Psalm 19
“The Skies, The Scriptures”
“The very sound of the two movements of the psalm tells something of their two concerns: the broad sweep of God’s wordless revelation in the universe, expressed in the exuberant lines of verses 1-6, and the clarity of His written word, reflected in the quiet conciseness of verses 7-10, to which the heartsearching of 11-14 is the worshipper’s response” (Kidner p. 97).
The Eloquence Of Nature 19:1 “Different ages need this reminder—for such it is (Romans 1:20)” (Kidner p. 97). Note that the heavens “are telling”, i.e., are continually telling. And every culture, every man and woman can observe the heavens, therefore man is without excuse for not believing in God and for not seeking after Him (Romans 1:20; Acts 17:27). The creation doesn’t tell us what to do to be saved, but the creation certainly testifies to God’s existence and His power. “This is the meaning of glory in Psalm 19---a revelation of God’s existence and power so great that it should lead every human being on the face of the earth to seek God out, to thank Him for bringing him or her into existence, and to worship Him” (Boice p. 162). “Not even the hardest of hearts can see a blazing sunset over the Pacific without some sense of awe. I live near the beach, and every evening as the sun goes down I see a stream of people head for the water’s edge to watch the spectacle. As they stand in transfixed silence, they are a continual witness to the heavens declaring ‘the glory of God’” (Williams p. 150). 19:1 The word “expanse”, is the same word rendered “expanse” or “firmament” in Genesis 1. The basic concept in the Hebrew word rendered “expanse”, is stamping, as with the foot, and what results, i.e., a spreading out or stretching forth. The idea that the heavens are “spreading out” has also been confirmed by scientific investigation. In 1913 astronomer Vesto Melvin Slipher discovered that about a dozen galaxies relatively close to the earth were moving away from us at high speeds, up to two million miles per hour. During the next decade a younger astronomer named Edwin Hubble, measured the velocities of scores of galaxies and formulated the laws for an expanding universe. “The verbs ‘declare’ and ‘proclaim’ are participial forms, expressive of the continuous revelation of the heavens, and could be translated ‘keep on declaring’…’keep on proclaiming’” (Gaebelein p. 179). 1