Psalms 148:3

148:1-6 We, in this dark and sinful world, know little of the heavenly world of light. But we know that there is above us a world of blessed angels. They are always praising God, therefore the psalmist shows his desire that God may be praised in the best manner; also we show that we have communion with spirits above, who are still praising him. The heavens, with all contained in them, declare the glory of God. They call on us, that both by word and deed, we glorify with them the Creator and Redeemer of the universe.

Praise ye him, sun and moon,.... The sun praises the Lord, the Creator of it, by doing the work constantly it is appointed to do; to rule by day, and give light and heat to the earth, and the inhabitants of it; and so is the cause of man's praising the Lord for the benefits they receive from it; for its enlightening, warming, and refreshing rays; and for the precious fruits brought forth by it and so the moon likewise doing its office, ruling by night, and reflecting the light of the sun upon the earth, and producing precious fruits, also praises its Maker, and is the occasion, of others praising him; see Psalm 136:1 ; praise him, all ye stars of light; which are very beneficial in the night season, especially to mariners and travellers, and shed their benign influences upon the earth and things in it; which are a means of praising the Lord, and in their way they do it, Psalm 136:1. The Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions, read it, "stars and light", wrongly; the stars are luminous bodies, and shine in their own light (c), though the moon with a borrowed light from the sun. (c) Macrob. in Somn. Scipion. l. 1. c. 19, 20.

Psalm 148:3-4 . Praise him, sun and moon, &c. — You were adored by the blind heathen for gods; you are but his creatures, and therefore would be obliged, if you were capable of it, to worship and praise him for your glorious light and powerful influences. “The material heavens, through their various regions,” says Dr. Horne, “with the luminaries placed in them, and the waters sustained by them, though they have neither speech nor language, and want the tongue of men, yet, by their splendour and magnificence, their motions and their influences, all regulated and exerted according to the ordinance of their Maker, do, in a very intelligible and striking manner, declare the glory of God; they call upon us to translate their actions into our language, and copy their obedience in our lives; that so we may, both by word and deed, glorify, with them, the Creator and Redeemer of the universe.” Praise him, all ye stars of light — Which bespangle the firmament, and constantly burn and shine to his glory, attracting, night after night, and from age to age, the attention, and exciting the admiration of every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people. Praise him, ye heavens of heavens — Ye highest and most glorious heavens, the place of God’s throne, and glorious presence, as this expression seems to mean, Deuteronomy 10:14 ; 1 Kings 8:27 : or, rather, the starry heavens, which also may be so called, because they are above the air, which is often called heaven in the Scriptures.

Praise ye him, sun and moon - The most conspicuous and glorious objects in the heavens, as apparent to the eyes of people. Praise him, all ye stars of light - A poetical expression to denote bright or shining stars. The phrase embraces all the stars as they strike the eyes of people. Each one has something special to it for which to praise God: and the entire groups - the immense multitudes, as such - should join in one chorus of praise.

The call does not rise step by step from below upwards, but begins forthwith from above in the highest and outermost spheres of creation. The place whence, before all others, the praise is to resound is the heavens; it is to resound in the heights, viz., the heights of heaven ( Job 16:19 ; Job 25:2 ; Job 31:2 ). The מן might, it is true, also denote the birth or origin: ye of the heavens, i.e., ye celestial beings (cf. Psalm 68:27 ), but the parallel בּמּרומים renders the immediate construction with הללוּ more natural. Psalm 148:2-4 tell who are to praise Jahve there: first of all, all His angels, the messengers of the Ruler of the world - all His host, i.e., angels and stars, for צבאו (Chethמb) or צבאיו (Kerמ as in Psalm 103:21 ) is the name of the heavenly host armed with light which God Tsebaoth commands (vid., on Genesis 2:1 ), - a name including both stars (e.g., in Deuteronomy 4:19 ) and angels (e.g., in Joshua 5:14 ., 1 Kings 22:19 ); angels and stars are also united in the Scriptures in other instances (e.g., Job 38:7 ). When the psalmist calls upon these beings of light to praise Jahve, he does not merely express his delight in that which they do under any circumstances (Hengstenberg), but comprehends the heavenly world with the earthly, the church above with the church here below (vid., on Psalm 29:1-11 ; Psalm 103 ), and gives a special turn to the praise of the former, making it into an echo of the praise of the latter, and blending both harmoniously together.

The heavens of heavens are, as in Deuteronomy 10:14 ; 1 Kings 8:27 , Sir. 16:18, and frequently, those which lie beyond the heavens of the earth which were created on the fourth day, therefore they are the outermost and highest spheres. The waters which are above the heavens are, according to Hupfeld, "a product of the fancy, like the upper heavens and the whole of the inhabitants of heaven." But if in general the other world is not a notion to which there is no corresponding entity, this notion may also have things for its substance which lie beyond our knowledge of nature. The Scriptures, from the first page to the last, acknowledge the existence of celestial waters, to which the rain-waters stand in the relation as it were of a finger-post pointing upwards (see Genesis 1:7 ). All these beings belonging to the superterrestrial world are to praise the Name of Jahve, for He, the God of Israel, it is by whose fiat (צוּה, like אמר in Psalm 33:9 ) (Note: The interpolated parallel member, αὐτὸς εἶπε καὶ ἐγενήθησαν, here in the lxx is taken over from that passage.)) the heavens and all their host are created (Psalm 33:6). He has set them, which did not previously exist, up (העמיד as e.g., in Nehemiah 6:7, the causative to עמד in Psalm 33:9, cf. Psalm 119:91), and that for ever and ever (Psalm 111:8), i.e., in order for ever to maintain the position in the whole of creation which He has assigned to them.