As far as the east is from the west, So far hath he removed our transgressions from us. So the LORD pitieth them that fear him. 12 13 For he knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust. 14 As for man, his days are as grass: As a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; And the place thereof shall know it no more. 15 16 But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to ever- 17 lasting upon them that fear him, And his righteousness unto children's children; And to those that remember his commandments to do them. 12. For similar language to denote the completeness of the removal of sin by pardoning grace cp. Is. xxxviii. 17; Mic. vii. 19. 13. Cp. xxvii. 10; Is. xlix. 15; Luke xv. 20. pitieth] Hath compassion on. The A.V. misses the connexion with "full of compassion" in v. 8. 14. Here as often the frailty of man is pleaded as a motive for mercy. Cp. lxxviii. 39; lxxxix. 47. our frame] Lit. our formation; what we are made of. The verse is an allusion to Gen. ii. 7, “The LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground." 15-18. Man passes away, but God's mercy endures for ever. 15. As for man] Mortal man: the Heb. 'enōsh denotes man in his weakness and frailty (xc. 3). For the figure of the grass cp. xc. 5, 6; Is. li. 12; for that of the flower, Job xiv. 2; for both, Is. xl. 6 ff. 16. The verse may refer to the withering of the flower (A.V.), but it is more poetical to understand it metaphorically of the disappearance of the man. For a wind passeth over him, and he is not, "The east wind, blowing over the desert in summer, is dry and parching, and withers up all vegetation." Tristram, Nat. Hist. p. 34. Cp. Hos. xiii. 15. The second line is from Job vii. 10; cp. viii. 18, xx. 9. 17. Men may pass away, but Jehovah's lovingkindness and righteousness, i.e. His covenant faithfulness, endure. The eternity of God is the rock upon which faith can repose in view of the mutability of man. Cp. xc. 1; cii. 12, 27; Is. xl. 8. Those who fear Him can securely commit their posterity to His care. Cp. cii. 28. Both the assurance, and the condition introduced by v. 18, rest upon Ex. xx. 6; Deut. vii. 9. 18. his commandments] R. V. his precepts. 18 19 The LORD hath prepared his throne in the heavens; And his kingdom ruleth over all. 20 Bless the LORD, ye his angels, That excel in strength, that do his commandments, 21 Bless ye the LORD, all ye his hosts; 19-22. The thought of Jehovah's supreme and universal sovereignty introduces a concluding call to the whole universe to unite in His praises. 19. Jehovah hath established his throne in heaven, the sphere of all that is sublime, unchanging, eternal (xi. 4; xciii. 2). his kingdom &c.] Cp. I Chron. xxix. 11, 12. Cp. the watchword of other Psalms of the Return, "Jehovah hath proclaimed himself King" (xciii. 1; xcvi. 10; xcvii. 1; xcix. 1). 20. Bless Jehovah, ye angels of his; Ye mighty in strength, that do his word, Heavenly beings are most capable of praising the heavenly King. For the address to the angels cp. xxix. 1; cxlviii. 2. They are called mighty in strength as God's warriors; cp. Joel iii. 11. The "blessed obedience" of the angels is an example for man. 21. By Jehovah's hosts and ministers may be meant the innumerable multitudes of celestial beings of lower rank, subordinated to the celestial hierarchy spoken of in v. 20 (Dan. vii. 10; Heb. i. 14); or perhaps "the host of heaven," the stars, which are closely connected with angels in the O.T. (Job xxxviii. 7), and all the powers of Nature, which subserve Jehovah's purposes (civ. 4; cxlviii. 2, 3). 22. Bless Jehovah, all ye his works, In all places of his dominion : The 'Song of the Three Children' is a noble expansion of this theme. In the last line the Psalmist returns to the point from which he started. In creation's universal hymn of praise he would fain bear his part, however humble. PSALM CIV. This glorious Psalm is conspicuous alike for its poetic beauty and for its religious significance. It is a companion piece to Ps. ciii, and was probably written by the same poet. Both of them begin and end with the same call to adoring praise, Bless Jehovah, O my soul. In Ps. ciii that call is based upon the consideration of God's mercy exhibited in His recent deliverance of Israel, in Ps. civ upon the contemplation of His power, wisdom, and goodness manifested in the creation and maintenance of the world. History and Nature render their concurrent testimony. The author of this Psalm has been called "the Wordsworth of the ancients, penetrated with a love for nature, and gifted with the insight that springs from love" (Aglen). Undoubtedly he was an enthusiastic lover of Nature, but it was not for its own sake merely that he loved it. It was to him "a book which heavenly truth imparts.' "The earth And common face of nature spake to him For him the invisible attributes of God, His everlasting power and divinity, were daily rendered visible to human reason in the works of creation (Rom. i. 20). The general arrangement of the poem is suggested by the story of creation in Gen. i, but the treatment of the subject is free and original. Often we are reminded of the creation-pictures in Job xxxviii—xli, with which the author must have been familiar. Sometimes he draws a picture of the process of creation, but for the most part it is the present order and continuous maintenance of the universe by the beneficent will of the Creator which kindles his devout enthusiasm. God did not make the world and leave it to itself. It depends absolutely upon His will for the continuance of its existence. It is He who "giveth to all life, and breath, and all things" (Acts xvii. 25). And at the end the poet looks forward to the banishment of evil, and the restoration of the harmony of creation, "that God may be all in all." The following analysis may help to indicate the plan of the Psalm. Creation is a revelation of the incomparable majesty of God. The elemental forces of Nature are an expression of His Almighty power (1—4). He formed the earth and separated the land and sea (5—9); and while the great mass of waters is thus confined in its appointed place, provision is made for the needs of beast and bird by spring and stream (10-12). He sends rain to fertilise the earth, and make it produce food for man and beast (13-15); He plants it with stately trees, which are the home of the birds, and peoples the mountains and rocks with His creatures (16-18). Moon and sun mark times and seasons, day and night (19-23). Then, after an exclamation of adoring wonder, the poet points to the sea with its manifold marvels (24-26), and emphasises the perpetual dependence of every living thing on God not only for sustenance but for life (27-30). Finally with a glance at the awful power of Him Who can destroy as easily as He can create, the Psalmist prays that His works may never cease to please Him and reveal His glory. As long as he lives he will sing praise to God. May all that disturbs the harmony of creation be banished from the earth (3135). The choice of this Psalm as a Proper Psalm for Whitsunday was probably due to the reference it contains to the spirit of God as the source of life; it has moreover a singular fitness for the great festival which in this country falls at the time when spring has once more "renewed the face of the ground." 104 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 a curtain: 3 Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: Who maketh the clouds his chariot: Who walketh upon the wings of the wind: 1-4. The greatness and majesty of Jehovah exhibited in creation. 1. The verbs (not adjectives or participles as in xcvi. 4) of the Heb. express an act rather than a state: thou hast made thyself very great... thou hast clothed thyself &c. It is not, so to speak, God's eternal and immutable greatness which the poet celebrates, but the revelation of His greatness, the assumption, as it were, of a new robe of imperial majesty in the creation of the world. Honour and majesty are the attributes of a king. Cp. xcvi. 6; xxi. 5; viii. 1. For the phrase of line 3 cp. Job xl. 10; Ps. xciii. 1. 2. Light, the first created element, is as it were God's robe, revealing while it conceals Him. Nothing can serve better as the expression of His Nature (1 John i. 5; 1 Tim. vi. 16). Light is universally diffused; it is the condition of life, the source of gladness, the emblem of purity. who stretchest out &c.] Cp. Is. xl. 22. The canopy of the sky is compared to a tent-curtain, stretched out over the earth. By His simple fiat God spread out these heavens as easily as a man might pitch his tent. Their vastness is a symbol of the majesty of the King Who dwells in His royal pavilion, Whom yet "heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain." The Observe the present participles, covering thyself, stretching out. original act of creation is regarded as continued into the present in the maintenance of the universe. 3. By a bold paradox the Creator is described as laying the beams of his upper chambers in the waters. On the mysterious reservoir of waters, which was imagined by the ancient Hebrews to exist above the 'firmament' (Gen. i. 7; Ps. xxix. 3; cxlviii. 4), He constructs His secret dwelling, as a man builds "upper chambers on the roof of his house for air and privacy. The line is an echo of Amos ix. 6, "he that buildeth his upper chambers in the heavens." who maketh the clouds &c.] The stormcloud and the tempest are the symbols of His Advent. Cp. xviii. 10; Is. xix. 1; Dan. vii. 13; Matt. xxiv. 30. Who maketh his angels spirits; 4. The A.V. follows the LXX, which is quoted in Heb. i. 7, with the change of a flaming fire into a flame of fire. The Greek like the Hebrew is ambiguous, for the word for angels may mean simply messengers, and that for spirits may mean simply winds. But it is clear that the spiritual nature of angels is not in question here, and that the right rendering is winds. The construction of the whole verse has however been the subject of much discussion. (1) If the construction of the A.V. and LXX is retained, and it is the most natural construction of the Heb. words, we may render, Who maketh his angels winds, His ministers a flaming fire, and the meaning will be that as Jehovah reveals Himself in the works of creation, so He arrays the spiritual agents and ministers who surround Him (ciii. 20, 21) with the form of physical phenomena, the wind and the lightning. "Where men at first see only material objects and forms of nature there God is present, fulfilling His will through His servants under the forms of elemental action" (Bp Westcott on Heb. i. 7). The Targ., adopting the same construction, paraphrases, "Who makes his messengers swift as winds, his ministers strong as fire," but this explanation misses the connexion with the preceding verses. (2) Most commentators however think that the context demands the rendering, Who maketh winds his messengers, Flaming fire his ministers. As the clouds are Jehovah's chariot, so winds and lightnings are His messengers and servants. The great forces of Nature are His agents, employed by Him to do His bidding. Cp. cxlviii. 8. But this rendering is not free from objection on grammatical grounds. The order of the words is decidedly against it. (3) A third possible rendering is, Who maketh his messengers of winds, His ministers of flaming fire. Jehovah forms His messengers and ministers out of winds and lightnings; He uses these natural agents for the execution of His purposes. This rendering expresses the same sense as (2), though somewhat less directly, and is free from its grammatical difficulty. The first rendering however deserves more consideration than it has generally received. It is the most natural rendering, and its connexion with the context, if less obvious than that of (2) and (3), is still real. The general purport of these verses is not to shew "how the various natural agents are appropriated to different uses by the Creator," but how the Creator is revealed in and through the works of Creation. And as Jehovah is represented in vv. 20, 21 of Ps. ciii, which is so closely related to this Ps., as environed by hosts of angels and ministers, it is suitable to shew here how these angels and ministers find expression in physical phenomena. On the grammatical question see Driver's Hebrew Tenses, § 195, Obs. |