(24) Riches.--LXX., "creation;" Aquila, Symmachus, and the Vulg., "possession." The MSS. vary between singular and plural. Creatures will perhaps. best express the sense here.
There is something as fine in art as true in religion in this sudden burst of praise--the "evening voluntary" of grateful adoration--into which the poet bursts at the mention of the day's close. Weariness leaves the soul, as it is lifted from contemplation of man's toil to that of God. Athanasius remarked on the sense of rest and refreshment produced by this change of strain.
Verse 24. - O Lord, how manifold are thy works! This is a parenthetic ejaculation, from which the psalmist cannot refrain, as he contemplates creation so far. It breaks the continuity of his description (vers. 2-32), but not unpleasingly. In wisdom hast thou made them all (comp. Proverbs 3:19, "The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens"). (On the "wisdom" of God, as shown in creation, see the whole series of 'Bridgewater Treatises.') The earth is full of thy riches; or possessions (comp. Psalm 105:21). "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof" (Psalm 24:1). Creation gives the right of ownership.
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.
O Lord, how manifold are thy works,.... The psalmist having taken notice of many of the works of creation, stops and wonders at the number of them; though he had not gone through them all, and there were even things innumerable behind; see Psalm 104:25, he admires the sum of them, how great it was; and not only the quantity but the quality of them; for so the words may be rendered, "how great are thy works" (g), as for number, so for nature; in which there is such an amazing display of the greatness and power of God, and particularly of his wisdom, as is observed in the next clause.
In wisdom hast thou made them all not only one thing, as the heavens, Psalm 136:5, but everything is wisely contrived and made; there is a most glorious display of the wisdom of God in the most minute thing his hands have made; he has made everything beautiful in its season: a skilful artificer, when he has finished his work and looks it over again, often finds some fault or another in it: but when the Lord had finished his works of creation, and looked over them, he saw that all was good; infinite wisdom itself could find no blemish in them: what weak, foolish, stupid creatures must they be that pretend to charge any of the works of God with folly, or want of wisdom? Some by "wisdom" here understand Christ himself, the wisdom of God; and not amiss, since without him was not anything made; see Proverbs 3:19.
The earth is full of thy riches: or possessions (h); for as the Lord is the maker, he is the proprietor and the possessor of heaven and earth, and all that is in them, and can and does dispose thereof as seems good in his sight; and whatever of the riches and good things of the earth men may have, they are only stewards, the Lord is the rightful owner and possessor of them; see Genesis 14:19, with which compare Psalm 33:5; see Gill on Psalm 33:5.
(g) "quam multa ac magna", Gejerus. (h) "possessione tua", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Gejerus; "tuis possessionibus", Tigurine version, Vatablus, Piscator, Michaelis.
There is something as fine in art as true in religion in this sudden burst of praise--the "evening voluntary" of grateful adoration--into which the poet bursts at the mention of the day's close. Weariness leaves the soul, as it is lifted from contemplation of man's toil to that of God. Athanasius remarked on the sense of rest and refreshment produced by this change of strain.
In wisdom hast thou made them all not only one thing, as the heavens, Psalm 136:5, but everything is wisely contrived and made; there is a most glorious display of the wisdom of God in the most minute thing his hands have made; he has made everything beautiful in its season: a skilful artificer, when he has finished his work and looks it over again, often finds some fault or another in it: but when the Lord had finished his works of creation, and looked over them, he saw that all was good; infinite wisdom itself could find no blemish in them: what weak, foolish, stupid creatures must they be that pretend to charge any of the works of God with folly, or want of wisdom? Some by "wisdom" here understand Christ himself, the wisdom of God; and not amiss, since without him was not anything made; see Proverbs 3:19.
The earth is full of thy riches: or possessions (h); for as the Lord is the maker, he is the proprietor and the possessor of heaven and earth, and all that is in them, and can and does dispose thereof as seems good in his sight; and whatever of the riches and good things of the earth men may have, they are only stewards, the Lord is the rightful owner and possessor of them; see Genesis 14:19, with which compare Psalm 33:5; see Gill on Psalm 33:5.
(g) "quam multa ac magna", Gejerus. (h) "possessione tua", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Gejerus; "tuis possessionibus", Tigurine version, Vatablus, Piscator, Michaelis.