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. xix., which begins with it,
but passes from it to the consideration of the divine law; nor as Ps. viii.,
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. Many
great things the psalmist here gives God the glory of I. The splendour of
his majesty in the upper world, ver. 1-4. II. The creation of the sea and
the dry land, ver. 5-9. III. The provision he makes for the maintenance of
all the creatures according to their nature, ver. 10-18, 27, 28. IV. The
regular course of the sun and moon, ver. 19-24. V. The furniture of the sea,
ver. 25, 26. IV. God's sovereign power over all the creatures, ver. 29-32.
And, lastly, he concludes with a pleasant and firm resolution to continue
praising God (ver. 33-35), with which we should heartily join in singing
this psalm.
1
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: 4 Who maketh his angels
spirits; his ministers a flaming fire: 5 Who laid the
foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for
ever. 6 Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a
garment: the waters stood above the mountains. 7 At thy rebuke
they fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away. 8 They
go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the place which
thou hast founded for them. 9 Thou hast set a bound that they
may not pass over; that they turn not again to cover the earth.
When we are addressing
ourselves to any religious service we must stir up ourselves to take hold
on God in it (Isa. lxiv. 7); so David does here. "Come, my soul,
where art thou? What art thou thinking of? Here is work to be done, good
work, angels' work; set about it in good earnest; let all the powers and
faculties be engaged and employed in it: Bless the Lord, O my soul!"
In these verses,
I. 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, 1. In their robes; and what are God's robes? Thou art
clothed with honour 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 John i. 5), the Father of lights (Jam. i. 17); he dwells
in light (1 Tim. vi. 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. i. 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. 2. In
their palaces or pavilions, when they take the field; and what is God's
palace and his pavilion? He stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
v. 2. So he did at first, when he made the firmament, which in the
Hebrew has its name from its being expanded, or stretched out, Gen. i.
7. He made it to divide the waters as a curtain divides between two
apartments. So he does still: he now stretches out the heavens like a
curtain, keeps them upon the stretch, and they continue to this day
according to his ordinance. The regions of the air are stretched out
about the earth, like a curtain about a bed, to keep it warm, and drawn
between us and the upper world, to break its dazzling light; for, though God
covers himself with light, yet, in compassion to us, he makes
darkness his pavilion. Thick clouds are a covering to him. The vastness
of this pavilion may lead us to consider how great, how very great, he is
that fills heaven and earth. He has his chambers, his upper
rooms (so the word signifies), the beams whereof he lays in
the waters, the waters that are above the firmament (v. 3), as he
has founded the earth upon the seas and floods, the waters beneath
the firmament. Though air and water are fluid bodies, yet, by the divine
power, they are kept as tight and as firm in the place assigned them as a
chamber is with beams and rafters. How great a God is he whose
presence-chamber is thus reared, thus fixed! 3. In their coaches of state,
with their stately horses, which add much to the magnificence of their
entries; but God makes the clouds his chariots, in which he rides
strongly, swiftly, and far above out of the reach of opposition, when at any
time he will act by uncommon providences in the government of this world. He
descended in a cloud, as in a chariot, to Mount Sinai, to give the law, and
to Mount Tabor, to proclaim the gospel (Matt. xvii. 5), and he walks
(a gentle pace indeed, yet stately) upon the wings of the wind. See
Ps. xviii. 10, 11. He commands the winds, directs them as he pleases, and
serves his own purposes by them. 4. In their retinue or train of attendants;
and here also God is very great, for (v. 4) he makes his angels
spirits. This is quoted by the apostle (Heb. i. 7) to prove the
pre-eminence of Christ above the angels. The angels are here said to be his
angels and his ministers, for they are under his dominion and at
his disposal; they are winds, and a flame of fire, that is,
they appeared in wind and fire (so some), or they are as swift as winds, and
pure as flames; or he makes them spirits, so the apostle quotes it.
They are spiritual beings; and, whatever vehicles they may have proper to
their nature, it is certain they have not bodies as we have. Being spirits,
they are so much the further removed from the encumbrances of the human
nature and so much the nearer allied to the glories of the divine nature.
And they are bright, and quick, and ascending, as fire, as a flame of
fire. In Ezekiel's vision they ran and returned like a flash of
lightning, Ezek. i. 14. Thence they are called seraphim--burners.
Whatever they are, they are what God made them, what he still makes them;
they derive their being from him, having the being he gave them, are held in
being by him, and he makes what use he pleases of them.
II. He looks down, and
looks about, to the power of God shining in this lower world. He is not so
taken up with the glories of his court as to neglect even the remotest of
his territories; no, not the sea and dry land.
1. He has founded the
earth, v. 5. Though he has hung it upon nothing (Job xxvi. 7),
ponderibus librata suis--balanced by its own weight, yet it is as
immovable as if it had been laid upon the surest foundations. He has built
the earth upon her basis, so that though it has received a dangerous shock
by the sin of man, and the malice of hell strikes at it, yet it shall not
be removed for ever, that is, not till the end of time, when it must
give way to the new earth. Dr. Hammond's paraphrase of this is worth noting:
"God has fixed so strange a place for the earth, that, being a heavy
body, one would think it should fall every minute; and yet, which way soever
we would imagine it to stir, it must, contrary to the nature of such a body,
fall upwards, and so can have no possible ruin but by tumbling into
heaven."
2. He has set bounds to
the sea; for that also is his. (1.) He brought it within bounds in the
creation. At first the earth, which, being the more ponderous body, would
subside of course, was covered with the deep (v. 6): The
waters were above the mountains; and so it was unfit to be, as it was
designed, a habitation for man; and therefore, on the third day, God said, Let
the waters under the heaven be gathered to one place, and let the dry land
appear, Gen. i. 9. This command of God is here called his rebuke,
as if he gave it because he was displeased that the earth was thus covered
with water and not fit for man to dwell on. Power went along with this word,
and therefore it is also called here the voice of his thunder,
which is a mighty voice and produces strange effects, v. 7. At thy
rebuke, as if they were made sensible that they were out of their place,
they fled; they hasted away (they called, and not in vain, to the
rocks and mountains to cover them), as it is said on another occasion (Ps.
lxxii. 16), The waters saw thee, O God! the waters saw thee; they were
afraid. Even those fluid bodies received the impression of God's terror.
But was the Lord displeased against the rivers? No; it was for the
salvation of his people, Hab. iii. 8, 13. So here; God rebuked the
waters for man's sake, to prepare room for him; for men must not be made
as the fishes of the sea (Hab. i. 14); they must have air to breathe in.
Immediately therefore, with all speed, the waters retired, v. 8. They
go over hill and dale (as we say), go up by the mountains and down
by the valleys; they will neither stop at the former nor lodge in the
latter, but make the best of their way to the place which thou hast
founded for them, and there they make their bed. Let the obsequiousness
even of the unstable waters teach us obedience to the word and will of God;
for shall man alone of all the creatures be obstinate? Let their retiring to
and resting in the place assigned them teach us to acquiesce in the
disposals of that wise providence which appoints us the bounds of our
habitation. (2.) He keeps it within bounds, v. 9. The waters are
forbidden to pass over the limits set them; they may not, and therefore they
do not, turn again to cover the earth. Once they did, in Noah's
flood, because God bade them, but never since, because he forbids them,
having promised not to drown the world again. God himself glorifies in this
instance of his power (Job xxxviii. 8, &c.) and uses it as an argument
with us to fear him, Jer. v. 22. This, if duly considered, would keep the
world in awe of the Lord and his goodness, That the waters of the sea would
soon cover the earth if God did not restrain them.
10
He sendeth the springs into the valleys, which run among the
hills. 11 They give drink to every beast of the field: the wild
asses quench their thirst. 12 By them shall the fowls of the
heaven have their habitation, which sing among the branches.
13 He watereth the hills from his chambers: the earth is satisfied with the
fruit of thy works. 14 He causeth the grass to grow for the
cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of
the earth; 15 And wine that maketh glad the heart of man,
and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which
strengtheneth man's heart. 16 The trees of the LORD
are full of sap; the cedars of Lebanon, which he hath planted;
17 Where the birds make their nests: as for the stork, the fir trees are
her house. 18 The high hills are a refuge for the wild
goats; and the rocks for the conies.
Having given glory to God
as the powerful protector of this earth, in saving it from being deluged,
here he comes to acknowledge him as its bountiful benefactor, who provides
conveniences for all the creatures.
I. He provides fresh water
for their drink: He sends the springs into the valleys, v. 10.
There is water enough indeed in the sea, that is, enough to drown us, but
not one drop to refresh us, be we ever so thirsty--it is all so salt; and
therefore God has graciously provided water fit to drink. Naturalists
dispute about the origin of fountains; but, whatever are their second
causes, here is their first cause; it is God that sends the springs into
the brooks, which walk by easy steps between the hills,
and receive increase from the rain-water that descends from them. These give
drink, not only to man, and those creatures that are immediately useful
to him, but to every beast of the field (v. 11); for where God
has given life he provides a livelihood and takes care of all the creatures.
Even the wild asses, though untameable and therefore of no use to
man, are welcome to quench their thirst; and we have no reason to
grudge it them, for we are better provided for, though born like the wild
ass's colt. We have reason to thank God for the plenty of fair water
with which he has provided the habitable part of his earth, which otherwise
would not be habitable. That ought to be reckoned a great mercy the want of
which would be a great affliction; and the more common it is the greater
mercy it is. Usus communis aquarum--water is common for all.
II. He provides food
convenient for them, both for man and beast: The heavens drop fatness;
they hear the earth, but God hears them, Hos. ii. 21. He
waters the hills from his chambers (v. 13), from those chambers
spoken of (v. 3), the beams of which he lays in the waters,
those store-chambers, the clouds that distil fruitful showers. The hills
that are not watered by the rivers, as Egypt was by the Nile, are watered by
the rain from heaven, which is called the river of God (Ps. lxv. 9),
as Canaan was, Deut. xi. 11, 12. Thus the earth is satisfied with the
fruit of his works, either with the rain it drinks in (the earth knows
when it has enough; it is a pity that any man should not) or with the
products it brings forth. It is a satisfaction to the earth to bear the
fruit of God's works for the benefit of man, for thus it answers the end of
its creation. The food which God brings forth out of the earth
(v. 14) is the fruit of his works, which the earth is
satisfied with. Observe how various and how valuable its products are.
1. For the cattle there is
grass, and the beasts of prey, that live not on grass, feed on those that
do; for man there is herb, a better sort of grass (and a dinner of herbs and
roots is not to be despised); nay, he is furnished with wine, and oil,
and bread, v. 15. We may observe here, concerning our food, that
which will help to make us both humble and thankful. (1.) To make us humble
let us consider that we have a necessary dependence upon God for all the
supports of this life (we live upon alms; we are at his finding, for our own
hands are not sufficient for us),--that our food comes all out of the earth,
to remind us whence we ourselves were taken and whither we must return,--and
that therefore we must not think to live by bread alone, for that
will feed the body only, but must look into the word of God for the meat
that endures to eternal life. Let us also consider that we are in this
respect fellow-commoners with the beasts; the same earth, the same spot of
ground, that brings grass for the cattle, brings corn for man. (2.) To make
us thankful let us consider, [1.] That God not only provides for us, but for
our servants. The cattle that are of use to man are particularly taken care
of; grass is made to grow in great abundance for them, when the young
lions, that are not for the service of man, often lack and suffer
hunger. [2.] That our food is nigh us, and ready to us. Having our
habitation on the earth, there we have our storehouse, and depend not on the
merchant-ships that bring food from afar, Prov. xxxi. 14. [3.] That
we have even from the products of the earth, not only for necessity, but for
ornament and delight, so good a Master do we serve. First, Does
nature call for something to support it, and repair its daily decays? Here
is bread, which strengthens man's heart, and is therefore called the
staff of life; let none who have that complain of want. Secondly,
Does nature go further, and covet something pleasant? Here is wine, that
makes glad the heart, refreshes the spirits, and exhilarates them, when
it is soberly and moderately used, that we may not only go through our
business, but go through it cheerfully. It is a pity that that should be
abused to overcharge the heart, and unfit men for their duty, which was
given to revive their heart and quicken them in their duty. Thirdly,
Is nature yet more humoursome, and does it crave something for ornament too?
Here is that also out of the earth--oil to make the face to shine,
that the countenance may not only be cheerful but beautiful, and we may be
the more acceptable to one another.
2. Nay, the divine
providence not only furnishes animals with their proper food, but vegetables
also with theirs (v. 16): The trees of the Lord are full of sap,
not only men's trees, which they take care of and have an eye to, in their
orchards, and parks, and other enclosures, but God's trees, which grow in
the wildernesses, and are taken care of only by his providence; they are
full of sap and want no nourishment. Even the cedars of Lebanon,
an open forest, though they are high and bulky, and require a great deal of
sap to feed them, have enough from the earth; they are trees which he has
planted, and which therefore he will protect and provide for. We may
apply this to the trees of righteousness, which are the planting of the
Lord, planted in his vineyard; these are full of sap, for what God
plants he will water, and those that are planted in the house of the Lord
shall flourish in the courts of our God, Ps. xcii. 13.
III. He takes care that
they shall have suitable habitations to dwell in. To men God has given
discretion to build for themselves and for the cattle that are serviceable
to them; but there are some creatures which God more immediately provides a
settlement for. 1. The birds. Some birds, by instinct, make their nests in
the bushes near rivers (v. 12): By the springs that run
among the hills some of the fowls of heaven have their habitation,
which sing among the branches. They sing, according to their capacity,
to the honour of their Creator and benefactor, and their singing may shame
our silence. Our heavenly Father feeds them (Matt. vi. 26), and
therefore they are easy and cheerful, and take no thought for the morrow.
The birds being made to fly above the earth (as we find, Gen. i. 20),
they make their nests on high, in the tops of trees (v. 17);
it should seem as if nature had an eye to this in planting the cedars of
Lebanon, that they might be receptacles for the birds. Those that fly
heavenward shall not want resting-places. The stork is particularly
mentioned; the fir-trees, which are very high, are her house,
her castle. 2. The smaller sort of beasts (v. 18): The wild goats,
having neither strength nor swiftness to secure themselves, are guided by
instinct to the high hills, which are a refuge to them; and the
rabbits, which are also helpless animals, find shelter in the rocks,
where they can set the beasts of prey at defiance. Does God provide thus for
the inferior creatures; and will he not himself be a refuge and
dwelling-place to his own people?
19
He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down.
20 Thou makest darkness, and it is night: wherein all the beasts of the
forest do creep forth. 21 The young lions roar after
their prey, and seek their meat from God. 22 The sun ariseth,
they gather themselves together, and lay them down in their dens.
23 Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour until the evening.
24 O LORD,
how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is
full of thy riches. 25 So is this great and wide sea,
wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great
beasts. 26 There go the ships: there is that leviathan, whom
thou hast made to play therein. 27 These wait all upon thee;
that thou mayest give them their meat in due season. 28 That
thou givest them they gather: thou openest thine hand, they are filled with
good. 29 Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest
away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. 30 Thou
sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of
the earth.
We are here taught to
praise and magnify God,
I. For the constant
revolutions and succession of day and night, and the dominion of sun and
moon over them. The heathen were so affected with the light and influence of
the sun and moon, and their serviceableness to the earth, that they
worshipped them as deities; and therefore the scripture takes all occasions
to show that the gods they worshipped are the creatures and servants of the
true God (v. 19): He appointed the moon for seasons, for the
measuring of the months, the directing of the seasons for the business of
the husbandman, and the governing of the tides. The full and change, the
increase and decrease, of the moon, exactly observe the appointment of the
Creator; so does the sun, for he keeps as punctually to the time and place
of his going down as if he were an intellectual being and knew what he did.
God herein consults the comfort of man. 1. The shadows of the evening
befriend the repose of the night (v. 20): Thou makes darkness and
it is night, which, though black, contributes to the beauty of nature,
and is as a foil to the light of the day; and under the protection of the
night all the beasts of the forest creep forth to feed, which they
are afraid to do in the day, God having put the fear and dread of
man upon every beast of the earth (Gen. ix. 2), which contributes as
much to man's safety as to his honour. See how nearly allied those are to
the disposition of the wild beasts who wait for the twilight (Job
xxiv. 15) and have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness; and
compare to this the danger of ignorance and melancholy, which are both as
darkness to the soul; when, in either of those ways, it is night,
then all the beasts of the forest creep forth. Satan's temptations
then assault us and have advantage against us. Then the young lions roar
after their prey; and, as naturalists tell us, their roaring terrifies
the timorous beasts so that they have not strength nor spirit to escape from
them, which otherwise they might do, and so they become an easy prey to
them. They are said to seek their meat from God, because it is not
prepared for them by the care and forecast of man, but more immediately by
the providence of God. The roaring of the young lions, like the crying of
the young ravens, is interpreted asking their meat of God. Does God
put this construction upon the language of mere nature, even in venomous
creatures? and shall he not much more interpret favourably the language of
grace in his own people, though it be weak and broken, groanings which
cannot be uttered? 2. The light of the morning befriends the business of
the day (v. 22, 23): The sun arises (for, as he knows his
going down, so, thanks be to God, he knows his rising again), and then
the wild beasts betake themselves to their rest; even they have some society
among them, for they gather themselves together and lay down in
their dens, which is a great mercy to the children of men, that while
they are abroad, as becomes honest travellers, between sun and sun, care is
taken that they shall not be set upon by wild beasts, for they are then
drawn out of the field, and the sluggard shall have no ground to excuse
himself from the business of the day with this, That there is a lion in
the way. Therefore then man goes forth to his work and to his labour.
The beasts of prey creep forth with fear; man goes forth with boldness, as
one that has dominion. The beasts creep forth to spoil and do mischief; man
goes forth to work and do good. There is the work of every day, which is to
be done in its day, which man must apply to every morning (for the lights
are set up for us to work by, not to play by) and which he must stick to
till evening; it will be time enough to rest when the night comes, in which no
man can work.
II. For the replenishing
of the ocean (v. 25, 26): As the earth is full of God's riches,
well stocked with animals, and those well provided for, so that it is seldom
that any creature dies merely for want of food, so is this great and wide
sea which seems a useless part of the globe, at least not to answer the
room it takes up; yet God has appointed it its place and made it serviceable
to man both for navigation (there go the ships, in which goods are
conveyed, to countries vastly distant, speedily and much more cheaply than
by land-carriage) and also to be his storehouse for fish. God made not the
sea in vain, any more than the earth; he made it to be inherited, for
there are things swimming innumerable, both small and great animals,
which serve for man's dainty food. The whale is particularly mentioned in
the history of the creation (Gen. i. 21) and is here called the leviathan,
as Job xli. 1. He is made to play in the sea; he has nothing to do,
as man has, who goes forth to his work; he has nothing to fear, as
the beasts have, that lie down in their dens; and therefore he plays with
the waters. It is a pity that any of the children of men, who have nobler
powers and were made for nobler purposes, should live as if they were sent
into the world, like leviathan into the waters, to play therein, spending
all their time in pastime. The leviathan is said to play in the waters,
because he is so well armed against all assaults that he sets them at
defiance and laughs at the shaking of a spear, Job xli. 29.
III. For the seasonable
and plentiful provision which is made for all the creatures, v. 27,
28. 1. God is a bountiful benefactor to them: He gives them their meat;
he opens his hand and they are filled with good. He supports the
armies both of heaven and earth. Even the meanest creatures are not below
his cognizance. He is open-handed in the gifts of his bounty, and is a great
and good housekeeper that provides for so large a family. 2. They are
patient expectants from him: They all wait upon him. They seek their
food, according to the natural instinct God has put into them and in the
proper season for it, and affect not any other food, or at any other time,
than nature has ordained. They do their part for the obtaining of it: what
God gives them they gather, and expect not that Providence should put
it into their mouths; and what they gather they are satisfied with--they
are filled with good. They desire no more than what God sees fit for
them, which may shame our murmurings, and discontent, and dissatisfaction
with our lot.
IV. For the absolute power
and sovereign dominion which he has over all the creatures, by which every
species is still continued, though the individuals of each are daily dying
and dropping off. See here, 1. All the creatures perishing (v. 29): Thou
hidest thy face, withdrawest thy supporting power, thy supplying bounty,
and they are troubled immediately. Every creature has as necessary a
dependence upon God's favours as every saint is sensible he has and
therefore says with David (Ps. xxx. 7), Thou didst hide thy face and I
was troubled. God's displeasure against this lower world for the sin of
man is the cause of all the vanity and burden which the whole creation
groans under. Thou takest away their breath, which is in thy hand,
and then, and not till then, they die and return to their dust, to
their first principles. The spirit of the beast, which goes downward,
is at God's command, as well as the spirit of a man, which goes upward.
The death of cattle was one of the plagues of Egypt, and is particularly
taken notice of in the drowning of the world. 2. All preserved
notwithstanding, in a succession (v. 30): Thou sendest forth thy
spirit, they are created. The same spirit (that is, the same divine will
and power) by which they were all created at first still preserves the
several sorts of creatures in their being, and place, and usefulness; so
that, though one generation of them passes away, another comes, and from
time to time they are created; new ones rise up instead of the old ones, and
this is a continual creation. Thus the face of the earth is renewed
from day to day by the light of the sun (which beautifies it anew every
morning), from year to year by the products of it, which enrich it anew
every spring and put quite another face upon it from what it had all winter.
The world is as full of creatures as if none died, for the place of those
that die is filled up. This (the Jews say) is to be applied to the
resurrection, which every spring is an emblem of, when a new world rises out
of the ashes of the old one.
In the midst of this
discourse the psalmist breaks out into wonder at the works of God (v.
24): O Lord! how manifold are thy works! They are numerous, they are
various, of many kinds, and many of every kind; and yet in wisdom hast
thou made them all. When men undertake many works, and of different
kinds, commonly some of them are neglected and not done with due care; but
God's works, though many and of very different kinds, are all made in wisdom
and with the greatest exactness; there is not the least flaw nor defect in
them. The works of art, the more closely they are looked upon with the help
of microscopes, the more rough they appear; the works of nature through
these glasses appear more fine and exact. They are all made in wisdom, for
they are all made to answer the end they were designed to serve, the good of
the universe, in order to the glory of the universal Monarch.
31
The glory of the LORD
shall endure for ever: the LORD
shall rejoice in his works. 32 He looketh on the earth, and it
trembleth: he toucheth the hills, and they smoke. 33 I will sing
unto the LORD
as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.
34 My meditation of him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the LORD.
35 Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no
more. Bless thou the LORD,
O my soul. Praise ye the LORD.
The psalmist concludes
this meditation with speaking,
I. Praise to God, which is
chiefly intended in the psalm.
1. He is to be praised,
(1.) As a great God, and a God of matchless perfection: The glory of the
Lord shall endure for ever, v. 31. It shall endure to the end of
time in his works of creation and providence; it shall endure to eternity in
the felicity and adorations of saints and angels. Man's glory is fading;
God's glory is everlasting. Creatures change, but with the Creator there is
no variableness. (2.) As a gracious God: The Lord shall rejoice in his
works. He continues that complacency in the products of his own wisdom
and goodness which he had when he saw every thing that he had made, and
behold it was very good, and rested the seventh day. We often do
that which, upon the review, we cannot rejoice in, but are displeased at,
and wish undone again, blaming our own management. But God always rejoices
in his works, because they are all done in wisdom. We regret our bounty
and beneficence, but God never does; he rejoices in the works of his grace:
his gifts and callings are without repentance. (3.) As a God
of almighty power (v. 32): He looks on the earth, and it trembles,
as unable to bear his frowns--trembles, as Sinai did, at the presence of
the Lord. He touches the hills, and they smoke. The volcanoes, or
burning mountains, such as Ætna, are emblems of the power of God's wrath
fastening upon proud unhumbled sinners. If an angry look and a touch have
such effects, what will the weight of his heavy hand do and the operations
of his outstretched arm? Who knows the power of his anger? Who then
dares set it at defiance? God rejoices in his works because they are all so
observant of him; and he will in like manner take pleasure in those that
fear him and that tremble at his word.
2. The psalmist will
himself be much in praising him (v. 33): "I will sing unto
the Lord, unto my God, will praise him as Jehovah, the Creator, and as my
God, a God in covenant with me, and this not now only, but as long as
I live, and while I have my being." Because we have our
being from God, and depend upon him for the support and continuance of it,
as long as we live and have our being we must continue to praise God; and
when we have no life, no being, on earth, we hope to have a better life and
better being in a better world and there to be doing this work in a better
manner and in better company.
II. Joy to himself (v.
34): My meditation of him shall be sweet; it shall be fixed and
close; it shall be affecting and influencing; and therefore it shall be
sweet. Thoughts of God will then be most pleasing, when they are most
powerful. Note, Divine meditation is a very sweet duty to all that are
sanctified: "I will be glad in the Lord; it shall be a pleasure
to me to praise him; I will be glad of all opportunities to set forth his
glory; and I will rejoice in the Lord always and in him only."
All my joys shall centre in him, and in him they shall be full.
III. Terror to the wicked
(v. 35): Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth; and let the
wicked be no more. 1. Those that oppose the God of power, and fight
against him, will certainly be consumed; none can prosper that harden
themselves against the Almighty. 2. Those that rebel against the light of
such convincing evidence of God's being, and refuse to serve him whom all
the creatures serve, will justly be consumed. Those that make that earth to
groan under the burden of their impieties which God thus fills with his
riches deserve to be consumed out of it, and that it should spue them out.
3. Those that heartily desire to praise God themselves cannot but have a
holy indignation at those that blaspheme and dishonour him, and a holy
satisfaction in the prospect of their destruction and the honour that God
will get to himself upon them. Even this ought to be the matter of their
praise: "While sinners are consumed out of the earth, let
my soul bless the Lord that I am not cast away with the workers of
iniquity, but distinguished from them by the special grace of God. When the
wicked are no more I hope to be praising God world without end;
and therefore, Praise you the Lord; let all about me join with me in
praising God. Hallelujah; sing praise to Jehovah." This is the
first time that we meet with Hallelujah; and it comes in here upon
occasion of the destruction of the wicked; and the last time we meet with it
is upon a similar occasion. When the New-Testament Babylon is consumed, this
is the burden of the song, Hallelujah, Rev. xix. 1, 3, 4, 6.
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