Psalms 147:2 - Exposition

The Lord doth build up Jerusalem . The rebuilding of Jerusalem after the return from the Babylonish captivity covered a space of above ninety years, from B.C. 538 till B.C. 445. First the temple was built; then the city; finally, the walls and the gates. It was in connection with this last portion of the building that the present psalm seems to have been written. He gathereth together the outcasts of Israel. The exiles returned gradually—some with Zerubbabel; some with Ezra, in B.C. 457; others, doubtless, with Nehemiah, in B.C. 445; and again in B.C. 434.