John Calvin Commentary Psalms 104:10

"He sendeth forth springs into the valleys; They run among the mountains;" — Psalms 104:10 (ASV)

Sending out springs by the valleys. The Psalmist here describes another instance of both the power and goodness of God, which is that he makes fountains gush out in the mountains and run down through the midst of the valleys. Although it is necessary for the earth to be dry to make it a fit habitation for us, yet, unless we had water to drink and unless the earth opened her veins, all kinds of living creatures would perish.

The prophet, therefore, speaks in commendation of that arrangement by which the earth, though dry, yet supplies us with water by its moisture. The word נחלים, nechalim, which I have rendered springs, is by some translated torrents or rivers; but springs is more appropriate. In the same sense it is added immediately after, that they run among the hills; and yet, it is scarcely credible that fountains could spring forth from rocks and stony places.

But here it may be asked, why the prophet says that the beasts of the field quench their thirst, rather than men, for whose sake the world was created? I would observe, in reply, that he obviously spoke in this manner for the purpose of enhancing the goodness of God, who graciously extends his care to the animal creation, indeed, even to the wild asses, under which species are included all other kinds of wild beasts.

And he purposely refers to desert places, so that each of us may compare with them the more pleasant and cultivated parts of the earth, afterwards mentioned. Rivers run even through great and desolate wildernesses, where the wild beasts enjoy some blessing of God; and no country is so barren as not to have trees growing here and there, on which birds make the air resound with the melody of their singing.

Since even those regions where everything lies waste and uncultivated provide clear signs of the Divine goodness and power, with what admiration should we regard that most abundant supply of all good things, which is to be seen in cultivated and favorable regions?

Surely, in countries where not only one river flows, or where not only grass grows for the feeding of wild beasts, or where the singing of birds is heard not only from a few trees, but where a manifold and varied abundance of good things everywhere presents itself to our view, our stupidity is more than brutish if our minds, by such manifestations of the goodness of God, are not fixed in devout meditation on his glory.

The same subject is pursued in the 13th verse, where it is said that God watereth the mountains from his chambers. It is no ordinary miracle that the mountains, which seem to be condemned to perpetual drought and, in a way, are suspended in the air, nevertheless abound in pastures.

The prophet, therefore, justly concludes that this fruitfulness proceeds from nothing else than the agency of God, who is their secret cultivator. Labor cannot indeed, in the proper sense, be attributed to God, but still it is not without reason applied to him; for, by merely blessing the earth from the place of his repose, he works more effectively than if all the people in the world were to exhaust themselves with constant labor.