Psalms 104:18

18 high hills be refuge to harts; the stone is refuge to urchins. (The high hills, or the mountains, be a refuge for the harts; and the stones be a refuge for the conies, or the rock badgers.)

Psalms 104:18 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 104:18

The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats
Who have their name in Hebrew F4 from their climbing and ascending them. What we commonly call "a wild goose chase" should be expressed "a wild goat's chase"; for not geese, but goats, are chased; and when they are, they flee to the hills for refuge. Hence they are sometimes called the wild goats of the rocks, ( Job 39:1 ) , and sometimes the rocks are called from them the rocks of wild goats, ( 1 Samuel 24:2 ) . The Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Arabic versions, render it "for the harts", or deer; and so Apollinarius: but the word is not used of them.

And the rocks for the conies;
who being a feeble folk, make their houses in them, to protect them from creatures of superior power and strength, ( Proverbs 30:26 ) . Some interpret it of the "hedgehog", as the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions: others of "hares", as the Syriac and Arabic, and so Apollinarius; and others of "mountain mice". Now what the hills and rocks are to the above creatures, a refuge and a habitation for them, that Christ is to those that fly to him for refuge; though weak and feeble, sinful and unworthy, he is their rock, the rock of their refuge, their strong tower, and place of defence.


FOOTNOTES:

F4 (Myley) ab (hle) Buxtorf. Lexic. fol. 322.

Psalms 104:18 In-Context

16 The trees of the field shall be [full-]filled, and the cedars of the Lebanon, which he planted; (The trees of the field be filled full with sap, and the cedars of Lebanon, which he planted;)
17 sparrows shall make nest there. The house of the gyrfalcon is the leader of those; (the sparrows make their nests there; and the homes of the gyrfalcons be on the tops of them.)
18 high hills be refuge to harts; the stone is refuge to urchins. (The high hills, or the mountains, be a refuge for the harts; and the stones be a refuge for the conies, or the rock badgers.)
19 He made the moon into times; the sun knew his going down. (Thou hast made the moon for telling times, or months; and the sun, it knoweth its time to go down, and when to set.)
20 Thou hast set darknesses, and night is made; all beasts of the wood shall go therein.
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.