I am currently working on a project which will include a series of ‘short’ expositions of key biblical texts as part of a larger discussion of a biblical theology of revelation. I’m sure that the final versions will need to be shorter than my initial attempt. So, I’ll put the longer version here. The first text for treatment is Psalm 19.

Introduction: structure and background

Psalm 19 is song of praise (though it has something in common with wisdom psalms). More significant than its genre, its themes relate it to Scripture psalms (Ps 1:1-6; Ps 119) and those which reflect on God’s glory in nature (Ps 8:1-2; 104:1-4; cf Ps 57:5; 108:5; 113:4; 148:13).

The psalm has three sections, each with a distinct theme and feel, which together offer a moving meditation on God’s revelation. Earlier critical scholarship emphasised the different sections so much as to suggest that the biblical version is a compilation of two or three discreet works. ¹ In fact, many details serve to tie the work into an impressive unity. Speech from God and before God is clearly the major theme. References to nature in the opening section correspond to nature motifs in the later section in which the Lord’s commands give light (v8) and warmth (v11), and are more precious than gold and sweeter than honey (v10).

It is likely that the Psalm is meant to contrast with the worship of the sun-god. The Lord could be described as the sun (Ps 84:11) and some idolatrous Israelites probably sought to worship the Lord through the sun (2 Kgs 23:11; Ezek 8:16).

This worship was influenced by the sun gods of other nations. The Akkadian sun god Shamash offers a remarkable parallel to Psalm 19. His name sounds much like the Hebrew word for the heavens (hashamayim), which is the first word of the psalm. Shamash had the power of light to use against darkness and evil, so he was the god of justice and the judge and governor of gods and humans. He was a heroic conqueror of night and death and rode across the heaven on horseback or in a boat or chariot. A legend told that the Babylonian king Hammurabi received his famous law code from Shamash. ² The place of the sun in the Ancient Near East pantheon underlines just how wondrous and central the sun was in the imagination of these cultures. Against this background, Psalm 19 presents a radically different view of the Lord and his revelation.

The glory of God in the sun (vv1-6)

The opening section of the Psalm (vv1-6) directs attention to the sun, the most obvious display of the power and glory of the Creator. It declares God’s glory and displays his work, as make it makes majestic progress across the sky, like a bridegroom or a great warrior — both impressive and celebrated figures.

Loader’s suggestion seems likely, that the psalmist imagines a tent set above the heavens from which the sun appears each dawn and into which it withdraws each dusk. During the night, the sun moves, unseen, back through the tent, to reappear and repeat its majestic progress. The point is that sun is not divine but passes through the heavenly tent God has provided. It spreads knowledge of God’s glory as it warms and lights the whole world. So, the psalm opens directing our attention to the overwhelming beauty of the skies as a revelation of the glory of the Creator. ³

There is a deliberate tension between the claims of verses 2-4. On the one hand the sun constantly ‘speaks’ of God, night and day, repeating its proclamation in the diurnal rhythm, although it has no ‘words’. ⁴ Nevertheless, its message goes everywhere. ⁵ This is revelation by display rather than speech.

The glory of the Lord in the law (vv7-9)

The second section of the Psalm turns to the word of the Lord, shifting from speaking of ‘God’ (el) to using his personal name, the Lord (Yahweh). The law of the Lord brings a personal knowledge of him in the context of his covenant. The section has a repeated pattern of a synonym for the law which is identifies it as from the Lord and ascribed an attribute and is stated to be a blessing. The repetition is emphatic. The final couplet breaks the pattern slightly, to climax with assertion that the decrees of the law are all together righteous.

Most of the synonyms (law, statutes, precepts, commands, decrees) obviously refer to the Mosaic law. The apparent exception of the “fear” of the Lord (v9) is closely related to the law, since the law taught Israel to fear the Lord, and fear of the Lord was to accompany obedience to the law (Deut. 6:2, 13, 24). The attributes (perfect, trustworthy, right, radiant, pure, firm, righteous) affirm the reliability, integrity and goodness of the law; which results in the blessings (refreshment, wisdom, joy and light). These echo the blessings attributed to the sun god in the ANE, though in fact they come from the Lord and through his law more clearly and fully than through the displays of created world. “While creation may offer a voiceless praise to God’s glory, the Lord has given … a concrete word that humans can access by studying the Scriptures”. ⁶

The glory of the Lord in the life of the psalmist (vv10-14)

The third part of the Psalm turns to the psalmist’s response to the law of the Lord. He is “the servant of the Lord” (v11) and he receives the laws joyfully. They are more precious, or desirable, than the purest goal and sweeter than the sweetest honey. The final verses focus on the moral significance of the laws, an aspect which is not at all apparent in the solar revelation. The law warns and reveals hidden actions and wilful (or proud) sins. So, it leads the psalmist to plead for forgiveness (the word is repeated in vv12-13). The final verse asks that the entire psalm should be considered as “pleasing” (ratzon) a term used to describe acceptable sacrifices (Ex. 28:38) or worship (Lev. 19:5). This suggests that the psalm is viewed as an act of worship and may even be offered by the priests. That, in turn, reaffirms the likelihood that the forgiveness is sought through the sacrificial system.

Theological reflections

In the cultural idiom of its time, Psalm 19 emphasises that the most impressive aspects of creation (in this case the sun) serve the Creator by declaring his glory. The antidote to creature worship is not to deny its splendour, but to allow that to direct us to God. The biblical vision exalts in the wonder of creation as a testimony to God. It invites us to enjoy the world, recognise its goodness and grandeur. The nature poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins offers wonderful Christian reflection on the same reality, in modern idiom. Hopkins sees that “the world is charged with the grandeur of God”, thought he is not so struck by the glory of the sun, but by the “pied beauty” for “dappled things”.

God’s Grandeur The Windhover Pied Beauty As Kingfishers Catch Fire

Psalm 19 call us to look at nature with the same vision.

The Psalm itself says nothing of the failure of revelation in creation to direct humans to God. It does, however, lay foundations for the later distinction between general and special revelation. The two sources reveal the same God, but the law speaks words to reveal God with his covenant name and to direct the life of his people.

The rhetorical impact of the Psalm should be to focus us on the blessing of God’s law and to think about our own response. Revelation in creation is glorious and brings light and warmth, yet the law surpasses it with greater radiance. It is far more valuable and precious. Just as ancients were easily overwhelmed by the glory of the sun, moderns can be captivated by the microscopic and macroscopic worlds. Psalm 19 tells us that the law of the Lord shines his glory more brilliantly than the wonders of nature.

The Psalm also demonstrates what the Reformers called the first use of the law. It shows up our failings and sin, and should turns us to seek forgiveness. The psalmist knew that through the sacrificial system which is now fulfilled in Christ. The law, for all its wonderful revelation, should turn us to the revelation of God in Christ. In him we know the Lord, our Rock and Redeemer”.

1. 1. For a summary, see B.D. Sommer, “Nature, Revelation, and Grace in Psalm 19: Towards a Theological Reading of Scripture” Harvard Theological Review 108. 3 (2015): 381 n. 16-17.
2. 2. See “Shamash” Encyclopædia Britannica (2016) cited August 31, 2019.
3. 3. See J.A. Loader, “What do the heavens declare? On the Old Testament motif of God’s beauty in creation”, HTS 67.3(2011), Art. #1098, http:// dx.doi.org/10.4102/hts. v67i3.1098 p5.
4. 4. The NIV (1984) gives the other possible sense of the verse “There is no voice or language their voice is not heard”. See Nancy L. deClaisse-Walford et al, The Book of Psalms (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014), 207.
5. 5. The original text probably reads “their measuring line goes out into all the earth”, though the ancient Greek and Latin versions say “their voice goes out into all the earth”, see deClaisse-Walford, 205, n.9. The point is that the heavens declare God’s glory to everyone, whatever reading is chosen for the first part of the verse.
6. 6. deClaisse-Walford, 209.