Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 19:6
His going forth [is] from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.
6. The beneficent influences of his light and heat are universally felt.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
His going forth – The psalmist now describes that race which he has to run, as borne over the entire circuit of the heavens, from one end of it to another – sweeping the whole space across the firmament.
Is from the end of the heaven – From one end of the heaven; that is, from the East, where he starts.
And his circuit – The word used here – tequphah – means properly a coming about, or a return, as of the seasons, or of the year. It is found only in Exo 34:22, At the years end; 1Sa 1:20, When the time was come about (Margin, in revolution of days); 2Ch 24:23, At the end of the year (Margin, in the revolution of the year). The word here does not refer to the fact that the sun comes round to the starting-point on the following day, but to the sweep or circuit which he makes in the heavens from one end of it to the other – traveling over the entire heavens.
Unto the ends of it – That is, to the other side of the heavens. The plural term is used here perhaps from the idea of completeness, or to denote that there was nothing beyond. The complete journey was made.
And there is nothing hid from the heat thereof – The rays of the sun penetrate everywhere. Nothing escapes it. It is not a mere march for show and splendor; it is not an idle and useless journey in the heavens; but all things – vegetables, birds, beasts, men – all that lives – feel the effect of his vital warmth, and are animated by his quickening influence. Thus the sun in his goings illustrates the glory of God. The psalmist was fully alive to the splendor, the glory, and the value of this daily march over the heavens, and shows that while, as in the remainder of the psalm, he dwells on the law of the Lord as having another sphere, and in its place more fully illustrating the divine glory, he is not by any means insensible to the grandeur and beauty of the works of God as showing forth the divine perfections.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 19:6
There is nothing hid from the heat thereof.
The moral uses of the weather
1. The contrasts and the changes of the seasons. What a picture of the vicissitudes of human life is in them! The experience of thousands has ranged from the extreme severity of winters poverty to the scorching blaze of midsummer prosperity. The man of wealth yesterday has become the beggar of today. Such contrasts and changes seem to have been far more numerous of late years than formerly.
2. Doubtless the extremes of heat and cold have their part to play in the beneficent economy of nature; yet no one doubts the physical evils that arise from them. To some, no doubt, the cold of winter seems invigorating and bracing, but to multitudes severity means death. So, too, there may be those to whom poverty and trial are stimulants to patient endurance, and develop some of the nobler qualities of the soul. We question, however, whether those are not the exceptions rather than the rule. Many of those around us are what they are largely because of their surroundings. When a man loses the stimulus of hope it is not very likely that his life will blossom into much moral beauty. We often hear it said, that prosperity is more dangerous to a mans virtues than adversity; but we question whether there is not far more moral evil traceable to human poverty than many well-to-do philosophers are apt to imagine.
3. The poets have been influenced by something more than fancy when they have associated the ideas of cold and death, heat and life. Cold is only a relative term. Heat is essential to life.
4. The sun is the chief source whence heat is derived. The resistless energies of this omnipotent and all-pervading agent are in constant operation. There is not an instant or time that heat is not performing some important duty in fulfilment of the Divine purposes.
5. How dependent we are upon the weather for a bountiful harvest! Every summer brings us within a measurable distance of absolute want. The harvest, at best, does but provide for the wants of the year. It is seemly, then, that we should pray to the Lord of the harvest, that our garners may be full. Practical lessons–
(1) Earthly prosperity may be a legitimate object of desire. There is a cheap affectation of virtue which pretends to despise wealth.
(2) Do not overlook the connection between circumstance and condition.
(3) Recognise the lesson that spiritual, not less than physical, life, is dependent upon heat. It is so in the individual soul; it is so in the Church. Some men lament their own spiritual deadness, yet never take any steps to increase their store of vital heat. Death is the absence of life; cold is the absence of heat. Nothing can quicken the life of the soul, or produce in us the beauty of holiness, but the direct influence of the Sun of Righteousness. Only as we can get more perfectly into the presence of God, and have our cold natures warmed and our languid pulses quickened by His life, shall we have that for which we yearn. (F. Wagstaff.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
His course is constant from east to west, and thence to the east again. There is no part of the earth which doth not one time or other feel the comfort and benefit of its light and heat.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
His going forth is from the end of the heaven,…. From the east, where it rises:
and his circuit to the ends of it; to the west, where it sets; which is expressive of the large compass the Gospel administration took in the times of the apostles; whereby the grace of God appeared to all men, shone out in a very illustrious manner, and Christ became, what the sun is to the earth, the light of the world;
and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof; though things may be hid from the light of it, yet not from its heat, so forcible and penetrating it is Christ, in the administration of the Gospel to all to whom it comes with power, not only enlightens their minds, but quickens their souls, warms their hearts, causes them to burn within them, arises with healing in his wings upon them, and makes his Gospel the savour of life unto life unto them. The psalmist goes on to say more and excellent things of the Gospel, its nature and usefulness.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
6. From the end of the heaven unto the ends of it The description is in the language of common life. But as the natural sun appears to sweep the circuit of the heavens, flooding the celestial spaces with his light and heat, so spiritually does the “Sun of righteousness” (Mal 4:2,) who also is the “Bridegroom.” Joh 3:29
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 19:6 His going forth [is] from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.
Ver. 6. His going forth is from the end of the heaven ] i.e, From the east unto the west, in which course, notwithstanding, while he compasseth the circle of heaven and earth, he visiteth the south and the north, and is unweariable.
And there is nothing hid from the heat thereof
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
His going: Psa 139:9, Job 25:3, Ecc 1:5, Col 1:23
circuit: Job 22:14
Reciprocal: Gen 1:16 – to rule Gen 1:18 – General Pro 17:8 – gift
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 19:6. His going forth is from the end of heaven His course is constant from east to west, and thence to the east again. Or, the light diffused on every side from its fountain, extendeth to the extremities of heaven, filling the whole circle of creation; penetrating even to the inmost substances of grosser bodies, and acting in and through all other matter as the general cause of life and motion. Horne. And there is nothing hid from the heat thereof There is no part of the earth which doth not, at one time or other, feel the comfort and benefit of its light and heat; and there is no creature which does not, more or less, partake of its influence.