Psalms 136:7

Psa 136:7 To him that made great lights: for his mercy [endureth] for ever:

Ver. 7. To him that made great lights] Without which we should have no more comfort of the air we breathe in than the Egyptians had in that three days’ darkness. Now the sun and moon are called great luminaries, not great stars or bodies (for the sun is less than some stars, and the moon is least of all), first, for the excellence of light which these two do more abundantly impart to the earth; and, secondly, for the effects they work; the sun by his access making all green and flourishing, and the contrary by his recess; the moon by its various aspect causing humours and marrows to increase or decrease, &c.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Psa 136:7-9. To him that made great lights, &c. — Great luminaries, placed in the firmament of heaven, to shed their light and influences upon the earth: see notes on Gen 1:14-16. “Light is the life and soul of the universe, the noblest emblem of the power and glory of God, who, even in the night season, leaves not himself without witness, but gives us some portion of that light reflected, which by day we behold flowing from its great fountain in the heart of heaven.”

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7. (Psa 136:7) To him that made great lights--for unto eternity (is) his mercy. The plural lights occurs only here, but is cognate and synonymous with the one used in Gen 1:14; Gen 1:16.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained (1850) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 7. Great lights] See the notes on the parallel passages in Genesis, &c. Ge 1:14-18

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

7. Who made the great lights, etc. — Moses calls the sun and moon the two great lights, and there is little doubt that the Psalmist here borrows the same phraseology. What is immediately added about the stars, is, as it were, accessory to the others. It is true, that the other planets are larger than the moon, but it is stated as second in order on account of its visible effects. The Holy Spirit had no intention to teach astronomy; and, in proposing instruction meant to be common to the simplest and most uneducated persons, he made use by Moses and the other Prophets of popular language, that none might shelter himself under the pretext of obscurity, as we will see men sometimes very readily pretended an incapacity to understand, when anything deep or recondite is submitted to their notice. Accordingly, as Saturn though bigger than the moon is not so to the eye owing to his greater distance, the Holy Spirit would rather speak childishly than unintelligibly to the humble and unlearned. The same remark may be made upon what the Psalmist adds regarding God’s having assigned the sun and moon their respective parts, making the one to rule the day, and the other to rule the night, by which we are not to understand that they exercise any government, but that the administrative power of God is very manifest in this distribution. The sun in illuminating the earth through the day, and the, moon and stars by night, may be said to yield a reverential homage to God.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(7) Lights.—An unusual word, meaning light itself, and not luminaries. But possibly the poet wished in one phrase to combine Gen_1:3; Gen_1:14-15.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7. O give thanks unto him that buildeth his city and his sanctuary (Psa_147:2 a), for &c.

7–9. Cp. Gen_1:14-16.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

To him that made great lights,.... For the inhabitants of the world to walk and work by, to do all the business of life in a comfortable manner; and which is an instance of mercy and goodness; see Gen 1:14;

for his mercy endureth for ever; these lights continuing for the benefit of mankind.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

To him that made great lights - Gen 1:14. The sun and the moon are here particularly referred to.

For his mercy ... - As manifested in all that has followed from the creation and diffusion of light - (all the beauty in the universe as seen; all the life, beauty, and vigor in the vegetable and animal world; all that there is of life and happiness in the universe - for there could be neither if darkness reigned everywhere); light, the emblem of happiness; the source of joy; the producer, in a great measure, of the beauties of the universe, and the revealer of those beauties everywhere. How can a man think of light and not praise its Author?

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ver. 7. To him that made great lights. This also is a creating miracle worthy of our loudest thanks. What could men have done without light? Though they had the heavens above them, and dry land to move upon, yet what could they see, and where could they go without light? Thanks be to the Lord, who has not consigned us to darkness. In great mercy he has not left us to an uncertain, indistinct light, floating about fitfully, and without order; but he has concentrated light upon two grand luminaries, which, as far as we are concerned, are to us "great lights." The Psalmist is making a song for common people, not for your critical savans, and so he sings of the sun and moon as they appear to us, the greatest of lights. These the Lord created in the beginning; and for the present age of man made or constituted them light bearers for the world.

For his mercy endureth for ever. Mercy gleams in every ray of light, and it is most clearly seen in the arrangement by which it is distributed with order and regularity from the sun and moon.

Lamps he lit in heaven's heights,

For in mercy he delights.

Ver. 7. Great lights. The luminaries of heaven are unspeakable blessings to the children of men. The sun, in the greatness of his strength, measures their day, and exerts an influence over animal and vegetable life, which surrounds them with innumerable comforts; and the moon and stars walking forth in their brightness, give direction to them amidst the sable hours of night, and both by land and sea proclaim the wisdom, and benignity, and gracious arrangement of the adorable Creator. By these luminaries, day and night, heat and cold, summer and winter are continually regulated: so that God's covenant with the earth is maintained through their medium. How truly, then, may we exclaim, "His mercy endureth for ever!" John Morison.

Ver. 7. To him that made great lights. Light is the life and soul of the universe, the noblest emblem of the power and glory of God, who, in the night season, leaves not himself without witness, but gives us some portion of that light reflected, which by day we behold flowing from its great fountain in the heart of heaven. Thy church and thy saints, O Lord, "are the moon and the stars", which, by the communication of doctrine, and the splendour of example, guide our feet, while we travel on in the night that hath overtaken us, waiting for the dawn of everlasting day. Then we shall behold thy glory, and see thee as thou art. George Horne.

Ver. 7. The mercy which dwells in the creation and distribution of light.

Ver. 7-9.

1. The constancy of rule.

2. The association of light with rule.

3. The perpetuity of mercy in this matter.

Psalms 136:8*

Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

To him that made great lights. (see Gen_1:14-16) For his mercy, etc.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.