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Psalm One
Hundred and Four
Psalm 104
Chapter Contents
God's majesty in the heavens, The creation of the sea,
and the dry land. (1-9) His provision for all creatures. (10-18) The regular
course of day and night, and God's sovereign power over all the creatures.
(19-30) A resolution to continue praising God. (31-35)
Commentary on Psalm 104:1-9
(Read Psalm 104:1-9)
Every object we behold calls on us to bless and praise
the Lord, who is great. His eternal power and Godhead are clearly shown by the
things which he hath made. God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. The
Lord Jesus, the Son of his love, is the Light of the world.
Commentary on Psalm 104:10-18
(Read Psalm 104:10-18)
When we reflect upon the provision made for all
creatures, we should also notice the natural worship they render to God. Yet
man, forgetful ungrateful man, enjoys the largest measure of his Creator's
kindness. the earth, varying in different lands. Nor let us forget spiritual
blessings; the fruitfulness of the church through grace, the bread of
everlasting life, the cup of salvation, and the oil of gladness. Does God
provide for the inferior creatures, and will he not be a refuge to his people?
Commentary on Psalm 104:19-30
(Read Psalm 104:19-30)
We are to praise and magnify God for the constant
succession of day and night. And see how those are like to the wild beasts, who
wait for the twilight, and have fellowship with the unfruitful works of
darkness. Does God listen to the language of mere nature, even in ravenous
creatures, and shall he not much more interpret favourably the language of
grace in his own people, though weak and broken groanings which cannot be
uttered? There is the work of every day, which is to be done in its day, which
man must apply to every morning, and which he must continue in till evening; it
will be time enough to rest when the night comes, in which no man can work. The
psalmist wonders at the works of God. The works of art, the more closely they
are looked upon, the more rough they appear; the works of nature appear more
fine and exact. They are all made in wisdom, for they all answer the end they
were designed to serve. Every spring is an emblem of the resurrection, when a
new world rises, as it were, out of the ruins of the old one. But man alone
lives beyond death. When the Lord takes away his breath, his soul enters on
another state, and his body will be raised, either to glory or to misery. May
the Lord send forth his Spirit, and new-create our souls to holiness.
Commentary on Psalm 104:31-35
(Read Psalm 104:31-35)
Man's glory is fading; God's glory is everlasting:
creatures change, but with the Creator there is no variableness. And if
mediation on the glories of creation be so sweet to the soul, what greater
glory appears to the enlightened mind, when contemplating the great work of
redemption! There alone can a sinner perceive ground of confidence and joy in
God. While he with pleasure upholds all, governs all, and rejoices in all his
works, let our souls, touched by his grace, meditate on and praise him.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Psalms》
Psalm 104
Verse 2
[2] Who
coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens
like a curtain:
Light —
With that first created light, which the psalmist fitly puts in the first
place, as being the first of God's visible works.
Verse 3
[3] Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds
his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind:
Waters — In
the waters above the heavens, as they are called, Genesis 1:7.
Verse 4
[4] Who
maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire:
Spirits — Of
a spiritual or incorporeal nature, that they might be fitter for their
employments.
Fire — So
called for their irresistible force and agility, and fervency in the execution
of God's commands.
Verse 5
[5] Who
laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever.
Who laid —
Heb. he hath established the earth upon its own basis, whereby it stands as
fast and unmoveable, as if it were built upon the strongest foundations.
Forever — As
long as the world continues. God has fixt so strange a place for the earth,
that being an heavy body, one would think it should fall every moment. And yet
which way so ever we would imagine it to stir, it must, contrary to the nature
of such a body, fall upwards, and so can have no possible ruin, but by tumbling
into heaven.
Verse 6
[6] Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood above
the mountains.
The deep — In
the first creation, Genesis 1:2,9.
Verse 7
[7] At
thy rebuke they fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away.
Rebuke —
Upon thy command, Genesis 1:9.
Fled —
They immediately went to the place which God had allotted them.
Verse 8
[8] They
go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou
hast founded for them.
Go up — In
that first division of the waters from the earth, part went upwards, and became
springs in the mountains, the greatest part went downwards to the channels made
for them.
Verse 9
[9] Thou
hast set a bound that they may not pass over; that they turn not again to cover
the earth.
A bound —
Even the sand of the sea-shore.
Verse 11
[11] They
give drink to every beast of the field: the wild asses quench their thirst.
Wild asses —
Stupid creatures, and yet plentifully provided for by the Divine providence.
Verse 13
[13] He
watereth the hills from his chambers: the earth is satisfied with the fruit of
thy works.
The hills —
Which most need moisture.
From —
From the clouds.
Satisfied — By
this means all the parts of the earth, are made fruitful.
The fruit —
With the effects of those sweet showers.
Verse 15
[15] And
wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and
bread which strengtheneth man's heart.
Oil — He
alludes to the custom of those times and places, which was upon festival
occasions to anoint their faces with oil.
Bread —
Which preserves or renews our strength and vigour.
Verse 16
[16] The
trees of the LORD are full of sap; the cedars of Lebanon, which he hath
planted;
Trees —
Which come up, and thrive not by man's industry, but merely by the care of
God's providence.
Verse 19
[19] He
appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down.
For seasons — To
distinguish the times, the seasons of divers natural events, as of the ebbing
and flowing of waters, and other seasons for sacred and civil affairs, which
were commonly regulated by the moon.
Verse 21
[21] The
young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God.
Roar —
They roar when they come within sight of their prey.
Seek —
Their roaring is a kind of natural prayer to God, for relief.
Verse 25
[25] So
is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small
and great beasts.
Creeping —
This word is common to all creatures that move without feet.
Verse 26
[26] There
go the ships: there is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein.
Leviathan —
The whale.
Therein —
Who being of such a vast strength and absolute dominion in the sea, tumbles in
it with great security, and sports himself with other creatures.
Verse 20
[20] Thou
makest darkness, and it is night: wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep
forth.
Darkness —
Which succeeds the light by virtue of thy decree.
Verse 29
[29] Thou
hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die,
and return to their dust.
Hidest —
Withdrawest the care of thy providence.
Verse 30
[30] Thou
sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the
earth.
Spirit —
That quickening power of God, by which he produces life in the creatures from
time to time. For he speaks not here of the first creation, but of the
continued production of living creatures.
Created —
Other living creatures are produced; the word created being taken in its
largest sense for the production of things by second causes.
Renewest —
And thus by thy wise and wonderful providence thou preservest the succession of
living creatures.
Verse 31
[31] The
glory of the LORD shall endure for ever: the LORD shall rejoice in his works.
Rejoice —
Thus God advances the glory of his wisdom and power and goodness, in upholding
the works of his hands from generation to generation, and he takes pleasure in
the preservation of his works, as also in his reflection upon these works of
his providence.
Verse 32
[32] He
looketh on the earth, and it trembleth: he toucheth the hills, and they smoke.
He looketh —
This is a farther illustration of God's powerful providence: as when he affords
his favour to creatures, they live and thrive, so on the contrary, one angry
look or touch of his upon the hills or earth, makes them tremble and smoke, as
Sinai did when God appeared in it.
Verse 35
[35] Let
the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless
thou the LORD, O my soul. Praise ye the LORD.
Praise ye the Lord —
Heb. Hallelujah. This is the first time that this word occurs. And it comes in
here on occasion of the destruction of the wicked. And the last time it occurs,
Revelation 19:1; 3,4,6, it is on a like occasion, the destruction
of Babylon.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Psalms》
Exposition
Explanatory Notes and
Quaint Sayings
Hints to the Village
Preacher
GENERAL,
REMARKS. Here we have one of the loftiest and longest sustained flights of
the inspired muse. The psalm gives an interpretation to the many voices of
nature, and sings sweetly both of creation and providence. The poem contains a
complete cosmos sea and land, cloud and sunlight, plant and animal, light and
darkness, life and death, are all proved to be expressive of the presence of
the Lord. Traces of the six days of creation are very evident, and though the
creation of man, which was the crowning work of the sixth day, is not mentioned,
this is accounted for from the fact that man is himself the singer: some have
ever, discerned marks of the divine rest upon the seventh day in Ps 104:31. It
is a poet's version of Genesis. Nor is it alone the present condition of the
earth which is here the subject of song; but a hint is given of those holier
times when we shall see "a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness,
"out of which the sinner shall be consumed, Ps 104:35. The spirit of
ardent praise to God runs through the whole, and with it a distinct realization
of the divine Being as a personal existence, loved and trusted as well as
adored.
We
have no information as to the author, but the Septuagint assigns it to David,
and we see no reason for ascribing it to any one else. His spirit, style, and
manner of writing are very manifest therein, and if the psalm must be ascribed
to another, it must be to a mind remarkably similar, and we could only suggest
the wise son of David—Solomon, the poet preacher, to whose notes upon natural
history in the Proverbs some of the verses bear a striking likeness. Whoever
the human penman may have been, the exceeding glory and perfection of the Holy
Spirit's own divine authorship are plain to every spiritual mind.
DIVISION. After
ascribing blessedness to the Lord the devout psalmist sings of the light and
the firmament, which were the work of the first and second days Ps 104:1-6. By
an easy transition he describes the separation of the waters from the dry land,
the formation of rain, brooks and rivers, and the uprising of green herbs,
which were the produce of the third day Ps 104:7-18. Then the appointment of
the sun and moon to be the guardians of day and night commands the poet's
admiration Ps 104:19-23, and so he sings the work of the fourth day. Having already
alluded to many varieties of living creatures, the psalmist proceeds from Ps
104:24-30 to sing of the life with which the Lord was pleased to fill the air,
the sea, and the land; these forms of existence were the peculiar produce of
the fifth and sixth days. We may regard the closing verses Ps 104:31-35 as a
Sabbath meditation, hymn, and prayer. The whole lies before us as a panorama of
the universe viewed by the eye of devotion. O for grace to render due praise
unto the Lord while reading it.
EXPOSITION
Verse
1. Bless the LORD, O my soul. This psalm begins and ends like
the Hundred and Third, and it could not do better: when the model is perfect it
deserves to exist in duplicate. True praise begins at home. It is idle to stir
up others to praise if we are ungratefully silent ourselves. We should call
upon our inmost hearts to awake and bestir themselves, for we are apt to be
sluggish, and if we are so when called upon to bless God, we shall have great
cause to be ashamed. When we magnify the Lord, let us do it heartily: our best
is far beneath his worthiness, let us not dishonour him by rendering to him
half hearted worship. O LORD my God, thou art very great. This ascription has
in it a remarkable blending of the boldness of faith, and the awe of holy fear:
for the psalmist calls the infinite Jehovah "my God, "and at the same
time, prostrate in amazement at the divine greatness, he cries out in utter
astonishment, "Thou art very great." God was great on Sinai,
yet the opening words of his law were, "I am the Lord thy God; " his
greatness is no reason why faith should not put in her claim, and call him all
her own. The declaration of Jehovah's greatness here given would have been very
much in place at the end of the psalm, for it is a natural inference and
deduction from a survey of the universe: its position at the very commencement
of the poem is an indication that the whole psalm was well considered and
digested in the mind before it was actually put into words; only on this
supposition can we account for the emotion preceding the contemplation. Observe
also, that the wonder expressed does not refer to the creation and its
greatness, but to Jehovah himself. It is not "the universe is very
great!" but "THOU art very great." Many stay at the
creature, and so become idolatrous in spirit; to pass onward to the Creator
himself is true wisdom.
Thou
art clothed with honour and majesty. Thou thyself art not to
be seen, but thy works, which may be called thy garments, are full of beauties
and marvels which redound to thine honour. Garments both conceal and reveal a
man, and so do the creatures of God. The Lord is seen in his works as worthy of
honour for his skill, his goodness, and his power, and as claiming majesty, for
he has fashioned all things in sovereignty, doing as he wills, and asking no
man's permit. He must be blind indeed who does not see that nature is the work
of a king. These are solemn strokes of God's severer mind, terrible touches of
his sterner attributes, broad lines of inscrutable mystery, and deep shadings
of overwhelming power, and these make creation's picture a problem never to be
solved, except by admitting that he who drew it giveth no account of his
matters, but ruleth all things according to the good pleasure of his will. His
majesty is, however, always so displayed as to reflect honour upon his whole
character; he does as lie wills, but he wills only that which is thrice holy,
like himself. The very robes of the unseen Spirit teach us this, and it is ours
to recognize it with humble adoration.
Verse
2. Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment:
wrapping the light about him as a monarch puts on his robe. The conception is
sublime: but it makes us feel how altogether inconceivable the personal glory
of the Lord must be; if light itself is but his garment and veil, what must be
the blazing splendour of his own essential being! We are lost in astonishment,
and dare not pry into the mystery lest we be blinded by its insufferable glory.
Who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain—within which he might dwell.
Light was created on the first day and the firmament upon the second, so that
they fitly follow each other in this verse. Oriental princes put on their
glorious apparel and then sit in state within curtains, and the Lord is spoken
of under that image: but how far above all comprehension the figure must be
lifted, since the robe is essential light, to which suns and moons owe their
brightness, and the curtain is the azure sky studded with stars for gems. This
is a substantial argument for the truth with which the psalmist commenced his
song, "O Lord my God, thou art very great."
Verse
3. Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the water's. His
lofty halls are framed with the waters which are above the firmament. The upper
rooms of God's great house, the secret stories far above our ken, the palatial
chambers wherein he resides, are based upon the floods which form the upper
ocean. To the unsubstantial he lends stability; he needs no joists and rafters,
for his palace is sustained by his own power. We are not to interpret literally
where the language is poetical, it would be simple absurdity to do so. Who
maketh the clouds his chariot. When he comes forth from his secret pavilion it
is thus he makes his royal progress. "It is chariot of wrath deep thunder
clouds form, "and his chariot of mercy drops plenty as it traverses the
celestial road. Who walketh or rather goes upon the wings of the wind.
With the clouds for a car, and the winds for winged steeds, the Great King
hastens on his movements whether for mercy or for judgment. Thus we have the
idea of a king still further elaborated—his lofty palace, his chariot, and his
coursers are before us; but what a palace must we imagine, whose beams are of
crystal, and whose base is consolidated vapour! What a stately car is that
which is fashioned out of the flying clouds, whose gorgeous colours Solomon in
all his glory could not rival; and what a Godlike progress is that in which
spirit wings and breath of winds bear up the moving throne. "O Lord, my
God, thou art very great!"
Verse
4. Who maketh his angels spirits; or wields, for the word
means either. Angels are pure spirits, though they are permitted to assume a
visible form when God desires us to see them. God is a spirit, and he is waited
upon by spirits in his royal courts. Angels are like winds for mystery, force,
and invisibility, and no doubt the winds themselves are often the angels or
messengers of God. God who makes his angels to be as winds, can also make winds
to be his angels, and they are constantly so in the economy of nature. His
ministers a flaming fire. Here, too, we may choose which we will of two
meanings: God's ministers or servants he makes to be as swift, potent, and
terrible as fire, and on the other hand he makes fire, that devouring element,
to be his minister flaming forth upon his errands. That the passage refers to
angels is clear from Heb 1:7; and it was most proper to mention them here in
connection with light and the heavens, and immediately after the robes and paltree
of the Great King. Should not the retinue of the Lord of Hosts be mentioned as
well as his chariot? It would have been a flaw in the description of the
universe had the angels not been alluded to, and this is the most appropriate
place for their introduction. When we think of the extraordinary powers
entrusted to angelic beings, and the mysterious glory of the seraphim and the
four living creatures, we are led to reflect upon the glory of the Master whom
they serve, and again we cry out with the psalmist, "O Lord, my God, thou
art very great."
Verse
5. Who laid the foundations of the earth. Thus the
commencement of creation is described, in almost the very words employed by the
Lord himself in Job 38:4. "Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of
the earth? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened, and who laid the
corner stone thereof?" And the words are found in the same connection too,
for the Lord proceeds to say, "When the morning stars sang together and
all the sons of God shouted for joy." That it should not be removed
forever. The language is, of course, poetical, but the fact is none the less
wonderful: the earth is so placed in space that it remains as stable as if it
were a fixture. The several motions of our planet are carried on so noiselessly
and evenly that, as far as we are concerned, all things are as permanent and
peaceful as if the old notion of its resting upon pillars were literally true.
With what delicacy has the great Artificer poised our globe! What power must
there be in that hand which has caused so vast a body to know its orbit, and to
move so smoothly in it! What engineer can save every part of his machinery from
an occasional jar, jerk, or friction? yet to our great world in its complicated
motions no such thing has ever occurred. "O Lord, my God, thou art very
great."
Verse
6. Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment. The new
born earth was wrapped in aqueous swaddling bands. In the first ages, ere man
appeared, the proud waters ruled the whole earth. The waters stood above the
mountains, no dry land was visible, vapour as from a steaming cauldron covered
all. Geologists inform us of this as a discovery, but the Holy Spirit had
revealed the fact long before. The passage before us shows us the Creator commencing
his work, and laying the foundation for future order and beauty: to think of
this reverently will fill us with adoration; to conceive of it grossly and
carnally would be highly blasphemous.
Verse
7. At thy rebuke they fled; at the voice of thy thunder they
hasted away. When the waters and vapours covered all, the Lord had but to
speak and they disappeared at once. As though they had been intelligent agents
the waves hurried to their appointed deeps and left the land to itself; then
the mountains lifted their heads, the high lands rose from the main, and at
length continents and islands, slopes and plains were left to form the
habitable earth. The voice of the Lord effected this great marvel. Is not his
word equal to every emergency? potent enough to work the greatest miracle? By
that same word shall the waterfloods of trouble be restrained, and the raging
billows of sin be rebuked: the day cometh when at the thunder of Jehovah's
voice all the proud waters of evil shall utterly haste away. "O Lord, my God,
thou art very great."
Verse
8. The vanquished waters are henceforth obedient. They go up by
the mountains, climbing in the form of clouds even to the summits of the
Alps. They go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for
them: they are as willing to descend in rain, and brooks, and torrents as
they were eager to ascend in mists. The loyalty of the mighty waters to the
laws of their God is most notable; the fierce flood, the boisterous rapid; the
tremendous torrent, are only forms of that gentle dew which trembles on the
tiny blade of grass, and in those ruder shapes they are equally obedient to the
laws which their Maker has impressed upon them. Not so much as a solitary
particle of spray ever breaks rank, or violates the command of the Lord of sea
and land, neither do the awful cataracts and terrific floods revolt from his
sway. It is very beautiful among the mountains to see the divine system of
water supply—the rising of the fleecy vapours, the distillation of the pure
fluid, the glee with which the newborn element leaps down the crags to reach
the rivers, and the strong eagerness with which the rivers seek the ocean,
their appointed place.
Verse
9. Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over; that they
turn not again to cover the earth. That bound has once been passed, but it
shall never be so again. The deluge was caused by the suspension of the divine
mandate which held the floods in check: they knew their old supremacy, and
hastened to reassert it, but now the covenant promise for ever prevents a
return of that carnival of waters, that revolt of the waves: ought we not
rather to call it that impetuous rush of the indignant floods to avenge the
injured honour of their King, whom men had offended? Jehovah's word bounds the ocean,
using only a narrow belt of sand to confine it to its own limits: that
apparently feeble restraint answers every purpose, for the sea is obedient as a
little child to the bidding of its Maker. Destruction lies asleep in the bed of
the ocean, and though our sins might well arouse it, yet are its bands made
strong by covenant mercy, so that it cannot break loose again upon the guilty
sons of men.
Verse
10. He sendeth the springs into the valleys, which run among the
hills. This is a beautiful part of the Lord's arrangement of the subject
waters: they find vents through which they leap into liberty where their
presence will be beneficial in the highest degree. Depressions exist in the
sides of the mountains, and down these the water brooks are made to flow, often
taking their rise at bubbling fountains which issue from the bowels of the
earth. It is God who sends these springs even as a gardener makes the water
courses, and turns the current with his foot. When the waters are confined in
the abyss the Lord sets their bound, and when they sport at liberty he
sends them forth.
Verse
11. They give drink to every beast of the field. Who else
would water them if the Lord did not? They are his cattle, and therefore
he leads them forth to watering. Not one of them is forgotten of him. The wild
asses quench their thirst. The good Lord gives them enough and to spare. They
know their Master's crib. Though bit or bridle of man they will not brook, and
man denounces them as unteachable, they learn of the Lord, and know better far
than man where flows the cooling crystal of which they must drink or die. They
are only asses, and wild, yet our heavenly Father careth for them. Will he not
also care for us? We see here, also, that nothing is made in vain; though no
human lip is moistened by the brooklet in the lone valley, yet are there other
creatures which need refreshment, and these slake their thirst at the stream.
Is this nothing? Must everything exist for man, or else be wasted? What but our
pride and selfishness could have suggested such a notion? It is not true that
flowers which blush unseen by human eye are wasting their sweetness, for the
bee finds them out, and other winged wanderers live on their luscious juices.
Man is but one creature of the many whom the heavenly Father feedeth and
watereth.
Verse
12. By them shall the fowls of the heaven have their habitation,
which sing among the branches. How refreshing are these words! What happy
memories they arouse of splashing waterfalls and entangled boughs, where the
merry din of the falling and rushing water forms a sort of solid background of
music, and the sweet tuneful notes of the birds are the brighter and more
flashing lights in the harmony. Pretty birdies, sing on! What better can ye do,
and who can do it better? When we too drink of the river of God, and eat of the
fruit of the tree of fife, it well becomes us to "sing among the
branches." Where ye dwell ye sing; and shall not we rejoice in the Lord,
who has been our dwelling place in all generations. As ye fly from bough to
bough, ye warble forth your notes, and so will we as we flit through time into
eternity. It is not meet that birds of Paradise should be outdone by birds of
earth.
Verse
13. He watereth the hills from his chambers. As the mountains
are too high to be watered by rivers and brooks, the Lord himself refreshes
them from those waters above the firmament which the poet had in a former verse
described as the upper chambers of heaven. Clouds are detained among the
mountain crags, and deluge the hill sides with fertilizing rain. Where man
cannot reach the Lord can, whom none else can water with grace he can, and
where all stores of refreshment fail he can supply all that is needed from his
own halls. The earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works. The result of
the divine working is fulness everywhere, the soil is saturated with rain, the
seed germinates, the beasts drink, and the birds sing—nothing is left without
supplies. So, too, is it in the new creation, he giveth more grace, he fills
his people with good, and makes them all confess, "of his fulness have all
we received and grace for grace."
Verse
14. He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the
service of man. Grass grows as well as herbs, for cattle must be fed as
well as men. God appoints to the lowliest creature its portion and takes care
that it has it: Divine power is as truly and as worthily put forth in the
feeding of beasts as in the nurturing of man; watch but a blade of grass with a
devout eye and you may see God at work within it. The herb is for man, and he
must till the soil, or it will not be produced, yet it is God that causeth it
to grow in the garden, even the same God who made the grass to grow in the
unenclosed pastures of the wilderness. Man forgets this and talks of his
produce, but in very truth without God he would plough and sow in vain. The
Lord causeth each green blade to spring and each ear to ripen; do but watch
with opened eye and you shall see the Lord walking through the cornfields. That
he may bring forth food out of the earth. Both grass for cattle and corn for
man are food brought forth out of the earth and they are signs that it was
God's design that the very dust beneath our feet, which seems better adapted to
bury us than to sustain us, should actually be transformed into the staff of
life. The more we think of this the more wonderful it will appear. How great is
that God who from among the sepulchres finds the support of life, and out of
the ground which was cursed brings forth the blessings of corn and wine and
oil.
Verse
15. And wine that maketh glad the heart of man. By the aid of
genial showers the earth produces not merely necessaries but luxuries, that
which furnishes a feast as well as that which makes a meal. O that man were
wise enough to know how to use this gladdening product of the vine; but, alas,
he full often turns it to ill account, and debases himself therewith. Of this
he must himself bear the blame; he deserves to be miserable who turns even
blessings into curses. And oil to make his face to shine. The easterns use oil
more than we do, and probably are wiser in this respect than we are: they
delight in anointing with perfumed oils, and regard the shining of the face as
a choice emblem of joy. God is to be praised for all the products of the soil,
not one of which could come to us were it not that he causeth it to grow. And
bread which strengtheneth man's heart. Men have more courage after they are
fed: many a depressed spirit has been comforted by a good substantial meal. We ought
to bless God for strength of heart as well as force of limb, since if we
possess them they are both the bounties of his kindness.
Verse
16. The watering of the hills not only produces the grass and the
cultivated herbs, but also the nobler species of vegetation, which come not
within the range of human culture:
"Their
veins with genial moisture fed,
Jehovah's forests lift the head:
Nor other than his fostering hand
Thy cedars, Lebanon, demand."
The
trees of the Lord—the greatest, noblest, and most royal of trees; those too
which are unowned of man, and untouched by his hand. Are full of sap, or are
full, well supplied, richly watered, so that they become, as the cedars, full
of resin, flowing with life, and verdant all the year round. The cedars of Lebanon,
which he hath planted. They grow where none ever thought of planting them,
where for ages they were unobserved, and where at this moment they are too
gigantic for man to prune them. What would our psalmist have said to some of
the trees in the Yosemite valley? Truly these are worthy to be called the trees
of the Lord, for towering stature and enormous girth. Thus is the care of God
seen to be effectual and all sufficient. If trees uncared for by man are yet so
full of sap, we may rest assured that the people of God who by faith live upon
the Lord alone shall be equally well sustained. Planted by grace, and owing all
to our heavenly Father's care, we may defy the hurricane, and laugh at the fear
of drought, for none that trust in him shall ever be left unwatered.
Verse
17. Where the birds make their nests: as for the stork, the fir
trees are her house. So far from being in need, these trees of God afford
shelter to others, birds small and great make their nests in the branches. Thus
what they receive from the great Lord they endeavour to return to his weaker
creatures. How one thing fits into another in this fair creation, each link
drawing on its fellow: the rains water the fir trees, and the fir trees become
the happy home of birds; thus do the thunder clouds build the sparrow's house,
and the descending rain sustains the basis of the stork's nest. Observe, also,
how everything has its use—the boughs furnish a home for the birds; and every
living thing has its accommodation—the stork finds a house in the pines. Her
nest is called a house, because this bird exhibits domestic virtues and
maternal love which make her young to be comparable to a family. No doubt this
ancient writer had seen storks' nests in fir trees; they appear usually to
build on houses and ruins, but there is also evidence that where there are
forests they are content with pine trees. Has the reader ever walked through a
forest of great trees and felt the awe which strikes the heart in nature's
sublime cathedral? Then he will remember to have felt that each bird was holy,
since it dwelt amid such sacred solitude. Those who cannot see or hear of God
except in Gothic edifices, amid the swell of organs, and the voices of a
surpliced choir, will not be able to enter into the feeling which makes the
simple, unsophisticated soul hear "the voice of the Lord God walking among
the trees."
Verse
18. The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats; and the rocks
for the conies. All places teem with life. We call our cities populous, but
are not the forests and the high hills more densely peopled with life? We speak
of uninhabitable places, but where are they? The chamois leaps from crag to
crag, and the rabbit burrows beneath the soil. For one creature the loftiness
of the hills, and for another the hollowness of the rocks, serves as a
protection:
"Far
over the crags the wild goats roam,
The rocks supply the coney's home."
Thus
all the earth is full of happy life, every place has its appropriate in
habitant, nothing is empty and void and waste. See how goats, and storks, and
conies, and sparrows, each contribute a verse to the psalm of nature; have we
not also our canticles to sing unto the Lord? Little though we may be in the
scale of importance, yet let us fill our sphere, and so honour the Lord who
made us with a purpose.
Verse
19. The appointed rule of the great lights is now the theme for
praise. The moon is mentioned first, because in the Jewish day the night leads
the way. He appointed the moon for seasons. By the waxing and waning of the moon
the year is divided into months, and weeks, and by this means the exact dates
of the holy days were arranged. Thus the lamp of night is made to be of service
to man, and in fixing the period of religious assemblies (as it did among the
Jews) it enters into connection with his noblest being. Never let us regard the
moon's motions as the inevitable result of inanimate impersonal law, but as the
appointment of our God. The sun knoweth his going down. In finely poetic
imagery the sun is represented as knowing when to retire from sight, and sink
below the horizon. He never loiters on his way, or pauses as if undecided when
to descend; his appointed hour for going down, although it is constantly
varying, he always keeps to a second. We need to be aroused in the morning, but
he arises punctually, and though some require to watch the clock to know the
hour of rest, he, without a timepiece to consult, hides himself in the western
sky the instant the set time has come. For all this man should praise the Lord
of the sun and moon, who has made these great lights to be our chronometers,
and thus keeps our world in order, and suffers no confusion to distract us.
Verse
20. Thou, makest darkness, and it is night. Drawing down the
blinds for us, he prepares our bedchamber that we may sleep. Were there no
darkness we should sigh for it, since we should find repose so much more
difficult, if the weary day were never calmed into night. Let us see God's hand
in the veiling of the sun, and never fear either natural or providential
darkness, since both are of the Lord's own making. Wherein all the beasts of
the forest do creep forth. Then is the lion's day, his time to hunt his food.
Why should not the wild beast have his hour as well as man? He has a service to
perform, should he not also have his food? Darkness is fitter for beasts than
man; and those men are most brutish who love darkness rather than light. When
the darkness of ignorance broods over a nation, then all sorts of
superstitions, cruelties, and vices abound; the gospel, like the sunrising,
soon clears the world of the open ravages of these monsters, and they seek more
congenial abodes. We see here the value of true light, for we may depend upon
it where there is night there will also be wild beasts to kill and to devour.
Verse
21. The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat
from God. This is the poetic interpretation of a roar. To whom do the lions
roar? Certainly not to their prey, for the terrible sound tends to alarm their
victims, and drive them away. They after their own fashion express their
desires for food, and the expression of desire is a kind of prayer. Out of this
fact comes the devout thought of the wild beast's appealing to its Maker for
food. But neither with lions nor men will the seeking of prayer suffice, there
must be practical seeking too, and the lions are well aware of it. What they
have in their own language asked for they go forth to seek; being in this thing
far wiser than many men who offer formal prayers not half so earnest as those
of the young lions, and then neglect the means in the use of which the object
of their petitions might be gained. The lions roar and seek; too many are liars
before God, and roar but never seek. How comforting is the thought that the
Spirit translates the voice of a lion, and finds it to be a seeking of meat
from God! May we not hope that our poor broken cries and groans, which in our
sorrow we have called "the voice of our roaring" Ps 12:10, will be
understood by him, and interpreted in our favour. Evidently he considers the
meaning rather than the music of the utterance and puts the best construction
upon it.
Verse
22. The sun ariseth. Every evening has its morning to make the
day. Were it not that we have seen the sun rise so often we should think it the
greatest of miracles, and the most amazing of blessings. They gather themselves
together, and lay them down in their dens. Thus they are out of man's way, and
he seldom encounters them unless he desires to do so. The forest's warriors
retire to their quarters when the morning's drum is heard, finding in the
recesses of their dens a darkness suitable for their slumbers; there they lay
them down and digest their food, for God has allotted even to them their
portion of rest and enjoyment. There was one who in this respect was poorer
than lions and foxes, for he had not where to lay his head: all were provided
for except their incarnate Provider. Blessed Lord, thou hast stooped beneath
the conditions of the brutes to lift up worse than brutish men!
It
is very striking how the Lord controls the fiercest of animals far more readily
than the shepherd manages his sheep. At nightfall they separate and go forth
each one upon the merciful errand of ending the miseries of the sickly and
decrepit among grass eating animals. The younger of these animals being swift
of foot easily escape them and are benefited by the exercise, and for the most
part only those are overtaken and killed to whom life would have been
protracted agony. So far lions are messengers of mercy, and are as much sent of
God as the sporting dog is sent by man on his errands. But these mighty hunters
must not always be abroad, they must be sent back to their lairs when man comes
upon the scene. Who shall gather these ferocious creatures and shut them in?
Who shall chain them down and make them harmless? The sun suffices to do it. He
is the true lion tamer. They gather themselves together as though they were so
many sheep, and in their own retreats they keep themselves prisoners till
returning darkness gives them another leave to range. By simply majestic means
the divine purposes are accomplished. In like manner even the devils are
subject unto our Lord Jesus, and by the simple spread of the light of the
gospel these roaring demons are chased out of the world. No need for miracles
or displays of physical power, the Sun of Righteousness arises, and the devil
and the false gods, and superstitions and errors of men, all seek their hiding
places in the dark places of the earth among the moles and the bats.
Verse
23. Man goeth forth. It is his turn now, and the sunrise has
made things ready for him. His warm couch he forsakes and the comforts of home,
to find his daily food; this work is good for him, both keeping him out of
mischief, and exercising his faculties. Unto his work and to his labour until
the evening. He goes not forth to sport but to work, not to loiter but to
labour; at least, this is the lot of the best part of mankind. We are made for
work and ought to work, and should never grumble that so it is appointed. The
hours of labour, however, ought not to be too long. If labour lasts out the
average daylight it is certainly all that any man ought to expect of another,
and yet there are poor creatures so badly paid that in twelve hours they cannot
earn bread enough to keep them from hunger. Shame on those who dare so impose
upon helpless women and children. Night work should also be avoided as much as
possible. There are twelve hours in which a man ought to work: the night is
meant for rest and sleep.
Night,
then as well as day has its voice of praise. It is more soft and hushed, but it
is none the less true. The moon lights up a solemn silence of worship among the
fir trees, through which the night wind softly breathes its "songs without
words." Every now and then a sound is heard, which, however simple by day,
sounds among the shadows startling and weird like, as if the presence of the
unknown had filled the heart with trembling, and made the influence of the
Infinite to be realized. Imagination awakens herself; unbelief finds the
silence and the solemnity uncongenial, faith looks up to the skies above her
and sees heavenly things all the more clearly in the absence of the sunlight,
and adoration bows itself before the Great Invisible! There are spirits that
keep the night watches, and the spell of their presence has been felt by many a
wanderer in the solitudes of nature: God also himself is abroad all night long,
and the glory which concealeth is often felt to be even greater than that which
reveals. Bless the Lord, O my soul.
Verse
24. O Lord, how manifold are thy works. They are not only many
for number but manifold for variety. Mineral, vegetable, animal—what: a range
of works is suggested by these three names! No two even of the same class are
exactly alike, and the classes are more numerous than science can number. Works
in the heavens above and in the earth beneath, and in the waters under the
earth, works which abide the ages, works which come to perfection and pass away
in a year, works which with all their beauty do not outlive a day, works within
works, and works within these—who can number one of a thousand? God is the
great worker, and ordainer of variety. It is ours to study his works, for they
are great, and sought out of all them that have pleasure therein. The kingdom
of grace contains as manifold and as great works as that of nature, but the
chosen of the Lord alone discern them. In wisdom hast thou made them all, or wrought
them all. They are all his works, wrought by his own power, and they all
display his wisdom. It was wise to make their—none could be spared; every link
is essential to the chain of nature—wild beasts as much as men, poisons as
truly as odoriferous herbs. They are wisely made—each one fits its place, fills
it, and is happy in so doing. As a whole, the "all" of creation is a
wise achievement, and however it may be chequered with mysteries, and clouded
with terrors, it all works together for good, and as one complete harmonious
piece of workmanship it answers the great Worker's end. The earth is full of
thy riches. It is not a poor house, but a palace; not a hungry ruin, but a well
filled store house. The Creator has not set his creatures down in a dwelling
place where the table is bare, and the buttery empty, he has filled the earth
with food; and not with bare necessaries only, but with riches—dainties,
luxuries, beauties, treasures. In the bowels of the earth are hidden mines of
wealth, and on her surface are teeming harvests of plenty. All these riches are
the Lord's; we ought to call them not "the wealth of nations, "but
"thy riches" O Lord! Not in one clime alone are these riches of God
to be found, but in all lands—even the Arctic ocean has its precious things
which men endure much hardness to win, and the burning sun of the equator
ripens a produce which flavours the food of all mankind. If his house below is
so full of riches what must his house above be, where
"The
very streets are paved with gold
Exceeding clear and fine"?
Verse
25. So is this great and wide sea. He gives an instance of the
immense number and variety of Jehovah's works by pointing to the sea.
"Look, "saith he, "at yonder ocean, stretching itself on both
hands and embracing so many lands, it too swarms with animal life, and in its deeps
lie treasures beyond all counting. The heathen made the sea a different
province from the land, and gave the command thereof to Neptune, but we know of
a surety that Jehovah rules the waves." Wherein, are things creeping
innumerable, both small and great beasts; read moving things and animals
small arid great, and you have the true sense. The number of minute forms of
animal life is indeed beyond all reckoning: when a single phosphorescent wave
may bear millions of infusoria, and around a fragment of rock armies of microscopic
beings may gather, we renounce all idea of applying arithmetic to such a case.
The sea in many regions appears to be all alive, as if every drop were a world.
Nor are these tiny creatures the only tenants of the sea, for it contains
gigantic mammals which exceed in bulk those which range the land, and a vast
host of huge fishes which wander among the waves, and hide in the caverns of
the sea as the tiger lurks in the jungle, or the lion roams the plain. Truly, O
Lord, thou makest the sea to be as rich in the works of thy hands as the land
itself.
Verse
26. There go the ships. So that ocean is not altogether
deserted of mankind. It is the highway of nations, and unites, rather than
divides, distant lands. There is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play
therein. Them huge whale turns the sea into his recreation ground, and disports
himself as God designed that he should do. The thought of this amazing creature
caused the psalmist to adore the mighty Creator who created him, formed him for
his place and made him happy in it. Our ancient maps generally depict a ship
and whale upon the sea, and so show that it is most natural, as well as
poetical, to connect them both with the mention of the ocean.
Verse
27. These wait all upon thee. They come around thee as fowls
around the farmer's door at the time for feeding, and look up with expectation.
Men or marmots, eagles or emmets, whales or minnows, they alike rely upon thy
care. That thou mayest give them meat in due season; that is to say, when they need
it and when it is ready for them. God has a time for all things, and does not
feed his creatures by fits and starts; he gives them daily bread, and a
quantity proportioned to their needs. This is all that any of us should expect;
if even the brute creatures are content with a sufficiency we ought not to be
more greedy than they.
Verse
28. That thou givest them they gather. God gives it, but they
must gather it, and they are glad that he does so, for otherwise their
gathering would be in vain. We often forget that animals and birds in their
free life have to work to obtain food even as we do; and yet it is true with
them as with us that our heavenly Father feeds all. When we see the chickens
picking up the corn which the housewife scatters from her lap we have an apt
illustration of the manner in which the Lord supplies the needs of all living
things—he gives and they gather. Thou openest thine hand, they are filled with
good. Here is divine liberality with its open hand filling needy creatures till
they want no more: and here is divine omnipotence feeding a world by simply
opening its hand. What should we do if that hand were closed? There would be no
need to strike a blow, the mere closing of it would produce death by famine.
Let us praise the open handed Lord, whose providence and grace satisfy our
mouths with good things.
Verse
29. Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled. So dependent are
all living things upon God's smile, that a frown fills them with terror, as
though convulsed with anguish. This is so in the natural world, and certainly
not less so in the spiritual: saints when the Lord hides his face are in
terrible perplexity. Thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to
their dust. The breath appears to be a trifling matter, and the air an
impalpable substance of but small importance, yet, once withdrawn, the body
loses all vitality, and crumbles back to the earth from which it was originally
taken. All animals come under this law, and even the dwellers in the sea are
not exempt from it. Thus dependent is all nature upon the will of the Eternal.
Note here that death is caused by the act of God, "thou takest away
their breath"; we are immortal till he bids us die, and so are even
the little sparrows, who fall not to the ground without our Father.
Verse
30. Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou
renewest the face of the earth. The loss of their breath destroys them, and
by Jehovah's breath a new race is created. The works of the Lord are
majestically simple, and are performed with royal ease—a breath creates, and
its withdrawal destroys. If we read the word spirit as we have it in our
version, it is also instructive, for we see the Divine Spirit going forth to
create life in nature even as we see him in the realms of grace. At the flood
the world was stripped of almost all life, yet how soon the power of God
refilled the desolate places! In winter the earth falls into a sleep which
makes her appear worn and old, but how readily does the Lord awaken her with
the voice of spring, and make her put on anew the beauty of her youth. Thou,
Lord, doest all things, and let glory be unto thy name.
Verse
31. The glory of the LORD shall endure forever. His works may
pass away, but not his glory. Were it only for what he has already done, the
Lord deserves to be praised without ceasing. His personal being and character
ensure that he would be glorious even were all the creatures dead. The LORD
shall rejoice in his works. He did so at the first, when he rested on the
seventh day, and saw that everything was very good; he does so still in a
measure where beauty and purity in nature still survive the Fall, and he will
do so yet more fully when the earth is renovated, and the trail of the serpent
is cleansed from the globe. This verse is written in the most glowing manner.
The poet finds his heart gladdened by beholding the works of the Lord, and he
feels that the Creator himself must have felt unspeakable delight in exercising
so much wisdom, goodness, and power.
Verse
32. He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth. The Lord who
has graciously displayed his power in acts and works of goodness might, if he
had seen fit, have overwhelmed us with the terrors of destruction, for even at
a glance of his eye the solid earth rocks with fear. He toucheth the hills, and
they smoke. Sinai was altogether on a smoke when the Lord descended upon it. It
was but a touch, but it sufficed to make the mountain dissolve in flame. Even
our God is a consuming fire. Woe unto those who shall provoke him to frown upon
them, they shall perish at the touch of his hand. If sinners were not
altogether insensible a glance of the Lord's eye would make them tremble, and
the touches of his hand in affliction would set their hearts on fire with
repentance. "Of reason all things show some sign, " except man's
unfeeling heart.
Verse
33. I will sing unto the LORD as long as I live, or,
literally, in my lives. Here and hereafter the psalmist would continue
to praise the Lord, for the theme is an endless one, and remains for ever fresh
and new. The birds sang God's praises before men were created, but redeemed men
will sing his glories when the birds are no more. Jehovah, who ever lives and
makes us to live shall be for ever exalted, and extolled in the songs of
redeemed men. I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. A resolve
both happy for himself and glorifying to the Lord. Note the sweet title—my God.
We never sing so well as when we know that we have an interest in the good
things of which we sing, and a relationship to the God whom we praise.
Verse
34. My meditation of him shall be sweet. Sweet both to him and
to me. I shall be delighted thus to survey his works and think of his person,
and he will graciously accept my notes of praise. Meditation is the soul of
religion. It is the tree of life in the midst of the garden of piety, and very
refreshing is its fruit to the soul which feeds thereon. And as it is good
towards man, so is it towards God. As the fat of the sacrifice was the Lord's
portion, so are our best meditations due to the Most High and are most
acceptable to him. We ought, therefore, both for our own good and for the
Lord's honour to be much occupied with meditation, and that meditation should
chiefly dwell upon the Lord himself: it should be "meditation of him."
For want of it much communion is lost and much happiness is missed. I will be
glad in the Lord. To the meditative mind every thought of God is full of joy.
Each one of the divine attributes is a well spring of delight now that in
Christ Jesus we are reconciled unto God.
Verse
35. Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the
wicked be no more. They are the only blot upon creation.
"Every
prospect pleases.
And only man is vile."
In
holy indignation the psalmist would fain rid the world of beings so base as not
to love their gracious Creator, so blind as to rebel against their Benefactor.
He does but ask for that which just men look forward to as the end of history:
for the day is eminently to be desired when in all God's kingdom there shall
not remain a single traitor or rebel. The Christian way of putting it will be
to ask that grace may turn sinners into saints, and win the wicked to the ways
of truth. Bless thou the LORD, O my soul. Here is the end of the
matter—whatever sinners may do, do thou, my soul, stand to thy colours, and be
true to thy calling. Their silence must not silence thee, but rather provoke
thee to redoubled praise to make up for their failures. Nor canst thou alone
accomplish the work; others must come to thy help. O ye saints, Praise ye the
LORD. Let your hearts cry HALLELUJAH,—for that is the word in the Hebrew.
Heavenly word! Let it close the Psalm: for what more remains to be said or
written? HALLELUJAH. Praise ye the Lord.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Whole
Psalm. This psalm is an inspired "Oratorio of Creation."—Christopher
Wordsworth.
Whole
Psalm. The Psalm is delightful, sweet, and instructive as teaching us
the soundest views of nature (la mas sans fisica), and the best method of
pursuing the study of it, viz., by admiring with one eye the works of God, and
with the other God himself, their Creator and Preserver. Sanchez, quoted
by Perowne.
Whole
Psalm. It might almost be said that this one psalm represents the image
of the whole Cosmos. We are astonished to find in a lyrical poem of such a
limited compass, the whole universe—the heavens and the earth—sketched with a
few bold touches. The calm and toilsome labour of man, from the rising of the
sun to the setting of the same, when his daily work is done, is here contrasted
with the moving life of the elements of nature. This contrast and
generalisation in the conception of the mutual action of natural phenomena, and
this retrospection of an omnipresent invisible power, which can renew the earth
or crumble it to dust, constitute a solemn rather than a glowing and gentle
form of poetic creation. A. Vonl Hurnboldt's Cosmos.
Whole
Psalm. Its touches are indeed few, rapid—but how comprehensive and
sublime! Is it God?—"He is clothed with light as with a garment, "and
when he walks abroad, it is on the "wings of the wind." The winds or
lightnings?—They are his messengers or angels: "Stop us not, "they
seem to say; "the King's business requireth haste." The waters?—The
poet shows them in flood, covering the face of the earth, and then as they now
lie, enclosed within their embankments, to break forth no more for ever. The
springs? He traces them, by one inspired glance, as they run among the hills,
as they give drink to the wild and lonely creatures of the wilderness, as they
nourish the boughs, on which sing the birds, the grass, on which feed the
cattle, the herb, the corn, the olive tree, the vine, which fill man's mouth,
cheer his heart, and make his face to shine. Then he skims with bold wing all
lofty objects—the trees of the Lord on Lebanon, "full of sap, "—the
fir trees, and the storks which are upon them—the high hills, with their wild
goats—and the rocks with their conies. Then he soars up to the heavenly
bodies—the sun and the moon. Then he spreads abroad his wings in the darkness
of the night, which "hideth not from Him, "and hears the beasts of
the forest creeping abroad to seek their prey, and the roar of the lions to God
for meat, coming up upon the wings of midnight. Then as he sees the shades and
the wild beasts fleeing together, in emulous haste, from the presence of the
morning sun, and man, strong and calm in its light as in the smile of God,
hieing to his labour, he exclaims, "O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in
wisdom hast thou made them all!" He casts, next, one look at the ocean—a
look glancing at the ships which go there, at the leviathan which plays there;
and then piercing down to the innumerable creatures, small and great, which are
found below its unlifted veil of waters. He sees, then, all the beings,
peopling alike earth and sea, waiting for life and food around the table of
their Divine Master—nor waiting in vain—till, lo! he hides his face, and they
are troubled, die, and disappear in chaos and night. A gleam, next, of the
great resurrection of nature and of man comes across his eye. "Thou
sendest forth thy Spirit, they are created, and thou renewest the face of the
earth." But a greater truth still succeeds, and forms the climax of the
psalm—(a truth Humboldt, with all his admiration of it, notices not, and which
gives a Christian tone to the whole)—"The Lord shall rejoice in his
works." He contemplates a yet more perfect Cosmos. He is "to
consume Sinners" and sin "out of" this fair universe: and then,
when man is wholly worthy of his dwelling, shall God say of both it and him,
with a yet deeper emphasis than when he said it at first, and smiling at the
same time a yet warmer and softer smile, "It is very good." And with
an ascription of blessing to the Lord does the poet close this almost angelic
descant upon the works of nature, the glory of God, and the prospects of man.
It is not merely the unity of the Cosmos that he had displayed in it, but its
progression, as connected with the parallel progress of man—its thorough
dependence on one Infinite Mind—the "increasing purpose" which runs
along it—and its final purification, when it shall blossom into "the
bright consummate flower" of the new heavens and the new earth,
"wherein dwelleth righteousness; "—this is the real burden and the
peculiar glory of the 104th Psalm. George Gilfillan, in "The
Bards of the Bible".
Whole
Psalm. It is a singular circumstance in the composition of this psalm,
that each of the parts of the First Semichorus, after the first, begins with a
participle. And these participles are accusatives, agreeing with hwhy, the
object of the verb ygdb, at the beginning of the whole psalm. Bless the
Jehovah—putting
on—extending—laying—constituting—travelling—making—setting—sending—watering—making—making.
Thus, this transitive verb, in the opening of the psalm, extending its
government through the successive parts of the same semichorus, except the
last, unites them all in one long period. Samuel Horsley.
Whole
Psalm. As to the details,—the sections intervening between verses 2 and
31,—they may be read as a meditation upon creation and the first "ordering
of the world, "as itself the counterpart and foreshadowing of the new and
restored order in the great Sabbath or Millenary period, or, it may be, they
are actually descriptive of this—beginning with the coming of the Lord in the
clouds of heaven (verse 3 with Ps 18:9-11), attended with "the angels of
his power" (verse 4 with 2Th 1:7 Gr.): followed by the
"establishing" of the earth, no more to be "moved" or
"agitated" by the convulsions and disturbances which sin has caused:
after which Nature is exhibited in the perfection of her beauty—all things
answering the end of their creation: all the orders of the animal world in
harmony with each other, and all at peace with man; all provided for by the
varied produce of the earth, no longer cursed, bug blessed, and again made
fruitful by God, "on whom all wait...who openeth his hand and fills them
with good"; and all his goodness meeting with its due acknowledgment from
his creatures, who join in chorus to praise him, and say—"O Lord, how
manifold are thy works! In wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of
thy riches. Hallelujah."—William De Burgh.
Verse
1. "Bless the Lord, O my soul." A good man's work lieth
most within doors, he is more taken up with his own soul, than with all the
world besides; neither can he ever be alone so long as he hath God and his own
heart to converse with. John Trapp.
Verse
1. With what reverence and holy awe doth the psalmist begin his
meditation with that acknowledgment! "O Lord, my God, thou art very
great; "and it is the joy of the saints that he who is their God is a
great God: the grandeur of the prince is the pride and pleasure of all his good
subjects. Matthew Henry.
Verse
1. Thou art clothed with honour and majesty. That is, as
Jerome says, Thou art arrayed and adorned with magnificence and splendour; Thou
art acknowledged to be glorious and illustrious by thy works, as a man by his
garment. Whence it is clear that the greatness celebrated here is not the
intrinsic but the exterior or revealed greatness of God. Lorinus.
Verse
1. Each created, redeemed, regenerated soul is bound to praise the
Lord, the Creator, Redeemer, Sanctifier; for that God the Son, who in the
beginning made the worlds, and whose grace is ever carrying on his work to its
perfect end by the operation of the Holy Ghost, has been revealed before us in
his exceeding glory. He, as the eternal High priest, hath put on the Urim and
Thummim of majesty and honour, and hath clothed himself with light, as a priest
clothes himself with his holy vestments: his brightness on the mount of
transfiguration was but a passing glimpse of what he is now, ever hath been,
and ever shall be. He is the true Light, therefore his angels are the angels of
light, his children the children of light, this doctrine the doctrine of light.
The universe is his tabernacle; the heavens visible and invisible are the
curtains which shroud his holy place. He hath laid the beams and foundations of
his holy of holies very high, even above the waters which are above the
firmament. The clouds and the winds of the lower heaven are his chariot, upon
which he stood when he ascended from Olivet, upon which he will sit when he
cometh again. "Plain Commentary".
Verse
2. Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment. In
comparing the light with which he represents God as arrayed to a
garment, he intimates, that although God is invisible, yet his glory is
conspicuous enough. In respect of his essence, God undoubtedly dwells in light
that is inaccessible; but as he irradiates the whole world by his splendour,
this is the garment in which he, who is hidden in himself, appears in a manner
visible to us. The knowledge of this truth is of the greatest importance. If
men attempt to reach the infinite height to which God is exalted, although they
fly above the clouds, they must fail in the midst of their course. Those who
seek to see him in his naked majesty are certainly very foolish. That we may
enjoy the sight of him, he must come forth to view with his clothing; that is
to say, we must cast our eyes upon the very beautiful fabric of the world in
which he wishes to be seen by us, and not be too curious and rash in searching
into his secret essence. Now, since God presents himself to us clothed with
light, those who are seeking pretexts for their living without the knowledge of
him, cannot allege in excuse of their slothfulness, that he is hidden in
profound darkness. When it is said that the heavens are a curtain, it is not meant
that under them God hides himself, but that by them his majesty and glory are
displayed, being, as it were, his royal pavilion. John Calvin.
Verse
2. With light. The first creation of God in the works of the
days was the light of sense; the last was the light of reason; and his Sabbath
work ever since is the illumination of the spirit. Francis Bacon.
Verse
2. Who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain. It is usual
in the East, in the summer season, and upon all occasions when a large company
is to be received, to have the court of the house sheltered from the heat of
the weather by all umbrella or veil, which being expanded upon ropes from one
side of the parapet wall to another may be folded or unfolded at pleasure. The
Psalmist seems to allude to some covering of this kind in that beautiful
expression of stretching out the heavens like a curtain. Kitto's Pictorial
Bible.
Verse
2. Like a curtain. With the same case, by his mere word, with
which a man spreads out a tent curtain, Ps 104:2 Isa 40:22 is parallel,
"that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a
tent to dwell in." Ver. 3 continues the description of the work of the
second day. There lie at bottom, in the first clause, the words of Ge 1:7
"God made the vaulted sky and divided between the waters which are under
the vault and the waters which are above the vault." The waters above are
the materials with which, or out of which, the structure is reared. To
construct out of the movable waters a firm palace, the cloudy heaven,
"firm as a molten glass" (Job 37:18), is a magnificent work of divine
omnipotence. E.V. Hengstenberg.
Verse
2. Like a curtain. Because the Hebrews conceived of heaven as
a temple and palace of God, that sacred azure was at once the floor of his, the
roof of our, abode. Yet I think the dwellers in tents ever loved best the
figure of the heavenly tent. They represent God as daily spreading it out, and
fastening it at the extremity of the horizon to the pillars of heaven, the
mountains: it is to them a tent of safety, of rest, of a fatherly hospitality
in which God lives with his creatures. Herder, quoted by Perowne.
Verse
3. The metaphorical representation of God, as laying the beams of
his chambers in the waters, seems somewhat difficult to understand; but it was
the design of the prophet, from a thing incomprehensible to us, to ravish us
with the greater admiration. Unless beams be substantial and strong, they will
not be able to sustain even the weight of an ordinary house. When, therefore,
God makes the waters the foundation of his heavenly palace, who can fail to be
astonished at a miracle so wonderful? When we take into account our slowness of
apprehension, such hyperbolical expressions are by no means superfluous; for it
is with difficulty that they awaken and enable us to attain even a slight
knowledge of God. John Calvin.
Verse
3. Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters; or,
"who layeth his upper chambers above the waters." His upper chamber
(people in the East used to retire to the upper chamber when they wished for
solitude) is reared up in bright other on the slender foundation of rainy
clouds. A.F. Tholuck.
Verse
3. Who layeth the beams, etc. "He floodeth his chambers
with waters, "i.e., the clouds make the flooring of his heavens. Zachary
Mudge.
Verse
3. Who walketh upon the wings of the wind; see Ps 18:10;
which is expressive of his swiftness in coming to helped assist his people in
time of need; who helps, and that right early; and may very well be applied
both to the first and second coming of Christ, who came leaping Upon the
mountains, and skipping upon the hills, when he first came; and, when he comes
a second time will be as a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of spices, So
2:8 8:14 The Targum is, "upon the swift clouds, like the wings of an
eagle"; hence, perhaps, it is the heathens have a notion that Jupiter is
being carried in a chariot through the air when it thunders and lightens. John
Gill.
Verse
3. Who walketh upon the wings of the wind. In these words
there is an unequalled elegance; not, he fleeth—he runneth,
but—he walketh;and that on the very wings of the wind;on the most
impetuous element raised into the utmost rage, and sweeping along with
incredible rapidity. We cannot have a more sublime idea of the deity; serenely
walking on an element of inconceivable swiftness, and, as it seems to us,
uncontrollable impetuosity!—James Hervey, 1713-14—1758.
Verse
4. Who maketh his angels spirits. Some render it, Who
maketh his angels as the winds, to which they may be compared for their
invisibility, they being not to be seen, no more than the wind, unless when
they assume an external form; and for their penetration through bodies in a
very surprising manner; see Ac 7:6-10; and for their great force and power,
being mighty angels, and said to excel in strength, Ps 103:20; and for their
swiftness in obeying the divine commands; so the Targum, "He maketh his
messengers, or angels, swift as the wind."—John Gill.
Verse
4. Who maketh his angels spirits. The words, "creating
his angels spirits, "may either mean "creating them spiritual
beings, not material beings, "or "creating them winds"—i.e. like
the winds, invisible, rapid in their movements, and capable of producing great
effects. The last mode of interpretation seems pointed out by the
parallelism—"and his ministers"—or, "servants"—who are
plainly the same as his angels,—"a flame of fire, "i.e., like the
lightning. The statement here made about the angels seems to be this:
"They are created beings, who in their qualities bear a resemblance to the
winds and the lightning." The argument deduced by Paul, in Heb 2:7, from
this statement for the inferiority of the angels is direct and powerful:—He is
the Son; they are the creatures of God. "Only begotten" is the
description of his mode of existence; made is the description of theirs. All
their powers are communicated power; and however high they may stand in the
scale of creation, it is in that scale they stand, which places them infinitely
below him, who is so the Son of God as to be "God over all, blessed for
ever."—John Brown, in "An Exposition of the Epistle to the
Hebrews."
Verse
4. A flaming fire. Fire is expressive of irresistible power,
immaculate holiness, and ardent emotion. It is remarkable that the seraphim,
one class at least of these ministers, have their name from a root signifying
to burn; and the altar, from which one of them took the live coal, Isa 6:6, is
the symbol of the highest form of holy love. James G. Murphy, in "A
Commentary on the Book of Psalms," 1875.
Verse
5. Not be removed for ever. The stability of the earth is of God, as
much as the being and existence of it. There have been many earthquakes or
movings of the earth in several parts of it, but the whole body of the earth
was never removed so much as one hair's breadth out of its place, since the
foundations thereof were laid. Archimedes, the great mathematician, said,
"If you will give me a place to set my engine on, I will remove the
earth." It was a great brag; but the Lord hath laid it too fast for man's
removing. Himself can make it quake and shake, he can move it when he pleaseth;
but he never hath nor will remove it. He hath laid the foundations of the earth
that it shall not be removed, nor can it be at all moved, but at his pleasure;
and when it moves at any time, it is to mind the sons of men that they by their
sins have moved him to displeasure. Joseph Caryl.
Verse
5. The philosophical mode of stating this truth may be seen in Amédée
Guillemin's work entitled "THE HEAVENS." "How is it that
though we are carried along with a vast rapidity by the motion of the earth, we
do not ourselves perceive our movement? It is because the entire bulk of the
earth, atmosphere, and clouds, participate in the movement. This constant
velocity, with which all bodies situated on the surface of the earth are
animated, would be the cause of the most terrible and general catastrophe that
could be imagined, if, by any possibility, the rotation of the earth were
abruptly to cease. Such an event would be the precursor of a most sweeping
destruction of all organized beings. But the constancy of the laws of nature
permits us to contemplate such a catastrophe without fear. It is demonstrated
that the position of the poles of rotation on the surface of the earth is invariable.
It has also been asked whether the velocity of the earth's rotation has
changed, or, which comes to the same thing, if the length of the sidereal day
and that of the solar day deduced from it have varied within the historical
period? Laplace has replied to this question, and his demonstration shows that
it has not varied the one hundredth of a second during the last two thousand
years."
Verse
5.
God
of the earth and sea, Thou hast laid earth's foundations:
Because thy hand sustains,
It ever firm remaineth.
Once didst thou open its deep, hidden fountains,
And soon the rising waters stood above the mountains.
At thy rebuke they fled at the voice of thy thunder,
The flood thy mandate heeded,
And hastily receded:
The waters keep the place Thou has assigned them,
And in the hills and vales a channel Thou dost find them.
A limit Thou hast set, which they may not pass over;
The deep within bound inclosing,
Strong barriers interposing,
That its proud waves no more bring desolation,
And sweep away from earth each human habitation.
—John
Barton, in "The Book of Psalms in English Verse: a New Testament
Paraphrase, "1871.
Verse
6. "Stood, ""fled, ""hasted away." The
words of the psalm put the original wondrous process graphically before the
eye. The change of tense, too, from past to present, in verses 6, 7, 8, is
expressive, and paints the scene in its progress. In ver. 6 "stood"
should be STAND: in ver. 7 "fled" should be FLEE: and "hasted
away" should be HASTE AWAY, as in the P.B.V. "The Speaker's
Commentary."
Verse
7. At thy rebuke they fled. The famous description of Virgil
comes to mind, who introduces Neptune as sternly rebuking the winds for daring
without his consent to embroil earth and heaven, and raise such huge
mountain-waves: then swifter than the word is spoken, he calms the swollen
seas, scatters the gathered clouds, and brings back the sun. Lorinus.
Verse
7. At the voice of thy that rider they hasted away, ran off
with great precipitance: just as a servant, when his master puts on a stern
countenance, and speaks to him in a thundering, menacing manner, hastens away
from him to do his will and work. This is an instance of the mighty power of
Christ; and by the same power he removed the waters of the deluge, when they
covered the earth, and the tops of the highest hills; and rebuked the Red Sea,
and it became dry land; and drove back the waters of Jordan for the Israelites
to pass through; and who also rebuked the Sea of Galilee when his disciples
were in distress; and with equal ease can be and does he remove the depth of
sin and darkness from his people at conversion; rebukes Satan, and delivers out
of his temptations, when he comes in like a flood; and commands off the waters
of affliction when they threaten to overwhelm; who are his servants, and come
when he bids them come, and go when he bids them go. John Gill.
Verse
7. At the voice of thy thunder. It is very likely God
employed the electric fluid as an agent in this separation. Ingram Cobbin.
Verse
7. They hasted away.
God
said,
Be gathered now, ye waters under heaven
Into one place and let dry land appear.
Immediately the mountains huge appear
Emergent, and their broad bare backs upheave
Into the clouds; their tops ascend the sky:
So high as heaved the tumid hills, so low
Down sunk a hollow bottom broad and deep,
Capacious bed of waters: Thither they
Hasted with glad precipitance, uprolled
As drops on dust conglobing from the dry:
Part rise in crystal wall, or ridge direct,
For haste: such flight the great command impressed
On the swift floods: As armies at the call
Of trumpet (for of armies thou hast heard)
Troop to their standard; so the watery throng,
Wave rolling after wave, where way they found,
If steep, with torrent rapture, if through plain,
Soft ebbing; nor withstood them rock or hill;
But they, or under ground, or circuit wide
With serpent error wandering, found their way,
And on the washy ooze deep channels wore;
Easy, ere God had bid the ground be dry,
All but within those banks, where rivers now
Stream, and perpetual draw their tumid train,
The dry land, Earth; and the great receptacle
Of congregated waters, he called Seas:
And saw that it was good. John Milton.
Verse
8. They go up by the mountains, etc. The Targum is,
"They ascend out of the deep to the mountains"; that is, the waters,
when they went off the earth at the divine orders, steered their course up the
mountains, and then went down by the valleys to the place appointed for them;
they went over hills and dales, nothing could stop them or retard their course
till they came to their proper place; which is another instance of the almighty
power of the Son of God. John Gill.
Verse
9. Thou hast set a bound, etc. The Baltic Sea, in our own
time, inundated large tracts of land, and did great damage to the Flemish
people and other neighbouring nations. By an instance of this kind we are
warned what would be the consequence, were the restraint imposed upon the sea,
by the hand of God, removed. How is it that we have not thereby been swallowed
up together, but because God has held in that outrageous element by his word?
In short, although the natural tendency of the waters is to cover the earth,
yet this will not happen, because God has established, by his word, a
counteracting law, and as his truth is eternal, this law must remain stedfast. John
Calvin.
Verse
9. Thou hast set a bound, etc. In these words the psalmist
gives us three things clearly concerning the waters. First, that once (he means
it not of the deluge, but of the chaos), the waters did cover the whole earth,
till God by a word of command sent them into their proper channels, that the
dry land might appear. Secondly, that the waters have a natural propensity to
return back and cover the earth again. Thirdly, that the only reason why they
do not return back and cover the whole earth is, because God hath "set
a bound, that they cannot pass." They would be boundless and know no
limits, did not God bound and limit them. Wisdom giveth us the like eulogium of
the power of God in this, Pr 8:29 "He gave to the sea his decree, that the
waters should not pass his commandment." What cannot he command, who
sendeth his commandment to the sea and is obeyed? Some great princes, heated
with rage and drunken with pride, have cast shackles into the sea, as
threatening it with imprisonment and bondage if it would not be quiet; but the
sea would not be bound by them; they have also awarded so many strokes to be
given the sea as a punishment of its contumacy and rebellion against either
their commands or their designs. How ridiculously ambitious have they been, who
would needs pretend to such a dominion! Many princes have had great power at
and upon the sea, but there was never any prince had any power over the sea;
that's a flower belonging to no crown but the crown of heaven. Joseph Caryl.
Verse
9. Thou hast set a bound, etc. A few feet of increase in the
ocean wave that pursues its tidal circuit round the globe, would desolate
cities and provinces innumerable... But with what immutable and safe control
God has marked its limits! You shall observe a shrub or a flower on a bank of
verdure that covers a sea cliff, or hangs down in some hollow; nay, you shall
mark a pebble on the beach, you shall lay a shred of gossamer upon it; and this
vast, ungovernable, unwieldy, tempestuous element shall know how to draw a line
of moisture by its beating spray at the very edge, or on the very point of your
demarcation, and then draw off its forces, not having passed one inch or hand's
breadth across the appointed margin. And all this exact restraint and measurement
in the motion of the sea, by that mysterious power shot beyond unfathomable
depths of space, from orbs rolling in ether! a power itself how prodigious, how
irresistible, yet how invisible, how gentle, how with minutest exactness
measured and exerted. George B. Cheever, in "Voices of Nature to
her Foster Child, the soul of Man, "1852.
Verse
9. A bound that they may not pass over. Now stretch your eye
off shore, over waters made To cleanse the air, and bear the world's great
trade, To rise and wet the mountains near the sun, Then back into themselves in
rivers run, Fulfilling mighty uses, far and wide, Through earth, in air, or
here, as ocean tide. Ho! how the giant heaves himself, and strains And flings
to break his strong and viewless chains; Foams in his wrath; and at his prison
doors, Hark! hear him! how he beats, and tugs, and roars, As if he would break
forth again, and sweep Each living thing within his lowest deep.—Richard
Henry Dana (1787).
Verse
10. He sendeth the springs into the valleys, etc. Having
spoken of the salt waters, he treats afterwards of the sweet and potable,
commending the wisdom and providence of God, that from the lower places of the
earth and the hidden veins of the mountains, he should cause the fountains of
water to gush forth. Lorinus.
Verse
10. He sendeth the springs into the valleys. The more of
humility the more of grace; if in valleys some hollows are deeper than others
the waters collect in them. Martin Luther.
Verse
10. He sendeth the springs into the valleys. Men cut places
for rivers to run in, but none but God can cut a channel to bring spiritual
streams into the soul. The psalmist speaks of the sending forth of springs as
one great act of the providence of God. It is a secret mystery which those that
have searched deepest into nature cannot resolve us in, how those springs are
fed, how they are maintained and nourished, so as to run without ceasing in
such great streams as many of them make. Philosophy cannot show the reason of
it. The Psalmist doth it well: God sends them into the valleys, his
providence and power keeps them continually running: he that would have his
soul watered must go to God in prayer. Ralph Robinson.
Verse
10. Which run among the hills. That is, the streams or springs
run. In many a part of the world can be found a Sault, a dancing water,
and a Minne-ha-ha, a laughing water. The mountain streams walk,
and run, and leap, and praise the Lord. William S. Plumer.
Verse
10. "HE." "HE." "HE."
All
things are here of Him;from the black pines,
Which are his shade on high, and the loud roar
Of torrents, where he listens, to the vines
Which slope his green path downward to the shore,
Where the bowed waters meet him, and adore,
Kissing his feet with murmurs. Byron.
Verse
11. The wild asses quench their thirst. It is particularly
remarked of the asses, that though they are dull and stupid creatures, yet by
Providence they are taught the way to the waters, in the dry and sandy deserts,
and that there is no better guide for the thirsty travellers to follow, than to
observe the herds of them descending to the streams. Thomas Fenton.
Verse
11. The wild asses quench their thirst. As evening approached
we saw congregated, near a small stream, what appeared to be a large company of
dismounted Arabs, their horses standing by them. As we were already near them,
and could not have escaped the watchful eye of the Bedouins, we prepared for an
encounter. We approached cautiously, and were surprised to see that the horses
still remained without their riders; we drew still nearer, when they galloped
off towards the desert. They were wild asses. Henry Austin Layard.
Verse
12. By them shall the fowls of the heaven have their habitation.
Never shall I forget my first ride from Riha to Ain Sultan; our way lay right
across the oasis evoked by the waters. It may be that the contrast with the
arid desert of the previous day heightened the feelings of present enjoyment,
but certainly they echoed the words of Josephus,—a "Divine region".
At one time I was reminded of Epping Forest, and then of a neglected orchard
with an undergrowth of luxuriant vegetation. Large thorn bushes and forest
shrubs dotted the plain on every side. In some places the ground was carpeted
with flowers, and every bush seemed vocal with the cheerful twittering of
birds. I use the word "twittering", because I do not think that I
ever heard a decided warble during the whole time I was in Syria. Coleridge
speaks of the "merry nightingale,"
"That
crowds, and hurries, and precipitates
With fast, quick warble, his delicious notes."
The
song of my little Syrian friends seemed to consist of a series of, cheerful
chirps. Other travellers have been more fortunate. Bonar speaks of the note of
the cuckoo; Dr. Robinson of the nightingale. Lord Lindsay tells us of the delight
of an evening spent by the Jordan, "the river murmuring along, and the
nightingale singing from the trees." Canon Tristram, describing the
scenery near Tell-el-Kady, says that "the bulbul and nightingale vied in
rival scrag in the branches above, audible over the noise of the torrent
below." In the face of these statements it seems to me remarkable,
considering the innumerable references to nature in the Bible, that the singing
of birds is only mentioned three times. In the well known passage which so
exquisitely depicts a Syrian spring, we read "the time of the singing of
birds is come" (So 2:12). The Psalmist in speaking of the mighty power and
wondrous Providence of God, mentions the springs in "the valleys, which
run among the hills. They give drink to every beast of the field; the wild
asses quench their thirst. By them shall the fowls of the heaven have their
habitation which sing among the branches." Canon Tristram commenting on
this passage, says, that it may refer especially to the "bulbul and the
nightingale, both of which throng the trees that fringe the Jordan and abound
in all the wooded valleys, filling the air in early spring with the rich
cadence of their notes."—James Wareing Bardsley, in "Illustrative
Texts," 1876.
Verse
12. By them shall the fowls of the heaven have their
habitation, etc. To such birds may saints be compared; being, like them, weak,
defenceless, and timorous; liable to be taken in snares, and sometimes
wonderfully delivered; as well as given to wanderings and straying; and to
fowls of the heaven, being heaven born souls, and partakers of the heavenly
calling. These have their habitation by the fountain of Jacob, by the river of
divine love, beside the still waters of the sanctuary, where they sing the
songs of Zion, the songs of electing, redeeming, and calling grace. John
Gill.
Verse
12. The fowls...which sing among the branches. The music of
birds was the first song of thanksgiving which was offered from the earth,
before man was formed. John Wesley.
Verse
12. The fowls of the heaven which sing among the branches. How
do the blackbird and thrassel thrush, with their melodious voices, bid
welcome to the cheerful spring, and in their fixed months warble forth such
ditties as no art or instrument can reach to? ... But the nightingale, another
of my airy creatures, breathes such sweet loud music out of her little
instrumental throat, that it makes mankind to think miracles are not ceased. He
that at midnight, when the very labourer sleeps securely, should hear, as I
have very often, the clear airs, the sweet descants, the natural rising and
falling, the doubling and redoubling of her voice, might well be lifted above
earth, and say, "Lord, what music hast thou provided for the saints in
heaven, when you afford bad men such music on earth?"—Izaak Walton.
Verse
12.
While
over their heads the hazels hing,
The little birdies blithely sing,
Or lightly flit on wanton wing
In the birks of Aberfeldy.
The braes ascend like lofty wa's,
The foaming stream deep roaring fa's,
Overhung with fragrant spreading shaws,
The birks of Aberfeldy. Robert Burns, 1759-1796.
Verse
13. The earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works; that
is, with the rain, which is thy work, causing it to be showered down when you
please upon the earth; or, with the rain, which proceeds from the clouds; or,
with the fruits, which thou causeth the earth by this means to bring forth. Arthur
Jackson.
Verse
14. He causeth the grass to grow. Surely it should humble men
to know that all human power united cannot make anything, not even the grass to
grow. William S. Plumer.
Verse
14. For the cattle, etc. To make us thankful, let us consider,
1. That God not only provides for us, but for our servants; the cattle that are
of use to man, are particularly taken care of; grass is made to grow in great
abundance for them, when "the young lions, "that are not for the
service of man, often "lack, and suffer hunger." 2. That our food is
nigh us, and ready to us: having our habitation on the earth, there we have our
storehouse, and depend not on "the merchant ships that bring food from
afar, "Pr 31:14. 3. That we have even from the products of the earth, not
only for necessity, but for ornament and delight, so good a master do we serve.
Doth nature call for something to support it, and repair its daily decays? Here
is "bread which strengtheneth man's heart, "and is therefore
called the staff of life; let none that have that complain of want. Doth nature
go further, and covet something pleasant? Here is "wine that maketh
glad the heart", refresheth the spirits, and exhilarates them, when it
is soberly and moderately used; that we may not only go through our business,
but go through it cheerfully; it is a pity that that should be abused to
overcharge the heart, and disfit men for their duty, which was given to revive
their heart, and quicken them in their duty. Is nature yet more humoursome, and
doth it crave something for ornament too? Here is that also out of the earth: "oil
to make the face to shine", that the countenance may not only be
cheerful, but beautiful, and we may be the more acceptable to one another. Matthew
Henry.
Verse
14. For the service of man. The common version of these words
can only mean for his benefit or use, a sense not belonging to the Hebrew word,
which, as well as its verbal root, is applied to man's servitude or bondage as
a tiller of the ground (Ge 3:17-19), and has here the sense of husbandry or
cultivation, as in Ex 1:14, Le 25:39, it has that of compulsory or servile
labour, the infinitive in the last clause indicates the object for which labour
is imposed on man. J.A. Alexander.
Verse
14. That he may bring forth food out of the earth. The
Israelites at the feast of the Passover and before the breaking of bread, were
accustomed to say, "Praise be to the Lord our God, thou King of the world,
who hath brought forth our bread from the earth": and at each returning
harvest we ought to be filled with gratitude, as often as we again receive the
valuable gift of bread. It is the most indispensable and necessary means of
nourishment, of which we never tire, whilst other food, the sweeter it is, the
more easily it surfeits: everybody, the child and the old man, the beggar and
the king, like bread. We remember the unfortunate man, who was cast on the
desert isle, famishing with hunger, and who cried at the sight of a handful of
gold, "Ah, it is only gold!" He would willingly have exchanged for a
handful of bread, this to him, useless material, which in the mind of most men
is above all price. O let us never sin against God, by lightly esteeming bread!
Let us gratefully accept the sheaves we gather, and thankfully visit the barns
which preserve them; that we may break bread to the hungry, and give to the
thirsty from the supplies God has given us. Let us never sit down to table
without asking God to bless the gifts we receive from his gracious hand, and
never eat bread without thinking of Christ our Lord, who calls himself the
living bread, who came down from heaven to give life unto the world. And above
all, may we never go to the table of the Lord without enjoying, through the
symbols of bread and wine, his body and blood, whereby we receive strength to
nourish our spiritual life! Yes, Lord, thou satisfiest both body and soul, with
bread from earth and bread from heaven. Praise be to thy holy name, our hearts
and mouths shall be full of thy praises for time and eternity!—Frederick
Arndt in "Lights of the Morning", 1861.
Verse
15. When thou wert taken out of the womb, what a stately palace did
he bring thee into, the world, which thou foundest prepared and ready furnished
with all things for thy maintenance, as Canaan was to the children of Israel; a
stately house thou buildest not, trees thou plantedst not, a rich canopy
spangled, spread as a curtain over thy head; he sets up a taper for thee to
work by, the sun, till thou art weary (Ps 104:23), and then it goes down
without thy bidding, for it "knows its going down" (Ps
104:19); then he draws a curtain over half the world, that men may go to rest: "Thou
causest darkness, and it is night" (Ps 104:20). As an house this world
is, so curiously contrived that to every room of it, even to every poor
village, springs do come as pipes to find thee water (Ps 104:11). The pavement
of which house you tread on and it brings forth thy food (Ps 104:14), "Bread
for strength, wine to cheer thy heart, oil to make thy face to shine"
(Ps 104:15). Which three are there synecdochically put for all things needful
to strength, ornament, and delight. Thomas Goodwin.
Verse
15. Wine that maketh glad the heart of man. The wine mentioned
had the quality of fermented liquors; it gladdened the heart. Thus, if taken to
excess, it would have led to intoxication. The Hebrew term is
"yayin", answering to the Greek oinos, and including every
form which the juice of the grape might be made to assume as a beverage. It was
this of which Noah partook when he became drunken (Ge 9:21,24). Melchizedek
brought it forth to Abraham (Ge 14:18). Lot's daughters gave it to their father
and made him drunk (Ge 14:35). From this the Nazarite was to separate himself
(Nu 6:3-20). This is the highly intoxicating drink so often mentioned by Isaiah
(Isa 5:11-22 12:13 28:1-7); but just because of this, it might become to man
one of those mercies in connection with the use of which he was to exercise
constant self control. Taken to excess it was a curse; enjoyed as from God, it
was something for which man was called to be thankful. John Duns.
Verse
15. And oil to make his face to shine. Observe, after the
mention of wine, he speaks of oil or ointment, because at the banquets among
the Jews and other Eastern people, as afterwards among the Greeks and Romans,
there was a frequent use of ointments. The reasons why ointment was poured upon
the head were: To avoid intoxication: To improve the health: To contribute to
pleasure and delight. Homer often refers to this custom, and there is an
allusion to it by Solomon, Ec 9:8, "Let thy garments be always white;
and let thy head lack no ointment". See also Ps 23:5. Le Blanc.
Verse
15. The ancients made much use of oil to beautify their persons. We
read of "oil to make man's face to shine". Ruth anointed
herself for decoration (Ru 3:3), and the woman of Tekoah and the prophet Daniel
omitted the use of oil for the contrary reason (2Sa 14:3 Da 10:3). The custom
is also mentioned in Mt 6:17 Lu 7:46. Ambrose Serle in "Horae
Solitariae," 1815.
Verse
15. Bread which strengtheneth man's heart. In hunger not only
the strength is prostrated, but the natural courage is also
abated. Hunger has no enterprise, emulation, nor courage. But when in
such circumstances, a little bread is received into the stomach, even before
concoction can have time to prepare it for nutriment, the strength is
restored, and the spirits revived. This is a surprising effect, and it
has not yet been satisfactorily accounted for. Adam Clarke.
Verse
15. Bread which strengtheneth man's heart. In Homer's Odyssey
we meet with the expression "Bread, the marrow of men."
Verse
15. Man's heart. It is not without reason that instead of the
word Mdah, of Adam, which was used in Ps 104:14, there is here employed the
word vwba, an infirm and feeble man, because he mentions those nourishments of
which there was no need before the fall, and which are specially suitable to
nourish and exhilarate feeble man. Venema.
Verse
15. If the transitory earth is so full of the good things of God,
what will we have when we come to the land of the living?—Starke, in Lange's
Commentary.
Verse
16. The trees of the Lord. The transition which the prophet
makes from men to trees is as if he had said, It is not to be wondered at, if
God so bountifully nourishes men who are created after his own image, since he
does not grudge to extend his care even to trees. By "the trees of the
Lord", is meant those which are high and of surpassing beauty; for
God's blessing is more conspicuous in them. It seems scarcely possible for any
juice of the earth to reach so great a height, and yet they renew their foliage
every year. John Calving.
Verse
16. The trees of the Lord may be so named from their size and
stature—this name being used as a superlative in the Hebrew, or to denote aught
which is great and extraordinary. Thomas Chalmers.
Verse
16. The trees of the Lord, etc. The cedars are indeed the
trees of the Lord. They are especially his planting. There is a sense in which,
above all other trees, they belong to him, and shadow forth in a higher degree
his glory. The peculiar expression of the text, however, must not be limited to
one particular species of cedar... Encouraged by this Scripture usage, I shall
use the word in a somewhat wider sense than the conventional one, to denote
three remarkable examples which may be selected from the coniferae to
show the power and wisdom of God as displayed in the trees of the forest. These
are, the cedar of Lebanon, the cedar of the Himalayas, and the cedar of the
Sierra Nevada. The epithet which the psalmist applies to one, may most
appropriately be applied to all of them; and there are various reasons why the
Lord may be said to have a special interest and property in each of them, to a
few of which our attention may now be profitably directed.
1.
They are "trees of the Lord" on account of the peculiarities of
their structure. In common with all the pine tribe, they are exceptional in
their organization. They reveal a new idea of the creative mind.
2.
The cedars are "the trees of the Lord" on account of the antiquity of
their type it was of this class of trees that the pre Adamite forests were
principally composed.
3.
The cedars are the "trees of the Lord, "on account of the majesty of
their appearance. It is the tree, par excellence, of the Bible—the type of all
forest vegetation.
—Condensed
from Hugh Macmillan's "Bible Teachings in Nature, "1868.
Verse
16. Full of sap. The cedar has a store of resin. It flows from
wounds made in the bark, and from the scales of the cones, and is abundant in
the seeds. Both the resin and the wood were much valued by the ancients. The
Romans believed that the gum which exuded from the cedar had the power of
rendering whatever was steeped in it incorruptible; and we are told that the
books of Numa, the early king of Rome, which were found uninjured in his tomb,
five hundred years after his death, had been steeped in oil of cedar. The
Egyptians also used the oil in embalming their dead. Mary and Elizabeth
Kirby, in "Chapters on Trees," 1873.
Verse
17. Birds. The word rendered "birds" here is
the word which in Ps 84:3 is translated sparrow, and which is commonly used to
denote small birds. Comp. Le 14:4 (margin), and Le 14:5-7 14:49-53. It is used,
however, to denote birds of any kind. See Ge 7:14 Ps 8:8 6:1 148:10. Albert
Barnes.
Verse
17. The stork is instanced as one of the largest of nest
building birds, as the cedars of Lebanon were introduced in Ps 104:16 as being
the largest of uncultivated trees. A.C. Jennings and W.H. Zowe,
in "The Psalms, with Introductions and Critical Notes", 1875.
Verse
17. The stork, the fir trees are her hoarse. In many cases the
stork breeds among old ruins, and under such circumstances it is fond of
building its nest on the tops of pillars or towers, the summits of arches, and
similar localities. When it takes up its abode among mankind, it generally
selects the breeding places which have been built for it by those who know its
taste, but it frequently chooses the top of a chimney, or some such locality.
When it is obliged to build in spots where it can find neither rocks nor
buildings, it builds on trees, and, like the heron, is sociable in its nesting,
a whole community residing in a clump of trees. It is not very particular about
the kind of tree, provided that it be tolerably tall, and strong enough to bear
the weight of its enormous nest; and the reader will at once see that the fir
trees are peculiarly fitted to be the houses for the stork. The particular
species of fir tree to which the Psalmist alludes is probably the Aleppo pine (Pinus
halepensis), which comes next to the great cedars of Lebanon in point of
size. It was this tree that furnished the timber and planks for Solomon's
temple and palace, a timber which was evidently held in the greatest
estimation. This tree fulfils all the conditions which a stork would require in
nest building. It is lofty, and its boughs are sufficiently horizontal to form
a platform for the nest, and strong enough to sustain it. On account of its
value and the reckless manner in which it has been cut down without new
plantations being formed, the Aleppo pine has vanished from many parts of
Palestine wherein it was formerly common, and would afford a dwelling place for
the stork. There are, however, several other species of fir which are common in
various parts of the country, each species flourishing in the soil best suited
to it, so that the stork would never be at a loss to find a nesting place in a
country which furnished so many trees suitable to its purposes. J.G. Wood,
in "Bible Animals."
Verse
17. The stork, the fir trees are her house. Well wooded
districts are for the most part the favourite resorts of the storks, as they
constantly select trees both for breeding purposes and as resting places for
the night; some few species, however, prove exceptions to this rule, and make
their nests on roofs, chimneys, or other elevated situations in the immediate
vicinity of men. From "Cassell's Book of Birds." From the Text
of Dr. Brehm. By T.R. Jones, F.R.S.
Verse
17. The fir trees. The doors of the temple were made of the
fir tree; even of that tree which was a type of the humanity of Jesus Christ.
Consider Heb 2:14. The fir tree is also the house of the stork, that unclean
bird, even as Christ is a harbour and shelter for sinners. "As for the
stork", saith the text, "the fir trees are her house; "and
Christ saith to the sinners that see their want of shelter, "Come unto me,
and I will give you rest." He is a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in
time of trouble. He is, as the doors of fir of the temple, the inlet of God's
house, to God's presence, and to a partaking of his glory. Thus God did of old,
by similitudes teach his people his way. John Bunyan, in "Solomon's
Temple Spiritualized."
Verse
17.
The
eagle and the stork
On cliffs and cedar-tops their eyries build. John Milton.
Verse
18. The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats. There is
scarcely any doubt that the Azel of the Old Testament is the Arabian Ibex
or Beden (Capra Nubiana). This animal is very closely allied to the well
known Ibex of the Alps, or Steinbock, but may be distinguished from it by one
or two slight differences, such as the black beard and the slighter make of the
horns, which moreover have three angles instead of four, as is the case with
the Alpine Ibex ...The colour of its coat resembles so nearly that of the
rocks, that an inexperienced eye would see nothing but bare stones and sticks
where a practised hunter would see numbers of Beden, conspicuous by
their beautifully curved horns. The agility of the Beden is
extraordinary. Living in the highest and most craggy parts of the mountain
ridge, it flings itself from spot to spot with a recklessness that startles one
who has not been accustomed to the animal, and the wonderful certainty of its
foot. It will, for example, dash at the face of a perpendicular precipice that
looks as smooth as a brick wall, for the purpose of reaching a tiny ledge which
is hardly perceptible, and which is some fifteen feet or so above the spot
whence the animal sprang. Its eye, however, has marked certain little cracks
and projections on the face of the rock, and as the animal makes its leap, it
takes these little points of vantage in rapid succession, just touching them as
it passes upwards, and by the slight stroke of its foot keeping up the original
impulse of its leap. Similarly the Ibex comes sliding and leaping down
precipitous sides of the mountains, sometimes halting with all the four feet
drawn together, on a little projection scarcely larger than a penny, and
sometimes springing boldly over a wild crevasse, and alighting with exact
precision upon a projecting piece of rock, that seems scarcely large enough to
sustain a rat comfortably. J.G. Wood.
Verse
18. Conies. When we were exploring the rocks in the
neighbourhood of the convent, I was delighted to point attention to a family or
two of the Wubar, engaged in their gambols on the heights above us. Mr.
Smith and I watched them narrowly, and were much amused with the liveliness of
their motions, and the quickness of their retreat within the clefts of the rock
when they apprehended danger. We were, we believe, the first European
travellers who actually noticed this animal, now universally admitted to be the
shaphan, or coney of Scripture, within the proper bounds of the Holy Land; and
we were not a little gratified by its discovery... The preparer of the skin
mistook it for a rabbit, though it is of a stronger build, and of a duskier
colour, being of a dark brown. It is destitute of a tail, and has some bristles
at its mouth, over its head, and down its back, along the course of which there
are traces of light and dark shade. In its short ears, small, black, and naked
feet, and pointed snout, it resembles the hedgehog. It does not, however,
belong to the insectivora, but, though somewhat anomalous, it is allied to the
paehydermata, among which it is now classed by naturalists. John Wilson,
in "The Lands of the Bible," 1847.
Verse
18. Conies. People used to think the conies of Solomon the
same as our rabbits, which are indeed "a feeble folk, "but which do
not "make their houses in the rock." Now that the coney is
ascertained to be the Damon or Hyrax,—a shy defenceless creature, which lurks
among the cliffs of the mountains, and darts into its den at the least approach
of danger, the words of Agar acquire their full significance. James
Hamilton.
Verse
19. He appointed the moon for seasons. When it is said, that
the moon was appointed to distinguish seasons, interpreters agree that this is
to be understood of the ordinary and appointed feasts. The Hebrews having been
accustomed to compute their months by the moon, this served for regulating
their festival days and assemblies both sacred and political. The prophet, I
have no doubt, by the figure synecdoche, puts a part for the whole, intimating
that the moon not only distinguishes the days from the nights, but likewise
marks out the festival days, measures years and months, and, in line, answers
many useful purposes, in as much as the distinction of times is taken from her
course. John Calvin.
Verse
19. He appointed the moon for seasons. "He made the moon
to serve in her season, for a declaration ofttimes, and a sign to the world.
From the moon is the sign of feasts, a light that decreases in her perfection.
The month is called after her name, increasing wonderfully in her changing,
being an instrument of the armies above, shining in the firmament of heaven;
the beauty of heaven, the glory of the stars, an ornament giving light in the
highest places of the Lord."—Ec 10:7
Verse
19. The sun knoweth his going down. The second clause is not
to be rendered in the common way, "The sun knoweth his going down,
"but according to the usual idiom, He, i.e., God knoweth the
going down of the sun. Not to mention the unwanted and harsh form of the
phrase, by which the knowledge of his setting is attributed to the sun,
there appears no reason why it should be here used, since it is destitute of
force, {1} or why he should turn from God as a cause, to the moving sun, when
both before and afterwards he speaks of God, saying, "He appointed the
moon, ""Thou makest darkness". Far more fitly, therefore, is
he to be understood as speaking of God, as before and after, so in the middle,
of the directing cause of the appearances of the moon, the setting of the sun,
and the spread of darkness. God also is said more correctly to know the going
down of the sun, than the sun himself, since to know has in effect the force of
to cared for, as is often the case in other passages. Venema.
{1}
This excellent expounder cannot see the beauty of the poetic expression, and so
proses in this fashion.
Verse
20. Thou makest darkness. Some observe with Augustine that in
Genesis it is said that light was made, but not that darkness was
made, because darkness is nothing, it is mere non existence. But in this
passage it is also said that night was made, and the Lord calls himself the Maker
of light and the Creator of darkness. Lorinus.
Verse
20. Thou makest darkness, etc. It would be interesting to
consider the wonderful adaptation of the length of the day to the health of
man, and to the rigour and perhaps existence of the animal and vegetable
tribes. The rejoicing of life depends so much upon the grateful alternation of
day and night. For a full consideration of this subject I must refer the reader
to Dr. Whewell's Bridgewater Treatise. The subjoined extracts may, however, aid
reflection. The terrestrial day, and consequently, the length of the cycle of
light and darkness, being what it is, we find various parts of the constitution
both of animals and vegetables, which have a periodical character in their
functions, corresponding to the diurnal succession of external conditions; and
we find that the length of the period, as it exists in their constitution,
coincides with the length of the natural day. The alternation of processes
which takes place in plants by day and by night is less obvious, and less
obviously essential to their well being, than the annum series of changes. But
there are abundance of facts which serve to show that such an alternation is
part of the vegetable economy. . . . "Animals also have a period in their
functions and habits; as in the habits of waking, sleeping, etc., and their
well being appears to depend on the coincidence of this period with the length
of the natural day. We see that in the day, as it now is, all animals find
seasons for taking food and repose, which agree perfectly with their health and
comfort. Some animals feed during the day, as nearly all the ruminating animals
and land birds; others feed only in the twilight, as bats and owls, and are
called crepuscular; while many beasts of prey, aquatic birds, and others, take
their food during the night. These animals, which are nocturnal feeders, are
diurnal sleepers, while those which are crepuscular sleep partly in the night
and partly in the day; but in all, the complete period of these functions is
twenty-four hours. Man in like manner, in all nations and ages, takes his
principal rest once in twenty-four hours; and the regularity of this practice
seems most suitable to his health, though the duration of time allotted to
repose is extremely different in different cases. So far as we can judge, this
period is of a length beneficial to the human frame, independently of the
effect of external agents. In the voyages recently made into high northern
latitudes, where the sun did not rise for three months, the crews of the ships
were made to adhere, with the utmost punctuality, to the hallit of retiring to
rest at nine, and rising a quarter before six; and they enjoyed, under
circumstances apparently the most trying, a state of salubrity quite
remarkable. This shows, that according to the common constitution of such men,
the cycle of twenty-four hours is very commodious, though not imposed on them
by external circumstances."—William Whewell (1795-1866).
Verse
21. The young lions...seek their meat from God. God feeds not
only sheep and lambs, but wolves and lions. It is a strange expression that
young lions when they roar after their prey, should be said to seek their meat
of God; implying that neither their own strength nor craft could feed them
without help from God. The strongest creatures left to themselves cannot help
themselves. As they who fear God are fed by a special providence of God, so all
creatures are fed and nourished by a general providence. The lion, though he be
strong and subtle, yet cannot get his own prey; we think a lion might shift for
himself; no, it is the lord that provides for him; the young lions seek their
meat of God. Surely, then, the mightiest of men cannot live upon themselves; as
it is of God that we receive life and breath, so all things needful for the
maintenance of this life. Joseph Caryl.
Verse
21. The young lions roar. The roar of a lion, according to
Burcheil, sometimes resembles the sound which is heard at the moment of an
earthquake; and is produced by his laying his head on the ground, and uttering
a half stifled growl, by which means the noise is conveyed along the earth. The
instant it is heard by the animals reposing m the plains, they start up in
alarm, fly in all directions, and even rush into the danger which they seek to
avoid. From Cassell's Popular Natural History.
Verse
21. The roaring of the young lions, like the crying of the ravens, is
interpreted, asking their meat of God. Both God put this construction upon the
language of mere nature, even in venomous creatures, and shall he not much more
interpret favourably the language of grace in his own people, though it be weak
and broken groanings which cannot be uttered?—Matthew Henry.
Verse
22. The sun ariseth...they lay them down in their dens. As
wild beasts since the fall of man may seem to be born to do us hurt, and to
rend and tear in pieces all whom they meet with, this savage cruelty must be
kept under check by the providence of God. And in order to keep them shut up
within their dens, the only means which he employs is to inspire them with
terror, simply by the light of the sun. This instance of divine goodness, the
prophet commends the more on account of its necessity; for were it otherwise,
men would have no liberty to go forth to engage in the labours and business of
life. John Calvin.
Verse
23. Man goeth forth unto his work, etc. Man alone, among all
creatures, in distinction from the involuntary instruments of the Almighty, has
a real daily work. He has a definite part to play in life; and can recognize
it. Carl Bernhard Moll, in Lange's Commentary.
Verse
23. When the light of truth and righteousness shineth, error and
iniquity fly away before it, and the "roaring lion" himself departeth
for a time. Then the Christian goeth forth to the work of his salvation, and to
his labour of love, until the evening of old age warns him to prepare for his
last repose, in faith of a joyful resurrection. George Horne.
Verse
24. O Lord, how manifold are thy works! etc. If the number of
the creatures be so exceeding great, how great, nay, immense, must needs be the
power and wisdom of him who formed them all! For (that I may borrow the words
of a noble and excellent author) as it argues and manifests more skill by far
in an artificer, to be able to frame both clocks and watches, and pumps and
mills, and granadoes and rockets, than he could display in making but one of
those sorts of engines; so the Almighty discovers more of his wisdom in forming
such a vast multitude of different sorts of creatures, and all with admirable
and irreprovable art, than if he had created but a few; for this declares the
greatness and unbounded capacity of his understanding. Again, the same
superiority of knowledge would be displayed by contriving engines of the same
kind, or for the same purposes, after different fashions, as the moving of clocks
by springs instead of weights: so the infinitely wise Creator hath shown in
many instances that he is not confined to one only instrument for the working
one effect, but can perform the same thing by divers means. So, though feathers
seem necessary for flying, yet hath he enabled several creatures to fly without
them, as two sorts of fishes, one sort of lizard, and the bat, not to mention
the numerous tribes of flying insects. In like manner, though the air bladder
in fishes seems necessary for swimming, yet some are so formed as to swim
without it, viz., First, the cartilaginous kind, which by what artifice they
poise themselves, ascend and descend at pleasure, and continue in what depth of
water they list, is as yet unknown to us. Secondly, the cetaceous kind, or sea
beasts, differing in nothing almost but the want of feet. The air which in
respiration these receive into their lungs, may serve to render their bodies
equiponderant to the water; and the construction or dilatation of it, by the
help of the diaphragm and muscles of respiration, may probably assist them to
ascend or descend in the water, by a light impulse thereof with their fins. . .
. Again, the great use and convenience, the beauty and variety of so many
springs and fountains, so many brooks and rivers, so many lakes and standing
pools of water, and these so scattered and dispersed all the earth over, that
no great part of it is destitute of them, without which it must, without a
supply other ways, be desolate and void of inhabitants, afford abundant
arguments of wisdom and counsel: that springs should break forth on the sides
of mountains most remote from the sea: that there should way be made for rivers
through straits and rocks, and subterraneous vaults, so that one would think
that nature had cut a way on purpose to derive the water, which else would
overflow and drown whole countries. John Ray (1678-1705), in "The
Wisdom, of God manifested in the Works of the Creation."
Verse
24. How manifold are thy works! When we contemplate the
wonderful works of Nature, and walking about at leisure, gaze upon this ample
theatre of the world, considering the stately beauty, constant order, and
sumptuous furniture thereof; the glorious splendour and uniform motion of the
heavens; the pleasant fertility of the earth; the curious figure and fragrant
sweetness of plants; the exquisite frame of animals; and all other amazing
miracles of nature, wherein the glorious attributes of God, especially his
transcendant goodness, are more conspicuously displayed: so that by them, not
only large acknowledgments, but even gratulatory hymns, as it were, of praise
have been extorted from the mouths of Aristotle, Pliny, Galen, and such like
men, never suspected guilty of an excessive devotion; then should our hearts be
affected with thankful sense, and our lips break forth in praise. William
Barrow, 1754-1836.
Verse
24. He does not undertake to answer his own question, "How
manifold?" for he confesses God's works to be greater than his own
power of expression; whether these "works" belong to the
creation of nature or to that of grace. And observe how the concurrent
operation of the Blessed Trinity is set forth: "O Lord, how manifold
are thy works, "teaches of the Father, the Source of all things:
"in wisdom hast thou made them all, "tells of the Son, the
Eternal Word, "Christ the power of God and the Wisdom of God, by whom were
all things made, and without him was not anything made that was made,
"(1Co 1:24 Joh 1:3); "the earth is full of thy riches, "is
spoken of the Holy Ghost, who filleth the world. Augustine, Hugo, and Uassiodorus,
in Neale and Littledale.
Verse
24. In wisdom hast thou made them all. Not only one thing, as
the heavens, Ps 136:5; but everything is wisely contrived and made; there is a
most glorious display of the wisdom of God in the most minute things his hands
have made; he has made everything beautiful in its season. A skilful artificer,
when he has finished his work and looks it over again, often finds some fault
or another in it: but when the Lord had finished his works of creation, and
looked over them, he saw that all was good; infinite wisdom itself could find
no blemish in them: what weak, foolish, stupid creatures must they be that
pretend to charge any of the works of God with folly, or want of wisdom?—John
Gill.
Verse
24. The earth is full of thy riches, literally, thy
possessions; these thou keepest not to thyself, but blessest thy creatures
with. A.R. Fausset.
Verse
25. Things innumerable. The waters teem with more life than
the land. Beneath a surface less varied than that of the continents, the sea
enfolds in its bosom an exuberance of life, of which no other region of the
globe can afford the faintest idea. Its life extends from the poles to the
equator, from east to west. Everywhere the sea is peopled; everywhere, down to
its unfathomable depths, live and sport creatures suited to the locality. In
every spot of its vast expanse the naturalist finds instruction, and the
philosopher meditation, while the very varieties of life tend to impress upon
our souls a feeling of gratitude to the Creator of the universe. Yes, the
shores of the ocean and its depths, its plains and its mountains, its valleys
and its precipices, even its debris, are enlivened and beautified by thousands
of living beings. There are the solitary or sociable plants, upright or
pendant, stretching in prairies, grouped in oases, or growing in immense
forests. These plants give a cover to and feed millions of animals which creep,
run, swim, fly, burrow in the soil, attach themselves to roots, lodge in the
crevices, or build for themselves shelters, which seek or fly from one another,
which pursue or fight each other, which caress each other with affection or
devour each other without pity. Charles Darwin truly says that the terrestrial
forests do not contain anything like the number of animals as those of the sea.
The ocean, which is for man the element of death, is for myriads of animals a
home of life and health. There is joy in its waves, there is happiness upon its
shores, and heavenly blue everywhere. Moquin Tandon, in "The
World of the Sea", Translated and enlarged by H. Martin Hart,
1869.
Verse
25. Both small and great beasts.
The
sounds and seas, each creek and bay,
With fry innumerable swarm, and shoals
Of fish that with their fins and shining scales
Glide under the green wave, in shoals that oft
Bank the mid sea; part single, or with mate,
Graze the seaweed their pasture, and through groves
Of coral stray; or sporting with quick glance,
Show to the sun their waved coats drop it with gold;
Or, in their pearly shells at ease, attend
Moist nutriment; or under rocks their food
In jointed armour watch: on smooth the seal
And bended dolphins play: part huge of bulk
Wallowing unwieldy, enormous in their gait,
Tempest the ocean: there leviathan,
Hugest of living creatures, on the deep
Stretched like a promontory sleeps or swims,
And seems a moving land; and at his gills
Draws in, and at his trunk spouts out, a sea.
—John Milton.
Verse
26. Ships. The original of ships was doubtless Noah's ark, so
that they owe their first draught to God himself. John Gill.
Verse
26. There go the ships. Far from separating from each other
the nations of the earth (as the ancients, still inexperienced in navigation,
supposed), the sea is the great highway of the human race, and unites all its
various tribes into one common family by the beneficial bonds of commerce.
Countless fleets are constantly furrowing its bosom, to enrich, by perpetual
exchanges, all the countries of the globe with the products of every zone, to
convey the fruits of the tropical world to the children of the chilly north, or
to transport the manufactures of colder climes to the inhabitants of the
equatorial regions. With the growth of commerce civilization also spreads
athwart the wide cause way of the ocean from shore to shore; it first dawned on
the borders of the sea, and its chief seats are still to be found along its
confines. G. Hartwig, in "The Harmonies of Nature,"
1866.
Verse
26. Leviathan. There is ground for thinking (though this is
denied by some) that in several passages the term leviathan is used
generically, much as we employ dragon; and that it denotes a great sea monster.
E.P. Barrows, in "Biblical Geography and Antiquities."
Verse
26. To play therein. Dreadful and tempestuous as the sea may
appear, and uncontrollable in its billows and surges, it is only the field of
sport, the playground, the bowling green, to those huge marine monsters. Adam
Clarke.
Verse
26. Leviathan... made to play therein. With such wonderful
strength is the tail of the whale endowed, that the largest of these animals,
measuring some eighty feet in length, are able by its aid to leap clear out of
the water, as if they were little fish leaping after flies. This movement is
technically termed "breaching, "and the sound which is produced by
the huge carcase as it falls upon the water is so powerful as to be heard for a
distance of several miles. J.G. Wood, in "The Illustrated Natural
History," 1861.
Verse
26. Leviathan...made to play therein. Though these immense
mammiferous fish have no legs, they swim with great swiftness, and they gambol
in the mountains of water lashed up by the storms. Moquin Tandon.
Verse
26. Leviathan...made to play. He is made to "play in the
sea"; he hath nothing to do as man hath, that "goes forth to his
work"; he hath nothing to fear as the beasts have, that lie down in their
dens; and therefore he plays with the waters: it is pity any of the children of
men, that have nobler powers, and were made for nobler purposes, should live as
if they were sent into the world like the leviathan into the waters, to play
therein, spending all their time in pastime. Matthew Henry.
Verse
26. Therein. Fish, great and small, sport and play in the
element, but as soon as they are brought out of it, they languish and die.
Mark, O soul! what thy element is, if thou wouldest live joyful and blessed. Starke,
in Lange's Commentary.
Verse
27. There are five things to be observed in God's sustaining all
animals. His power, which alone suffices for all: "These wait all upon
thee." Wisdom, which selects a fitting time: "That thou mayest give
them their meat in due season." His majesty rising above all: "That
thou givest them they gather, "like the crumbs falling from the table of
their supreme Lord. His liberality, which retains nothing in his open hand that
it does not give: "Thou openest thine hand." His original goodness
that flows down to all: "They are filled with good, "that is, with
the good things that spring from thy goodness. Le Blanc.
Verse
27. That thou mayest give them their meat in due season; or,
in his time; every one in its own time which is natural to them, and they have
been used to, at which time the Lord gives it to them, and they take it; it
would be well if men would do so likewise, eat and drink in proper and due
time, Ec 10:17. Christ speaks a word in season to weary souls; his ministers
give to every one his portion of meat in due season; and a word spoken in due
season, how good and sweet is it? Isa 7:4 Lu 7:12 Pr 15:23. John Gill.
Verse
27.
These,
Lord, all wait on thee, that thou their food may it give them;
Thou to their wants attendest;
They gather what thou sendest;
Thine hand thou openest, all their need supplying,
Over lookest not the least, the greatest satisfying.
When thou dost hide thy face a sudden change comes over them
Their breath in myriads taken,
They die no more to awaken;
But myriads more thy Spirit soon createth,
And the whole face of nature quickly renovateth.
The glory of the Lord, changeless, endures for ever;
In all his works delighting,
Nor even the smallest slighting;
Yet, if he frown, earth shrinks with fear before him,
And, at his touch, the hills with kindling flames adore him.
—John Burton.
Verse
28. That thou givest them they gather. This sentence describes
The Commissariat of Creation. The problem is the feeding of "the creeping
things innumerable, both small and great beasts, "which swarm the sea; the
armies of birds which fill the air, and the vast hordes of animals which people
the dry land; and in this sentence we have the problem solved, "That thou
givest them they gather." The work is stupendous, but it is done with ease
because the Worker is infinite: if he were not at the head of it the task would
never be accomplished. Blessed be God for the great They of the text. It is
every way our sweetest consolation that the personal God is still at work in
the world: leviathan in the ocean, and the sparrow on the bough, may be alike
glad of this; and we, the children of the great Father, much more. The general
principle of the text is, God gives to his creatures, and his creatures gather.
That general principle we shall apply to our own case as men and women; for it
is as true of us as it is of the fish of the sea, and the cattle on the hills:
"That thou givest them they gather."
1.
We have only to gather, for God gives. In temporal things: God gives us day by
day our daily bread, and our business is simply to gather it. As to spirituals,
the principle is true, most emphatically, we have, in the matter of grace, only
to gather what God gives. The natural man thinks that he has to earn divine
favour; that he has to purchase the blessing of heaven; but he is in grave
error: the soul has only to receive that which Jesus freely gives.
2.
We can only gather what God gives; however eager we may be, there is the end of
the matter. The diligent bird shall not be able to gather more than the Lord
has given it; neither shall the most avaricious and covetous man. "It is
vain for you to rise up early and to sit up late, to eat the bread of
carefulness; for so he giveth his beloved sleep."
3.
We must gather what God gives, or else we shall get no good by his bountiful
giving. God feeds the creeping things innumerable, but each creature collects
the provender for itself. The huge leviathan receives his vast provision, but
he must go ploughing through the boundless meadows and gather up the myriads of
minute objects which supply his need. The fish must leap up to catch the fly,
the swallow must hawk for its food, the young lions must hunt for their prey.
4.
The fourth turn of the text gives us the sweet thought that, we may gather what
he gives. We have divine permission to enjoy freely what the Lord bestows.
5.
The last thing is, God will always give us something to gather. It is written,
"The Lord will provide." Thus is it also in spiritual things. If you
are willing to gather, God will always give. C.H.S.
Verse
28. Gather. The verb rendered "gather" means to pick
up or collect from the ground. It is used in the history of the manna (Ex
16:1,5,16), to which there is obvious allusion. The act of gathering from the
ground seems to presuppose a previous throwing down from heaven. J.A.
Alexander.
Verse
28. Thou openest thine hand. The Greek expositors take the opening
of the hand to indicate facility. I am of opinion that it refers also to
abundance and liberality, as in Ps 145:16:—"Thou openest thine hand, and
satisfiest the desire of every living thing." Using this same formula, God
commands us not to close the hand, but to open it to the poor. Lorinus.
Verse
29. They are troubled. They are confounded; they are
overwhelmed with terror and amazement. The word "troubled" by no
means conveys the sense of the original word—Nab, bahal—which means properly to
tremble; to be in trepidation; to be filled with terror; to be amazed; to be
confounded. It is that kind of consternation which one has when all support and
protection are withdrawn, and when inevitable ruin stares one in the face. So
when God turns away, all their support is gone, all their resources fail, and
they must die. They are represented as conscious of this; or this is what would
occur if they were conscious. Albert Barnes.
Verse
30. Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created. The
Spirit of God creates every day: what is it that continueth things in their
created being, but providence? That is a true axiom in divinity, Providence is
creation continued. Now the Spirit of God who created at first, creates to this
day: "Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created." The work of
creation was finished in the first six days of the world, but the work of
creation is renewed every day, and so continued to the end of the world.
Successive providential creation as well as original creation is ascribed to
the Spirit. "And thou renewest the face of the earth." Thou makest a
new world; and thus God makes a new world every year, sending forth his Spirit,
or quickening power, in the rain and sun to renew the face of the earth. And as
the Lord sends forth his power in providential mercies, so in providential
judgments. Joseph Caryl.
Verse
31. The Lord shall rejoice in his works. Man alone amongst the
creatures grieves God, and brought tears from the eyes of Christ, who rejoiced
in Spirit, because the Father had deigned to reveal the mysteries to the little
ones. It repented God that he had made men, because as a wise son maketh a glad
father, so a foolish one is a vexation to him. Lorinus.
Verse
31 (last clause). What the Psalmist adds, Let Jehovah rejoice in his
works, is not superfluous, for he desires that the order which God has
established from the beginning may be continued in the lawful use of his gifts.
As we read in Ge 6:6, that "it repented the Lord that he had made man on
the earth; "so when he sees that the good things which he bestows are
polluted by our corruptions, he ceases to take delight in bestowing them. And
certainly the confusion and disorder which take place, when the elements cease
to perform their office, testify that God, displeased and wearied out, is
provoked to discontinue, and put a stop to the regular course of his
beneficence; although anger and impatience have strictly speaking no place in
his mind. What is here taught is, that he bears the character of the best of
fathers, who takes pleasure in tenderly cherishing his children, and in
bountifully nourishing them. John Calvin.
Verse
32. He looketh on the earth and it trembleth. As man can soon
give a cast with his eye, so soon can God shake the earth, that is, either the
whole mass of the earth, or the inferior sort of men on the earth when he
"looketh, "or casteth an angry eye "upon the earth it
trembleth." "He toucheth the hills, "(that is, the powers and
principalities of the world), "and they smoke; "if he do but touch
them they smoke, that is, the dreadful effects of the power and judgment of God
are visible upon them. Joseph Caryl.
Verse
32. No one save a photographer can sketch the desert around Sinai.
Roberts' views are noble, and to a certain extent true; but they do not represent
these desert cliffs and ravines. No artist can rightly do it. Only the
photographer can pourtray the million of minute details that go to make up the
bleakness, the wildness, the awfulness, and the dismal loneliness of these
unearthly wastes. About noon I went out and walked upon the convent roof. The
star light over the mountain peaks was splendid, while the gloom that hung
round these enormous precipices and Impenetrable ravines was quite oppressive
to the spirit. This is the scene of which David spoke. "He looketh on the
earth, and it trembleth: he toucheth the hills, and they smoke." This is
the mountain "that was touched, and that burned with fire" (Heb
7:18). Not the mount that "might be touched, "as our translators have
rendered it, but the mount "that was touched, " qhla fwmena,—the
mount on which the finger of God rested. We could imagine the black girdle of
the thick darkness with which the mountain was surrounded, and the lightnings
giving forth their quick fire through tiffs covering, making its blackness
blacker. We could imagine, too, the supernatural blaze, kindled by no earthly
hand, that shot up out of the midst of this, like a living column of fire,
ascending, amid the sound of angelic trumpets and superangelic thunders, to the
very heart of heaven. Horatius Bonar, in "The Desert of
Sinai", 1858.
Verse
32. The philosopher labours to investigate the natural cause of
earthquakes and volcanoes. Well, let him account as he will, still the
immediate power of Jehovah is the true and ultimate cause. God works in these
tremendous operations. "He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth; he
toucheth the hills, and they smoke." This is the philosophy of Scripture:
this, then, shall be my philosophy. Never was a sentence uttered by uninspired
man so sublime as this sentence. The thought is grand beyond conception; and
the expression clothes the thought with suitable external majesty. God needs no
means by which to give effect to his purpose by his power, yet, in general, he
has established means through which he acts. In conformity with this Divine
plan, he created by means, and he governs by means. But the means which he has
employed in creation, and the means which he employs in providence, are
effectual only by his almighty power. The sublimity of the expression in this
passage arises from the infinite disproportion between the means and the end.
An earthly sovereign looks with anger, and his courtiers tremble. God looks on
the earth, and it trembles to its foundation. He touches the mountains, and the
volcano smokes, vomiting forth torrents of lava. Hills are said to melt at the
presence of the Lord. "Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord,
at the presence of the God of Jacob." How chill and withering is the
breath of that noxious philosophy, that would detach our minds from viewing God
in his works of Providence! The Christian who lives in this atmosphere, or on
the borders of it, will be unhealthy and unfruitful in true works of
righteousness. This malaria destroys all spiritual life. Alexander Carson.
Verse
32. He toucheth the hills, and they smoke. It's therefore ill
falling into his hands, who can do such terrible things with his looks and
touches. John Trapp.
Verse
33. I will sing unto the Lord. The Psalmist, exulting in the
glorious prospect of the renovation of all things, breaks out in triumphant
anticipation of the great event, and says, "I will sing unto the
Lord", ywxb bechaiyai, "with my lives, "the life that I now
have, and the life that I shall have hereafter. "I will sing praise to my
God, "ydweb beodi, "in my eternity; " my going on, my endless
progression. What astonishing ideas! But then, how shall this great work be
brought about? and how shall the new earth be inhabited with righteous spirits
only? The answer is Ps 104:35, "Let the sinners be consumed out of the
earth, and let the wicked be no more."—Adam Clarke.
Verse
33. All having been admonished to glorify God, he discloses what he
himself is about to do; with his voice he will declare his praises, "I
will sing unto the Lord as long as I live:" with his hand he will write
psalms, and set them to music, "I will sing psalms to my God while I have
my being:" with his mind he will make sweet meditations, "My
meditation of him shall be sweet:" with will and affection he will seek
after God alone, "I will be glad in the Lord:" he predicts and
desires the destruction of all sinners who think not of praising God, but
dishonour him in their words and works, "Let the sinners be consumed out
of the earth, and let the wicked be no more:" lastly, with his whole soul
and all his powers he will bless God, "Bless thou the Lord, O my
soul."—Le Blanc.
Verse
34. My meditation of him shall be sweet. A Christian needs to study
nothing but Christ, there is enough in Christ to take up his study and
contemplation all his days; and the more we study Christ, the more we may study
him; there will be new wonders still appearing in him. John Pox, 1680.
Verse
34. My meditation of him shall be sweet. The last words ever
written by Henry Martyn, dying among Mohammedans in Persia, was: I sat in the
orchard and thought with sweet comfort and peace of my God, in solitude my
company, my Friend and Comforter.
Verse
34. My meditation of him shall be sweet. I must meditate on
Christ. Let philosophers soar in their contemplations, and walk among the
stars; what are the stars to Christ, the Sun of righteousness, the brightness
of the Father's glory, and the express image of his person? God manifest in the
flesh is a theme which angela rejoice to contemplate. Samuel Lavington.
Verse
34. My meditation of him shall be sweet. First. Take this as
an assertion. The meditation on God is sweet. And the sweetness of it should
stir us up to the putting of it in practice. Secondly. Take it as a
resolution—that he would make it for his own practice; that is, that he would
comfort himself in such performances as these are; whilst others took pleasure
in other things, he would please himself in communion with God, this should be
his solace and delight upon all occasions. David promises himself a great deal
of contentment in this exercise of divine meditation which he undertook with
much delight: and so likewise do others of God's servants of the same nature
and disposition with him in the like undertakings. Thirdly. Take it as a prayer
and petition. It "shall be, "that is, let it be, the future put for
the imperative, as it frequently uses to be; and so the word "gnatam"
is to be translated, not, of God, but to God. Let my meditation, or prayer, or
converse, be sweet unto him. Place at "illi meditatio mea", so some
good authors interpret it. The English translation, "Let my words be
acceptable, "and the other before that, "Oh, that my words might
please him, "which comes to one and the same effect, all taking it in the
notion of a prayer: this is that which the servants of God have still thought
to be most necessary for them (as indeed it is); God's acceptance of the
performances which have been presented by them. Condensed from Thomas
Horton.
Verse
34. (first clause)—All the ancients join in understanding it
thus, "My meditation shall be sweet to him, "or, as the Jewish Arab,
hdge with him, according to that of the Psalmist, Ps 14:14 "Let the
meditation of my heart be always acceptable in thy sight." Thus the
Chaldee here, ywmrq, before him; the LXXII hdunyeih antw, "Let it be sweet
to him"; the Syriac to him, and so the others also. And so Ke signifies to
as well as on. Henry Hammond.
Verse
34. I will be glad in the Lord. Compare this with verse 31, and
observe the mutual and reciprocal pleasure and delight between God who is
praised and the soul that praises him. God, who rejoices in his works, takes
the highest delight in man, the compendium of his other works, and in that
work, than which none more excellent can be pursued by man, the work of
praising God in which the blessed are employed. Thus in this very praise of God
which is so pleasing to him, David professes to be evermore willing to take
delight. My beloved is mine, sings the Spouse, and I am his. Lorinus.
Verse
35. Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, etc. It fell
to my lot some years ago, to undertake a walk of some miles, on a summer
morning, along a seashore of surpassing beauty. It was the Lord's day, and the
language of the Hundred and fourth Psalm rose spontaneously in my mind as one
scene after another unfolded itself before the eye. About half way to my
destination the road lay through a dirty hamlet, and my meditations were rudely
interrupted by the brawling of some people, who looked as if they had been
spending the night in a drunken debauch. Well, I thought, the Psalmist must
have had some such unpleasant experience. He must have fallen in with people,
located in some scene of natural beauty, who, instead of being a holy
priesthood to give voice to nature in praise of her Creator, instead of being,
in the pure and holy tenor of their lives the most heavenly note of the general
song, filled it with a harsh discord. His prayer is the vehement expression of
a desire that the earth may no longer be marred by the presence of wicked
men,—that they may be utterly consumed, and may give place to men animated with
the fear of God, just and holy men, men that shall be a crown of beauty on the
head of this fair creation. If this be the right explanation of the Psalmist's
prayer, it is not only justifiable, but there is something wrong in our
meditations on nature, if we are not disposed to join in it. William Binnie.
Verse
35. Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth. This
imprecation depends on the last clause of the 31st verse, "Let Jehovah,
rejoice in his works." As the wicked infect the world with their
pollutions, the consequence is, that God has less delight in his own
workmanship, and is even almost displeased with it. It is impossible, but that
this uncleanness, which, being extended and diffused through every part of the
world, vitiates and corrupts such a noble product of his hands, must be
offensive to him. Since then the wicked, by their perverse abuse of God's
gifts, cause the world in a manner to degenerate and fall away from its first
original, the prophet justly desires that they may be exterminated, until the
race of them entirely fails. Let us, then, take care so to weigh the providence
of God, as that being wholly devoted to obeying him, we may rightly and purely
use the benefits which he sanctifies for our enjoying them. Further, let us be
grieved, that such precious treasures are wickedly squandered away, and let us
regard it as monstrous and detestable, that men not only forget their Maker, but
also, as it were, purposely turn to a perverse and an unworthy end, whatever
good things he has bestowed upon them. John Calvin.
Verse
35. The sinners.
All
true, all faultless, all in tune,
Creation's wondrous choir,
Opened in mystic unison,
To last till time expire.
And still it lasts: by day and night,
With one consenting voice,
All hymn thy glory, Lord, aright,
All worship and rejoice.
Man only mars the sweet accord,
Overpowering with harsh din
The music of thy works and word,
Ill matched with grief and sin.
—John Keble in "The Christian Year."
Verse
35. Bless thou the Lord, O my soul. Rehearse the first words
of the Psalm which are the same as these. They are here repeated as if to hint
that the end of good men is like their beginning, and that he is not of the
number who begins in the spirit and seeks to be made perfect in the flesh. A
worthy beginning of the Psalm, says Cassiodorus, and a worthy end, ever to
bless him who never at any time fails to be with the faithful. The soul which
blesses shall be made fat... Reined in by this rein of divine praise, he shall
never perish. Lorinus.
Verse
35. This is the first place where HALLELUJAH ("Praise ye the
Lord") occurs in the Book of Psalms. It is produced by a retrospect of
Creation, and by the contemplation of God's goodness in the preservation of all
the creatures of his hand, and also by a prospective view of that future
Sabbath, when, by the removal of evil men from communion with the good, God
will be enabled to look on his works, as he did on the first Sabbath, before
the Tempter had marred them, and see "everything very good." See Ge
1:31 2:2-3—Christopher Wordsworth.
Verse
35. Praise ye the Lord. This is the first time that we meet
with Hallelujah; and it comes in here upon occasion of the destruction of the
wicked; and the last time we meet with it, it is upon the like occasion, when
the New Testament Babylon is consumed, this is the burden of the
song,—"Hallelujah, "Re 14:1,3,4,6. Matthew Henry.
HINTS TO THE
VILLAGE PREACHER
Verse
1. (first clause)—An exhortation to one's own heart.
1.
To remember the Lord as the first cause of all good. Bless not man, or fate,
but the Lord.
2.
To do this in a loving, grateful, hearty, praising manner. Bless the Lord.
3.
To do it truly and intensely. O my soul.
4.
To do it now—for various reasons and in all possible ways.
Verse
1 (second clause). He is all this essentially, and in nature,
providence, grace, and judgment.
Verse
2 (first clause). The clearest revelation of God is still a
concealment; even light is but a covering to him. God is clothed with light as
we see him in his omniscience, his holiness, his revelation, his glory, in
heaven and his grace on earth.
Verse
3 (last clause).
1.
God is leisurely in his haste: "he walketh, "etc.
2.
God is swift even in his slackness: "he walketh on the wings of the
wind."
3.
The practical conclusions are that there is time enough for the divine purposes
but none for our trifling; and that we should both wait with patience for the
victory of his cause and hasten it by holy activity.
Verse
4.
1.
The Nature of Angels Spirits.
2.
The Lord of Angels. "Who maketh, "etc. What must Iris own
spirituality be who maketh spirits?
3.
The ministry of Angels.
(a)
Their office: "ministers."
(b) Their activity or zeal: "a flaming fire."
(c) Their dependence: made ministers.
—G. Rogers.
Verse
7. The power of the divine word in nature shows its power in other
spheres.
Verse
9.
1.
All things have their appointed bounds.
2.
To pass those bounds without special permission by God is transgression.
"Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass."
3.
Extraordinary cases should be followed by a return to ordinary duties.
"That they turn not again, "etc. G.R.
Verse
10. The thoughtfulness of God for those who, like the valleys, are
lowly, hidden, and needy: the abiding character of his supplies: and the joyous
results of his care.
Verse
10. God's care for wild creatures, reflections from it.
1.
Shall he not much more care for his people?
2. Will he not look after wild, wandering men?
3. Ought we not also to care for all that live?
Verse
10. From the fertility, life and music which mark the course of a
stream, illustrate the beneficial influences of the Gospel. C.A. Davis.
Verse
14. In the Hayfield. (See "Spurgeon's Sermons, "No.
757.) "He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle."
1.
Grass is in itself instructive.
(a)
As a symbol of our mortality: "All flesh is grass."
(b)
As an emblem of the wicked.
(c)
As a picture of the elect of God. Isa 35:7 44:4 Ps 72:6,16
(d)
Grass is comparable to the food wherewith the Lord supplies the necessities of
his chosen ones. Ps 23:2 So 1:7
2.
God is seen in the growing of the grass.
(a)
As a worker: "He causeth, "etc. See God in common things—in solitary
things.
(b)
See God as a caretaker: "He causeth the grass to grow for the
cattle." God cares for the beasts—the helpless—dumb and speechless
things—providing suitable food for them: "grass". Let us, then, see
his hand in providence at all times.
3.
God's working in the grass for the cattle gives us illustrations concerning
grace.
(a)
God "cares for oxen" and satisfies their wants: there must then be
something somewhere to satisfy the needs of the nobler creature man, and his
immortal soul.
(b)
Though God provides the grass for the cattle, the cattle must eat it
themselves. The Lord Jesus Christ is provided as the food of the soul. We must,
by faith, receive and feed upon Christ.
(c)
Preventing grace may here be seen in a symbol: before the cattle were made, in
this world there was grass. There were covenant supplies for God's people
before they were in the world.
(d)
Here is an illustration of free grace: the cattle bring nothing to purchase the
food. Why is this?
(1)
Because they belong to him, Ps 1:10.
(2)
Because he has entered into a covenant with them to feed them, Ge 9:9,10.
In
the text there is a mighty blow to free will: "He causeth the grass to
grow." Grace does not grow in the heart without a divine cause. If God
cares to make grass grow he will also make us grow in grace. Again; the grass
does not grow without an object; it is "for the cattle": but the
cattle grow for man. What then, does man grow for? Observe, further, that the
existence of the grass is necessary to complete the chain of nature. So the meanest
child of God is necessary to the family.
Verse
16. "The Cedars of Lebanon." (See "Spurgeon's
Sermons," No. 529.)
1.
The absence of all human culture. These trees are peculiarly the Lord's trees,
because,
(a)
They owe their planting entirely to him: "He hath planted."
(b)
They are not dependent upon man for their watering.
(c)
No mortal might protects them.
(d)
As to their inspection—they preserve a sublime indifference to human gaze.
(e)
Their exultation is all for God.
(f)
There is not a cedar upon Lebanon which is not independent of man in its
expectations.
2.
The glorious display of divine care.
(a)
In the abundance of their supply.
(b) They are always green.
(c) Observe the grandeur and size of these trees.
(d) Their fragrance.
(e) Their perpetuity.
(f) They are very venerable.
3.
The fulness of living principle: "The trees of the Lord are full of
sap."
(a)
This is vitally necessary.
(b) It is essentially mysterious.
(c) It is radically secret.
(d) It is permanently active.
(e) It is externally operative.
(f) It is abundantly to be desired.
Verses
17-18. "Lessons from Nature." (See "Spurgeon's Sermons,
" No. 1,005.)
1.
For each place God has prepared a suitable form of life: for "the fir
trees, ""the stork"; for "the high hills" "the
wild goat, "etc. So, for all parts of the spiritual universe God has
provided suitable forms of divine life.
(a)
Each age has its saints.
(b)
In every rank they are to be found. The Christian religion is equally well
adapted for all conditions.
(c)
In every church spiritual life is to be found.
(d)
God's people are to be found in every city.
2.
Each creature has its appropriate place.
(a)
Each man has by God a providential position appointed to him.
(b) This is also true of our spiritual experience.
(c) The same holds good as to individuality of character.
3.
Every creature that God has made is provided with shelter.
4.
For each creature the shelter is appropriate.
5.
Each creature uses its shelter.
Verse
19.
1.
The wisdom of God as displayed in the material heavens. In the changes of the
moon and the variety of the seasons.
2.
The goodness of God as there displayed in the adaptation of these changes to
the wants and enjoyments of men.
3.
The faithfulness of God as there displayed. Inspiring confidence in his creatures
by their regularity.
"So
like the sun may I fulfil
The appointed duties of the day;
With ready mind and active will
March on and keep my heavenly way."
Verse
20. Darkness and the beasts that creep forth therein.
1.
Ignorance of God, and unrestrained lusts. Ro 1:2 Sins discovered. Beasts there
before, but not noticed, now terrify man.
3.
Spiritual despondency, dismay, despair, etc.
4.
Church lethargy. All sorts of heresies, etc., begin to creep forth.
5.
Papal influence. Monks, friars, priests, etc., creep about in this dark age. A.G.
Brown.
Verse
20.
1.
Night work is for wild beasts: "Thou makest darkness, " etc.
2.
Day work is for men: "Man goeth forth, "etc. Good men do their work
by day; bad men by night: their work is in the dark. Ministers who creep into
their studies by night, and "roar after their prey, "and "seek
their meat from God", are more like wild beasts than rational men.—G.R.
Verse
21. Inarticulate prayers, or how faulty the expression may be and yet
how real the prayer in the esteem of God. Verse 22. From the effect of
sunrise on the beasts of prey, exhibit the influence of Divine Grace on our
evil passions. C.A.D.
Verse
23. "Early Closing." A sermon preached on behalf of
the "Early Closing Association, "by James Hamilton, D.D., 1850. In
the "Pulpit," Vol. 57.
Verse
24.
1.
The language of wonder: "O Lord, how manifold, "etc. Their number,
variety, cooperation, harmony.
2.
Of admiration: "In wisdom, "etc. Everywhere the same wisdom
displayed. God, says Dr. Chalmers, is as great in minutia as in magnitude.
3.
Of gratitude: "The earth is full," etc. G.R.
Verse
24.
1.
The works of the Lord are multitudinous and varied.
2.
They are so constructed as to show the most consummate wisdom in their design,
and in the end for which they are formed.
3.
They are all God's property, and should be used only in reference to the end
for which they were created. All abuse and waste of God's creatures are spoil
and robbery on the property of the Creator. Adam Clarke.
Verse
26. There go the ships. (See" Spurgeon's Sermons,
"No. 1,259.)
1.
We see that the ships go.
(a)
The ships are intended for going.
(b) The ships in going at last disappear from view.
(c) The ships as they go are going upon business.
(d) The ships sail upon a changeful sea.
2.
How go the ships?
(a)
They must go according to the wind.
(b)
But still the mariner does not go by the wind without exertion on his own part.
(c)
They have to be guided and steered by the helm.
(d)
He who manages the helm seeks direction from charts and lights.
(e)
They go according to their build.
3.
Let us signal them.
(a)
Who is your owner?
(b) What is your cargo?
(c) Where are you going?
Verse
27. Trace the analogy in the spiritual world. The saints waiting, Ps
5:27; their sustenance from the opened hand, Ps 5:28; their trouble under the
hidden face; their death if the Spirit were gone, Ps 5:29; their revival when
the Spirit returns, Ps 5:30.
Verse
29.
1.
The commencement of life is from God: "Thou sendest forth thy Spirit,
"etc.
2.
The continuance of life is from God: "Thou renewest, " etc.
3.
The decline of life is from God: "Thou hidest thy face, " etc.
4.
The cessation of life is from God: "Thou takest away their breath,
"etc.
5.
The resurrection of life is from God: "Thou renewest, " etc. G.R.
Verse
30. The season of Spring and its moral analogies. See John Foster's
"Lectures, "1844.
Verse
32.
1.
What there is in a Look of God. "He looketh, "etc.
(a)
What in a look of anger.
(b)
What in a look of love. He looked out of the fiery pillar upon the
Egyptians." The Lord hath looked out from his pillar of glory," etc.
He gave another look from the same pillar to Israel.
2.
What there is in a Touch of God: "He toucheth," etc. A touch of his
may raise a soul to heaven, or sink a soul to hell. G.R.
Verse
33.
1.
The singer—"I."
2.
The song—"praises."
3.
The audience—"The Lord, ""My God."
4.
The length of the song—"long as I live; while I have my being."—A.G.B.
Verse
33. Two "I wills."
1.
Because he made me live.
2. Because he has made me to live in him.
3. Because he is Jehovah and "my God."
4. Because I shall live for ever, in the best sense.
Verse
34.
1.
David's contemplation.
2. David's exultation. Thomas Horton.
Verse
35.
1.
They who praise not God are not fit to be on the earth: "Let the sinners
be consumed, "etc.
2.
Much less are they fit to be in heaven.
3.
They who praise God are fit both for earth and heaven. Though others do not
praise him here, the saints will. "Bless thou the Lord," etc.
(a)
In opposition to others, they praise him on earth.
(b)
In harmony with others, they praise him in heaven, etc. Everywhere it is with
them, "Praise ye the Lord."—G. R.
── C.H. Spurgeon《The Treasury of David》