Psalm 19 Continued…
Psalms 19:1-6 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun, which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is hidden from its heat.
“The heavens” and “skies” are crucial elements of the Creation in Genesis 1 (Genesis 1:1, 8). The two verbs “declare” and “proclaim” emphasize the continuity of these respective disclosures. “The work of His hands” is a personification illustrating God’s great power.
The stars are an untiring and unmistakable witness to God’s omnipotence and eternal glory. “Day after day they pour forth speech,” that is, each day tells the story to its successor in torrential jubilant speech. “Night after night they display knowledge,” for planets, moon, and constellations, as primordial creatures, alone were witnesses of the mysteries of Creation which are hidden from the eyes of all living (See Job: 28:20-28).
“No speech” (verse 3) is not a contradiction of “speech” in the previous verse, but it shows that the constant communication of the heavens is not with words of a literal nature. Three words have been added to this verse by the translators which were not in the original text. They were inserted to help bridge the gulf between the Hebrew and English languages. “There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.” Strip off these three words and you get a totally different sense, the sense of the original Hebrew text. Instead of a positive statement you get three negative statements: No speech. No language. Their voice is not heard. In other words, the starry hosts of heaven do not speak in the tongues of men because they have no speech and no language. Their voice, though loud and clear, is inaudible to the human ear. Nevertheless those burning pinpricks in the sky communicate powerfully to all mankind.
The Psalmist draws special attention to the sun: “In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun.” He had watched it often. He knew just where on the horizon the sun entered its “tent” at night, and just where it would emerge the next morning. He had watched it dissolve the darkness, chase the shadows from the hills, and fill the earth with light. He had watched it mount the sky and race across the meridian. He had watched it sink in fiery splendor to its nighttime rest. He had pondered its coming, its career, its character. The sun spoke to all men everywhere without uttering a single word in the language of men.
The sun is dominant “in the heavens like a bridegroom” who excitedly leaves his house on his wedding day. The sun “rises,” and like a champion runner racing on “his course,” “the sun makes its circuit.” These verses do more than speak of nature as a witness of God’s glory; they also undermine pagan beliefs, for the same imagery was used of the sun god in ancient Near Eastern literature.
So David thrills to God’s revelation of Himself in the sky. But there’s even greater revelation. The stars have their place, but God places no great stock in stars. In Genesis 1 He dismisses the creation of all the suns and stars and satellites of space in five brief words: “He made the stars, also.”
The message of the created world extends to everywhere, but the poet does not deify the sun or the heavens, as was the case in many pagan religions. In the Bible, God is the creator and ruler of all creation. The Creator is over the creation and he deserves our praise.
PRAY
O Lord, our God, in the beginning you created the heavens and the earth. You alone are the Lord. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You determine the number of the stars and you call them each by name. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you. How many are your works, O Lord! Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you. In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. Everything you have made is good. As you declared, it is very good. You are the one God who has created us; you are our Father. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at your command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.