Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 147:11

The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.

11. those that hope in his mercy ] Or, those that wait for his loving-kindness.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him – In those who truly worship him, however humble, poor, and unknown to people they may be; however unostentatious, retired, unnoticed may be their worship. Not in the pride, pomp, and circumstance of war is his pleasure; not in the march of armies; not in the valor of the battlefield; not in scenes where the garments of the warrior are rolled in blood, but in the closet, when the devout child of God prays; in the family, when the group bend before Him in solemn devotion; in the assembly – quiet, serious, calm – when his friends are gathered together for prayer and praise; in the heart that truly loves, reverences, adores Him.

In those that hope in his mercy – It is a pleasure to him to have the guilty, the feeble, the undeserving hope in Him – trust in Him – seek Him.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Psa 147:11

The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear Him, in those that hope in His mercy.

Fearing and hoping

Great kings are wont to have their favourite objects, in which they delight with a peculiar pleasure. Many monarchs have gloried in the strength of a horse. Their squadrons of cavalry have been their confidence. Others have taken more delight in the legs of a man. The thews and sinews of their soldiery have been their boast. You must have noticed in the Assyrian sculptures the importance that was attached by the workmen and by the monarch also to the legs of a man. They represent the warriors as brawny and strong, swift in running, and firm in holding their place in the day of battle. But our God takes no delight in cavalry or infantry, no armies of horse or foot soldiers give him any gladness; the Lord takes pleasure in very different persons from these. His delight, His joy, His solace,–if we may use such a word,–are found in other company than that which is martial, He turns His eyes quite another way.

I. The objects of Divine favour as here distinguished. They are distinguished–

1. From physical strength.

2. From mental vigour.

3. From self-reliance.

4. From any mere capacity for service which exists in any of us, whoever we may be.

II. The objects of Divine favour as they are here described.

1. These are things which relate to God. Gods favour is displayed to those who fear Him, and who hope in His mercy. Thou art truly what thou art towards God; and God regards thee according to what thou art in reference to Himself.

2. This description of character applies to true servants of God in their earliest and weakest form.

3. It comprises the noblest form of religion in the very highest degree of it. Let us grow as we may, we shall always fear God. Perfect love casteth out the fear that hath torment, but not that filial fear which is here meant, that child-like reverence and holy awe of the Most High; that shall grow and shall deepen, world without end. And as to hope, why, we had hope when we began our spiritual life; but we have hope still, and that hope will continue with us,–I will not say in heaven, though I think it will, for there is something to hope for in the disembodied state, we shall hope for the day of resurrection; and there will be something to hope for even in the resurrection, for, throughout the ages we shall have a good hope that still we shall be for ever with the Lord.

4. The persons favoured of God are represented as a sort of sacred blending of different characters. These two things, fear of God and hope in His mercy, go well together, and what God hath joined, let no man put asunder.

III. The blessings implied in this Divine favour. If you fear the Lord, and hope in His mercy, God takes as much delight in you as you do in your dear child; and far more, because Gods is an infinite mind, and from it there comes infinite delight, so that He views you with infinite complacency. Can you believe it? You do not view yourself so; I hope that you do not, but God sees you in Christ. He sees that in you that is yet to be in you. He sees in you that which will make you to grow into a heavenly being, and therefore He takes delight in you. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Mans pleasure and Gods pleasure

(with Psa 103:2):–Mans pleasure in Gods works, Gods pleasure in mans renewed spirit–these are the two themes suggested by these words.

1. That men have an instinctive pleasure in looking on the beauties spread before their eyes in the visible world is sometimes disputed, and yet this enjoyment shows itself in very unlikely places, and among classes that have had no special training. The poor, ragged, ill washed child of a London court finds a pleasure it takes no pains to conceal in flowers (when it sees them), in the bright, fresh, green leaves of the early spring, in the meadow dappled with daisies, and in the field ablaze with buttercups. The rudest and most untrained minds are not insensible to the beauties of a summers sunset, to the flashing mirror of the sea, or to the hoary grandeur of mountains. The same feeling exists, in a greater or less degree, among uncivilized peoples; and some of them have expressed their motions in rude poetic outbursts, as striking as they are spontaneous. It does, however, greatly add to the devout mans delight in all visible things to think of them as the visible words and thoughts of God. In this view of things the Hebrew bards far surpass the sweet singers of all time. To the devout Hebrew God was in all things, and all things spoke of Him. This was their great charm to him, that they helped him to see something of the Lord his God. And to any man who so looks on the visible creation there will never be wanting ladders by which he may climb up to higher and purer thoughts of Him who made all things. That the study of Gods works deepens our pleasure in them is the testimony of every student. The more these works are sought out, so much the more will our delight in them increase. The objects themselves, animate and inanimate, are so manifold that their wonders seem to open before us as we advance. In all we may see Gods excellence in working. That it is possible to educate the eye in looking upon these various works of God, and so of intensifying the delight in them, is obvious. If we never look upon the objects of interest and beauty around us save in a dreamy way, or with a half-shut eye, we miss much of the pleasure which comes from minute, careful, and accurate observation. It surely ought not to be thought a waste of time to consider attentively that which God has thought no waste of His almighty energies to create; and the power of seeing, which alone comes of careful seeing, will bring before us new pleasures with every new revelation. Our very love of our Father who made them all should surely stir us to look at the things around us, and to look with open and patient eyes, until our sight becomes trained by looking, and no touch of the Divine Artist escapes our eager and loving eye.

2. But when I speak of mans pleasure in Gods works, I do not forget that God Himself has pleasure in them. The song of the redeemed in heaven proclaims this joy (Rev 4:11). The song of creation tells us also that as each part of the work appeared before the eye of the Divine Worker, He pronounced it very good. But Gods greatest pleasure is in mans renewed spirit. The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear Him, and in those that hope in His mercy. The pleasure which men feel in beautiful flowers, in spreading landscapes, in hoary hills, in flashing lakes, and in the great expanse of the outstretched sky or open sea, has no regenerative power. It is felt by men who say that they have no rest in God. They are not insensible to the glories spread before them; they say that they are insensible to that which gives God the greatest pleasure–the renewed heart. Their delight is with the glory which fades before their eyes; Gods with that which endureth for ever. To the great Former of all things, beautiful as the earth is, and sky, and sea, one unselfish deed, one sincere and devout prayer, one soul pouring out its holy trust into His ear, gives Him a higher and deeper joy. Nay, There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth. Two elements in mans changed nature are spoken of by the psalmist as producing Gods pleasure. One is fear, the other is hope. But fear and hope are not opposed to each other. They are one; they spring from the same root; they yield the same flower; they are, in other words, but two sides of the same truth. There is no true fear of God unless you hope in His mercy; there is no true hope in His mercy unless you fear God. The fear and the hope alike give pleasure to Him. (J. G. Goadby.)

God takes pleasure in them that fear and hope in Him

I. A general description of Gods people.

1. He takes pleasure in their persons (Dan 8:23; Eph 1:6).

2. He takes pleasure in their graces, and those heavenly qualifications which are in them.

(1) As they are His children, regenerated and born again to Himself (Heb 12:10; 2Pe 1:4).

(2) As they are His workmanship, created by Him in Christ Jesus to good works (Eph 2:10).

3. He takes pleasure in their prayers (Job 42:8; Act 10:3; Pro 15:8).

4. He takes pleasure in their services.

II. Upon what account especially God does indeed delight in them. 1, Their fear of Him. Fear is the aweband of the soul, which restrains it, and keeps it in good order, and preserves it from miscarriage. It is the spur of the soul, which quickens it, and excites it, and provokes it to the doing of good: so much fear of God, so much innocency and uprightness.

2. The second is the grace of hope, or faith, of those that hope in His mercy. As the Lord takes pleasure in the former, so in this likewise. He delights in His servants more especially, as they give greater testimonies of their faith and dependence upon Him. The more that any cleave unto Him, the more doth He take care of them, and pleasure in them (Psa 33:18). (T. Horton, D. D.)

Hope and fear balanced

A holy fear of God must be a check upon our hope, to keep that from swelling into presumption; and a pious hope in God must be a check upon our fear, to keep that from sinking into despondency.

I. As to the concerns of our souls, and our spiritual and eternal state.

1. We must keep up both a holy dread of God and a humble delight in Him; both a reverence of His majesty, with a fear of incurring His displeasure, and at the same time a joy in His love and grace, and an entire complacency in His beauty and bounty, and that benignity of His which is better than life.

2. We must keep up both a trembling for sin, and a triumphing in Christ, as the propitiation for sin.

3. We must keep up both a jealousy of ourselves, and of our own sincerity; and a grateful thankful sense of Gods grace in us, and the workings of that grace.

4. We must keep up both a constant caution over our goings, and a constant confidence in the grace of God.

5. We must keep up both a holy fear lest we come short, and a good hope that through grace we shall persevere.

II. As to our outward concerns relating to the body, and the life that now is.

1. When the world smiles upon us, and our affairs in it prosper, yet then we must keep up a holy fear, and not be too confident in our pleasing prospects; not flatter ourselves with hopes of the great advancement and long continuance of our peace and prosperity; but balance the hopes which sense suggests with the fears which reason and religion will suggest.

2. When the world frowns upon us, and we are crossed, and disappointed, and perplexed in our affairs, then we must keep up a good hope, and not be inordinately cast down, no, not in our melancholy prospects, about our health, our safety, our name, our relations, and our effects in the world.

(1) Hope in Gods power: be fully assured of this, that how imminent soever the danger is, He can prevent it; how great soever the straits are, He can extricate us out of them, can find out a way for us in an untracked wilderness, and open springs of water to us in a dry and barren land: for with Him nothing is impossible, nor is His arm ever shortened, nor His wisdom nonplussed.

(2) Hope in His providence; and believe not only that He can do anything, but that He does do everything, and whatever the event is, God does therein perform the thing flirt is appointed for us, and takes cognizance of us and our affairs, how mean and despicable soever we are.

(3) Hope in His pity and tender compassions; which, in the day of your grief and fear, you are to look upon yourselves as the proper objects of.

(4) Hope in His promise; that word of His upon which He hath caused us to hope, and which we have all the reason in the world to build upon, for not one iota or tittle of it shall fall to the ground. Though he has not promised to deliver us from that particular evil we have a dread of, or to give us that particular comfort and success we are desirous of, yet He has promised that nothing shall harm them who are followers of Him; nay, that all things shall work together for good, etc.

III. As to the public concerns of the Church of God, and our own land and nation.

1. We have always reason to keep up a holy fear as to public affairs, and to be apprehensive of trouble before us, even when things look most promising.

(1) We are a provoking people. Atheism, vice, etc.

(2) We are a divided people; and what can be expected, but that a kingdom divided against itself should be brought to desolation?

(3) God has told us that in the world we shall have tribulation; all the disciples of Christ must count upon it, and not flatter ourselves with hopes of an uninterrupted tranquillity anywhere on this side heaven.

2. There are three things which may encourage our hope, and keep the balance even against all our fears, as to the concerns both of the Protestant Churches abroad and our own nation.

(1) The word which God has spoken to us; which (whatever other props our hopes may be supported with) is the great foundation on which they must be built, and then they are fixed.

(2) The work which God has begun among us.

(3) The wonders which He has wrought for us. (Matthew Henry.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 11. The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him] That are truly religious.

In those that hope is his mercy.] Who are just beginning to seek the salvation of their souls. Even the cry of the penitent is pleasing in the ear of the Lord. With this verse the hundred and forty-sixth Psalm ends in all the Versions, except the Chaldee. And the hundred and forty-seventh commences with the 12th verse. I believe these to be two distinct Psalms. The subjects of them are not exactly the same, though something similar; and they plainly refer to different periods.

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

That believingly and patiently expect and seek relief and happiness from God alone, and from his mere grace and mercy, and not from any creature, nor from their own merits.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him,…. With a filial and godly fear; that serve and worship him, privately and publicly, with reverence and love: as, appears by the goodness he lays up for them; the good things he communicates to them; the discoveries of his love, covenant, and grace, they have from him; the guard he sets about them; his eye of providence and grace over them; and his heart full of love, pity, and compassion to them; see Ps 33:18;

in those that hope in his mercy; not general, but special; not in the absolute mercy of God, but as displayed in Christ; and great encouragement there is to hope in it, from the plenty of it in his heart, from the instances of it among men, and from the blessings of grace and salvation that spring from it: and in such the Lord takes pleasure; hope is his own grace, and mercy is his delight; and he is pleased with those that exercise hope upon it: not that the graces of fear and hope, and the exercise of them, are the cause and motives of God’s delight in his people, which, as they were considered in Christ, was before the world was, or those graces were in them; but these describe and point out the persons who are openly and manifestly the objects of his delight and pleasure. Plutarch r, an, Heathen writer, seems to have been acquainted with this and Ps 147:10, and to refer to them, when he says,

“it is somewhere said, that God is not a lover of horses, nor of birds, but of men, and desires to dwell with those that are eminently good; nor does he refuse nor despise the familiar converse of a man divine and wise.”

r In Vita Numae, vol. 1. p. 62.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

11. Taketh pleasure As in Ezra and Nehemiah, who, having been loyal to God in trying times, now felt the sunshine of his pleasure.

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

DISCOURSE: 747
GODS REGARD FOR THE LEAST OF HIS SAINTS

Psa 147:11. The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.

IN the Psalms of David we have innumerable exhortations to praise our God. At the same time, we have innumerable grounds of praise set before us. In the psalm before us we are told how abundant he is in mercy both to the Church and to the whole creation; and that, whilst there is nothing of created excellence that merits his regard [Note: ver. 10.], he takes pleasure in those who manifest the very smallest symptoms of a new creation within them.

The words of my text are, in this view, worthy of peculiar attention. In them we see,

I.

How low God stoops to the objects of his favour

Had he spoken of himself as noticing angels, it would have been a wonderful mark of his condescension and grace: for he humbleth himself when he beholds the things that are in heaven [Note: Psa 113:6.], and chargeth even his angels with folly [Note: Job 4:18.]. But the persons whom he speaks of here, as objects of his favour, are of the lowest possible order of saints. In point of regard for God, they rise no higher than fear; and in point of confidence in God, they go not beyond a hope in his mercy.

What can be lower than the mere fear of God?
[A person destitute of this has not the smallest evidence whatever of the divine approbation. He cannot have it. A man without the fear of God is a decided enemy to God; and God is, and must be, an enemy to him. A person, the very instant he is born of God, must of necessity fear to offend him, and endeavour, by a holy conformity to his will, to please him. After having made a progress in the divine life, he will attain to higher exercises of grace: but in this the lowest state of conversion, God will regard him as an object of his favour.]
And what lower attainment can we conceive, than a mere hope in his mercy?
[This supposes that a man feels himself a sinner, justly obnoxious to Gods wrathful indignation. It supposes, too, that he despairs of ever being able to do any thing that shall conciliate the divine power! he sees and feels that he must entirely cast himself on the mercy of God in Christ Jesus. At the same time, he sees that there is a sufficiency for him in Christ; a sufficiency in his death to atone for all sin; and a sufficiency in his righteousness, to justify all who shall be clothed in it before God. With these views, he indulges a hope that even he may obtain mercy at Gods hands; and on Gods mercy he casts himself without reserve; determining, if he perish, to perish at the foot of the cross, imploring mercy of God for Christs sake. Lower than this we cannot go: for if a person have not attained to this, he has not entered into the fold of Christ. He may be an outward-court worshipper; but on the threshold of Gods sanctuary he has not so much as once set his foot.]

Yet, low as their condition is, the text informs us,

II.

How high he soars in his regards towards them

Had it been said that God would look with pity and compassion upon such feeble worms, it would have displayed in him a most astonishing extent of condescension and grace. But we are told, not that he will shew favour to them, and accept them, but that he taketh pleasure in them. Yet how can this be conceived? What can he ever see in them, that shall afford him pleasure? However little we may be able to conceive it, he does take pleasure in them: he takes pleasure,

1.

In looking upon them

[He himself draws this very character, and says, To this man will I look, even to him that is of a broken and contrite spirit, and that trembleth at my word [Note: Isa 57:15; Isa 66:2.]. If it be asked, What can he find in them to engage his regards? I answer, What can a mother behold in a new-born infant to engage her affections? The child, though so weak and helpless, is hers, a partaker of her nature, and an heir of her inheritance: and therefore she feels an intensity of interest in the child, and finds in the sight of it an exquisite delight.]

2.

In answering their prayers

[A mother understands the cry of her child, and needs no further incentive to fulfil its desires. And God, too, understands the sigh, the groan, the very look of his children, and will grant to them whatsoever they can desire, provided it be really conducive to their good. Even before they call, he will answer; and while they are yet speaking, he will hear [Note: Isa 65:24.] The very image which I have here used to illustrate his grace, is that which he himself has employed; saying, that he Will give them, as it were, to suck of the breasts of his consolations, and bear them on his side, and dandle them on his knees, and comfort them in their troubles, as a mother comforteth her helpless and afflicted child [Note: Isa 66:10-13.].]

3.

In administering to all their wants

[All heaven, us it were, shall be at their command [Note: Jer 31:20. with Psa 34:10.]. In the aid that he affords, God will exert himself effectually, even with his whole heart and his whole soul [Note: Jer 32:41.]: and in the bestowment of his blessings, will rejoice over the beloved object with such a complacency and delight as God alone can feel [Note: Zep 3:17.].]

Are you, then, my Brethren, partakers of this character?
[Consider who it is that has brought you to this self-same thing [Note: 2Co 5:5.]; and endeavour to render to him according to the benefits he has conferred on you. Say not, My attainments are so small, that they call for shame and sorrow, rather than for joy: for God does not despise the day of small things [Note: Zec 4:10.]; neither must ye despise it. Methinks the least that I can ask of you is this: If God takes such pleasure in you, take ye also pleasure in him. The more you delight yourselves in him, the more assuredly shall you grow in every thing that is good, till you have attained the full measure of the stature of Christ.]

But is there one amongst you that is not of this character!
[What pleasure can God ever take in you? Can he look with complacency on a rebellious man that does not fear him, or on a self-righteous man that does not hope in his mercy? Impossible; for you counteract all the designs of his grace, and run, as it were, upon the thick bosses of his buckler, in your opposition to him. In such a state as this, what can you be but objects of his wrathful indignation, left for a season to fill up the measure of your iniquities, and to perish under an accumulated weight of misery? Let me, then, entreat you to seek the graces which are here specified. Beg of God, for Christs sake, to put his fear in your hearts: and cast yourselves upon his mercy in Christ Jesus, hoping even against hope. Then, notwithstanding your desert, you shall not perish, but have in yourselves an experience of that truth which God has revealed for the comfort and support of all his people, that the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth from all sin.]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

Psa 147:11 The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.

Ver. 11. The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him ] That put themselves into the hands of justice, in hope of mercy. These are his Hephzibahs, his darlings in whom he taketh singular delight and complacence.

Mentemque habere queis bonam;

Et esse corculis datum est.

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