasons for Praise. | |
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1 Praise ye the LORD: for it is good to sing praises 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 prepareth 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.
Here,
I. The duty of praise is recommended to us. It is not without reason
that we are thus called to it again and again: Praise you the
Lord
(v. 1),
and again
(v. 7),
Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving, sing praise upon the harp to
our God (let all our praises be directed to him and centre in him),
for it is good to do so; it is our duty, and therefore good in
itself; it is our interest, and therefore good for us. It is acceptable
to our Creator and it answers the end of our creation. The law for it
is holy, just, and good; the practice of it will turn to a good
account. It is good, for
1. It is pleasant. Holy joy or delight are required as the principle of
it, and that is pleasant to us as men; giving glory to God is the
design and business of it, and that is pleasant to us as saints that
are devoted to his honour. Praising God is work that is its own wages;
it is heaven upon earth; it is what we should be in as in our element.
2. It is comely; it is that which becomes us as reasonable creatures,
much more as people in covenant with God. In giving honour to God we
really do ourselves a great deal of honour.
II. God is recommended to us as the proper object of our most exalted
and enlarged praises, upon several accounts.
1. The care he takes of his chosen people,
v. 2.
Is Jerusalem to be raised out of small beginnings? Is it to be
recovered out of its ruins? In both cases, The Lord builds up
Jerusalem. The gospel-church, the Jerusalem that is from above, is
of this building. He framed the model of it in his own counsels; he
founded it by the preaching of his gospel; he adds to it daily such as
shall be saved, and so increases it. He will build it up unto
perfection, build it up as high as heaven. Are any of his people
outcasts? Have they made themselves so by their own folly? He gathers
them by giving them repentance and bringing them again into the
communion of saints. Have they been forced out by war, famine, or
persecution? He opens a door for their return; many that were missing,
and thought to be lost, are brought back, and those that were scattered
in the cloudy and dark day are gathered together again.
2. The comforts he has laid up for true penitents,
v. 3.
They are broken in heart, and wounded, humbled, and troubled,
for sin, inwardly pained at the remembrance of it, as a man is that is
sorely wounded. Their very hearts are not only pricked, but rent, under
the sense of the dishonour they have done to God and the injury they
have done to themselves by sin. To those whom God heals with the
consolations of his Spirit he speaks peace, assures them that their
sins are pardoned and that he is reconciled to them, and so makes them
easy, pours the balm of Gilead into the bleeding wounds, and then binds
them up, and makes them to rejoice. Those who have had experience of
this need not be called upon to praise the Lord; for when he brought
them out of the horrible pit, and set their feet upon a
rock, he put a new song into their mouths,
Ps. xl. 2, 3.
And for this let others praise him also.
3. The sovereign dominion he has over the lights of heaven,
The stars are innumerable, many of them being scarcely discernible with
the naked eye, and yet he counts them, and knows the exact number of
them, for they are all the work of his hands and the instruments of his
providence. Their bulk and power are very great; but he calleth them
all by their names, which shows his dominion over them and the
command he has them at, to make what use of them he pleases. They are
his servants, his soldiers; he musters them, he marshals them; they
come and go at his bidding, and all their motions are under his
direction. He mentions this as one instance of many, to show that
great is our Lord and of great power (he can do what he
pleases), and of his understanding there is no computation, so
that he can contrive every thing for the best. Man’s knowledge is soon
drained, and you have his utmost length; hitherto his wisdom can reach
and no further. But God’s knowledge is a depth that can never be
fathomed.
4. The pleasure he takes in humbling the proud and exalting those of
low degree
(v. 6):
The Lord lifts up the meek, who abase themselves before him, and
whom men trample on; but the wicked, who conduct themselves
insolently towards God and scornfully towards all mankind, who lift up
themselves in pride and folly, he casteth down to the ground,
sometimes by very humbling providences in this world, at furthest in
the day when their faces shall be filled with everlasting shame.
God proves himself to be God by looking on the proud and abasing
them,
Job xl. 12.
5. The provision he makes for the inferior creatures. Though he is so
great as to command the stars, he is so good as not to forget even the
fowls,
Observe in what method he feeds man and beast.
(1.) He covereth the heaven with clouds, which darken the air
and intercept the beams of the sun, and yet in them he prepareth
that rain for the earth which is necessary to its fruitfulness.
Clouds look melancholy, and yet without them we could have no rain and
consequently no fruit. Thus afflictions, for the present, look black,
and dark, and unpleasant, and we are in heaviness because of them, as
sometimes when the sky is overcast it makes us dull; but they are
necessary, for from these clouds of affliction come those showers that
make the harvest to yield the peaceable fruits of righteousness
(Heb. xii. 11),
which should help to reconcile us to them. Observe the necessary
dependence which the earth has upon the heavens, which directs us on
earth to depend on God in heaven. All the rain with which the earth is
watered is of God’s preparing.
(2.) By the rain which distils on the earth he makes grass to grow
upon the mountains, even the high mountains, which man neither
takes care of nor reaps the benefit of. The mountains, which are not
watered with the springs and rivers, as the valleys are, are yet
watered so that they are not barren.
(3.) This grass he gives to the beast for his
food, the beast of the mountains which runs wild, which man makes
no provision for. And even the young ravens, which, being
forsaken by their old ones, cry, are heard by him, and ways are
found to feed them, so that they are kept from perishing in the
nest.
6. The complacency he takes in his people,
In times when great things are doing, and there are great expectations
of the success of them, it concerns us to know (since the issue
proceeds from the Lord) whom, and what, God will delight to honour and
crown with victory. It is not the strength of armies, but the strength
of grace, that God is pleased to own.
(1.) Not the strength of armies–not in the cavalry, for he
delighteth not in the strength of the horse, the war-horse, noted
for his courage
&c.)–nor in the infantry, for he taketh no pleasure in the legs of a
man; he does not mean the swiftness of them for flight, to quit the
field, but the steadiness of them for charging, to stand the ground. If
one king, making war with another king, goes to God to pray for
success, it will not avail him to plead, “Lord, I have a gallant army,
the horse and foot in good order; it is a pity that they should suffer
any disgrace;” for that is no argument with God,
Jehoshaphat’s was much better: Lord, we have no might,
2 Chron. xx. 12.
But,
(2.) God is pleased to own the strength of grace. A serious and
suitable regard to God is that which is, in the sight of God, of great
price in such a case. The Lord accepts and takes pleasure in
those that fear him and that hope in his mercy. Observe,
[1.] A holy fear of God and hope in God not only may consist, but must
concur. In the same heart, at the same time, there must be both a
reverence of his majesty and a complacency in his goodness, both a
believing dread of his wrath and a believing expectation of his favour;
not that we must hang in suspense between hope and fear, but we must
act under the gracious influences of hope and fear. Our fear must save
our hope from swelling into presumption, and our hope must save our
fear from sinking into despair; thus must we take our work before us.
[2.] We must hope in God’s mercy, his general mercy, even when
we cannot find a particular promise to stay ourselves upon. A humble
confidence in the goodness of God’s nature is very pleasing to him, as
that which turns to the glory of that attribute in which he most
glories. Every man of honour loves to be trusted.
| Jerusalem and Zion Called to Praise to God; God’s Favour to Israel. | |
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12 Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem; praise thy God, O Zion.
13 For he hath 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.
15 He sendeth 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 showeth 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.
Jerusalem, and Zion, the holy city, the holy hill, are here called upon
to praise God,
v. 12.
For where should praise be offered up to God but where his altar is?
Where may we expect that glory should be given to him but in the beauty
of holiness? Let the inhabitants of Jerusalem praise the Lord in their
own houses; let the priests and Levites, who attend in Zion, the city
of their solemnities, in a special manner praise the Lord. They have
more cause to do it than others, and they lie under greater obligations
to do it than others; for it is their business, it is their profession.
“Praise thy God, O Zion! he is thine, and therefore thou art
bound to praise him; his being thine includes all happiness, so that
thou canst never want matter for praise.” Jerusalem and Zion must
praise God,
I. For the prosperity and flourishing state of their civil interests,
1. For their common safety. They had gates, and kept their gates barred
in times of danger; but that would not have been an effectual security
to them if God had not strengthened the bars of their gates and
fortified their fortifications. The most probable means we can devise
for our own preservation will not answer the end, unless God give his
blessing with them; we must therefore in the careful and diligent use
of those means, depend upon him for that blessing, and attribute the
undisturbed repose of our land more to the wall of fire than to the
wall of water round about us,
2. For the increase of their people. This strengthens the bars of the
gates as much as any thing: He hath blessed thy children within
thee, with that first and great blessing, Be fruitful, and
multiply, and replenish the land. It is a comfort to parents to see
their children blessed of the Lord
(Isa. lxi. 9),
and a comfort to the generation that is going off to see the rising
generation numerous and hopeful, for which blessing God must be
blessed.
3. For the public tranquillity, that they were delivered from the
terrors and desolations of war: He makes peace in thy borders,
by putting an end to the wars that were, and preventing the wars that
were threatened and feared. He makes peace within thy borders,
that is, in all parts of the country, by composing differences among
neighbours, that there may be no intestine broils and animosities, and
upon thy borders, that they may not be attacked by invasions
from abroad. If there be trouble any where, it is in the borders, the
marches of a country; the frontier-towns lie most exposed, so that, if
there be peace in the borders, there is a universal peace, a mercy we
can never be sufficiently thankful for.
4. For great plenty, the common effect of peace: He filleth thee
with the finest of the wheat–wheat, the most valuable grain, the
fat, the finest of that, and a fulness thereof. What would they more?
Canaan abounded with the best wheat
and exported it to the countries abroad, as appears,
The land of Israel was not enriched with precious stones nor spices,
but with the finest of the wheat, with bread, which strengthens
man’s heart. This made it the glory of all lands, and for this God was
praised in Zion.
II. For the wonderful instances of his power in the weather,
particularly the winter-weather. He that protects Zion and Jerusalem is
that God of power from whom all the powers of nature are derived and on
whom they depend, and who produces all the changes of the seasons,
which, if they were not common, would astonish us.
1. In general, whatever alterations there are in this lower world (and
it is that world that is subject to continual changes) they are
produced by the will, and power, and providence of God
(v. 15):
He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth, as one that has an
incontestable authority to give orders, and innumerable attendants
ready to carry his orders and put them in execution. As the world was
at first made, so it is still upheld and governed, by a word of
almighty power. God speaks and it is done, for all are his
servants. That word takes effect, not only surely, but speedily. His
word runneth very swiftly, for nothing can oppose or retard it. As
the lightning, which passes through the air in an instant, such is the
word of God’s providence, and such the word of his grace, when it is
sent forth with commission,
Angels, who carry his word and fulfil it, fly swiftly,
Dan. ix. 21.
2. In particular, frosts and thaws are both of them wonderful changes,
and in both we must acknowledge the word of his power.
(1.) Frosts are from God. With him are the treasures of the snow and
the hail
and out of these treasures he draws as he pleases.
[1.] He giveth snow like wool. It is compared to wool for its
whiteness
(Isa. i. 18),
and its softness; it falls silently, and makes no more noise than the
fall of a lock of wool; it covers the earth, and keeps it warm like a
fleece of wool, and so promotes its fruitfulness. See how God can work
by contraries, and bring meat out of the eater, can warm the earth with
cold snow.
[2.] He scatters the hoar-frost, which is dew congealed, as the
snow and hail are rain congealed. This looks like ashes scattered upon
the grass, and is sometimes prejudicial to the products of the earth
and blasts them as if it were hot ashes,
[3.] He casts forth his ice like morsels, which may be
understood either of large hail-stones, which are as ice in the air, or
of the ice which covers the face of the waters, and when it is broken,
though naturally it was as drops of drink, it is as morsels of meat, or
crusts of bread.
[4.] When we see the frost, and snow, and ice, we feel it in the air:
Who can stand before his cold? The beasts cannot; they retire
into dens
they are easily conquered then,
Men cannot, but are forced to protect themselves by fires, or furs, or
both, and all little enough where and when the cold is in extremity. We
see not the causes when we feel the effects; and therefore we must call
it his cold; it is of his sending, and therefore we must bear it
patiently, and be thankful for warm houses, and clothes, and beds, to
relieve us against the rigour of the season, and must give him the
glory of his wisdom and sovereignty, his power and faithfulness, which
shall not cease any more than summer,
And let us also infer from it, If we cannot stand before the cold of
his frosts, how can we stand before the heat of his wrath?
(2.) Thaws are from God. When he pleases
(v. 18)
he sends out his word and melts them; the frost, the snow, the
ice, are all dissolved quickly, in order to which he causes the
wind, the south wind, to blow, and the waters, which
were frozen, flow again as they did before. We are soon sensible
of the change, but we see not the causes of it, but must resolve it
into the will of the First Cause. And in it we must take notice not
only of the power of God, that he can so suddenly, so insensibly, make
such a great and universal alteration in the temper of the air and the
face of the earth (what cannot he do that does this every winter,
perhaps often every winter?) but also of the goodness of God. Hard
weather does not always continue; it would be sad if it should. He does
not contend for ever, but renews the face of the earth.
As he remembered Noah, and released him
(Gen. viii. 1),
so he remembers the earth, and his covenant with the earth,
This thawing word may represent the gospel of Christ, and this thawing
wind the Spirit of Christ (for the Spirit is compared to the wind,
both are sent for the melting of frozen souls. Converting grace, like
the thaw, softens the heart that was hard, moistens it, and melts it
into tears of repentance; it warms good affections, and makes them to
flow, which, before, were chilled and stopped up. The change which the
thaw makes is universal and yet gradual; it is very evident, and yet
how it is done is unaccountable: such is the change wrought in the
conversion of a soul, when God’s word and Spirit are sent to melt it
and restore it to itself.
III. For his distinguishing favour to Israel, in giving them his word
and ordinances, a much more valuable blessing than their peace and
plenty
(v. 14),
as much as the soul is more excellent than the body. Jacob and Israel
had God’s statutes and judgments among them. They were under his
peculiar government; the municipal laws of their nation were of his
framing and enacting, and their constitution was a theocracy. They had
the benefit of divine revelation; the great things of God’s law were
written to them. They had a priesthood of divine institution for all
things pertaining to God, and prophets for all extraordinary occasions.
No people besides went upon sure grounds in their religion. Now this
was,
1. A preventing mercy. They did not find out God’s statutes and
judgments of themselves, but God showed his word unto Jacob, and
by that word he made known to them his statutes and judgments.
It is a great mercy to any people to have the word of God among them;
for faith comes by hearing and reading that word, that faith
without which it is impossible to please God.
2. A distinguishing mercy, and upon that account the more obliging:
“He hath not dealt so with every nation, not with any
nation; and, as for his judgments, they have not known them, nor
are likely to know them till the Messiah shall come and take down the
partition-wall between Jew and Gentile, that the gospel may be preached
to every creature.” Other nations had plenty of outward good things;
some nations were very rich, others had pompous powerful princes and
polite literature, but none were blessed with God’s statutes and
judgments as Israel were. Let Israel therefore praise the
Lord in the observance of these statutes. Lord, how is it that
thou wilt manifest thyself to us, and not to the world! Even so,
Father, because it seemed good in thy eyes.
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