Ps 18:1

“If someone, hypothetically, should seem to believe in Jesus but should not believe that the God of the law and of the gospel is one, whose glory the heavens declare, since they were made by him, and the work of whose hands the firmament proclaims, since it is their work, this person would be deficient in the greatest article of faith.”

“Any who are perfect, who have been made heavenly or have become [part] of heaven, "declare the glory of God," as it says in the psalm. For this reason in brief also the apostles who were of heaven were sent to declare the glory of God and received the name of Boanerges, "which is the sons of thunder," that by the power of thunder we might believe them truly to be heavens.”

“This verse serves as a lesson on how the great work of God is declared. People who have been blinded in the eyes of their minds have expelled from the natural order the hidden and invisible divine essence, which is incorporeal and uncreated, and cannot be touched in any way or recognized with carnal eyes. With a godless and wicked mouth they say that there is no God, that nothing excellent of a corporeal nature exists beyond its temporary appearance, and that the whole universe came together in a certain momentary and accidental coalescence and gathering of parts that previously existed by chance and without purpose. Thus, it was necessary in the present work by means of a psalm that the writer should prove through plain demonstration God's omniscience and creative power. The nature of mortals is insignificant and fragile, the thoughts of people, foolish, and our reasoning uncertain. Therefore, we are no match for declaring the divine glory. For these worthy words and reflections about God cannot be proclaimed with human voices or with tongues or lips of flesh. If one who has the facility of a strong mind could hear that powerful and most worthy teaching that comes from the heavens, he would direct his mind and mount up to attend to those things, embracing them completely in himself, celebrating his Creator and the Maker of the universe with hymns and songs. For those heavens above us and those elements present in the firmament attest to a nature capable of being understood by and realized through the senses. They ascribe glory to God, not through any human language but through their adornment, by their very creation, through their ordered movement they teach his immeasurable majesty.… Whoever, therefore, thinks that such beauty and magnitude adorned itself or that the heavens created themselves, and then ascribes their harmonious and ordered motions to some process devoid of any divine power, is foolish and wicked. Therefore, those of sound mind confess that the part is a unified whole, and not only do they hear the cry of the heavens but also the proclamation from that very work together announcing glory to God, their Maker and Creator.”

“Creation … points to God as its Maker and Artificer, who reigns over creation and over all things, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; whom would-be philosophers turn from to worship and deify the creation that proceeded from him, which yet itself worships and confesses the Lord whom they deny on its account. For if people are awestruck at the parts of creation and think that they are gods, they might well be rebuked by the mutual dependence of those parts; which moreover makes known and witnesses to the Father of the Word, who is the Lord and Maker of these parts also, by the unbroken law of their obedience to him, as the divine law also says [in this verse of the psalm].… The proof of all this is not obscure but is clear enough in all conscience to those the eyes of whose understanding are not wholly disabled.”

“This nineteenth psalm is doctrinal: just as the fourth, also being doctrinal, censures those claiming that existing things do not benefit from providence, so too the present psalm levels an accusation against those who claim … that existing things were made by no one, instead coming to be by themselves. Necessarily following on this is the view that these things also do not merit providence: with no admission of the Creator, the provider is also not acknowledged by them, either.”

“As heaven is lighted with the splendor of the stars, so do people shine with the light of their good works, and their deeds shine before their Father in heaven. The one is the firmament of heaven on high; the other is a similar firmament of which it is said, "On this rock I will build my church." The one is a firmament of the elements, the other of virtues, and this last is more excellent.”

“How … do they declare it? Voice they have none; mouth they possess not; no tongue is theirs! How then do they declare? By means of the spectacle itself. For when you see the beauty, the breadth, the height, the position, the form, the stability thereof during so long a period; hearing as it were a voice, and being instructed by the spectacle, you adore him who created a body so fair and strange! The heavens may be silent, but the sight of them emits a voice that is louder than a trumpet's sound, instructing us not by the ear but through the medium of the eyes, for the latter is a sense which is more sure and more distinct than the former.”

“Nevertheless, many have stumbled at it and in contrary directions to one another. And some have admired it so much above its worth as to think it God, while others have been so insensible of its beauty as to assert it to be unworthy of God's creating hand and to ascribe the greater share in it to a certain evil matter. And yet God provided for both points by making it beautiful and great that it might not be deemed alien from his wisdom, yet defective and not sufficient to itself that it might not be suspected to be God.”

“"The heavens tell out the glory of God" [Psalm 19:1]. The righteous Evangelists, in whom, as in the heavens, God dwells, set forth the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, or the glory wherewith the Son glorified the Father upon earth. "And the firmament shows forth the works of His hands." And the firmament shows forth the deeds of the Lord's power, that now made heaven by the assurance of the Holy Ghost, which before was earth by fear.”

“We learn three kinds of divine laws from blessed Paul. One unwritten kind he said was given to human beings in creation and nature: "From the creation of the world," he says, "his invisible attributes have been understood and seen in created things"; and again, "For when the Gentiles, who do not have the law, practice the obligations of the law instinctively, despite having no law they are a law to themselves." … Another law was provided in writing through the mighty Moses: "The Law was added because of transgressions," he says, "ordained through angels in the hand of a mediator." He knew also a third one imposed after these, the law of grace: "For the law of the Spirit of life," he says, "has set me free from the law of sin and death." Blessed David in this psalm teaches human beings the harmony between these, following the same order: first, the one the Creator preaches in creation; then the one given through Moses, instilling a greater knowledge of the Creator to those willing to attend; after that, the law of grace, perfectly purifying souls and freeing them from the present destruction. This in fact is the reason the psalm also refers us "to the end," naming the New Testament in the end.”

“All nature serves the Word of God for our instruction. Through all the turning points of the year, as if through the four Gospels, we learn from the unceasing trumpet both what we should preach and what we should do.… What is there through which the truth does not speak to us? Its voice is heard in the day, it is heard in the night, and the beauty of all things, established by the work of one God, does not cease to put into the ears of our hearts a ruling order, to let us see the "invisible things of God through those which have been made intelligible to us," and it is subject not to the creatures but to the Creator of all things.”

“Above, the Psalmist gave thanks in many ways for benefits both given and hoped for; but here, from the consideration of those benefits, he rises to the praise of the Benefactor. The title is clear: "To the end, a Psalm of David." According to the letter it refers to David; but according to the mystery, to Christ, "to the end." This Psalm is divided into two parts. In the first, God is commended for his instruction by which he teaches us. And this in two ways. One is general, which applies equally to all, and this is manifested through his works: Rom. 1: "The invisible things of God are clearly seen, being understood through the things that are made." The other is special, through the giving of the law, which pertains only to the faithful. The second part begins at "The law of the Lord is unspotted." This Psalm is truly expounded of Christ, because the Apostle brings forward the authority of this passage for the mystery of Christ in Rom. 10: "Their sound has gone forth into all the earth," and so on. Nevertheless, just as the mysteries of Christ are sometimes represented figuratively in the figures of the Old Testament, so too they are sometimes figuratively foreshadowed in the figures of the works of the saints. And therefore this Psalm will first be expounded according to the figure, and secondly according to the truth. First he speaks of the heavens, then of the sun. By the heavens the apostles are understood; by the sun, Christ is understood: "In the sun." Concerning this he does two things. First he sets forth the teaching by which God instructs us through the heavens, however understood. Second, he excludes impediments to this teaching, at "Day to day utters speech," and so on. Two things are necessary to know about God. One is the glory of God, in which he is glorious. The second is his works. If we consider the corporeal heavens, they announce to us the glory of God, because in them there is a wondrous and ordered distinction, which is a certain overflow of that firmness of glory: Eccl. 43: "The beauty of heaven, the glory of the stars, the world on high shining forth, the Lord." And because "the sun giving light has looked upon all things, and the work of the Lord is full of his glory." And therefore these material heavens are understood to indicate to us the glory of God, not as living material things, as Rabbi Moses says, but in their beauty by which their Maker is much more clearly indicated. And the firmament shows us how magnificent God is. The firmament is called heaven, as it says in Gen. 1: "God called the firmament heaven." But according to the distinction, it is called heaven; and thus in the distinction of the heavens, divine wisdom appears. If the whole is taken together, it narrates his power. And therefore he says that the heavens declare, that is, manifest, the glory of God, and the firmament announces the works of his hands, through which works his power appears. But according to the truth, by the heavens the apostles are understood, in whom, as in heavens, God dwells. And they are called heavens because of the sublimity of their way of life: Phil. 3: "Our citizenship is in heaven." Likewise they are adorned with stars, because of the abundance of their many virtues: Eccl. 43: "The beauty of heaven, the glory of the stars": Is. 55: "As the heavens are exalted above the earth," and so on; because they are luminous through teaching and example: Mt. 5: "So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven." Because they revolve through obedience and the course of preaching: Sir. 24: "I alone have compassed the circuit of heaven, and I walked in the waves of the sea, and I penetrated the depths of the abyss, and I stood in every land, and in every people and in every nation I held the primacy." These declare the glory of God, namely of the Father, in which is Christ. And because Christ is equal to the Father, and that he is God, and that he freely forgives sins: Is. 52: "You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money." Likewise the apostles are called the firmament, because they were strengthened by the power of the Holy Spirit: Lk. 24: "Stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high." And they announce the works of his hands, that is, the wonderful things that Christ did, namely his nativity, passion, resurrection, and ascension: Eccl. 42: "Has not God made the saints declare all his wonders?" Is. 12: "Announce this in all the earth." Ps. 95: "Announce his glory among the nations, his wonders among all peoples." Or, the heavens declare, because the heavens sent a new star, announcing the birth of the Savior: Mt. 2: "We saw his star in the east."”

“David. It is not known when this was composed. David praises the works and law of God. Some passages are applied to Jesus Christ and his apostles, Romans x. 18. (Calmet) — When any text of a psalm is thus quoted, many judiciously conclude that the whole must be understood in the same sense, as the harmony will thus be greater. It seems there are two literal senses here, one regarding the law, whether natural or Mosaic; the other pertaining to the apostles and the law of the gospel; (Berthier) the “beloved” David of the latter days. (Worthington)”

“(Heb.: 19:2-4) The heavens, i.e., the superterrestrial spheres, which, so far as human vision is concerned, are lost in infinite space, declare how glorious is God, and indeed אל, as the Almighty; and what His hands have made, i.e., what He has produced with a superior power to which everything is possible, the firmament, i.e., vault of heaven stretched out far and wide and as a transparency above the earth (Graeco-Veneta τάμα =ἔκταμα, from רקע, root רק, to stretch, τείνειν), distinctly expresses. The sky and firmament are not conceived of as conscious beings which the middle ages, in dependence upon Aristotle (vid., Maimonides, More Nebuchim ii. 5), believed could be proved fro this passage, cf. Neh 9:6; Job 38:7. Moreover, Scripture knows nothing of the "music of the spheres" of the Pythagoreans. What is meant is, as the old expositors correctly say, objectivum vocis non articulatae praeconium. The doxa, which God has conferred upon the creature as the reflection of His own, is reflected back from it, and given back to God as it were in acknowledgment of its origin. The idea of perpetuity, which lies even in the participle, is expanded in Psa 19:3. The words of this discourse of praise are carried forward in an uninterrupted line of transmission. הבּיע (fr. נבע, Arab. nb‛, root נב, to gush forth, nearly allied to which, however, is also the root בע, to spring up) points to the rich fulness with which, as from an inexhaustible spring, the testimony passes on from one day to the next. The parallel word חוּה is an unpictorial, but poetic, word that is more Aramaic than Hebrew (= הגּיד). אמשׁ also belongs to the more elevated style; the γνωστὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ deposited in the creature, although not reflected, is here called דּעת. The poet does not say that the tidings proclaimed by the day, if they gradually die away as the day declines, are taken up by the night, and the tidings of the night by the day; but (since the knowledge proclaimed by the day concerns the visible works of God by day, and that proclaimed by the night, His works by night), that each dawning day continues the speech of that which has declined, and each approaching night takes up the tale of that which has passed away (Psychol. S. 347, tr. p. 408). If Psa 19:4 were to be rendered "there is no speech and there are no words, their voice is inaudible," i.e., they are silent, speechless witnesses, uttering no sound, but yet speaking aloud (Hengst.), only inwardly audible but yet intelligible everywhere (Then.): then, Psa 19:5 ought at least to begin with a Waw adversativum, and, moreover, the poet would then needlessly check his fervour, producing a tame thought and one that interrupts the flow of the hymn. To take Psa 19:4 as a circumstantial clause to Psa 19:5, and made to precede it, as Ewald does, "without loud speech...their sound has resounded through all the earth" (341, d), is impossible, even apart from the fact of אמר not meaning "Loud speech" and קוּם hardly "their sound." Psa 19:4 is in the form of an independent sentence, and there is nothing whatever in it to betray any designed subordination to Psa 19:5. But if it be made independent in the sense "there is no loud, no articulate speech, no audible voice, which proceeds from the heavens," then Psa 19:5 would form an antithesis to it; and this, in like manner, there is nothing to indicate, and it would at least require that the verb יצא should be placed first. Luther's rendering is better: There is no language nor speech, where their voice is not heard, i.e., as Calvin also renders it, the testimony of the heavens to God is understood by the peoples of every language and tongue. But this ought to be אין לשׁון or אין שׂפה ro אין (Gen 11:1). Hofmann's rendering is similar, but more untenable: "There is no speech and there are no words, that their cry is not heard, i.e., the language of the heavens goes forth side by side with all other languages; and men may discourse ever so, still the speech or sound of the heavens is heard therewith, it sounds above them all." But the words are not בּלי נשׁמע (after the analogy of Gen 31:20), or rather בּלי ישּׁמע (as in Job 41:8; Hos 8:7). בּלי with the part. is a poetical expression for the Alpha privat. (Sa2 1:21), consequently כלי נשׁמע is "unheard" or "inaudible," and the opposite of נשׁמע, audible, Jer 31:15. Thus, therefore, the only rendering that remains is that of the lxx., Vitringa, and Hitzig: There is no language and no words, whose voice is unheard, i.e., inaudible. Hupfeld's assertion that this rendering destroys the parallelism is unfounded. The structure of the distich resembles Psa 139:4. The discourse of the heavens and the firmament, of the day (of the sky by day) and of the night (of the sky by night), is not a discourse uttered in a corner, it is a discourse in speech that is everywhere audible, and in words that are understood by all, a φανερόν, Rom 1:19.”