Psalm CIV
1 Bless the Lord, O my soul!
O Lord my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and majesty.
2 Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: Who stretchest out the heavens like ii curtain:
3 Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters:
Who maketh the clouds his chariots: who walketh upon the wings of the wind:
4 Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire:
5 Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for
ever.
6 Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood above
the mountains.
7 At thy rebuke they fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away.
8 They go by to the mountains; they go down by the valleys. Unto the place which thou hast founded for them.
9 Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over; That they turn not again to cover the earth.
10 He sendeth the springs into the valleys, which run among the hills.
11 They give drink to every beast of the field: the wild asses quench their
thirst.
12 By them shall the fowls of the heaven have their habitation, which sing
among the branches.
13 He watereth the hills from his chambers: the earth is satisfied with the
fruit of thy works.
14 He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of
man,
That he may bring forth food out of the earth,
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.
16 The trees of the Lord are full of sap, the cedars of Lebanon which he
hath planted;
17 Where the birds make their nests: as for the stork, the fir-trees are her
house.
18 The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats; and the rocks for the
conies.
19 He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down.
20 Thou makest darkness, and it is night, wherein all the beasts of the forest
do creep forth.
21 The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God.
22 The sun ariseth, they gather themselves together, and lay them down in
their dens.
23 Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour until the evening.
24 O Lord, how manifold are thy works!
In wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.
25 So is this great and wide sea.
Wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts.
26 There go the ships: there is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play
therein.
27 These wait all upon thee, that thou mayest give them their meat in due
season.
28 That thou givest them they gather: thou openest thine hand, they are
filled with good. -^
29 Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled:
Thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust.
30 Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the
face of the earth.
31 The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever: the Lord shall rejoice in
his works.
32 He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth: he toucheth the hills, and
they smoke.
33 I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God
while I have my being.
IN EARTH CREATED AND EARTH RENEWED. o09
34 My nieclitatiou ot him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the Lord.
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.
The theme ilia
tiiiKuished fro
the preceding.
One of our poets has said —
“The song of woe
Is, after all, an earthly song.”
It is not perpetuated in heaven, nor in the glorious kingdoin; for there praise, “from blest voices uttering joy,” fills the many mansions. Last Psalm shewed us this coming joy, arising from spiritual sources — the soul enjoying God, bathing in his holy love, knowing him, obeying him, serving him, blessing him, seeing him as he is, and for ever with him. This Psalm calls our attention to the glory of our God displayed in the Ttiaterial world already, and yet to be displayed in it more fully.
The key-note, “Bless the Lord, 0 my sold!” is that on The tontenta. which it is raised. The same redeemed soul that, with anointed eyes, saw Jehovah in Redemption works, beholds him here in Creation scenes — in the scenes of the old and new earth. With the Book of Genesis (chap i.) in his hand, he surveys the first day’s handiwork (ver. 1, 2),* God’s mantle of light, and some folds of it thrown over the new-made earth. Unlike the array of earthly monarchs, “glory and majesty’ (symbolised by light) are his robe, the skirts of which adorn the earth, which is his footstool.-f- Then the second day’s work (ver. 3-5) — “He maketh his upper chambers with waters;” that is, the very waters in the clouds are the beams on which the floor of the upper chamber of his palace is laid. — He makes tvinds to act for him as angels, and lightnings to do the office oi servants.l
* Not that the writer keeps close to historical arrangement; for, as Augustine says, on Psa. cv. — “Libera est laudatio a lege narrantis et texentis historiam.”
f The eastern upper chamber was for retirement and refreshment; God is spoken of as having such an Aliah, built up in bright isther on the slender foundation of rainy clouds. (Tholuck.)
X In Heb. i. 7, the argument is, that angels are truly no more than the mere handiwork of the Creator; for he says that he uses winds for angels, flames of fire for ministering ones, and vice versa. Thus angels are classed with other common material agencies employed by God, and no higher.
The third days work, wherein the platform of our earth was cleared, is celebrated from verses 6 to 18 — “As for the deep, thou coverest it 0) as with a garment” (see Hengstenberg), Does not this mean that, on the third day, the Lordrs shone on the waters that covered earth, and stood above the hills, then, the voice from The Glory commanded these waters to their beds? And thus it was that springs began to flow among the hills, and have flowed ever since, wild asses coming to drink, birds among leafy trees, overhanging the brooks (pHy, verse 12), uttering their cheerful notes, “living their life of music” — the Lord condescending to care for every creature, yes, and for every blade of grass, and for the olive that yields oil for man, and for the vine, and the corn; for the cedars, too, and the pines or cypresses on Lebanon, where little birds and stately storks alike find nestling; while goats and jerboas sport among the rocks below. Over this scene, the fourth day’s creation casts its beams (ver. 19-24). Sun and moon go forth to regulate man and beast, by interchange of day and night. And the ffth day’s creation scene is not forgotten (vers. 25, 26) — the wonders of the sea; the living creatures of the immense ocean. If man has found use for that ocean, and has floated his ships upon it, in so doing he has discovered some of the uses to which the Lord’s treasures hid there for him may be aj)plied; at the same time, how feeble man’s work appears, when you observe that the Lord has constituted these mighty waters the home and native abode of such monsters as “LeviatJian whom thou hast made to take his pastime therein.” As for the sixth day’s work, it was introduced at verses 21-23 — man and beast. As the Psalm is not historical, but a review of creation by one of the created ones who inhabit that earth, hence it may be that man and beast were introduced when singing of the uses of sun andinoon to us — all the rather, because man’s workmanship, “the ships,” could not be spoken of without previously introducing man himself
Providence is creation continued from hour to hour, from age to age; and of this, verses 27, 28, 29 sing, casting in the thought of “creation subject to vanity” (ver. 29).
Every spring we have a specimen of the Creator’s power, to renew the earth. It may be, in part, to this annual renewal, when winter is over and gone, that verse 30 refers. Even if it be so, however, it contains, besides, the promise and prosyect of earth’s final renewal at the “Times of Restitution of all things;” for then only shall we know the meaning lodged in
the words,
“Thou makest 7iew the face of the eaiih.’”
If, at verse 24, the adoring exclamation spontaneously broke from the beholder’s lips, “O Lord! how manifold are thy works! in wisdom thou hast made them all I” it shall yet again burst from admiring witnesses of that New Creation. And then shall that chorus be heard from heaven and earth together;
“The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever! ‘The Lord shall rejoice in his works!” (Ver. 31.)
They shall say of him in their songs —
“It is He who looked (tO“‘3,(2rTj on earth and it trembled! He toucheth the mountains, and they smoke.” One shall cry to the other —
“While I live, I will sing to the Lord; During the whole period of my existence (eternity) I will praise my God. Sweet, as it rests on him, shall my meditation be I I (‘’3JJ^ though no one else should) will rejoice in the Lord.”
At last has come that “New Earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness;” for “sinners are consumed (as in Num. xiv. 35), the wicked are no more.” Even in anticipation now we cannot but join in the “Bless the Lord, O my soul I” and the” Hallelujah’’’ that closes this celebration of the Lord’s glory — The glory of the Lord revealed in Earth created and Earth renewed.