Psalms 19:1 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

The heavens, &c. To magnify the power, wisdom, and goodness of the Creator, the psalmist begins with the works of creation, and, amidst the immensity of them, singles out those which are most conspicuous, grand, and striking, and best adapted to impress the mind of his reader with a sense of the infinite greatness and majesty of God, and to beget in him a solemn awe of, and veneration for, his matchless glories. The heavens That is, the visible heavens, so vast and spacious, and richly adorned with stars and planets, so various and admirable in their courses or stations; so useful and powerful in their influences; declare the glory of God His glorious being or existence, his eternal power and Godhead, as it is expressed, Romans 1:20; his infinite wisdom and goodness; all which they demonstrate, and make so visible and evident to all men of reason and consideration, that it is ridiculous to deny or doubt of them, as it is ridiculous to think of far meaner works of art, as suppose of houses, clocks, or watches, that they were made without an artist, or without a hand. The Hebrew, מספרים, mesapperim, is literally, they tell, or, preach, the glory of God. And this language of the heavens is so plain, and their characters are so legible, that all, even the most barbarous nations, that have no skill either in languages or letters, are able to understand and read what they declare. The firmament Or, the expansion, all the vast space extending from the earth to the starry heavens, and especially the atmosphere, comprehending that fluid mixture of light, air, and vapours, which is everywhere diffused about us; and to the influences of which are owing all the beauty and fruitfulness of the earth, and all vegetable and animal life: all these by their manifold and beneficial operations, as well as by their beauty and magnificence, show his handiwork As Creator, Preserver, and Governor. The excellence of the work discovers who was the author of it, that it did not come by chance, nor spring of itself, but was made by a Being of infinite wisdom, power, and goodness.