NOTES for Psa 147

Before us is a song praising the greatness of God, who wisely created the universe. Everything in the universe is in His hand, from distant stars to small birds. Yet the list of His works begins by mentioning the building of Jerusalem and recounting the blessings He has bestowed upon people. This is no accident, for the Lord revealed in the Bible is not the “God of philosophers and scholars,” but the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is not an abstract ruler of soulless space, but the living God, who created human beings in His image and likeness and entered into a close relationship with them.

When the psalmist calls people to sing to God in turn, we first remember those appointed to serve and sing in shifts in the Temple. But we may also think that all the faithful, not only singers set apart for special ministry, are called to sing praise, that is, to prayerful union with the Lord. For He knocks at everyone’s door.