Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 147:2

The LORD doth build up Jerusalem: he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel.

2, 3. Jehovah’s goodness to Jerusalem.

doth build up ] The restoration and repeopling of the city generally are meant, not merely the reconstruction of its houses and walls. It is regarded as a continuous process, still in progress.

he gathereth together &c.] Cp. Deu 30:1-4; Isa 56:8; Isa 11:12; Neh 1:9.

This verse is imitated in the hymn in the Hebrew text of Sir 51:12 (6, 7). See p. 776.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

The Lord doth build up Jerusalem – He builds up the walls; he restores the city; he has caused the temple to be reconstructed. This language would be applicable to a return from the captivity. There may be an allusion here to the language in Psa 102:16 : When the Lord shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory. See the notes at that passage. What is there spoken of as what would be in the future is here spoken of as accomplished, and as a ground of praise.

He gathereth together the outcasts of Israel – Those who have been exiled from their native land, and who have been scattered as outcasts in a foreign country. This is appropriate language to use on the supposition that the psalm was composed after the return from the exile, for it is in such language that that return was predicted by the prophets. Isa 11:12 : and he shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah, etc. Isa 56:8 : the Lord God which gathereth the outcasts of Israel, etc.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Psa 147:2-5

The Lord doth build up Jerusalem.

The greatness and gentleness of God

The text reveals the constructive side of the Divine government.

I. As shown in the building of the Church.

1. The Lord doth build up Jerusalem, etc. That He should do so shows–

(1) That the Church is self-demolished.

(2) That it is self-helpless.

(3) That God is the Gatherer, the Redeemer, and the Builder of the Church.

2. It is not Gods purpose to destroy. It is His very nature to preserve, extend, complete, and glorify. He does destroy, but never willingly. His arm does not become terrible until His heart has been grieved, until His patience has been exhausted, and until the vital interests of the universe have been put in peril.

II. As seen in the gentle care of human hearts. He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. Still, you see how constructive and preservative is God. His work is edification, not destruction. Who cares for broken-hearted men? Who has patience with the weak and faint? The greater the nature, the greater the compassion.

1. The personality of Gods knowledge. He knows every bruised reed. Hears suffer in secret; there is nothing hidden from God!

2. The infinite adaptations of Divine grace. Every heart, whatever its grief, may be healed. There is a sovereign balm for every wound.

3. The perfectness of Divine healing. Other healers say, Peace, peace, when there is no peace. Others heal the hurt of the daughter of My people slightly. We are not healed until God heals us. God offers to heal us; our disease and our sorrow are challenges to prove His grace. What of the responsibility of refusal?

III. As seen in the order, the regularity, and the stability of creation.

1. Creation is a volume open to all eyes. Read it, and see the might and gentleness, the wisdom and patience of God. Jesus Christ taught us to reason from the natural to the spiritual: Consider the lilies, etc; Behold the fowls of the air, etc.

(1) God takes care of the great universe, may I not trust Him with my life?

(2) Where Gods will is unquestioned, the result is light, beauty, music: why should I oppose myself to its gracious dominion?

2. Let the Church be of good courage. When the Lord shall build up Zion, He shall appear in His glory. The gates of hell shall not prevail. (J. Parker, D. D.)

He gathereth together the outcasts of Israel.—

Good cheer for outcasts

Does not this showy us the great gentleness and infinite mercy of God? And as we know most of God in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, should it not charm us to remember that when He came on earth He did not visit kings and princes, but He came unto the humble and simple folk. I think you may judge of a mans character by the persons whose affection he seeks. If you find a man seeking only the affection of those who are great, depend upon it he is ambitious and self-seeking; but when you observe that a man seeks the affection of those who can do nothing for him, but for whom he must do everything, you know that he is not seeking himself, but that pure benevolence sways his heart (Mat 11:29). I also see here an illustration of His love to men, as men. If you seek only after rich men the suspicion arises, and it is more than a suspicion that you rather seek their wealth than them. If you aim only at the benefit of wise men, it is probably true that it is their wisdom which attracts you, and not their manhood: but the Lord Jesus Christ did not love men because of any advantageous circumstances, or any commendable incidents of their condition: His love was to manhood. Another thing is also clear. If Jesus gathers together the outcasts el Israel, it proves His power over the hearts of men.

I. To whom may this text apply?

1. The very poorest and most despised among men. The Lord Jesus Christ looks with love on those whom others look down upon with scorn.

2. Those who have made themselves outcasts by their wickedness, and are deservedly cast out of society.

3. Those who judge themselves to be outcasts, though as to outward actions they certainly do not deserve the character. Now, listen, thou who hast condemned thyself. The Lord absolves thee. Thou who hast shut thyself out as an outcast, thou shalt be gathered; for whereas they call thee an outcast, whom no man seeket, h after, thou shalt be called Hephzibah, for the Lords delight is in thee. Only believe thou in Jesus Christ, and cast thyself upon Him.

4. Backsliders.

5. Depressed Christians.

6. Those who suffer for righteousness sake, till they are regarded as the offscouring of all things. Blessed are those who are outcasts for Christi Rich are those who are so honoured as to be permitted to become poor for Him l Happy they who have had this grace given them to be permitted to lay life itself down for Jesus Christs sake!

II. In what sense the Lord Jesus gathers together these outcasts of different classes.

1. He gathers them to hear the Gospel.

2. He gathers them to Himself–to blessedness and peace through reconciliation with the Father.

3. He gathers them into the Divine family–makes them children of God–heirs with Himself.

4. In due time He gathers them into His visible Church, and He gathers them into His work.

5. He gathers them into heaven.

III. Lessons.

1. Encouragement to those who are unworthy, or who think themselves so, to go to Jesus Christ to-night.

2. If Jesus Christ received some of us when we felt ourselves to be outcasts, how we ought to love Him!

3. Let us always feel that if the Lord Jesus Christ took us up when we were not worth having, we will never be ashamed to try and pick up others who are in a like condition. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 2. The Lord doth build up] The psalmist appears to see the walls rising under his eye, because the outcasts of Israel, those who had been in captivity, are now gathered together to do the work.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Build up Jerusalem; it is the Lords own doing, and not mans.

The outcasts; or, the banished, who were carried captives out of their own land, and dispersed in divers strange countries.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

2. (Compare Psa 107:3;Isa 11:12).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

The Lord doth build up Jerusalem,…. Literally, after the Babylonish captivity, according to some; or rather when taken from the Jebusites by David; or spiritually the church, which is often called Jerusalem, even the Gospel church, of which Christ is the builder, his ministers are instruments, his people are the materials, and which, though now greatly fallen to decay, will be rebuilt by him in the latter day; when his work will be revived among his saints, his Gospel more powerfully preached, his ordinances more purely administered, and multitudes of souls converted; and which will be matter of praise and thanksgiving, as it is now matter of prayer; see Ps 51:18;

he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel; the exiles from Babylon, as some; or rather such who in the times of the judges had been carried captive by their neighbours, or fled from their cities, in the times of Saul for fear of the Philistines, and who were gathered to their own country, cities, and houses, when David began to reign. Spiritually this regards the whole Israel of God, the elect of God, whether Jews or Gentiles, and the outcasts of them; so called, not because ever cast out or cast off by the Lord, being received into his favour, covenant, and church; but either because cast out of the company of profane men, as evil and unworthy; or cast out of Israel, the church of God, very justly, for offences given; but, being brought to repentance, are restored and gathered in again: or rather this may represent the Lord’s people as in a state of nature, like the wretched infant cast out into the open field, scattered up and down in the world, in a state of distance from God, Christ, and his people; these are gathered by Christ in redemption, who came to seek and collect them together; and by his spirit in conversion, when he gathers them to himself, and into his fold; and this, as it is an occasion of joy to angels and saints, is matter of praise and thanksgiving to the outcasts themselves, thus gathered in. The Septuagint render it, to the dispersion or dispersed of Israel; see Joh 7:35.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

2. Jehovah building up, etc. He begins with the special mercy of God towards his Church and people, in choosing to adopt one nation out of all others, and selecting a fixed place where his name might be called upon. When he is here called the builder of Jerusalem, the allusion is not so much to the outward form and structure, as to the spiritual worship of God. It is a common figure in treating of the Church to speak of it as a building or temple. The meaning is, that the Church was not of human erection, but formed by the supernatural power of God; for it was from no dignity of the place itself that Jerusalem became the only habitation of God in our world, nor did it come to this honor by counsel, industry, effort or power of man, but because God was pleased to consecrate it to himself. He employed the labor and instrumentality of men indeed in erecting his sanctuary there, but this ought never to take from his grace, which alone distinguished the holy city from all others. In calling God the former and architect of the Church, his object is to make us aware that by his power it remains in a firm condition, or is restored when in ruins. Hence he infers that it is in his power and arbitrament to gather those who have been dispersed. Here the Psalmist would comfort those miserable exiles who had been scattered in various quarters, with the hope of being recovered from their dispersion, as God had not adopted them without a definite purpose into one body. As he had ordered his temple and altar to be erected at Jerusalem, and had fixed his seat there, the Psalmist would encourage the Jews who were exiles from their native country, to entertain good hope of a return, intimating that it was no less properly God’s work to raise up his Church when ruined and fallen down, than to found it at first. It was not, therefore, the Psalmist’s object directly to celebrate the free mercy of God in the first institution of the Church, but to argue from its original, that God would not suffer his Church altogether to fall, having once founded it with the design of preserving it for ever; for he forsakes not the work of his own hands. This comfort ought to be improved by ourselves at the present period, when we see the Church on every side so miserably rent asunder, leading us to hope that all the elect who have been adjoined to Christ’s body, will be gathered unto the unity of the faith, although now scattered like members torn from one another, and that the mutilated body of the Church, which is daily distracted, will be restored to its entireness; for God will not suffer his work to fail.

In the following verse he insists upon the same truth, the figure suggesting that though the Church labor under, and be oppressed by many diseases, God will speedily and easily recover it from all its wounds. The same truth, therefore, is evidently conveyed, under a different form of expression — that the Church, though it may not always be in a flourishing condition, is ever safe and secure, and that God will miraculously heal it, as though it were a diseased body.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(2) Build upi.e., of course, rebuild. The word outcasts, which is that used in Isa. 11:12; Isa. 56:8, shows that the rebuilding after the captivity is intended. The LXX. and Vulg. have dispersion; Symmachus, those thrust out.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

2. The Lord build The king of Persia and Nehemiah are recognised only as subordinates. It was the Lord who gathered home his banished ones and restored their city.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

“Handfuls of Purpose”

For All Gleaners

“The Lord doth build up Jerusalem: he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel. He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names. Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.” Psa 147:2-5

Every revelation of the nature or attributes of God must be of supreme value to men who are not utterly debased in thought and feeling. God must ever be the one object about which our highest faculties are excited to their most resolute and vehement endeavours to know the truth. Granted that it is possible for the creature to know the Creator, then every other subject must have its value determined by its relation to that one sublime possibility. There are subjects which clear for themselves large spaces, so to speak, and define the proportions and limitations of a great many other subjects. See how this is constantly illustrated in ordinary life. A man proposes to build a house in a most lovely situation: the scene is variegated by hill and dale; it is quiet, simple, and charming altogether. He will build. His heart is set upon the project. Already in imagination he sees the edifice which is to be consecrated as his home. Timber is at hand, stones are within reach, the painter and decorator await but a call. But, but, but what? Why, there is no water! Not a well can be found. To sink for water would cost him more money than he can afford; so, though everything else be forthcoming, the scheme must be abandoned for want of one thing! What if a man should attempt to build a house upon principles contrary to geometry? Suppose he should discard the square, the plumb-line, and the rule? Every inch of his progress would be one inch nearer ruin. In building the meanest hovel you must work according to the laws which unite creation; if you quarrel with astronomy or geometry, you build a structure which no mortal ingenuity or strength can prop; the worlds are against you; the stars fight for God. In building a life he only is wise who consults the Creator; who reverently inquires into his nature and sovereignty, and prays the Infinite to protect and teach the finite. History is the revealer of God. Experience, wide and deep knowledge of truth in actual life, teaches man the spirit and method of God’s purpose and government. We cannot find out God abstractly; we cannot know him as he is, except through the medium of what he does; and herein is the value of spiritual testimony, the worth and power of the experience which has tested the mercy and wisdom of God. Take the text as an example. This testimony is more than an abstract argument, it is the solemn oath of men who have lived this most blessed experience, or have so watched the ways of God as to speak as emphatically of the stars as of hearts that have been healed. It is the healed heart that most clearly sees the hand of God amongst the stars. The heart teaches the intellect; the heart says, “See! the God who cares for thee cares also for the frail lily, the flattering bird, the shining star.” So the life of man becomes the practical interpreter of God, and experience sees his presence everywhere. Let us regard the text in the light of our own consciousness and experience, that we may see how unchangeable is God in the might of his arm and the tenderness of his heart. The text reveals the constructive side of the divine government. I. As shown in the building up of the Church. “The Lord doth build up Jerusalem,” etc. That he should do so, shows (1) that the church is self-demolished; (2) that it is self-helpless; and (3) that God is the gatherer, the redeemer, and the builder of the church. It is not God’s purpose to destroy. It is his very nature to preserve, extend, complete, and glorify. He does destroy, but never willingly. His arm does not become terrible until his heart has been grieved, until his patience has been exhausted, and until the vital interests of the universe have been put in peril. II. As seen in the gentle care of human hearts. “He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.” Still, you see how constructive and preservative is God. His work is edification, not destruction. Who cares for brokenhearted men? Who has patience with the weak and faint? The greater the nature, the greater the compassion. “It is belter to fall into the hands of God than into the hands of men.” Learn from this gentle care of human hearts. First: The personality of God’s knowledge. He knows every bruised reed. Hearts suffer in secret; there is nothing hidden from God! Second: The infinite adaptations of divine grace. Every heart, whatever its grief, may be healed! There is “a sovereign balm for every wound.” Are we wounded on account of sin? are we writhing under the agonies of penitence? are we tortured by circumstances over which we have no control the waywardness of children, physical prostration, the opposition of bad men, and the like? For every wound there is healing in the grace of God! Third: The perfectness of divine healing. Other healers say, “Peace, peace, when there is no peace.” Others “heal the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly.” God complained to Ezekiel, “One built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered mortar.” We are not healed until God heals us. God offers to heal us; our disease and our sorrow are challenges to prove his grace. What of the responsibility of refusal? III. As seen in the order, the regularity, and the stability of creation. “He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names.” Creation is a volume open to all eyes. Read it, and see the might of gentleness, the wisdom and patience of God. “Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: He calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.” Jesus Christ taught us to reason from the natural to the spiritual: “Consider the lilies,” etc.; “Behold the fowls or the air,” etc. (1) God takes care of the great universe, may I not trust him with my life? (2) Where God’s will is unquestioned, the result is light, beauty, music: why should I oppose myself to its gracious dominion? In the grandeur, stability, perfectness of the universe, we see what God would do in our lives, did we call him to the throne of our love. The subject has applied itself as we have proceeded from point to point; still we may linger one moment more on flowers laden with such honey. Let the church be of good courage: “When the Lord shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory.” “The gates of hell shall not prevail.” Are we truly broken in heart? Hear, then, the Saviour: “He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,” sent his Son to heal us! Are we contrite, humble, penitent? “Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” Our brokenness attracts Him. The cry of our sorrows brings him down from heaven. “Ah Lord God i behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched-out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee: thou showest loving-kindness unto thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them: The great, the mighty God, the Lord of hosts, is his name; great in counsel, and mighty in work!”

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

Psa 147:2 The LORD doth build up Jerusalem: he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel.

Ver. 2. The Lord doth build up Jerusalem ] He is the only architect of his Church. He layeth the foundation of it in election (saith a good expositor), and buildeth it progressively by faith and sanctification; and finisheth his work of grace and his people’s happiness in glorification.

He gathereth together the outcasts of Israel ] He will surely bring home his banished; yea, because they called thee an outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after, therefore I will restore health unto thee, &c., Jer 30:17 . Qui nil sperare potest, desperet nihil.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)