Psalm 104:22

The sun ariseth, they gather themselves together, and lay them down in their dens.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(22) Lay them down.—With sunrise all is changed. The Wild animals, with their savage instincts, give way to man with his orderly habits and arranged duties. The curse of labour, on which the account in Genesis dwells, is here entirely out of sight, and instead there appears the “poetry of labour.” And if all sense of the primal curse has disappeared, the later curse, which lies so heavy on the modern generations of overworked men,

“Who make perpetual moan,

Still from one labour to another thrown,”

has not appeared. The day brings only healthy toil, and the evening happy rest.

Benson Commentary

Psalm 104:22-23. The sun ariseth — For as he knows the time of his going down, so, thanks be to God, he knows the proper time of his rising, and then the wild beasts gather themselves together — Or, rather, withdraw themselves, or retire, as יאספו, jeaseephu, may be rendered; and lay them down in their dens — Which is a great mercy to mankind, who can now go forth with security and confidence, and perform unmolested the task assigned them by their Maker. Thus, “when the light of truth and righteousness shineth, error and iniquity fly away before it, and the roaring lion himself departeth for a time. Then the Christian goeth forth to the work of his salvation, and to his labour of love, until the evening of old age warns him to prepare for his last repose, in faith of a joyful resurrection.” — Horne.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

104:19-30 We are to praise and magnify God for the constant succession of day and night. And see how those are like to the wild beasts, who wait for the twilight, and have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. Does God listen to the language of mere nature, even in ravenous creatures, and shall he not much more interpret favourably the language of grace in his own people, though weak and broken groanings which cannot be uttered? There is the work of every day, which is to be done in its day, which man must apply to every morning, and which he must continue in till evening; it will be time enough to rest when the night comes, in which no man can work. The psalmist wonders at the works of God. The works of art, the more closely they are looked upon, the more rough they appear; the works of nature appear more fine and exact. They are all made in wisdom, for they all answer the end they were designed to serve. Every spring is an emblem of the resurrection, when a new world rises, as it were, out of the ruins of the old one. But man alone lives beyond death. When the Lord takes away his breath, his soul enters on another state, and his body will be raised, either to glory or to misery. May the Lord send forth his Spirit, and new-create our souls to holiness.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The sun ariseth - A new scene in this endless variety of incidents in a world full of life and beauty. The psalmist sees the light break in the east, and the sun appear above the horizon - and the whole scene is changed. The animals that had gone forth at night are seen to return again to their hiding-places, and man in his turn Psalm 104:23 is seen to go forth to his daily toil.

They gather themselves together - Though scattered in the night, when light returns, they all bend their steps to the places where they are accustomed to repose in the daytime. The scene is most beautiful. At night they sally forth for their prey; when the morning light returns, they all retrace their steps to the places in dens and caverns where they pass the day, and there they repose in silence until night returns again.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

20-23. He provides and adapts to man's wants the appointed times and seasons.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Or rather, they retire or betake themselves; for the lions do not commonly go in companies to one place, but severally, each to his own den.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

The sun ariseth, they gather themselves together,.... Having gone some one way, some another, seeking their prey; but upon the sun's rising gather together in order to return from whence they came, abhorring the light of the sun, as some creatures do, and fearing being hunted and taken by men, the fear of whom is still in some measure upon the beasts of the field, Genesis 9:2. So wicked men do not care for the light of the day, nor do false teachers choose to come to the light of the word; these owls and bats, these, as Tertullian calls them; and Satan himself chooses to set upon persons when they are in darkness, and in melancholy and disconsolate frames; and is afraid of believers, when they put on the armour of light, especially the shield of faith, and resist him with it, then he flees from them.

And lay them down in their dens; for rest and safety, and to feed themselves and young ones with the ravin they bring with them; see Sol 4:8.

Geneva Study Bible

The sun ariseth, they gather themselves together, and lay them down in their dens.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

22. they gather themselves together] Better as R.V., they get them away.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 22, 23. - The sun ariseth. Bright beams of light flame up the eastern sky; and earth basks in the sun's smile. But it is a signal to the lions and the other wild beasts to withdraw. They gather themselves together, and lay them down in their dens. Hiding themselves from the eye of day, and retreating into places where they are safe. Then it is the turn of humanity to reappear. Humanity wakes up; and man goeth forth auto his work and to his labour uutil the evening; i.e. man proceeds to his appointed task, which is "work" - once a curse (Genesis 3:17-19), now a blessing (Ephesians 4:28). Psalm 104:22

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The fifth decastich, in which the poet passes over from the third to the fourth day, shows that he has the order of the days of creation before his mind. The moon is mentioned first of all, because the poet wishes to make the picture of the day follow that of the night. He describes it in Psalm 104:19 as the calendarial principal star. מועדים are points and divisions of time (epochs), and the principal measurer of these for civil and ecclesiastical life is the moon (cf. Sir. 43:7, ἀπὸ σελήνης σημεῖον ἑορτῆς), just as the sun, knowing when he is to set, is the infallible measurer of the day. In Psalm 104:20 the description, which throughout is drawn in the presence of God in His honour, passes over into direct address: jussives (תּשׁת, ויהי) stand in the hypothetical protasis and in its apodosis (EW. 357, b). It depends upon God's willing only, and it is night, and the wakeful life of the wild beasts begins to be astir. The young lions then roar after their prey, and flagitaturi sunt a Deo cibum suum. The infinitive with Lamed is an elliptical expression of a conjugatio periphrastica (vid., on Habakkuk 1:17), and becomes a varying expression of the future in general in the later language in approximation to the Aramaic. The roar of the lions and their going forth in quest of prey is an asking of God which He Himself has implanted in their nature. With the rising of the sun the aspect of things becomes very different. שׁמשׁ is feminine here, where the poet drops the personification (cf. Psalm 19:1-14). The day which dawns with sunrise is the time for man. Both as to matter and style, Psalm 104:21 call to mind Job 24:5; Job 37:8; Job 38:40.