For he strengthens the bars of your gates; he blesses your children within you.
The psalm turns from God's power in the skies to a single city, and calls Jerusalem and Zion to praise. Verse 13 gives the reason. God Himself makes her gates secure and blesses the children inside her.
Why the City Is Told to Praise
The verse opens with "for." It gives Jerusalem the reason for the praise she has just been called to bring. One writer traces how this third summons to praise moves through the rest of the psalm:
Hamilton SmithThis 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).
God gathers a people, then keeps them.
Gates Made Sure
The bars across a city gate kept violence outside. But the strength here is not in the iron. It is in the One who put it there:
A. PridhamHe 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).
What This Means for Jerusalem's Story
This is not Jerusalem as anyone knows it today. One writer sets the present city against the one this verse describes:
L. M. GrantJerusalem 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.
Blessing That Reaches the Children
The second half of the verse moves from the wall to the family. The blessing lands on the children, inside the city. One writer draws the whole scene together:
F. W. GrantJerusalem 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.
The Hand Behind the Bars
The same psalm speaks of counted stars and bound-up wounds. The God who secures one city's gates holds all creation:
WhybrowPsalm 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.
So the bars of her gates rest on the strength that counted the stars.
A People Who Can Say "Our God"
In verse 12 the city is told to praise her own God. One writer notes what that name means for the faithful remnant of Israel once they are at peace:
J. N. DarbyIn 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.
Summary
- He built — first He rebuilt the city and gathered the outcasts. Restoring grace comes before preserving care.
- He barred — He silenced the enemies, so the bars hold. The strength at the gate is His salvation, not iron.
- He blessed — the blessing reaches past the wall and rests on the children inside the city.
- He sealed — walls, peace and happy children are outward marks of His favour. Jehovah has done this; it is His seal on her.
- She praises — the God who counts the stars secures this one city. So verse 13 calls for the praise commanded in verse 12.