Psalms 104:3

Layeth the beams. — Literally, maketh to meet The meaning of the Hebrew word, which is an exact equivalent of the Latin contignare, is clear from Nehemiah 2:8; Nehemiah 3:3; Nehemiah 3:6, and from the meaning of the derived noun (2 Kings 6:2; 2 Kings 6:5; Song of Solomon 1:17).

Chambers. — Literally, lofts or upper stories. (See 2 Kings 4:10; Jeremiah 22:13.)

In the waters. — The manner of this ethereal architecture is necessarily somewhat difficult to picture. The pavilion which God rears for His own abode appears to rest on a floor of rain-clouds, like a tent spread on a flat eastern roof. (See Psalms 18:11; Amos 9:6.) Southey’s description of the Palace of Indra may perhaps help the imagination: —

“Built on the lake, the waters were its floor;
And here its walls were water arched with fire,
And here were fire with water vaulted o’er;

And spires and pinnacles of fire
Round watery cupolas aspire,

And domes of rainbow rest on fiery towers.”

Curse of Kehama.

Who maketh the clouds His chariot. — See Psalms 18:10, probably the original of this verse; chariot (rekhûb) here taking the place of cherub.

Walketh upon the wings of the wind. — Doubtless the metaphor is taken from the clouds, which, in a wind-swept sky, float along like “the drifted wings of many companies of angels.” The clause is thus in direct parallelism with the description of the cloud chariot. The figure has passed into modern song:

“Every gust of rugged wings

That blows from off each beaked promontory.”

MILTON: Lycidas.

“No wing of wind the region swept.”

TENNYSON: In Memoriam.