Psalms 19 Footnotes

19:1 The first few verses form what is called natural revelation (Rm 1:19-20), meaning that the observation of creation calls for an acknowledgment of God’s existence. The wisdom and power and glory of God are displayed in what he has made; it is a continuous revelation in the skies (Ps 19:1-4) dominated by the sun (vv. 4-6).

19:5 The poetic description of the sun as a groom was intended to undermine a false belief in the sun’s divinity. In the ancient world the sun-god, who was also the god of law (later worshiped in Israel, 2Kg 23:11), was described in a similar way. The psalm, however, places the sun in a subordinate position within God’s creation, as does the Genesis account of creation (see Gn 1:14-19, where the heavenly lights appear only on the fourth day). The sun is not a divinity; instead, with its energy it dominates the skies as a testimony to its Creator.