Commentaries:
Barnes' Notes
His going forth - The psalmist now describes that race which he has to run, as borne over the entire circuit of the heavens, from one end of it to another - sweeping the whole space across the firmament.
Is from the end of the heaven - From one end of the heaven; that is, from the East, where he starts.
And his circuit - The word used here - te qûphâh - means properly a coming about, or a return, as of the seasons, or of the year. It is found only in Exodus 34:22, "At the year' s end;" I Samuel 1:20, "When the time was come about" (Margin, in revolution of days); II Chronicles 24:23, "At the end of the year" (Margin, in the revolution of the year). The word here does not refer to the fact that the sun comes round to the starting-point on the following day, but to the sweep or circuit which he makes in the heavens from one end of it to the other - traveling over the entire heavens.
Unto the ends of it - That is, to the other side of the heavens. The plural term is used here perhaps from the idea of completeness, or to denote that there was nothing beyond. The complete journey was made.
And there is nothing hid from the heat thereof - The rays of the sun penetrate everywhere. Nothing escapes it. It is not a mere march for show and splendor; it is not an idle and useless journey in the heavens; but all things - vegetables, birds, beasts, men - all that lives - feel the effect of his vital warmth, and are animated by his quickening influence. Thus the sun in his goings illustrates the glory of God. The psalmist was fully alive to the splendor, the glory, and the value of this daily march over the heavens, and shows that while, as in the remainder of the psalm, he dwells on the law of the Lord as having another sphere, and in its place more fully illustrating the divine glory, he is not by any means insensible to the grandeur and beauty of the works of God as showing forth the divine perfections.
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