Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 148

From the heavens ... in the heights.— Some would translate you of the heavens, but the parallelism is in favour of the Authorised Version. “Heavens” and “heights” in this verse, and “angels” and “hosts” in the next, are analogously parallel. The heights contain the heavens (Job 25:2), as the hosts embrace the angels or messengers of God (Joshua 5:14); the larger term being in such a case placed synthetically last. The prepositions thus keep their full meaning. From the heavens, or from a choir in the heights, comes the burst of angelic praise.

Heavens of heavens. —See Psalms 68:33, and references.

Before passing downwards to the earth, the invocation pauses to combine all the heights. These heights have been previously addressed in the expression which denotes their position relative to the earth. This includes the highest heaven of all, and then the world of water which, in the Hebrew conception of the Cosmos, was supposed to be the foundation, while itself rests on the firmament or heavenly vault. (See Psalms 104:3.)

Established. —Literally, made to stand, i.e., set them up.

He has made... —Rather, he has made an ordinance, and will not transgress it. This interpretation is more obvious and natural than supplying a new subject to the second verb, as in “and none of them transgress it.”

This anticipates, though only in form, the modern scientific doctrine of the inviolability of natural order. It is the imperishable faithfulness of God that renders the law invariable.

See the remarkable passages, Jeremiah 31:36; Jeremiah 33:20, from which we conclude that a covenant was understood to have been made between God and nature, as between Jehovah and Israel, the one being as imperishable as the other. A comparison of the two passages referred to shows that the Hebrew words ordinance and covenant could be used synonymously.

The Authorised Version, which, following the Septuagint and Vulgate, makes the ordinance itself imperishable, violates the usage of the Hebrew verb.

Earth —The invocation now passes downwards, and the first sound of terrestrial praise is to come, according to the order of Creation in Genesis 1:0, from the sea-monsters (for which see Note, Psalms 74:13; Psalms 91:13), the “deeps” being added to include all great waters in which such creatures are found.

Fire. —Lightning, as in Psalms 18:12; Psalms 105:32, where it is also found with “hail.”

Vapours. —The same Hebrew word in Genesis 19:28 and Psalms 119:83 is rendered “smoke,” and from the use of the cognate verb is certainly connected with “burning.” Hence we probably have here the figure chiasmus (fire and hail, snow and smoke), the smoke answering to the fire, as the snow to the hail. On the other hand, from Psalms 18:8; Psalms 144:5, it is plain that the driving mists of a storm were regarded as smoke (compare to “The smoky mountain tops”—Tennyson).

This invocation of the powers of the air is a fine poetic touch, and shows the freedom of lyric treatment of the story of Creation, which in Genesis passes at once from the monsters of the deep to the land and its creatures. To the poet there is another region of life and power; other voices, which, though wild and fierce, may yet join in the grand anthem of praise.

Stormy wind. —As in Psalms 107:25, this, to us, free and uncontrollable agent is still only a messenger of Jehovah, fulfilling his word (Psalms 104:4).