Psalm 147
1 Praise the Lord.
How good it is to sing praises to our God,
how pleasant and fitting to praise him!
2 The Lord builds up Jerusalem;
he gathers the exiles of Israel.
3 He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds.
4 He determines the number of the stars
and calls them each by name.
5 Great is our Lord and mighty in power;
his understanding has no limit.
6 The Lord sustains the humble
but casts the wicked to the ground.
7 Sing to the Lord with grateful praise;
make music to our God on the harp.
8 He covers the sky with clouds;
he supplies the earth with rain
and makes grass grow on the hills.
9 He provides food for the cattle
and for the young ravens when they call.
10 His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse,
nor his delight in the legs of the warrior;
11 the Lord delights in those who fear him,
who put their hope in his unfailing love.
12 Extol the Lord, Jerusalem;
praise your God, Zion.
13 He strengthens the bars of your gates
and blesses your people within you.
14 He grants peace to your borders
and satisfies you with the finest of wheat.
15 He sends his command to the earth;
his word runs swiftly.
16 He spreads the snow like wool
and scatters the frost like ashes.
17 He hurls down his hail like pebbles.
Who can withstand his icy blast?
18 He sends his word and melts them;
he stirs up his breezes, and the waters flow.
19 He has revealed his word to Jacob,
his laws and decrees to Israel.
20 He has done this for no other nation;
they do not know his laws.
Praise the Lord.
This week we read 1 Kings 13. Why would God allow Jeroboam, Solomon's appointed slave foreman to split David's Kingdom by the time his grandson became King. The Lord would use Israel and Judah to protect His people, to preserve a remnant. To enable the Temple to survive. Even Hezekiah's father tried to teach Hezekiah to strip the gold from every surface of the Temple to allow God's country and God's people to become a client state of an Empire.
But to whom are God's promises given today? The first chapter of Roman's says we all know God. This is different from the time of the Psalm 147. The Holy Spirit had not been given to all nations. Who is Jerusalem? During its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times. We first learn of Jerusalem as Salem, city of Melchizedek. Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High.
Hebrews 7:2
and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First, the name Melchizedek means “king of righteousness”; then also, “king of Salem” means “king of peace."
Jerusalem was inhabited by Jebusites the Tribe of Judah could not remove until David, removed the Jebusites. That is why Jerusalem is called the City of David.
1 Corinthians 8:1
Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.
So, the history lesson has a point. David, as King, not only embraced the men who came to David after Saul was killed and his concubine's son proclaimed King, David embraced the men who would only flock to him as a victor. As God runs to the prodigal son, David took Judah's land, being from the tribe of Judah and perfected the dream of Joshua, 40 years in the wilderness, to give the Children of Israel a home. The City of David is his homecoming victory.
David was not sustained by war horses and palaces built behind the city walls. David was sustained in his humility of relying upon God's mercy. Left to him from the wonders he thought of as he counted the stars above the flock.
When we read about Jerusalem or Israel or Judah, we read of God's love for us.
Psalm 5:7
But I, by your great love, can come into your house; in reverence I bow down toward your holy temple.
Psalm 13:5
But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.
Psalm 36:5
Your love, LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.
Psalm 37:28
For the LORD loves the just and will not forsake his faithful ones.
Psalm 40:11
Do not withhold your mercy from me, LORD; may your love and faithfulness always protect me.
David's Palace was built using Phoenician architecture, drawing by Professor Eilat Mazar, the archeologist who found David's Palace by reading the Scriptures.
View from David's Palace - artistic rendition
Phoenician Column found in David's Palace
View looking outside from David's Palace archaeological dig
Matthew 23:37
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.
Acts 1:6-8
Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
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