Praises for Our Graceful God: Psalm 147: 1-11

 

Sermon, presented at Penney Memorial Church, Feb. 4, 2024

Psalm 147: 1-11

¹ Praise the Lord. How good it is to sing praises to our God,

    how pleasant and fitting to praise him!

² The Lord builds up Jerusalem;

    he gathers the exiles of Israel.

³ He heals the brokenhearted

    and binds up their wounds.

⁴ He determines the number of the stars

    and calls them each by name.

⁵ Great is our Lord and mighty in power;

    his understanding has no limit.

⁶ The Lord sustains the humble

    but casts the wicked to the ground.

⁷ Sing to the Lord with grateful praise;

    make music to our God on the harp.

⁸ He covers the sky with clouds;

    he supplies the earth with rain

    and makes grass grow on the hills.

⁹ He provides food for the cattle

    and for the young ravens when they call.

¹⁰ His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse,

    nor his delight in the legs of the warrior;

¹¹ the Lord delights in those who fear him,

    who put their hope in his unfailing love.

 

An Exposition of Psalm 147: 1-11

 Introduction

Psalms 146-150 comprise a special group of psalms in Jewish history.

The ancient Israelites called these five psalms the “Praises.” In our English translations, each of these psalms starts…and ends…with that imperative, “Praise the Lord,” which in Hebrew is simply “halelu.” 

For centuries, Israelites would sing or chant these five psalms as they climbed the hills to Jerusalem on their pilgrimages for various festivals and holy days celebrations there.

Today, I want to focus on part of just one of these five “Praises” Psalms, Psalm 147.

The writer of Psalm 147, along with psalm 148, is unknown, but is thought to be either the prophet Haggai or the prophet Zechariah, because these two psalms were penned shortly after the return of the exiles to Jerusalem from Babylonian captivity, beginning about 535 B.C. Both Haggai and Zechariah ministered a few years later, about 520 B.C.

Psalm 147:2 is evidence of the writing just after the exiles’ return; v. 2, stating: “The Lord builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the exiles of Israel.” However, there are a very few commentators who believe this is predictive prophecy, written by David hundreds of years before the Israelites’ exile and return.

These “Praises” psalms end the psalter with just pure praise for the Lord. All five open and close with the Hebrew “halelu,” “Praise the Lord.” It is intended to call for a response…for God’s people to lift up our voices and join in the psalmist’s joyous song praising their Creator.

Psalm 147 bears witness through song to all who hear that God is supreme as Creator and that He delights in those who love and depend on Him…

That is similar, really, to what we do in worship today…

Just like those ancient Israelites on their pilgrimages to Jerusalem, we sing to praise God and as a testimony of our faith and dependence…we sing because we depend on God to heal our hearts that are broken by sin and to show us His lovingkindness…and in our singing, we praise Him as our Creator, our Savior, and the One who lives in us and through us.

Exposition

Psalm 147 emphasizes God’s goodness toward His chosen people. Today, we will briefly focus on vv. 1-11, in which the Israelites praised God as comforter and creator.

In vv. 1-3, the psalmist praises the Lord for His grace to the afflicted and for His greatness.

The people would sing:

¹ Praise the Lord. How good it is to sing praises to our God,

    how pleasant and fitting to praise him!

² The Lord builds up Jerusalem;

    he gathers the exiles of Israel.

³ He heals the brokenhearted

    and binds up their wounds.

In singing or chanting v. 1, the people simply expressed their enjoyment of God. The name the psalmist uses for God in vv. 1 is “Elohim,” the Hebrew name for God that emphasizes God’s power and might as “Supreme One” or the “Mighty One.” “Elohim,” the psalmist tells us in v. 1 is “…good,…pleasant,” and “…fitting.” Praising God is, indeed, something we were created to do.

The psalmist uses the name “Yahweh” in v. 2, emphasizing God’s self-existent, eternal, and unchanging nature. The phrase in v. 2, “Yahweh builds up Jerusalem; He gathers the exiles of Israel” refers to the restoration of Jerusalem through the labors and skill of godly leaders, such as Ezra and Nehemiah, who were the instruments in God’s hands. The Lord rebuilt Jerusalem because He promised that He would bring the Israelites back from exile (Jeremiah 29:10) and even named the king (Cyrus) who would free them, a century before it happened (Isaiah 44:28; 45:1–4). The Jews returned to their land from Babylon (2 Chronicles 36:22–23; Ezra 1:1–4). We read of the restoration of the city in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah.

The Israelites had felt devastated for nearly two generations before being released from their Babylonian exile. While in captivity, they mourned the destruction of their nation. V. 3 recognizes their healing as they return to their land and witness the rebuilding of Jerusalem…God’s people, exiled, had been “…brokenhearted…,” but God had healed “…their wounds…” and they would now prosper within the walls of Jerusalem.

The message for God’s people everywhere and in every era in these verses is that He also “…heals…” the wounds of those among His people who are brokenhearted or grief-stricken.

I am reminded of the beatitudes, where Jesus says: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Matthew 5:4) and, ultimately for us in the future, from John’s account in the book of Revelation: “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain…” (Revelation 21:4).

In vv. 4-6, the psalmist praises God as ruler of the universe.

Right in the middle of talking about God healing the brokenhearted and binding up their wounds, the psalmist interjects vv. 4-6:

⁴ He determines the number of the stars

    and calls them each by name.

⁵ Great is our Lord and mighty in power;

    his understanding has no limit.

⁶ The Lord sustains the humble

    but casts the wicked to the ground.

The change is quite abrupt, but the connection seems to be to reinforce God’s power to gather and restore the exiles to their native land by pointing out God’s power in creating and even naming the innumerable stars. If He can do that, He certainly can care for His oppressed people.

V. 6 of the psalm may at first seem out of place: “The Lord sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground.” But I don’t think so. It follows that our Lord, described in v. 5 as “…mighty in power; his understanding has no limit,” has the power to be a good judge in the vindication and sustaining of His people, and His position as Creator of the universe qualifies Him to judge the wicked.

In this section, the psalmist uses another familiar name of God—Adonai. This is a very prominent name of God in the Old Testament. Adonai is a Hebrew word that translates as “Lord” or “my lord, my master” or “owner.”

The psalmist likely borrowed his thoughts in vv. 4-6 from the train of thought in Isaiah 40, where Isaiah gives a similar description of God’s creative power.

Isaiah wrote:

²⁶ Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:

    Who created all these?

He who brings out the starry host one by one

    and calls forth each of them by name…

²⁸ …The Lord is the everlasting God,

    the Creator of the ends of the earth…

²⁹ He gives strength to the weary

    and increases the power of the weak.

The only requirement for receiving God’s grace and strength is to recognize our own weaknesses and call out to Him...as the psalmist tells us “Great is our Lord and mighty in power…,” and the word from Isaiah “He gives strength to the weary…” We all may experience His strength in our weakness and His healing when we feel weary or broken.

In last series of verses, vv. 7-11, in providing for His creation. the psalmist praises the Lord for His greatness 

⁷ Sing to the Lord with grateful praise;

    make music to our God on the harp.

⁸ He covers the sky with clouds;

    he supplies the earth with rain

    and makes grass grow on the hills.

⁹ He provides food for the cattle

    and for the young ravens when they call.

¹⁰ His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse,

    nor his delight in the legs of the warrior;

¹¹ the Lord delights in those who fear him,

    who put their hope in his unfailing love.

In these verses, the psalmist once more uses the name “Yahweh” to emphasize God’s self-existent, eternal, and unchanging nature.

Note that things that most people would attribute to natural processes or to “Mother Nature,” the psalmist attributes to Yahweh, reminding us that He is directly involved in making the clouds, sending rain, causing grass to grow, and feeding the animals. Even baby ravens, which have a raucous cry and are hardly attractive, are the objects of His tender care.

We see all around us the Creator’s care for His creation. Jesus applied it to us in the gospels saying:

“²² …do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. ²³ For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. ²⁴ Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!... ²⁷ Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these” (Luke 12:24-27)

The psalmist continues (v. 10), “¹⁰ His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of the warrior…”

V. 10 is a military context…war horses and foot soldiers.  Horses weren’t generally used in the ancient middle east for farming or transportation. Donkeys were employed for plowing, transportation, and as pack animals. If you were better off, you might have a team of oxen to help you plow deeper and break up rocky soil.

But horses were used in war, and warriors on foot were terrified by a cavalry charge of large war horses that could trample them. Even more dangerous was a horse-drawn war chariot, a fast-moving platform for archers who could rapidly break through the enemy’s lines and bring deadly weapons up close.

Horses were the pride of commanders and struck fear into defenders on the battlefield…but God is not impressed with the strength of horses or invading foot soldiers.

David briefly addressed the subject in psalm 20, where he wrote:

”Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God” (20:7).

Finally, in v. 11, the Psalmist tells us what does impress God…what gives him pleasure:

^“11 the Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.”

By fear, the psalmist means having deep respect. We have deep respect for God because of His great power and the purity of His holiness. We hope in His love, which is promised to us in the gospel.

The Apostle Paul tells us to make pleasing God a lifelong study in our relationship…in Ephesians chapter 5, he tells us:

^“8 … Live as children of light ⁹ (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) ¹⁰ and find out what pleases the Lord” (Ephesians 5:8-10).

And in Colossians chapter 1:

“…live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God…” (Colossians 1:10).

 

Conclusion

John Piper develops this idea in his excellent book, The Pleasures of God (revised and expanded, [Multnomah], pp. 197-202). He asks why God takes pleasure in those who fear Him and hope in His love. The answer, he writes (p. 199):

 “Surely it is because our fear reflects the greatness of his power and our hope reflects the bounty of his grace.”

Piper expresses it well…so as we leave this service and go back out into the world this morning…a world that consists not just of fellow believers in our little community, but also a wider world that is lost…let’s remember the psalmist’s words:

¹ Praise the Lord. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him!... ¹¹ the Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.

Amen.

Benediction

Lord may your presence go with us, bringing light into our homes and our interactions with others. Grant us wisdom to make choices according to your will and the strength to persevere in the face of challenges. May your love shine through us, touching the lives of the people we encounter. And now…

4 Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come . . . , 5 …from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. Amen. (from Revelation 1:4-5)