Psalm 104 – NKJV
Introduction:
Charles Spurgeon
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 Psa 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, Psa 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 anyone 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.
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Barnes
This psalm in the Syriac, the Arabic, the Greek, and the Latin versions, is ascribed to David, but on what authority is now unknown. That it “may” have been composed by him cannot be doubted, but there is no certain evidence that he was the author. In the Hebrew, it has no title, and there is nothing in the psalm itself which would furnish any indication as to its authorship.
The occasion on which the psalm was composed is unknown, and cannot now be ascertained. Rosenmuller and Hengstenberg suppose that it was at the time of the return from the Babylonian exile and that it was intended to be used at the re-dedication of the temple. But it has no special applicability to such a service; it has no such local references as would fix it to that time; it has nothing which would make it inappropriate at “any” time, or in “any public service. It is such a psalm as might be composed at any period of the world, or in any country, where there was an intelligent view and a careful observation of the works of God. It implies, indeed, such a knowledge of the fact that God made the world as could be obtained only by revelation; but it evinces also a power of close observation; a large acquaintance with the creation around us; a relish for the scenes of nature; as well as a rich poetic faculty, and a power of description, adapted to place such scenes before the mind as realities, and to make us feel, in reading it, that we are in the very midst of the things which are described – so that they seem to live and move before our eyes.
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John Gill
This psalm, though without a title, was probably written by David, since it begins and ends as the former does, as Aben Ezra observes; and to him the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and all the Oriental versions ascribe it. The inscription of the Syriac version is, “a psalm of David, when he went to worship before the ark of the Lord with the priests; and as to us, it teaches us confession and prayer, and intimates to us the constitution of the beginning of the creatures; and declares some things concerning the angels.” Some copies of the Septuagint version have it, “a psalm of David concerning the constitution of the world;” which indeed is the subject matter of it; for it treats of the creation of all things, of the heavens and the earth, and of all creatures in them; and of the providence of God in taking care of them. Christ is the divine Person addressed and described throughout the whole, as appears from the quotation of Psalm 104:5 and the application of it to him in Hebrews 1:7.
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Matthew Henry
It is very probable that this psalm was penned by the same hand, and at the same time, as the former; for as that ended this begins, with “Bless the Lord, O my soul!” and concludes with it too. The style indeed is somewhat different, because the matter is so: the scope of the foregoing psalm was to celebrate the goodness of God and his tender mercy and compassion, to which a soft and sweet style was most agreeable; the scope of this is to celebrate his greatness, and majesty, and sovereign dominion, which ought to be done in the most stately lofty strains of poetry. David, in the former psalm, gave God the glory of his covenant-mercy and love to his own people; in this, he gives him the glory of his works of creation and providence, his dominion over, and his bounty to, all the creatures. God is there praised as the God of grace, here as the God of nature. And this psalm is wholly bestowed on that subject; not as Ps. 19, which begins with it, but passes from it to the consideration of the divine law; nor as Ps. 8, which speaks of this but prophetically, and with an eye to Christ. This noble poem is thought by very competent judges greatly to excel, not only for piety and devotion (that is past dispute), but for flight of fancy, brightness of ideas, surprising turns, and all the beauties and ornaments of expression, the Greek and Latin poets upon any subject of this nature.
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Clarke
The majesty and power of God manifested in the creation of the
heavens and the atmosphere, 1-3;
of the earth and sea, 4-9;
of the springs, fountains, and rivers, 10-13;
of vegetables and trees, 14-18;
of the sun and moon, 19;
of day and night, and their uses, 20-23;
of the riches of the earth, 24;
of the sea, its inhabitants, and its uses, 25, 26;
of God’s general providence in providing food for all kinds of
animals, 27-31;
of earthquakes and volcanoes, 32.
God is praised for his majesty, and the instruction which his
works afford, 33, 34.
Sinners shall be destroyed, 35.
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Praise to the Sovereign Lord for His Creation and Providence
1
Bless the Lord, O my soul!
O Lord my God, You are very great:
You are clothed with honor and majesty,
2
Who cover Yourself with light as with a garment,
Who stretch out the heavens like a curtain.
3
He lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters,
Who makes the clouds His chariot,
Who walks on the wings of the wind,
4
Who makes His angels spirits,
His ministers a flame of fire.
5
You who laid the foundations of the earth,
So that it should not be moved forever,
6
You covered it with the deep as with a garment;
The waters stood above the mountains.
7
At Your rebuke they fled;
At the voice of Your thunder they hastened away.
8
They went up over the mountains;
They went down into the valleys,
To the place which You founded for them.
9
You have set a boundary that they may not pass over,
That they may not return to cover the earth.
10
He sends the springs into the valleys;
They flow among the hills.
11
They give drink to every beast of the field;
The wild donkeys quench their thirst.
12
By them the birds of the heavens have their home;
They sing among the branches.
13
He waters the hills from His upper chambers;
The earth is satisfied with the fruit of Your works.
14
He causes the grass to grow for the cattle,
And vegetation for the service of man,
That he may bring forth food from the earth,
15
And wine that makes glad the heart of man,
Oil to make his face shine,
And bread which strengthens man’s heart.
16
The trees of the Lord are full of sap,
The cedars of Lebanon which He planted,
17
Where the birds make their nests;
The stork has her home in the fir trees.
18
The high hills are for the wild goats;
The cliffs are a refuge for the rock badgers.
19
He appointed the moon for seasons;
The sun knows its going down.
20
You make darkness, and it is night,
In which all the beasts of the forest creep about.
21
The young lions roar after their prey,
And seek their food from God.
22
When the sun rises, they gather together
And lie down in their dens.
23
Man goes out to his work
And to his labor until the evening.
24
O Lord, how manifold are Your works!
In wisdom You have made them all.
The earth is full of Your possessions—
25
This great and wide sea,
In which are innumerable teeming things,
Living things both small and great.
26
There the ships sail about;
There is that Leviathan
Which You have made to play there.
27
These all wait for You,
That You may give them their food in due season.
28
What You give them they gather in;
You open Your hand, they are filled with good.
29
You hide Your face, they are troubled;
You take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.
30
You send forth Your Spirit, they are created;
And You renew the face of the earth.
31
May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
May the Lord rejoice in His works.
32
He looks on the earth, and it trembles;
He touches the hills, and they smoke.
33
I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.
34
May my meditation be sweet to Him;
I will be glad in the Lord.
35
May sinners be consumed from the earth,
And the wicked be no more.
Bless the Lord, O my soul!
Praise the Lord!
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“The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.”
Numbers 6:24-26 NKJV
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