Psalms 104:1

PSALM 104

GOD'S GREATNESS AS SEEN IN THE CREATION

Taking his information from the book of Genesis, the psalmist here elaborates the greatness of God's works in the first five days of creation, this is the portion of the creation that concerns nature only, as distinguished from mankind.

Who authored the psalm is unknown, as is also the occasion of its being written. Barnes tells us that, "The LXX, the Latin, the Syriac and Arabic versions ascribe it to David, but do not cite any grounds for their doing so."[1] Dummelow concluded that, "It was written by the same author as Psalms 103."[2] However, he did not believe David was the author of either one. We believe that his remark supports the possibility that David was indeed the author of both.

Regarding the occasion, Rosenmuller and Hengstenberg suppose it was written in the times of the exile;[3] and Briggs thought the tone of it reflected the times of the Maccabees.[4] This writer can find nothing whatever in the psalm that definitely indicates either of those occasions; and we find full agreement with Barnes that, "It has nothing that would make it inappropriate at any time, or in any public service."[5]

This writer never sees this psalm without remembering the unlearned man who got up to read it at church one Sunday, and being unable to decipher the Roman numerals in the big church Bible, gazed at the title, "Psalm CIV," for a moment, and then said, "We are now going to read `PESSELLAM SIV'"!

The paragraphing we shall follow is that of the five days of creation as spoken of in this psalm.

Psalms 104:1-5

THE FIRST DAY OF CREATION

"Bless Jehovah, O my soul.

O Jehovah my God, thou art very great;

Thou art clothed with honor and majesty.

Who covereth thyself with light, as with a garment;

Who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain;

Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters;

Who maketh the clouds his chariot;

Who walketh upon the wings of the wind;

Who maketh winds his messengers;

Flames of fire his ministers;

Who laid the foundations of the earth,

That it should not be moved forever."

The focus of these lines is upon Genesis 1:1-5. The creation of light and the heavens and the earth are mentioned in that passage.

"The heavens like a curtain" (Psalms 104:2). This is an appropriate line indeed, because the atmospheric heavens are indeed a protective tent or curtain shielding the earth from the destructive debris from outer space. A glance at the moon, which has no atmosphere, shows what the earth would have looked like without that protective mantle of the atmosphere.

"The beams of his chambers in the waters" (Psalms 104:3). The `waters' here are those "above the firmament," that is, the vaporous waters of the clouds mentioned in the same breath.

"His chambers ... his chariot ... walketh upon the wings of the wind" (Psalms 104:3). These poetic expressions of God's ubiquitousness and mobility are highly imaginative, but there is no ground whatever for criticizing them.

"Who maketh winds his messengers and flames of fire his ministers" (Psalms 104:4). A marginal reading for "winds" is angels; Hebrews 1:7 sheds light on what is meant here. "And of the angels he saith, "Who maketh his angels winds, and his ministers a flame of fire."

"Who laid the foundations of the earth" (Psalms 104:5). It is not merely the creation of the earth but its stability and permanence which are stressed.