Bless the LORD, O my soul. O LORD my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and majesty. Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain: Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind: Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire: Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever. Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood above the mountains.
(Psalms 104:1-6) KJV
We know, it’s the Psalms, it’s just poetry, right? Here’s the thing: it can be poetry and accurate physics at the same time.
The first verse of the passage above is obviously acknowledging the greatness of God with a statement praising Him, but the following four verses each describe parts of the creation process which we find to be accurate physics. It is not chronological or linear, but it is a summary of the creative acts of the first three days of creation.
Taking Bible verses out of context and making doctrines is dangerous, but what if we keep the context and find that they are consistent with our paradigm, the broad narrative of scripture and empirical observations?
Let’s take it line by line:
Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain:
(Psalms 104:2) KJV
In context this refers to the 3rd heaven, the firmament translated from the word raqia, meaning a rigid structure like metal beaten into a thin sheet. This is identified as the sea of glass, and we know that it shines as brightly as the sun. As such, the phrase, coverest thyself with light as with a garment, may be poetic, but is literally true. The 3rd heaven is a sphere of crystal on the edge of space. It encloses the universe and shines brightly. It was stretched out just like a curtain, so that’s not just poetic either.
Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind:
(Psalms 104:3) KJV
This is something that we will cover next month when we discuss the third day. The beams of his chambers in the waters, refers to the pillars of the earth which are part of the earth’s internal structure. There is a great gulf of empty space inside the earth and this was filled by the waters of the deep as part of the process of creation. It may be poetic but it is also physically accurate. In the next few days as we draw to the end of February we will also see that God can use the clouds as a chariot. I have written on this subject before if you want to check it out. The wind having wings sounds a lot like poetry to me, I don’t have a direct link to something physical for that.
Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire:
(Psalms 104:4) KJV
This is another statement of a simple fact, even though it may be being expressed poetically. We will see in the discussion of the 6th day when God created mankind that there is a clear difference between soul and spirit. All life that has a body, metabolism and breath has a soul and spirit.
Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever.
(Psalms 104:5) KJV
We have discussed this at length already. The foundations of the earth occurs several times in scripture, and every time the context is consistent with us applying this phrase to the original gravitational singularity at the center of the spherical earth. We have also seen that even though the earth itself will be destroyed and replaced, the foundations of the earth will continue to exist and will be the basis for the establishment of the new heaven and new earth.
It is very clear that today’s passage, Psalms 104:1-5 is similar to Proverbs 8:22-31 in that we have very accurate details of the physical process of creation in the guise of poetry. This should not be any surprise though, because Jesus gave us the reason for why:
And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
(Matthew 13:10-13) KJV
Matty (Headwind) 