Psalms 104:21 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

The young lions Which can no more subsist, without Divine Providence, than those that are old and infirm; roar after their prey They roar, as naturalists observe, when they come within sight of their prey, by which interpretation this place is reconciled with Amos 3:4, Will a lion roar in the forest when he hath no prey? that is, when he hath no prey in view. And seek their meat from God This is a figurative and poetical expression; their roaring is a kind of natural prayer to God for relief, as the cries of infants are a kind of prayer to their mothers for the breast. It is observed by Dr. Hammond here, that lions are not provided with great swiftness of foot to pursue those beasts on which they prey, and that it was necessary, therefore, that this defect should be provided for some other way: and, accordingly, it has been affirmed, that their very roaring is useful to them for this purpose; and that when they cannot overtake their prey, they do, by that terrible noise, so astonish and terrify the poor beasts, that they fall down, and become an easy prey to them.