Psalm 147

 1 Praise the LORD! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, [Or for he is beautiful] and a song of praise is fitting.

2 The LORD builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the outcasts of Israel.

The psalm begins with something of a chiasm in each of the first two verses. “It is good to psalm (sing praises) to our God, delightful, beautiful [is] praise. He builds up Jerusalem YHWH the outcasts of Israel he gathers.” The name of God is prominent in the center of each verse. In verse one the name is bounded by the goodness and beauty of singing praises and in the second verse by the goodness of what YHWH is doing for his people. The psalmist asserts that singing praises with musical accompaniment (psalming) is good, pleasing, and beautiful. Surround yourself, your home, your family, your place of work with songs of worship. This is one of the superpowers of music -- we can take it anywhere, listen to it or produce it at any time, and it can profoundly affect our mood and perspective. Make the choice to sing, to listen, to write songs of praise. Millions of songs have been written and sung to God. The state cannot stop us, our culture cannot stop us, the enemy cannot stop us from singing. It is a beautiful, powerful thing! The psalmist then begins to list the reasons that YHWH is worthy of praise, beginning with what he has done for the community of faith. The building and gathering here is likely of the exiles returning to the land from Babylon and beyond. The word “outcast” is rooted in the verb “to push”, so these are citizens who have been pushed out. YHWH is collecting them from the corners of the earth and bringing them back home to a rebuilt city. The psalmist was witnessing this in his lifetime, and so have we, in a sense, with the reestablishment of the secular state of Israel. The principle is true for all who have been cast out. YHWH is a God for the outcast, for the refugees and homeless wanderers, even the prodigals and the rebels who left of their own choice. He calls them home and greets them with open arms. 

3 He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

4 He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names.

A literal translation of these verses is “The one who heals the broken of heart, bandaging their wounds, counting the number of stars, all of them by name he calls.” This follows the description of YHWH as a gatherer of the outcast, rebuilding the community and calling his people home. When they come home he heals their wounds first by binding them, covering them with a protective bandage to stop the bleeding and allow the body time to heal. He takes limbs that are broken and sets them in a split so that bones can be strengthened and function restored. While He does all of this doctoring, God is also doing astronomy. He’s counting and naming the stars. In the eyes of the psalmist the star seemed countless, and no doubt many had probably attempted to count them in his day. Astrology was a major religious activity in the ancient world. Before there was anything else to do in the evenings, people made observations of the heavens. With rudimentary instruments and methods of recording their information, the ancients used the stars for orientation and time telling. But surely no one could count the vast expanse of the Milky Way, which contains 100-400 billion stars. Even today, with advanced technology, we can only estimate with a wide margin of error. There’s a big difference between 100 and 400 billion! And the Milky Way is just one of what are now estimated to be 2 trillion galaxies. These estimates of galactic and universe size have only increased in my lifetime, and I suspect they will continue to increase. If our solar system is average, imagine how many planets (wanderers) there are! “O LORD, my God when I in awesome wonder consider all the worlds your hands have made!” How many of those worlds are inhabited? God is at work in all of them. I love the fact that in these two verses God as the tender healer is juxtaposed with God the cosmic accountant. The same hand is at work, placing bandages and pointing at each star as it is enumerated and named. Is there anything He cannot do? Is there any wound that he cannot be trusted with? 

5 Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure.

6 The LORD lifts up the humble; [Or afflicted] he casts the wicked to the ground.

“Great is our Lord (adonai), mighty in power, his understanding no number. Restoring (returning) the humble, YHWH, bringing down the wicked to the ground (erets).” Speaking of numbers and names of stars, the psalmist asserts that God’s understanding is beyond counting. The number of stars, as great as that number may be, is still finite. God’s understanding is not. His knowledge of all things is utterly complete, from the number of stars in the universe to the number of hairs on your head, the Lord has it all accounted for. Nothing escapes his notice or concern. That’s clear from verse 6, which is similar in structure to verse 2, with YHWH in the center of these two activities: building up and bringing down. He restores (literally, returns) the humble (those who are flat on the ground), and he casts down the wicked to the ground. God’s understanding of the world and its inhabitants is equaled by his concern for them and his concern for justice. While injustice is a fact of life in this broken world, the psalmist believes that God as ultimate judge will restore the downtrodden and oppressed while bringing down the powerful oppressors. We don’t always see this in our world from our perspective, but it is certainly a conviction of the psalmist that enables him (and us) to live in a world of injustice. Believing that there is an ultimate judge is the only way to forgive and release our bitterness about injustice. Confident that YHWH will do what is right with all that is wrong with the world, we can trust in his understanding without questioning his actions as we perceive them. In other words, if God can count the stars, he can certainly do moral accounting as well. If you find yourself flat on the ground, know that He will lift you up in due time. If you find yourself doing whatever you please to whomever you please without fear of consequence, know that you will wind up flat on your face before a just God who is tracking everything. 

7 Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; make melody to our God on the lyre!

8 He covers the heavens with clouds; he prepares rain for the earth; he makes grass grow on the hills.

The psalmist calls us to praise once more in verse 7, literally, “Respond in song to YHWH with thanksgiving, psalm (sing praises) to our God on the lyre,” echoing the language of verse 1. Contemplating the limitless knowledge, power, and care of YHWH provokes us to sing and make beautiful music with instruments. The psalmist turns his attention from the heavens above to the skies below them and the ways in which God blesses the earth through his meteorological powers. He covers the heavens with clouds, prepares the rain and causes the grass to grow on the mountains. In the worldview of the psalmist, God is ultimately responsible for nurturing life on earth through his management of its life-giving water. In our technological age, we have made the arrogant assumption that we can change the weather. We believe that we have changed the climate by unleashing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and we believe that we can reverse what we have done through technology as well. I have my doubts about both, but particularly the latter, that we have the power to stop the warming of the planet, particularly when the earth has gone through repeated cycles of warming and cooling without any human presence. Some ascribe meteorological phenomena strictly to the anonymous forces of nature, but the psalmist understands that the hand of God is ultimately at work in all things, in both natural disasters and in creating incredibly fertile and beautiful environments. I don’t have to understand why to still stand in worship. As much as the weather may challenge us at times, it is an unqualified good. Consider the other seven (or eight) planets in our solar system that have utterly inhospitable weather conditions. 

9 He gives to the beasts their food, and to the young ravens that cry.

10 His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the legs of a man,

11 but the LORD takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love.

The psalmist moves from the celestial realm to the terrestrial world, describing God’s care for the creatures that inhabit the land and sky. From the larger animals like cattle (beasts) who feed on the grassy hills to the smaller “sons of ravens” that chirp in their nests for food. God resources them all through the bounty of his world. This planet is a place of abundance. I still marvel that as long as mankind has inhabited the earth we have not exhausted her resources. That of course is the subject of dystopian nightmares, but it has never happened, and it doesn’t seem to be likely in the near future. Eight billion human souls inhabit this planet currently and even more animals. And yet there is enough food for all, even though it is not evenly distributed. We marvel with the psalmist at the careful design of creation that allows life to flourish and be sustained. The LORD could look with delight on some of the strongest and most beautiful of animals like the horse. He could take pleasure in the strength of a man (ish) to go places and get things done. And while he certainly admires his creation, declaring it all “very good” (Genesis 1:31), his greater pleasure is in those who fear him and put their hope in his steadfast love. Those who respond to God in faith and agree to live in relationship with him bring Him the greatest joy. YHWH exists in the trinitarian relationship of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and he invites us in as well. Those who accept that invitation bring him a greater pleasure than all the wonders of creation. The LORD values people above all things in this world, and so should we. He desires that they live in a faith relationship with him, and so we should expend every effort to live in this relationship and to make this good news known to every person, great and small. 

12 Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion!

13 For he strengthens the bars of your gates; he blesses your children within you.

Verse 12 is literally, “Praise, O Jerusalem, YHWH, praise your God Zion”. There are two different words for “praise” here, and the first, shabach, is less common. Its root is “to soothe, to still”, possibly by speaking loudly (e.g. “calm down!”). The psalmist calls on Jerusalem, representing the faithful of God, to give such praises to YHWH, to speak loudly in your appeal to Him. The other word for praise is the more common, halal, literally, “to shine”. Here and elsewhere in its piel form it is translated “praise”. The psalmist is summoning a public celebration of YHWH, Israel’s God. Speak loudly and cause God to shine! The reason stated in verse 13 is gratitude for security and the blessing of children. It is God who strengthens the security of a community. The earlier references to the strength of horses and men, suggests a military threat, but it is YHWH who bars the gate and keeps the invaders at bay so that families can thrive within the safety of the city’s walls. This imagery reminds us that God’s purpose for humanity is for them to live securely in communities and families. These are the essential building blocks of a healthy society -- strong communities and strong families. In the West, expressive individualism has become the dominant worldview, shifting the center of society away from community and family and to the atomized individual. Divorce, serial dating, so-called same sex marriage, cohabitation -- these are all factors that push against the formation of healthy, stable, long-term mother/father/child relationships and thus community and family strength. Following God’s design for the family and community is the way to strength and security. May God strengthen the bars of our gates to keep the barbarians at bay. May he bless the children within our families so that they may be a blessing to future generations. 

14 He makes peace in your borders; he fills you with the finest of the wheat.

15 He sends out his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly.

The strengthening of the bars of the gates of the city is extended to the borders of the land. Verse 14 is literally, “he who makes your borders peace, fat wheat fills you”, the actions of making and filling framing the verse. It is God who makes peace at your borders. Unlike a city, there were no walls or fences at the border, the frontiers between the nations, just an imaginary line separating peoples who might want to steal from one another. What kept them from doing so was YHWH himself, working in his ways to protect his people. “Unless the LORD watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain” (Psalm 127:1). “Fat wheat” is an expression that means the finest of wheat. The word “fat” is most common in Leviticus, in reference to the offering of the best portions of meat, the fatty portions, filled with flavor and stored energy. Here it is applied to the finest of wheat, rich and healthy. The word is found elsewhere in Psalm 81:17 where God promises to satisfy his people with the finest of wheat and honey from the rock. In short, God’s people are promised security and prosperity. God sends his word to the earth and it runs quickly, that is, it accomplishes its purpose. The creation account reminds us of the creative power of the words of God as He speaks everything into existence. Don’t question the power of his word today. His word is real, his truth is swift, and in the verses that follow, the psalmist will describe the impact of that powerful word. 

16 He gives snow like wool; he scatters frost like ashes.

17 He hurls down his crystals of ice like crumbs; who can stand before his cold?

18 He sends out his word, and melts them; he makes his wind blow and the waters flow.

The psalmist describes the powerful effect of God’s word on the planet in this description of YHWH “who gives snow like wool, frost like ashes he scatters, who casts out his hail like morsels, before his cold who can stand?” Winter weather in the eastern Mediterranean isn’t as extreme as it is in northern latitudes, but in pre-modern times, any cold, wet blast could be devastating unless one was adequately prepared. We can enjoy a winter snow-pocolypse from inside our warm homes while sipping hot chocolate, but that has not been the case for most of human history. Even to this day, there are more cold-related deaths than those from heat. The same word that commands the wintry blast also commands a southerly wind to melt the ice and snow and cause the streams to flow again, given access to their life-giving water. God blankets the surface of the earth with snow like wool, and when it’s not snowing in winter, there is condensation that freezes on everything -- from grass to car windshields. It’s as if God sprinkled a fine layer of ice on everything like Mr. Freeze. The “crystals of ice” elsewhere is used for hail which typically accompanies thunderstorms, but here it may refer to snow flakes given the context of the cold and the melting in verse 18. Weather is a universally humbling phenomenon. No matter what we may do to prepare, we cannot completely escape its effects. It alters our lives in so many ways -- what we wear, where we go, when we go, and how we go. We are powerless before these forces of nature, and yet we think that we can control it through technology like we do everything else. God has a way of putting us in our places with winter storms. They disrupt the finely tuned rhythms of our modern life and remind us that there is a God, and we are not Him.  

19 He declares his word to Jacob, his statutes and rules [Or and just decrees] to Israel.

20 He has not dealt thus with any other nation; they do not know his rules. [Or his just decrees] Praise the LORD!

God’s word not only commands the weather, but it reveals his nature in human language to anyone who is willing to listen. The descendants of Jacob, grandson of Abraham, received this word from God over the centuries through prophets like Moses, Samuel, and Isaiah. They reveal YHWH’s nature through statutes, laws, and rules, particularly in how we relate to one another. We are to treat one another as image bearers of God, full of value and dignity. This is the foundation of the moral law, whether written on clay tablets or on human hearts. Israel has been privileged above all nations to receive this law in written form in the Hebrew language and they have been entrusted with it, to copy it and disseminate it as widely as possible. When Christ came to his own people he challenged them to think globally and share the blessings of the knowledge of God with the nations. This is what the church has done with the gospel and thankfully, continues to do. Today there are Bible translation projects going on all over the world with a realistic goal of having the New Testament translated into every language by 2050. Who knows what kinds of future technological advances might speed that along. The point is that God’s word is powerful, whether in command of a storm or in command of an obedient heart. God is not some divine butler whom we can order around. He is the all-powerful sovereign of the universe, to whom our only appropriate response before his majesty is to say, “Command me.”