Psalms 104:24-26 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

O Lord, how manifold are thy works How numerous, how various! Of how many kinds, and how many of every kind. Thus, “transported with a survey of the wonders which present themselves in heaven above, and on earth below, the psalmist breaks forth into an exclamation, on the variety and magnificence, the harmony and proportion, of the works of God, in this outward, and visible, and perishable world. What then are the miracles of grace and glory? What are those invisible and eternal things, which God hath for them that love him, in another and a better world, and of which the things visible and temporary are no more than shadows? Admitted to that place, where we shall at once be indulged with a view of all the divine dispensations, and of that beatitude in which they terminated, shall we not, with angels and archangels, cry out, O Lord, how manifold are thy works, &c.” Horne. In wisdom hast thou made them all When men undertake many works, and of different kinds, commonly some of them are neglected, and not done with due care; but God's works, though many, and of different kinds, yet are all made in wisdom, and with the greatest exactness: there is not the least flaw or defect in them. The most perfect works of art, the more narrowly they are viewed, (as, suppose, with the help of microscopes,) the more rough and imperfect they appear; but the more the works of God are examined, (by these glasses,) they appear the more fine and complete. God's works are all made in wisdom, for they are all made to answer the end designed, the good of the universe, in order to the glory of the universal King. The earth is full of thy riches Of excellent, useful, and comfortable things, which are the effects of thy goodness and power. So is this great and wide sea Which might seem at first view a useless part of the globe, or, at least, not to be worth the room it occupies, but God has appointed it its place, and made it serviceable to man many ways. For therein are things creeping, or, rather, swimming, innumerable (Hebrew, ואין מספר, veein mispar, and there is no number, namely, that can comprehend them,) both small and great beasts Or animals, as חיות, chaioth, signifies; that is, fishes of various kinds, many of which serve for the food of man; and there go the ships In which goods are conveyed to countries very distant much more easily, speedily, and at less expense than by land carriage. “There is not,” says Dr. Horne, “in all nature, a more august and striking object than the ocean. Its inhabitants are as numerous as those upon the land; nor are the wisdom and power of the Creator less displayed, perhaps, in their formation and preservation, from the smallest fish that swims, to the enormous tyrant of the deep, the leviathan himself,” of which see Job 40. and 41. “By means of navigation, Providence hath opened a communication between the most distant parts of the globe; the largest solid bodies are wafted with incredible swiftness upon one fluid, by the impulse of another, and seas join the countries which they appear to divide.”