Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

104:5-9 The Lord Set Bounds for the Land and the Sea. This section stresses the reliability of the world God made, based on the third day of creation (where the land and the water become separate); the dry land is a safe and suitable place for its inhabitants. The telling in Gen. 1:9-10 is very sparse and broad-stroke, while here the narration is more imaginative. Some have supposed that these verses are referring to the flood story, but the setting of the whole psalm is God's continuing care for his creation, rather than his judgment.

104:5 never be moved. This describes the stability of the earth (see note on 93:1), in this case the secure allocation of water and dry land to their proper places.

104:7 At your rebuke. Mark may have had this text in mind when he wrote that Jesus "rebuked the wind" and commanded the sea (Mark 4:39), implying that Jesus wielded the same authority as the Lord God (cf. Mark 2:7).

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