Psalm 104:3

Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(3) Layeth the beams.—Literally, maketh to meet The meaning of the Hebrew word, which is an exact equivalent of the Latin contignare, is clear from Nehemiah 2:8; Nehemiah 3:3; Nehemiah 3:6, and from the meaning of the derived noun (2Kings 6:2; 2Kings 6:5; Song of Solomon 1:17).

Chambers.—Literally, lofts or upper stories. (See 2Kings 4:10; Jeremiah 22:13-14.)

In the waters.—The manner of this ethereal architecture is necessarily somewhat difficult to picture. The pavilion which God rears for His own abode appears to rest on a floor of rain-clouds, like a tent spread on a flat eastern roof. (See Psalm 18:11; Amos 9:6-7.) Southey’s description of the Palace of Indra may perhaps help the imagination:—

“Built on the lake, the waters were its floor;

And here its walls were water arched with fire,

And here were fire with water vaulted o’er;

And spires and pinnacles of fire

Round watery cupolas aspire,

And domes of rainbow rest on fiery towers.”

Curse of Kehama.

Who maketh the clouds His chariot.—See Psalm 18:10, probably the original of this verse; chariot (rekhûb) here taking the place of cherub.

Walketh upon the wings of the wind.—Doubtless the metaphor is taken from the clouds, which, in a wind-swept sky, float along like “the drifted wings of many companies of angels.” The clause is thus in direct parallelism with the description of the cloud chariot. The figure has passed into modern song:

“Every gust of rugged wings

That blows from off each beaked promontory.”

MILTON: Lycidas.

“No wing of wind the region swept.”

TENNYSON: In Memoriam.

Benson Commentary

Psalm 104:3. Who layeth the beams of his chambers — His upper rooms, (so the word עליותיו signifies,) in the waters — The waters that are above the firmament, (Psalm 104:3,) as he has founded the earth upon the seas and floods, the waters beneath the firmament. The Almighty is elsewhere said to make those dark waters, compacted in the thick clouds of the skies, the secret place, or chamber, of his residence, and a kind of footstool to his throne: see Psalm 18:9; Psalm 18:11. 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! Who maketh the clouds his chariot — In which he rides strongly, swiftly, and far above, out of the reach of opposition, when at any time it is his will to make use of uncommon providences in his government of the 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; and he still frequently rides upon the clouds, or heavens, to the help of his people, Deuteronomy 33:26. Who walketh upon the wings of the wind — “There is an unequalled elegance,” says Mr. Hervey, “in these words. It is not said he flieth, he runneth, but he walketh; and that, on the very wings of the wind; on the most impetuous element, raised into the utmost rage, and sweeping along with incredible rapidity. We cannot have a more sublime idea of the Deity; serenely walking on an element of inconceivable swiftness, and, as it seems to us, uncontrollable impetuosity.” “How astonishingly magnificent and tremendous is the idea which these words convey to us of the great King, riding upon the heavens, encompassed with clouds and darkness, attended by the lightnings, those ready executioners of his vengeance, and causing the world to resound and tremble at the thunder of his power and the noise of his chariot-wheels. By these ensigns of royalty, these emblems of omnipotence, and instruments of his displeasure, doth Jehovah manifest his presence, when he visiteth rebellious man, to make him own and adore his neglected and insulted Lord.” — Horne.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

104:1-9 Every object we behold calls on us to bless and praise the Lord, who is great. His eternal power and Godhead are clearly shown by the things which he hath made. God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. The Lord Jesus, the Son of his love, is the Light of the world.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters - The word here rendered "layeth" - from קרה qârâh - means properly to meet; then, in Hiphil, to cause to meet, or to fit into each other, as beams or joists do in a dwelling. It is a word which would be properly applied to the construction of a house, and to the right adjustment of the different materials employed in building it. The word rendered "beams" - עליה ‛ălı̂yâh - means "an upper chamber, a loft," such as rises, in Oriental houses, above the flat roof; in the New Testament, the ὑπερῷον huperōon, rendered "upper room," Acts 1:13; Acts 9:37, Acts 9:39; Acts 20:8. It refers here to the chamber - the exalted abode of God - as if raised above all other edifices, or above the world. The word "waters" here refers to the description of the creation in Genesis 1:6-7 - the waters "above the firmament," and the waters "below the firmament." The allusion here is to the waters above the firmament; and the meaning is, that God had constructed the place of his own abode - the room where he dwelt - in those waters; that is, in the most exalted place in the universe. It does not mean that he made it of the waters, but that his home - his dwelling-place - was in or above those waters, as if he had built his dwelling not on solid earth or rock, but in the waters, giving stability to that which seems to have no stability, and making the very waters a foundation for the structure of his abode.

Who maketh the clouds his chariot - Who rides on the clouds as in a chariot. See the notes at Isaiah 19:1. Compare the notes at Psalm 18:11.

Who walketh upon the wings of the wind - See the notes at Psalm 18:10.

Psalm 104:3I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven' Daniel 7:13. So the Saviour is represented as coming to judgment in the clouds of heaven Matthew 24:30. Compare the sublime description in Habakkuk 3:3-10.

And the idols of Egypt - It is well known that Egypt was celebrated for its idolatry. They worshipped chiefly the heavenly bodies; but they worshipped also all kinds of animals, probably as living symbols of their gods. "Shall be moved." That is, shall tremble, be agitated, alarmed; or shall be removed from their place, and overthrown. The word will bear either construction. Vitringa inclines to the latter.

And the heart of Egypt - The strength; the courage; the rigor. We use the word "heart" in the same sense now, when we speak of a stout heart; a courageous heart, etc.

continued...

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

3. in the waters—or, it may be "with"; using this fluid for the beams, or frames, of His residence accords with the figure of clouds for chariots, and wind as a means of conveyance.

walketh—or, "moveth" (compare Ps 18:10, 11; Am 9:6).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

In the waters; in the waters above the heavens, as they are called, Genesis 1:7; or, in the clouds, as it is explained in the next clause, in which he many times resides and rides, and manifests his presence. Who manageth and employeth the clouds and winds in his service.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters,.... Or "his upper rooms" (i); one story over another being built by him in the heavens, Amos 9:6, the chambers where he resides; his courts, as the Targum; his palace and apartments, his presence chamber particularly, the floor and beams of them are the waters bound up in the thick clouds; or the region of the air, from whence the rain descends to water the hills, as in Psalm 104:13.

Who maketh the clouds his chariot; to ride in; in these sometimes Jehovah rides to execute judgment on his enemies, Isaiah 19:1 and in these sometimes he appears in a way of grace and mercy to his people, Exodus 13:21, in these, as in chariots, Christ went up to heaven; and in these will he come a second time; and into these will the saints be caught up to meet the Lord in the air at his coming, Acts 1:9.

Who walketh upon the wings of the wind; see Psalm 18:10 which is expressive of his swiftness in coming to help and assist his people in time of need; who helps, and that right early; and may very well be applied both to the first and second coming of Christ, who came leaping upon the mountains, and skipping upon the hills, when he first came; and, when he comes a second time, will be as a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of spices, Sol 2:8. The Targum is,

"upon the swift clouds, like the wings of an eagle;''

hence, perhaps, it is, the Heathens have a notion of Jupiter's being carried in a chariot through the air, when it thunders and lightens (k).

(i) Sept. "coenacula sua superiora", Gejerus; so Michaelis. (k) Vid. Horat. Camin. l. 1. Ode 34. v. 5. "Namque diespiter", &c. Et. Ode 12. v. 58. "Tu gravi curru quaties Olympum".

Geneva Study Bible

Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind:

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

3. By a bold paradox the Creator is described as laying the beams of his upper chambers in the waters. On the mysterious reservoir of waters, which was imagined by the ancient Hebrews to exist above the ‘firmament’ (Genesis 1:7; Psalm 29:3; Psalm 148:4), He constructs His secret dwelling, as a man builds “upper chambers” on the roof of his house for air and privacy. The line is an echo of Amos 9:6, “he that buildeth his upper chambers in the heavens.”

who maketh the clouds &c.] The stormcloud and the tempest are the symbols of His Advent. Cp. Psalm 18:10; Isaiah 19:1; Daniel 7:13; Matthew 24:30.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 3. - Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters. God forms himself an upper chamber, as a dwelling place, in "the waters that are above the firmament" (Genesis 1:7), as a man builds himself an upper chamber with beams and rafters. Who maketh the clouds his chariot (comp. Isaiah 19:1, "Behold, the Lord rideth upon a thick cloud"). Who walketh upon the wings of the wind (comp. Psalm 18:10). The anthropomorphism will be pardoned for the sake of the beauty of the imagery. Psalm 104:3

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The first decastich begins the celebration with work of the first and second days. הוד והדר here is not the doxa belonging to God πρὸ παντὸς τοῦ αἰῶνος (Jde 1:25), but the doxa which He has put on (Job 40:10) since He created the world, over against which He stands in kingly glory, or rather in which He is immanent, and which reflects this kingly glory in various gradations, yea, to a certain extent is this glory itself. For inasmuch as God began the work of creation with the creation of light, He has covered Himself with this created light itself as with a garment. That which once happened in connection with the creation may, as in Amos 4:13; Isaiah 44:24; Isaiah 45:7; Jeremiah 10:12, and frequently, be expressed by participles of the present, because the original setting is continued in the preservation of the world; and determinate participles alternate with participles without the article, as in Isaiah 44:24-28, with no other difference than that the former are more predicative and the latter more attributive. With Psalm 104:2 the poet comes upon the work of the second day: the creation of the expanse (רקיע) which divides between the waters. God has spread this out (cf. Isaiah 40:22) like a tent-cloth (Isaiah 54:2), of such light and of such fine transparent work; נוטה here rhymes with עטה. In those waters which the "expanse" holds aloft over the earth God lays the beams of His upper chambers (עליּותתו, instead of which we find מעלותיו in Amos 9:6, from עליּה, ascent, elevation, then an upper story, an upper chamber, which would be more accurately עלּיּה after the Aramaic and Arabic); but not as though the waters were the material for them, they are only the place for them, that is exalted above the earth, and are able to be this because to the Immaterial One even that which is fluid is solid, and that which is dense is transparent. The reservoirs of the upper waters, the clouds, God makes, as the lightning, thunder, and rain indicate, into His chariot (רכוּב), upon which he rides along in order to make His power felt below upon the earth judicially (Isaiah 19:1), or in rescuing and blessing men. רכוּב (only here) accords in sound with כּרוּב, Psalm 18:11. For Psalm 104:3 also recalls this primary passage, where the wings of the wind take the place of the cloud-chariot. In Psalm 104:4 the lxx (Hebrews 1:7) makes the first substantive into an accusative of the object, and the second into an accusative of the predicate: Ὁ ποιῶν τοὺς ἀγγέλους αὐτοῦ πνεῦματα καὶ τοὺς λειτουργοὺς αὐτοῦ πυρὸς φλόγα. It is usually translated the reverse say: making the winds into His angels, etc. This rendering is possible so far as the language is concerned (cf. Psalm 100:3 Chethb, and on the position of the worlds, Amos 4:13 with Psalm 5:8), and the plural משׁרתיו is explicable in connection with this rendering from the force of the parallelism, and the singular אשׁ from the fact that this word has no plural. Since, however, עשׂה with two accusatives usually signifies to produce something out of something, so that the second accusative (viz., the accusative of the predicate, which is logically the second, but according to the position of the words may just as well be the first, Exodus 25:39; Exodus 30:25, as the second, Exodus 37:23; Exodus 38:3; Genesis 2:7; 2 Chronicles 4:18-22) denotes the materia ex qua, it may with equal right at least be interpreted: Who makes His messengers out of the winds, His servants out of the flaming or consuming (vid., on Psalm 57:5) fire (אשׁ, as in Jeremiah 48:45, masc.). And this may affirm either that God makes use of wind and fire for special missions (cf. Psalm 148:8), or (cf. Hofmann, Schriftbeweis, i. 325f.) that He gives wind and fire to His angels for the purpose of His operations in the world which are effected through their agency, as the materials of their outward manifestation, and as it were of their self-embodiment,

(Note: It is a Talmudic view that God really makes the angels out of fire, B. Chagiga, 14a (cf. Koran, xxxviii. 77): Day by day are the angels of the service created out of the stream of fire (נהר דינור), and sing their song of praise and perish.)

as then in Psalm 18:11 wind and cherub are both to be associated together in thought as the vehicle of the divine activity in the world, and in Psalm 35:5 the angel of Jahve represents the energy of the wind.