What does Psalms 147:11 Mean?

Study Notes

fear
.

fear of the Lord

The "fear of the Lord," a phrase of the O.T. piety, meaning reverential trust, with hatred of evil.

Context Summary

It has been supposed that this psalm was prepared for use when the new walls of the city were completed in the days of Nehemiah. It contains a further enumeration of God's present tenses. The psalmist never tires of celebrating the immediateness of God. He will not tolerate the intervention of second causes, which are the artifice of scientific explanation. Laws are, after all, only the convenient statement of the regularity of God's methods. The couplets of this psalm are amazingly suggestive. By contrast they complete each other. God builds up the great city of Jerusalem, but His heart goes out to the individual prodigal. He is equally at home in the hospital where broken hearts congregate, and among the stars, which He names and counts as a shepherd His flock. He upholds the meek and overthrows the proud. Spring, with its clouds and rain and sprouting grass, is His work; but so also the wild life of the forest, with its beasts and birds. He has no such delight in athletic strength or speed as He has in the reverent worship of His people. There is a perfect balance and rhythm in God's nature. [source]

Chapter Summary: Psalms 147

¹  The prophet exhorts to praise God for his care of the church
⁴  His power and wisdom
⁶  His mercy
⁷  His providence
¹²  To praise him for his blessings upon the kingdom
¹⁵  For his power over the elements
¹⁹  And for his ordinances in the church