Psalms 147

The theme of this psalm is, the excellence of praise. It is good to sing praises unto our God. Psalms 147:1. In this and the three following psalms we recognise the usual Hebrew method of using the natural as the type of the supernatural, and of thus ascending from nature to God, from the outward to the spiritual. It is believed that this psalm was written at the dedication of the walls of Jerusalem by Nehemiah. In the Septuagint it is ascribed to the prophets Haggai and Zechariah. In the year 457 B.C., according to Dr. Hales, Ezra brought from Babylon to Jerusalem two thousand exiles, mostly Levites. About eighty years previous, according to the same authority, Zerubbabel had led back the first colony, and about thirteen years later than Ezra’s arrival Nehemiah, by the order of the same king, Artaxerxes Longimanus, son of the Ahasuerus of the Book of Esther, came as governor. By his wisdom and energy the walls and gates of the city were restored. Their dedication was a time of joyous festivity, and seems to have occurred in the winter, when spring was in prospect. The grateful feeling of the writer is aroused, not only by the completed walls, but also by the copious rains that give promise of ample harvest. The Septuagint makes of this two psalms, the second beginning at the twelfth verse.