The creatures shew God's glory; the word, his grace. David prayeth for grace.
To the chief musician, A Psalm of David.
Title.— לדוד מזמור למנצח lamnatseach mizmor ledavid. The author in this Psalm, as in many other places, considers the works of nature, and the words of revelation, as both of them laws of the same hand, and standing firm by the same authority; both highly perfect in their kind, and containing great matter of instruction; one for the whole world, the other for God's people, and himself particularly. Mudge. The piety of this Psalm, says Bishop Sherlock, is so natural, and yet so exalted, so easy to be understood, and so adapted to move the affections, that it is hardly possible to read it with any attention, without feeling something of the same spirit by which it was indited. The holy king begins with the works of the creation, to magnify the power and wisdom of the Creator: they are a perpetual instruction to mankind; every day and every night speak his goodness, and by their regular and constant vicissitude set forth the excellency of wisdom by which they are ordered. This book of nature is written in every language, and lies open to all the world: The works of the creation speak in the common voice of reason, and want no interpreter to explain their meaning; but are to be understood by people of all languages upon the face of the earth. From these works in general, he singles out one, to stand as a testimony of the power of his Maker: The sun is the great spirit of the world, the life which animates these lower parts: How constant and unwearied in his course! how large his circuit, to impart light and genial heat to every dark corner of the earth! He is as a bridegroom, &c.
Psalms 19:1. The heavens declare— Tell, or preach, according to the force of the Hebrew. This language of the heavens is so plain, and their characters are so legible, that all, even the most barbarous nations, who have no skill either in languages or letters, are able to understand and read what they proclaim. What can be so plain and so clear, says Tully, as when we behold the heavens, and view the heavenly bodies, that we should conclude there is some deity, of a most excellent mind, by whom these things are governed? A present and Almighty God? which he who doubts of, I do not understand why he should not as well doubt whether or no there be a sun that shines. See De Nat. Deor. lib. 2: cap. 2 and Derham's Astro-Theology, at the beginning.