Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Psalms 104:4

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Psalms 104:4. עשה מלאכיו רחות oseh malachaiv ruchoth,

משרתיו אש להט mesharethaiv esh lohet.

The elements are described as prompt and expedite to perform the Divine commands, like angels or ministers serving in the tabernacle; the Hebrew word משרתיו mesharethaiv being a word most common in the sacred ministrations.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Psalms 104:0 God’s earth

The theme of this song of praise is the wisdom and power of God as seen in nature. The song begins by considering the splendour of the heavens. The light of the sun, the expanse of sky reaching down to meet the earth on the horizon, the movement of clouds blown by the wind, the flashes of lightning - all these things speak of the magnificence of God who dwells in and rules over the universe (1-4).
Land and sea also display the greatness of God. He determined where they should be and how far they should extend (5-7). Mountains and rivers show God’s complete control over the powers of nature, so that the land is well watered and able to support life (8-13). Because of God’s control, the earth supplies people and animals with food (14-15), and with all the other materials necessary for them to live in safety and security (16-18). He arranges seasons and weather, night and day, so that the natural world can meet the needs of the various forms of life (19-23).
Before going on, the psalmist pauses to praise God for the vastness of his creation and for the wisdom that designed and maintains it (24). He then returns to his consideration of the natural world by showing how the immeasurable sea speaks further of God’s greatness. It is full of the most wonderful creatures. Ships sail on it for distances farther than the eye can see or the mind imagine (25-26). God is the one who provides all creatures with life and food, and who determines how long each should live (27-30). He also controls the earthquake and the volcano (31-32).
In view of the devastating power that God has within his control, the psalmist prays that he will use it to cleanse the earth of sin. Then he will have complete pleasure in his creation and in the worship that his creatures offer him (33-35).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

THE FIRST DAY OF CREATION

"Bless Jehovah, O my soul. O Jehovah my God, thou art very great; Thou art clothed with honor and majesty. Who covereth thyself with light, as with a garment; Who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain; Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters; Who maketh the clouds his chariot; Who walketh upon the wings of the wind; Who maketh winds his messengers; Flames of fire his ministers; Who laid the foundations of the earth, That it should not be moved forever."

The focus of these lines is upon Genesis 1:1-5. The creation of light and the heavens and the earth are mentioned in that passage.

"The heavens like a curtain" This is an appropriate line indeed, because the atmospheric heavens are indeed a protective tent or curtain shielding the earth from the destructive debris from outer space. A glance at the moon, which has no atmosphere, shows what the earth would have looked like without that protective mantle of the atmosphere.

"The beams of his chambers in the waters" The `waters' here are those "above the firmament," that is, the vaporous waters of the clouds mentioned in the same breath.

"His chambers… his chariot… walketh upon the wings of the wind" These poetic expressions of God's ubiquitousness and mobility are highly imaginative, but there is no ground whatever for criticizing them.

"Who maketh winds his messengers and flames of fire his ministers" A marginal reading for "winds" is angels; Hebrews 1:7 sheds light on what is meant here. "And of the angels he saith, "Who maketh his angels winds, and his ministers a flame of fire."

"Who laid the foundations of the earth" It is not merely the creation of the earth but its stability and permanence which are stressed.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Who maketh his angels spirits - The meaning here literally would be, “Who makes the winds his messengers,” or “his angels;” that is, who employs them to execute his purpose; who sends them out as messengers or angels to do his will.

His ministers a flaming fire - That is, Fire is employed by him - in lightnings - to accomplish his purpose as his ministers or his servants. They are entirely under his command. They are sent by him to do his will; to carry out his designs. This is intended to describe the majesty and the power of God - that he can employ wind and lightning - tempest and storm - to go on errands such as he commands; to fulfill his plans; to do his bidding. For the application of this to the angels, and as employed by the apostle Paul to prove the inferiority of the angels to the Messiah, see the notes at Hebrews 1:7.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Psalms 104:1-35

And thus he begins the hundred and fourth psalm,

Bless the LORD, O my soul. O LORD my God, you are very great; you are clothed with honor and majesty: You have covered yourself with light as with a garment: who stretched out the heaven like a curtain ( Psalms 104:1-2 ):

I love this picturesque kind of speech. God covers Himself with light. The scripture speaks of God as dwelling in a light, unapproachable. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the light," and who stretched out the heavens, like a curtain. I have always had an interest in astronomy. I've always loved looking up into the skies out in the desert where you are surrounded by the desert darkness. And where the stars form a beautify canopy overhead. I love to think of the vastness of the universe. I love to take the telescope and look at the planets and the galaxies. And realize the vastness of this universe in which we live. And then to think of this psalm, that God stretched it all out like a curtain.

Who laid the beams of the chambers in the waters: who made the clouds his chariot: who walks upon the wings of the wind: Who makes his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire: Who laid the foundations of the earth that it should not be removed for ever. Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment: and the waters stood above the mountains ( Psalms 104:3-6 ).

He's talking here about the flood that He sent.

At thy rebuke they fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away. They go up to the mountains; they go down by the valleys into the place which you have founded for them. For you have set a bound that they may not pass over; that they turn not again to cover the eaRuth ( Psalms 104:7-9 ).

And so God has set the boundaries for the oceans that they will never again cover the earth as they once did during the time of the flood and during the time before God brought the dry land out from a water-covered planet.

He sent the springs into the valleys, which run among the hills. They give drink to every beast of the field: and the wild donkeys quench their thirst. And by them shall the fowls of the heaven have their habitation, which sing among the branches. He waters the hills from his chambers: and the earth is satisfied with the fruit of they works. He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, and the vegetables for the service of men: that he may bring forth food out of the earth; And wine that makes glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face shine, and bread to strengthen man's heart ( Psalms 104:10-15 ).

That's, of course, that good wheat bread that they made; fresh ground wheat, still had vitamin E in tact, which is very important for the strengthening of man's heart.

The trees of the LORD are full of sap ( Psalms 104:16 );

That is, they are fresh. They are vibrant.

the cedars of Lebanon, which he hath planted; Where the birds make their nests: as the stork, the fir trees are her house. The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats; and the rocks for the conies ( Psalms 104:16-18 ).

The little rabbit kind of an animal.

He appointed the moon for seasons: and the sun knoweth his going down. You make darkness, and it is night: wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth. The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God. The sun arises, they gather themselves together, and lay them down in their dens. Man goes forth unto his work and to his labor until the evening. O LORD, how manifold are all thy works! in wisdom you have made them all: and the earth is full of thy riches ( Psalms 104:19-24 ).

Now, man in that day was much closer to nature than we are. And I think being much closer to nature, had a keener insight many times into spiritual things. I believe that a person who is close to nature is close to God, close to God's creation. We live in a plastic society. We live in a world that is filled with man's works. And we become so enamored with the works of man that so often we lose sight of the works of God. The result of man's works: the automobiles, the combustion engines, the jet aircraft, the fossil fuel electrical plants, and so forth. You see by these things, the works of man's hands, we've so polluted the skies that we don't see the blueness of the sky much any more. We don't see the stars so much any more. We've got man's lights as we go outside that hide the stars, that diminish the brightness of the stars, as far as our visible eyes are concerned. Polluted air. And thus, we're not overawed walking out into the night as they were. We're not so conscious of the stars as they were. We've got all of these asphalt highways, all of these subdivisions, house joined upon house, and now condominiums and townhouses to where we have very little green space. So we're not so conscious of the trees and the flowers, the vegetation, the works of God's hands. But these people living in an agrarian culture, living close to nature, living in, living under the blue skies, and the clear skies, far more conscious of God and of God's creative acts, and God's creative power. And unfortunately, we lose sight of these things. That's why it's good to take a vacation and get out in the wilds if you can, get out in the desert or get out in the mountains. Get out among the trees, get out among the rivers and the lakes, get out in nature. Come in tune with nature again, the works of God, the works of God's hands, and then again comes that reverence and that awe as I behold the works of God in nature.

And so the psalmist here... it's a beautiful psalm, Psalms 104:1-35 , as he speaks of all of these things. The observations of nature, the fowls, the stork, the bird, the trees, the donkeys, the springs, the flowers, the goats, the conies, the moon and the sun. All of the things of nature.

O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom you have made them all ( Psalms 104:24 ):

For you see the wisdom of God in the design of a leaf, in the design of a deer or the animals, their capacities.

the earth is full of thy riches. So is this great and wide sea, wherein there are creeping innumerable [things that are creeping], both small and great beasts. Where the ships sail: and there is the leviathan ( Psalms 104:24-26 ),

Some think that that is a reference to the whales.

who thou hast made to play therein. These all wait all upon thee; that you may give them their meat in due season. That which you give them they gather: and you open your hand, and they are filled with good. And you hide your face, and they are troubled: you take away their breath, and they die, and return to their dust ( Psalms 104:26-29 ).

How dependent we are upon God. God takes away our breath; we die.

You send forth thy spirit, they are created: and you renew the face of the earth. The glory of the LORD shall endure for ever: the LORD shall rejoice in his works. He looks on the earth, and it trembles: he touches the hills, and they smoke. I will sing unto the LORD as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. My meditation of him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the LORD ( Psalms 104:30-34 ).

Having observed nature and the hand of God in nature, and the marvelous wisdom of God and the glory of God as He has expressed in nature it brings forth a song in the heart of the psalmist. A song unto the Lord, singing praises, the meditation of Him shall be sweet. I will be glad in the Lord.

Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless thou the LORD, O my soul. Praise ye the LORD ( Psalms 104:35 ). "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

The writer pictured God creating the heavens. Splendor and majesty clothe God in the sense that they manifest Him as clothing makes a statement about the person who wears it. Light is good because it brings life and blessing. When God created light He communicated part of His nature to His creation (Genesis 1:3-5). God created the sky as a tent above man’s head.

"As a camper readily pitches his tent somewhere, so God without exertion prepared the earth for habitation." [Note: VanGemeren, p. 658.]

The writer pictured God building a loft for Himself beyond the water above, namely, above the clouds. Riding on the clouds and wind symbolize God’s majestic authority (cf. Psalms 68:4). Psalms 104:4 is a poetic description of the angels (cf. Hebrews 1:7). Angels do His bidding as wind and fire carry out the will of God on earth.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

2. Praise for the creation 104:1b-23

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Psalms 104

This psalm of descriptive praise is quite similar to Psalms 103. Both begin and end with similar calls to bless God. However, God’s dealing with people is the subject of praise in Psalms 103, whereas His creation and sustenance of the world are the theme of Psalms 104.

"The structure of the psalm is modelled [sic] fairly closely on that of Genesis 1, taking the stages of creation as starting-points for praise. But as each theme is developed it tends to anticipate the later scenes of the creation drama, so that the days described in Genesis overlap and mingle here. . . . One of our finest hymns, Sir Robert Grant’s ’O worship the King’, takes its origin from this psalm, deriving its metre (but little else) from William Kethe’s 16th-century paraphrase, ’My soul, praise the Lord’ (the Old 104th)." [Note: Kidner, Psalms 73-150, p. 368.]

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Who maketh his angels spirits,.... The angels are spirits, or spiritual substances, yet created ones; and so differ from God, who is a spirit, and from the Holy Spirit of God, who are Creators and not creatures; angels are spirits without bodies, and so differ from the souls or spirits of men, and are immaterial, and so die not; these are made by Christ, by whom all things are made, Colossians 1:16 and so he must be greater and more excellent than they; for which purpose the passage is quoted in Hebrews 1:7. Some render it, "who maketh his angels as the winds"; to which they may be compared for their invisibility, they being not to be seen, no more than the wind, unless when they assume an external form; and for their penetration through bodies in a very surprising manner; see Acts 12:6, and for their great force and power, being mighty angels, and said to excel in strength, Psalms 103:20, and for their swiftness in obeying the divine commands; so the Targum,

"he maketh his messengers, or angels, swift as the wind.''

His ministers a flaming fire; angels are ministers to God, stand before him, behold his face, wait for and listen to his orders, and execute them; they are ministers to Christ, they were so at his incarnation, in his infancy, when in the wilderness and in the garden, at his resurrection and ascension, and will attend him at his second coming; and these are ministers to his people, take the care of them, encamp about them, do many good offices to them in life, and at death carry their souls to Abraham's bosom: these are made a flaming fire, or "as" flaming fire, for their force and power; so the Targum,

"his ministers strong as flaming fire;''

and for their swiftness as before; and because of their burning love to God, Christ, and his people, and their flaming zeal for his cause and interest; hence thought by some to be called "seraphim": and because they are sometimes the executioners of God's wrath; and have sometimes appeared in fiery forms, as in forms of horses of fire and chariots of fire, and will descend with Christ in flaming fire at the last day; see 2 Kings 2:11. Some invert the words, both reading and sense, thus, "who maketh the winds his angels, or messengers, and flaming fire his ministers"; so Jarchi, Aben Ezra, and Kimchi; we read of stormy wind fulfilling his word, Psalms 148:8, he sends out his winds at his pleasure to do his errands; as to dry up the waters of the flood, to drive back the waters of the Red sea, and make dry land, to bring quails from thence, and scatter them about the camp of Israel, and in many other instances. So flaming fire was used as his ministers in burning Sodom and Gomorrah; and multitudes of the murmuring Israelites, and the captains with their fifties; but this sense is contrary to the order of the words, and the design of them, and to the apostle's sense of them, Hebrews 1:7 which is confirmed by the Targum, Septuagint, and all the Oriental versions.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      1 Bless the LORD, O my soul. O LORD my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and majesty.   2 Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain:   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:   4 Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire:   5 Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever.   6 Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood above the mountains.   7 At thy rebuke they fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away.   8 They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them.   9 Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over; that they turn not again to cover the earth.

      When we are addressing ourselves to any religious service we must stir up ourselves to take hold on God in it (Isaiah 64:7); so David does here. "Come, my soul, where art thou? What art thou thinking of? Here is work to be done, good work, angels' work; set about it in good earnest; let all the powers and faculties be engaged and employed in it: Bless the Lord, O my soul!" In these verses,

      I. The psalmist looks up to the divine glory shining in the upper world, of which, though it is one of the things not seen, faith is the evidence. With what reverence and holy awe does he begin his meditation with that acknowledgment: O Lord my God! thou art very great! It is the joy of the saints that he who is their God is a great God. The grandeur of the prince is the pride and pleasure of all his good subjects. The majesty of God is here set forth by various instances, alluding to the figure which great princes in their public appearances covet to make. Their equipage, compared with his (even of the eastern kings, who most affected pomp), is but as the light of a glow-worm compared with that of the sun, when he goes forth in his strength. Princes appear great, 1. In their robes; and what are God's robes? Thou art clothed with honour and majesty,Psalms 104:1; Psalms 104:1. God is seen in his works, and these proclaim him infinitely wise and good, and all that is great. Thou coverest thyself with light as with a garment,Psalms 104:2; Psalms 104:2. God is light (1 John 1:5), the Father of lights (James 1:17); he dwells in light (1 Timothy 6:16); he clothes himself with it. The residence of his glory is in the highest heaven, that light which was created the first day, Genesis 1:3. Of all visible beings light comes nearest to the nature of a spirit, and therefore with that God is pleased to cover himself, that is, to reveal himself under that similitude, as men are seen in the clothes with which they cover themselves; and so only, for his face cannot be seen. 2. In their palaces or pavilions, when they take the field; and what is God's palace and his pavilion? He stretches out the heavens like a curtain,Psalms 104:2; Psalms 104:2. So he did at first, when he made the firmament, which in the Hebrew has its name from its being expanded, or stretched out,Genesis 1:7. He made it to divide the waters as a curtain divides between two apartments. So he does still: he now stretches out the heavens like a curtain, keeps them upon the stretch, and they continue to this day according to his ordinance. The regions of the air are stretched out about the earth, like a curtain about a bed, to keep it warm, and drawn between us and the upper world, to break its dazzling light; for, though God covers himself with light, yet, in compassion to us, he makes darkness his pavilion. Thick clouds are a covering to him. The vastness of this pavilion may lead us to consider how great, how very great, he is that fills heaven and earth. He has his chambers, his upper rooms (so the word signifies), the beams whereof he lays in the waters, the waters that are above the firmament (Psalms 104:3; Psalms 104:3), as he has founded the earth upon the seas and floods, the waters beneath the firmament. 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! 3. In their coaches of state, with their stately horses, which add much to the magnificence of their entries; but God makes the clouds his chariots, in which he rides strongly, swiftly, and far above out of the reach of opposition, when at any time he will act by uncommon providences in the government of this 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 (Matthew 17:5), and he walks (a gentle pace indeed, yet stately) upon the wings of the wind. See Psalms 18:10; Psalms 18:11. He commands the winds, directs them as he pleases, and serves his own purposes by them. 4. In their retinue or train of attendants; and here also God is very great, for (Psalms 104:4; Psalms 104:4) he makes his angels spirits. This is quoted by the apostle (Hebrews 1:7) to prove the pre-eminence of Christ above the angels. The angels are here said to be his angels and his ministers, for they are under his dominion and at his disposal; they are winds, and a flame of fire, that is, they appeared in wind and fire (so some), or they are as swift as winds, and pure as flames; or he makes them spirits, so the apostle quotes it. They are spiritual beings; and, whatever vehicles they may have proper to their nature, it is certain they have not bodies as we have. Being spirits, they are so much the further removed from the encumbrances of the human nature and so much the nearer allied to the glories of the divine nature. And they are bright, and quick, and ascending, as fire, as a flame of fire. In Ezekiel's vision they ran and returned like a flash of lightning,Ezekiel 1:14. Thence they are called seraphim--burners. Whatever they are, they are what God made them, what he still makes them; they derive their being from him, having the being he gave them, are held in being by him, and he makes what use he pleases of them.

      II. He looks down, and looks about, to the power of God shining in this lower world. He is not so taken up with the glories of his court as to neglect even the remotest of his territories; no, not the sea and dry land.

      1. He has founded the earth, Psalms 104:5; Psalms 104:5. Though he has hung it upon nothing (Job 26:2), ponderibus librata suis--balanced by its own weight, yet it is as immovable as if it had been laid upon the surest foundations. He has built the earth upon her basis, so that though it has received a dangerous shock by the sin of man, and the malice of hell strikes at it, yet it shall not be removed for ever, that is, not till the end of time, when it must give way to the new earth. Dr. Hammond's paraphrase of this is worth noting: "God has fixed so strange a place for the earth, that, being a heavy body, one would think it should fall every minute; and yet, which way soever we would imagine it to stir, it must, contrary to the nature of such a body, fall upwards, and so can have no possible ruin but by tumbling into heaven."

      2. He has set bounds to the sea; for that also is his. (1.) He brought it within bounds in the creation. At first the earth, which, being the more ponderous body, would subside of course, was covered with the deep (Psalms 104:6; Psalms 104:6): The waters were above the mountains; and so it was unfit to be, as it was designed, a habitation for man; and therefore, on the third day, God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered to one place, and let the dry land appear,Genesis 1:9. This command of God is here called his rebuke, as if he gave it because he was displeased that the earth was thus covered with water and not fit for man to dwell on. Power went along with this word, and therefore it is also called here the voice of his thunder, which is a mighty voice and produces strange effects, Psalms 104:7; Psalms 104:7. At thy rebuke, as if they were made sensible that they were out of their place, they fled; they hasted away (they called, and not in vain, to the rocks and mountains to cover them), as it is said on another occasion (Psalms 77:16), The waters saw thee, O God! the waters saw thee; they were afraid. Even those fluid bodies received the impression of God's terror. But was the Lord displeased against the rivers? No; it was for the salvation of his people,Habakkuk 3:8; Habakkuk 3:13. So here; God rebuked the waters for man's sake, to prepare room for him; for men must not be made as the fishes of the sea (Habakkuk 1:14); they must have air to breathe in. Immediately therefore, with all speed, the waters retired, Psalms 104:8; Psalms 104:8. They go over hill and dale (as we say), go up by the mountains and down by the valleys; they will neither stop at the former nor lodge in the latter, but make the best of their way to the place which thou hast founded for them, and there they make their bed. Let the obsequiousness even of the unstable waters teach us obedience to the word and will of God; for shall man alone of all the creatures be obstinate? Let their retiring to and resting in the place assigned them teach us to acquiesce in the disposals of that wise providence which appoints us the bounds of our habitation. (2.) He keeps it within bounds, Psalms 104:9; Psalms 104:9. The waters are forbidden to pass over the limits set them; they may not, and therefore they do not, turn again to cover the earth. Once they did, in Noah's flood, because God bade them, but never since, because he forbids them, having promised not to drown the world again. God himself glorifies in this instance of his power (Job 38:8, &c.) and uses it as an argument with us to fear him, Jeremiah 5:22. This, if duly considered, would keep the world in awe of the Lord and his goodness, That the waters of the sea would soon cover the earth if God did not restrain them.