He maketh the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man; bringing forth bread out of the earth,
Psalm 104 walks through creation, and verse 14 is where the song reaches the dinner table. Behind that ordinary sight the psalm puts a Person. Two questions follow: who feeds the world, and what does that make of us?
The verse sits in a run of psalms that praise God from different angles:
In Psalm 103 he blesses Jehovah as the Forgiver and Healer of His people; in Psalm 104 as the glorious Creator; in Psalm 105 as faithful to His covenant with the fathers, and to His promises.
It also follows the order of the creation account. Grass and plants for man belong to the same day:
God also made the grass grow for cattle, and plants for man's use, on the same day, along with the trees that bear fruit (vv. 14-17). Then came the moon to mark the seasons, and the sun, making darkness and light, on the fourth day.
The verse feeds the animals before it feeds man:
He also causes grass to grow for the farm animals, because He does not despise any of His creatures but shows them constant kindness. He provides other plants for man's use as well, and so brings food out of the earth (v. 14).
That care reaches creatures no farmer feeds:
In Psalm 104 the Psalmist praised Him who sends the springs into the valleys, so that they run among the mountains. They are not for man only, nor for every beast of the field, even the wildest of them, but for the birds as well, who sing out among the branches.
God gives man a place of honour here: the plants grow for his use. Yet one writer points to the twist in it. The creature set highest is the one least able to survive alone.
So the grass grows for cattle and plants for man's use. God is set on sustaining this creature. He has placed man on the earth with dignity, as His image and likeness, to know Him and to be for Him. And so He made him the most dependent of all, precisely because he is master of all. Where is there a creature born to such weakness and such long helplessness as a human baby? Where is there one so defenceless by nature as a man in his prime, with no tooth or claw, no strength or speed, and even his skin bare to the wind? What is meant to show itself in him is spirit, and it does show — but only as he owns his dependence and uses all God's gifts with care.
Food comes up out of the ground, and it still comes up in a world that has gone wrong:
The true God gives to all life and breath and everything else. Even in a ruined world this active goodness went out to all alike… How many are Your works, O Jehovah! In wisdom You have made them all. The earth is full of Your riches… What a commentary Psalm 104 is on God's sustaining goodness!
Because the harvest keeps coming, no one can say God has gone silent. Paul once made that point out loud, to a crowd in the town of Lystra:
When the Apostle Paul was preaching to the restless crowds at Lystra, he reminded them that in past times God had let the nations go their own ways. Even so, the rain given from heaven and the fruitful seasons, the food and gladness that filled their hearts, were a testimony to the Creator. He did not leave Himself without witness. God's witness to people through creation never stops.
If God is the one growing it, then eating is not a neutral act:
God knows our needs. He is a faithful Creator and He remembers how He has fashioned us. He has given us bodies, they need feeding, and He has provided food for that. Every mouthful we eat declares our dependence on God and should humble us before Him. We could not live without His provision for our daily needs. Knowing this would keep us from living independently of God, guard us from uncontrolled appetites, and keep us thankful to Him every day of our lives.
- He causes. The verb belongs to God. Psalm 104 blesses Him as the glorious Creator, as Psalm 103 blesses Him as Forgiver and Healer.
- He causes for cattle. The animals come first, because He does not despise any of His creatures. His springs run for the wildest beasts and for the birds.
- He causes for man. Plants grow for man's use. Yet God made the creature He set highest the most dependent of all — dignity and helplessness together on purpose.
- He causes still. Even in a ruined world this goodness goes out to all alike. Rain and fruitful seasons are His unceasing witness; He did not leave Himself without witness.
- So we answer. Every mouthful declares our dependence. That should humble us, guard us from uncontrolled appetites, and keep us thankful every day.
And wine which gladdeneth the heart of man; making [his] face shine with oil; and with bread he strengtheneth man's heart.
Psalm 104 sings of the Creator at work. Verse 15 stops on three things that come out of the ground — wine, oil and bread. Why does God give what gladdens and beautifies a man, and not only what keeps him alive?
The psalm does not describe a world God once made and then left.
The psalmist does not think of the Creator only in His past work as the Originator of all, but in His present work as the Sustainer of His creation. So he can say, "He sends the springs" — not simply that He sent them in the past; He does so now. Again he says, "He waters the hills," and "He causes the grass to grow." It is the present sustaining mercy of the Creator that fills the soul with praise.
The giving reaches everyone alike, and it goes on in a world spoiled by sin.
The true God gives to all life and breath and all things. Even in a ruined world this active kindness went out impartially. He makes the grass grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man… What a comment Psalm 104 is on God's sustaining goodness!
The word for "man" here means frail man. One writer notes how the psalm repeats it: the same weak creature gets both his gladness and his strength.
Truly he is "frail man" (enosh); but now, sadly, he is called to know a frailty that comes not from creation but from his sin. There is discipline for him in it, which he needs, and in it divine love still acts. That added need has brought out God's tenderness as never before: the wine that gladdens frail man's heart, the bread that strengthens frail man's heart. How the words, and the repetition of the words, breathe of God's thoughtful care in holding up one who may so easily give way to discouragement!
The same wine appears in the offerings poured out to God, and there it stands for joy. That corrects anyone who thinks God enjoys our misery.
A "drink offering" is poured on too. This was of wine, "wine to gladden the heart of man," wine "which cheers God and man." It is a symbol of joy, and it goes with all the offerings except the sin and trespass offerings… The monkish idea that devotion is a gloomy and painful exercise is not divine; it is devilish. Many excellent people have done much to encourage and keep that idea alive, though it is a gross slander on God and godliness.
Some have read the wine of this verse as unfermented grape juice. One writer answers that the same reasoning would turn the bread into corn.
The teetotal argument built on Psalm 104:13-15 is worthless, because oil and bread, no less than wine, are said to be brought out of the earth. If the context proves "wine" to mean grapes, it equally proves "bread" to mean corn; and if the second is unreasonable, so is the first.
Another writer traces the question back to the Creator.
Whatever God has created is good; it is man's sin that turns it into evil. Drunkenness is the abuse of a creature of God. The created thing itself is good, and its proper use is beneficial. But treating the thing as evil really reproaches God with having created an evil thing, and so far reduces or denies man's sin in the matter.
Commentators do not stop at the harvest. They read the three gifts as pictures of a lasting blessing.
These things perish in the using. For us they are only the types of what our spiritual blessing is in its eternally rich and endlessly ample character. The antitype of the corn is clearly the person of Christ Himself… Of the wine we find the antitype in His work of redemption; for in this sense alone can we understand the heart of God to be cheered by wine… And of the oil the antitype is the Holy Spirit poured out — the holy anointing oil.
The oil explains the shining face. The light is borrowed, not our own:
It is the anointing of the Holy Spirit alone that lights up the face with the reflection of that glorified One on high.
- Giver. God did not just start the world. He keeps it going — still sending the springs, watering the hills, growing the grass.
- Given to the frail. The word for man means frail man. Wine for his gladness and bread for his strength are gifts sized to a creature who soon loses heart.
- Gladness intended. Wine stands for joy in nearly every offering. One writer calls gloomy religion a slander on God.
- Good, not evil. What God made is good. Sin is the abuse of it. Calling the thing evil shifts the blame from man to the Creator.
- Greater fulfilment. Writers read the three gifts as pictures: Christ Himself, His work of redemption, and the Spirit poured out. His anointing makes the face shine.