Psalms 104:3

3. Layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters The idea of a celestial reservoir, or ocean, whether as a poetic image or a fact, is alluded to, grounded on Genesis 1:6-7. The region of the rain clouds is intended. See on Psalms 104:2. The figure is taken from architecture. To lay “the beams” is to frame them solidly together. Nehemiah 3:3; Nehemiah 3:6, “Chambers,” here, do not mean the supreme heavens, the blissful abode of God, but literally the upper rooms, (so Septuagint and Jerome,) that is, the upper regions of the atmosphere in general. The “beams” of these “chambers” seemed to rest upon the region of the rain clouds. From these same “chambers” God waters the hills. Psalms 104:13. Here, upon the clouds, he builds his superior, though not his supreme, apartments. From these regions proceed the more sensible tokens of God, as rain, hail, snow, lightning, and thunder; and they were looked upon with awe as the temporary abode of God, an idea which a tropical thunderstorm is well suited to suggest. See Psalms 18:11.

The clouds his chariot The figure is changed, but fixes the location of the “chambers,” just noticed, and of the “heavens,” Psalms 104:2. See Isaiah 19:1. And thus when God would send rain, he is said to “bow the heavens” (clouds) and come down; a beautiful expression of a fact in nature. Psalms 18:9.

Wings of the wind See Psalms 18:10. The allusion in this verse, also, is to the work of the second day.