Psalms 147:12–20

This is the third time in the psalm that the people are called to praise the Lord. They have already praised Him for His restoring grace, which gathered the outcasts and rebuilt Jerusalem. Now they praise Him for His preserving care. That care keeps the gates of the city, maintains peace, and satisfies the needs of His people (vv. 13-14). It commands the seasons for their blessing (vv. 15-18). It reveals His mind, and gives His statutes and judgments to Israel (vv. 19-20).

He is known in Zion as her God. By His power He has silenced the enemies. He has set a border of lasting peace around the beloved inheritance He chose. He has blessed the children of Jerusalem inside her, and His lasting saving strength keeps her gates safe from violence (verses 13, 14).

Jerusalem is told to praise the Lord. What a change for that city, which today is "spiritually called Sodom and Egypt" (Rev. 11:8), and is attacked bitterly and without pause by enemies close by. One day they will realize that the Lord Jesus is both their Lord and their God (v. 12). Then they will find the bars of their gates strengthened, and their children blessed in the safety of a secure home.

Jerusalem now sits in this sunshine, wrapped in the everlasting Arms. Zion has her walls and defences that no enemy can break, and her happy children. Inside her there is prosperity and contentment. These are only the outward signs of God's favour: Jehovah has done this, and it is the seal of God on her forehead.

Psalm 147 — Jerusalem, Israel, and Creation are the subjects of praise, and of the display of Jehovah's grace... That grace also matches the vastness of His power in creation, for the One who bound up their wounds counted the number of the stars... the psalm shows grace in Israel and power in creation.

In this psalm He is to Israel, the remnant, "Our God"; and, with them at peace, praise is pleasant and fitting. How lovely is this peace, and the Lord's prosperity on them! Indeed, "He takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in His mercy" — not in their own righteousness.

(vv. 12-20) For the third time in the psalm, the people are called to praise the Lord. They have already praised Him for the restoring grace that gathered the outcasts and rebuilt Jerusalem. Now they praise Him for His preserving care. It keeps the gates of the city, maintains peace, and satisfies the needs of His people (vv. 13-14). It commands the seasons for their blessing (vv. 15-18). It reveals His mind, and gives His statutes and judgments to Israel (vv. 19-20).

Psalm 147 — Jerusalem, Israel, and creation are the subjects of praise, and of the display of Jehovah's grace… That grace matches the vastness of His power in creation, for the One who bound up their wounds counted the number of the stars. The psalm mentions government only in verse 6, and the emptiness of human strength in verse 10. Apart from these, it sets out grace toward Israel and power in creation.

Jehovah has built up Jerusalem and gathered the outcasts of Israel (verse 2) (cp. Isa. 11:12). Zion knows Him as her God. By His power He has silenced the enemies, and set a border of lasting peace around the beloved inheritance He chose. He has blessed the children of Jerusalem inside her, and He keeps her gates safe from violence in the lasting strength of His salvation (verses 13, 14) (cp. Isa. 60).

Jerusalem is told to praise the Lord. What a change for that city, which today is "spiritually called Sodom and Egypt" (Rev. 11:8), and which nearby enemies attack bitterly and without pause. At last they will realize that the Lord Jesus is both their Lord and their God (v. 12), and they will have found the bars of their gates strengthened and their children blessed in the safety of a secure home… The constant pressure of hatred and war is gone forever. In its place come peace within their borders, and the finest wheat given to them.

If Israel had only submitted to the Lord, He would have fed them with the finest of the wheat. No land would have been left waste to stunt the growth of the wheat. Instead there would have been everything it needed to grow well… Yet what Israel has missed for many centuries they will enjoy at last, when they turn to the Lord after the Great Tribulation.

In this way the Anointed One offered Himself to the people as their Saviour King, and He proved to be exactly that to everyone who had eyes to see. In this small picture of the Messiah's own rule, anyone could see that Jehovah was among the people as the Shepherd of Israel. He was seeking the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and leading His flock into the "green pastures" of that ancient prophetic song of praise: "He makes peace in your borders; he fills you with the finest of the wheat" (Ps. 147:14).

And here the believing citizen of the heavenly Jerusalem finds the right words for the worship of his own heart toward the God of His salvation. What Israel will taste in their Messiah in the coming day, the Christian finds in Jesus now.

What a change — from the husks the world offers, to feeding on the finest of the wheat. He who offered Himself by the Eternal Spirit without spot to God is alive from among the dead, and He is our peace. (Eph. 2:14).

For the third time in the psalm, the people hear the call to praise the Lord. They had already praised Him for His restoring grace that gathered the outcasts and rebuilt Jerusalem. Now they praise Him for His preserving care. That care keeps the gates of the city, maintains peace, and satisfies the needs of His people (vv. 13-14). It commands the seasons for their blessing (vv. 15-18). It reveals His mind, and gives His statutes and judgments to Israel (vv. 19-20).

The whole earth is in subjection to Him. The swiftest messengers hurry His commandment throughout it. He gives the snow and scatters the frost; He hardens the water with His cold, and melts it back again with a warmer wind. Nature is soft clay in His hand everywhere, and owns its God.

The Lord speaks to the earth with firm decision, and it submits to His working.

It is sad when we reduce everything to an impersonal nature. We speak as if these things just had to happen, with no reference to anything in particular. But these verses show that God is actively and intelligently behind what men call nature.

Scripture declares the supremacy of "the Word" in the workings of what is called nature, as in 2 Peter 3:5-7. (See Ps. 147:15, 18; Ps. 148:8.)

Psalm 147 raises its Hallelujahs because His word runs very swiftly upon earth. That word does the melting and humbling of the human heart. This is the necessary moral preparation for His stepping in to heal, to gather His people, and to build up Jerusalem.

He can harden the hearts of those who harden themselves against Him, and then can melt them down by His great love.

They might have seen the creative and providential power of Jacob's God, but His mind and laws belonged to His people.

It is very possible for us to misuse the word of the gospel, just as Jacob misused the word about God's statutes and judgments. We may pride ourselves on the light that shines on us, while our hearts stay cold. But if the truth we know melts us, our state will be pleasing to God.

It is sad when we reduce everything to an impersonal nature, as if these things must happen with no reference to anything in particular. But these verses show that God is actively and intelligently behind what men call nature.

And to Him the whole earth is in subjection. His commandment throughout it is hastened by the swiftest messengers. He gives the snow and scatters the frost; solidifies the water with His cold, and melts it back again with a warmer wind. Nature is plastic in His hand everywhere and owns its God.

The Lord speaks to the earth with firm decision, and it submits to His working. Snow is said to be like wool, a covering to keep the earth warm when cold weather comes (v. 16). If frost is called for, He provides it, or hail, at a time when He sees fit. Just as simply, He can by His Word melt snow and hail, and the wind helps this to make waters flow. Similarly, He can harden the hearts of those who harden themselves against Him, then can melt them down by His great love.

The snow and hail are laid up in storehouses — where? Not in some hidden place, in vast masses. Not merely in the invisible vapour filling the sky, as science now would say. Behind all that, those storehouses of mercy and of judgment are in the hand of God. His word produces them — the snow, to protect the grass in winter, and to cool and refresh in summer; the hail, in smiting plagues and sweeping judgments (Isa. 28:17). Cold acting on vapour makes snow, we are told, turning its molecules into crystals of lovely and varied form. Those forms are planned — by whom? Whose laws are fulfilled by these tiny crystals? The working of whose mind do they display?

Then there is the white frost of heaven that those of us who live in cold climates find on our car windows on some cold mornings. We may despise it as we clear it from our windows or shiver while we wait for the defroster to work. But it really is a blessing from the Lord, so that we do not freeze to death as energy leaves the earth. Frost is frozen drops of dew. God has given birth to each of those cold crystals that sparkle in the sunshine! He has sent them for us to enjoy!

Next to its coldness, and perhaps more striking than that, snow is the standard for absolute whiteness, for purity. Perhaps Job did not know that this whiteness comes from pure white light reflecting off the countless faces of its crystals. But what "treasures" of whiteness does God keep in store? He is light. The snow reflecting the sunlight shows how completely His essential righteousness is displayed in that work of redemption. That work lets Him say: "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow" (Isa. 1:18).

In verse 18 the psalm says God sends out His word and melts the snow and ice. In verse 19 it says He shows His word to Jacob, so that Jacob might feel the melting power of His word. Jacob was his name according to nature, whereas Israel was his name according to God's grace given to him.

Frozen water or snow. God asked Job, "From whose womb did the ice come forth, and who has given birth to the frost of heaven?" The Psalms answer it: it is God who "hurls down his crystals of ice like crumbs; who can stand before his cold?"

All this is attributed to GOD and not to nature. "HE gives snow." "HE scatters HIS ice." It is "HIS cold." "HE sends out HIS word." "HE causes HIS wind to blow."

It is sad when we reduce everything to an impersonal nature. We speak as though these things must happen, with no reference to anything in particular. But these verses show that God is actively and intelligently behind what men call nature.

Snow may cover the earth like a burial cloth. Winter may lay its icy hand on man and stop all his activities. Still, it is His snow, His hand, to teach man His supreme power. The beast goes into its shelter; let us too enter the "cleft of the rock," until these troubles have passed. Whether the storm comes in the whirlwind of the south, or from the frozen north, it is only His breath. How good, then, to humble ourselves under His mighty hand!

The Lord speaks to the earth with firm decision, and it submits to His working. He can give such cold that no one can stand before it (v. 17). Just as easily, He can melt snow and hail by His Word, with the wind helping to make the waters flow. In the same way, He can harden the hearts of those who harden themselves against Him. Then He can melt them down by His great love.

Verse 18 says God sends out His word and melts the snow and ice. Verse 19 says He shows His word to Jacob, so that Jacob might feel that same melting power. Jacob was his name according to nature, whereas Israel was his name according to the grace God gave him.

Verses 15–18 celebrate His dealings with the seasons in power. Verses 19 and 20 celebrate His showing His word and judgments to Jacob, as He had not done for any nation. The nations might have seen the creative power of Jacob's God and His care over all things. But His mind and His laws belonged to His people.

In verses 15-18 we see His power in His dealings with the seasons. In verses 19 and 20 we see Him showing His word and judgments to Jacob, as He had not done to any nation. Other nations might have seen the power of Jacob's God in creation and in His care of the world, but His mind and His laws belonged to His people.

But God declares the truth of His Word to Jacob — a weak, undeserving creature of dust. He declares His statutes and judgments to the same nation, but now grace calls them Israel, "a prince with God." Clearly they are in a most favoured position, for God has not dealt with any other nation as He has with them.

He takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in His mercy — not in their own righteousness. They also have His word, God's own spoken words. He had not dealt so with any nation.

What pleases Him is not raw physical strength but the right moral condition, as verses 10 and 11 show. That is why He has shown His word to Jacob in verse 19.

God had not dealt so with any other nation. But to Jacob He had shown His word — His statutes and His judgments to Israel (verses 19, 20). If the other nations wanted to know Jehovah, they had to receive that knowledge from this wise and understanding people. God had clothed them with everlasting favour as His chosen priests: the keepers of His truth and the ones who pass it on.

Notice that God has "broken down" the wall that He Himself put up long ago. It would have been sin for anyone else to do it. The godly gloried in that separation, and could say, "He declares his word to Jacob, his statutes and rules to Israel" (Ps. 147:19)… But such distinctions belong to the past. God's present work is the forming of the one body.

So there was a hint of what was in God's mind — to have a redeemed people for Himself, a people to whom He could communicate by His word what was of Himself. (Psalm 147:19-20.) In this way He would have formed them for Himself to show His praise, if only they had the kind of heart that would fear Him and keep His commandments. It will be so when He puts His law inside them and writes it on their hearts.

The possession of His word, His statutes and His judgments was one of the great privileges given to Israel. Romans 3:2 tells us that one of their chief advantages was that "they were entrusted with the oracles of God." He had not dealt in this way with any other nation. At last His word will have its proper effect on them. It will produce the meek and broken heart He desires, and they will be blessed and burst out in a heartfelt Hallelujah. Through God's goodness His word is available for us today. If it humbles us as it should, we too shall be blessed and able to take Hallelujah on our lips.

God's dealings with Israel and Jerusalem are what especially call out the Hallelujahs of Psalm 147. The psalm does look at His glory and might shown in creation. Yet all of that seems to be only a background. Against it, the kindness of His dealings with His people shines all the more brightly.

In verses 19, 20, He shows His word and judgments to Jacob as He had not done to any nation. They might have seen the creative and providential power of Jacob's God, but His mind and laws were His people's.

The law itself was not given until Sinai, and to one particular people. Some say it was given to the whole world. But how could it have been given to the Egyptians? It opens by addressing Israel: "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt." And in Psalm 147:20 we read that He has not dealt this way with any nation, and they do not know His rules. Cain was not under it, yet sin was there (Gen. 4:7). Nor do we read of it during the whole book of Genesis. Yet responsibility was there, and sin, and God's judgment.

Having His word and statutes and judgments was one of the great privileges given to Israel. Romans 3:2 tells us that one of their chief advantages was this: God entrusted them with His own words. He had not dealt in this way with any other nation. One day His word will have its proper effect on them. It will produce the meekness and brokenness of heart that He desires, and they will be blessed and break out in a heartfelt Hallelujah. Through God's goodness His word is available to us today. If it humbles us as it should, we too shall be blessed and able to take Hallelujah on our lips.

In verse 18 God sends out His word and melts the snow and ice. In verse 19 He shows His word to Jacob, so that Jacob might feel that same melting power. Jacob was his name according to nature. Israel was his name according to the grace God gave him.

No other nation had been dealt with so. But to Jacob He had shown His word — His statutes and His judgments to Israel (verses 19, 20). If the Gentiles wanted to learn the knowledge of Jehovah, they had to receive it from this wise and understanding people. God had adorned them with everlasting favour as His chosen priests, the keepers and dispensers of His truth (Zech. 8:23; Isa. 61:6).

Notice that God has "broken down" the wall which He Himself put up long ago. It would have been sin for anyone else to do so. The godly gloried in this. … But such distinctions belong to the past. God's present work is the forming of the one body. Christ has abolished the enmity in His flesh (Ephesians 2:15). Peace is now proclaimed to those far off and to those near, and both draw near to the Father.