Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 136:7
To him that made great lights: for his mercy [endureth] forever:
7. O give thanks unto him that buildeth his city and his sanctuary (Psa 147:2 a), for &c.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
7 9. Cp. Gen 1:14-16.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
To him that made great lights – Gen 1:14. The sun and the moon are here particularly referred to.
For his mercy … – As manifested in all that has followed from the creation and diffusion of light – (all the beauty in the universe as seen; all the life, beauty, and vigor in the vegetable and animal world; all that there is of life and happiness in the universe – for there could be neither if darkness reigned everywhere); light, the emblem of happiness; the source of joy; the producer, in a great measure, of the beauties of the universe, and the revealer of those beauties everywhere. How can a man think of light and not praise its Author?
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 7. Great lights] See the notes on the parallel passages in Genesis, &c. Ge 1:14-18
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
To him that made great lights,…. For the inhabitants of the world to walk and work by, to do all the business of life in a comfortable manner; and which is an instance of mercy and goodness; see Ge 1:14;
for his mercy [endureth] for ever; these lights continuing for the benefit of mankind.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
7. Who made the great lights, etc. — Moses calls the sun and moon the two great lights, and there is little doubt that the Psalmist here borrows the same phraseology. What is immediately added about the stars, is, as it were, accessory to the others. It is true, that the other planets are larger than the moon, but it is stated as second in order on account of its visible effects. The Holy Spirit had no intention to teach astronomy; and, in proposing instruction meant to be common to the simplest and most uneducated persons, he made use by Moses and the other Prophets of popular language, that none might shelter himself under the pretext of obscurity, as we will see men sometimes very readily pretended an incapacity to understand, when anything deep or recondite is submitted to their notice. Accordingly, as Saturn though bigger than the moon is not so to the eye owing to his greater distance, the Holy Spirit would rather speak childishly than unintelligibly to the humble and unlearned. The same remark may be made upon what the Psalmist adds regarding God’s having assigned the sun and moon their respective parts, making the one to rule the day, and the other to rule the night, by which we are not to understand that they exercise any government, but that the administrative power of God is very manifest in this distribution. The sun in illuminating the earth through the day, and the, moon and stars by night, may be said to yield a reverential homage to God.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(7) Lights.An unusual word, meaning light itself, and not luminaries. But possibly the poet wished in one phrase to combine Gen. 1:3; Gen. 1:14-15.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 136:7 To him that made great lights: for his mercy [endureth] for ever:
Ver. 7. To him that made great lights ] Without which we should have no more comfort of the air we breathe in than the Egyptians had in that three days’ darkness. Now the sun and moon are called great luminaries, not great stars or bodies (for the sun is less than some stars, and the moon is least of all), first, for the excellence of light which these two do more abundantly impart to the earth; and, secondly, for the effects they work; the sun by his access making all green and flourishing, and the contrary by his recess; the moon by its various aspect causing humours and marrows to increase or decrease, &c.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
great lights. Gen 1:14, “lightholders”.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 74:16, Psa 74:17, Psa 104:19, Gen 1:14-19, Deu 4:19
Reciprocal: Gen 1:16 – to rule Jos 10:13 – So the sun Job 38:12 – commanded Psa 8:3 – moon Psa 148:3 – sun Jer 31:35 – which giveth 2Co 4:6 – who
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 136:7-9. To him that made great lights, &c. Great luminaries, placed in the firmament of heaven, to shed their light and influences upon the earth: see notes on Gen 1:14-16. Light is the life and soul of the universe, the noblest emblem of the power and glory of God, who, even in the night season, leaves not himself without witness, but gives us some portion of that light reflected, which by day we behold flowing from its great fountain in the heart of heaven.