Psa 104:1-3 | Clarke | STEP | The majesty and power of God manifested in the creation of the heavens and the atmosphere, ; of the earth and sea, ; of the springs, fountains, and rivers, ; of vegetables and trees, ; of the sun and moon, ; of day and night, and their uses, ; of the riches of the earth, ; of the sea, its inhabitants, and its uses, , ; of God's general providence in providing food for all kinds of animals, ; of earthquakes and volcanoes, . God is praised for his majesty, and the instruction which his works afford, , . Sinners shall be destroyed, . This Psalm has no title either in the Hebrew or Chaldee; but it is attributed to David by the Vulgate, Septuagint, Ethiopic, Arabic, and Syriac. It has the following title in the Septuagint, as it stands in the Complutensian Polyglot: Ψαλμος τῳ Δαυιδ ὑπερ της του κοσμου συστασεως "A Psalm of David concerning the formation of the world." The Syriac says it is "A Psalm of David when he went with the priests to adore the Lord before the ark." It seems a continuation of the preceding Psalm; and it is written as a part of it in nine of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS. It is properly a poem on the works of God in the creation and government of the world; and some have considered it a sort of epitome of the history of the creation, as given in the book of Genesis. Verse 1 O Lord my God, thou art very great - The works of God, which are the subject of this Psalm, particularly show the grandeur and majesty of God. The strongest proofs of the being of God, for common understandings, are derived from the works of creation, their magnitude, variety, number, economy, and use. And a proper consideration of those works presents a greater number of the attributes of the Divine nature than we can learn from any other source. Revelation alone is superior.

Psalms 104:1-3

Introduction

The majesty and power of God manifested in the creation of the heavens and the atmosphere, Psa 104:1-3; of the earth and sea, Psa 104:4-9; of the springs, fountains, and rivers, Psa 104:10-13; of vegetables and trees, Psa 104:14-18; of the sun and moon, Psa 104:19; of day and night, and their uses, Psa 104:20-23; of the riches of the earth, Psa 104:24; of the sea, its inhabitants, and its uses, Psa 104:25, Psa 104:26; of God's general providence in providing food for all kinds of animals, Psa 104:27-31; of earthquakes and volcanoes, Psa 104:32. God is praised for his majesty, and the instruction which his works afford, Psa 104:33, Psa 104:34. Sinners shall be destroyed, Psa 104:35.

This Psalm has no title either in the Hebrew or Chaldee; but it is attributed to David by the Vulgate, Septuagint, Ethiopic, Arabic, and Syriac. It has the following title in the Septuagint, as it stands in the Complutensian Polyglot: Ψαλμος τῳ Δαυιδ ὑπερ της του κοσμου συστασεως "A Psalm of David concerning the formation of the world." The Syriac says it is "A Psalm of David when he went with the priests to adore the Lord before the ark." It seems a continuation of the preceding Psalm; and it is written as a part of it in nine of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS. It is properly a poem on the works of God in the creation and government of the world; and some have considered it a sort of epitome of the history of the creation, as given in the book of Genesis.

Verse 1

O Lord my God, thou art very great - The works of God, which are the subject of this Psalm, particularly show the grandeur and majesty of God. The strongest proofs of the being of God, for common understandings, are derived from the works of creation, their magnitude, variety, number, economy, and use. And a proper consideration of those works presents a greater number of the attributes of the Divine nature than we can learn from any other source. Revelation alone is superior. Verse 2

Who coverest thyself with light - Light, insufferable splendor, is the robe of the Divine Majesty. Light and fire are generally the accompaniments of the Supreme Being, when he manifests his presence to his creatures. He appeared thus to Abraham when he made a covenant with him, Gen 15:17; and to Moses when he appointed him to bring the people out of Egypt, Exo 3:2; and when he gave him his law on Sinai, Exo 19:18. Moses calls God a consuming fire, Deu 4:24. When Christ was transfigured on the mount, his face shone like the sun, and his garment was white as the light, Mat 17:2. And when the Lord manifests himself to the prophets, he is always surrounded with fire, and the most brilliant light.

Bishop Lowth has some fine remarks on the imagery and metaphors of this Psalm. The exordium, says he, is peculiarly magnificent, wherein the majesty of God is described, so far as we can investigate and comprehend it, from the admirable construction of nature; in which passage, as it was for the most part necessary to use translatitious images, the sacred poet has principally applied those which would be esteemed by the Hebrews the most elevated, and worthy such an argument; for they all, as it seems to me, are taken from the tabernacle. We will give these passages verbally, with a short illustration: - הוד והדר לבשת hod vehadar labashta. "Thou hast put on honor and majesty."

The original, לבשת, is frequently used when speaking of the clothing or dress of the priests. Psa 104:2 עטה אור כשלמה oteh or cassalmah. "Covering thyself with light as with a garment."

A manifest symbol of the Divine Presence; the light conspicuous in the holiest is pointed out under the same idea; and from this single example a simile is educed to express the ineffable glory of God generally and universally. נוטה שמים כיריעה noteh shamayim kayeriah. "Stretching out the heavens like a curtain."

The word יריעה, rendered here curtain, is that which denotes the curtains or uncovering of the whole tabernacle. This may also be an allusion to those curtains or awnings, stretched over an area, under which companies sit at weddings, feasts, religious festivals, curiously painted under, to give them the appearance of the visible heavens in the night-season. Verse 3 המקרה במים עליותיו hamekareh bammayim aliyothaiv. "Laying the beams of his chambers in the waters."

The sacred writer expresses the wonderful nature of the air aptly, and regularly constructed, from various and flux elements, into one continued and stable series, by a metaphor drawn from the singular formation of the tabernacle, which, consisting of many and different parts, and easily reparable when there was need, was kept together by a perpetual juncture and contignation of them all together. The poet goes on: - השם עבים רכובו hassem abim rechubo, המהלך על כנפי רוה hamehallech al canphey ruach. "Making the clouds his chariot,

Walking upon the wings of the wind."

He had first expressed an image of the Divine Majesty, such as it resided in the holy of holies, discernible by a certain investiture of the most splendid light; he now denotes the same from that light of itself which the Divine Majesty exhibited, when it moved together with the ark, sitting on a circumambient cloud, and carried on high through the air. That seat of the Divine Presence is even called by the sacred historians, as its proper name, המרכבה hammercabah, The Chariot.