Psalms 104:3

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

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 layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters - rather, 'Who layeth

In the waters; in the waters above the heavens, as they are called, ; 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.

Psalms 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:Ver. 3. Who layest the beams of his chambers in the waters] God, as he hath founded the solid earth upon the fluid waters, Psalms 26:9; so the highest heaven upon those waters above the firmament, Genesis 1:7 Psalms 17:11. This notably sets forth the wisdom and power of this Almighty architect, since artists say, In solido extruendam, The foundation of a building should be hard and rocky, and experience sealeth to it. Who maketh the clouds, &c.] These are his chariot royal, drawn (or rather driven) by the winds, as his chariot horses.

(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 (2 Kings 6:2; 2 Kings 6:5; Son 1:17). Chambers.—Literally, lofts or upper stories. (See 2 Kings 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 Psalms 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 Psalms 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.” : In Memoriam.

Verse 3. המקרה במים עליותיו hamekareh bammayim aliyothaiv. "Laying the beams of his chambers in the waters." The sacred writer expresses the wonderful nature of the air aptly, and regularly constructed, from various and flux elements, into one continued and stable series, by a metaphor drawn from the singular formation of the tabernacle, which, consisting of many and different parts, and easily reparable when there was need, was kept together by a perpetual juncture and contignation of them all together. The poet goes on: - השם עבים רכובו hassem abim rechubo, המהלך על כנפי רוה hamehallech al canphey ruach. "Making the clouds his chariot, Walking upon the wings of the wind." He had first expressed an image of the Divine Majesty, such as it resided in the holy of holies, discernible by a certain investiture of the most splendid light; he now denotes the same from that light of itself which the Divine Majesty exhibited, when it moved together with the ark, sitting on a circumambient cloud, and carried on high through the air. That seat of the Divine Presence is even called by the sacred historians, as its proper name, המרכבה hammercabah, THE CHARIOT.

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; Psalms 29:3; Psalms 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 Amo 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. Psalms 18:10; Isaiah 19:1; Daniel 7:13; Matthew 24:30.

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.

3. Layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters—The idea of a celestial reservoir, or ocean, whether as a poetic image or a fact, is alluded to, grounded on Genesis 1:6-7. The region of the rain clouds is intended.