Psalms 134

Psalms 134:1

Praise the LORD

When the time comes for the LORD’s kingdom to rule over all, a call follows to all and everything to bless or praise the LORD. The first to be called to bless Him are “His angels, mighty in strength, who perform His word, obeying the voice of His word!” (Psalms 103:20). They are close to Him. They are “mighty in strength”, performing in obedience the word that He speaks, without any objection. They are sent out to serve those who inherit salvation (Hebrews 1:14).

After the call to the angels who are executors of His word, the circle of those who are called to bless or praise the LORD is extended to all “His hosts” (Psalms 103:21). His hosts are all the heavenly hosts. In addition to performers of His word, there are also angels who have special care for the maintenance of God’s holiness, such as cherubim. There is also mention of seraphs. All angels are mighty in strength. What tremendous strength an army of angels must possess. But they are all under the supreme command of the LORD and they only “serve Him, doing His will”.

Finally, all His “works, in all places of His dominion” are called to bless or to praise Him (Psalms 103:22). Here the circle of those who praise God is extended to the entire universe. After all, there is no area in the universe that is not under His dominion.

We find these praises in Revelation 5: first the angels (Revelation 5:12), then all the creatures (Revelation 5:13) and finally the worship without words of the elders, which are the believers (Revelation 5:14). In Psalms 103 we find twice the angels (Psalms 103:20-21), then all the creatures (Psalms 103:22a) and finally the psalmist (Psalms 103:22b).

The last line of Psa 103:22 makes it personal again. All and sundry will bless Him, but will I? For the psalmist, it is not a question. He concludes what he started this psalm with in Psalms 103:1: the call to his soul to bless, or praise, the LORD. The LORD is eternally worthy of it.

Psalms 134:3

Introduction

Psalms 104 is a song of praise to the LORD as the Creator and Sustainer of His creation. Psalms 103 sings of the LORD’s lovingkindness toward His people. Psalms 104 sings more about the power, wisdom, and lovingkindness of God toward all creation (cf. Revelation 4:11).

We find five psalms related to creation: 1. Psalms 8 Creation and man (Psalms 8:4-9). 2. Psalms 19 Creation and the law, the Word of God (Psalms 19:1-6). 3. Psalms 29 The forces of nature, especially thunder (Psalms 29:3-9). 4. Psalms 104 The cosmos, which speaks of God’s eternal power and Divine nature (Psalms 104:1-32; Romans 1:20; Genesis 1-2). 5. Psalms 148 Creation joins to give thanks the LORD (Psalms 148:1-14).

Division of the psalm

Psalms 104:1-4 The heavens. Psalms 104:5-9 The earth. Psalms 104:10-13 The waters. Psalms 104:14-18 The plants. Psalms 104:19-23 The lights: arrangement of time. Psalms 104:24-30 The wisdom of God in creation. Psalms 104:31-35 Praise on the occasion of creation.

God Is Great

The psalm begins and ends with the same call as Psalms 103 to “my soul” to praise the LORD (Psalms 104:1; Psalms 104:35; Psalms 103:1; 22). The reason for praising the LORD is different. The reason for praising the LORD in Psalms 103 is His lovingkindness and faithfulness; here in Psalms 104 that reason is God’s majesty and glory in creation.

Then the psalmist addresses God directly. He calls Him “LORD my God”. He is in a personal relationship with the Creator of heaven and earth and knows Him as “my God”. He addresses Him with confidence. There is no question of any popularity toward God. On the contrary, full of admiration and in deep awe, he says to Him: “You are very great.” It is not creation, but God Who is worthy of being magnified.

Also, he sees that the LORD is “clothed with splendor and majesty”. This points to the royal dignity of His government of creation. This is how the LORD revealed Himself to him. Without revelation, we do not know Who God is. When He reveals Himself, His splendor and majesty become visible. Then it becomes clear that He rules the universe. We recognize God by what becomes visible of Him. God has become visible to us in His creation, that is, we see in it “His eternal power and divine nature” (Romans 1:20).

He says to Him that He covers Himself “with light as with a cloak” (Psalms 104:2). Here we are reminded of the first day of creation, the day God created light (Genesis 1:3-5). This light is not sunlight, for the sun was not created until the fourth day of creation. What God creates does not come from nothing, but from Himself. “God is light” (1 John 1:5) and is “in the light” (1 John 1:7). He “dwells in unapproachable light” (1 Timothy 6:16). Here we read that He covers Himself with light.

When it says that He covers Himself with light, it means that He lets the light shine in a concealing manner (cf. Habakkuk 3:4). If God were to reveal Himself in absolute light, it would be the end of man and creation. He has revealed Himself in Christ in a concealing light (John 1:18). In Christ, the light of God has come into the world without consuming the world.

As already mentioned, God reveals Himself in His creation. We see this when we look at “heaven”, which He stretches out “like [a tent] curtain” (cf. Psalms 19:1; 4) to dwell in it. He reveals Himself in it. The tent curtain spans the earth (Isaiah 40:22), so we can also see this tent as a dwelling place for people on earth. When a tent curtain is stretched out, it creates a space to live under. So it is also with the heavens that are stretched out, creating a space to dwell under them, namely the earth.

Then the psalmist changes from speaking to the LORD to speaking about the LORD. We find this alternation of speaking to and speaking about and vice versa more often in this psalm. Above the stretched out heaven, the blue sky, the psalmist sees with his spiritual eye the Divine “upper chambers”, the chambers of God’s heavenly palace (Psalms 104:3). He connects its ceiling with the waters, which are the waters above the earth. Here we see a reference to the second day of creation (Genesis 1:6-8). God gives to the waters, which have no stability, by His power the stability to establish His dwelling there.

The psalmist then says that God “makes the clouds His chariot” and that He “walks upon the wings of the wind” (cf. Isaiah 19:1; Psalms 18:11). Here we see God’s further interference with the earth. The clouds and the wind symbolize His government of the earth. He rides and He walks above the earth and governs it all.

For His reign of the earth He employs “the winds” or “His angels” whom He makes “His messengers” (Psalms 104:4; cf. Psalms 103:20-22). These servants He makes “flaming fire”. These are winds (=spirits), e.g. storms, and flaming fire, e.g. lightning. This depicts angels, who are ministering spirits. They are messengers of God who also guard the holiness of God as cherubim with flaming fire.

They are subordinate to the Messiah, Who is the Son, while the angels are servants (Hebrews 1:7). They make known that God is “a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29). God is surrounded by servants, by reasonable beings like angels and by inanimate elements like the clouds and the wind. He deploys all these servants according to His pleasure and wisdom.