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Psalm One
Hundred Forty-seven
Psalm 147
Chapter Contents
The people of God are exhorted to praise him for his
mercies and care. (1-11) For the salvation and prosperity of the church.
(12-20)
Commentary on Psalm 147:1-11
(Read Psalm 147:1-11)
Praising God is work that is its own wages. It is comely;
it becomes us as reasonable creatures
much more as people in covenant with
God. He gathers outcast sinners by his grace
and will bring them into his holy
habitation. To those whom God heals with the consolations of his Spirit
he
speaks peace
assures them their sins are pardoned. And for this
let others
praise him also. Man's knowledge is soon ended; but God's knowledge is a dept
that can never be fathomed. And while he telleth the number of the stars
he
condescends to hear the broken-hearted sinner. While he feeds the young ravens
he will not leave his praying people destitute. Clouds look dull and
melancholy
yet without them we could have no rain
therefore no fruit. Thus
afflictions look black and unpleasant; but from clouds of affliction come showers
that make the soul to yield the peaceable fruits of righteousness. The psalmist
delights not in things wherein sinners trust and glory; but a serious and
suitable regard to God is
in his sight
of very great price. We are not to be
in doubt between hope and fear
but to act under the gracious influences of
hope and fear united.
Commentary on Psalm 147:12-20
(Read Psalm 147:12-20)
The church
like Jerusalem of old
built up and preserved
by the wisdom
power
and goodness of God
is exhorted to praise him for all
the benefits and blessings vouchsafed to her; and these are represented by his
favours in the course of nature. The thawing word may represent the gospel of
Christ
and the thawing wind the Spirit of Christ; for the Spirit is compared
to the wind
John 3:8. Converting grace softens the heart
that was hard frozen
and melts it into tears of repentance
and makes good
reflections to flow
which before were chilled and stopped up. The change which
the thaw makes is very evident
yet how it is done no one can say. 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.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Psalms》
Psalm 147
Verse 4
[4] He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all
by their names.
Calleth them — He exactly knows them as we do
those whom we can call by name.
Verse 9
[9] He giveth to the beast his food
and to the young ravens
which cry.
Ravens — Which he mentions because they were most contemptible
especially to the Jews
to whom they were unclean: and because they are not
only neglected by men
but also forsaken by their dams as soon as ever they can
fly
and so are wholly left to the care of Divine providence.
Verse 10
[10] He delighteth not in the strength of the horse: he
taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man.
Delighteth not — As if he needed either the one or
the other for the accomplishment of his designs.
Verse 13
[13] For he hath strengthened the bars of thy gates; he hath
blessed thy children within thee.
Thy gates — Thy strength consists not in thy
walls
and gates
and bars
but in his protection.
Verse 14
[14] He maketh peace in thy borders
and filleth thee with
the finest of the wheat.
Borders — In all thy land
even to its utmost borders.
Verse 15
[15] He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth: his word
runneth very swiftly.
Commandment — Which is sufficient without any
instruments to execute whatsoever pleaseth him.
Swiftly — The thing is done without delay.
Verse 16
[16] He giveth snow like wool: he scattereth the hoarfrost
like ashes.
Like wool — Not only in colour and shape
and
softness
but also in use
keeping the fruits of the earth warm.
Ashes — In colour and smallness of parts
as also in its
burning quality.
Verse 17
[17] He casteth forth his ice like morsels: who can stand
before his cold?
Ice — Great hail-stones
which are of an icy nature
and are
cast forth out of the clouds
like morsels or fragments.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Psalms》
Exposition
Explanatory Notes and
Quaint Sayings
Hints to the Village
Preacher
SUBJECT. This is a
specially remarkable song. In it the greatness and the condescending goodness
of the Lord are celebrated The God of Israel is set forth in his peculiarity of
glory as caring for the sorrowing
the insignificant
and forgotten. The poet
finds a singular joy in extolling one who is so singularly gracious. It is a
Psalm of the city and of the field
of the first and the second creations
of
the common wealth and of the church. It is good and pleasant throughout.
DIVISION. The
song
appears to divide itself into three portions. From Ps 147:1-6
Jehovah is
extolled for building up Zion
and blessing his mourners; from Ps 147:7-11
the
like praise is given because of his provision for the lowly
and his pleasure
in them; and then
from Ps 147:12-20
he is magnified for his work on behalf of
his people
and the power of his word in nature and in grace. Let it be studied
with joyful gratitude.
EXPOSITION
Verse
1. Praise ye the Lord
or Hallelujah: The flow of the broad
river of the Book of Psalms ends in a cataract of praise. The present Psalm
begins and ends with Hallelujah. Jehovah and happy praise should ever be
associated in the mind of a believer. Jove was dreaded
but Jehovah is beloved.
To one and all of the true seed of Israel the Psalmist acts as choir master
and cries
"Praise ye the Lord." Such an exhortation may fitly be
addressed to all those who owe anything to the favour of God; and which of us
does not? Pay him we cannot
but praise him we will
not only now
but for
ever. "For it is good to sing praises unto our God." It is
good because it is right; good because it is acceptable with God
beneficial to
ourselves
and stimulating to our fellows. The goodness of an exercise is good
argument with good men for its continual practice. Singing the divine praises
is the best possible use of speech: it speaks of God
for God
and to God
and
it does this in a joyful and reverent manner. Singing in the heart is good
but
singing with heart and voice is better
for it allows others to join with us.
Jehovah is our God
our covenant God
therefore let him have the homage
of our praise; and he is so gracious and happy a God that our praise may best
be expressed in joyful song. For it is pleasant; and praise is comely. It is
pleasant and proper
sweet and suitable to laud the Lord Most High. It is
refreshing to the taste of the truly refined mind
and it is agreeable to the
eye of the pure in heart: it is delightful both to hear and to see a whole
assembly praising the Lord. These are arguments for song service which men who
love true piety
real pleasure
and strict propriety will not despise. Please
to praise
for praise is pleasant: praise the Lord in the beauty of holiness
for praise is comely. Where duty and delight
benefit and beauty unite
we
ought not to be backward. Let each reader feel that he and his family ought to
constitute a choir for the daily celebration of the praises of the Lord.
Verse
2. The Lord doth build up Jerusalem. God appears both ill the
material and spiritual world as a Builder and Maker
and therein he is to be
praised. His grace
wisdom
and power are all seen in the formation and
establishment of the chosen seat of his worship; once a city with material
walls
but now a church composed of spiritual stones. The Jews rejoiced in the
uprising of their capital from its ruins
and we triumph in the growth of the church
from among a godless world. He gathereth together the outcasts of Israel;
and thus he repairs the waste places
and causes the former desolations to be
inhabited. This sentence may relate to Nehemiah and those who returned with
him; but there is no reason why it should not with equal fitness be referred to
David
who
with his friends
was once an outcast
but ere long became the
means of building up Jerusalem. In any case
the Psalmist ascribes to Jehovah
all the blessings enjoyed; the restoration of the city and the restoration of
the banished he equally traces to the divine hand. How clearly these ancient
believers saw the Lord present
working among them and for them! Spiritually we
see the hand of God in the edification of the church
and in the ingathering of
sinners. What are men tinder conviction of sin but outcasts from God
from
holiness
from heaven
and even from hope? Who could gather them from their
dispersions
and make citizens of them in Christ Jesus save the Lord our God?
This deed of love and power he is constantly performing. Therefore let the song
begin at Jerusalem our home
and let every living stone in the spiritual city
echo the strain; for it is the Lord who has brought again his banished ones
and builded them together in Zion.
Verse
3. He healeth the broken in heart
and bindeth up their wounds.
This the Holy Spirit mentions as a part of the glory of God
and a reason for
our declaring his praise: the Lord is not only a Builder
but a Healer; he
restores broken hearts as well as broken walls. The kings of the earth think to
be great through their loftiness; but Jehovah becomes really so by his
condescension. Behold
the Most High has to do with the sick and the sorry
with the wretched and the wounded! He walks the hospitals as the good
Physician! His deep sympathy with mourners is a special mark of his goodness.
Few will associate with the despondent
but Jehovah chooses their company
and
abides with them till he has healed them by his comforts. He deigns to handle
and heal broken hearts: he himself lays on the ointment of grace
and the soft
bandages of love
and thus binds up the bleeding wounds of those convinced of
sin. This is compassion like a God. Well may those praise him to whom he has
acted o gracious a part. The Lord is always healing and binding: this is no new
work to him
he has done it of old; and it is not a thing of the past of which
he is now weary
for he is still healing and still binding
as the original
hath it. Come
broken hearts
come to the Physician who never fails to heal:
uncover your wounds to him who so tenderly binds them up!
Verse
4. He telleth the number of the stars. None but he can count
the mighty host
but as he made them and sustains them he can number them. To
Jehovah stars are as mere coins
which the merchant tells as he puts them into
his bag. He calleth them all by their names. He has an intimate
acquaintance with each separate orb
so as to know its name or character.
Indeed
he gives to each its appropriate title
because he knows its
constitution and nature. Vast as these stars are
they are perfectly obedient
to his bidding; even as soldiers to a captain who calls their names
and allots
them their stations. Do they not rise
and set
and move
or stand
precisely
according to his order? What a change is here from the preceding verse! Read
the two without a break
and feel the full force of the contrast. From stars to
sighs is a deep descent! From worlds to wounds is a distance which only
infinite compassion can bridge. Yet he who acts a surgeon's part with wounded
hearts
marshals the heavenly host
and reads the muster roll of suns and their
majestic systems. O Lord
it is good to praise thee as ruling the stars
but it
is pleasant to adore thee as healing the broken in heart!
Verse
5. Great is our Lord. Our Lord and King is great—magnanimous
infinite
inconceivably glorious. None can describe his majesty
or reckon up
the number of his excellencies. And of great power. Doing as he wills
and willing to do mighty deeds. His acts reveal something of his might
but the
mass of his power is hidden
for all things are possible with God
even the
things impossible with men. His understanding is infinite. There is no
fathoming his wisdom
or measuring his knowledge. He is infinite in existence
in power
and in knowledge; as these three phrases plainly teach us. The gods
of the heathen are nothing
but our God filleth all things. And yet how
condescending! For this is he who so tenderly nurses sick souls
and waist to
be gracious to sinful men. He brings his boundless power and infinite
understanding to bear upon human distress for its assuagement and
sanctification. For all these reasons let his praise be great: even could it be
infinite
it would not exceed his due. In the building of his church and the
salvation of souls
his greatness
power
and wisdom are all displayed: let him
be extolled because of each of these attributes.
Verse
6. The LORD lifteth up the meek: he casteth the wicked down to
the ground. He reverses the evil order of things. The meek are down
and he
lifts them up; the wicked are exalted
anti he hurls them down to the dust. The
Lord loves those who are reverent to himself
humble in their own eyes
and
gentle to their fellow men: these he lifts up to hope
to peace
to power
to
eternal honour. When God lifts a man
it is a lift indeed. Proud men are in
their own esteem
high enough already; only those who are low will care to be
lifted up
and only such will Jehovah upraise. As for the wicked
they must
come down from their scats of vain glory. God is accustomed to overthrow such;
it is his way and habit. None of the wicked shall in the end escape. To the
earth they must go; for from the earth they came
and for the earth they live.
It is one of the glories of our God for which his saints praise him
that he
hath put down the mighty from their seats
and hath exalted them of low degree.
Well may the righteous be lifted up in spirit and the wicked be downcast as
they think of the judgments of the Lord God. In this verse we see the practical
outcome of that character of Jehovah which leads him to count and call the
stars as if they were little things
while he deals tenderly with sorrowful
men
as if they were precious in his esteem. He is so great that nothing is
great to him
and he is so condescending that nothing is little to him: his
infinite majesty thus naturally brings low the lofty and exalts the lowly.
Verse
7. In this paragraph the contrast announced in the former section is
enlarged upon from another point of view
namely
as it is seen in nature and
in providence. Sing unto the LORD with
thanksgiving; or rather
"respond
to Jehovah." He speaks to us in his works
let us answer him with our
thanks. All that he does is gracious
every movement of Iris hand is goodness;
therefore let our hearts reply with gratitude
and our lips with song. Our
lives should be responses to divine love. Jehovah is ever engaged in giving
let us respond with thanksgiving. Sing praise upon the harp unto our God. Blend
music with song. Under a dispensation of ritual the use of music was most
commendable
and suitable in the great congregation: those of us who judge it
to be less desirable for public worship
under a spiritual economy
because it
has led to so many abuses
nevertheless rejoice in it in our privacy
and are
by no means insensible to its charms. It seems profanation that choice
minstrelsy should so often be devoted to unworthy themes: the sweetest
harmonies should be consecrated to the honour of the Lord. He is our
God
and this fact is one choice joy of the sing. We have chosen him because he
has chosen us; and we see in him peculiarities which distinguish him from all
the pretended deities of those among whom we dwell. He is our God in covenant
relationship for ever and ever
and to him be praise in every possible form.
Verse
8. Who covereth the heaven with clouds. He works in all
things
above as well as below. Clouds are not caused by accident
but produced
by God himself
and made to assume degrees of density by which the blue
firmament is hidden. A sky scape might seem to be a mere fortuitous concourse
of vapours
but it is not so: the Great Artist's hand thus covers the canvas of
the heavens. Who prepareth rain for the earth. The Lord prepares clouds
with a view to rain
and rain with an eye to the fields below. By many
concurrent circumstances all things are made ready for the production of a
shower; there is more of art in the formation of a rain cloud and in the
fashioning of a rain drop
than appears to superficial observers. God is in the
vapour
and in the pearly drop which is born of it. Who maketh grass to grow
upon the mountains. By the far reaching shower he produces vegetation where
the hand of man is all unknown. He cares not only for Goshen's fertile plains
but for Carmel's steep ascents. God makes the heavens the servants of the
earth
and the clouds the irrigators of the mountain meadows. This is a kind of
evolution about which there can be no dispute. Nor does the Lord forget the
waste and desolate places
but causes the lone hills to be the first partakers
of his refreshing visitations. This is after the manner of our God. He not only
causes rain to descend from the heavens to water the grass
and thus unites the
skies and the herbs by a ministry of mercy; but he also thinks of the rocky
ledges among the hills
and forgets not the pastures of the wilderness. What a
God is this!
"Passing
by the rich and great
For the poor and desolate."
Verse
9. He giveth to the beast his food. By causing the grass to
grow on the hills the Lord feeds the cattle. God careth for the brute creation.
Men tread grass under foot as though it were nothing
but God causeth it to
grow: too often men treat their cattle with cruelty
but the Lord himself
feedeth them. The great God is too good
and
indeed
too great to overlook
things that are despised. Say not
"Doth God care for oxen?" Indeed
he does
and he permits himself to be here described as giving them their food
as husbandmen are wont to do. And to the young ravens which cry. These
wild creatures
which seem to be of no use to man; are they therefore
worthless? By no means; they fill their place in the economy of nature. When
they are mere fledgelings
and can only clamour to the parent birds for food
the Lord does not suffer them to starve
but supplies their needs. Is it not
wonderful how such numbers of little birds are fed! A bird in a cage under
human care is in more danger of lacking seed and water than any one of the
myriads that fly in the open heavens
with no owner but their Creator
and no
provider but the Lord. Greatness occupied with little things makes up a chief
feature of this Psalm. Ought we not all to feel special joy in praising One who
is so specially remarkable for his care of the needy and the forgotten? Ought
we not also to trust in the Lord? for he who feeds the sons of the raven will
surely nourish the sons of God! Hallelujah to Him who both feeds the ravens and
rules the stars! What a God art thou
O Jehovah!
Verse
10. He delighteth not in the strength of the horse. Not to
great and strong animals doth the Creator in any measure direct his special
thought; but in lesser living things he has equal pleasure. If man could act
the Creator's part
he would take peculiar delight in producing noble quadrupeds
like horses
whose strength and speed would reflect honour upon their maker;
but Jehovah has no such feeling; lie cares as much for helpless birds in the
nest as for the war horse in the pride of its power. He taketh not pleasure
in the legs of a man. These are the athlete's glory
but God hath no
pleasure in them. Not the capacities of the creature
but rather its weakness
and necessity
win the regard of our God. Monarchs trust in their cavalry and
infantry; but the King of kings exults not in the hosts of his creatures as
though they could lend power to him. Physical or material greatness and power
are of no account with Jehovah; he has respect to other and more precious
qualities. Men who boast in fight the valour of gigantic might
will not find
themselves the favourites of God: though earthly princes may feast their eyes
upon their Joabs and their Abners
their Abishais and Asahels
the Lord of
hosts has no pleasure in mere bone and muscle. Sinews and thews are of small
account
either in horses or in men
with Him who is a spirit
and delights
most in spiritual things. The expression of the text may be viewed as including
all creature power
even of a mental or moral kind. God does not take pleasure
in us because of our attainments
or potentialities: he respects character
rather than capacity.
Verse
11. The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him in those that
hope in his mercy. While the bodily powers give no content to God
spiritual qualities are his delight. He cares most for those emotions which
centre in himself: the fear which he approves is fear of him
and the
hope which he accepts is hope in his mercy. It is a striking thought
that God should not only be at peace with some kinds of men
but even find a
solace and a joy in their company. Oh! the matchless condescension of the Lord
that his greatness should take pleasure in the insignificant creatures of his
hand. Who are these favoured men in whom Jehovah takes pleasure? Some of them
are the least in his family
who have never risen beyond hoping and fearing.
Others of them are more fully developed
but still they exhibit a blended
character composed of fear and hope: they fear God with holy awe and filial
reverence
and they also hope for forgiveness and blessedness because of the
divine mercy. As a father takes pleasure in his own children
so doth the Lord
solace himself in his own beloved ones
whose marks of new birth are fear and
hope. They fear
for they are sinners; they hope; for God is merciful. They
fear him
for he is great; they hope in him
for he is good. Their fear sobers
their hope; their hope brightens their fear: God takes pleasure in them both in
their trembling and in their rejoicing. Is there not rich cause for praise in
this special feature of the divine character? After all
it is a poor nature
which is delighted with brute force; it is a diviner thing to take pleasure in
the holy character of those around us. As men may be known by the nature of the
things which give them pleasure
so is the Lord known by the blessed fact that
he taketh pleasure in the righteous
even though that righteousness is as yet
in its initial stage of fear and hope.
Verse
12. Praise the Lord
O Jerusalem; praise thy God
O Zion. How
the poet insists upon praise: he cries praise
praise
as if it were the most
important of all duties. A peculiar people should render peculiar praise. The
city of peace should be the city of praise; and the temple of the covenant God
should resound with his glories. If nowhere else
yet certainly in Zion there should
be joyful adoration of Zion's God. Note
that we are to praise the Lord in our
own houses in Jerusalem as well as in his own house in Zion. The holy city
surrounds the holy hill
and both are dedicated to the holy God
therefore both
should ring with hallelujahs.
Verse
13. For he hath strengthened the bars of thy gates. Her
fortifications were finished
even to the fastenings of the gates
and God had
made all sound and strong
even to her bolts and bars: thus her security
against invading foes was guaranteed. This is no small mercy. Oh
that our
churches were thus preserved from all false doctrine and unholy living! This
must be the Lord's doing; and where he has wrought it his name is greatly to be
praised. Modern libertines would tear down all gates and abolish all bars; but
so do not we
because of the fear of the Lord. He hath blessed thy children
within thee. Internal happiness is as truly the Lord's gift as external
security. When the Lord blesses "thy sons in the midst of thee"
thou
art
O Zion
filled with a happy
united
zealous
prosperous
holy people
who
dwell in communion with God
and enter into the joy of their Lord. When God
makes thy walls salvation thy gates must be praise. It would little avail to
fortify a wretched
starving city; but when the walls are strengthened
it is a
still greater joy to see that the inhabitants are blessed with all good gifts.
How much our churches need a present and abiding benediction.
Verse
14. He maketh peace in thy borders. Even to the boundaries
quiet extends; no enemies are wrangling with the borderers. If there is peace
there
we may be sure that peace is everywhere. "When a man's ways please
the Lord he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him." Peace is
from the God of peace. Considering the differing constitutions
conditions
tastes
and opinions of men
it is a work of God when in large churches
unbroken peace is found year after year; and it is an equal wonder if
worldlings
instead of persecuting the godly
treat them with marked respect.
He who builds Zion is also her Peace maker
the Lord and Giver of peace. And
filleth thee with the finest of the wheat. Peace is attended with
plenty
—plenty of the best food
and of the best sort of that food. It is a
great reason for thanksgiving when men's wants are so supplied that they are
filled: it takes much to fill some men: perhaps none ever are filled but the
inhabitants of Zion; and they are only to be filled by the Lord himself. Gospel
truth is the finest of the wheat
and those are indeed blessed who are content
to be filled therewith
and are not hungering after the husks of the world. Let
those who are filled with heavenly food fill their mouths with heavenly praise.
Verse
15. He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth. His messages
fly throughout his dominions: upon earth his warrants are executed as well as
in heaven. From his church his word goes forth; from Zion he missions the
nations with the word of life. His word runneth very swiftly: his
purposes of love are speedily accomplished. Oriental monarchs laboured hard to
establish rapid postal communication; the desire
will
and command of the Lord
flash in an instant from pole to pole
yea
from heaven to earth. We who dwell
in the centre of the Lord's dominions may exceedingly rejoice that to the
utmost extremity of the realm the divine commandment speeds with sure result
and is not hindered by distance or time. The Lord can deliver his people right
speedily
or send them supplies immediately from his courts above. God's
commands in nature and providence are fiats against which no opposition is ever
raised; say
rather
to effect which all things rush onward with alacrity. The
expressions in the text are so distinctly in the present that they are meant to
teach us the present mission and efficiency of the word of the Lord
and thus
to prompt us to present praise.
Verse
16. Here follow instances of the power of God upon the elements. He
giveth snow like wool. As a gift he scatters the snow
which falls in
flakes like fleecy wool. Snow falls softly
covers universally
and clothes
warmly
even as wool covers the sheep. The most evident resemblance lies in the
whiteness of the two substances; but many other likenesses are to be seen by
the observant eye. It is wise to see God in winter and in distress as well as
in summer and prosperity. He who one day feeds us with the finest of the wheat
at another time robes us in snow: he is the same God in each case
and each
form of his operation bestows a gift on men. He scattereth the hoarfrost like
ashes. Here again the Psalmist sees God directly and personally at work. As
ashes powder the earth when men are burning up the rank herbage; and as when
men cast ashes into the air they cause a singular sort of whiteness in the
places where they fall
so also does the frost. The country people talk of a
black frost and a white frost
and the same thing may be said of ashes
for
they are both black and white. Moreover
excessive cold burns as effectually as
great heat
and hence there is an inner as well as an outer likeness between
hoarfrost and ashes. Let us praise the Lord who condescends to wing each flake
of snow and scatter each particle of rime. Ours is no absent or inactive deity:
he worketh all things
and is everywhere at home.
Verse
17. He casteth forth his ice like morsels. Such are the crumbs
of hail which he casts forth
or the crusts of ice which he creates upon the
waters. These morsels are his ice
and he casts them abroad. The
two expressions indicate a very real presence of God in the phenomena of
nature. Who can stand before his cold? None can resist the utmost
rigours of cold any more than they can bear the vehemence of heat. God's
withdrawals of light are a darkness that may be felt
and his withdrawals of
heat are a cold which is absolutely omnipotent. If the Lord
instead of
revealing himself as a fire
should adopt the opposite manifestation of cold
he would
in either case
consume us should he put forth all his power. It is
ours to submit to deprivations with patience
seeing the cold is his
cold. That which God sends
whether it be heat or cold
no man can defy with
impunity
but he is happy who bows before it with childlike submission. When we
cannot stand before God we will gladly lie at his feet
or nestle under his
wings.
Verse
18. He sendeth out his word
and melteth them. When the frost
is sharpest
and the ice is hardest
the Lord intervenes; and though he doth no
more than send his word
yet the rocks of ice are dissolved at once
and the
huge bergs begin to float into the southern seas. The phenomena of winter are
not so abundant in Palestine as with us
yet they are witnessed sufficiently to
cause the devout to bless God for the return of spring. At the will of God
snow
hoarfrost
and ice disappear
and the time of the opening bud and the
singing of birds has come. For this let us praise the Lord as we sun ourselves
amici the spring flowers. He causeth his wind to blow
and the waters flow.
The Lord is the great first cause of everything; even the fickle
wandering
winds are caused by him. Natural laws are in themselves mere inoperative rules
but the power emanates directly from the Ever present and Ever potent One. The
soft gales from the south
which bring a general thaw
are from the Lord
as
were those wintry blasts which bound the streams in icy bonds. Simple but
effectual are the methods of Jehovah in the natural world; equally so are those
which he employs in the spiritual kingdom; for the breath of his Holy Spirit
breathes upon frozen hearts
and streams of penitence and love gush forth at
once. Observe how in these two sentences the word and the wind go together in
nature. They attend each other in grace; the gospel and the Holy Spirit
cooperate in salvation. The truth which the Spirit breathed into prophets and apostles
he breathes into dead souls
and they are quickened into spiritual life.
Verse
19. He sheweth his word unto Jacob
his statutes and his judgments
unto Israel. He who is the Creator is also the Revealer. We are to praise
the Lord above all things for his manifesting himself to us as he does not unto
the world. Whatever part of his mind he discloses to us
whether it be a word
of instruction
a statute of direction
or a judgment of government
we are
bound to bless the Lord for it. He who causes summer to come in the place of
winter has also removed the coldness and death from our hearts by the power of
his word
and this is abundant cause for singing unto his name. As Jacob's seed
of old were made to know the Lord
even so are we ill these latter days;
wherefore
let his name be magnified among us. By that knowledge Jacob is
ennobled into Israel
and therefore let him who is made a prevailing prince in
prayer be also a chief musician in praise. The elect people were bound to sing
hallelujahs to their own God. Why were they so specially favoured if they did
not
above all others
tell forth the glory of their God?
Verse
20. He hath not dealt so with any nation. Israel had clear and
exclusive knowledge of God
while others were left in ignorance. Election is
the loudest call for grateful adoration. And as for his judgments
they have
not known them; or
and judgments they had not known them
as if not
knowing the laws of God
they might be looked upon as having no laws at all
worth mentioning. The nations were covered with darkness
and only Israel sat
in the light. This was sovereign grace in its fullest noontide of power. Praise
ye the Lord. When we have mentioned electing
distinguishing love
our
praise can rise no higher
and therefore we close with one more hallelujah.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Whole
Psalm. The whole Psalm is an invitation unto praising of God. Arguments
therein are drawn
First
from God's general goodness to the world (Ps
147:4
8-9
16-18): Secondly
from his special mercy to his Church. 1. In restoring
it out of a sad and broken condition (Ps 147:2-3). 2. In confirming it
in a happy and prosperous estate
both temporal
in regard of strength
peace
and plenty (Ps 147:12-14); and spiritual
in regard of his word
statutes
and
judgments
made known unto them (Ps 147:19-20). Lastly
these mercies are all
commended by the manner of bestowing them—powerfully and swiftly.
He doth it; by a word of command
and by a word of speed: "He sendeth
forth his commandment upon earth: his word runneth very swiftly" (Ps
147:15). The temporal part of this happy estate
together with the manner of
bestowing it
is herein described
but we must by no means exclude the
spiritual meaning. And what can be wanting to a nation which "strengthened"
with walls
"blessed" with multitudes
hath "peace" in the
border
"plenty" in the field
and
what is all in all
God in the
sanctuary: God the bar of the "gate"
the Father of the children
the
crown of the "peace"
the staff of the "plenty"? They haven
"gate" restored
a "city" blessed
a "border"
quieted
a "field" crowned
a "sanctuary" beautified with
the oracles of God. What can bc wanting to such a people
but a mouth filled
a
heart enlarged
a spirit exalted in the praises of the Lord? "Praise the
Lord
O Jerusalem; praise thy God
O Zion"
etc. (Ps 147:12).—Edward
Reynolds in a Sermon entitled "Sion's Praises"
1657.
Whole
Psalm. The God of Israel
what he has done
what he does
what he can
do—this is the "Hallelujah" note of his song. So happy is the
theme
that in Ps 147:1 we find a contribution for it levied on Ps 33:1 92:1
135:3; each must furnish its quota of testimony to the desirableness of giving
praise to such a God.—Andrew A. Bonar.
Verse
1. Praise ye the Lord. Alleluia. An expression in sound very
similar to this seems to have been used by many nations
who can hardly be
supposed to have borrowed it from the Jews. Is it impossible that this is one
of the most ancient expressions of devotion? From the Greeks using eleleu ih
as a solemn beginning and ending of their hymns to Apollo
it should seem that
they knew it; it is said also to have been heard among the Indians in America
and Alia
Alla
as the name of God
is used in great part of the East: also in
composition. What might be the primitive stock which has furnished such
spreading branches?—Augustin Calmer
1672-1757.
Verse
1. It is good to sing praises unto our God. Singing is
necessarily included and recognised in the praise of Psalms. That the joyful
should sing is as natural as that the afflicted should pray—rather more
natural. Song as the expression of cheerfulness is something universal in human
nature; there were always
both in Israel and among all other nations
songs of
joy. Hence it is constantly mentioned in the prophets
by whom joyous singing
is used as a frequent figure
even as they threaten that God will take away the
song of the bridegroom and the bride
and so forth. The singing of men
is in itself good and noble. The same God who furnished the birds of heaven
with the notes wherein they unconsciously praise their Creator
gave to man the
power to sing. We all know how highly Luther
for example
estimated the gift
and the art of song. Let him to whom it is granted rejoice therein; let him who
lacks it seek
if possible
to excite it; for it is a good gift of the Creator.
Let our children learn to sing in the schools
even as they learn to read. Our
fathers sang more in all the affairs of life than we do; our tunes are in this
respect less fresh
and artless
and joyous. There are many among us who never
sing
except when adding their voices to the voice of the church
—and therefore
they sing so badly there. Not that a harsh song from a good heart is
unacceptable to God; but he should have our best. As David in his day took care
that there should be practised singers for the sanctuary
we also should make
provision for the church's service of song
that God may have in all respects a
perfect offering. How gracious and lovely is the congregation singing with the
heart acceptable songs!—Rudolf Stier
in "The Epistle of James
Expounded
" 1859.
Verse
1. The translation here is doubtful. It may either be rendered
"Praise the Lord for he is good"
or
"for it (praise) is
good." Why is it declared to be "pleasant" and "comely"
to praise the Deity? Not only because if we glorify him he will also glorify
us
but because he is so infinitely glorious that we are infinitely honoured
simply in being reckoned worthy to worship One so great.—John Lorinus.
Verse
1. It is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant;
and praise is comely. These points are worthy of careful consideration.
1.
To praise God is "good" for divers reasons. a) That is good
which God commands (Mic 6:8). So that thanksgiving is no indifferent action
no
will worship
but it is cultus institutus
not to be neglected. b) It
raiseth the heart from earth to heaven; and being the work of angels and saints
in heaven
joins us with that choir above. c) It is good
again
because by it
we pay
or at least acknowledge
a debt
and this is common justice. d) Good
because for it we are like to receive a good and a great reward; for if he that
prays to God is like to be rewarded (Mt 6:6)
much more that man who sings
praises to him; for in prayer we consult with our own necessities
in our
praises we honour God
and bless him for his gifts.
2.
To praise God is "pleasant." a) Because it proceeds out of
love; for nothing is more pleasant to him that loves
than to make sonnets in
the praise of that party he loves. b) Because it must needs please a man to
perform that duty for which he was created; for to that end God created men and
angels
that they should praise him. c) Because God is delighted with it
as
the sweetest sacrifice (Ps 50:23). d) It is pleasant to God
because he is
delighted with those virtues which are in us
—faith
hope
charity
religion
devotion
humility
etc.
of all which our praises are a manifestation and
exercise.
3.
To praise God is "comely"; for there is no greater stain than
ingratitude; it is made up of a lie and injustice. There is
then
all the
decency in the world in praise
and it is comely that a man be thankful to his
God
who freely gives him all things.—William Nicholson.
Verse
1. David
to persuade all men to thankfulness
saith
It is a
good and pleasant thing to be thankful. If he had said no more but "good"
all which love goodness are bound to be thankful; but when he saith not only "good"
but "pleasant" too
all which love pleasure are bound to be
thankful; and therefore
as Peter's mother-in-law
so soon as Christ healed her
of a fever
rose up immediately to minister unto him (Mt 8:15)
so we
so soon
as Christ hath done anything for us
should rise up immediately to serve him.—Henry
Smith.
Verse
1. There is no heaven
either in this world
or the world to come
for people who do not praise God. If you do not enter into the spirit and
worship of heaven
how should the spirit and joy of heaven enter into you?
Selfishness makes long prayers
but love makes short prayers
that it may
continue longer in praise.—John Pulsford
1857.
Verse
1. Praise. There is one other thing which is a serious
embarrassment to praising through the song service of the Church
and that is
that we have so few hymns of praise. You will be surprised to hear me say so;
but you will be more surprised if you take a real specimen of praising and
search for hymns of praise. You shall find any number of hymns that talk about
praise
and exhort you to praise. There is no lack of hymns that say that God
ought to be praised. But of hymns that praise
and say nothing about it
there
are very few indeed. And for what there are we are almost wholly indebted to
the old churches. Most of them came down to us from the Latin and Greek
Churches...There is no place in human literature where you can find such praise
as there is in the Psalms of David.—Henry Ward Beecher.
Verse
2. The Lord doth build up Jerusalem
etc. If this Psalm were
written on occasion of the return from Babylon
and the rebuilding of the earthly
city
the ideas are to be transferred
as in other Psalms of the same kind
to
a more important restoration from a much worse captivity
and to the building
up of the church under the gospel
when Christ "gathered together in one
the children of God that were scattered abroad" (Joh 11:52); that is
in
the words of our Psalm
he gathered together the outcasts of Israel. So
shall he again
at the resurrection
"gather together his elect from the
four winds" (Mt 24:31)
and "build up a Jerusalem"
in which
they shall serve and praise him for ever.—George Horne.
Verse
2. The Lord doth build up Jerusalem
etc.
Jerusalem!
Jerusalem! the blessing lingers yet
On the city of the chosen
where the Sabbath seal was set;
And though her sons are scattered
and her daughters weep apart
While desolation
like a pall
weighs down each faithful heart;
As the plain beside the waters
as the cedar on the hills
She shall rise in strength and beauty when the Lord Jehovah wills:
He has promised her protection
and the holy pledge is good
'Tis whispered through the olive groves
and murmured by the flood
As in thee Sabbath stillness the Jordan's flow is heard
And by the Sabbath breezes the hoary trees are stirred.
—Mrs. Hale
in "The Rhyme of Life."
Verse
2. He gathereth together the outcasts of Israel. Wonder not
that God calls together "the outcasts"
and singles them out
from every corner for a return; why can he not do this
as well as "tell
the number of the stars
and call them all by their names"? There are none
of his people so despicable in the eye of man
but they are known and regarded
by God. Though they are clouded in the world
yet they are the stars of the
world; and shall God number the inanimate stars in the heavens
and make no
account of his living stars on the earth? No; wherever they are dispersed
he
will not forget them: however they are afflicted
he will not despise them. The
stars are so numerous that they are innumerable by man; some are visible and
known by men
others lie more hid and undiscovered in a confused light
as
those in the milky way; a man cannot see one of them distinctly. God knows all
his people. As he can do what is above the power of man to perform
so he
understands what is above the skill of man to discover.—Stephen Charnock.
Verse
2. He gathereth together the outcasts of Israel. David might
well have written feelingly about the "outcasts"
for he had
himself been one; and even from Jerusalem
in his age
when driven forth from
thence by his unnatural son
he went up by the ascent of Olivet
weeping and
barefooted
and other "outcasts" with him
weeping also as
they went.—Barton Bouchier.
Verse
3. He healeth the broken in heart
etc. Here are two things
contained in this text; the patients and the physician. The
patients are the broken in heart. The physician is Christ; it is he who bindeth
up their wounds. The patients here are felt and discerned to have two wounds or
maladies; brokenness of heart
and woundedness: he binds up such. Brokenness of
heart presupposes a former wholeness of heart. Wholeness of heart is twofold;
either wholeness of heart in sin
or wholeness of heart from sin.
First
wholeness of heart from sin is when the heart is without sin;
and so the blessed angels have whole hearts
and so Adam and Eve
and we in
them
before the fall
had whole hearts. Secondly
wholeness of heart in
sin; so the devils have whole hearts
and all men since the fall
from
their conception till their conversion
have whole hearts; and these are they
that our Saviour intends
—"The whole need not the physician
but they that
are sick."
Brokenness
of heart may be considered two ways; first
in relation to wholeness of
heart in sin: so brokenness of heart is not a malady
but the commencement
of the cure of a desperate disease. Secondly
in relation to wholeness of
heart from sin; and so it is a malady or sickness
and yet peculiar to one
blood alone
namely
God's elect; for though the heart be made whole in its
desire towards God
yet it is broken for its sins. As a man that hath a barbed
arrow shot into his side
and the arrow is plucked out of the flesh
yet the
wound is not presently healed; so sin may be plucked out of the heart
but the
scar that was made with plucking it out is not yet cured. The wounds that are
yet under cure are the plagues and troubles of conscience
the sighs and groans
of a hungering soul after grace
the stinging poison that the serpent's fang
hath left behind it; these are the wounds. Now the heart is broken three ways.
First
by the law; as it breaks the heart of a thief to hear the sentence of
the law
that he must be hanged for his robbery; so it breaks the heart of the
soul
sensibly to understand the sentence of the law
—Thou shalt not sin; if
thou do
thou shalt be damned. If ever the heart come to be sensible of this
sentence
—"Thou art a damned man"
it is impossible to stand out
under it
but it must break. "Is not my word like a hammer
that breaketh
the rock in pieces?" (Jer 23:29). Can any rock heart hold out and not be
broken with the blows of it? Indeed
thus far a man may be broken
and yet be a
reprobate; for they shall all be thus broken in hell
and therefore this
breaking is not enough.
Secondly
by the Gospel; for if ever the heart come to be sensible of the love of
the Gospel
it will break all to shatters. "Rend your heart; for the Lord
is gracious"
etc.: Joe 2:13. When all the shakes of God's mercy come
they all cry "Rend." Indeed
the heart cannot stand out against them
if it once feel them. Beat thy soul upon the gospel: if any way under heaven
can break it
this is the way.
Thirdly
the heart is broken by the skill of the minister in the handling of
these two
the law and the gospel: God furnishes him with skill to press the
law home
and gives him understanding how to put the gospel
and by this means
doth God break the heart: for
alas
though the law be never so good a hammer
and although the gospel be never so fit an anvil
yet if the minister lay not
the soul upon it the heart will not break: he must fetch a full stroke with the
law
and he must set the full power of the gospel at the back of the soul
or
else the heart will not break.
He
healeth the broken in heart. Hence observe
that Christ justifies and
sanctifies; for that is the meaning.
1.
First
because God hath gives Christ grace to practise for the sake of the
broken in
heart; and therefore if this be his grace
to heal the broken
hearted
certainly he will heal them. "The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me"
etc. "He hath sent me to heal the broken hearted"
etc.: Lu
4:18. If he be created master of this art
even for this purpose
to
heal the broken in heart
he will verily heal them
and none but them. It is
not like Hosander and Hippocrates
whose father appointed them both to be
physicians; he appointed his son Hippocrates to be a physician of horses
yet
he proved a physician for men; he appointed Hosander to be a physician for men
and he proved a physical for horses. Jesus is not like these; no
no; he will
heal those whom he was appointed to heal.
2.
Because Christ hath undertaken to do it. When a skilful Physician hath
undertaken a cure
he will surely do it: indeed
sometimes a good physician may
fail
as Trajan's physician did
for he died under his hands; on whose tomb
this was written
"Here lies Trajan the emperor
that may thank his
physician that be died." But if Christ undertake it
thou mayest be sure
of it; for he tells thee that art broken in heart that he hath undertaken it
he hath felt thy pulse already. Isa 57:15. He doth not only undertake it
but
he saith he will go visit his sick patient
he will come to thy bedside
yea
he will come and dwell with thee all the time of thy sickness; thou shalt
never want anything
but he will be ready to help thee: thou needest not
complain and say
"Oh
the physician is too far off
he will not come at
me." I dwell in the high places indeed
saith God
but yet I will come and
dwell with thee that art of an humble spirit. Thou needest not fear
saying
"Will a man cure his enemies? I have been an enemy to God's glory
and
will he yet cure me?" Yea
saith Christ
if thou be broken in heart
I will bind thee up.
3.
Thirdly
because this is Christ's charge
and he will look to his own
calling: "The Lord hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted" (Isa
61:1) ...Neither needest thou fear thine own poverty
because thou hast not a
fee to give him; for thou mayest come to him by way of begging; he will look to
thee for nothing; for
"To him will I look that is poor"
etc.: Isa
66:2.
4.
Fourthly
none but the broken in heart will take physic of Christ. Now
this is a physician's desire
that his patient would cast himself upon him; if
he will not
the physician hath no desire to meddle with him. Now none but the
broken in heart will take such physic as Christ gives
and therefore he saith
"To him will I look that is of a broken heart
and trembles at any
words": Isa 56:2. When I bid him take such a purge
saith God
he
trembles
and he takes it.—William Fenner
in a Sermon entitled
"The
Sovereign Virtue of the Gospel
" 1647.
Verse
3.
O
Thou who dry'st the mourner's tear
How dark this world would be
If
when deceived and wounded here
We could not fly to Thee!
The
friends
who in our sunshine live
When winter comes are flown;
And he who has but tears to give
Must weep those tears alone.
But
Thou wilt heal that broken heart
Which
like the plants that throw
Their fragrance from the wounded part
Breathes sweetness out of woe.
When
joy no longer soothes or cheers
And e'en the hope that threw
A moment's sparkle o'er our tears
Is dimmed and vanished too;
Oh!
who would bear life's stormy doom
Did not Thy wing of love
Come
brightly wafting through the gloom
Our peace branch from above?
Then
sorrow
touched by Thee
grows bright
With more than rapture's ray;
As darkness shows us worlds of light
We never saw by day!—Thomas Moore
1779-1852.
Verse
3. He healeth the broken in heart. The broken in heart is one
whose heart is affected with the evil of sin
and weeps bitter tears on account
of it; one who feels sorrow
shame
and anguish
on the review of his past
sinful life
and his base rebellion against a righteous God. Such a one has a
broken heart. His heart is broken at the sight of his own ingratitude—the
despite done by him to the strivings of the Holy Spirit. His heart is broken
when he considers the numberless invitations made to him in the Scriptures
all
of which he has wickedly slighted and despised. His heart is broken at the
recollection of a thousand kind providences to him and to his family
by day
and by night
all sent by God
and intended for his moral
spiritual
and
eternal benefit
but by him basely and wantonly abused. His heart is broken at
the consideration of the love and compassion of the adorable Redeemer; the
humiliation of his birth; the devotedness of his life; the reproach
the
indignity of his sufferings; the ignominy and anguish of his death. His heart
is broken when his conscience assures him that all this humiliation
this
suffering
this death
was for him
who had so deliberately and repeatedly
refused the grace which the blood and righteousness of Christ has purchased. It
is the sight of Calvary that fills him with anguish of spirit
that overwhelms
him with confusion and self abasement. While he contemplates the amazing scene
he stands
he weeps
he prays
he smites upon his breast
he exclaims"
God be merciful to me a sinner!" And adds
"O wretched man that I am
who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"
The
broken in heart must further be understood as one who seeks help from God
alone
and will not be comforted till he speaks peace to his soul. The act of
God
in the scripture before us
is the moral and spiritual health of man—of
man
who had brought disease on himself—of man
by his own rebellion against
his Creator of man
who had
in ten thousand ways
provoked the justice of
heaven
and deserved only indignation and eternal wrath—the health of man
whom
in an instant
he could hurl to utter destruction. The saving health here
proposed is the removal of all guilt
however contracted
and of all pollution
however rooted. It is the communication of God's favour
the riches of his
grace
the implantation of his righteousness. To effect the healing of the
broken heart
God has
moreover
appointed a Physician
whose skill is
infallible
whose goodness and care are equal to his skill. That Physician is
none other than the Son of God. In that character has he been made known to us.
"They that be whole need not a physician
but they that be sick." The
prophet Isaiah introduces his advent in the most sublime language: "He
hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted
to proclaim liberty to the
captives
and the opening of the prison to them that are bound."
The
health
the moral and spiritual soundness of the soul
my brethren
is derived
from the atoning sacrifice of Christ. The grace of God flows to the broken in
heart through his manhood
his godhead
his righteousness
his truth; through
his patience
his humility
his death and passion; through his victory over
sin
his resurrection
and ascension into heaven. Here
thou broken in heart
thou sorrowing
watching penitent; here is the medicine
here the Physician
here the cure
here the health thou art seeking. The healing of the broken in
heart must be further understood as effected through the agency of the Holy
Spirit. It is done by the Spirit of God
that it may be done
and that it may
be well done; and that all the praise
the glory of that which is done
may be
ascribed to the plenitude
the freeness
the sovereignty of his grace. The
Spirit of God
however
uses means. The means of grace are appointed expressly
for this purpose; the blessing of health is there applied. There
under the
sound of the everlasting gospel
while looking by faith to Christ
and
appropriating his merits
he healeth the broken in heart. There
while
commemorating the dying love of Christ
and applying its benefits by faith to
the soul
he healeth the broken in heart. There
while the soul
sensible of
his goodness
is offering up the song of praise
and trusting alone in his
mercy
he healeth the broken in heart. There
while prostrate at his footstool
supplicating his grace
resting on his finished redemption
he healeth the
broken in heart. In the private acts of devotion the Spirit of God also is near
to bless and save. There
while reading and believing his holy Word
while
meditating on its meaning; there
while in secret
solemn prayer
the soul
takes hold on God in Christ Jesus; he healeth the broken in heart.—Condensed
from a Sermon by Thomas Blackley
1826.
Verse
3. He healeth the broken in
heart. I do indeed most
sincerely sympathise with you in this fresh sorrow. "Thy breaking waves
pass over me." The trial
so much the heavier that it is not the first
breaking in
but the waters continuing still
and continuing to rise
until
deep calleth unto deep at the noise of God's water spouts
"Yea
and thy
billows all." In such circumstances
we are greatly tempted to wonder if
it be true
of the Holy One in the midst of us
that a bruised reed he will not
break
that the smoking flax he will not quench. We may not
however
doubt it
nor even in the day of our grief and our desperate sorrow
are we at liberty to
call it in question. Our God is the God of the broken heart. The deeper such a
heart is smitten
and the more it bleeds
the more precious it is in his sight
the nearer he draws to it
the longer he stays there. "I dwell with him
who is of a contrite heart." The more abundantly will he manifest the
kindness and the glory of his power
in tenderly carrying it in his bosom
and
at last binding up its painful wounds. "He healeth the broken in
heart." "O
thou afflicted
tossed with tempest
and not comforted
behold
I will lay thy stones with fair colours
and lay thy foundations with
sapphires." Weeping Naomi said
"Call me Marah
for the Lord hath
dealt very bitterly with me." Afterwards
happy Naomi took the child of
her own Ruth
and laid it in her bosom
and sweetly found that the days of her
mourning were ended. My dear friend
this new gash of deep sorrow was prepared
for you by the Ancient of Days. His Son—and that Son is love—watched over the
counsels of old
to keep and to perform them to the minutest circumstance.—John
Jameson
1838.
Verse
4. He telleth the number of the stars
etc. In which
similitude he showeth
that albeit Abraham could not comprehend the multitude
of the children
either of his faith or of his flesh
more than he could count
the number of the stars; yet the Lord knoweth every believer by name
as he
knoweth every star and can call every one by its name.—David Dickson.
Verse
4. He telleth the number of the stars
etc. Among the heathen
every constellation represented some god. But the Scriptures show Jehovah
not
as one of many starry gods
but as the one God of all the stars. He is
too
as
he taught his people by Abraham
the God of a firmament of nobler stars. His
people are scattered and trodden as the sands of the sea-shore. But he turns
dust and dirt to stars of glory. He will make of every saint a star
and Heaven
is his people's sky
where broken hearted sufferers of earth are glorified into
glittering galaxies.—Hermann Venema.
Verse
4. He calleth them all by their names. Literally
"calleth names to all of them"
an expression marking not only God's
power in marshalling them all as a host (Isa 40:26)
but also the most intimate
knowledge and watchful care
as that of a shepherd for his flock. Joh 10:3.—J.J.
Stewart Perowne.
Verse
4. He calleth them all by their names. They render a due
obedience to him
as servants to their master. When he singles them out and
calls them by name to do some official service
he calls them out to their
several offices
as the general of an army appoints the station of every
regiment in a battalion; or
"he calls them by name"
i.e. he
imposes names upon them
a sign of dominion
the giving names to the inferior
creatures being the first act of Adam's derivative dominion over them. These
are under the sovereignty of God. The stars by their influences fight against
Sisera (Jud 5:20); and the sun holds in its reins
and stands stone still to
light Joshua to a complete victory: Jos 10:12. They are all marshalled in their
ranks to receive his word of command
and fight in close order
as being
desirous to have a share in the ruin of the enemies of their sovereign.—Stephen
Charnock.
Verse
4. The immense distance at which the nearest stars are known to be
placed
proves that they are bodies of a prodigious size
not inferior to our
own sun
and that they shine
not
by reflected rays
but by their own native
light. But bodies encircled with such refulgent splendour
would be of little
use in Jehovah's empire
unless surrounding worlds were cheered by their benign
influence
and enlightened by their beams. Every star is therefore concluded to
be a sun surrounded by planetary globes. Nearly a thousand of these luminaries
may be seen in a clear winter's night by the naked eye. But these do not form
the eighty-thousandth part of what may be descried by the help of telescopes.
While Dr. Herschel was exploring the most crowded part of the milky way
in one
quarter of an hour's time no less than 116
000 stars passed through the field
of view of his telescope. It has been computed
that nearly one hundred
millions of stars might be perceived by our most perfect instruments
if all
the regions of the sky were thoroughly explored. But immeasurable regions of
space lie beyond the utmost boundaries of human vision
even thus assisted
into which imagination itself can scarcely penetrate
but which are doubtless
filled with operations of divine wisdom and divine omnipotence.—Thomas Dick
in "The Christian Philosopher."
Verse
5. His understanding is infinite. Hebrew: "Of his
understanding there is no number." God is incomprehensible. In place;
in time; in understanding; in love. First
in place;
because no place
no space
can be imagined so great
but God exceeds it
and
may be found beyond it. Secondly
in time; because he exceeds all time:
for be was before all time that can be conceived
and shall be after all lime.
Time is a created thing
to attend upon the creation and continuance of all
things created and continued by God. Thirdly
in understanding; because
no created understanding can comprehend him so that nothing of God may be hid
from it. Fourthly
in love because God doth exceed all love: no creature
can love God according to his worth. All these ways of incomprehensibleness
follow upon his infiniteness.—Thomas Larkham
in "The Attributes of God
Unfolded
and Applied
" 1656.
Verse
5. His understanding is infinite. The Divine wisdom is said
to be "without number"; that is
the objects of which this
wisdom of God can take cognisance are innumerable.—Simon de Muis.
Verse
5. In this verse we have three of God's attributes
his greatness
his power
and his knowledge; and though only the last of these be expressly
said to be infinite
yet is the same implied also of the two former; for
all the perfections of God being essential to him
must need be infinite as he
himself is; and therefore what is affirmed of one must
by a parity of reason
be extended to the rest.—John Conant
1608-1693.
Verse
6. The Lord lifteth up the meek
etc. The meek need not envy
the lofty who sweep the earth with their gay robes
any more than real royalty
is jealous of the kingly hero who struts his hour upon the stage. They shall be
princes and rulers long after these actors have laid aside their tinselled
crowns. How wonderful shall be the reversal when God shall place the last first
and the first last! Moralists have often pointed us to the ruler of a hundred
broad kingdoms lying down at last in six feet of imprisoning clay; but God
shall show us the wayside cottager lifted into the inheritance of the
universe.—Evangelical Magazine.
Verses
7-9. God creates
and then fails not to supply. Analogically
the Lord
buildeth Jerusalem
and provides for the wants of the inhabitants; by spiritual
inference
the saints argue that Christ establishes his church and gives all
the gracious gifts which are needed in that institution.—John Lorinus.
Verses
8-9. Mountains . . . ravens. Wonderful Providence which takes
cognisance of the mountainous and the minute alike. The All Provider descends
from august and sublime heights to save the meanest creature from
starvation—extending constant care to the wants of even those abject little
objects
the young ravens
Heb. "the sons of the raven."—Martin
Geier.
Verse
8. Clouds...rain...grass. There is a mutual dependence and
subordination between all second causes. The creatures are serviceable to one
another by mutual ministries and supplies; the earth is cherished by the heat
of the heavens
moistened by the water
and by the temperament of both made
fruitful; and so sendeth forth innumerable plants for the comfort and use of
living creatures
and living creatures are for the supply of man. It is
wonderful to consider the subordination of all causes
and the proportion they
bear to one another. The heavens work upon the elements
the elements upon the
earth
and the earth yieldeth fruits for the use of man. The prophet taketh
notice of this admirable gradation: "I will hear the heavens
and the
heavens shall hear the earth; and the earth shall hear the corn
and the wine
and the oil; and the corn
and the wine
and the oil
shall hear Jezreel" (Ho
2:21-22). We look to the fields for the supplies of corn
wine
and oil; but
they can do nothing without clouds
and the clouds can do nothing without God.
The creatures are beholden to one another
and all to God. In the order of the
world there is an excellent chain of causes
by which all things hang together
that so they may lead up the soul to the Lord.—Thomas Manton.
Verse
8. Who prepareth rain? The rain cloud parts with its contents
only when God commands it
and as he commands
whether in the soft gentle
shower or in the drenching downpour that floods the fields and obstructs the
labours of the husbandman.—Thomas Robinson
in "Homiletical Commentary
on the Book of Job
" 1876.
Verse
8. Who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains. The wild
grasses are taken
as it were
under the special providence of God. In the
perennial verdure in regions above the zone of man's cultivation
we have a
perpetual proof of God's care of the lower animals that neither sow nor reap.
The mountain grasses grow spontaneously; they require no culture but such as
the rain and the sunshine of heaven supply. They obtain their nourishment
directly from the inorganic soil
and are independent of organic materials.
Nowhere is the grass so green and vigorous as on the beautiful slopes of lawn
like pasture high up in the Alps
radiant with the glory of wild flowers
and
ever musical with the hum of grasshoppers
and the tinkling of cattle bells.
Innumerable cows and goats browse upon them; the peasants spend their summer
months in making cheese and hay from them for winter consumption in the
valleys. This exhausting system of husbandry has been carried on during untold
centuries; no one thinks of manuring the Alpine pastures; and yet no deficiency
has been observed in their fertility
though the soil is but a thin covering
spread over the naked rocks. It may be regarded as a part of the same wise and
gracious arrangement of Providence
that the insects which devour the grasses
on the Kuh and Schaf Alpen
the pastures of the cows and sheep
are kept in check by a predominance of carnivorous insects. In all the mountain
meadows it has been ascertained that the species of carnivorous are at least
four times as numerous as the species of herb eating insects. Thus
in the
absence of birds
which are rare in Switzerland
the pastures are preserved
from a terrible scourge. To one not aware of this check
it may seem surprising
how the verdure of the Alpine pastures should be so rich and luxuriant
considering the immense development of insect life. The grass
whenever the sun
shines
is literally covered with them—butterflies of gayest hues
and beetles
of brightest iridescence; and the air is filled with their loud murmurs. I
remember well the vivid feeling of God's gracious providence
which possessed
me when passing over the beautiful Wengern Alp at the foot of the Jungfrau
and
seeing
wherever I rested on the green turf
alive with its tiny inhabitants
the balance of nature so wonderfully preserved between the herb which is for
man's food and the moth before which he is crushed. Were the herbivorous
insects allowed to multiply to their full extent
in such favourable
circumstances as the warmth of the air and the verdure of the earth in
Switzerland produce
the rich pastures which now yield abundant food for
upwards of a million and a half of cattle would speedily become bare and
leafless deserts. Not only in their power of growing without cultivation
but
also in the peculiarities of their structure
the mountain grasses proclaim the
hand of God. Many of them are viviparous. Instead of producing flowers and
seed
as the grasses in the tranquil valleys do
the young plants spring from
them perfectly formed. They cling round the stem and form a kind of blossom. In
this state they remain until the parent stalk withers and falls prostrate on
the ground
when they immediately strike root and form independent grasses.
This is a remarkable adaptation to circumstances; for it is manifest that were
seeds instead of living plants developed in the ears of the mountain grasses
they would be useless in the stormy regions where they grow. They would be
blown away far from the places they were intended to clothe
to spots foreign
to their nature and habits
and thus the species would speedily perish. The
more we think of it
the more we are struck with the wise foresight which
suggested the creative fiat
"Let the earth bring forth grass." It is
the most abundant and the most generally diffuse of all vegetation. It suits
almost every soil and climate.—Hugh Macmillan
in "Bible Teachings in
Nature
" 1868.
Verses
8-9. The Hebrews had no notion of what we denominate "secondary
laws"
but believed that God acted directly upon matter
and was the
immediate
efficient cause of the solemn order
and the varied and wonderful
phenomena of nature. Dispensing thus with the whole machinery of cause and
effect
as we employ those terms in philosophical language
their minds were
brought into immediate contact with God in his manifold works
and this gave
both to devotion and the spirit of poetry
the liveliest inspiration and the
freest scope of action. Heaven and earth were governed by his commands; the
thunder was his "voice"
the lightning his "arrows." It is
he who "causeth the vapour to ascend from the ends of the earth."
When the famished city should call upon the corn
the wine
and the oil
and
those should call upon the earth for nourishment
and the parched earth should
call upon the heavens for moisture
and the heavens should call upon the Lord
for permission to refresh the earth
then Jehovah would hear and supply. He
gave the rain
and he sent the drought and famine. The clouds were not looked
upon merely as sustained by a law of specific gravity
but God spread them out
in the sky; these clouds were God's chariot. The curtains of his pavilion
the
dust of his feet. Snow and hail were fearful manifestations of God
often sent
as the messengers of his wrath.—G. Hubbard
in "Bate's
Encylopeaedia
" 1865.
Verses
8-9. God by his special providence prepares food for those who
have no other care taken for them. Beasts that live among men are by men
taken care of; they enrich the ground with manure and till the ground; and that
brings forth corn for the use of these cattle as well as men. But the wild
beasts that live upon the mountains
and in the woods and desert
places
are fed only from the heavens: the rain that from thence distils
enriches those dry hills and maketh grass to grow there
which else
would not
and so God giveth to these wild beasts their food after the
same manner of Divine Providence as in the end of the verse he is said to
provide for the young ravens.—Henry Hammond.
Verse
9. The young ravens cry. The strange stories told by Jewish
and Arabian writers
on the raven's cruelty to its young
in driving them out
of their nests before they are quite able to provide for themselves
are
entirely without foundation
as no bird is more careful of its young ones than
the raven. To its habit of flying restlessly about in search of food to satisfy
its own appetite and that of its young ones
may perhaps be traced the reason
of its being selected by the sacred writers as an especial object of God's
protecting care.—W. Houghton
in "The Bible Educator."
Verse
9. The young ravens cry. While still unfledged the young
ravens have a strange habit of falling out of their nests
and flapping their
wings heavily to the ground. Next morning they are found by the shepherds
sitting croaking on the ground beneath their former homes
and are then
captured and taken away with comparative ease.—J.G. Wood
in "The
Illustrated Natural History
" 1869.
Verse
9. The young ravens cry. The evening proceedings and
manoeuvres of the rooks are curious and amusing in the autumn. Just before dusk
they return in long strings from the foraging of the day
and rendezvous by
thousands over Selbourne down
where they wheel round in the air
and sport and
dive in a playful manner
all the while exerting their voices
and making a
loud cawing
which
being blended and softened by the distance that we at the
village are below them
becomes a confused noise or chiding; or rather a
pleasing murmur
very engaging to the imagination
and not unlike the cry of a
pack of hounds in hollow
echoing woods
or the rushing of the wind in tall
trees
or the tumbling of the tide upon a pebbly shore. When this ceremony is
over
with the last gleam of day
they retire for the night to the deep beechen
woods of Tisted and Ropley. We remember a little girl
who
as she was going to
bed
use to remark on such all occurrence
in the true spirit of
physico-theology
that the rooks were saying their prayers
and yet this child
was much too young to be aware that the Scriptures had said of the Deity that He
feedeth the ravens that call upon him.—Gilbert White (1720-1793)
in
"The Natural History of Selborne."
Verse
9.
Behold
and look away your low despair;
See the light tenants of the barren air:
To them
nor stores
nor granaries belong
Nought but the woodlands and the pleasing song;
Yet
your kind heavenly Father bends his eye
On the least wing that flits along the sky.
To him they sing when Spring renews the plain;
To him they cry in Winter's pinching reign;
Nor is the music
nor their plaint
in vain.
He hears the gay
and the distressful call
And with unsparing bounty fills them all.
Will he not care for you
ye faithless
say?
Is he Unwise? Or
are ye less than they?
—James Thomson
1700-1748.
Verse
9. It is related of Edward Taylor
the sailor preacher of Boston
that on the Sunday before he was to sail for Europe
he was entreating the Lord
to care well for his church during his absence. All at once he stopped
and
ejaculated
"What have I done? Distrust the Providence of heaven! A God
that gives a whale a ton of herrings for a breakfast
will he not care for my
children?" and then went on
closing his prayer in a more confiding
manner.—From "Eccentric Preachers
" by C.H.S.
Verse
10. The two clauses of this verse are probably intended to describe cavalry
and infantry
as forming the military strength of nations. It is not to
those who trust in such resources that Jehovah shows favour
but to those who
rely on his protection (Ps 147:11).—Annotated Paragraph Bible.
Verses
10-11. When a sinner is brought upon his knees
and becomes a suppliant
when as he is laid low by affliction
so he lieth low in prayer and
supplication
then the Lord will be favourable to him
and show his delight in
him. The Lord delighteth not in the strength of the horse: he taketh not
pleasure in the legs of a man. No man is favoured by God because of his
outward favour
because he hath a beautiful face
or strong
clean limbs; yea
not only hath the Lord no pleasure in any man's legs
but not in any man's
brains
how reaching soever
not in any man's wit how quick soever
nor in any
man's judgment how deep soever
nor in any man's tongue how eloquent or well
spoken soever; but The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him
in those
that hope in his mercy
in those that walk humbly with him
and call upon
him...All the beauties and rarities both of persons and things are dull and
flat
yea
wearisome and loathsome to God
in comparison of a gracious
honest
humble soul. Princes have their favourites (Job 33:26); they are favourable to
some above many
either because they are beautiful and goodly persons
or
because they are men of excellent speech
prudence and deportment. All godly
men are God's favourites; he is favourable to them not only above many men in
the world
but above all the men of this world
who have their portion in this life;
and he therefore favours them
because they are the purchase of his Son and the
workmanship of his Spirit
convincing them of
and humbling them for
their
sins
as also creating them after God in righteousness and true holiness. Such
shall be his favourites.—Joseph Caryl.
Verse
11. Them that fear him
those that hope in his mercy. Patience
and fear are the fences of hope. There is a beautiful relation between hope and
fear. The two are linked in this verse. They are like the cork in a fisherman's
net
which keeps it from sinking
and the lead
which prevents it from
floating. Hope without fear is in danger of being too sanguine; fear without
hope would soon become desponding.—George Seaton Bowes
in "In Prospect
of Sunday"; 1880.
Verse
11. Them that fear him
those that hope in his mercy. A
sincere Christian is known by both these; a fear of God
or a constant
obedience to his commands
and an affiance
trust
and dependence upon his
mercies. Oh
how sweetly are both these coupled
a uniform sincere obedience to
him
and an unshaken constant reliance on his mercy and goodness! The whole
perfection of the Christian life is comprised in these two—believing God and
fearing him
trusting in his mercy and fearing his name; the one maketh us
careful in avoiding sin
the other diligent to follow after righteousness; the
one is a bridle from sin and temptations
the other a spur to our duties. Fear
is our curb
and hope our motive and encouragement; the one respects our duty
and the other our comfort; the one allayeth the other. God is so to be feared
as also to be trusted; so to be trusted
as also to be feared; and as we must
not suffer our fear to degenerate into legal bondage
but hope in his mercy
so
our trust must not degenerate into carnal sloth and wantonness
but so hope in
his word as to fear his name. Well
then
such as both believe in God and fear
to offend him are the only men who are acceptable to God and his people. God
will take pleasure in them
and they take pleasure in one another.—Thomas Manton.
Verse
11. Fear and Hope are the great vincula of Old
Testament theology
bracketing and including in their meaning all its ideas.—Thomas
Le Blanc.
Verse
11. Fear and hope are passions of the mind so contrary
the one to the other
that with regard to the same object
it is strange they
should meet in the same laudable character; yet here we see they do so
and it
is the praise of the same persons
that they both fear God
and hope in him.
Whence we may gather this doctrine: That in every concern that lies upon our
hearts
we should still endeavour to keep the balance even between hope and
fear. We know how much the health of the body depends upon a due temperament of
the humours
such as preserves any one from being predominant above the rest;
and how much the safety and peace of the nations result from a due balance of
trade and power
that no one grow too great for its neighbours; and so
necessary is it to the health and welfare of our souls
that there be a due
proportion maintained between their powers and passions
and that the one may
always be a check upon the other
to keep it from running into extremes; as in
these affections mentioned in the text. A holy fear of God must be a check upon
our hope
to keep that from swelling into presumption; and a pious hope in God
must be a check upon our fear
to keep that from sinking into despondency. This
balance must
I say
by a wise and steady hand
be kept even in every concern
that lies upon our hearts
and that we have thoughts about. I shall enumerate
those that are of the greatest importance. We must keep up both hope and fear.
1. As to the concerns of our souls
and our spiritual and eternal state. 2. As
to our outward concerns
relating to the body and the life that now is. 3. As
to the public concerns of the church of God
and our own land and nation. In
reference to each of these
we must always study and strive to support that
affection
whether it be hope or fear
which the present temper of our minds
and circumstances of our case make necessary to preserve us from an extreme.—Matthew
Henry.
Verse
12. That all Creation must involuntarily praise the Lord
and that
the primary duty of conscious intelligence is the willing praise of the same
Deity
are the two axioms of the Psalmist's theology. He has in the
first part of this Psalm been stating the first
and now he is about to
announce the second.—Martin Geier.
Verse
13. He hath strengthened the bars of thy gates. Blessed is the
city whose gates God barreth up with his power
and openeth again with his
mercy. There is nothing can defend where his justice will strike; and there is
nothing can offend where his goodness will preserve.—Thomas Adams.
Verses
13-14. The Psalmist recites four arguments from which he would have Zion
sing praises: 1. Security and defence. 2. Benediction. 3. Peace. 4. Sustenance
or provision.
1. Security.
Jerusalem is a city secure
being defended by God: For he hath strengthened
the bars of thy gates. Gates and bars do well to a city
but then only is
the city secure when God makes them strong. The true munition of a city is
God's defence of it. Arms
laws
wealth
etc.
are the bars
but God must put
strength into them.
2. Benediction.
Jerusalem is a happy city
for he hath blessed thy children
within
thee
thy kings
princes
magistrates
etc.
with wisdom
piety
etc.
3. Peace.
Jerusalem is a peaceable city. He maketh peace in thy borders
the very
name intimates so much; for Jerusalem interpreted is visio pacis—Vision
of peace.
4. Abundance.
Jerusalem is a city provided by God with necessary food and provision; for He
filleth thee with the finest of the wheat.—William Nicholson.
Verse
14. He maketh peace in thy borders
etc. There is a political
peace—peace in city and country; this is the fairest flower of a Prince's
crown; peace is the best blessing of a nation. It is well with bees when there
is a noise; but it is best with Christians when
as in the building of the
Temple
there is no noise of hammer heard. Peace brings plenty along with it;
how many miles would some go on pilgrimage to purchase this peace! Therefore
the Greeks made Peace to be the nurse of Pluto
the God of wealth. Political
plants thrive best in the sunshine of peace. "He maketh peace in thy
borders
and filleth thee with the finest of the wheat." The ancients
made the harp the emblem of peace: how sweet would the sounding of this harp be
after the roaring of the cannon! All should study to promote this political
peace. The godly man
when he dies
"enters into peace" (Isa 57:2);
but while he lives
peace must enter into him.—Thomas Watson.
Verse
14. He maketh peace. The Hebrews observe that all the letters
in the name of God are literae quiescentes
letters of rest. God only is
the centre where the soul may find rest: God only can speak peace to the
conscience.—John Stoughton
—1639.
Verse
14. Finest of the wheat. If men give much it is in cheap and
coarse commodity. Quantity and quality are only possible with human production
in in verse ratio; but the Lord gives the most and best of
all supplies to his pensioners. How truly the believer under the gospel knows
the inner spirit of the meaning here! The Lord Jesus Christ says
"My
peace I give unto you." And when he sets us at rest and all is
reconciliation and peace
then he feeds us with himself—his body
the
finest wheat
and his blood
the richest wine.—Johannes Paulus Palanterius.
Verse
15. His word runneth very swiftly. There is not a moment
between the shooting out of the arrow and the fastening of it in the mark; both
are done in the very same atom and point of time. Therefore we read in the
Scripture of the immediate effects of the word of Christ. Saith he to the
leprous man; "Be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was
cleansed": Mt 8:3. And to the blind man
"Go thy way; thy faith hath
made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight"; Mr 10:52. No
arrow makes so immediate an impression in the mark aimed at as the arrow of
Christ's word. No sooner doth Christ say to the soul
Be enlightened
be
quickened
be comforted
but the work is done.—Ralph Robinson.
Verse
16. He giveth snow like wool. There are three things
considerable in snow
for which it is compared to wool. First
for the whiteness
of it. Snow is white as wool; snow is so exceeding white that the whiteness of
a soul cleansed by pardoning grace
in the blood of Christ
is likened unto it
(Isa 1:18); and the latter part of the same verse intimates that the whiteness
of snow bears resemblance to that of wool. The whiteness of snow is caused by
the abundance of air and spirits that are in that pellucid body
as the
naturalists speak. Any thing that is of a watery substance
being frozen or
much wrought upon by cold
appears more white; and hence it is that all persons
inhabiting cold climates or countries
are of a whiter complexion than they who
inhabit hot. Secondly
snow is like wool for softness
'tis pliable to
the hand as a lock or fleece of wool. Thirdly
snow is like wool (which may
seem strange) with respect to the warmness of it. Though snow be cold in
itself
yet it is to the earth as wool
or as a woollen cloth or blanket that
keeps the body warm. Snow is not warm formally
yet it is warm effectively and
virtually; and therefore is it compared to wool.—Joseph Caryl.
Verse
16. Like wool. Namely
curled and tufted
and as white as the
snow in those countries. Isa 1:18 Re 1:14.—John Diodati.
Verse
16. Snow like wool. The ancients used to call snow
eriwdez udwr
woolly water (Eustathius
in Dionys. Perieget. p. 91).
Martial gives it the name of densum vellus aquarum
a thick fleece of waters
(Epigram. l. iv. Ep. 3). Aristophanes calls clouds
"flying fleeces of
wool" (Nubes
p. 146). Pliny calls it the forth of the celestial
waters (Nat. His. lib. xvii. cap. 2).—Samuel Burder.
Verse
16. He giveth snow like wool. In Palestine snow is not the
characteristic feature of winter as it is in northern latitudes. It is merely
an occasional phenomenon. Showers of it fall now and then in severer seasons on
the loftier parts of the land
and whiten for a day or two the vineyards and
cornfields: but it melts from the green earth as rapidly as its sister vapours
vanish from the blue sky...But the Psalmist seized the occasional snow
as he
seized the fleeting vapour
and made it a text of his spiritual meditations.
Let us follow his example. "He giveth snow like wool"
says the
Psalmist. This comparison expressly indicates one of the most important
purposes which the snow serves in the economy of nature. It covers the earth
like a blanket during that period of winter sleep which is necessary to recruit
its exhausted energies
and prepare it for fresh efforts in the spring; and
being
like wool
a bad conductor
it conserves the latent heat of the soil
and protects the dormant life of plant and animal hid under it from the frosty
rigour of the outside air. Winter sown wheat
when defended by this covering
whose under surface seldom falls much below 32 Fahr.
can thrive even though
the temperature of the air above may be many degrees below the freezing point.
Our country
enjoying an equable climate
seldom requires this protection; but
in northern climates
where the winter is severe and prolonged
its beneficial
effects are most marked. The scanty vegetation which blooms with such sudden
and marvellous loveliness in the height of summer
in the Arctic regions and on
mountain summits
would perish utterly were it not for the protection of the
snow that lies on it for three quarters of a year.
But
it is not only to Alpine plants and hibernating animals that God gives snow
like wool. The Eskimo take advantage of its curious protective property
and
ingeniously build their winter huts of blocks of hardened snow; thus
strangely
enough
by a homoeopathic law
protecting themselves against cold by the
effects of cold. The Arctic navigator has been often indebted to walls of snow
banked up around his ship for the comparative comfort of his winter quarters
when the temperature without has fallen so low that even chloric ether became
solid. And many a precious life has been saved by the timely shelter which the
snow storm itself has provided against its own violence. But while snow thus
warms in cold regions
it also cools in warm regions. It sends down from the
white summits of equatorial mountains its cool breath to revive and brace the
drooping life of lands sweltering under a tropic sun; and from its lofty
inexhaustible reservoirs it feeds perennial rivers that water the plains when
all the wells and streams are white and silent in the baking heat. Without the
perpetual snow of mountain regions the earth would be reduced to a lifeless
desert.
And
not only does the Alpine snow thus keep always full rivers that water the
plains
but
by its grinding force as it presses down the mountains
it removes
particles from the rocks
which are carried off by the rivers and spread over
the plains. Such is the origin of a large part of the level land of Europe. It
has been formed out of the ruins of the mountains by the action of snow. It was
by the snow of far off ages that our valleys and lake basins were scooped out
the form of our landscapes sculptured and rounded
and the soil formed in which
we grow our harvests. Who would think of such a connection? And yet it is true!
Just as each season we owe the bloom and brightness of our summer fields to the
gloom and blight of winter
so do we owe the present summer beauty of the world
to the great secular winter of the glacial period. And does not God bring about
results as striking by agencies apparently as contradictory in the human world?
He who warms the tender latent life of the flowers by the snow
and moulds the
quiet beauty of the summer landscape by the desolating glacier
makes the cold
of adversity to cherish the life of the soul
and to round into spiritual
loveliness the harshness and roughness of a carnal
selfish nature. Many a
profitable Christian life owes its fairness and fruitfulness to causes which
wrecked and wasted it for a time. God giveth snow like wool; and chill and
blighting as is the touch of sorrow
it has a protective influence which guards
against greater evils; it sculptures the spiritual landscape within into forms
of beauty and grace
and deepens and fertilizes the soil of the heart
so that
in it may grow from God's own planting the peaceable fruits of righteousness.
And
now let us look at the Giver of the snow. "He giveth snow like
wool." "The snowflake"
as Professor Tyndall strikingly says
"leads back to the sun"—so intimately related are all things to each
other in this wonderful universe. It leads further and higher still—even to him
who is our sun and shield
the light and heat of all creation. The whole vast
realm of winter
with its strange phenomena
is but the breath of God—the
Creative Word—as it were
congealed against the blue transparency of space
like the marvellous frost work on a window pane. The Psalmist had not the
shadow of a doubt that God formed and sent the annual miracle of snow
as he
had formed and sent the daily miracle of manna in the desert. It was a common
place thing; it was a natural
ordinary occurrence; but it had the Divine sign
upon it
and it showed forth the glory and goodness of God as strikingly as the
most wonderful supernatural event in his nation's history. When God would
impress Job with a sense of his power
it was not to some of his miraculous
but to some of his ordinary works that he appealed. And when the Psalmist would
praise God for the preservation of Israel and the restoration of Jerusalem—as
he does in the Psalm from which my subject is taken—it is not to the wonderful
miraculous events with which the history of Israel abounded that he directs
attention
but to the common events of Providence and the ordinary appearances
and processes of nature. He cannot think enough of the Omnipotent Creator and
Ruler of the Universe entering into familiar relations with his people
and
condescending to their humblest wants. It is the same God that "giveth
snow like wool"
who "shows his word unto Jacob
and his statutes and
commandments unto Israel." And the wonder of the peculiarity is enhanced
by thoughts borrowed from the wonders of nature. We know a thousand times more
of the nature
formation
and purpose of the snow than the Psalmist did. But
that knowledge is dearly earned if our science destroys our faith. What amount
of precision of scientific knowledge can compensate us for the loss of the
spiritual sensibility
which in all the wonders and beauties of the Creation
brings us into personal contact with an infinitely wise mind and an infinitely
loving heart?—Hugh Macmillan
in "Two Worlds are Ours
" 1880.
Verse
16. Snow. It is worth pausing to think what wonderful work is
going on in the atmosphere during the formation and descent of every snow
shower; what building power is brought into play; and how imperfect seem the
productions of human minds and hands when compared with those formed by the
blind forces of nature. But who ventures to call the forces of nature blind? In
reality
when we speak thus
we are describing our own condition. The blindness
is ours; and what we really ought to say
and to confess
is that our powers
are absolutely unable to comprehend either the origin or the end of the
operations of nature.—John Tyndall
in "The Forms of Water
"
1872.
Verses
16-17. The Lord takes the ice and frost and cold to be his; it is not
only his sun
but his ice
and his frost: "he
scattereth his hoar frost like ashes." The frost is compared to
ashes in a threefold respect. First
because the hoar frost gives a little
interruption to the sight. If you scatter ashes into the air
it darkens the
light
so doth the hoar frost. Secondly
the hoary frost is like ashes because
near in colour to ashes. Thirdly
'tis like
because there is a kind of burning
in it: frost burns the tender buds and blossoms
it nips them and dries them
up. The hoar frost hath its denomination in the Latin tongue from burning
and it differs but very little from that word which is commonly used in Latin
for a coal of fire. The cold frost hath a kind of scorching in it
as well as
the hot sun. Unseasonable frosts in the spring scorch the tender fruits
which
bad effect of frost is usually expressed by carbunculation or blasting.—Joseph
Caryl.
Verse
17. He casteth forth his ice like morsels. Or
shivers of
bread. It is a worthy saying of one from this text
—The ice is bread
the
rain is drink
the snow is wool
the frost a fire to the earth
causing it
inwardly to glow with heat; teaching us what to do for God's poor.—John
Trapp.
Verse
17. He casteth forth his ice like morsels. The word here
translated "morsels"
means
in most of the places where it
occurs in the Bible
pieces of bread
exactly the LXX qwmouv; for this
very ice
this wintry cold
is profitable to the earth
to fit it for bearing
future harvests
and thus it matures the morsels of bread which man will
yet win from the soil in due season.—Genebrardus
in Neale and Littledale.
Verse
17. Morsels. Or
crumbs. Ge 18:5 Jud 19:5. Doubtless the
allusion is to hail.—A.S. Aglen.
Verse
17. "It is extremely severe"
said his sister to Archbishop
Leighton one day
speaking of the season. The good man only said in reply
"But thou
O God
hast made summer and winter."—From J.J.
Pearson's Life of Archbishop Leighton
1830.
Verse
18. He sendeth out his word
and melteth them. Israel in the
captivity had been icebound
like ships of Arctic voyagers in the Polar Sea;
but God sent forth the vernal breeze of his love
and the water flowed
the ice
melted
and they were released. God turned their captivity
and
their icy
chains being melted by the solar beams of God's mercy
they flowed in fresh and
buoyant streams
like "rivers of the south"
shining in the sun. See
Ps 126:4. So it was on the day of Pentecost. The winter of spiritual captivity
was thawed and dissolved by the soft breath of the Holy Ghost
and the earth
laughed and bloomed with spring tide flowers of faith
love
and joy.—Christopher
Wordsworth.
Verse
19. Here we see God in compassion bending down
in order to
communicate to the deeply fallen son of man something of a blessed secret
of
which
without his special enlightenment
the eye would never have seen
anything
nor the ear ever have heard.—J.J. Van Oosterzee
on "The
Image of Christ."
Verses
19-20. If the publication of the law by the ministry of angels to the
Israelites were such a privilege that it is reckoned their peculiar treasure—He
hath shewed his statutes unto Israel; he hath not dealt so with any nation—what
is the revelation of the gospel by the Son of God himself? For although the law
is obscured and defaced since the fall
yet there are some ingrafted notions of
it in human nature; but there is not the least suspicion of the gospel. The law
discovers our misery
but the gospel alone shows the way to be delivered from
it. If an advantage so great and so precious doth not touch our hearts; and
in
possessing it with joy
if we are not sensible of the engagements the Father of
mercies hath laid upon us; we shall be the most ungrateful wretches in the
world.—William Bates.
Verses
19-20. That some should have more means of knowing the Creator
others
less
it is all from the mercy and will of God. His church hath a privilege and
an advantage above other nations in the world; the Jews had this favour above
the heathens
and Christians above the Jews; and no other reason can be
assigned but his eternal love.—Thomas Manton.
HINTS TO THE
VILLAGE PREACHER
Verse
1. Praise. Its profit
pleasure
and propriety.—J.F.
Verse
1. The Reasonable Service.
1.
The methods of praise: by word
song
life; individually
socially.
2.
The offerers of praise: "ye."
3.
The objects of praise: "the Lord
our God."
4.
The reasons for praise: it is "good"
"pleasant"
"becoming."—C.A.D.
Verses
1-3.
1.
The Privilege of Praising God.
a)
It is good.
b) Pleasant.
c) Becoming.
2.
The Duty of Praising God.
a)
For gathering a church for himself among men: "The Lord doth build up
Jerusalem."
b)
For the materials of which it is composed: "The outcasts"
etc.
c)
For the preparation of those materials for his purpose: "He healeth"
etc. Ps 147:3.—G.R.
Verse
2. The Lord is Architect
Builder
Sustainer
Restorer
and Owner of
the Church. In each relation let him be praised.
Verse
2. The Great Gatherer.
1.
Strange persons sought for.
2. Special search and means made use of.
3. Selected centre to which he brings them.
4. Singular exhibition of them for ever and ever in heaven.
Verse
2. First the church built and then the sinners gathered into it. A
prosperous state of the church within necessary to her increase from without.
Verse
2. See "Spurgeon's Sermons"
No. 1302: "Good Cheer
for Outcasts."
Verse
2. Upbuilding and Ingathering.
1.
The church may be in a fallen condition.
2. Its upbuilding is the Lord's work.
3. He accomplishes it by gathering together its outcast citizens.—C.A.D.
Verse
3. See "Spurgeon's Sermons"
No. 53: "Healing for the
Wounded."
Verse
3. God a true physician
and a tender nurse.—J.F.
Verses
3-4. Heaven's Brilliants
and Earth's Broken Hearts.
1.
The Proprietor of the Stars with the Wounded. The stars left kingless for
broken hearts. Jehovah! with lint and liniment and a woman's hand. Who binds
together the stars
shall bind firmly grieved hearts.
2.
The Gentle Heart healer with the Stars. Be all power intrusted to such
tenderness. Its comely splendour. God guides the stars with an eye on wounded hearts.
The hopefulness of prayer.
3.
Hearts
Stars
and Eternity. Some hearts shall "shine as the stars."
Some stars shall expire in "blackness of darkness." God's hand and
eye are everywhere making justice certain. Trust and sing.—W.B.H.
Verses
3-4. God's Compassion and Power.
1.
Striking diversity of God's cares: "hearts" and "stars."
2.
Wonderful variety of God's operations. Gently caring for human hearts.
Preserving the order
regularity
and stability of creation.
3.
Blessed results of God's work. Broken hearts healed; wounds bound up. Light
harmony
and beauty in the heavens.
4.
Mighty encouragement to trust in God. God takes care of the universe; may I not
entrust my life
my soul
to him? Where he rules unquestioned there is light
and harmony; let me not resist his will in my life.—C.A.D.
Verse
5. A contemplation of God's greatness.
1.
Great in his essential nature.
2.
Great in Power.
3.
Great in wisdom. Let us draw inferences concerning the insignificance of man
& c.
Verse
6. Reversal.
1.
In the estimate of the world the meek are cast down and the wicked lifted up.
2.
In the judgment of heaven the meek are lifted up and the wicked cast down.
3.
The judgment of heaven will
in the end
be found the true one.—C.A.D.
Verse
7. The use and benefit of singing.
Verse
8. God in all. The unity of his plan; the cooperation of divine
forces; the condescending mercy of the result.
Verse
9. See "Spurgeon's Sermons"
No. 672: "The Ravens'
Cry."
Verse
11. The singularity of our God
and of his favour. For which he is to
be praised.
1. The
objects of that favour distinguished.
a)
From physical strength.
b) From mental vigour.
c) From self reliance.
d) From mere capacity for service.
2. The
objects of that favour described.
a)
By emotions relating to God.
b)
By the weakest forms of spiritual life.
c)
By the highest degrees of it; for the maturest saint fears and hopes.
d)
By the sacred blend of it. Fear of our guilt
hope of his mercy. Fear of self
confidence in God. Hope of perseverance
fear of sinning. Hope of heaven
fear
of coming short. Hope of perfection
mourning defects.
3. The
blessing of that favour implied.
a)
God loves to think of them.
b) To be with them.
c) To minister to them.
d) To meet them in their fears and their hopes.
e) To reward them for ever.
Verse
11. He takes pleasure in their persons
emotions
desires
devotions
hopes
and characters.—W.W.
Verse
12.
1.
The Lord whom we praise.
2. His praise in our houses—Jerusalem.
3. Our praise in his house—Zion.
Verse
13. A Strong Church.
1.
The utility and value of a strong church.
2.
The marks which distinguish it.
a)
Gates well kept.
b) Increase of membership.
c) The converts blessed to others.
3.
The important care of a strong church: to trace all blessing to Zion's God.—W.B.H.
Verses
14-15. See "Spurgeon's Sermons"
No. 425: "Peace at Home
and Prosperity Abroad."
Verses
14-15. Church blessings.
1.
Peace.
2. Food.
3. Missionary energy.
4. The presence of God: the source of all blessing.
Verse
15. (second clause). See "Spurgeon's Sermons"
No.
1607: "The Swiftly Running Word."
Verse
16. The unexpected results of adversity: snow acting as wool.
Verses
16-18. See "Spurgeon's Sermons
"No. 670: "Frost and
Thaw."
Verse
19.
1.
God's people.
2. God's Word.
3. God's revelation to the soul.
4. God's praise for this special revelation.
Verse
20. He hath not dealt so with any nation... Praise ye the Lord.
The sweet Psalmist of Israel
a man skilful in praises
doth begin and end this
Psalm with Hallelujah. In the body of the Psalm he doth set forth the
mercy of God
both towards all creatures in general in his common
providence
and towards his church in particular. So in this close of
the Psalm: "He sheweth his word unto Jacob
and his statutes to Israel. He
hath not dealt so with any nation." In the original 'tis
"He hath
not dealt so with every nation": that is
with any nation.
In the text you may observe a position and a conclusion. A position;
and that is
that God deals in a singular way of mercy with his people above
all other people. And then the conclusion: "Praise ye the Lord."
Doctrine. That God deals in a singular way of mercy with his people
and
therefore expects singular praises from his people.—Joseph Alleine
(1633-1668)
in "A Thanksgiving Sermon."
Verse
20. See the wonderful goodness of God
who besides the light of
nature
has committed to us the sacred Scriptures. The heathen are enveloped in
ignorance. As for his judgments
they have not known them. They have the
oracles of the Sybils
but not the writings of Moses and the apostles. How many
live in the region of death
where the bright star of Scripture has never
appeared! We have the blessed Book of God to resolve all our doubts
and to
point out a way of life to us. "Lord
how is it thou wilt manifest thyself
unto us
and not unto the world?" Joh 14:22.—Thomas Watson.
Verse
20. Electing Grace inspires the Heart with Praise.
1.
God's love has chosen us. Hallelujah.
2. God has intrusted us with his truth. Hallelujah.
3. God has made us almoners of his bounty. Hallelujah.
4. God through us is to save the world. Hallelujah.—W.B.H.
── C.H. Spurgeon《The Treasury of David》