Note: In Cassiodorus' bible what we call Psalm 147 was split into two psalms (as in the Vulgate). His Psalm 146 corresponds to the NABRE's Ps 147:1-11; and his Psalm 147 corresponds to our NABRE's Ps 147:12-20. I've combined his two psalms into a single post, designating them Psalm 147; this is why this post contains two introductory sections and two conclusions. Incidentally, the division of the psalms didn't become standardized among Catholics until the 6th century AD; but it wasn't until the printing of the Second Rabbinic Bible (1525 AD) that the psalm division (and thus psalm numbering) became standardized among the Jews. While
historically rooted in the Septuagint/Vulgate system, many modern
English Catholic translations now offer the Hebrew (Protestant/Jewish)
numbering alongside or instead, for clarity and ecumenical purposes.
PSALM 147 – Alleluia
The text that follows explains the words of its own title, so that it needs no foreign manner of speech, since the meaning of the discourse itself makes it clear. Read the beginning of the psalm and you have explained the title: for Alleluia means Praise the Lord. Each answers the other in such harmony that you might think the title is the beginning of the psalm, and reasonably judge that the beginning of the psalm is its title. Therefore, let us confidently and joyfully enter this psalm, whose saving meaning we fully recognize already at its very threshold.
Division of the Psalm
In the first part, the prophet exhorts the devout people to praise the Lord, who raises up the humble and cuts down the necks of the proud. In the second part, he urges that praise be offered eagerly to the Lord, who grants future benefits to those who supplicate Him, since those who presume on their own strength cannot please Him.
Exposition of the Psalm
Ps 147:1. Praise the Lord, for a psalm is good to our God; let praise be joyful.
Every human work demands that a reward be given in return, so that what we laboriously accomplish may be consoled by the hope of the proposed recompense. But in the praise of the Lord, the very act itself has its reward, since what is now an exercise will then be the recompense. For since it is good to proclaim the Lord, each person is thereby known to receive the promised gifts. He truly receives them when, in that angelic fellowship, it becomes the singular and eternal task of the saints to proclaim the Lord forever.
Let us therefore praise Him with the devotion we are able to offer, and here meditate upon those blessed gifts. For what is happier than to practice now what you hope to perform in future beatitude? A psalm, as handed down by the ancients, is a musical instrument, like the cithara, the pandurium, and others, which respond to our voices with sweetest modulation—an image, as we have often said, that pertains to our most upright actions. Therefore, he commands that the praise of the Lord and the psaltery come together into one harmony, so that just as we proclaim divine praises with our tongue, so also we may praise Him by the operation of good works.
He adds: Let praise be joyful to our God. Praise is joyful to the Divinity when our actions do not diverge from the quality of holy words. For what sense is there if the psalm proclaims chastity while the singer does not restrain himself from obscenity? Or if humility is preached while the speaker swells with the gusts of pride? Therefore, what is known to struggle with contrary opposition within itself cannot be well received by the Lord. Praise is truly joyful to the Lord when voice and life come together into one fellowship.
147:2. The Lord builds up Jerusalem and gathers the dispersions of Israel.
Through this verse and the two that follow, the Lord is rightly praised for His wondrous and glorious deeds. For when he says, The Lord builds up Jerusalem and gathers the dispersions of Israel; He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds; He counts the multitude of the stars and calls them all by name, He is shown to be admirable precisely through His works.
In the first verse it is made clear that the Lord does not love division, since He is seen to gather what has been scattered. How could He tolerate among us a discord between deeds and song—He who gathers the peoples of the whole world into holy unity? Thus the Lord builds the city of Jerusalem from living stones when He gathers the dispersions of Israel, who are known to dwell throughout the whole world, as it is said in the Gospel: He will send His angels with a trumpet and a loud voice, and they will gather His elect from the four corners of the earth (Matthew 24:31).
Ps 147:3. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
A marvelous kind of healing is proclaimed: that if we wish to be restored, we must vigorously crush ourselves. But this contrition tends toward renewal; it leads to firmness and, above all good things, introduces that Physician who bestows eternal health. He continues: He binds up their wounds. The metaphor is taken from medical practice: when broken or crushed bones are to be healed, they are bound with cloths so that the members, returning to their proper place, may grow together again into their former strength. Thus the heavenly Physician binds and consolidates the wounds of penitents—crushed by grievous affliction—with a kind of bandage of His mercy, leading them to the firmest hope of healing, as it is also said in Psalm 50: A broken and humbled heart God does not despise (Psalm 50[51]:19). That publican who continually struck his breast (Luke 18:13) proved in himself the very healing that he never ceased to apply to his guilty heart.
Ps 147:4. He counts the multitude of the stars; He calls them all by name.
Although this, according to the letter, appears to show the power of the Lord—declaring that the innumerable stars are nevertheless numbered by the Divinity and called by their proper names, since all things are comprehensible to Him for whom the sands of the sea, the drops of rain, and the hairs of men are known to be numbered—yet when He says by name, He also rebukes astrologers who call the stars by foreign names, such as Venus, Mercury, Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, and the like.
Still, it is more fitting to understand this passage in a higher sense. For he had just spoken of the brokenhearted who are to be saved; these we ought now to understand as the stars. They shine like stars in the night of this age and deserve to be gathered into the number of the saints. Though the Church here seems to contain many, yet only those whom the Lord numbers will rejoice in participation in His kingdom. That stars can be understood as holy men is attested by the passage in Genesis: I will multiply your seed like the stars of heaven (Genesis 22:17). And Solomon says: The righteous will shine like the stars of heaven (Wisdom 3:7). We know that the saints can be said to be called by name when we read that they are enrolled, as the Gospel says: Do not rejoice because the demons are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven (Luke 10:20).
Ps 147:5. Great is our Lord, and great is His power, and of His wisdom there is no number.
In this verse, fitting praise is sung from the greatness of the Lord. For when he says, Great is our Lord and great is His power, and of His wisdom there is no number; the Lord lifts up the meek and humbles sinners to the ground, His greatness is fully declared. After running through the various parts of praise, the prophet, filled with wonder, cries out: Great is our Lord, whose works cannot be numbered nor whose praise can be grasped—gathering the dispersions of Israel, healing the brokenhearted, counting the multitude of the blessed, and calling them all by name.
By saying our, he excludes the cults of most foolish paganism. His power is great because it is unique, because it is omnipotent, because He is the governor and maker of all things. He adds: and of His wisdom there is no number. Here “number” should be understood as limit, since all things that are numbered are defined and bounded. How then can the wisdom of God have a number, since it is known to be the author of number itself? If number itself cannot be fully known by us, how could divine wisdom be comprehended? The Creator is incomparably greater than His creatures; therefore it is rightly said: of His wisdom there is no number. For of the things He created, Scripture says: God made all things in measure, number, and weight (Wisdom 11:21).
Ps 147:6. The Lord lifts up the meek and humbles sinners to the ground.
The meek are those whom he previously described as broken by tribulation and made patient by habitual affliction. Observe how beautiful the contrast is: the meek are lifted up to heaven, the proud are cast down to the earth. Thus, by a reversal, the faithful man is raised where Satan fell through pride, lest the place from which the humble is lifted up become the place where the proud is crushed.
Ps 147:7. Begin to praise the Lord with confession; sing to our God with the cithara.
He now comes to the second part, where he exhorts the hesitant, urges on the doubtful, and reproves the negligent. Begin, he says, to those who are still silent; to the Lord with confession—that is, sing. This confession urges praise and encourages the practice of righteousness. The cithara signifies moral virtues resounding in harmonious action, which then become a true cithara when they are joined together in a united fellowship. For just as a lyre cannot be called complete if one string is missing, so a holy man is not judged perfect if any virtue is lacking.
Ps 147:8. He covers the heaven with clouds and prepares rain for the earth; He brings forth grass on the mountains and herb for the service of men.
In this and the following verse, the works of the Lord are again recalled. Scripture often adopts this manner of definition, so that through what the Lord does, His power and authority may be shown. Here, although these things may rightly be understood literally, they are better grasped allegorically.
Heaven here fittingly signifies holy prophecy. This is covered with clouds by divine providence—that is, with obscurity—so that our senses may be stirred to inquiry, and what is reached through weary desire may be received more gratefully. He then explains what these clouds bring forth: namely, an abundance of rain, that is, the flowing sources of divine preaching. For whom is this rain prepared? For the thirsty. Only he receives the word of the Lord effectively who offers himself eagerly to hear it by heavenly gift. Nor is it meaningless that he says prepares, for unless He prepares it, no one can attain it by his own merits.
He continues: He brings forth grass on the mountains and herb for the service of men. This too must be understood spiritually. The mountains signify holy men, in whom the Lord produces grass and herb, so that the simpler members of the Catholic Church may be fed like beasts of burden. Grass refers to stronger teachings; herb to gentler admonitions. It was grass when the Apostle said: I wish that all were as I myself am (1 Corinthians 7:7). Herb: If they cannot contain themselves, let them marry (ibid. 9). And again: I gave you milk to drink, not solid food (1 Corinthians 3:2). Lesser precepts are rightly compared to herbs. When he says for the service of men, he shows that all these things are appointed for human benefit.
Ps 147:9. He gives food to the beasts and to the young ravens that call upon Him.
The beasts signify the flocks, which are fed with suitable nourishment—some with milk, others with solid food—as He alone knows what should be given. The ravens represent irreligious men, clothed inseparably in blackness, who do not shine with the brightness of conversion. Their young, as natural philosophers say, are fed by heavenly dew and do not yet recognize their father’s food, that is, carrion. Therefore, He gives food even to the sons of the perverse, since they do not pursue the life of innocence as a gift. He adds that call upon Him, because only those truly call upon Him who do not overturn the rules of Scripture with heretical perversity. Unless this is referred to men, how could it be fitting for ravens to call upon the Lord?
Ps 147:10. He takes no pleasure in the strength of a horse, nor does He delight in the legs of a man.
After recounting what the Lord does, he now says what can utterly displease Him. The horse often signifies pride: it holds its neck high, strains against the reins, and hastens into rapid courses with foaming contention. The proud and presumptuous man is likened to it—one whom the Divinity cannot find pleasing, since He chooses the meek and devout. As another psalm says: A horse is a false hope for salvation (Psalm 33:17). And elsewhere: Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will glory in the name of the Lord our God (Psalm 20:8).
The tents of men are the assemblies of unbelieving pagans, which always extend themselves into the worst forms of worship. Observe the force of the words: he says tents of men, not of God—that is, unlawful presumptions which bold men establish for themselves by their own will. For man is also used in an evil sense, as in: The Lord abhors the man of blood and deceit (Psalm 5:7).
Ps 147:11. The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him, and in those who hope in His mercy.
He previously said who displeases Him; now he says who pleases Him. The Lord loves those who fear Him—not with a degenerate fear that is devoid of love, like Judas, who after recognizing his guilt judged that he should despair rather than supplicate. The fear acceptable to God is that which is joined with great love and pious confidence. Let each person therefore fear so as not to sin, and love so as to supplicate. For one who will not pray acts as one who does not fear at all. Many fear, but because they despair of mercy.
Conclusion of the Psalm
There is no doubt that this psalm also pertains to the end of the age, when the dispersions of Israel are gathered into one people, so that there may be one flock and one shepherd (John 10:16). O blessed time, when those living stones, more precious than all pearls, are gathered into the heavenly structure and eternal beatitude! Then each saint’s labor will be most sweet: sorrow will bring forth consolation, persecution eternal rest, holy poverty the kingdoms of heaven. And whatever they endured here with hardship, there they will rejoice that they endured such things.
Grant us, Lord, patience in present evils, that You may make joy eternal for us there.
Psalm 147. Alleluia
We return indeed to the customary Alleluia,
yet we are in no way weary of repeating it: it is a sound that is
always desired by the taste, a word that the ear receives without
weariness, a meaning that the intellect grasps without effort. Such is
the dignity of this word that, although it is rooted in the Hebrew
tongue, it is nevertheless found untranslated in every other language.
The Greek knows it, the Latin knows it, the Chaldean knows it, the
Syrian, the Persian, the Arab—every nation of the earth knows it, and
whatever is devoted to divinity venerates the dignity of this name with
pious devotion. To none does it sound discordant, to none does it seem
absurd; rather, all celebrate their joys in the sweetness of this widely
diffused name. Let us therefore sing it with a pure mind and engage all
our strength in it, so that just as a most sweet sound is rendered to
bodily ears, so too it may be brought forth with sincerity of heart.
Thus the perpetual exile may be restored in its citizens, and the Lord
praised without ceasing.
Division of the Psalm
In the first section the prophet
speaks briefly to Jerusalem, that is, to the heavenly city, so that it
may now praise securely in expectation. In the second, through mystical
allusions, he more fully enumerates how many things the merciful and
gracious Lord has bestowed upon His people.
Exposition of the Psalm
Ps 147:12. Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Zion.
This psalm, from the first verse to the end, is composed to proclaim the
power of the Lord, as you can recognize from the progression of the
psalm itself. Jerusalem, as has often been said, is interpreted as
“vision of peace,” which properly belongs to that city which will have
no fellowship with vices or scandals. Yet this vision of peace will be
the contemplation of the Lord and Savior, which no one will merit except
one who has been freed from every disturbance. Hence, these two names
rightly belong to that future city: the gift of the reward already
obtained, and the exalted name of the Shepherd.
Ps 147:13. For He has strengthened the bars of your gates; He has blessed your children within you.
The cause of future blessedness is plainly indicated. For although this
reality has been promised by the mouths of many prophets, it is
nevertheless made most clear by the present narration. When he says that
the bars of the gates are strengthened, he shows that the doors of the
blessed city are shut. For a bar (sera) is so called from evening
(sero), the time when it is placed upon the door so that entry may be
denied. This will happen at that time when the Bridegroom has entered,
as He says in the Gospel concerning the virgins: And those who were ready went in with Him to the wedding, and the door was shut (Matthew 25:10).
It is shut not as a punishment of confinement, but unto everlasting
blessedness, because no holy one will thereafter go out from it, nor
will anyone new enter afterward. O secure blessedness of the righteous,
which is received under such a law that it can never be lost! And
rightly so, because that city has the visible God dwelling within it;
therefore no one desires to depart from there, since nothing comparable
can be seen outside of Him.
He continues: He has blessed your children within you.
Great indeed is the blessing of children, but far more delightful when
it is bestowed within the maternal womb. For what could be more pleasing
to a mother than always to behold her children flourishing, and for the
children continually to gaze upon the favor of their mother? Therefore
it is said within you, because those who are consecrated by the eternal gift will never be able to depart from that Jerusalem.
Ps 147:14. Who sets your boundaries in peace and fills you with the fat of wheat.
That city is great and beyond estimation, yet how briefly it is
described! For what more excellent could be said of it than that its
boundaries are defined by the gift of peace? From this it may be
absolutely concluded that it enjoys eternal tranquility, since it is
shown to dwell within such peace. By contrast, whatever is found outside
of it is Gehenna; and just as blessed Jerusalem possesses peace, so
wretched Babylon undoubtedly endures the conflict of sorrows. By
defining one, he clearly reveals the condition of the other. This figure
is called emphasis, which signifies even what is not explicitly stated.
How this peace comes about is then explained, when the faithful of Christ the Lord are said to be filled. The fat of wheat
signifies the visible divinity, by which the senses of the righteous
are refreshed in such a way that they are known to surpass all satiety.
This is the true bread that came down from heaven (John 6:41).
For if He refreshes us here by participation in His body, how will He
satisfy us there, when He fills us wholly with the light of His
divinity? Truly it is secure peace and tranquility when no want contends
with us, when no weariness exhausts, no sorrow afflicts, no hunger
oppresses, nor any of the other things that continually wage war against
our weakness. Then the body and the soul are joined in such fellowship
that they do not clash in adversity, but both consent together in
glorious will.
Ps 147:15. He sends forth His word to the earth; His message runs swiftly.
Having described the city of the future age, the prophet comes to the
second section, in which he foretells the gifts to be bestowed upon us
here, so that the truth of future realities may already be recognized
through present benefits. The Word of the Lord is the Word of the
Father, who descended to the earth when He assumed the humility of pious
Incarnation. When he says He sends, he indicates the present time by the spirit of prophecy, although he seems to speak of the future. Yet by saying He sends,
he does not imply inferiority, but rather shows the harmony of the holy
unity. Thus the message of that omnipotent Word ran swiftly, so that
the knowledge of the Holy Trinity filled the world with marvelous speed,
converting the worship of idols by the manifestation of the truth
itself.
Ps 147:16. He gives snow like wool; He scatters mist like ashes.
Ps 147:17. He casts forth His ice like morsels; who can stand before His cold?
After prophesying the coming of
Christ the Lord, he now explains the benefits He bestows through
figurative allusions. This figure is called parabole,
because things dissimilar in kind are compared. All these—snow, mist,
ice, cold—are evils of this age, which bind the mortal hearts of sinners
with the frost of sin and make them remain in stony numbness unless
they are loosened by the warmth of the Lord.
Let us see how a fitting remedy is provided for each. He says: He gives snow like wool.
“He gives” signifies “He makes,” as we commonly say “he gave us
understanding” when something has been shown and taught. Thus He makes
snow like wool, so that what was formerly frozen by the harshness of
cold may be drawn into wool-like softness. This happens when He leads
hearts made cold by sins to the ardor of repentance. For man is snow
when he departs from the Lord, wool when he merits to come to His
healing.
Mist signifies every sin that is
always committed in dark obscurity, but it is scattered like ashes by
the Lord’s gift, when its accumulation is dispersed by the grace of
confession. Ice, however, is hardened frost, formed over many winters,
liquefied into a substance of stone-like hardness. To this the obstinate
sinners are rightly compared, who are bound by the chill of unbelief
and grow more frozen day by day. These too the Lord sends forth like
morsels of bread when, once converted, He causes them to proclaim His
mighty works, so that the hungry people may feed upon the heavenly
bread. For we call morsels the
parts of a body, and these signify the various gifts of doctrine which
the Lord has often deigned to manifest in His saints even from former
sinners.
He continues: Who can stand before His cold?
It is said before His cold not because it comes from Him, but because He sometimes permits it to occur, as in: God hardened Pharaoh’s heart (Exodus 10:20), and elsewhere: I am the Lord, who makes good and creates evil (Isaiah 45:7).
Therefore before that cold which He does not remove, no one can stand,
since He can condemn men by sluggish foolishness. Thus the danger is
intensified, so that greater grace may be owed to deliverance.
Ps 147:18. He sends forth His word and melts them; He breathes His Spirit, and the waters flow.
When He comes, no darkness, no cold—not even hardness itself—should
despair, because those things that are resolved by His call are led into
most healthful fluidity. Thus what had been bound by frost flows forth
into healing through the Lord’s mercy. As it is said elsewhere: There is none who hides himself from His heat (Psalm 19:6).
By His Spirit, as by a southern wind, the hardness of dangerous cold
vanishes, when heaps of sins are dissolved, rigid necks melt into
humility, and being transformed into wholesome streams, they pour forth
the waters of spiritual benefit. Thus it happened to Saul the
persecutor; thus it happens even today to many, that those who were dry
through obstinate will later become irrigated by the flow of preaching.
Ps 147:19. Declaring His word to Jacob, His statutes and judgments to Israel.
By Jacob and Israel the Church is signified. For these two names
belonged to one person, just as from two peoples one has been made. He
is rightly called Israel and properly named Jacob, for even now whoever
is faithful is an Israelite, but before that he was Jacob, one who
pleased the Lord by pure devotion. To these He is known to have
proclaimed His word and His just judgments.
Ps 147:20. He has not done thus for any other nation, nor have His judgments been made known to them.
This verse seems to be understood in this way: although the Christian
religion has embraced all nations, nevertheless to none has He spoken
face to face, or divided the sea, or rained down manna, or filled the
tabernacle with a cloud, or consumed their sacrifices with heavenly
fire, and the other things that were visibly bestowed upon that people
by divine gift. These things occur spiritually for us, which appeared
visibly to their eyes.
Alleluia.
It often moves us that Alleluia
is found placed at the end of certain psalms. It perhaps signifies that
they belong entirely to the praises of the Lord, unmixed with reference
to any other cause, such that as they begin from the head, so they end
in the Lord. But we cannot assert this definitively, since in such
matters it is dangerous to define anything. It is better for a man to
confess higher mysteries than to be blamed for presumption. Therefore,
whatever we have thought should be offered to the Lord concerning this
matter or other novelties, let it rest in the judgment of the reader to
follow what he chooses.
Conclusion of the Psalm
Thus far concerning these four
psalms that preceded with praises of the Lord, it has been stated in
their conclusions with what intention they were formed, so that they
appear to be entirely set as a preparation for those that follow. For
the very order of the psalms is known to indicate a marvelous
arrangement of realities. It was fitting that first the commandments of
divine praise should be spoken of; second, the perversity of the world
to be fled; third, the gathering of the Church; and fourth, which has
now been completed, to celebrate that which, freed from the various
dangers of this world, is known to be established in eternal rest. For
this reason, to that most holy choir gathered from the parts of the
world, He adds threefold exultation, so that in this most sacred work
the grace of the Trinity might shine forth everywhere. To gathered
Jerusalem He commands the praises of the Lord to be celebrated.
CONTINUE
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