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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Psalms 147:1 - 147:1
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The Hallelujah, as in Psa 135:3, is based upon the fact, that to sing of our God, or to celebrate our God in song (זִמֵּר with an accusative of the object, as in Ps 30:13, and frequently), is a discharge of duty that reacts healthfully and beneficially upon ourselves: “comely is a hymn of praise” (taken from Psa 33:1), both in respect of the worthiness of God to be praised, and of the gratitude that is due to Him. Instead of זַמֵּר or לְזַמֵּר, Psa 92:2, the expression is זַמְּרָה, a form of the infin. Piel, which at least can still be proved to be possible by לְיַסְּרָה in Lev 26:18. The two כִּי are co-ordinate, and כִּי־נָעִים no more refers to God here than in Psa 135:3, as Hitzig supposes when he alters Psa 147:1 so that it reads: “Praise ye Jah because He is good, play unto our God because He is lovely.” Psa 92:2 shows that כִּי־טֹוב can refer to God; but נָעִים said of God is contrary to the custom and spirit of the Old Testament, whereas טוב and נעים are also in Psa 133:1 neuter predicates of a subject that is set forth in the infinitive form. In Psa 147:2 the praise begins, and at the same time the confirmation of the delightful duty. Jahve is the builder up of Jerusalem, He brings together (כִּנֵּס as in Ezekiel, the later wozd for אָסַף and קִבֵּץ) the outcasts of Israel (as in Isa 11:12; Isa 56:8); the building of Jerusalem is therefore intended of the rebuilding up, and to the dispersion of Israel corresponds the holy city laid in ruins. Jahve healeth the heart-broken, as He has shown in the case of the exiles, and bindeth up their pains (Psa 16:4), i.e., smarting wounds; רָפָא, which is here followed by חִבֵּשׁ, also takes to itself a dative object in other instances, both in an active and (Isa 6:10) an impersonal application; but for שְׁבוּרֵי לֵב the older language says נִשְׁבְּרֵי לֵב, Psa 34:19, Isa 61:1. The connection of the thoughts, which the poet now brings to the stars, becomes clear from the primary passage, Isa 40:26, cf. Isa 40:27. To be acquainted with human woe and to relieve it is an easy and small matter to Him who allots a number to the stars, that are to man innumerable (Gen 15:5), i.e., who has called them into being by His creative power in whatever number He has pleased, and yet a number known to Him (מֹנֶה, the part. praes., which occurs frequently in descriptions of the Creator), and calls to them all names, i.e., names them all by names which are the expression of their true nature, which is well known to Him, the Creator. What Isaiah says (Isa 40:26) with the words, “because of the greatness of might, and as being strong in power,” and (Isa 40:28) “His understanding is unsearchable,” is here asserted in Psa 147:5 (cf. Psa 145:3): great is our Lord, and capable of much (as in Job 37:23, שַׂגִּיא כֹּחַ), and to His understanding there is no number, i.e., in its depth and fulness it cannot be defined by any number. What a comfort for the church as it traverses its ways, that are often so labyrinthine and entangled! Its Lord is the Omniscient as well as the Almighty One. Its history, like the universe, is a work of God's infinitely profound and rich understanding. It is a mirror of gracious love and righteous anger. The patient sufferers (עֲנָוִים) He strengthens (מְעֹודֵד as in Psa 146:9); malevolent sinners (רְשָׁעִים), on the other hand, He casts down to the earth (עֲדֵי־אָרֶץ, cf. Isa 26:5), casting deep down to the ground those who exalt themselves to the skies.