Psalm 147:16-17

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Psalms 147:12-20

Jerusalem, and Zion, the holy city, the holy hill, are here called upon to praise God, Ps. 147:12. For where should praise be offered up to God but where his altar is? Where may we expect that glory should be given to him but in the beauty of holiness? Let the inhabitants of Jerusalem praise the Lord in their own houses; let the priests and Levites, who attend in Zion, the city of their solemnities, in a special manner praise the Lord. They have more cause to do it than others, and they lie... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 147:16

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 εριωδες υδωρ , "woolly water" F20 Eustathius in Dionys. Perieget. p. 91. ; and Martial F21 Epigram. l. 4. Ep. 3. gives it the name of "densum veilus aquarum", "a thick fleece of waters": so another poet F23 Aristoph. Nubes, p.... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 147:17

He casteth forth his ice like morsels ,.... Divided like morsels, as the Targum; cut into pieces, like morsels of bread. This seems to have respect to hail stones, which sometimes fall like pieces of ice, and are very prejudicial to the fruits of the earth: this was one of the ten plagues of Egypt; and whereby also many of the Canaanites were destroyed in the times of Joshua, Exodus 9:23 ; and there is an exceeding great storm of hail yet to come, very dreadful; see Revelation 16:21 .... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 147:16

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. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 147:17

He casteth forth his ice - קרחו korcho , (probably hailstones), like crumbs. Who can stand before his cold? - At particular times the cold in the east is so very intense as to kill man and beast. Jacobus de Vitriaco, one of the writers in the Gesta Dei per Francos, says, that in an expedition in which he was engaged against Mount Tabor, on the 24th of December, the cold was so intense that many of the poor people, and the beasts of burden, died by it. And Albertus Aquensis, another... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 147:1-20

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 147:12-20

National well-being. Piety and patriotism, that go so well together and were so intimately bound together in the mind of the Jews, are here very closely associated. We, too, are convinced that the future of our country will be determined by its faithfulness or unfaithfulness to the Lord whom it professes to serve. There are four features of national well-being here. I. SECURITY . ( Psalms 147:13 .) "He hath strengthened the bars of thy gates." Jerusalem was surrounded by its... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 147:16

He giveth snow like wool . The loveliness of new-fallen snow has evidently been felt by the psalmist, to whom it has seemed like a spotless robe of whitest wool spread upon the earth. Snow, though rare in Palestine, does occasionally fall, and is said to "cover the streets of Jerusalem two winters out of three. It generally comes in small quantities; but there are sometimes very snowy winters." In 1879, for instance, snow lay in Jerusalem to a depth of seventeen inches. He scattereth the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 147:16

The mission of the frost and the snow. "He wraps the earth in snow as in a warm white woolen garment, and scatters the frost so that the trees, etc; appear as if powdered with (wood) ashes blown about by the wind." The rain, the frost, and the snow are all forms of moisture. Winter is God's time for putting things to rights. Three things especially want renewing and replenishing—the earth, the air, the water, and to do this replenishing is the mission of the frost, the snow, and the rain.... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 147:16-17

The lessons of the winter. "What can be lovelier than the glittering jewels with which the hoar-frost bedizens every leaf and spray of the woodland? Or the translucent azure of the glacier crevasses with their long pendants of lustrous ice? There are beautiful things in winter as well as in summer; and we need the cold, unearthly splendors of the one as much as the glowing, living charms of the other to educate our sense of God's greatness in his works. But beauty is everywhere in nature... read more

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