Bible Commentaries

Praise and Life

Psalm 147:1; Psalm 148:12

I. The Universal Hallelujah.—One has amplified and localized and modernized the application of this Psalm because it Psalm 147:2-5

If we were asked to select a passage to read to somebody about our God, could we select a much more beautiful passage than this147th Psalm? It is so simple, so sublime. The sentences are so short, they might all almost be put into words of one syllable. Just as the sun itself is reflected in the dewdrop, so the glory of our God is reflected in these simple words.

Consider the lovableness of our God.

I. First of all, notice that His work is constructive? God does not destroy and cast down: He builds up—constructs. Our God builds us up, that is Creation. He took us out of the dust of the earth and built us up into perfection. That is the whole history. What building! He took the very lowest, you see—Dust. Where did the dust come from? Poor dust body. He breathed into it the "breath of life"—Equipment under the action of God. That is our Creation—Construction: and our whole life, Edification: and the end, Perfection. "The Lord doth build up." "Who shall build the tabernacle?" "Let us make three tabernacles." The heavens cannot contain Him, Who dwelleth with those who are of a humble and contrite heart. "The Lord doth build up." II. Notice what it is He builds up—Jerusalem. This is no localization. If you want an idea of localization, go to Jerusalem and see for yourself, but the Jerusalem for us is the Jerusalem which cometh down out of heaven: it is a city where we may dwell all together, and the light of the city is God Himself. A Holy City He builds, an Eternal City, a City of Peace. "He gathereth together the outcasts of Israel." It is not God's will that any should be an outcast—He gathereth them together. If anybody is an outcast it is not that God has cast Him out, but that he has cast God out of his soul.

III. "He healeth those that are broken in heart." So many people in this cruel world are what we call "brokendown" people—broken in health, broken in wealth, lost their money, lost all thought, lost all sympathy, lost all love—lost all peace, lost heart, "broken-hearted". Our God healeth those that are broken in heart. It is not a partial or tentative healing; it goes to the very core, it goes down to the very root: He healeth the heart. He is the only real heart doctor. If the heart is all right all else will be right. "He healeth those that are broken in heart." Our God alone can do it. He Who made the heart can heal it.

IV. "And bindeth up their wounds." Note the tender expression. Some people think that the Old Testament is hard and crude, and the New Testament loving and sweet. You cannot find any verse in the Bible more lovely and tender than this verse about our God. Psalm 147:8

Ruskin writes: "Look up towards the higher hills, where the waves of everlasting green roll silently into their long inlets among the shadows of the pines, and we may, perhaps, at last know the meaning of those quiet words of the147th Psalm , "He maketh grass to grow upon the mountains"".

References.—CXLVII:9.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xii. No672. CXLVII:16-18.—Ibid, vol. xii. No670.