Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 147:16

He giveth snow like wool: he scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes.

16. “Snow must always have been rare in Central and Southern Palestine,” and “frost is very rare at Jerusalem.” Tristram, Nat. Hist. of Bible, p. 28. They would therefore be more striking phenomena than they are to us; and it has been plausibly suggested that the Psalm was composed in or after an exceptionally severe winter.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

He giveth snow like wool – He covers the earth with snow, so that it seems to have a clothing of wool. Compare the notes at Job 37:6 : For he saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth.

He scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes – As if ashes were strewed over the earth; or, as easily as one strews ashes.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Psa 147:16-18

He giveth snow like wool.

Frost and thaw

Looking out of our window one morning we saw the earth robed in a white mantle; for in a few short bourn the earth had been covered to a considerable depth with snow. We looked out again in a few hours and saw the fields as green as ever, and the ploughed fields as bare as if no single flake had fallen. It is no uncommon thing for a heavy fall of snow to be followed by a rapid thaw. These interesting changes are wrought by God, not only with a purpose toward the outward world, but with some design toward the spiritual realm.

I. The operations of nature.

1. The directness of the Lords work. When we can look upon every hailstone as Gods hail, and upon every floating fragment of ice as His ice, how precious the watery diamonds become! When we feel the cold nipping our limbs and penetrating through every garment, it somewhat consoles us, and makes us willing to endure its hardness, when we remember that it is His cold. When the thaw comes, see how the text speaks of it–He sendeth out His Word. He does not leave it to certain supposed independent forces of nature, but, like a king, He sendeth out His Word and melteth them: He causeth His wind to blow. He has a special property in every wind; whether it comes from the north to freeze, or from the south to melt, it is His wind.

2. The ease of Divine working. A man puts his hand into a wool-pack and throws out the wool; God giveth snow as easily as that: He giveth snow like wool. A man takes up a handful of ashes, and throws them into the air, so that they fall around: He scattereth the hoar-frost like ashes. Rime and snow are marvels of nature: those who have observed the extraordinary beauty of the ice-crystals have been enraptured, and yet they are easily formed by the Lord. He casteth forth His ice like morsels–just as easily as we east crumbs of bread outside the window to the robins during the wintry days.

3. The variety of the Divine operations in nature. When the Lord is at work with frost as His tool He creates snow, a wonderful production, every crystal being a marvel of art; but then He is not content with snow–from the same water He makes another form of beauty which we call hoar-frost, and yet a third lustrous sparkling substance, namely glittering ice; and all these by the one agency of cold.

4. Consider the works of God in nature in their swiftness. It was thought a wonderful thing in the days of Ahasuerus when letters were sent out by post upon swift dromedaries–it was a new invention when one man upon a dromedary travelled till the animals speed began to fail, and then passed the mail bags to the next messenger, who, similarly mounted, bore them onward in hot haste. In our country we thought we had arrived at the age of miracles when the axles of stage coaches glowed with speed, but now that the telegraph is at work we dream of stretching out our hands into infinity; but what is all the rapidity of anything we can ever attain to compared with the rapidity of Gods operations?

5. Consider the goodness of God in all the operations of nature and providence.

(1) Think of that goodness negatively. Who can stand before His cold? You cannot help thinking of the poor in a hard winter–only a hard heart can forget them when you see the snow lying deep. But suppose that snow continued to fall! What is there to hinder it? The same God who sends us snow for one day could do the like for fifty days if He pleased. Why not? And when the frost pinches us so severely, why should it not be continued month after month? We can only thank the goodness which does not send His cold to such an extent that our spirits expire.

(2) Not only negatively, but positively there is mercy in the snow. Is not that a suggestive metaphor? He giveth snow like wool. The snow is said to warm the earth; it protects those little plants which have just begun be peep above ground, and might otherwise be frost-bitten: as with a garment of down the snow protects them from the extreme severity of cold.

II. Those operations of grace of which frost and thaw are the outward symbols.

1. There is a period with Gods own people when He comes to deal with them with the frost of the law. The law is to the soul as the cutting north wind. Faith can see love in it, but the carnal eye of sense cannot. It is a cold, terrible, comfortless blast. This cold makes the sinner feel how ragged his garments are. He could strut about when it was summer weather with him, and think his rags right royal robes, but now the cold frost finds out every rent in his garment, and in the hands of the terrible law he shivers like the leaves upon the aspen. The north wind of judgment searches the man through and through.

2. When the Lord has wrought by the frost of the law, He sends the thaw of the Gospel; and when the south wind blows from the quarter called promise, bringing precious remembrances of Gods fatherly pity and tender lovingkindness, then straightway the heart begins to soften, and a sense of blood-bought pardon soon dissolves the heart of stone; the eyes fill with tears, the heart dissolves in tenderness, rivers of pleasure flow freely, and buds of hope open in the cheerful air. Oh, happy day! Miriams joy at the Red Sea, when she led forth the damsels, exclaiming, Sing unto the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously! was all outdone in our case. Our strain was more jubilant, our notes more full of joy, and our hearts more exulting when we sang, He is my God, and I will extol Him; He is my fathers God, and I will exalt Him. Praise ye the Lord, my brethren, and my sisters, as ye recollect that He sent His Word, and melted all their fears: He caused His wind to blow, and made the waters of your joy to flow, and our soul was saved in film. (C. H. Spurgeon)

The Lessons of the snow

This is a very striking picture of winter. It would be difficult to find one more vivid. It is worthy of a Greenland or Esquimaux poet, if poetry can flourish in such regions. It is at first sight a strange thing that such words should have come to us from an Eastern land–a land of heat–in which it is more difficult to ward off the suns rays than to grapple with cold. No one can read these words, however, without feeling that they come from one who had seen with his own eyes that of which he speaks. How is this to be accounted for? It may be said that Mount Hermon, which is visible from wide tracts of the Holy Land, is often covered with snow. Doubtless this is so. But no vision of snow on a far-off mountain-top could have given an idea of cold powerful enough to have produced this description. Multitudes of Hindoos can lift their eyes and see in the far distance the snow on the Himalayas, but they get from it no notion whatever of frost, or ice, or cold. The snow of a far-off mountain adds a new beauty to the scene, but scarcely suggests to one who had never felt it the idea of cold or frost. The explanation must be sought in other directions, and chiefly here, that the climate of Palestine is much colder than its geographical position would lead us to expect. I have heard travellers in Palestine say that in the early months of the year they suffered far more from the cold than the heat. Whilst it is the opinions of some careful observers that the changes which have been made in the country have rendered the winters less severe than they were in the olden time. An incidental proof of this occurs in Scripture: when the manna fell in the wilderness, to what was it compared? To a round thing as small as the hoar-frost; whilst we hear in the 78th Psalm that even the sycamore trees were destroyed by frost. So that there must have been times when the cold was really severe; not, it may be, every year, but occasionally taking the people by surprise, awakening their astonishment. To this is, perhaps, due the vividness of the description before us. Think of the snow as–

I. A witness to the Divine power. Any worthy thought of God must include this. We often speak of the power of God. But how utterly faint and weak are all our efforts to realize it. It is high, we cannot attain unto it. When our thoughts of it are the largest, they fall infinitely below the great reality. It is well, therefore, to use all aids which come in our way that may enlarge our conceptions of this power. We hear much–too much–in our day of the power of man. There is an abundance of human glorification. I will not deny that man-has done much; but how has it been accomplished? Simply by directing the mighty forces which God has called into being. Man is a director, not a maker. He can guide, not create. Let the men of science do their best to devise, and the men of action their best to carry out, their plans; give there time and space to any extent, and could they cover with snow the land, or bind with ice the waters in a single county–to say nothing of the whole kingdom, or the continent of Europe? They would not attempt such an enterprise; they would not risk the failure they know would follow. If we saw things as they are, and not as they seem, if we judged a righteous judgment, we should talk less of the power of man, and more of the power of God. Only God is great (Mahomet).

II. A witness to the quietness of the Divine working. The method is almost as wonderful as the result, both are in the deepest sense Divine. If men have a great work to be done, how much stir and noise and tumult are found l Go to the place where great locomotives are made, and the noise is enough to deafen you, the heat will almost blind you, the tumult will be distracting to you. Go even to the place where instruments of music are made, and it will be found a Babel of discord rather than a temple of harmony. God changes the aspect of a country or a continent, robes it in purest white; but no workers are seen scattering the snow, or binding the waters, or unloosing the wind. There is no stir, or tumult, or noise. If we could trace the snow and ice back to their source, we should find them due to some subtle atmospheric change utterly invisible, utterly intangible to men. The great factory would be found in the heavens, no mighty machinery, no great array of workmen. More subtle–more spiritual I had almost said, would the process be found to be. It is so in far higher matters. We are tempted in these days to trust to great organizations and societies for the bringing in of the Kingdom of God;–we worship our net and burn incense to our drag;–we occupy ourselves with our implements; we fancy that success depends on these. It is not so. The highest work is done by more spiritual methods. It is almost independent of machinery. It lies in a higher realm (Joh 3:8). The greatest results follow not when men are trying to perfect their machinery, or arrange their organization, but when their eyes are lifted to the hills from whence cometh their help.

III. A witness to the beauty of the Divine working. Think of the purity of the whiteness of the snow. Think of the loveliness of the frost-patterns on window and tree. Think of the delicate grace with which it clings to all things. Think of the soft lines and lovely surface of the newly-fallen snow. It might have been otherwise. The snow might have come and covered the earth in sable blackness, the frost might have hung the earth as in garments of gloom, the clouds might have made the sky hideous to look upon. Beauty might have been only in the completed work of nature–aye, not even there. The beauty of the world is too much taken for granted, and so it fails of its true purpose in our hearts and lives. It has a meaning and mission. The great Father was bound to provide a dwelling-place for His children–a place in which they could live. He has made it a very palace of beauty. It is surely the height of ingratitude to take it all for granted and look upon it with dull or unthankful eyes.

IV. A witness to the defiling influence of men. The snow comes to us as a thing of utter purity, but how soon it is defiled, not so much by the earth as by men. Where nature has full sway it retains its purity, but where men do congregate how soon does its glory depart. So, too, often we defile Gods fair gifts–so we, too, often mar His works. Purity, beauty, grace too often flee before mans approach. It is folly to deny all this. He that covereth his sin shall not prosper, but he that confesseth and forsaketh it shall find mercy.

V. A revelation of purity. The snow makes even things we call white to look utterly unclean. We dare scarcely call them white in its presence. It is thus when we stand near to Him who is the pure image of God, in whom was no sin. We may think ourselves pure as we move among men; the feelings of the Pharisee may, in many subtle ways, creep over us; we may credit ourselves with a holiness we do not possess, but when the Divine purity is revealed in Jesus Christ, when He comes to us an image of perfect holiness as the snow is of perfect whiteness, then how black we seem–how our sin is brought to light! God, I thank Thee that I am not as other men becomes God, be merciful to me a sinner. How poor even our virtues seem in His light. We may think ourselves rich and increased with goods, and that we have need of nothing; but in His presence we shall know that we are poor and blind, and miserable and hated, and from the deepest depths of our natures will rise the cry, Create in us clean hearts, O God, and renew right spirits within us. (W. G. Horder.)

Winter voices

There can be no doubt that winter, as well as the other seasons, speaks to us of God and of His ways. Now, to some of the voices of the winter let us listen a while.

I. Who can resist His will?

1. Nature cannot. The tremendous power of His cold the winter makes sternly manifest to men.

2. Man cannot. When Napoleon, in his madness, invaded Russia, the roll of his cannon, the tramp of his legions, the squadrons of his cavalry, and the long train of his military array, seemed so endless that it looked as if the land he had invaded must yield to such irresistible might. But God sent the winter. Softly, silently, relentlessly, day after day, the snow came down. Keen was the cold northern blast, and beneath the might of the winter that vast army crumbled away and perished. The best generals in my army, said the Russian Emperor, are Generals January and February.

II. be ye also ready. On the heads of many of us the hoar-frost of the winter of life is very visible. Have we harvested in our hearts the love and faith and fear of God? Is all ready for the last long winter that must surely and speedily come?

III. Behold God in all winters. Men now are apt to talk overmuch of the laws of nature, of force, of eternal order; and other such phrases are plentiful enough. But they serve, too often, to shut out from mens minds the thought of God. Practically they come to look upon the universe as if it were a great machine, working on and on and on, but without heart or soul or will in it. And we are much exposed to the influence of such thought. Well, therefore, is it to be reminded–as in such simple but august words as these of this psalm we are reminded–that God is the Author of all. Thou hast made winter (Psa 74:17). And what it is so well to recognize in regard to the natural winter is even more important to us to remember in regard to the winter of the heart. For there are moral and spiritual conditions, caused generally by providential circumstances in our lives, which are aptly symbolized by the natural winter. There are such, and they settle down upon the soul with a drear and desolating power. The home bereaved; health failing; our riches making to themselves wings and flying away; poverty threatening, etc. Remember, these are all sent by God. They are in-eluded in His covenant of grace. Be not afraid; only believe.

IV. it is good for me that i have been afflicted. God never tears love out of any severity that He sends. The sternness of God–and He can be stern, as winter shows–is ever a merciful sternness (Rom 11:22). See in history of Manasseh, David, Israel, and in histories manifold, proof that the goodness of God is in the winter as well as elsewhere. Our light afflictions which . . . work out for us, etc.

V. i can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me. Who can stand before His cold? asks our text. I can, and I can, and I can, reply a multitude of voices. See the speakers. Look at them, how they leap and play; they are ruddy, and comely, and strong; how their merry laughter and joyous shout ring all down the ice over which they are wildly careering. Yes; they can stand the cold, and will, it is likely, be very sorry when the thaw sets in. Now, why is this? It is because they are full of life. Their blood courses healthily through their bodies. They brim over with a joyful vitality. What a lesson this is. Only let us have life–the life Christ gives–and the cold of poverty, trial, sorrow, death–His cold, in whatever form it comes, as in some form it will come, we shall be able to bear, and to this last voice of the winter we shall be able to add our Amen. (S. Conway, B. A.)

Winter scenes

The frost and the snow and the ice serve a great purpose in the physical economy, so that without the cold of winter we would have no spring bursting with renewed life, no summer with its warmth and invigorating growth, and no autumn with its rich fruit. In the same way there is a Divine purpose in those harder and more stern experiences of our human life. Like the snow, the frost, and the ice, trials and difficulties and sufferings come from the hand of God, and are the greatest of blessings in the formation, correction, and development of our character, if they are rightly used. God produces and controls, and uses them for His own purposes in us, and by their means He disciplines our character, and induces in us greater spirituality of heart. He holds in His hands all things and all trials and all sufferings; and when He is spiritually recognized by us, He imparts to our souls power to bear them, just as the blade of grass holds the hoar-frost, or the water bears the ice, or the earth the snow. As the earth is richer and more productive by the processes of winter, so the right endurance and the right use of sufferings and difficulties and trials make us nobler and greater, and more Christian in feeling and spirit and life, and give us a greater inheritance of blessing and joy for ever. We must not, however, regard winter from a mere utilitarian point of view. In its greatest severity it is a scene of beauty most sublime and ennobling. The frost and the ice and the snow clothe the earth with a robe richer and more attractive and magnificent than the most splendid pageant or brilliant display of kings or kingdoms. The scenes of winter are capable of exercising a powerful influence over our imagination in ministering to its wealth, and also over our heart and judgment, and the emotions and habits of our life. In the wisdom and power necessary to create and put into form such a scene as has been described we have a manifestation of Gods glory. The creative power displayed in a snow-storm taxes the highest flights of imagination, it gives action to the noblest powers of mind, and it is a source of joy to the heart which recognizes the Divine Father in it all. It affords occasion for the exercise of holy admiration and devout gratitude to the beneficent Creator, who not only weighs the mountains in scales, pours the rivers into the oceans, and rolls planet upon planet through immeasurable space; but who also forms the smallest flakes of snow, and straightens the rivers of water with ice, and beautifies the earth with hoar-frost. And the study of such a Divine glory as this is intended by God to exert a salutary influence upon our character, both social and religious, Hence the profusion of wonders and attractive beauty with which God has crowded this world, in order that we may examine and admire them, and by them may rise from the admiration of nature to the admiration and love of God, who is both the God of nature and the God of redemption. That we may really admire, we must carefully examine and study the works of God; for without study the novelty and brilliancy which lie on the surface will soon cease to interest us. In order to interest our minds and benefit our hearts, and so to have a moral and spiritual effect upon us, we must devoutly look into the inner nature and forms of things, and acquire a relish for research and study. In this way we became possessed of a source of happiness of which nothing can rob us–a sweet voice from the works of God falls upon our souls with blessed power–there is unfolded to us a marvellous display of Divine skill and benevolence which, during our earthly pilgrimage, impart to our hearts confidence in God, and make us hope for higher developments and nobler enjoyments in the world of spirits. Our spiritual nature, too, finds in the snow Divine comfort and encouragement. Snow has been employed by the sacred writers to symbolize that purity and spiritual excellence which God offers to all men in the Gospel of His Son, Jesus Christ. Snow-water is peculiarly fitted for washing all impurities of the hands, and making them white and clean. The washing of the soul by the power of God effects a spiritual purity whiter than snow. The words of pardon to guilty men, made known in the Gospel, will melt their hardened and ice-bound hearts to repentance and newness of life. And when this Gospel of forgiveness is heartily believed and practically received into the life, God, who gives snow like wool, scatters the hoar-frost like ashes, casts forth His ice like morsels, and by His Word melts them again, and makes the waters to flow, is able by the Word and power of His Son to restore warmth and energy to cold and weak hearts, and to impart purity and grace to sinful and corrupt souls, until they become whiter than snow, brighter than hoar-frost, and purer than ice. (W. Simpson.)

The benefits of snow

This comparison expressly indicates one of the most important purposes which the snow serves in the economy of nature. It covers the earth like a blanket during that period of winter sleep which is necessary to recruit its exhausted energies, and prepare it for fresh efforts in the spring; and being, like wool, a bad conductor, it conserves the latent heat of the soil, and protects the dormant life of plant and animal hid under it from the frosty rigour of the outside air. Winter-sown wheat, when defended by this covering, whoso under-surface seldom falls much below 32 Fahr., can thrive, even though the temperature of the air above may be many degrees below the freezing point. Some districts, enjoying an equable climate, seldom require this protection; but in northern climates, where the winter is severe and prolonged, its beneficial effects are most marked. The scanty vegetation which blooms with such sudden and marvellous loveliness in the height of summer in the Arctic regions and on mountain summits would perish utterly were it not for the protection of the snow that lies on it for three-quarters of the year. But it is not only to Alpine plants and hibernating, animals that God gives snow like wool. The Esquimaux take advantage of its curious protective property, and ingeniously build their winter huts of blocks of hardened snow; thus, strangely enough, by a homoepathic law, protecting themselves against cold by the effects of cold. The Arctic navigator has been indebted to walls of snow banked up around his ship for the comparative comfort of his winter quarters, when the temperature without has fallen so low that even chloric ether became solid. And many a precious life has been saved by the timely shelter which the snowstorm itself has provided against its own violence. But while snow thus warms in cold regions, it also cools in warm regions. It sends down from the white summits of equatorial mountains its cool breath to revive and brace the drooping life of lands sweltering under a tropic sun; and from its inexhaustible reservoirs it feeds perennial rivers that water the plains when all the wells and streams are white and silent in the baking heat. Without the perpetual snow of mountainous regions the earth would be reduced to a lifeless desert. God giveth snow like wool, and chill and blighting as is the touch of snow, it has protective influences which guard against greater evils. (H. Macmillan, D. D.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 16. He giveth snow like wool] Falling down in large flakes; and in this state nothing in nature has a nearer resemblance to fine white wool.

Scattereth the hoar frost like ashes.] Spreading it over the whole face of nature.

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

Snow like wool; not only in colour, and shape, and softness, but also in use, keeping the fruits of the earth warm.

Hoar-frost like ashes; in colour and smallness of parts, as also in its burning quality.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

He giveth snow like wool,…. For colour as white as wool; so the Targum and Kimchi: and for the manner of its falling, lightly and gently as a lock of wool; which for its thinness and fineness it also resembles. Hence the ancients used to call snow , “woolly water” t; and Martial u gives it the name of “densum veilus aquarum”, “a thick fleece of waters”: so another poet w calls clouds flying fleeces of wool, to which they sometimes seem like; Pliny x calls it the from of the celestial waters. And it is like wool for its usefulness to the earth; for as wool covers the sheep, and clothes made of it cover men, and keep them warm; so snow filling upon the earth covers it and keeps it warm, and secures the wheat and other fruits of the earth from the injuries of the cold: and this lies among the treasures of the Lord, and he brings it out from thence, and commands it to be on the earth; and it is an useful gift of his providence, for which his name is to be praised; see Job 37:6. The Jews have a saying, as Arama observes, that one day of snow is better than five of rain. In the third year of Valens and Valentinianus, with the Atrebates (a people in the Netherlands), real wool fell from the clouds, mixed with rain y. Several blessings of grace are signified by this figure; as pardon of sin, the justifying righteousness of Christ, and the efficacy of the word of God, Ps 51:7;

he scattereth the hoar frost like ashes; which is the dew congealed by the intense cold of the air in the night season z: this for its colour looks like ashes, and for its infinite number of particles may be compared to them; which are spread here and there, and everywhere; over gardens, fields, lands, herbs, plants, and trees, as if they were strewed with ashes. And to hot ashes it may be compared, because of its burning nature, shrivelling up leaves, herbs, and plants, as if burnt; hence called “pruina” in the Latin tongue a. The manna is compared to this for its smallness, Ex 16:14; which was typical of Christ, the hidden manna, and of the ministry of the Gospel; little, mean, and contemptible, in the eyes of carnal men; torturing and tormenting to them, as the fire that came out of the mouths of the witnesses; and is the savour of death unto death to some, while it ii the savour of life unto life to others.

t Eustathius in Dionys. Perieget. p. 91. u Epigram. l. 4. Ep. 3. w Aristoph. Nubes, p. 146. x Nat. Hist. l. 17. c. 2. y Orosii Hist. l. 7. c. 32. p. 131. z lsidor. Origin. l. 13. c. 10. a “Frigora nec tantum cana concreta pruina”, Virgil. Georgic. l. 2. v. 376.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(16) Like wool.Both in whiteness and fleecy texture. The snow falls in large flakes, equal in size to a walnut, and has more resemblance to locks of wool than it has in our country (Niven, Biblical Antiq., p. 21).

A spice quam densum tacitarum vellus aquarum Defluat.

MART., Ep. iv. 3.

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

16. Giveth snow A Greek writer calls snow “fleecy rain.” So frost is like sprinkled ashes, and hail like scattered morsels.

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

Psa 147:16-17. He giveth snow, &c. The winters in the east, in some years, and at some places, are remarkably cold and severe. Fulcherius Carnotensis saw the cold prove deadly to many. Jac. de Vitriaco informs us, that the same thing happened to many of the poor people engaged in an expedition, in which he himself was concerned, against mount Tabor: that he had suffered severely the preceding days, by cold; but on the 24th of December it was so sharp, that many of the poor people, and of the beasts of burthen, actually died. Albertus Aquensis tells us, that the same thing happened to thirty of the people who attended king Baldwin I. in the mountainous districts of Arabia, by the Dead Sea, where they had to conflict with horrible hail, with ice, and unheard-of snow and rain. We have sometimes, it may be, wondered that an eastern author, in a hymn composed for the use of those warmer climes, should say of God, as in these verses, He giveth the snow, &c. The preceding citations may remove that wonder. See Observations, p. 12 and Ezr 10:9.

REFLECTIONS.1st, He takes up this psalm as he concludes the former, with Hallelujah! and abundant cause there is, why we should continually sing and give praise unto the Lord. He is our God; we have an interest in his favour: It is good to praise him, it is our bounden duty and highest interest. It is pleasant, for this service is especially its own reward: it is comely; pleasing to God, and most becoming us as his creatures, but especially as his children; in that relation we are particularly bound to praise him,

1. For his kindness and care towards his city and people. The Lord doth build up Jerusalem: he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel; literally, when David repaired the city, and those who had suffered with him as outlaws were restored; or spiritually, he buildeth up his gospel-church, and prepares the heavenly Jerusalem for the abode of his faithful ones, who by sin had made themselves outcasts, and whom the world, on their returning to God, rejected as the off-scouring of all things.

2. For his compassion towards the miserable. He healeth the broken in heart, whose souls by sin were sore troubled, and, shocked at the remembrance of past transgressions, were ready to lie down in despair, and perish. These he healeth, pouring in the oil of his blood which cleanseth from all sin; and with the tender hand of his grace bindeth up their wounds, speaking peace to their consciences, and filling them with his divine consolations.

3. For his infinite power and wisdom. Innumerable as the stars are, to him they are known; for they are indeed his own workmanship, and he calleth them all by their names, appoints them their place; and they as servants are obedient to his orders. So great and glorious is the Lord; so great his power, so infinite his understanding. His saints are the stars in his right hand; he knoweth them, and is their friend and their God.

4. For his dealings towards the sons of men. The Lord lifteth up the meek; who in their own eyes are little, and patiently endure the afflictions of providence, or the provocations of men. These he comforts, and will exalt to the inheritance among the saints in light; but he casteth the wicked down to the ground, with strokes of heavy judgment in this world, by sudden and untimely death, and at last will cast them down into the pit of everlasting destruction.

5. For his providential regard towards all his creatures. Drawn up in copious exhalations, thick clouds of water cover the skies: formed by his power into drops of rain, they empty themselves on the mountains, causing the grass to spring, and providing thereby plenty of food for all animals, the meanest and most useless of which are not forgotten or neglected; but even the cry of the young ravens is heard and answered. Note; (1.) The clouds of affliction, when darkest, serve but to prepare us for greater fruitfulness in our souls. (2.) If the raven’s cry is heard, surely our prayer shall not be disregarded; he who feedeth them, will much more provide all needful supplies for his own people. For,

6. In them is his delight, and therefore they owe him praise. God delights not in the strength of the horse, or in any man’s legs: the finest cavalry, or the firmest infantry, are vain things to save a man without God’s blessing; but the Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, and in those that hope in his mercy; filial fear and holy hope being the distinguishing characters of God’s people.

2nd, Jerusalem and Zion, the figures of the gospel-church, are called upon to praise the Lord their God,
1. For their prosperity under the divine protection. He hath strengthened the bars of thy gates: his salvation, his power, and faithfulness, stronger than walls and bulwarks, surround his believing people. He hath blessed thy children within theethe spiritual seed of the church begotten through the ministry of the gospel, and enriched with all the spiritual blessings of grace in Christ Jesus. He maketh peace in thy borders; quieting all his Zion’s enemies without, and bestowing abundance of peace within; spiritual peace in their souls, and great union and harmony among each other; and filleth thee with the finest of the wheat; all needful temporal good, or the bread of life in the gospel, by which the souls of believers are supported and strengthened. Mercies inestimable! and calling for louder praise than any merely temporal good vouchsafed to the inhabitants of Judaea.

2. For God’s providential government in the kingdom of nature. He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth, and his will all things obey. His word runneth very swiftly: he speaks, and it is done; which may respect either the word of his providence, directing the rain and the snow to fall; or the word of his gospel, which by the preaching of the apostles was quickly spread through the world. He giveth snow like wool, for whiteness, and conveys warmth to the earth on which it falls. He scattereth the hoar-frost like ashes; the dew of night congealing, and covering, as ashes spread abroad, the plants and trees. He casteth forth his ice like morsels; either in hailstones that fall, or when the isicles shoot in the incrusted waters. Who can stand before his cold? the intenseness of which would instantly destroy us, if God was pleased to expose us to its extremity. He findeth out his word, and melteth them: he causeth his wind to blow, and the waters flow, dissolving the ice and snow, and making the verdure and flowers of spring succeed to the cold and dreary scenes of winter. Note; Like the frozen earth is the sinner’s heart, till God’s Spirit breathes upon it; then softened into deep contrition, the penitential tears begin to flow, and soon the whole soul puts on a new aspect, filled with the blossoms of grace and fruits of righteousness, which are, through Jesus Christ, to the praise and glory of God.

3. For that divine revelation, with which they were peculiarly favoured. He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. Israel was peculiarly distinguished by those oracles of God committed to them, containing the promises and precepts, moral and ceremonial. He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments they have not known them: as therefore peculiarly favoured of heaven, they of all others were bound to fidelity, blessing, and praise. Note; The case is our own: this happy land enjoys in its purity the gospel-word: may we know our mercies, improve them, and be thankful; lest, by the neglect of our Bibles, it should be more tolerable in the day of judgment for Sodom and Gomorrah than for us!

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Psa 147:16 He giveth snow like wool: he scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes.

Ver. 16. He giveth snow like wool ] For whiteness, lightness, plenty, softness, warmth; for snow, though it be very cold, yet by keeping in the vapours and exhalations of the earth, it causeth an inward warmth to it, and so maketh it very fruitful, say philosophers, Vellera nivis (Virg. Georg.). In which respects the Rabbis say that one day of snow doth more good than five of rain.

He scattereth the hoar frost like ashes ] When blown about by the wind. It heateth also and drieth (as ashes) the cold and moist earth, nippeth the buds of trees, &c. Unde pruina dicitur a perurenda, saith Sextus Pompeius, Cinis monet ignem subesse quem foveat.

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