Why Psalm 19 Likens the Sun to a Groom

Why, exactly, does Psalm 19 (v. 5) liken the Sun to a groom? 

It has to do with the atmosphere.

To explain this, you'll need to look at two things. One things is the problem of the astronomy-favoring bias of Scripture interpretation. The other is the Prime Pattern of the Bible.


The problem of the astronomy bias is easily seen in Danny Faulkner's claim that there are 'only seven' instances of 'šāmayim' in Genesis 1.

Faulkner explicitly ends his count at v. 20. There are, indeed, exactly seven from v. 1 to v. 20. 

But there is one more each in vv. 26 and 28:

So Faulkner misses the two instances of 'šāmayim' in which their verses provide NO glancing appearance of including mention of the luminary realm.

And his claim is false in two more ways: 

One, there is actually only one instance of that exact word 'šāmayim', namely in v. 8, so that all the others are 'haššāmayim'. 

Two, in each instance outside of v. 8, the meaning most easily is to the general 'sky', as in, the birds/stars are in the the 'sky'. That in v. 8 is highly specific within its context, and it is merely šāmayim' (Faulkner's exact target word). 

Now, the Prime Pattern of the Bible:

Humans did not evolve from lower animals. They were specially created. And this was according to the order of 'General and Special'. Adam and Eve. In that order. 

The pair were the final creation, which is why they were created on a planet. That planet is their proper original home. They came full circle, cosmically, only after they had come together: then they saw the cosmically General to their own planetary Special. This is just like Eve first saw Adam only at the end of her own initial personal journey with God. 

This general-and-then-special pattern is seen in the order of the two subjects in Genesis 1:1. This is the pattern of Psalm 19:1. But that psalm has in mind everything seen both at pre-dawn and dawn. The psalm goes on to compare the relation between the luminaries and the atmosphere to that between God's 'Law' and human beings. 

Now we get to the answer to why Psalm 19 likens the Sun to a groom.

Psalm 19:1

The hashamayim declare the glory of God;

and the ha-raqia shows his handiwork:

The ha-raqia is the atmosphere and its relation to the Sun's light. 

In that light the atmosphere becomes blue opaque---like a window curtain shut to keep the direct light out of the house. At night the curtain is open, and the sky becomes clear to see the stars. 

The handiwork of a tailor, like a wedding dress. 

This is why Psalm 19 likens the Sun to a groom. Through her veil, she sees only him: she is for him alone.

The moon is the Sun's 'Best Man': cool.

But the groom alone is 'hot' for her. And she never sees him until he appears. Then all around him is blue, and his many companions are gone away, to leave only him with her.

Again the Moon is cool, but the Sun is 'hot'. The Moon is the Sun's Best Man, so sometimes the Moon is seen in daylight. But the Moon is always cool.

Heat is the groom's 'Law' alone:

Psalm 19: 6

 It's going forth is from the [one] end of the sky (hashamayim); and its circuit to the [every] ends of it; so that nothing, and no one, on Earth is hide from its heat.

In other words, the Sun's realm is here depicted as all-inclusive (the 'sky') and yet whose special concern is his bride. In general, this puts the visual and thermal phenomenological greatest of the Sun in the proper view of a woman and her groom. And, as God designed the recursiveness of all things, this puts the matter even in terms of the singular stability of the Sun as a gentle protector of life on Earth.