1 The heavens declare the glory of God,
And the work of His hands the firmament makes known.
2 Day to day pours forth speech,
And night to night shows knowledge.
3 There is no speech and no words;
Not heard is their voice.
4 In all the earth their line goes forth, and in the end of the
world their words;
For the sun has He set a tent in them,
5 And he is like a bridegroom going out from his chamber;
He rejoices like a hero to run (his) course.
6 From the end of the heavens is his going forth, and his circuit
unto their ends;
And nothing is hid from his heat.
7 The law of Jehovah is perfect, restoring the soul;
The testimony of Jehovah is trusty, making wise the simple.
8 The precepts of Jehovah are right, rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of Jehovah is pure, enlightening the eyes.
9 The fear of Jehovah is clean, standing for ever;
The judgments of Jehovah are truth: they are righteous altogether.
10 They are more to be desired than gold and than abundant [gold]
refined,
And they are sweeter than honey and the droppings of the
honeycomb.
11 Moreover, Thy servant is warned by them;
In keeping them is reward abundant.
12 Inadvertencies who can discern?
From hidden sins absolve me.
13 Also from presumptuous [sins] keep back Thy servant: let them not
rule over me;
Then shall I be guiltless, and I shall be absolved from great
transgression.
14 Accepted be the words of my mouth and meditation of my heart in
Thy sight,
Jehovah, my Rock and my Kinsman-redeemer!
Is this originally one psalm or bits of two, pieced together to suggest
a comparison between the two sources of knowledge of God, which the
authors did not dream of? The affirmative is strongly _main_tained, but,
we may venture to say, not so strongly _sus_tained. The two parts are
said to differ in style, rhythm, and subject. Certainly they do, but the
difference in style accounts for the difference in structure. It is not
an unheard-of phenomenon that cadence should change with theme; and if
the very purpose of the song is to set forth the difference of the two
witnesses to God, nothing can be more likely than such a change in
measure. The two halves are said to be put together abruptly without
anything to smooth the transition. So they are, and so is ver. 4 put by
the side of ver. 3; and so does the last turn of thought (vv. 12-14)
follow the second. Cyclopean architecture without mortar has a certain
impressiveness. The abruptness is rather an argument for than against
the original unity, for a compiler would have been likely to try to make
some sort of glue to hold his two fragments together, while a poet, in
the rush of his afflatus, would welcome the very abruptness which the
manufacturer would avoid. Surely the thought that binds the whole into a
unity--that _Jehovah_ is _El_, and that nature and law witness to the
same Divine Person, though with varying clearness--is not so strange as
that we should have to find its author in some late editor unknown.
Vv. 1-6 hymn the silent declaration by the heavens. The details of
exposition must first be dealt with. "Declare" and "makes known" are
participles, and thus express the continuity of the acts. The
substance of the witness is set forth with distinct reference to its
limitations, for "glory" has here no moral element, but simply means
what Paul calls "eternal power and Godhead," while the Divine name of
God ("El") is used in intended contrast to "Jehovah" in the second
half, a _nuance_ which must be obliterated if this is a conglomerate
psalm. "His handiwork," in like manner, limits the revelation. The
heavens by day are so marvellously unlike the heavens by night that
the psalmist's imagination conjures up two long processions, each
member of which passes on the word entrusted to him to his
successor--the blazing days with heaven naked but for one great light,
and the still nights with all their stars. Ver. 3 has given
commentators much trouble in attempting to smooth its paradox. Tastes
are curiously different, for some critics think that the familiar
interpretation gives a flat, prosaic meaning, while Cheyne takes the
verse to be a gloss for dull readers, and exclaims, "How much the
brilliant psalm fragment gains by its omission!" _De gustibus_, etc.
Some of us may still feel that the psalmist's contrast of the awful
silence in the depths of the sky and of the voice that speaks to
opened ears thrills us with something very like the electric touch of
poetry. In ver. 4 the thought of the great voices returns. "Their
line" is usually explained as meaning their sphere of influence,
marked out, as it were, by a measuring cord. If that rendering is
adopted, ver. 4 _b_ would in effect say, "Their words go as far as
their realm." Or the rendering "sound" may be deduced, though somewhat
precariously, from that of _line_, since a line stretched is musical.
But the word is not used as meaning the string of an instrument, and
the very slight conjectural emendation which gives "voice" instead of
"line" has much to recommend it. In any case the teaching of the verse
is plain from the last clause, namely the universality of the
revelation. It is singular that the mention of the sun should come in
the close of the verse; and there may be some error in the text,
though the introduction of the sun here may be explained as completing
the picture of the heavens, of which it is the crowning glory. Then
follows the fuller delineation of his joyous energy, of his swift
strength in his course, of his penetrating beams, illuminating and
warming all. Why should the glowing metaphors, so natural and
vigorous, of the sun coming forth from his bridal chamber and,
hero-like, running his race, be taken to be traces of ancient myths
now innocently reclaimed from the service of superstition? To find in
these two images a proof that the first part of the psalm belongs to
the post-exilic "literary revival of Hebrew mythology" is surely to
lay more on them than they can bear.
The scientific contemplation of nature is wholly absent from
Scripture, and the picturesque is very rare. This psalmist knew
nothing about solar spectra or stellar distances, but he heard a voice
from out of the else waste heavens which sounded to him as if it named
God. Comte ventured to say that the heavens declare the glory of the
astronomer, not of God; but, if there be an order in them, which it is
a man's glory to discover, must there not be a mind behind the order,
and must not the Maker have more glory than the investigator? The
psalmist is protesting against stellar worship, which some of his
neighbours practised. The sun was a creature, not a god; his "race"
was marked out by the same hand which in depths beyond the visible
heavens had pitched a "tent" for his nightly rest. We smile at the
simple astronomy; the religious depth is as deep as ever. Dull ears do
not hear these voices; but whether they are stopped with the clay of
earthly tastes and occupations, or stuffed with scientific wadding of
the most modern kind, the ears that do not hear God's name sounded
from the abysses above, have failed to hear the only word which can
make man feel at home in nature. Carlyle said that the sky was "a sad
sicht." The sadness and awfulness are taken away when we hear the
heavens telling the glory of God. The unscientific psalmist who did
hear them was nearer the very heart of the mystery than the scientist
who knows everything else about them but that.
With an abrupt transition which is full of poetical force, the singer
turns to the praises of the better revelation of Jehovah. Nature
speaks in eloquent silence of the strong God, but has no witness to
His righteous will for men or His love to them which can compare with
the clear utterances of His law. The rhythm changes, and in its
cadence expresses the psalmist's exuberant delight in that law. In vv.
7-11 the clauses are constructed on a uniform plan, each containing a
name for the law, an attribute of it, and one of its effects. The
abundance of synonyms indicates familiarity and clear views of the
many sides of the subject. The psalmist had often brooded on the
thought of what that law was, because, loving its Giver, he must needs
love the gift. So he calls it "law," or teaching, since there he found
the best lessons for character and life. It was "testimony," for in it
God witnessed what He is and what we should be, and so witnessed
against sin; it was a body of "precepts" (statutes, A.V.) giving rich
variety of directions; it was "commandment," blessedly imperative; it
was "fear of the Lord," the effect being put for the cause; it was
"judgments," the decisions of infinite truth concerning duty.
These synonyms have each an attribute attached, which, together, give
a grand aggregate of qualities discerned by a devout heart to inhere
in that law which is to so many but a restraint and a foe. It is
"perfect," as containing without flaw or defect the ideal of conduct;
"sure" or reliable, as worthy of being absolutely followed and certain
to be completely fulfilled; "right," as prescribing the straight road
to man's true goal; "pure" or bright, as being light like the sun, but
of a higher quality than that material brilliance; "clean," as
contrasted with the foulness bedaubing false faiths and making idol
worship unutterably loathsome; "true" and "wholly righteous," as
corresponding accurately to the mind of Jehovah and the facts of
humanity and as being in full accordance with the justice which has
its seat in the bosom of God.
The effects are summed up in the latter clauses of these verses, which
stand, as it were, a little apart, and by the slight pause are made more
emphatic. The rhythm rises and falls like the upspringing and sinking of
a fountain. The law "restores the soul," or rather refreshes the life,
as food does; it "makes the simple wise" by its sure testimony, giving
practical guidance to narrow understandings and wills open to easy
beguiling by sin; it "rejoices the heart," since there is no gladness
equal to that of knowing and doing the will of God; it "enlightens the
eyes" with brightness beyond that of the created light which rules the
day. Then the relation of clauses changes slightly in ver. 9, and a
second attribute takes the place of the effect. It "endures for ever,"
and, as we have seen, is "wholly righteous." The Old Testament law was
relatively imperfect and destined to be done away, but the moral core of
it abides. Being more valuable than all other treasures, there is wealth
in the very desire after it more than in possessing these. Loved, it
yields sweetness in comparison with which the delights of sense are
bitter; done, it automatically rewards the doer. If obedience had no
results except its inward consequences, it would be abundantly repaid.
Every true servant of Jehovah will be willing to be warned by that
voice, even though it rebuke and threaten.
All this rapture of delight in the law contrasts with the impatience
and dislike which some men entertain for it. To the disobedient that
law spoils their coarse gratifications. It is as a prison in which
life is wearisomely barred from delights; but they who dwell behind
its fences know that these keep evils off, and that within are calm
joys and pure pleasures.
The contemplation of the law cannot but lead to self-examination, and
that to petition. So the psalmist passes into prayer. His shortcomings
appal, for "by the law is the knowledge of sin," and he feels that
beyond the sin which he knows, there is a dark region in him where foul
things nestle and breed fast. "Secret faults" are those hidden, not from
men, but from himself. He discovers that he has hitherto undiscovered
sins. Lurking evils are most dangerous because, like aphides on the
under-side of a rose leaf, they multiply so quickly unobserved; small
deeds make up life, and small, unnoticed sins darken the soul. Mud in
water, at the rate of a grain to a glassful, will make a lake opaque.
"Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he
alloweth." Conscience needs educating; and we have to compare ourselves
with the ideal of perfect life in Jesus, if we would know our faults,
as young artists go over their copies in front of the masterpiece. But
the psalmist knows that, servant of God though he is, he is in danger
from another class of sins, and so prays to be held back from
"presumptuous sins," _i.e._ wilful conscious transgressions. Such
deliberate contraventions of law tend to become habitual and despotic;
so the prayer follows that they may not "have dominion." But even that
is not the lowest depth. Deliberate sin, which has gained the upper
hand, is but too apt to end in apostacy. "Great transgression" is
probably a designation for casting off the very pretence of worshipping
Jehovah. That is the story of many a fall. First, some unsuspected evil
habit gnaws away the substance of the life, as white ants do wood,
leaving the shell apparently intact; then come sins open and palpable,
and these enslave the will, becoming habits, and then follows entire
abandonment of the profession of religion. It is a slippery, dark
stairway, and the only safety is in not setting foot on the top step.
God, and God only, can "keep us back." He will, if we cling to Him,
knowing our weakness. Thus clinging, we may unblamed cherish the daring
hope that we shall be "upright and innocent," since nothing less than
entire deliverance from sin in all its forms and issues can correspond
to the will of God concerning us and the power of God in us, nor satisfy
our deepest desires.
The closing aspiration is that Jehovah would accept the song and prayer.
There is an allusion to the acceptance of a sacrifice, for the phrase
"be acceptable" is frequent in connection with the sacrificial ritual.
When the words of the mouth coincide with the meditation of the heart,
we may hope that prayers for cleansing from, and defence against, sin,
offered to Him whom our faith recognises as our "strength" and our
"Redeemer," will be as a sacrifice of a sweet smell, well-pleasing to
God. He best loves the law of Jehovah who lets it teach him his sin, and
send him to his knees; he best appreciates the glories of the silent
heavens who knows that their witness to God is but the prelude of the
deeper music of the Scriptures' declaration of the heart and will of
Jehovah, and who grasps Him as his "strength and his Redeemer" from all
evil, whether evil of sin or evil of sorrow.