Psalms 8:3

When I consider thy heavens,.... Where God dwells, and which he has made; the airy and starry heavens, which are to be seen with the bodily eye; and the heaven of heavens, which is to be beheld and

When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; Thy heavens ... the moon and the stars.

Thy heavens; thine by creation, as it follows. Of thy fingers. i.e. of thy hand, as it is expressed, ; a part being here put for the whole; God’ s hand and finger being indifferently used to note his power, as , &c. Though some conceive that by this phrase he intended to signify both with what facility God made this glorious work, even with a touch of his finger; and with what curious and exquisite- artifice he framed it; the fingers being much used in such works. The moon and the stars: either the sun is included under this general title, or he omitted it because he made this Psalm by night, when the sun did not fall within his contemplation. Which thou hast ordained, or established, or directed, or disposed, or ordered, i.e. placed in that excellent and unalterable order, and directed to all their several courses or motions.

Psalms 8:3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;Ver. 3. When I consider thy heavens] And that men should be much in this consideration, both the bolt-upright figure of their bodies may admonish them, and also that fifth muscle which God hath set in man’ s eye (whereas other creatures have but four) to draw it upward, Ut eius auxilio coelum intueremur, saith the anatomist, that by the help thereof we might consider the heavens (Columb. de re Anatom. l. 5, c. 9). This, those Christians that do not, shall have those heathens rising up in judgment against them: Anaxagoras Clazomenius, who used to say that he was therefore born that he might contemplate the heavens; and Ennius, who blameth Epicurus for that dum palato quid sit optimum iudicaret, coeli palatium non suspexerit, he did so purvey for his palace, that he looked not up to heaven’ s palace. Certain it is, that many men have so much to do upon earth that they cannot have while to cast an eye towards heaven, as the Duke of Alva told a great prince, who asked him if he had taken notice of the last eclipse. That wonderful globe of silver sent by King Ferdinand to Soliman, the Great Turk, lively expressing the wonderful motions and conversions of the celestial frame, the hourly passing of the time, the change and full of the moon, &c., was much more beheld and admired than heaven itself is by most people. True it is, that that globe was a most curious and strange piece of work, devised and perfected by the most cunning astronomers, for Maximilian the emperor, whose noble mind never spared for any cost to obtain things of rare and strange device. But what was all this to the heavens? that Work of thy fingers] That is, most elaborate and accurate; a metaphor from embroiderers, or from them that make tapestry. Aben Ezra’ s note here is, Digiti sunt decem, et sphaerae sunt decem, As there are ten fingers, so there are ten spheres, &c. The moon and the stars] No mention of the sun, because included in this word heaven; wherein by day the sun is most conspicuous, as by night, the moon and stars. Which thou hast ordained] That was a witty speech of Cyril, They were Aθεοικατανυκτος, atheists by night, who worshipped the sun, and atheists by day, who worshipped the moon and stars.

(3) When I consider.—Literally, see, scan. Ordained.—Or, as in margin, founded—i.e., created, formed; but the English word aptly introduces the idea of order in the kosmos. Comp.:— “Know the cause why music was ordained? —. In our humid climate we can hardly imagine the brilliance of an Eastern night. “There,” writes one of a night in Palestine, “it seems so, bearing down upon our heads with power are the steadfast splendours of that midnight sky;” but, on the other hand, the fuller revelations of astronomy do more than supply the place of this splendour, in filling us with amazement and admiration at the vast spaces the stars fill, and their mighty movements in their measured orbits.

Verse 3. When I Consider thy heavens] כי אראה ki ereh; because I will see. He had often seen the heavens with astonishment, and he purposes to make them frequent subjects of contemplation; and he could not behold them without being affected with the skill, contrivance, and power, manifested in their formation. The work of thy fingers] What a view does this give of the majesty of God! The earth is nearly eight thousand English miles in diameter: but to form an adequate conception of its magnitude, we must consider it in its superficial and solid contents. Upon the supposition that the earth's polar diameter is seven thousand nine hundred and forty miles, and its equatorial, seven thousand nine hundred and seventy-seven, (estimates considered to very near approximations to the truth,) the whole superficies of the terraqueous globe will amount to about one hundred and ninety-eight millions, nine hundred and eighty thousand, seven hundred square miles; and its solid contents, in cubic miles will be expressed by the following figures: 264,544,857,944, i.e., two hundred and sixty-four thousand five hundred and forty-four millions, eight hundred and fifty-seven thousand, nine hundred and forty-four. Great as we have shown the bulk of the earth to be, from the most accurate estimates of its diameter it is but small when compared with the bulks of some of the other bodies in the solar system. The planet Herschel, or Georgium Sidus, known on the continent of Europe by the name of Uranus, is eighty times and a half greater than the earth; Saturn, nine hundred and ninety-five times greater; Jupiter, one thousand two hundred and eighty-one times greater; and the sun, the most prodigious body in the system, one million three hundred and eighty-four thousand, four hundred and sixty-two times greater. The circumference of the sun contains not fewer than two millions seven hundred and seventy-seven thousand English miles; and a degree of latitude, which on the earth amounts only to sixty-nine miles and a half, will on the sun (the circle being supposed in both instances to be divided into three hundred and sixty degrees) contain not less than about seven thousand seven hundred and forty miles, a quantity almost equal to the terrestrial axis. But the immense volume (in cubic miles) which the solar surface includes amounts to the following most inconceivable quantity: 366,252,303,118,866,128, i.e., three hundred and sixty-six thousand two hundred and fifty-two billions, three hundred and three thousand one hundred and eighteen millions, eight hundred and sixty-six thousand, one hundred and twenty-eight. Notwithstanding the amazing magnitude of the sun, we have abundant reason to believe that some of the fixed stars are much larger; and yet we are told they are the work of GOD'S FINGERS! What a hand, to move, form, and launch these globes!

3, 4. The contemplation of the heavens in all their splendour forces the Psalmist to wonder that God should choose so insignificant a thing as man for the object of His special regard.

When I consider thy heavens - When I contemplate or look upon. They are called his heavens because he made them - because he is the proprietor of them - perhaps because they are his abode.

3. When I consider—As often as I behold. Heavens… moon… stars— Imagine a gorgeous oriental night, not necessarily a knowledge of scientific astronomy. Ordained—Established; made firm, and abiding.