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Charles H. Spurgeon on Psalms 104:19

The Treasury of David. Browse this work.

Psalms104:19

The sun knoweth his going down. The second clause is not to be rendered in the common way, "The sun knoweth his going down, "but according to the usual idiom, He, i.e., God knoweth the going down of the sun. Not to mention the unwanted and harsh form of the phrase, by which the knowledge of his setting is attributed to the sun, there appears no reason why it should be here used, since it is destitute of force, {1} or why he should turn from God as a cause, to the moving sun, when both before and afterwards he speaks of God, saying, "He appointed the moon, ""Thou makest darkness". Far more fitly, therefore, is he to be understood as speaking of God, as before and after, so in the middle, of the directing cause of the appearances of the moon, the setting of the sun, and the spread of darkness. God also is said more correctly to know the going down of the sun, than the sun himself, since to know has in effect the force of to cared for, as is often the case in other passages. Venema. {1} This excellent expounder cannot see the beauty of the poetic expression, and so proses in this fashion.

Charles H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Psalms 104:19. Public domain.

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