Psalms 147
Big idea: The psalm's genius is a pair of verses nobody would put together. He heals the broken in heart and binds up their wounds — and immediately: he counts the number of the stars; he calls them all by their names. The same attention that inventories the galaxy knows the name of every broken person. And its statement about what impresses God is unambiguous: he doesn't delight in the strength of the horse, nor take pleasure in the legs of a man. What he takes pleasure in is people who hope in his loving kindness.
Psalm 147 counts the stars and heals the broken. Psalm 148 calls both of them to sing.
147:1–6 — He counts the number of the stars
The psalm's method is to put the enormous and the intimate in the same breath, and this first movement does it in two verses. He binds up the broken-hearted — and he counts the stars and knows each one by name. The point is not that he can do both; it is that they are the same activity. Attention to the numberless and attention to the wounded run on the same understanding.
1 Praise Yah, for it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant and fitting to praise him. 2 Yahweh builds up Jerusalem. He gathers together the outcasts of Israel. 3 He heals the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds. 4 He counts the number of the stars. He calls them all by their names. 5 Great is our Lord, and mighty in power. His understanding is infinite. 6 Yahweh upholds the humble. He brings the wicked down to the ground.
147:7–11 — He takes no pleasure in the legs of a man
The second movement gives God's own preferences, and they are counter-intuitive for a national psalm. He does NOT delight in the strength of a horse or the legs of a man — cavalry and infantry, the two things a state actually depends on. What he takes pleasure in is people who hope. And just before that, the young ravens: fed when they CALL, which is prayer at its least sophisticated.
7 Sing to Yahweh with thanksgiving. Sing praises on the harp to our God, 8 who covers the sky with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who makes grass grow on the mountains. 9 He provides food for the livestock, and for the young ravens when they call. 10 He doesn’t delight in the strength of the horse. He takes no pleasure in the legs of a man. 11 Yahweh takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his loving kindness.
147:12–20 — He gives snow like wool
The third movement puts the weather to work as an image. Snow scattered like wool, frost like ashes, hail like pebbles — all domestic comparisons, things from a kitchen and a hearth — and then the thaw arrives the same way it froze: he SENDS OUT HIS WORD and melts them. That is the psalm's join. The word that runs to the ends of the earth is the word given to Jacob.
12 Praise Yahweh, Jerusalem! Praise your God, Zion! 13 For he has strengthened the bars of your gates. He has blessed your children within you. 14 He makes peace in your borders. He fills you with the finest of the wheat. 15 He sends out his commandment to the earth. His word runs very swiftly. 16 He gives snow like wool, and scatters frost like ashes. 17 He hurls down his hail like pebbles. Who can stand before his cold? 18 He sends out his word, and melts them. He causes his wind to blow, and the waters flow. 19 He shows his word to Jacob, his statutes and his ordinances to Israel. 20 He has not done this for just any nation. They don’t know his ordinances. Praise Yah!
Scripture text: World English Bible (public domain).