Psa 147:16-18 | Clarke | STEP | Verse 16 He giveth snow like wool - Falling down in large flakes; and in this state nothing in nature has a nearer resemblance to fine white wool. Scattereth the hoar frost like ashes - Spreading it over the whole face of nature.

Psalms 147:16-18

Verse 16

He giveth snow like wool - Falling down in large flakes; and in this state nothing in nature has a nearer resemblance to fine white wool.

Scattereth the hoar frost like ashes - Spreading it over the whole face of nature. Verse 17

He casteth forth his ice - קרחו korcho, (probably hailstones), like crumbs.

Who can stand before his cold? - At particular times the cold in the east is so very intense as to kill man and beast. Jacobus de Vitriaco, one of the writers in the Gesta Dei per Francos, says, that in an expedition in which he was engaged against Mount Tabor, on the 24th of December, the cold was so intense that many of the poor people, and the beasts of burden, died by it. And Albertus Aquensis, another of these writers, speaking of the cold in Judea, says, that thirty of the people who attended Baldwin 1: in the mountainous districts near the Dead Sea, were killed by it; and that in that expedition they had to contend with horrible hail and ice, with unheard-of snow and rain. From thls we find that the winters are often very severe in Judea; and in such cases as the above, we may well call out, "Who can stand against his cold!" Verse 18

He sendeth out his word - He gives a command: the south wind blows; the thaw takes place; and the ice and snow being liquefied, the waters flow, where before they were bound up by the ice.