He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they have not known them. Praise ye the LORD.
Psalm 147 belongs with the psalms of the return from Babylonian captivity, reflecting the joy, sorrow, and anxiety of the returning exiles and referring to the building and dedication of the second temple. In the verse, judgments means God's law and commandments, his instructions for how his people should live. God gave Israel his word, statutes, and judgments in a way he gave to no other nation, committing his divine oracles to the Jews as their chief advantage and special honor. That same distinction was understood to concern the statutes and judgments given to Israel as not given to other nations.
By that gift Israel was taught to worship the Lord and to obey his law in both private and public life. Israel's religious services also pointed forward to a better service, for by faith the people looked toward the coming Messiah, the antitype foretold in prophecy. This special trust honored Israel and made the nation specially favored, but it did not make God's law or the Sabbath Jewish in nature or merely Jewish. The distinction in the verse concerns the Jewish ritual laws, not the moral law, which binds all alike. Nor does the verse mean that Gentiles who keep the same moral law do not know God or serve false gods.
Psalm 147 belongs with the psalms of the return from Babylonian captivity, reflecting the joy, sorrow, and anxiety of the returning exiles and referring to the building and dedication of the second temple. In the verse, judgments means God's law and commandments, his instructions for how his people should live. God gave Israel his word, statutes, and judgments in a way he gave to no other nation, committing his divine oracles to the Jews as their chief advantage and special honor. That same distinction was understood to concern the statutes and judgments given to Israel as not given to other nations.
By that gift Israel was taught to worship the Lord and to obey his law in both private and public life. Israel's religious services also pointed forward to a better service, for by faith the people looked toward the coming Messiah, the antitype foretold in prophecy. This special trust honored Israel and made the nation specially favored, but it did not make God's law or the Sabbath Jewish in nature or merely Jewish. The distinction in the verse concerns the Jewish ritual laws, not the moral law, which binds all alike. Nor does the verse mean that Gentiles who keep the same moral law do not know God or serve false gods.