Psalm 19:6

His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Psalm 19:6. His going forth is from the end of heaven — His course is constant from east to west, and thence to the east again. Or, “the light diffused on every side from its fountain, extendeth to the extremities of heaven, filling the whole circle of creation; penetrating even to the inmost substances of grosser bodies, and acting in and through all other matter as the general cause of life and motion.” — Horne. And there is nothing hid from the heat thereof — There is no part of the earth which doth not, at one time or other, feel the comfort and benefit of its light and heat; and there is no creature which does not, more or less, partake of its influence.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

19:1-6 The heavens so declare the glory of God, and proclaim his wisdom, power, and goodness, that all ungodly men are left without excuse. They speak themselves to be works of God's hands; for they must have a Creator who is eternal, infinitely wise, powerful, and good. The counter-changing of day and night is a great proof of the power of God, and calls us to observe, that, as in the kingdom of nature, so in that of providence, he forms the light, and creates the darkness, Isa 45:7, and sets the one against the other. The sun in the firmament is an emblem of the Sun of righteousness, the Bridegroom of the church, and the Light of the world, diffusing Divine light and salvation by his gospel to the nations of the earth. He delights to bless his church, which he has espoused to himself; and his course will be unwearied as that of the sun, till the whole earth is filled with his light and salvation. Let us pray for the time when he shall enlighten, cheer, and make fruitful every nation on earth, with the blessed salvation. They have no speech or language, so some read it, and yet their voice is heard. All people may hear these preachers speak in their own tongue the wonderful works of God. Let us give God the glory of all the comfort and benefit we have by the lights of heaven, still looking above and beyond them to the Sun of righteousness.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

His going forth - The psalmist now describes that race which he has to run, as borne over the entire circuit of the heavens, from one end of it to another - sweeping the whole space across the firmament.

Is from the end of the heaven - From one end of the heaven; that is, from the East, where he starts.

And his circuit - The word used here - תקופה teqûphâh - means properly a coming about, or a return, as of the seasons, or of the year. It is found only in Exodus 34:22, "At the year's end;" 1 Samuel 1:20, "When the time was come about" (Margin, in revolution of days); 2 Chronicles 24:23, "At the end of the year" (Margin, in the revolution of the year). The word here does not refer to the fact that the sun comes round to the starting-point on the following day, but to the sweep or circuit which he makes in the heavens from one end of it to the other - traveling over the entire heavens.

Unto the ends of it - That is, to the other side of the heavens. The plural term is used here perhaps from the idea of completeness, or to denote that there was nothing beyond. The complete journey was made.

And there is nothing hid from the heat thereof - The rays of the sun penetrate everywhere. Nothing escapes it. It is not a mere march for show and splendor; it is not an idle and useless journey in the heavens; but all things - vegetables, birds, beasts, men - all that lives - feel the effect of his vital warmth, and are animated by his quickening influence. Thus the sun in his goings illustrates the glory of God. The psalmist was fully alive to the splendor, the glory, and the value of this daily march over the heavens, and shows that while, as in the remainder of the psalm, he dwells on the law of the Lord as having another sphere, and in its place more fully illustrating the divine glory, he is not by any means insensible to the grandeur and beauty of the works of God as showing forth the divine perfections.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

5, 6. The sun, as the most glorious heavenly body, is specially used to illustrate the sentiment; and his vigorous, cheerful, daily, and extensive course, and his reviving heat (including light), well display the wondrous wisdom of his Maker.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

His course is constant from east to west, and thence to the east again. There is no part of the earth which doth not one time or other feel the comfort and benefit of its light and heat.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

His going forth is from the end of the heaven,.... From the east, where it rises:

and his circuit to the ends of it; to the west, where it sets; which is expressive of the large compass the Gospel administration took in the times of the apostles; whereby the grace of God appeared to all men, shone out in a very illustrious manner, and Christ became, what the sun is to the earth, the light of the world;

and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof; though things may be hid from the light of it, yet not from its heat, so forcible and penetrating it is Christ, in the administration of the Gospel to all to whom it comes with power, not only enlightens their minds, but quickens their souls, warms their hearts, causes them to burn within them, arises with healing in his wings upon them, and makes his Gospel the savour of life unto life unto them. The psalmist goes on to say more and excellent things of the Gospel, its nature and usefulness.

Geneva Study Bible

His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

6. The beneficent influences of his light and heat are universally felt.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 6. - His going forth is from the end of the heaven The poet, like other poets, describes the phenomena as they appear to him. He does not broach any astronomical theory. And his circuit (i.e. his course) unto the ends of it; i.e. he proceeds from one end of the heavens to the other. And there is nothing hid from the heat thereof. Many things are hidden from the light of the sun, but nothing from its "heat." which is the vital force whence the whole earth receives life and energy. Psalm 19:6

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

(Heb.: 19:5-7) Since אמר and דברים are the speech and words of the heavens, which form the ruling principal notion, comprehending within itself both יום and לילה, the suffixes of קוּם and מלּיהם must unmistakeably refer to השׁמים in spite of its being necessary to assign another reference to קולם in Psalm 19:4. Jeremiah 31:39 shows how we are to understand קו in connection with יצא. The measuring line of the heavens is gone forth into all the earth, i.e., has taken entire possession of the earth. Psalm 19:5 tells us what kind of measuring line is intended, viz., that of their heraldship: their words (from מלּה, which is more Aramaic than Hebrew, and consequently more poetic) reach to the end of the world, they fill it completely, from its extreme boundary inwards. Isaiah's קו, Psalm 28:1-9 :10, is inapplicable here, because it does not mean commandment, but rule, and is there used as a word of derision, rhyming with צו. The ὁ φθόγγος αὐτῶν of the lxx (ὁ ἦχος αὐτῶν Symm.) might more readily be justified, inasmuch as קו might mean a harpstring, as being a cord in tension, and then, like τόνος (cf. τοναία), a tone or sound (Gesenius in his Lex., and Ewald), if the reading קולם does not perhaps lie at the foundation of that rendering. But the usage of the language presents with signification of a measuring line for קו when used with יצא (Aq. κανών, cf. 2 Corinthians 10:13); and this gives a new thought, whereas in the other case we should merely have a repetition of what has been already expressed in Psalm 19:4. Paul makes use of these first two lines of the strophe in order, with its very words, to testify to the spread of the apostolic message over the whole earth. Hence most of the older expositors have taken the first half of the Psalm to be an allegorical prediction, the heavens being a figure of the church and the sun a figure of the gospel. The apostle does not, however, make a formal citation in the passage referred to, he merely gives a New Testament application to Old Testament language, by taking the all-penetrating praeconium coelorum as figure of the all-penetrating praeconium evangelii; and he is fully justified in so doing by the parallel which the psalmist himself draws between the revelation of God in nature and in the written word.

The reference of בּהם to השׁמים is at once opposed by the tameness of the thought so obtained. The tent, viz., the retreat (אהל, according to its radical meaning a dwelling, from אהל, cogn. אול, to retire from the open country) of the sun is indeed in the sky, but it is more naturally at the spot where the sky and the קצה תבל meet. Accordingly בהם has the neuter signification "there" (cf. Isaiah 30:6); and there is so little ground for reading שׁם instead of שׂם, as Ewald does, that the poet on the contrary has written בהם and not שׁם, because he has just used שׂם (Hitzig). The name of the sun, which is always feminine in Arabic, is predominantly masculine in Hebrew and Aramaic (cf. on the other hand Genesis 15:17, Nahum 3:17, Isaiah 45:6, Malachi 4:2); just as the Sabians and heathen Arabs had a sun-god (masc.). Accordingly in Psalm 19:6 the sun is compared to a bridegroom, who comes forth in the morning out of his חפּה. Joel 2:16 shows that this word means a bride-chamber; properly (from חפף to cover) it means a canopy (Isaiah 4:5), whence in later Hebrew the bridal or portable canopy (Talmud. בּית גּננא), which is supported by four poles and borne by four boys, at the consecration of the bridal pair, and then also the marriage itself, is called chuppa. The morning light has in it a freshness and cheerfulness, as it were a renewed youth. Therefore the morning sun is compared to a bridegroom, the desire of whose heart is satisfied, who stands as it were at the beginning of a new life, and in whose youthful countenance the joy of the wedding-day still shines. And as at its rising it is like a bridegroom, so in its rapid course (Sir. 43:5) it is like a hero (vid., on Psalm 18:34), inasmuch as it marches on its way ever anew, light-giving and triumphant, as often as it comes forth, with גּבוּרה (Judges 5:31). From one end of heaven, the extreme east of the horizon, is its going forth, i.e., rising (cf. Hosea 6:3; the opposite is מבוא going in equals setting), and its circuit (תּקוּפה, from קוּף equals נקף, Isaiah 29:1, to revolve) על־קצותם, to their (the heavens') end ( equals עד Deuteronomy 4:32), cf. 1 Esdr. 4:34: ταχὺς τῷ δρόμῳ ὁ ἥλιος, ὅτι στρέφεται ἐν τῷ κύκλῳ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ πάλιν ἀποτρέχει εἰς τὸν ἑαυτοῦ τόπον ἐν μιᾷ ἡμέρᾳ. On this open way there is not נסתּר, anything hidden, i.e., anything that remains hidden, before its heat. חמּה is the enlightening and warming influence of the sun, which is also itself called חמּה in poetry.