Psalms 104:5

יסד ארץ על מכוניה yasad erets al mechonepha,

בל תמוט עולם ועד bal tammot olam vaed.

"Laying the earth upon its foundations,

That it should not be shaken for evermore."

This image Bishop Lowth thinks evidently taken from the tabernacle, which was so laid upon its foundations that nothing could move it, and the dispensation to which it was attached, till the end purposed by the secret counsel of God was accomplished: and thus the earth is established, till the end of its creation shall be fully answered; and then it and its works shall be burnt up. On the above ground, the stability of the sanctuary and the stability of the earth are sometimes mentioned in the same words.

Who laid the foundations of the earth - Referring still to the creation of the earth. The margin is, "He hath founded the earth upon her bases." The Hebrew word rendered in the margin "her bases" means properly a place; then a basis or foundation. The idea is, that there wes something, as it were, placed under the earth to support it. The idea is not uncommon in the Scriptures. Compare the notes at Job 38:4.

That it should not be removed for ever - So that it cannot be shaken out of its place. That is, It is fixed, permanent, solid. Its foundations do not give way, as edifices reared by man. but it abides the same from age to age - the most fixed and stable object of which we have any knowledge. Compare the notes at Psalm 78:69.

104:5 Who laid - Heb. he hath established the earth upon its own basis, whereby it stands as fast and unmoveable, as if it were built upon the strongest foundations. Forever - As long as the world continues. God has fixt so strange a place for the earth, that being an heavy body, one would think it should fall every moment. And yet which way so ever we would imagine it to stir, it must, contrary to the nature of such a body, fall upwards, and so can have no possible ruin, but by tumbling into heaven.