
Text -- Psalms 147:4 (NET)




Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics



collapse allCommentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)
Wesley -> Psa 147:4
He exactly knows them as we do those whom we can call by name.
JFB -> Psa 147:4-5; Psa 147:4-5
JFB: Psa 147:4-5 - -- God's power in nature (Isa 40:26-28, and often) is presented as a pledge of His power to help His people.
God's power in nature (Isa 40:26-28, and often) is presented as a pledge of His power to help His people.
Clarke -> Psa 147:4
Clarke: Psa 147:4 - -- He telleth the number of the stars - He whose knowledge is so exact as to tell every star in heaven, can be under no difficulty to find out and coll...
He telleth the number of the stars - He whose knowledge is so exact as to tell every star in heaven, can be under no difficulty to find out and collect all the scattered exiles of Israel.
Calvin -> Psa 147:4
Calvin: Psa 147:4 - -- 4.=== Numbering the multitude, === etc. As the gathering together of the people of whom the Psalmist spoke might appear to be an impossibility, there...
4.=== Numbering the multitude, === etc. As the gathering together of the people of whom the Psalmist spoke might appear to be an impossibility, there seems some ground for the opinion of those who think that he confirms it in this verse. The connection they give to the Psalmist’s words is this — that as it is at least not more difficult to gather men together who are outcast and scattered, than to number the stars, there was no reason why the wandering exile Israelites should despair of their return, provided they should resort with one consent to God as their only head. There is some probability, too, in the conjecture that the Psalmist may allude to that promise —
“Look now towards the stars of heaven, if thou canst tell them,
so shall thy seed be.” (Gen 15:5.)
But as the Psalmist immediately afterwards treats of the order of things in nature generally, the simplest rendering, I think, is to understand this verse with reference to the admirable work of God to be seen in the heavens, where we behold his matchless wisdom, in regulating, without one degree of aberration, the manifold, complex, winding courses of the stars. To each of them he assigns its fixed and distinct office, and in all the multitude there is no confusion. He therefore exclaims immediately — Great is God, and boundless, both in power and understanding. We learn from this that there cannot be greater folly than to make our judgment the measure of God’s works, displaying in these, as he often does, his incomprehensible power and wisdom.
Defender -> Psa 147:4
Defender: Psa 147:4 - -- Astronomers today estimate there are at least ten trillion trillion stars. To call them all by name God would have to be omnipresent, naming them simu...
Astronomers today estimate there are at least ten trillion trillion stars. To call them all by name God would have to be omnipresent, naming them simultaneously."
TSK -> Psa 147:4

collapse allCommentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)
Barnes -> Psa 147:4
Barnes: Psa 147:4 - -- He telleth the number of the stars - He counts them all. God only can do this. The stars are so numerous that no astronomer can count them; the...
He telleth the number of the stars - He counts them all. God only can do this. The stars are so numerous that no astronomer can count them; they lie so far in the depths of space, and are so remote from each other, that no man can be so presumptuous as to suppose that he has even seen any considerable part of them, even by the aid of the most powerful telescopes.
He calleth them all by their names - As if each one had a name, and God could call them forth one by one by their names, like the muster-roll of an army. This language seems to be taken from Isa 40:26 : "Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by numbers; he calleth them all by names, by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth."See the notes at that passage.
Poole -> Psa 147:4
Poole: Psa 147:4 - -- He telleth the number of the stars, which no man can do, Gen 22:17 . For those thousand and twenty-five which astrononers number, are only such as a...
He telleth the number of the stars, which no man can do, Gen 22:17 . For those thousand and twenty-five which astrononers number, are only such as are most distinctly visible to the eye, and most considerable for their influences.
He calleth them all by their names: this signifies,
1. That He exactly knows them as we do those whom we can call by name; he is able to give distinct names to each of them, because he accurately understands their several natures and operations.
2. That he hath a sovereign power over them, as men have over their children, or servants, or soldiers, whom they can call by name; that he appointeth and governeth all their motions and influences to the fulfilling of his own pleasure and purposes.
Haydock -> Psa 147:4
Haydock: Psa 147:4 - -- or Hebrew Psalm cxlvii. Ver. 15. Speech. Rain, (Kimchi) Jesus Christ, (St. Augustine) or the gospel, (St. Hilary; St. Jerome) which was present...
or Hebrew Psalm cxlvii. Ver. 15. Speech. Rain, (Kimchi) Jesus Christ, (St. Augustine) or the gospel, (St. Hilary; St. Jerome) which was presently propagated over all the earth, Romans x. 18. (Worthington) ---
God's commands are instantly obeyed. (Haydock) ---
No sooner did he speak to Saul, but he was converted, Acts ix. 4., and Hebrews iv. 12. (Berthier)
Gill -> Psa 147:4
Gill: Psa 147:4 - -- He telleth the number of the stars,.... Which no man can do exactly; see Gen 15:5; the ancient astronomers pretended to tell them, as Aratus and Eudox...
He telleth the number of the stars,.... Which no man can do exactly; see Gen 15:5; the ancient astronomers pretended to tell them, as Aratus and Eudoxus o, and fixed their number at a thousand and some odd; but then these were only such as were of some magnitude and influence, and such as commonly appeared; but since the use of telescopes many are seen which were not before; and especially those clusters of them in the Milky Way cannot be distinctly discerned and told; but the Lord that made them can tell their exact number. Aben Ezra thinks this is said with respect to the outcasts of Israel scattered throughout the whole earth, as the stars are in the upper orb; and that as the Lord knows the one, he knows the other; which is not amiss, especially spiritually understood;
he calleth them all by their names; not that he calls one Jupiter and another Verus, &c. as the Heathens have done; but the sense is, that he has as perfect, distinct, and exact knowledge of them, as we have of any persons or things that we can call by name, and more so; see Isa 40:26. This may be applied to the saints, who are like to stars for the light they receive from Christ the sun of righteousness, and are a number which no man can number; but Christ knows them all distinctly and exactly, and can call them by name, and holds them in his right hand, and will preserve them; and they shall shine for ever like stars, yea, like the sun in the kingdom of his Father; so Arama interprets this of the righteous, who are compared to stars; see Dan 12:4.

expand allCommentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

expand allCommentary -- Verse Range Notes
TSK Synopsis -> Psa 147:1-20
TSK Synopsis: Psa 147:1-20 - --1 The prophet exhorts to praise God for his care of the church;4 his power and wisdom;6 his mercy;7 his providence;12 to praise him for his blessings ...
MHCC -> Psa 147:1-11
MHCC: Psa 147:1-11 - --Praising God is work that is its own wages. It is comely; it becomes us as reasonable creatures, much more as people in covenant with God. He gathers ...
Matthew Henry -> Psa 147:1-11
Matthew Henry: Psa 147:1-11 - -- Here, I. The duty of praise is recommended to us. It is not without reason that we are thus called to it again and again: Praise you the Lord (Psa...
Keil-Delitzsch -> Psa 147:1-6
Keil-Delitzsch: Psa 147:1-6 - --
The Hallelujah, as in Psa 135:3, is based upon the fact, that to sing of our God, or to celebrate our God in song ( זמּר with an accusative of t...
Constable: Psa 107:1--150:6 - --V. Book 5: chs. 107--150
There are 44 psalms in this section of the Psalter. David composed 15 of these (108-110...

Constable: Psa 147:1-20 - --Psalm 147
God's greatness and His grace are also the theme of this psalm. However in this one an unnamed...
