John Calvin Commentary Psalms 148:3

"Praise ye him, sun and moon: Praise him, all ye stars of light." — Psalms 148:3 (ASV)

Praise him, you sun and moon. This passage gives no support to the dream of Plato, that the stars excel in sense and intelligence. Nor does the Psalmist give them the same place as he had just assigned to angels, but merely indicates that the glory of God is everywhere to be seen, as if they sang his praises with an audible voice.

And here he tacitly reproves the ingratitude of man, for all would hear this symphony if they were at all attentive to considering the works of God. For does not the sun by his light, heat, and other marvelous effects, praise his Maker? When the stars run their course, and also adorn the heavens and give light to the earth, do they not sound the praises of God? But as we are deaf and insensible, the Psalmist calls upon them as witnesses to reprove our indolence.

By the heavens of heavens, he no doubt means the spheres. Eclipses and other things we observe plainly show both that the fixed stars are above the planets, and that the planets themselves are placed in different orbits.

The excellence of this contrivance the Psalmist justly commends, speaking expressly of the heavens of heavens; not as if there were really more heavens than one, but to extol the matchless wisdom which God has shown in creating the heavens; for the sun, moon, and stars are not confusedly mixed together, but each has its own position and station assigned to it, and their manifold courses are all regulated.

Since by the heavens he includes the air, or at least all the space from the middle region of the air upwards, he calls rains the waters above the heavens. There is no foundation for the conjecture some have made that there are waters deposited above the four elements. And when the Psalmist speaks of these waters as being above, he clearly points to the descent of the rain.

It is adhering too strictly to the letter of the words used to conceive that there were some sea in the heavens where the waters are permanently deposited. For we know that Moses and the Prophets ordinarily speak in a popular style, suited to the most basic understanding. It would be absurd, then, to try to conform what they say to the rules of philosophy.

For example, in the passage before us, the Psalmist notes the marvelous fact that God holds the waters suspended in the air, because it seems contrary to nature that they should rise up, and also that, though fluid, they should hang in empty space. Accordingly, it is said elsewhere that they are held there as enclosed in bottles (Psalms 33:7). The Psalmist has borrowed this form of expression from Moses, who says, that the waters were divided from the waters (Genesis 1:6).