Proceed we now to the interpretation of the words. The person spoken of and spoken unto in them is the Lord: 3) Kuper, “Thou, Lord.” The words are not in the psalm in this verse, but what is spoken is referred unto ‘?8, “my God:” “I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days;” comfort- ing himself, under the consideration of the frailty and misery of his life, with the thought and faith of the eternity and power of Christ. For be our lives never so frail, yet as to life eternal, because he liveth we shall live also, and he is of power to raise us up at the last day, John xiv. 19; 1 Cor. xv. 20; and that is the ground of all our consolation against the brevity and misery of our lives.) Whereby it also further appears that it is the Lord Christ whom the psalmist addresses himself unto; for from the absolute consideration of the omnipotency and eternity of God no consolation can be drawn. And, indeed, the people of the Jews having openly affirmed that they could not deal immediately with God but by a mediator,—
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which God eminently approved in them, wishing that such an heart would always abide in them, Deut. v. 25-29,—so as he suffered them not to approach his typical presence between the cherubim but by a typical mediator, their high priest, so also were they in- structed in their real approach unto God, that it was not to be made immediately to the Father but by the Son, whom in particular the apostle declares the psalmist in this place to intend.
Concerning this person, or the “ Lord,” he affirms two things, or attributes two things unto him. 1. The creation of heaven and earth; 2. The abolction or change of them. From that attribution he proceeds to a comparison between him and the most glorious of his creatures, and that as to duration or eternity; frailty and change in and of himself, one of the creatures, being that which in particular he addresseth himself to the Lord about.
The time or season of the creation is first intimated: Kar’ dp- ads, for év &py7,—that is, MW, “in the beginning,” or as the word is here, DBP, “of old,’ before they were or existed: ‘ They had their being and beginning from thee: of old they were not; but in thy season thou gavest existence or being unto them. “Thou hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of thy hands,”’ verse 10.
Two things are observable in this expression of the creation of all things:—1l. The distribution made of them into heaven and earth being distinctly mentioned. In the consideration of the works of God, to admire his greatness, power, and wisdom in them, or to set forth his praise for them, it is usual in the Scripture to distribute them into parts, the more to fix the contemplation of the mind upon them, and to excite it unto faith, admiration, and praise. So deal- eth the psalmist with the works of God’s providence in bringing the children of Israel out of Egypt, Ps. cxxxvi. He takes, as it were, that whole curious work into its several pieces, and subjoins that in- ference of praise to every one of them, “ For his mercy endureth for ever.” And so he dealeth with the works of creation, Ps. xix., and in sundry other places.» 2. What is peculiar in the expressions with respect unto each of them. (1.) Of the earth it is said he founded it, because of its stability and unmovableness; which is the language of the Scripture,—he set it fast, he established it, that it should not. be moved for ever. It may be, also, the whole fabric of heaven and earth is compared to an edifice or building, whereof the earth, as the lowest and most depressed part, is looked on as the foundation of the whole; but the stability, unmovableness, and firmness of it, is that which the word expresseth, and which is most properly in- tended. (2.) Of the heavens, that they are the works of his hands ; alluding to the curious frame and garnishing of them with all their host of glorious lights wherewith they are adorned. The 775¥, Job
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xxvi. 13, the beautifulness, adorning, or garnishing of the heavens, in the curious, glorious forming and fashioning of them, is that which, in a way of distinction, the psalmist aims to express in these words, “The heavens are the work of thy hands,’—that which thy hands, thy power, with infinite wisdom, hath framed, so as to set off and give lustre and beauty to the whole fabric, as a master work- man doth the upper and more noble parts of his building. This is the first thing assigned to the Lord in this testimony of his glory.
The second is in the change or abolition of them. Most suppose that the heavens and the earth at the last day shall only be changed, altered, or renewed, as to their quality and beauty; some, that they shall be utterly destroyed, consumed, and abolished. The discussing of that doubt belongs not directly to the interpretation or exposition of this place, neither sense of the words conducing particularly to the apostle’s purpose and design in reciting this testimony. It is enough to his argument that the work which was of old in the crea- tion of the world, and that which shall be in the mutation or aboli- tion of it,—which is no less an effect of infinite power than the for- mer,—are ascribed unto the Lord Christ. Whatever the work be, he compares it to a garment no more to be used, or at least not to be used in the same kind wherein it was before; and the work itself to the folding up or rolling up of such a garment,—intimating the greatness of him by whom this work shall be performed, and the facility of the work unto him. The whole creation is as a garment, wherein he shows his power clothed unto men; whence in particu- lar he is said to clothe himself with light as with a garment. And in it is the hiding of his power. Hid it is, asa man is hid with a garment; not that he should not be seen at all, but that he should not be seen perfectly and as he is. It shows the man, and he is known by it; but also it hides him, that he is not perfectly or fully seen. So are the works of creation unto God. He so far makes them his garment or clothing as in them to give out some instances of his power and wisdom; but he is also hid in them, in that by them no creature can come to the full and perfect knowledge of him. Now, when this work shall cease, and God shall unclothe or unveil all his glory to his saints, and they shall know him perfectly, see him as he is, so far as a created nature is capable of that com- prehension, then will he lay them aside and fold them up, at least as to that use, as easily as a man lays aside a garment that he will wear or use no more. ‘This lies in the metaphor.