Deeper Commentary
Psa 104:1
Bless Yahweh, my soul. Yahweh, my God, You are very great. You are
clothed with honour and majesty-
This translation misses the fact that the Hebrew here is full of
verbs and not adjectives; the reference is to a series of actions, rather
than a state. Yahweh is seen as having done something which makes Him very
great, creating majesty and honour for Himself through an action. It could
be that the psalmist has in view the envisaged restoration of God's
Kingdom on earth at the time of the restoration; which would explain the
references in some verses to a time of present oppression at the hands of
the Gentiles. The psalmist looks ahead to this day as if it has happened.
This didn't happen then as planned, but has been rescheduled and reapplied
to the last day.
Psa 104:2
He covers Himself with light as with a garment, He stretches out
the heavens like a curtain-
"The heavens" at times refer to the temple or sanctuary, which
perhaps is why the idea of a curtain is used, recalling the various
curtains of the tabernacle. The reference may be to the hope that God
would reestablish the sanctuary, and appear clothed as it were in the
light of the shekinah glory over the ark. This idea of God as a figure
shrouded in light is used by Ezekiel in describing the visions of cherubic
glory. That cherubic system, with the form of a Divine "man" above them,
was envisaged as returning to Zion.
Psa 104:3
He lays the beams of His rooms in the waters, He makes the
clouds His chariot, He walks on the wings of the wind-
This continues the allusion to the cherubim (see on :2). The idea may
be that the reestablishment and rebuilding of the Kingdom would begin "in
the waters" in that the beams, the people, were to be prepared whilst in
exile amongst the waters of the Gentiles. "Room" or "chambers" is
the word used of the rebuilding of Zion in Neh. 3:31,32, and of the
envisaged rebuilding of the temple in Ez. 40:49; 41:7. But the Jews didn't
build as required in Ez. 40-48; they precluded the help of the Angel
cherubim, upon whom God was eager to ride forth for them.
Psa 104:4 He makes His Angels winds; His servants flames of fire-
As noted on Ps. 102 and Ps. 103, the reference to the Angels is to
encourage Judah that the vast Angel cherubim system alluded to in :2,3 was
ready and eager to go forth for God's people. The allusion is to the
statement of God's greatness at the end of Job, a book of encouragement to
the exiles (see on Job 1:1): "Canst thou send lightnings (Angels) that
they may go and say unto thee, Here we are (Septuagint: 'We do Thy
pleasure?')" (Job 38:35). In the Hezekiah context, the reference could be to how the Angel which
destroyed the Assyrians did so using fire (see on Ps. 46:9). We note that
the Angels are God's servants; there is never any hint in the Bible that
the "Angels" [as in supernatural beings] are divided into groups of wicked
and righteous. Ps. 83:14; 97:3 speak of God as "flames of fire" burning up
Israel's enemies. He was ready and able, through the Angel cherubim, to
overcome all opposition to a restored Kingdom of God in Israel. But
despite this, most of the exiles preferred to remain in Babylon. Just as
many today likewise turn down the opportunity to be part of God's Kingdom.
Psa 104:5
He laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be moved
forever-
I suggested on :1 that this is a reference to the envisaged
restoration. God was not going to allow the eretz promised to
Abraham to be moved, ultimately; even though its people had temporarily
been moved into exile. LXX gives the sense: "Who establishes the earth on
her sure foundation". The reference is not to God's creation of the
planet, but to His reestablishment of the Kingdom of God in the earth /
land of Israel.
Psa 104:6
You covered it with the deep sea as with a cloak. The waters
stood above the mountains-
Ps. 104:5-9 describes “the earth” as being covered with the deep, and “the
waters stood above the mountains”- clearly alluding to the flood. Yet
these mountains are those which are “a refuge for the wild goats… conies”
(Ps. 104:18 RV). These sound like the mountains of Israel / the Middle
East rather than any other part of the world.
Psa 104:7
At Your rebuke they fled, at the voice of Your thunder they hurried
away-
The same phrase used of the fleeing away of the waters of the Red Sea
at the theophany which occurred then; see on Ps. 77:17. The waters
are spoken of as living entities because they represented the heathen
nations opposing Israel at the time; and this miracle was just as possible
for God's people at the time of Hezekiah and later, the exiles.
Psa 104:8
The mountains rose, the valleys sank down, to the place which You
had assigned to them-
The reference seems to be to the changed topography after the flood,
and this is the imagery used about the restoration in Is. 40:4. The
valleys would be lifted up and the mountains brought down [they very
opposite of what is described as happening here after the flood], in order
to pave the way for the coming of Messiah and God's glory to Zion.
"Assigned" is the word used for the "foundation" of the rebuilt temple
(Ezra 3:6,10). This potential wasn't realized at the restoration, and was
reapplied to the Lord Jesus.
Psa 104:9
You have set a boundary that they may not pass over; that they
don’t turn again to cover the earth-
Just as the flood waters (see on :6,7) would never return to destroy
the earth, so the Babylonian destruction was potentially the final such
judgment upon God's people. But their impenitence and continued sin
precluded this from being the case, and so this idea of the waters
[representing the nations around Israel] never covering the earth again
was rescheduled to the last day. "Boundary" is the usual word used for the
border of the promised land. But the rivers and floodwaters of the
invading armies were frequently sent by God over this border even after
the Babylonian invasion. The truth was that Judah's princes had removed
the border in throwing themselves open to the gods and influences of the
nations around them (s.w. Hos. 5:10).
Psa 104:10
He sends forth springs into the valleys, they run among the
mountains-
The waters of the Gentile nations would be assuaged, but God would
send forth His own waters, not to destroy but to create.
Psa 104:11
They give drink to every animal of the field, the wild donkeys
quench their thirst-
"Every" may imply 'both clean and unclean', with the unclean wild
donkeys being cited as an example. God's care and saving purpose is
thereby declared as being for all.
Psa 104:12
The birds of the sky nest by them, they sing among the branches-
Mt. 13:32 uses this imagery in describing the Kingdom of God. The
picture here is of how God's waters would create a restored Kingdom of God
on earth. This potential wasn't realized by the exiles; and so these
things were reinterpreted and are reapplied to the Kingdom of the Lord
Jesus. And therefore the imagery of this verse is used by Him about His
Kingdom.
Psa 104:13
He waters the mountains from His rooms, the earth is filled
with the fruit of Your works-
The allusion may be to the temple on earth reflecting that in heaven.
The living water is envisaged as flowing out of the rebuilt temple (Zech.
14:8; Joel 3:18; Ez. 47:5). Sadly the possibility of this was precluded by
the exiles refusing to build and operate the temple in accordance with the
specifications of Ez. 40-48.
Psa 104:14
He causes the grass to grow for the livestock, and plants for
man to cultivate, that He may bring forth food out of the earth-
God
"makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the
just and on the unjust" (Mt. 5:45). God consciously makes the sun rise
each day- it isn't part of a kind of perpetual motion machine. Hence the
force of His promises in the prophets that in the same way as He
consciously maintains the solar system, so He will maintain His Israel.
Ps. 104 is full of such examples: "He waters the hills... causes the
grass to grow... makes darkness (consciously, each night)... the young
lions... seek their meat from God... send forth Your Spirit (Angel),
they are created" (not just by the reproductive system). There are
important implications following from these ideas with regard to our faith
in prayer. It seems to me that our belief that the world is going on
inevitably by clockwork is one of the things which militates against a
sense of God's active presence through His Spirit. See on Mt. 6:26.
Psa 104:15
wine that makes glad the heart of man, oil to make his face to
shine, and bread that strengthens man’s heart-
This doesn’t mean we are to drink alcohol until we feel “merry”. This
phrase and those surrounding it are not talking about the effect of crops
on the bodies of people, but rather the effect of a good harvest on the
emotions of those gathering them. Wine, oil and bread are all associated
with the sanctuary services (s.w. Hag. 2:12).
Psa 104:16
Yahweh’s trees are well watered, the cedars of Lebanon, which He
has planted-
The living water of the Messianically restored Zion mentioned on :13
was intended to water trees of life (Ez. 47:12; Rev. 22:2). This didn't
happen at the restoration as intended, as the Jews didn't build the temple
system of Ez. 40-48. But in essence it will come true in Messiah's Kingdom
(Rev. 22:2), and does come true in it even now. The promise that the
restored exiles could have become the trees of Yahweh's planting (Is.
60:21; 61:3) can become true spiritually for all who now accept the
message of the Kingdom.
Psa 104:17
where the birds make their nests. The stork makes its home in the
fir trees-
As noted on :12, Mt. 13:32 uses this imagery in describing the
Kingdom of God. The picture here is of how God's waters would create a
restored Kingdom of God on earth. This potential wasn't realized by the
exiles; and so these things were reinterpreted and are reapplied to the
Kingdom of the Lord Jesus. And therefore the imagery of this verse is used
by Him about His Kingdom. The stork was an unclean animal, but the unclean
were to be welcomed into the restored Kingdom, for all such divisions
between clean and unclean were to be removed.
Psa 104:18
The high mountains are for the wild goats, the rocks are a refuge
for the rock badgers-
"High mountains" may be an intensive plural for the ultimately high
mountain, of Zion. The term is used of Zion in Is. 40:9; 57:7; Ez. 17:22;
and of the restored Zion in Ez. 40:2. This mount Zion was to become a
refuge for unclean animals; and we can note the emphasis in this chapter
upon the beauty and acceptance of the unclean animals.
Psa 104:19
He appointed the moon for seasons, the sun knows when to set-
The moon being for seasons recalls the language of the Genesis
creation. And the seasons were specifically the feasts. These were
intended to feature in the reestablished Kingdom.
Psa 104:20
You make darkness, and it is night, in which all the animals of the
forest prowl-
Darkness was always feared in contemporary societies, and the animals
which prowled at night were seen as in league with demons. But this common
understanding is being deconstructed. God is the maker of darkness, the
animals of the night are beckoned forth by Him; for the Old Testament
deconstructs any idea of a cosmic 'Satan' being and associated demons.
Psa 104:21
The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their food from
God-
Even the instinct of the lion to hunt is given by God; they seek
their food from Him. This is significant in the context of the exiles
because the likes of Assyria and Babylon are likened to lions and wild,
mysterious beasts (:20). But they too were ultimately under God's control,
and had sought their prey from God's people under His direct instigation.
There was and is no radical evil in the conception of God's true people.
See on 27.
Psa 104:22
The sun rises, and they steal away and lay down in their dens-
As explained on :21, the mysterious wild animals of the night,
including the lions, were all under God's control, and would go their way
from God's people when He causes the sunrise. This clearly looks ahead to
the coming of Messiah as the dawn (Mal. 4:2), heralding the end of all
Judah's abusers.
Psa 104:23
Man goes forth to his work, to his labour until the evening-
See on :24. The allusion may be to the curse of Gen. 3:19, that man
was to work until he can do so no more, and then returns to dust (:29).
This contrasts with the eternity of God (:24) and His people.
Psa 104:24
Yahweh, how many are Your works! In wisdom have You made them all.
The earth is full of Your riches-
LXX "The earth is full of Thy creation". The contrast is with the
weary labour of man upon earth (:23), which he eagerly brings to an end
every evening; and the ceaseless, creative labour of Yahweh.
Psa 104:25
There is the sea, great and wide, in which are innumerable living
things, both small and large animals-
The sea was seen by contemporary peoples as mysterious and out of
human control, inhabited by monsters which equate to the cosmic 'Satan'
being wrongly believed in by many today. But all within the seas are God's
servants, waiting upon Him (:27) and looking to Him for food. The seas are
used in the prophets to represent the Gentile nations who had abused
Israel. These too were not forms of radical, uncontrolled evil; they were
all totally under God's control.
Psa 104:26
There the ships go, and leviathan, whom You formed to play there-
"Ships" here may refer to whales or other great sea beasts. See on
:25. Leviathan appears to be the Canaanite version of the orthodox
‘Satan’ figure, perhaps a reference to the ‘Lotan’ of the Ugaritic myths.
In great detail in Job 41, this creature and belief is deconstructed. It
is shown to be a
created being (:30) – created by the one almighty God of the Old Testament,
to be completely under His control to the point that He can even tease
them, playing with them as in Job 41, so enormously greater is His power than theirs. These Canaanite
‘Satan’ figures are thereby shown to have no significant existence; and
they certainly don’t exist as opposed to God. They are totally under His
control. And yet these monster figures clearly have characteristics shared
by known animals, such as the hippopotamus, crocodile etc. Those
similarities are intended. It’s been well observed: “To say that Leviathan
has characteristics of the crocodile and the whale is not to say that it
is such a creature, but rather to suggest that evil is rooted in
the natural world” (Robert
S. Fyall, Now My Eyes Have Seen You: Images of Creation and Evil in the
Book of Job (Leicester: I.V.P. / Apollos, 2002) p. 27) –
and the point is so laboured in Job that the natural world is of God’s
complete creation. ‘Evil’ in a form independent of Him, in radical
opposition to Him, simply isn’t there.
It’s significant that dragons in the form of serpents were common in Babylonian theology. Figures on vases show serpent griffins, there was one on Marduk’s temple in Nippur, and also on the Ishtar Gate in Babylon. These would have been familiar to Judah in Babylonian captivity. They may well have seen a similarity between the Babylonian monsters and the Leviathan beast. That God is greater than Leviathan and can do what He wills with him would therefore have had a special meaning to the faithful Jew in exile. In a restoration context, Isaiah comforted Judah that God would destroy “Leviathan the gliding serpent; He will slay the monster of the sea” (Is. 27:1). The real ‘monster’ faced by Judah in exile wasn’t a supernatural being; it was a concrete kingdom of men on earth, namely Babylon. God taught Job, and through him showcased to the watching world, that all such imaginations of Leviathan, monsters in the raging sea, crooked serpents etc. were vain – in any case, God had created them and used them to do His will with His people, symbolized as they were by Job. His sitting in dust and ashes is very much the picture of Judah sitting by the rivers of Babylon, bemoaning their losses.
Psa 104:27
These all wait for You, that You may give them their food in due
season-
As noted on :25,26, the creatures of the sea are actually God's
servants, for that is the meaning of the idiom of 'waiting for'. And He
feeds them; they do not randomly choose their prey purely in their own
strength and of their own volition. See on :21.
Psa 104:28
You give to them; they gather. You open Your hand; they are
satisfied with good-
As explained on :27, the apparently mysterious and radically evil
beasts of the sea are all under God's controlled. Whatever they eat, is
given to them by God's open hand. The beasts which had consumed Judah were
actually given their food by God; for the prophets continually stress that
these invasions came from God's direction.
Psa 104:29
You hide Your face: they are troubled; You take away their breath:
they die, and return to the dust-
The hiding of God's face always speaks of His moral displeasure. This
statement is specifically in the context of the death of the mighty sea
beasts, although as we have seen, they represent the nations dominating
Israel. Their time for judgment would come, even if it were simply in the
form of their death. We could not wish for any clearer statement that
death of any living creature is an undoing of creation, whereby the breath
or spirit is given by God, and then when it is withdrawn, they return to
dust. This language is elsewhere used specifically of human beings. For in
the matter of death, man truly has no preeminence above a beast (Ecc.
3:19).
Psa 104:30
You send forth Your Spirit: they are created, You renew the face of
the ground-
As explained on :26, the great sea beasts are shown to be
created beings- created by the one almighty God of the Old Testament,
to be completely under His control to the point that He can even tease
them, playing with them as in Job 41, so enormously greater is His power
than theirs. And likewise the nations they represented were created by
God. The dust into which they returned was the "ground" from which God
could use His Spirit to form a new creation, when all these beasts have
passed away for good.
Psa 104:31
Let the glory of Yahweh endure forever, let Yahweh rejoice in His
works-
This forms an inclusio to the opening allusions to the cherubim and
the shekinah glory in :2-4. The psalmist wishes for the day to come when
again the glory would return to Zion visibly, and "endure forever", never
to be taken away again. And this would involve Yahweh eternally rejoicing
in the works of the new creation intimated in :30.
Psa 104:32
He looks at the earth, and it trembles. He touches the mountains,
and they smoke-
This continues the inclusio to the opening allusions to the cherubim
and the shekinah glory in :2-4, this time further alluding to the
theophany on Sinai when Israel were first declared Yahweh's Kingdom. The
psalmist was looking for the dramatic reestablishment of the Kingdom,
accompanied by a similar theophany.
Psa 104:33
I will sing to Yahweh as long as I live, I will sing praise to my
God while I have any being-
We note again David's belief in the mortality of man, with no
conscious existence after death [until the resurrection of the body]. For
his time of "being" was "as long as I live".
Psa 104:34
Let your meditation be sweet to Him. I will rejoice in Yahweh-
His rejoicing in what was going to do was to be a reflection of God's
rejoicing in His new creation (:31).
Psa 104:35
Let sinners be consumed out of the earth. Let the wicked be no
more. Bless Yahweh, my soul. Praise Yah!-
A quotation from Is. 16:4 about the consuming out of the land of the
sinful nations dominating Judah. The psalmist is praying for this time to
be hastened, and until it comes, he will still praise Yahweh as if it has
already happened (see on :34). For this is the nature of faith, to adopt
God's timeless perspective, and look to the end as if it is even now.
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