Psalm 104:1-2 NKJV
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.
Charles Spurgeon
“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 dishonor 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.”
“Thou art clothed with honor 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 honor.
“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 splendor 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.
1 Timothy 6:16 says God dwells in unapproachable light. Perhaps this is another description or allusion to light as a garment. “If light itself is but his garment and veil, what must be the blazing splendor 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.”
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Enduring Word
Bless the LORD, O my soul: Repeated three times in the previous psalm, this phrase is a call to worship God in spirit and in truth and to do so from one’s inmost being. (Guzik)
You are very great: The psalmist worshipped Yahweh as his God, and as the great One who is clothed with honor and majesty. The idol gods of the nations were often described as crude and shameful in their conduct, but Yahweh, the covenant God of Israel, is known for His honor and majesty.
i. “The verse sums up the whole of the creative act in one grand thought. In that act the invisible God has arrayed Himself in splendor and glory, making visible these inherent attributes. That is the deepest meaning of Creation. The Universe is the garment of God.” (Maclaren)
Who cover Yourself with light as with a garment: God’s honor and majesty are as apparent as a person’s clothing, and so is the light-like purity of His being. Just as the creation in Genesis begins with describing the creation of light, so the psalmist first mentions light. (Guzik)
i. “The patterns are close enough to show that the psalmist had Genesis in mind as he worked on his composition. We will not be far wrong if we think of Psalm 104 as a poetic reflection on the more factual account in Genesis.” (Boice)
ii. “The structure of the psalm is modeled fairly closely on that of Genesis 1, taking the stages of creation as starting-points for praise.” (Kidner)
iii. In a small way, we can understand this idea of light as a garment by considering the appearance of Jesus at His transfiguration: His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light (Matthew 17:2). (Guzik)
Who stretch out the heavens like a curtain: God’s power is also apparent as the One who created the vast heavens. Since the Creator is greater than His creation, the God who created the heavens is impressive, indeed. (Guzik)
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John Gill
O Lord my God, thou art very great; the Messiah, who is Jehovah our righteousness, Lord of all, truly God, and the God of his people; see John 20:28 and who is great, and very great, in his divine Person, being the great God, and our Saviour; great in all his works of creation, providence, and redemption; great in all his offices of Prophet, Priest, and King; a Saviour, and a great one; the great Shepherd of the Sheep; the Man, Jehovah’s Fellow.
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Matthew Henry
The psalmist looks up to the divine glory shining in the upper world, of which, though it is one of the things not seen, faith is the evidence. With what reverence and holy awe does he begin his meditation with that acknowledgment: O Lord my God! thou art very great! 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. The majesty of God is here set forth by various instances, alluding to the figure which great princes in their public appearances covet to make. Their equipage, compared with his (even of the eastern kings, who most affected pomp), is but as the light of a glow-worm compared with that of the sun, when he goes forth in his strength. Princes appear great, in their robes; and what are God’s robes? Thou art clothed with honor and majesty, v. 1. God is seen in his works, and these proclaim him infinitely wise and good, and all that is great. Thou coverest thyself with light as with a garment, v. 2. God is light (1 Jn. 1:5), the Father of lights (Jam. 1:17); he dwells in light (1 Tim. 6:16); he clothes himself with it. The residence of his glory is in the highest heaven, that light which was created the first day, Gen. 1:3. Of all visible beings light comes nearest to the nature of a spirit, and therefore with that God is pleased to cover himself, that is, to reveal himself under that similitude, as men are seen in the clothes with which they cover themselves; and so only, for his face cannot be seen.
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Clarke
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, Genesis 15:17; and to Moses when he appointed him to bring the people out of Egypt, Exodus 19:18. Moses calls God a consuming fire, Deuteronomy 4:24. When Christ was transfigured on the mount, his face shone like the sun, and his garment was white as the light, Matthew 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.
Verse Psalms 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.
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Benson
O Lord my God, thou art very great — As in thine own nature and perfections, so also in the glory of thy works; thou art clothed — Surrounded and adorned, with honor and majesty — With honorable majesty: who coverest, or clothest, thyself with light — Either, 1st, With that light which no man can approach unto, as it is described 1 Timothy 1:10 : wherewith, therefore, he may well be said to be covered, or hid, from the eyes of mortal men. Or, 2d, He speaks of that first created light, mentioned Genesis 1:3, which the psalmist properly treats of first, as being the first of all God’s visible works. Of all visible beings light comes nearest to the nature of a spirit, and therefore with that, God, who is a spirit, is pleased to clothe himself, and also to reveal himself under that similitude, as men are seen in the clothes with which they cover themselves. Who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain — Forming “a magnificent canopy or pavilion, comprehending within it the earth, and all the inhabitants thereof; enlightened by the celestial orbs suspended in it, as the holy tabernacle was by the lamps of the golden candlestick.” Now God is said to stretch this out like a curtain, to intimate that it was “originally framed, erected, and furnished by its maker, with more ease than man can construct and pitch a tent for his own temporary abode. Yet must this noble pavilion also be taken down; these resplendent and beautiful heavens must pass away and come to an end. How glorious, then, shall be those new heavens which are to succeed them and endure forever!” — Horne.
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Geneva Bible 1560
Psalm 104:1-2
1 My soul, praise thou the Lord: ô Lord my God, thou art exceeding great, thou art a clothed with glorie and honour.
2 Which covereth him self with light as with a garment, and spreadeth the heavens like a curtain.
a The Prophet shows that we need not to enter into the heavens to seek God, forasmuch as all the order of nature, with the propriety and placing of the elements, are most lively mirrors to see his majesty in.
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For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:21
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