Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 139:1

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known [me].

1. searched me ] Cp. Psa 139:23; Jer 17:10.

and known me] Or, and knowest me, for nothing can be hid from that omniscient scrutiny.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

1 6. God’s perfect knowledge of all the Psalmist’s life and thoughts.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

O Lord, thou hast searched me – The word rendered searched, has a primary reference to searching the earth by boring or digging, as for water or metals. See Job 28:3. Then it means to search accurately or closely.

And known me – As the result of that search, or that close investigation. Thou seest all that is in my heart. Nothing is, or can be, concealed from thee. It is with this deep consciousness that the psalm begins; and all that follows is but an expansion and application of this idea. It is of much advantage in suggesting right reflections on our own character, to have this full consciousness that God knows us altogether; that he sees all that there is in our heart; that he has been fully acquainted with our past life.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Psa 139:1-24

O Lord, Thou hast searched me, and known me.

Gods exhaustive knowledge of man

This lyric has always been the subject of praise. Aben Ezra said there was none like it in the five books. Lord Brougham spoke of it as that singularly beautiful poem Herder said that language utterly failed him in its exposition. Erskine of Llinlathen wanted this to be before him on his death-bed. The title ascribes it to David, an ascription corroborated by its originality and majesty and its correspondence with psalms undoubtedly Davidic. Probably the Aramaic colouring is a mere dialectic variation, existing during the whole period of Hebrew history, and occasionally coming to the front as circumstances suggested it.

I. The Divine omniscience (verses 1-6). The poet multiplies expressions to indicate how complete is Gods knowledge of him. Whether he be at rest or in motion, in every posture and state, God knows him. Not only his outward acts, but the thoughts from which they spring are at once discerned. Nothing can escape Jehovahs eye, for He is behind and before, i.e. on all sides of man, and His hand is upon him to restrain and control. The strophe closes with a frank confession of the writers impotence and awe. He cannot comprehend it, which is not strange, for how is the finite to comprehend the infinite? But he knows it and bows in reverence before the sublime truth.

II. The Divine omnipresence (verses 7-12). God is everywhere; not only above all as transcendent, but also through all and in all as immanent in nature. This thought is expanded and enforced by its application to all measures of space. Were man to scale the azure vault overhead, it would only confront him with the Divine personality; were he to sound unimaginable depths in the other direction, the result would be the same. H a man mounted on wings, not those of the sun (Mal 4:2), nor of the wind (Psa 18:10), but of the dawn, and pursued the farthest flight westward, if he should fly with the same swiftness as the first rays of the morning shoot from one end of the heavens to the other, still he would not get beyond the Divine presence. Beyond the sea, and far out of the sight of man, Gods hand would lead him, and Gods right hand grasp him.

III. Omnipotence in the creation of man (verses 13-18). The singer revolves in mind the secret processes of mans birth and development, and gratitude overflows into praise. He sees how he has been made to differ from the inferior creation in constitution and destiny. It is a fearful distinction (Gen 28:17). Any signal manifestation of Jehovahs presence, however favourable, inspires awe. The consideration of this single ease leads to the general statement that all Gods works are marvellous, a statement which the writer reaffirms as from an experimental conviction of its truth. In the next verse the curious growth and unfolding of the embryo is referred to. It goes on in secret, as far from human vision as if it were deep down in some subterraneous cavern, but God sees it and directs the mysterious and complicated tissue, as if it were a piece of delicate embroidery. Even in its most rudimental form, invisible to any other ken, it is still open to His eyes, and He determines all its subsequent development, recording in His book the days to come, i.e. the various events and vicissitudes of life, even before one of them existed. Struck by this view of Gods omniscience as embracing the beginning, the unfolding and the completion of all things, the singer bursts out into a recognition of its value. To him Gods thoughts, i.e. His plans and purposes as displayed in these miracles of creation, are precious beyond measure. Nor are they few or slight, but amount to a vast sum, more numerous than the sands of the sea. They are ever before David as an object of adoring wonder, not by day only, but by night; not merely in the watches of the night, but even in his sleep. His meditations are continuous. His communion is unbroken.

IV. The practical application (verses 19-24). The greater any mans nearness to God, the more intense is his abhorrence of the impiety which disowns or despises the living God. Nor does such a feeling indicate malevolence. When a foul crime has been perpetrated, tender-hearted Christian women who would not harm a hair of the enemys head, but would rather feed him, will express keen resentment, and will be disquieted in mind till they hear that the perpetrator has been convicted and duly punished. The conclusion of the strophe is striking. The poet returns to the opening words of the psalm, and prays for a new experience of Jehovahs searching scrutiny, that he may not be given over to self-conceit. The petition is a proof of humility. Although he had averred so strongly his aversion to the wicked, he prays that this may be no mere outward separation. The All-seeing Eye may detect in him some way that leads to sin and sorrow, though he is unconscious of it. Hence he entreats God to see and disclose it, and then taking his hand to lead him in a way which, unlike the way of the wicked (Psa 1:6), does not perish, but ends in everlasting life. (T. W. Chambers, D. D.)

Gods omniscience and omnipresence

I. Some Scriptural views of the Divine omniscience and omnipresence. God is everywhere present–

1. By His presence.

2. By His power or agency.

3. In the immensity of space.

4. In highest heaven.

5. In hell.

6. We cannot get away from Gods presence.

7. Human inspection is very limited. But Gods eye penetrates the darkest abode, the deepest cell, the obscurest corner, the blackest night.

8. Men only see what a man says and does; God sees all that a man is. To Him all hearts are open, all desires known. God knows us, not relatively, but personally.

9. Specially with His people. Where are you going? said Collins, the infidel, to a poor but pious man. To church, sir, was the reply What to do there? To worship God. And can you tell me, said the infidel, whether your God is a great or a little God? He is both, sir. How can He be both? He is so great that the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him, and so little that He can dwell in my heart.

II. Lessons.

1. If God is omniscient and omnipresent, then the moral character of His creatures is unveiled to His gaze, and clearly and distinctly known to Him.

2. If God is omniscient and omnipresent, then the final judgment will be a time of full and complete revelation, as well as a time of righteous retribution (Sir 11:14; Rev 20:12). Will the disclosures of that day fill us with joy, or cover us with shame?

3. The importance of an interest in Christ.

4. Try to cherish an abiding sense of Gods presence.

5. Pray at all times and in all places.

6. Be comforted in every time of trouble. (H. Woodcock.)

The all-seeing God

I. Is there an all-seeing God? If not, whence our own existence? Whence our expectations of reward for doing right, of punishment for wrong-doing? Whence the material universe? Whence the original plan, stupendous beyond conception, more minute than the most powerful microscope can reveal, which must have preceded the first act of creation? Whence the march and trend of history, always revealing a power not ourselves, which makes for righteousness, and which sweeps away opposition like dust before the oncoming storm? Who conceived the character of Christ, in an age overlaid and penetrated through and through with error? Whose works of grace, in that same earth, have steadily built up a kingdom of love, of peace, of righteousness? If there is a creator of the universe, He must also be its sustainer: He cannot press material forces into service and go and leave them, as we do a windmill to draw water, for all force depends upon Him for its existence. He who superintends all must be all-seeing, and He who presides over all history must take cognizance of every event.

II. What concern has our life, here and hereafter, with the omniscience of God?

1. That exquisite pleasure in sin, which comes from its fancied concealment, is utter folly.

2. God is patient with wrong and sin, because He sees the end from the beginning.

3. Patience under trial and strength in adversity thrive under the all-seeing eye.

4. The friends of God are glad in the sure hope of being more and more consciously under His eye.

5. Corresponding judgments await those who, shrinking from that all-seeing eye, with a repugnance predominant and increasing, must abide its searchings for ever.

6. How priceless the blood of Calvary, in which the saints have washed their robes and made them white! (Monday Club Sermons.)

The all-seeing and all-present One

I. The all-seeing One.

1. He sees the whole of an object. At best we can only see the outside of a thing, the curve, the angle, the colour.

2. He sees the whole of every object. How few are the objects we see even thus externally and partially! Some are too small and some too distant. But He sees all, His eye takes in the immeasurable universe.

3. He sees the whole of everything at the same time.

II. The all-present One.

1. He is present everywhere, in the entirety of Himself.

2. He is present in all things, yet distinct from all things.

Practically, this subject serves three important purposes.

1. To refute some popular errors of human life.

(1) There is the error that supposes that formal worship can be of any real worth. God is a Spirit, etc.

(2) There is the error that imagines that death will make some fundamental alteration in their relation to God.

2. To reprove some prevalent impieties in human conduct.

(1) Atheism.

(2) Indifferentism.

3. To reveal the supreme interest of human life. Cultivate a loving affection for Him. (Homilist.)

God and ourselves

This psalm sings of–

I. God.

1. His omniscience.

(1) He knows our actions, ways, words, thoughts.

(2) His knowledge of us is entire, complete.

2. His omnipresence. He is in–

(1) Heaven.

(2) Unseen world.

(3) Everywhere.

(4) In the dark as well as the light.

3. His omnipotence (Psa 139:13-16).

4. The separate, personal thinking of God toward every one of us.

(1) Innumerable.

(2) Constant.

II. Ourselves. Our relation toward such a God should be–

1. That of adoring and constantly thoughtful reverence (verses 17, 18).

2. That of siding with Him against evil (Psa 139:19-22).

3. That of welcoming the Divine searching (verses 23, 24). Said Milton, speaking of his travels abroad when a young man: I again take God to witness that in all places where so many things are considered lawful, I lived sound and untouched from all profligacy and vice, having this thought perpetually with me, that though I might escape the eyes of men, I certainly could not the eyes of God.

4. That of a prayerful seeking of the Divine guidance (verse 24). (W. Hoyt, D. D.)

Gods knowledge of man

One of the most remarkable characteristics of a rational being is the power of self-inspection. Like the air we breathe, like the light we see, it involves a mystery that no man has ever solved. Self-consciousness has been the problem of the philosophic mind in all ages; and the mystery is not yet unravelled. But if that knowledge whereby man knows himself is mysterious, then certainly that whereby God knows him is far more so. That act whereby another being knows my secret thoughts and inmost feelings is most certainly inexplicable.

I. God accurately and exhaustively knows all that man knows of himself. He may be an uncommonly thoughtful person, and little of what is done within his soul may escape his notice; nay, we will make the extreme supposition that he arrests every thought as it rises, and looks at it; that he analyzes every sentiment as it swells his heart; that he scrutinizes every purpose as it determines his will; even if he should have such a thorough and profound self-knowledge as this, God knows him equally profoundly and equally thoroughly. Nay, more, this process of self-inspection may go on indefinitely, and the man grow more and more thoughtful, and obtain an everlastingly augmenting knowledge of what he is and what he does, so that it shall seem to him that he is penetrating so deeply into those dim and shadowy regions of consciousness where the external life takes its very first start, and then he may be sure that God understands the thought that is afar off, and deep down, and that at this lowest range and plane in his experience he besets him behind and before.

II. God accurately and exhaustively knows all that man might, but does not, know of himself. Though the transgressor is ignorant of much of his sin, because, at the time of its commission, he sins blindly as well as wilfully, and unreflectingly as well as freely; and though the transgressor has forgotten much of that small amount of sin, of which he was conscious, and by which he was pained, at the time of its perpetration; though, on the side of man, the powers of self-inspection and memory have accomplished so little towards this preservation of mans sin, yet God knows it all, and remembers it all. He compasseth mans path, and his lying down, and is acquainted with all his ways. And here let us look upon the bright as well as the dark side of this subject. For if Gods exhaustive knowledge of the human heart waken dread in one of its aspects, it starts infinite hope in another. If that Being has gone down into these depths of human depravity, and seen it with a more abhorring glance than could ever shoot from a finite eye, and yet has returned with a cordial offer to forgive it all, and a hearty proffer to cleanse it all away, then we can lift up the eye in adoration and in hope. The worst has been seen, and that too by the holiest of beings, and yet eternal glory is offered to us! It is perfectly plain from the elevated central point of view where we now stand, and in the focal light in which we now see, that no man can be justified before God upon the ground of personal character; for that character, when subjected to Gods exhaustive scrutiny, withers and shrinks away. Before the Searcher of hearts all mankind must appeal to mere and sovereign mercy. Justice, in this reference, is out of the question. Now, in this condition of things, God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him might not perish, but have everlasting life. The simple question, then, which meets us is, Wilt thou know thyself here, and now, that thou mayest accept and feel Gods pity; or wilt thou keep within the screen, and not know thyself until beyond the grave, and then feel Gods judicial wrath? The self-knowledge, remember, must come in the one way or the other. It is a simple question of time; a simple question whether it shall come here in this world, where the blood of Christ freely flows, or in the future world, where there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin. (W. G. T. Shedd, D. D.)

Gods presence

The fact that God is always present and knows every minute trifle in our lives, and that His unerring judgment will assuredly take count of every detail of our character and our conduct, neither exaggerating nor omitting, but applying absolute justice; this truth is one of those which lose force from their very universality. God has made us so. We become unconscious of everything by long use. We could never discharge our duties properly if we were to be perpetually distracted by the consciousness of what was around us: and, above all, we might be daunted by the perpetual thought of the presence of God, and so be paralyzed instead of helped. There is, therefore, nothing wrong in our forgetting that we are in the presence of God any more than there is anything foolish in our forgetting that we need air to breathe or light to see by, or that if we fall we may hurt ourselves: just in the same way as we very often, and quite rightly, forget that we are in the company of men who will take notice of our faults. The right state of mind plainly is to have the thought of Gods presence so perpetually at hand that it shall always start before us whenever it is wanted. So that whenever we are on the point of doing or saying anything cowardly, or mean, or false, or impure, or proud, or conceited, or unkind, the remembrance that God is looking on shall instantly flash across us and help us to beat down our enemy. This is living with God. This is the communion with Him, and with Christ, which unquestionably helps the struggling, the penitent, the praying, more than anything else. And this perpetual though not always conscious sense of Gods presence would, no doubt, if we would let it have its perfect work, gradually act on our characters just as the presence of our fellow-men does. We cannot live long with men without catching something of their manner, of their mode of thought, of their character, of their government of themselves. Those who live much in a court acquire courtly manners. Those who live much in refined and educated society acquire refinement insensibly. Those who are always hearing pure and high principles set forth as the guides of life learn to value and to know them even faster than they can learn to live by them. From the just we learn justice; from the charitable we catch an infection of charity; from the generous we receive the instinct of generosity. So, too, by living in the presence of God and, as it were, in the courts of heaven, we shall assuredly learn something of a heavenly tone, and shake off some of that coarse worldliness, that deeply ingrained selfishness, that silly pride and conceit which now spoils our very best service. In short, to live with God is to be perpetually rising above the world; to live without Him is to be perpetually sinking into it, and with it, and below it. And lest the presence of God should be too much for us, Christ has taken human nature on Him, and has provided that He will be always with us as long as the world shall last. How shall we learn to walk by His side? The daily prayer in the closet, the endeavour to keep the attention fixed when praying with others, either in our regular services or in family worship the regular habit of reading the Bible at a fixed time, the occasional reminders of ourselves that God is looking on,–these are our chief means of learning to remember His presence. But yet there is another, not less powerful than any, which deserves special mention. Our hearts will put us in mind of Gods eye being upon us every now and then involuntarily. The thought will flash across us that God sees us. And this will generally be just when we are tempted to do wrong, or perhaps just when we are actually beginning to do it: some secret sin of which no one knows or dreams perhaps, some self-indulgence, which we dare not deny that God condemns. Then is the moment to choose whether or not we will live in the presence of God; then when the finger of conscience is pointing to Him and saying, He is looking at you. (Archbishop Temple.)

God all-seeing

In the mythology of the heathen, Momus, the god of fault-finding, is represented as blaming Vulcan, because in the human form, which he had made of clay, he had not placed a window in the breast, by which whatever was done or thought there might easily be brought to light. We do not agree with Momus, neither are we of his mind who desired to have a window in his breast that all men might see his heart. If we had such a window we should pray for shutters, and should keep them closed.

God omniscient

While the Americans were blockading Cuba, several captains endeavoured to elude their vigilance by night, trusting that the darkness would conceal them as they passed between the American war-ships. But in almost every case the dazzling rays of a searchlight frustrated the attempt, and the fugitives vessel was captured by the Americans. The brilliant searchlight sweeping the broad ocean and revealing even the smallest craft on its surface is but a faint type of the Eternal Light from which no sinner can hide his sin. (Weekly Pulpit.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

PSALM CXXXIX

A fine account of the omniscience of God, 1-6;

of his omnipresence, 7-12;

of his power and providence, 13-16.

The excellence of his purposes, 17, 18.

His opposition to the wicked, 19, 20;

with whom the godly can have no fellowship, 21, 22.

NOTES ON PSALM CXXXIX

The title of this Psalm in the Hebrew is, To the chief Musician, or, To the Conqueror, A Psalm of David. The Versions in general follow the Hebrew. And yet, notwithstanding these testimonies, there appears internal evidence that the Psalm was not written by David, but during or after the time of the captivity, as there are several Chaldaisms in it. See Ps 139:2-3; Ps 139:7; Ps 139:9; Ps 139:19-20, collated with Da 2:29-30; Da 4:16; Da 7:28; some of these shall be noticed in their proper places.

As to the author, he is unknown; for it does not appear to have been the work of David. The composition is worthy of him, but the language appears to be lower than his time.

Concerning the occasion, there are many conjectures which I need not repeat, because I believe them unfounded. It is most probable that it was written on no particular occasion, but is a moral lesson on the wisdom, presence, providence, and justice of God, without any reference to any circumstance in the life of David, or in the history of the Jews.

The Psalm is very sublime; the sentiments are grand, the style in general highly elevated, and the images various and impressive. The first part especially, that contains so fine a description of the wisdom and knowledge of God, is inimitable.

Bishop Horsley’s account of this Psalm is as follows: –

“In the first twelve verses of this Psalm the author celebrates God’s perfect knowledge of man’s thoughts and actions; and the reason of this wonderful knowledge, viz., that God is the Maker of man. Hence the psalmist proceeds, in the four following verses, Ps 139:13-16, to magnify God as ordaining and superintending the formation of his body in the womb. In the 17th and 18th Ps 139:17-18 he acknowledges God’s providential care of him in every moment of his life; and in the remainder of the Psalm implores God’s aid against impious and cruel enemies, professing his own attachment to God’s service, that is, to the true religion, and appealing to the Searcher of hearts himself for the truth of his professions.

The composition, for the purity and justness of religious sentiment, and for the force and beauty of the images, is certainly in the very first and best style. And yet the frequent Chaldaisms of the diction argue no very high antiquity.

Verse 1. O Lord, thou hast searched me] chakartani; thou hast investigated me; thou hast thoroughly acquainted thyself with my whole soul and conduct.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known [me]. The omniscience of God reaches to all persons and things; but the psalmist only takes notice of it as respecting himself. God knows all men in general, and whatever belongs to them; he knows his own people in a special manner; and he knows their particular persons, as David and others: and this knowledge of God is considered after the manner of men, as if it was the fruit of search, to denote the exquisiteness of it; as a judge searches out a cause, a physician the nature of a disease, a philosopher the reason of things; who many times, after all their inquiries, fail in their knowledge; but the Lord never does: his elect lie in the ruins of the fall, and among the men of the world; he searches them out and finds them; for be knows where they are, and the time of finding them, and can distinguish them in a crowd of men from others, and notwithstanding the sad case they are in, and separates them from them; and he searches into them, into their most inward part, and knows them infinitely better than their nearest relations, friends and acquaintance do; he knows that of them and in them, which none but they themselves know; their thoughts, and the sin that dwells in them: yea, he knows more of them and in them than they themselves, Jer 17:9. And he knows them after another manner than he does other men: there are some whom in a sense he knows not; but these he knows, as he did David, so as to approve of, love and delight in, Mt 7:23.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

The Aramaic forms in this strophe are the (ground-form ) in Psa 139:2 and Psa 139:17, endeavour, desire, thinking, like and in the post-exilic books, from ( ), cupere , cogitare ; and the . . in Psa 139:3, equivalent to , a lying down, if be not rather an infinitive like in Job 7:19, since is undoubtedly not inflected from , but, as being infinitive, like in Deu 4:21, from ; and the verb also, with the exception of this passage, only occurs in the speeches of Elihu (Job 34:8), which are almost more strongly Aramaizing than the Book of Job itself. Further, as an Aramaizing feature we have the objective relation marked by Lamed in the expression , Thou understandest my thinking, as in Psa 116:16; Psa 129:3; Psa 135:11; Psa 136:19. The monostichic opening is after the Davidic style, e.g., Psa 23:1. Among the prophets, Isaiah in particular is fond of such thematic introductions as we have here in Psa 139:1. On instead of vid., on Psa 107:20; the pronominal object stands once beside the first verb, or even beside the second (2Ki 9:25), instead of twice (Hitzig). The “me” is then expanded: sitting down, rising up, walking and lying, are the sum of human conditions or states. is the totality or sum of the life of the spirit and soul of man, and the sum of human action. The divine knowledge, as says, is the result of the scrutiny of man. The poet, however, in Psa 139:2 and Psa 139:3 uses the perfect throughout as a mood of that which is practically existing, because that scrutiny is a scrutiny that is never unexecuted, and the knowledge is consequently an ever-present knowledge. is meant to say that He sees into not merely the thought that is fully fashioned and matured, but even that which is being evolved. from is combined by Luther (with Azulai and others) with , a wreath (from , constringere, cingere ), inasmuch as he renders: whether I walk or lie down, Thou art round about me ( Ich gehe oder lige , so bistu umb mich ). ought to have the same meaning here, if with Wetzstein one were to compare the Arabic, and more particularly Beduin, drra , dherra , to protect; the notion of affording protection does not accord with this train of thought, which has reference to God’s omniscience: what ought therefore to be meant is a hedging round which secures its object to the knowledge, or even a protecting that places it in security against any exchanging, which will not suffer the object to escape it.

(Note: This Verb. tert. Arab. w et y is old, and the derivative dhera , protection, is an elegant word; with reference to another derivative, dherwe , a wall of rock protecting one from the winds, vid., Job, at Job 24:7, note. The II form ( Piel) signifies to protect in the widest possible sense, e.g., (in Neshwn, ii. 343 b), “[Arab.] dra ‘l – sah , he protected the sheep (against being exchanged) by leaving a lock of wool upon their backs when they were shorn, by which they might be recognised among other sheep.”)

The Arabic dra , to know, which is far removed in sound, is by no means to be compared; it is related to Arab. dr’ , to push, urge forward, and denotes knowledge that is gained by testing and experimenting. But we also have no need of that Arab. dra , to protect, since we can remain within the range of the guaranteed Hebrew usage, inasmuch as , to winnow, i.e., to spread out that which has been threshed and expose it to the current of the wind, in Arabic likewise drra , (whence , midhra , a winnowing-fork, like , racht , a winnowing-shovel), gives an appropriate metaphor. Here it is equivalent to: to investigate and search out to the very bottom; lxx, Symmachus, and Theodotion, , after which the Italic renders investigasti , and Jerome eventilasti . with the accusative, as in Job 22:21 with : to enter into neighbourly, close, familiar relationship, or to stand in such relationship, with any one; cogn. , Arab. skn . God is acquainted with all our ways not only superficially, but closely and thoroughly, as that to which He is accustomed.

In Psa 139:4 this omniscience of God is illustratively corroborated with ; Psa 139:4 has the value of a relative clause, which, however, takes the form of an independent clause. (pronounced by Jerome in his letter to Sunnia and Fretela, 82, MALA) is an Aramaic word that has been already incorporated in the poetry of the Davidico-Salomonic age. signifies both all of it and every one. In Psa 139:5 Luther has been misled by the lxx and Vulgate, which take in the signification formare (whence , forma ); it signifies, as the definition “behind and before” shows, to surround, encompass. God is acquainted with man, for He holds him surrounded on all sides, and man can do nothing, if God, whose confining hand he has lying upon him (Job 9:23), does not allow him the requisite freedom of motion. Instead of (XX ) the poet purposely says in Psa 139:6 merely : a knowledge, so all-penetrating, all-comprehensive as God’s knowledge. The Ker reads , but the Chethb is supported by the Chethb in Jdg 13:18, the Ker of which there is not , but (the pausal form of an adjective , the feminine of which would be ). With the transcendence, with the unattainableness, and with the incomprehensibleness of the fact of the omniscience of God is expressed, and with this, to the mind of the poet, coincides God’s omnipresence; for true, not merely phenomenal, knowledge is not possible without the immanence of the knowing one in the thing known. God, however, is omnipresent, sustaining the life of all things by His Spirit, and revealing Himself either in love or in wrath – what the poet styles His countenance. To flee from this omnipresence ( , away from), as the sinner and he who is conscious of his guilt would gladly do, is impossible. Concerning the first , which is here accented on the ultima , vid., on Psa 116:4.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

The Omniscience of God.

To the chief musician. A psalm of David.

      1 O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.   2 Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.   3 Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.   4 For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.   5 Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.   6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.

      David here lays down this great doctrine, That the God with whom we have to do has a perfect knowledge of us, and that all the motions and actions both of our inward and of our outward man are naked and open before him.

      I. He lays down this doctrine in the way of an address to God; he says it to him, acknowledging it to him, and giving him the glory of it. Divine truths look fully as well when they are prayed over as when they are preached over, and much better than when they are disputed over. When we speak of God to him himself we shall find ourselves concerned to speak with the utmost degree both of sincerity and reverence, which will be likely to make the impressions the deeper.

      II. He lays it down in a way of application to himself, not, “Thou hast known all,” but, “Thou hast known me; that is it which I am most concerned to believe and which it will be most profitable for me to consider.” Then we know these things for our good when we know them for ourselves, Job v. 27. When we acknowledge, “Lord, all souls are thine,” we must add, “My soul is thine; thou that hatest all sin hatest my sin; thou that art good to all, good to Israel, art good to me.” So here, “Thou hast searched me, and known me; known me as thoroughly as we know that which we have most diligently and exactly searched into.” David was a king, and the hearts of kings are unsearchable to their subjects (Prov. xxv. 3), but they are not so to their Sovereign.

      III. He descends to particulars: “Thou knowest me wherever I am and whatever I am doing, me and all that belongs to me.” 1. “Thou knowest me and all my motions, my down-sitting to rest, my up-rising to work, with what temper of mind I compose myself when I sit down and stir up myself when I rise up, what my soul reposes itself in as its stay and support, what it aims at and reaches towards as its felicity and end. Thou knowest me when I come home, how I walk before my house, and when I go abroad, on what errands I go.” 2. “Thou knowest all my imaginations. Nothing is more close and quick than thought; it is always unknown to others; it is often unobserved by ourselves, and yet thou understandest my thought afar off. Though my thoughts be ever so foreign and distant from one another, thou understandest the chain of them, and canst make out their connexion, when so many of them slip my notice that I myself cannot.” Or, “Thou understandest them afar off, even before I think them, and long after I have thought them and have myself forgotten them.” Or, “Thou understandest them from afar; from the height of heaven thou seest into the depths of the heart,” Ps. xxxiii. 14. 3. “Thou knowest me and all my designs and undertakings; thou compassest every particular path; thou siftest (or winnowest) my path” (so some), “so as thoroughly to distinguish between the good and evil of what I do,” as by sifting we separate between the corn and the chaff. All our actions are ventilated by the judgment of God, Ps. xvii. 3. God takes notice of every step we take, every right step and every by-step. He is acquainted with all our ways, intimately acquainted with them; he knows what rule we walk by, what end we walk towards, what company we walk with. 4. “Thou knowest me in all my retirements; thou knowest my lying down; when I am withdrawn from all company, and am reflecting upon what has passed all day and composing myself to rest, thou knowest what I have in my heart and with what thought I go to bed.” 5. “Thou knowest me, and all I say (v. 4): There is not a word in my tongue, not a vain word, nor a good word, but thou knowest it altogether, knowest what it meant, from what thought it came, and with what design it was uttered. There is not a word at my tongue’s end, ready to be spoken, yet checked and kept in, but thou knowest it.” When there is not a word in my tongue, O Lord! thou knowest all (so some read it); for thoughts are words to God. 6. “Thou knowest me in every part of me: Thou hast beset me behind and before, so that, go which way I will, I am under thy eye and cannot possibly escape it. Thou hast laid thy hand upon me, and I can not run away from thee.” Wherever we are we are under the eye and hand of God. perhaps it is an allusion to the physician’s laying his hand upon his patient to feel how his pulse beats or what temper he is in. God knows us as we know not only what we see, but what we feel and have our hands upon. All his saints are in his hand.

      IV. He speaks of it with admiration (v. 6): It is too wonderful for me; it is high. 1. “Thou hast such a knowledge of me as I have not of myself, nor can have. I cannot take notice of all my own thoughts, nor make such a judgment of myself as thou makest of me.” 2. “It is such a knowledge as I cannot comprehend, much less describe. That thou knowest all things I am sure, but how I cannot tell.” We cannot by searching find out how God searches and finds out us; nor do we know how we are known.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

Psalms 139

The Attributes of God

Scripture v. 1-24:

The Attributes of God are presented in this psalm. Three primary attributes are: 1) His omniscience, v. 1-6; 2) His omnipresence, v. 7-13; and 3) His omnipotence, v. 14-16. 4) His Love and mercy are examined, v. 17,18; and 5) His holiness and justice are presented, v. 19,20. David praises Him for His all-seeing and caring providence over men.

Verse 1 witnesses the faith of the Psalmist, that God has searched and known all that relates to Him and His people Israel; The “me,” at the end of the verse is not in the original Hebrew; Thus the object of the verb “known,” not foreknown, is meant to be “all things;” about both the psalmist and his people, their joys, hopes, sorrows, sins, needs, etc., and exactly when they needed help or chastening, Jer 12:3; Rev 2:23; Psa 44:2.

Verse 2 adds, “thou knowest (with linear continuity) my down sitting and mine uprising,” when I arise to work and retire to rest, as set forth Psa 127:2; 2Ki 19:27. He adds, “Thou understandest (dost continually comprehend) my thoughts afar off;” Though He be in heaven, and we on earth, He is not in the dark regarding a single thought, motive, or act of every person, saved and unsaved, as certified Psa 94:11; Psa 138:6; Jer 23:23-24; Mat 9:4; Luk 9:47; Joh 2:24-25; 1Co 4:5.

Verse 3, 4 assert that God knew, was familiar with, all the psalmist’s paths, travels, ways, and even his thoughts and actions, while he lay upon his couch, Job 13:27; Job 31:4. He added that there was not even a word in or spoken by his tongue that the Lord did not know altogether, even the intent of his speaking the word, for good or evil, Pro 16:1; Psa 50:19; Psa 50:21; Jer 29:23; Heb 4:13; Mat 12:36.

Verses 5, 6 declare “thou hast beset me behind and before,” on every hand, with your omnipresence, “and laid thine hand upon me,” with blessings and chastening, for my good, Heb 12:5-8; He added, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me (to comprehend). It is high, (so exalted) I cannot attain unto it,” else I would be god, myself, Isa 9:6-7; Rom 9:33. Yet the knowledge that man needs for salvation is not hidden from but revealed to him, Through the convicting, pricking of the Holy Spirit; Deu 30:11-14; Pro 1:21-30; Pro 30:18; 2Co 6:2; Heb 3:7-8; Rev 22:17.

Verse 7 Inquires just where the psalmist might go, even flee, from the presence of the Holy Spirit and the omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent God. From His vengeance against sin, the implication is that there exists no place of refuge on earth, Amo 9:2; Jon 1:3; Jer 23:24. For in His spirit He exists and works everywhere, seeking and calling men to repentance, Heb 4:7; 2Pe 3:9; Psa 104:30.

Verse 8 asserts “If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there,” in your residence and upon your throne; He added, “If I make my bed in hell,” (Sheol) (the place of departed spirits of the unregenerate, in hades), “Behold, thou art there,” to confront me; There is no hiding place from God, Isa 14:11; See also Job 25:6; Job 34:21-22; Pro 15:11; Jon 2:2; Rev 6:14-17.

Verse 9, 10 add, “if I take the wings of the morning, and (fly to dwell) in the uttermost (most remote) parts of the sea,” to escape from my enemies, Psa 18:10; Psa 19:6; Psa 55:6-8; Mal 4:2. It is added further, “Even there shall thy hand (of care) lead me, and thy right hand (of strength) shall hold (or support) me,” as a friend, a guide, one who continually cares, Psa 73:24; Psa 23:3; Psa 5:8; Psa 27:11; Psa 138:7.

Verses 11, 12 state that should the psalmist say (to himself) “Surely the darkness shall cover me; Even the light shall be light about me,” to expose me to the view of God and bring shame and guilt and fear on me because of my sins that are not hidden from God, Gen 3:15; Job 9:17; Job 34:22; Jer 23:24; Isa 1:10. The darkness and night are symbols of trouble and sorrow, to the guilty, Psa 138:7.
Verse 12 continues “Yea, the darkness and the light, the day and the night, are alike to God. He seeks all people and all things Through darkness and light, day and night, to record until the judgment hours, Ecc 12:13-14.

Verses 13, 14 witness that the Lord has possessed (had knowledge of) his reigns, (his innermost feelings, desires and purposes) v. 1,2; and “covered me,” (protected me) from the time I was in my mother’s womb,” before the time of my birth, Job 10:11-12; Psa 22:9.
Verse 14 continues “I will praise thee; for I am (exist as) fearfully and wonderfully made,” Psa 4:3; Job 10:9-11. He adds, “marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth (continually) right well,” or greatly, Psa 65:5; 2Sa 7:23.

Verses 15, 16 explain that the psalmist’s “substance (body strength) was not hid (concealed) from thee, when I was made in secret (my secret parts) and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth,” meaning in the darkness of the womb, Deu 8:17; Job 30:21; Job 10:11; Psa 63:9; Isa 45:19; Job 1:21.
Verse 16 adds that the Lord did “see my substance, yet being unperfect,” when I was immature, an embryo in the womb; “And in thy book (of the living) all my members were written,” or recorded, as a human being, before birth, “Which in continuance were fashioned (grew in form) when as yet there was none of them,” none yet born, Ecc 11:5; Eze 18:4-5; Rom 9:11.

Verses 17, 18 exclaim, “How precious (full of grace) are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum (total) of them,” even beyond counting, computing, or calculating, Psa 36:7; Psa 31:19; Psa 40:5; Pro 8:31; Isa 55:8-9; Jer 29:11; Eph 1:18.
Verse 18 adds “If I should (attempt to) count (compute or calculate them) they are more in number than the sand,” which can not be measured or numbered, Hos 1:10. He adds, “when I awake I am still-with thee, under your precious care, v. 17; Pro 6:22; Psa 16:7; Psa 63:6.

Verses 19, 20 declare that surely the Lord God will, “slay the wicked,” that he might praise Him the more, Psa 81:8. He adds, “Depart from me therefore, ye bloody men,” Psa 5:6; Psa 9:17; Psa 55:23; Psa 64:7; Psa 94:23; Isa 11:4.
Verse 20 adds, “For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain,” Php_1:18; Php_3:18-19; breaking the third commandment, Exo 20:7; Psa 24:4.

Verses 21, 22 rhetorically ask, “Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? And am I not grieved with those that rise up against thee?” inferring affirmative answers to each question; One can not both love the Lord and love the ways of His enemies, Psa 119:158; 2Ch 19:2; Pro 29:27. He concluded that he hated God’s enemies with a perfect (mature) hatred and counted them to be also his personal enemies.

Verses 23, 24 conclude with the psalmist’s appeal, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my thoughts,” indicating his willingness to be right with God in his thoughts, emotions, and desires, Job 31:6. He desired to walk upright, with integrity, before God and men. He concluded, “See if there be (exist) any wicked way it me,” any sinful purpose or device, “and lead me in the way everlasting,” a noble desire and request, Mat 7:14; Joh 14:6; Col 2:6; 1Jn 5:21; Act 19:9; Act 19:23.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

1. O Jehovah! thou hast searched me David declares, in the outset of this Psalm, that he does not come before God with any idea of its being possible to succeed by dissimulation, as hypocrites will take advantage of secret refuges to prosecute sinful indulgences, but that he voluntarily lays bare his innermost heart for inspection, as one convinced of the impossibility of deceiving God. It is thine, he says, O God! to discover every secret thought, nor is there anything which can escape thy notice, He then insists upon particulars, to show that his whole life was known to God, who watched him in all his motions — when he slept, when he arose, or when he walked abroad. The word רע , rea, which we have rendered thought, signifies also a friend or companion, on which account some read — thou knowest what is nearest me afar off, a meaning more to the point than any other, if it could be supported by example. The reference would then be very appropriately to the fact that the most distant objects are contemplated as near by God. Some for afar off read beforehand, in which signification the Hebrew word is elsewhere taken, as if he had said — O Lord, every thought which I conceive in my heart is already known to thee beforehand. But I prefer the other meaning, That God is not confined to heaven, indulging in a state of repose, and indifferent to human concerns, according to the Epicurean idea, and that however far off we may be from him, he is never far off from us.

The verb זרה, zarah, means to winnow as well as to compass, so that we may very properly read the third verse — thou winnowest my ways, (201) a figurative expression to denote the bringing of anything which is unknown to light. The reader is left to his own option, for the other rendering which I have adopted is also.appropriate. There has been also a difference of opinion amongst interpreters as to the last clause of the verse. The verb סכן, sachan, in the Hiphil conjugation, as here, signifies to render successful, which has led some to think that David here thanks God for crowning his actions with success; but this is a sense which does not at all suit the scope of the Psalmist in the context, for he is not speaking of thanksgiving. Equally forced is the meaning given to the words by others — Thou hast made me to get acquainted or accustomed with my ways; (202) as if he praised God for being endued with wisdom and counsel. Though the verb be in the Hiphil, I have therefore felt no hesitation in assigning it a neuter signification — Lord, thou art accustomed to my ways, so that they are familiar to thee.

(201) Piscator, Campensis, Pagninus, Luther, and our English Version, read “thou compassest.” This no doubt gives the meaning, of the original, though not the precise idea, which is noticed on the margin of our English Bible to be “winnowest.” The verb זרה , zarah, employed, signifies to disperse, to fan, to ventilate, to winnow; and here it denotes that as men separate the corn from the chaff, so God separates between, or investigates, the good and the bad in the daily conduct of men. Hence the Septuagint reads ἐξιχνίασας, “thou hast investigated.” Bishop Hare, who renders “thou dost compass,” supposes it to be a metaphor taken from hunting. “Winnowing,” says Archbishop Secker,” would sound uncouth But Mudge hath hit on the word siftest, which, though an idea somewhat different, suits very well.”

(202) “ Fecisti assuescere vias meas.” — Lat.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

INTRODUCTION

Nowhere, says Perowne, are the great attributes of GodHis omniscience, His omnipresence, His omnipotence, set forth so strikingly as they are in this magnificent Psalm. Nowhere is there a more overwhelming sense of the fact that man is beset and compassed about by God, pervaded by His Spirit, unable to take a step without His control; and yet nowhere is there a more emphatic assertion of the personality of man as distinct from, not absorbed in the Deity. This is no pantheistie speculation. Man is here the workmanship of God, and stands in the presence and under the eye of One who is his Judge. The power of conscience, the sense of sin and of responsibility, are felt and acknowledged, and prayer is offered to One who is not only the Judge but the Friend; to One who is feared as none else are feared, who is loved as none else are loved.
Both in loftiness of thought and in expressive beauty of language the Psalm stands pre-eminent, and it is not surprising that Aben Ezra should have pronounced it to be the crown of all the Psalms. The Psalm both in the Hebrew and the LXX is ascribed to David.
The rhythmical structure is, on the whole, regular. There are four strophes, each consisting of six verses; the first three strophes containing the proper theme of the Psalm, and the last the expression of individual feeling.

I. In the first strophe the poet dwells on the omniscience of God, as manifested in His knowledge of the deepest thoughts and most secret workings of the human heart, Psa. 139:1-6.

II. In the second, on His omnipresence, inasmuch as there is no corner of the universe so remote that it is not pervaded by Gods presence, no darkness so deep that it can hide from His eyes, Psa. 139:7-12.

III. The third strophe gives the reason for the profound conviction of these truths of which the poets heart is full. No wonder that God should have so intimate a knowledge of man, for man is the creature of God: the mysterious beginnings of life, which none can trace; the days, all of which are ordered before the first breath is drawn,these are fashioned and ordered by the hand of God, Psa. 139:13-18.

IV. In the last strophe the Psalmist turns abruptly aside to express his utter abhorrence of wicked menan abhorrence, no doubt, deepened by the previous meditation on God and His attributes, and called forth probably by the circumstances in which he was placed; and then closes with a prayer that he himself may, in his inmost heart, be right with that God who has searched him and known him and laid His hand upon him, and that he may be led by Him in the way everlasting, Psa. 139:19-24.

GODS PERFECT KNOWLEDGE OF MAN

(Psa. 139:1-6)

Our purpose is not to write on the omniscience of God in general, or to make an attempt to set it forth with completeness and show its relations and bearings; but to call attention to those aspects of it which are mentioned by the Psalmist, and to indicate the practical bearing of these aspects upon human life. The poet sets forth in this strophe the omniscience of God as related to human life.

I. God knows all men. David does not write of himself alone. That the Psalm is addressed to the chief musician is a proof that it was intended to be set to music for use in public worship. The entire congregation was to use the Psalm. Its utterances were to be adopted by every member of the congregation. Every person in the world may say with truth, O Lord, Thou hast searched me and known me, &c. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight; but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.

II. God knows all men thoroughly.

1. He knows all their words and actions. Thou art acquainted with all my ways, for there is not a word on my tongue, but lo, O Lord, Thou knowest it altogether. The entire course of every human life, and every step in every individual course, are perfectly known to God, and not a word that is uttered by human tongues escapes His ear.

2. He knows all their thoughts. Thou understandest my thought afar off. However great the distance between God and man may seem to be, yet He is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of his heart. Calvin: God is not shut up in heaven, as if He delighted in an idle repose (as the Epicureans feigned), and neglected human affairs; but though we live at a great distance from Him, still He is not far from us. All worthy thoughts and pure and generous feelings He knows, and all evil thoughts and impure and malignant feelings He also knows. Before men we stand, says Beecher, as opaque beehives. They can see the thoughts go in and out of us; but what work they do inside of a man they cannot tell. Before God we are as glass beehives, and all that our thoughts are doing within us He perfectly sees and understands.

III. God knows all men constantly. At all times and under all circumstances He is perfectly acquainted with us. He knows us in work and in rest, in our daily walk and in our nightly repose. Thou knowest my down sitting for rest, and mine uprising for action. Thou compassest my path and my lying down. Perowne: My path and my bed Thou hast examined. Lit. Thou hast winnowed, or sifted. Hengstenberg: , properly, to sift, then poetically, to prove, to know. God knows our path, our way of active life, and our couch or bed, our thoughts and feelings in our place of rest. We are altogether and always perfectly known unto Him. Gods knowledge of us differs from our knowledge of each other not only in its extent and completeness, but in other respects.

First, His knowledge is underived and independent. We receive instruction from tutors and information from books. But He receives not his knowledge from anything without Him. His knowledge is as independent as Himself and His own essence. Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or, being His counsellor, hath taught Him? Our knowledge, says Charnock, depends upon the object, but all created objects depend upon Gods knowledge and will: we could not know creatures unless they were; but creatures could not be unless God knew them.

Second, His knowledge is clear and perfect. We see through a glass, darkly; and only know in part. He knows all things clearly and distinctly, intimately and thoroughly, infallibly and perfectly. God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. His understanding is infinite.

Let us endeavour to point out the practical bearing of this knowledge on us and on our life. It ought to prove

1. An antidote to the pride of intellect. Such knowlege is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. We cannot comprehend the Divine omniscience. Our attempts to do so end in ignominious failure. We can but cry, Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! &c. How vain and ridiculous it is for any man to pride himself in his intellectual attainments or acquisitions! What we know is almost as nothing in contrast to what we do not know. We have a drop of knowledge, but nothing to the Divine ocean. What a vain thing is it fo a shallow brook to boast of its streams before a sea, whose depths are unfathomable!

2. An effectual restraint from sins both of heart and of action. The eye of man often imposes a restraint upon the evil-doer; and shall the eye of God, which is ever upon us, be disregarded? Men seek to hide their evil doings by the darkness of night, saying, How doth God know? can He judge through the dark cloud? But darkness cannot hide from Him. He knows the evil thought, the dark design, the impure feeling. Secret sin is impossible. Let the fact of Gods omniscience check evil in its first beginnings.

3. A solemn warning to the sinner. Secrecy does not hide from God, hypocrisy does not deceive Him, the lapse of time does not cause Him to forget, all sins are known to Him, and will be visited upon the sinners unless they are pardoned. What a terrible consideration is it to think that the sins of a day are upon record in an infallible understanding, much more the sins of a week: what a number, then, do the sins of a month, a year, ten or forty years arise to! Sinner, take warning.

4. The utter impossibility of any man justifying himself in the sight of God. God knows all and everything. Our secret sins are in the light of His countenance. He sees defects and imperfections even in our best deeds. Enter not into judgment with Thy servant; for in Thy sight shall no man living be justified.

5. A comfort to the people of God when misjudged by man. Men frequently mistake the motives of their fellow-men and judge them harshly. But how comforting it is to turn from man unto God. Behold, my witness is in heaven, and my record is on high. He knoweth the way that I take, &c. Our cause is in the hands of the Omniscient and All-Merciful.

6. A guarantee of the well-being of the people of God. God not only knows, but also cares for His people. As providence infers omniscience as the guide of it, so omniscience infers providence as the end of it. He knows them in their weakness to sustain them, in their need to provide for them, in their dangers to rescue them, in their sorrows to comfort them, &c. Our Lord Himself set forth the Divine knowledge as an encouragement to His people to trust in God. Your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things, &c. (Mat. 6:31-32).

7. A pledge of the triumph of the Divine government. All the dark and cunning designs of His enemies are known to Him. Their most secret plans cannot surprise Him. Their most subtle plans cannot baffle Him. He will make their counsel of no effect, and frustrate their deepest schemes. His omniscience assures us of the triumph of His cause. All things are under His control. He, and He alone, can say, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure.

GODS OMNIPRESENCE

(Psa. 139:7-12)

The Psalmist here treats of the omnipresence of God, not as a metaphysical conception, but as a momentous practical truth. This truth he sets forth in language of great force and beauty. In other portions of the Holy Word this truth is clearly and forcibly expressed. 1Ki. 8:27; Jer. 23:23-24; Amo. 9:2-3. According to the representation of David

I. God is personally present everywhere. The Psalm was not written by a Pantheist. He speaks of God as a Person everywhere present in creation, yet distinct from creation. In our text He says, Thy Spirit, Thy presence, Thou art there, Thy hand, Thy right hand, darkness hideth not from Thee. God is everywhere, but He is not everything. All things have their being in Him, but He is distinct from all things. He fills the universe, but is not mingled with it. He is the Intelligence which guides, and the power which sustains; but His personality is preserved, and He is independent of the works of His hands, however vast and noble. Charnock: Where light is in every part of a crystal globe, and encircles it close on every side, do they become one? No; the crystal remains what it is, and the light retains its own nature. God is not in us as a part of us, but as an efficient and preserving cause. In Him we live, and move, and have our being. We live and move in God, so we live and move in the air; we are no more God by that than we are mere air because we breathe in it, and it enters into all the pores of our body.

II. God is influentially present everywhere. The Psalmist felt that where-ever he wasin heaven, in Sheol, or on the utmost verge of creationhe would be led and sustained by God. Even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me. He is everywhere present in His sustaining energy. O Lord, Thou preservest man and beast. By Him all things consist. He upholds all things by the word of His power. He is everywhere present by His controlling energy. He restrains and overrules all evil. He originates and fosters all good. This influential presence may be compared to that of the sun, which, though at so great a distance from the earth, is present in the air and earth by its light, and within the earth by its influence in concocting those metals which are in the bowels of it, without being substantially either of them.

III. God is intelligently present everywhere. The poet felt that, wherever he was and in whatever circumstances, he would be fully known to the Lord.

And should I say: Only let darkness cover me, and the light about me be night; even darkness cannot be too dark for Thee, but the night is light as the day; the darkness and light (to Thee are) both alike. The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. With one single look He beholdeth the whole universe. As I am accounted present in this auditory, because I see the objects that are here, because I am witness of all that passes here; so God is everywhere, because He sees all, because veils the most impenetrable, darkness the most thick, distances the most immense, can conceal nothing from His knowledge. Soar to the utmost heights, fly into the remotest climates, wrap thyself in the blackest darkness, everywhere, everywhere, thou wilt be under His eye.Saurin.

IV. Gods presence is everywhere realised by the godly soul. To the Psalmist the Divine omnipresence was not a mere opinion, not a mere article of a creed, but a realised fact. Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from Thy presence? He felt the presence of God everywhere. At every step and in every circumstance of life he felt himself in that presence. In all the phenomena of nature he recognised that presence. To him all things are full of God, yet all distinct from Him. The cloud on the mountain is His covering; the muttering from the chambers of the thunder is His voice; that sound on the top of the mulberry trees is His going; in that wind, which bends the forest or curls the clouds, He is walking; that sun is His still commanding eye. The godly soul is possessed by an intense consciousness of the constant presence of God.

God is a sphere or circle, whose centre is everywhere, and circumference nowhere. So far is His presence from being bounded by the universe itself, that, as we are taught in our text, were it possible for us to wing our way into the immeasurable depths and breadths of space, God would there surround us, in as absolute a sense as that in which He is said to be about our bed and our path, in that part of the world where His will has placed us. As He is larger than all time, so He is vaster than all space.
Let us now point out the practical bearings of this great truth.

1. It should restrain us from evil. The eye of a child will effectually check the execution of some evil purposes; more the eye of man or woman; yet more the eye of a holy man or woman. Men chose darkness and secrecy for the perpetration of evil. But there is no darkness nor shadow of death where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves. Gods eye sees all things everywhere. He is in the darkness by the side of the worker of iniquity. And He is perfectly holy.

2. It should lead us to hold humble thoughts of ourselves and exalted ideas of God. How small are we to God! Our existence seems almost as non-existence when placed beside His immensity. Let His greatness excite our reverence. Let our littleness lead us to constant lowliness.

3. It should comfort and strengthen the people of God in severe trial, in painful loneliness, and in arduous duty. He accompanies His people into the furnace of affliction, and preserves them from injury. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee, &c. (Isa. 43:2). When exiled from friends, or forsaken of friends, or bereaved of friends by death, His presence is never withdrawn. If He call us to some difficult task, He assures us, My presence shall go with thee. His realised presence is the secret of the success of Moses, Paul, &c.

4. It should be an incentive to holy action. The athletes of Greece and Rome were inspired to run or wrestle by the knowledge of the fact that they were surrounded by a vast assembly of spectators. It is said that, at the battle of Prestonpans, a Highland chief of the noble house of MGregor was wounded by two balls and fell. Seeing their chief fall, the clan wavered, and gave the enemy an advantage. The old chieftain, beholding the effects of his disaster, raised himself up on his elbow, while the blood gushed in streams from his wounds, and cried aloud, I am not dead, my children: I am looking at you to see you do your duty. These words revived the sinking courage of the brave Highlanders, and roused them to put forth their mightiest energies; and they did all that human valour could do to stem and turn the dreadful tide of battle. Oh! if we but realised Gods presence, felt Him near to us, our life would become brave and beautiful and holy. God is not only present everywhere, but everywhere present to inspire, and aid, and bless.

5. It is of vital importance to all worshippers of God. The consideration of the Divine omnipresence is calculated to destroy formality, to inspire reverence, and to strengthen faith. Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.

THE OMNIPRESENCE OF GOD AND ITS IMPRESSIONS UPON MAN

(Psa. 139:7-12)

There is one circumstance in the text which directs a humble mind how it ought to be treated, and that is with the utmost humility of devotion; for it is a direct address to God Himself. However discursive the imagination might be on other texts, on this it is quite out of character.
If this thought be powerful on the mind of your preacher, there is another which ought equally to affect the minds of the hearers; and that is, that you are now in a place where you ought to feel yourself most exposed to His survey. God indeed is about your bed and about your path; but in the house of prayer you voluntarily expose yourself to His immediate notice, you court His scrutiny. Recollect that God is present; the King is now come in to see His guests: He knows with what motives you have come hither; whether you prayed before you came; whether you listened to the reading of the Scriptures as to the Word of God; whether you prayed in prayer; whether you sung with devotion, making melody in your heart to the Lord. Yes, my brethren, even now you are weighed in the balances of the sanctuary. God grant that you may not be found wanting.

I. Let us endeavour to realise the grand sentiment which the text contains.

God is everywhere present. The first thought of the sinner is how he may escape. Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit? &c. How vain! A reflection upon human nature. Grace is wiser; it teaches us to seek His presence. Let him take hold of My strength, &c. When shall I come and appear before God?
How many present have never reflected upon the subject; and though always surrounded by God, have never derived comfort from His presence! Without hope, without Godawful thought!

1. How great must be the Being who possesses such an empire! These are His attributes; these are not limited. A wing that never tires: an eye that never sleeps.

2. How melancholy the reflection that the great thought that occurs to the sinner is how he may escape Him! Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit? &c. This is not natural: sin is the cause of it. How false the hope! How miserable the condition!

3. How valuable is that religion which teaches us to hope in His mercy; which tells us that over all worlds He exercises a Fathers care; that His fostering wing extends to the minutest object; and that He especially discerns the returning sinner.

II. Let us trace some of the impressions which it ought to produce on individual character.

1. The utter hopelessness of a career of crime or of indifference to God. Wherever you are engaged in guilt, God is there to interrupt, to record, to disappoint, to vex the soul. Think of this in your plans of life, in business, in your families. Examples: Achan (Jos. 7:16-26), Gehazi (2Ki. 5:20-27).

2. The strong consolation afforded to the humble penitent. He sees every desire, hope, effort. Why sayest thou, O Jacob? &c. (Isa. 40:27-31).

3. The absolute necessity of making this God our Friend.

4. The glory of heaven, where His presence is felt only to bless.

5. The dreadfulness of that world in which His mercies are clean gone for ever, and His influence is felt as an unmitigated and insupportable curse.Samuel Thodey.

MAN A WONDERFUL CREATION OF GOD

(Psa. 139:13-16)

The connection of these verses with the preceding seems to be thisGod must needs have a perfect acquaintance with man because He created him. Hengstenberg suggests that Psa. 139:13 refers back to Psa. 139:2. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, Thou understandest my thought afar off. For Thou hast formed my reins, &c. The Psalmist here states that

I. Man is a creation of God. Thou hast formed my reins, Thou didst weave me together in my mothers womb.Perownes translation.

Man was created

1. According to Gods design. In Thy book all my members were written, &c. What the architect is to the edifice God is to man. We existed first as an idea in the Divine mind. And if we read, In Thy book all of them were written, the days which were ordered when as yet there was none of them, we still have the idea of the Divine design in the life of man. Mans entire being is prearranged by God.

2. Under Gods inspection. My substance was not hid from Thee, when I was made in secret, &c. The great Creator superintended the formation of mans bodily frame in the secrecy and obscurity of the womb.

3. By Gods power. Thou hast formed my reins, Thou didst weave me together in my mothers womb. God is the Author of our being: our parents are but the instruments thereof. Every human being is a creation of the Divine power.

II. Man is a wonderful creation of God. I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvellous are Thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well. This is manifest

1. In his body. The frame of mans body, and the cohesion of its parts, says Lord Herbert, are so strange and paradoxical, that I hold it to be the greatest miracle of nature. An anatomist, as Dr. Paley observes, who understood the structure of the heart, might say beforehand that it would play; but he would expect, I think, from the complexity of its mechanism, and the delicacy of many of its parts, that it should always be liable to derangement, or that it would soon work itself out. Yet shall this wonderful machine go night and day, for eighty years together, at the rate of a hundred thousand strokes every twenty-four hours, having at every stroke a great resistance to overcome; and shall continue this action for this length of time without disorder and without weariness. Each ventricle will at least contain one ounce of blood. The heart contracts four thousand times in one hour, from which it follows, that there passes through the heart every hour four thousand ounces, or two hundred and fifty pounds, of blood. Now the whole mass of blood is said to be about twenty-five pounds, so that a quantity of blood, equal to the whole mass of blood passes through the heart ten times in one hour; which is once every six minutes. When we reflect also upon the number of muscles, not fewer than four hundred and forty-six in the human body, known and named; how contiguous they lie to each other, as it were, over one another; crossing one another; sometimes embedding in one another; sometimes perforating one another; an arrangement which leaves to each its liberty, and its full play; this must necessarily require meditation and council. Dr. Nienentyt, in the Leipsic Transaction, reckons up a hundred muscles that are employed every time we breathe: yet we take in, or let out, our breath without reflecting what a work is hereby performedwhat an apparatus is laid in of instruments for the service, and how many such contribute their assistance to the effect. Breathing with ease is a blessing of every moment; yet of all others, it is that which we possess with the least consciousness.Buck.

The human body is ever changing, ever abiding; a temple always complete, and yet always under repair; a mansion which quite contents its possessor, and yet has its plans and its materials altered each moment; a machine which never stops working, and yet is taken to pieces in the one twinkling of an eye, and put together in the other; a cloth of gold to which the needle is ever adding on one side of a line, and from which the scissors are ever cutting away on the other. Yes: Life, like Penelope of old, is ever weaving and unweaving the same web, whilst her grim suitors, Disease and Death, watch for her halting; only for her is no Ulysses who will one day in triumph return.Dr. G. Wilson.

Truly we are fearfully and wonderfully made.

2. In his rational soul. That which thinks, feels, desires, resolves, we call the soul. The soul is wonderful in itself. We do not know what it is; we cannot apprehend it by any of the senses; it has neither shape nor size; it is a mystery. It is wonderful in its powers. How great and marvellous are its powers of memory, reflection, reasoning, anticipation, imagination, &c. And these powers are capable of endless development and increase. How fearfully and wonderfully are we made.

3. In the union of soul and body. How dissimilar they are; yet they are united! Man is sure that he is distinct from the body, though joined to it, because he is one, and the body is not one, but a collection of many things. He feels, moreover, that he is distinct from it because he uses it; for what a man can use he is superior to. No one can mistake his body for himself. It is his, it is not he. When two things which we see are united, they are united by some connection which we can understand. A chain or cable keeps a ship in its place. We lay a foundation of a building in the earth, and the building endures. But what is it that unites soul and body? how do they touch? how do they keep together? So far from its being wonderful that the body one day dies, how is it that it is made to live and move at all? how is it that it keeps from dying a single hour?

Again: the soul is in every part of the body. It is nowhere, yet everywhere. Since every part of his body belongs to him, a mans self is in every part of his body. The hands and feet, the head and trunk, form one body under the presence of the soul within them. Unless the soul were in every part, they would not form one body; so that the soul is in every part, uniting it with every other, though it consists of no part at all.J. H. Newman. This seems contradictory, yet it is true. How mysterious is our being! How fearfully and wonderfully we are made!

III. Because man is a wonderful creation of God he should celebrate the praise of his Creator. I will praise Thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Man as a creation of God presents many and remarkable illustrations of the wisdom, power, and goodness of his Creator, and these should excite his wonder, admiration, gratitude, and praise.

The highest praise we can offer to our Creator is to fulfil His design in our creation. He who most completely embodies and most clearly expresses the will of God presents to Him the truest and highest worship.

Psa. 139:1-16 may be taken as the text of one homily and its teachings developed under an arrangement of this kind:

I. The Statement of Gods perfect knowledge of man (Psa. 139:1-6).

II. The Proof of Gods perfect knowledge of man. This is drawn from

1. His Omnipresence (Psa. 139:7-12);

2. His Creatorship (Psa. 139:13-16).

III. The Effect of this knowledge upon the godly man.

1. A deep impression of intellectual limitation (Psa. 139:6);

2. An inspiration to celebrate His praise (Psa. 139:14).

IV. The Practical uses of this great truth.

THE PRECIOUSNESS AND NUMBER OF GODS THOUGHTS

(Psa. 139:17-18)

In forming so wonderful a being as man there must have been much thought. Many thoughts and deep are embodied in man. Yet man is only a small portion of the creation of God. Looking at the universe as an embodiment of Divine ideas, we are almost overwhelmed at the number, profundity, and preciousness of Gods thoughts. The thoughts of a being indicate his character. As a man thinketh in his heart so is he. But in order to be known, thoughts must be expressed. Men express their thoughts by means of speech, writing, and action. Action is embodied thought. God has unfolded some of His thoughts. What a revelation of wisdom, goodness, beauty we have in the universe! Gods thoughts in relation to the human race as sinners are expressed in the Bible. Jesus Christ is a Revelation and Revealer of the thoughts of God. What purity, tenderness, love, righteousness, majesty shine forth in Him! David rejoiced in Gods thoughts. We have more of His thoughts and more precious ones than David had; how much more then should we rejoice! Consider

I. The preciousness of Gods thoughts. How precious also are Thy thoughts unto me, O God. Gods thoughts are precious

1. Because of their originality. If a man be the originator of some new and useful process or machine, or the author of a clever or able book, he is honoured as a genius and a benefactor of the race. But absolute originality is not in man. The most original thinkers can only make new groupings of old ideas, or bring old thoughts into new associations and applications. But Gods thoughts are absolutely original. The astonishing ideas of the moral restoration of man and the mode of effecting it are Gods own original thoughts. There is originality in Gods thoughts in nature, in the superintendence of human affairs, and in the great redemptive plan and work.

2. Because of their moral excellence. Distinguish between great thoughts and good ones. The devil is a great thinker, but his thoughts are not precious. Thoughts must be good to be precious. Gods thoughts combine the highest intellectual power with supreme moral excellence. All the ideas of the Divine Mind that have been revealed are perfectly true, righteous, and beautiful.

3. Because of their practicableness and utility. Amongst men there are many original and morally excellent thinkers whose ideas are utterly impracticablethey will not work. But Gods thoughts are all practicable. See this in nature, in history, in redemption. Ultimately His every plan will be fully developed, His every thought perfectly embodied. His ideas are useful in themselves, and they stimulate others to usefulness. They arouse men to thought and action.

4. Because of their influence upon our thoughts. Gods thoughts quicken ours. See how His thoughts in the Bible have stimulated the minds of men. Poets and artists have obtained from it their grandest subjects and their mightiest and holiest inspirations. Nature and the Bible are of exhaustless significance. They are replete with germs of thought. Gods thoughts correct ours. Without the thoughts of God ours would be wild, chaotic, conflicting. Our ideas of God, the soul, truth, &c., are regulated by the revealed thoughts of God.

5. Because of their generosity. Forgiveness for the guilty, holiness for the depraved, rest for the wearythese are some of His thoughts. I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My thoughts higher than your thoughts.

II. The number of Gods thoughts.

How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand. Many of His thoughts are revealed, and we see them. Many others may be revealed, but we have not yet the capacity to perceive them. And many more may be revealed by Him in the future. His mind is infinite, ever active, ever productive, ever revealing. His thoughts are not only multitudinous in number, but profound in meaning. In our present state we have neither the time, the facilities, nor the capacity fully to number and comprehend the thoughts of God. But in the future, with quickened faculties, increased facilities, and everlasting existence, some of the great thoughts of God will probably be perceived in their completeness by us. Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face, &c. If one of Gods ideas is so precious as that of redemption is, how infinitely valuable must be the whole of His thoughts! Many, O Lord my God, are Thy wonderful works which Thou hast done, and Thy thoughts which are to us-ward, &c.

III. The realisation of Gods presence. When I awake, I am still with Thee. As often as he awakes from sleep, he finds that he is again in the presence of God, again occupied with thoughts of God, again meditating afresh with new wonder and admiration on His wisdom and goodness.Perowne. The poet had an abiding sense of the presence of God with him, which was a comfort, and refreshment, and strength to his soul.

CONCLUSION.

1. Endeavour to understand Gods thoughts. Examine them, meditate upon them as you find them in nature, the Bible, and Christ.

2. Rejoice in the preciousness of Gods thoughts. Rejoice in them notwithstanding that many of them are mysterious, and perhaps even painful at present. David said, Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, &c. Yet he rejoiced. His thoughts may be too great for us, yet they are all wise and kind. Think of a few of His thoughts. Here is one of His thoughts for the guilty: Let the wicked forsake his way, &c. (Isa. 55:7). For the suffering: Our light affliction which is but for a moment, &c. (2Co. 4:17-18). For the perplexed: In all thy ways acknowledge Him, &c. (Pro. 3:6). For the bereaved: I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, &c. (1Th. 4:13-14).

3. Seek to become embodiments of Gods thoughts. Live them.

THE POETS VIEW OF THE WICKED

(Psa. 139:19-22)

How strangely abrupt, remarks Perowne, is the turning aside from one of the sublimest contemplations to be found anywhere in the Bible, to express a hope that righteous vengeance will overtake the wicked. Such a passage is startlingstartling partly because the spirit of the New Testament is so different; partly too, no doubt, because our modern civilisation has been so schooled in amenities that we hardly know what is meant by a righteous indignation. It is well, however, to notice the fact, for this is just one of those passages which help us to understand the education of the world. Just because it startles us is it so instructive. The 63d Psalm presents us with a similar contrast. There, however, the feeling expressed is of a more directly personal kind. David is encompassed and hard pressed by enemies who are threatening his life. He has been driven from his throne by rebels, and the deep sense of wrong makes him burst forth in the strain of indignation and of anticipated victory. They that seek my life to destroy it shall be cast into the pit, &c. Here, apparently, the prayer for the overthrow of the wicked does not arise from a sense of wrong and personal danger, but from the intense hatred of wickedness as wickedness, from the deep conviction that, if hateful to a true-hearted man, it must be still more intensely hateful to Him who searcheth the hearts and trieth the reins. The soul, in the immediate presence of God, places itself on the side of God, against all that is opposed to Him. Still, the prayer, Oh that Thou wouldest slay the wicked, can never be a Christian prayer.

I. The character of the wicked described. They are

1. Cruel. Bloody men. Perowne: Bloodthirsty men. (Comp. Psa. 5:6; Psa. 26:9; Psa. 55:23.)

2. Rebellious. They speak against Thee wickedly. Those that rise up against Thee. Wicked men rebel against the most righteous and benevolent authority.

3. Enemies of God. Them that hate Thee. It is a terrible thing to hate a Being of infinite wisdom and truth, righteousness and love. Men may, and sometimes do, grow so wicked that they hate the God whose holy law condemns them.

II. The end of the wicked predicted. Surely Thou wilt slay the wicked, O God. We may interpret this in three ways.

1. As expressing the assurance of the Psalmist that God would destroy the wicked, that he would slay them, bring them to an utter end. Or,

2. As expressing the assurance of the Psalmist that God would severely punish the wicked. He might perhaps have used the word slay figuratively, to denote the punishment which would be inflicted on cruel and rebellious haters of the Lord. Or,

3. May we not say that God will slay the wicked by slaying their wickedness? You destroy an enemy when you make him your friend. He must reign till He hath put all enemies under His feet.

III. The companionship of the wicked avoided. Depart from me therefore, ye bloody men. The Psalmist seeks to separate himself from the workers of iniquity. He is moved to this by

1. Desire for his own safety. Dark and threatening are the prospects of evildoers, and therefore David shunned association with them (Psa. 139:19).

2. Sympathy with God. Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate Thee? &c. The man who sincerely loves God will find the society of the wicked repugnant to him.

3. The influence of divergent characters. What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

CONCLUSION.Let the wicked forsake his way, &c. (Isa. 55:7). As I live, saith the Lord God, &c. (Eze. 33:11).

A PRAYER OF THE UPRIGHT

(Psa. 139:23-24)

We have here

I. A request for Divine examination. Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts. This request implies

1. Consciousness of sincerity. It is not the request of one who was ignorant of his true character and inflated with presumption, but of one who was conscious of his freedom from hypocrisy and of his integrity of heart. To make an appeal like this unto the great Searcher of hearts a man must be thoroughly conscious of his own sincerity, or must have fallen very low indeed.

2. Distrust of self. David felt his liability to error, and to self-deception, and therefore he appealed to the Omniscient and the Infallible.

3. Confidence in God. We would not that our heart should be completely exposed, that all our thoughts should be fully revealed even to our most trusted friend. That man, says Calvin, must have a rare confidence who offers himself so boldly to the scrutiny of Gods righteous judgment. There are many things we would not disclose to any fellow-creature, and yet we are thankful that God knows them. This thought is beautifully expressed in Kebles Hymn for the Twenty-fourth Sunday after Trinity.

II. A desire for entire freedom from evil. This seems to be implied in the request, and see if there be any wicked way in me. The poet was not aware of any wicked way in him. But if any evil tendency or way had escaped his scrutiny, it could not escape that of God. And if God discovered such, the clearly implied desire of the Psalmist was that he might be delivered from it. Any wicked way. Margin: Way of pain or grief. The way of pain is the way which leads to pain. The wicked man causes pain. Frst says that the idea here is the way of affliction, injury which one causes. The wicked man suffers pain. The way of transgressors is hard. David wishes to be free from every evil way. One unguarded entrance to the beleagured city may admit the invading hosts; one wicked way may ruin a soul.

III. A request for Divine guidance in the way of righteousness. Lead me in the way everlasting. The one true abiding way which leads to the true and everlasting God. The way which leads to everlasting life. The way which leads to the blessed eternity. The way everlasting is in contrast to the way of pain. The one leads to misery; the other leads to joy. Here are two points

1. Mans need of guidance. David felt this. We are exposed to temptation, prone to go astray, &c.

2. Mans infallible Guide. David sought the Divine lead. The Lord is perfectly acquainted with both the traveller and the way.

Lead us, O Father, in the paths of right;
Blindly we stumble when we walk alone,
Involved in shadows of a darksome night,
Only with Thee we journey safely on.
Lead us, O Father, to Thy heavenly rest,
However rough and steep the path may be,
Through joy or sorrow, as Thou deemest best,
Until our lives are perfected in Thee.

W. H. Burleigh.

A NEEDFUL PRAYER

(Psa. 139:23-24)

This is a very honest prayera very practical prayer. The text before us is a very personal text. Search me, O God, and know my heart, &c. We will consider

I. The need there is for such a prayer as this. You have not to travel far to find out the need for such a prayer. You have but to look within,to consider the motives and the thoughts and the desires and the purposes which are continually working within your own hearts, and you will find out, if you be honest, the need for such a prayer as this. There may be some amongst you who know that you are cherishing sin in the heart, and who have no desire to part with it. Does not that prove the necessity for such a prayer as this, that God would search your heart, and make you so feel your need of repentance and of a Saviour that you might forsake that sin this very night?

But the prayer is rather the prayer of a true servant of God. There may exist in the heart of a genuine Christian much undetected evil. A conviction of the omniscience and omnipresence of God is quite consistent with the presence of evil in the heart. We have no grander description of those great attributes of Jehovah than in this Psalm; and yet the Psalmist recognised the possibility that evil was lurking within. A conviction of the evil of sin, a deep abhorrence of iniquity, is quite consistent with the presence of evil in the soul. Again, a deep sense of our acceptance in Christ, of our reconciliation to God, of our pardon, and of our blessedness in Christ, is consistent with the presence of evil in the heart. Our acceptance in Christ does not destroy the old nature. That nature remains, and shall be destroyed, but not yet. Once more. We may say also, that an earnest purpose and determination to get rid of all evil is consistent with its presence. The man of God longs for the complete deliverance which shall be the perfect answer to the prayer before us. There is need, then, for such a prayer as this.

II. The manner in which such a prayer as this receives its answer. Let us be well assured that God knows the heart. But the question is, How does God make that known to us which is known so perfectly to Him? How does God search the heart? Take an illustration. After Davids great fall, sin certainly was in his heart. For months, apparently, he lived without confession and without forgiveness. (See 2Sa. 12:1-14.) Thou art the man. Thus saith the Lord God. It was Gods authoritative word that brought conviction,which revealed and detected the evil. David confessed his sin, was pardoned, and restored. Peter denied his Lord, &c. And Peter remembered the word, &c. (Mat. 26:75). That word searched him, and he went forth and wept bitterly. The Word, then, is that instrument which the Lord God uses to search the depths of the human heart; and bringing home that Word by the power of the Spirit, He reveals the sinner to himself, and so teaches him his need of repentance.

There is no one present who has not a history. There are facts in every life, perhaps, which we would not tell to those nearest and dearest to us. There have been sins cherished in the heart, if not practised in the life. There are secrets unrevealed, scarcely, perhaps, remembered, seldom dwelt upon; but there is a history in each one of us. Now, the Word of God has a wonderful power of fastening upon some critical point in that history, so as to detect the evilto lay bare the secretto drag it out, as it were, into light, and, letting the light of truth shine in upon it, to lead the man to know himself. Take, for example, the secret of sin. Illustration: Our Lord and the woman of Samaria (Joh. 4:1-42).

Or, again, a case the very opposite to the woman of Samaria, a man upright, moral, devout, religious, learned, admired, honoured, respected. You have it in Nicodemus; and how does the Lord meet that mans conscience? (Joh. 3:1-13). Or one who was wedded to one particular idol, though all the rest of his life was fair and good and upright (Mat. 19:16-22). And would you have an example of one who was upright, who feared God, and who eschewed evil, and who yet was brought to confess that he was a grievous sinner? You have it in the well-known case of the patriarch Job. And how are those convictions wrought? By the suspicious silence of his friends? No. By the blunt and open charges of those same friends? No. By the wiser counsel and the more truthful accusations of Elihu? No; but by the solemn word of Jehovah, &c. (Job 38-41). And what is the result? (Job. 40:3-6; Job. 42:5-6).

There are probably few Christians present who do not feel the pointed application of these words to their own hearts. You know that there is evil lying within. What you want to know is how to get rid of that evil. You must get rid of the evil within by the application of the very same principle of faith as that by means of which you have become established in Christ. We are justified by faith; we are sanctified by faith in the Lord Jesus.Sir Emilius Bayley.

THE WICKED WAY WITHIN US, AND THE PRAYER PREFERRED

(Psa. 139:24)See if there be any wicked way in me.

This a beautiful and impressive prayer for the commencement of every day.

It is, also, a great sentiment to admonish us at the beginning or close of each day.

The law of sin in our members, warring against the law of truth, of holiness, and of God, is still very powerful, and often very painfully exemplified.

There is the way of unbelief within, to which we are very prone.

There is the way of vanity and pride, to which we often accustom ourselvesvain of something in connection with the body, the accomplishments of the mind, &c. And then how frequently we show a proud and inflated spirit, instead of the temper of deep humility.

There is the way of selfishness in which we frequently walk. We are sometimes quite absorbed in considerations which relate only to our personal advancement or happiness.

There is the way of worldliness we often pursue. The empty pleasures, the shadowy honours, &c.

There is the way of sluggishness, by which we are often marked, and in connection with which we are sadly injured. What apathy in prayer, in the examination and application of Gods Word, we manifest!

There is the way of self-dependence, by which we often dishonour God and injure ourselves. There is not simple, unhesitating, unbroken reliance on the perfect work, the infinite merits of our Divine Redeemer always unfolded, which we are bound invariably to exercise.

There is, unhappily, the way of disobedience in which we often walk. At any rate, our obedience is cold, reluctant, uncertainnot distinguished by its simplicity, its entireness, its fervency.

Now, each of the ways to which reference has been made is radically unsound, radically bad,to every one of which we are individually prone, and from which we require to be delivered.
How necessary is it, then, to go to God at once, and, with the utmost earnestness, to prefer the petition, Lord, see if there be any wicked way in me. Anything dark to enlighten, anything erroneous to correct, anything injurious to remove, anything degrading to elevate, anything impure to cleanse, anything deadening to quicken. Let nothing that is wrong, that is opposed to Thy character, repugnant to Thy Word, or injurious and debasing to ourselves, remain, or be harboured within us.
Can anything be more consistent than this? Anything be wiser than this? Can any prayer issue in a larger, richer, or more abiding blessing?
Let us remember that if there be what is holy within, there will be nothing that is unholy without; if there be irregularity within, there must be irregularity and confusion without. If the heart be unsound, the life must inevitably be unsound also.

Can you prefer, with the utmost sincerity, this fine prayer?T. Wallace.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Psalms 139

DESCRIPTIVE TITLE

An Individual submits Himself to Jehovahs All-Searching Eye.

ANALYSIS

Stanza I., Psa. 139:1-6, Jehovahs Knowledge considered as Taking into View every Form of Human Activity. Stanza II., Psa. 139:7-12, There is No Escaping that Knowledge by Distance or Darkness. Stanza III., Psa. 139:13-18, Based upon the Creatorship of each Individual, Jehovahs Knowledge rises to Precious Purposes Realisable by Fellowship with Him in a Higher Life. Stanza IV., Psa. 139:19-24, The Lesson thus Learned produces a Passionate Espousal of Jehovahs honour, which feeling, however, is Jealously Guarded by Prayer.

(Lm.) By DavidPsalm.

1

Jehovah! thou hast searched me and knowest:

2

Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising,

thou understandeth my purpose from afar.

3

My journeying and my resting hast thou traced out,[812]

[812] So Sep. Or (Heb.): winnowed.

and with all my ways art thou familiar.

4

When (as yet) there is no speech in my tongue

lo! Jehovah thou knowest it all.

5

Behind and before hast thou shut me in,

and hast laid upon me thine outspread hand.

6

Too wonderful is thy[813] knowledge for me,

[813] Thy in Sep. and Vul.

inaccessible! I cannot attain to it.

7

Whither can I go from thy spirit?

or whither from thy face can I flee?

8

If I ascend the heavens there art thou,

and if I spread out hades as my couch behold thee!

9

I mount the wings of the dawn,

settle down in the region behind the sea

10

Even there thy hand leadeth me.

and thy right hand holdeth me.

11

If I sayOnly let darkness shut me in,[814]

[814] So Gt. M.T.: bruise me.

and the light about me be night

12

Even darkness would not darken from thee,

and night like day would shine,

so the darkness as the light.

13

For thou thyself didst originate the first rudiments of my being,[815]

[815] Ml.: my reins.

didst weave me together[816] in the womb of my mother.

[816] Or (less prob.): screen me.

14

I thank thee that thou hast shewn thyself fearfully wondrous,[817]

[817] So it shd. be (w. Sep. and Syr.)Gn.

wonderful are thy works,
and my soul knoweth [it] well.

15

My frame[818] was not hid from thee

[818] Ml.: my bone.

when I was made in secret,

was skilfully wrought[819] in the underparts of the earth:[820]

[819] If the initial r in Heb. was an accidental repetition from the previous word (wh. ends w. that letter), then we might render the word so shortened: I arose. And this might convey a double allusion to race origin and individual origin.

[820] The secret laboratory of the origin of earthly existence(Cp. Job. 1:21, Sir. 40:1)Del.

16

Mine undeveloped substance[821] thine eyes beheld,

[821] Ml.: my ballas yet unrolled! Br. conjectures grl (instead of glm) my lot.

and in thy book all of them were written
even days preordained,

and for it[822] one among them.

[822] Namely, for my undeveloped substance: one among them, namely, among preordained days. So, prob., if w. Del. we prefer the Heb. marginal reading (in one recension) welo=waw, lamed, waw; otherwise, if we follow M.T., welo=waw, lamed, aleph (same pronunciation), we must say: And not one among them.

17

To me then how precious thy purposes O GOD!

how numerous have become their heads!

18

I would recount thembeyond the sands they multiply!

I awakeand my continued being[823] is with thee.

[823] Ml.: my continuance.

19

Wouldst thou O God slay the lawless one!

then ye men of bloodshed depart from me!

20

Who speak of thee wickedly,

have uttered for unreality thy name.[824]

[824] So Gt.: cp. Exo. 20:7.

21

Must not I hate them who hate thee O Jehovah?

And them who rise up against thee must I not loathe?

22

With completeness of hatred do I hate them,

as enemies have they become to me.

23

Search me O GOD and know my heart,

try me and know my disquieting[825] thoughts;

[825] Cp. Psa. 94:19.

24

And see if there be any hurtful way in me,

and lead me in a way age-abiding.[826]

[826] That is, a way enduring or holding on to the ages. In contrast with the way that vanishes, Psa. 1:6. Cp. the path of life, Psa. 16:11.

(Lm.) To the Chief Musician.

PARAPHRASE

Psalms 139

O Lord, You have examined my heart and know everything about me.
2 You know when I sit or stand. When far away You know my every thought.
3 You chart the path ahead of me, and tell me where to stop and rest! Every moment, You know where I am!
4 You know what I am going to say before I even say it.
5 You both precede and follow me, and place Your hand of blessing on my head.
6 This is too glorious, too wonderful to believe!
7 I can never be lost to Your Spirit! I can never get away from God!

8 If I go up to heaven You are there; if I go down to the place of the dead, You are there.
9 If I ride the morning winds to the farthest oceans,
10 Even there Your hand will guide me, Your strength will support me.
11 If I try to hide in the darkness, the night becomes light around me!
12 For even darkness cannot hide from God; to You the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are both alike to You.
13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body, and knit them together in my mothers womb.
14 Thank You for making me so wonderfully complex! It is amazing to think about. Your workmanship is marvelousand how well I know it.
15 You were there while I was being formed in utter seclusion!
16 You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe. Every day was recorded in Your Book!
17, 18 How precious it is, Lord, to realize that You are thinking about me constantly! I cant even count how many times a day Your thoughts turn towards me![827] And when I waken in the morning, You are still thinking of me!

[827] Literally, how precious are Your thoughts to me.

*

*

*

*

*

19 Surely You will slay the wicked, Lord! Away, bloodthirsty men! Begone!
20 They blaspheme Your name and stand in arrogance against Youhow silly can they be?
21 O Lord, shouldnt I hate those who hate You? Shoudnt I be grieved with them?
22 Yes, I hate them, for Your enemies are my enemies too.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart, test my thoughts.
24 Point out anything You find in me that makes You sad, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

EXPOSITION

This beautiful and heart-searching psalm may be conveniently regarded as resolving itself into four Stanzas of six verses each, as set forth in our Analysis.
I. Jehovahs Knowledge considered as taking into view every form of human activity. A survey which includes a mans downsitting when his days work is done, his uprising when his nights rest is over, and his chief purpose during the twenty-four hours; which traces his journeying from place to place, his resting at noon and at night, and his ways of deporting himself wherever he may be,may be said to touch in general terms on all the forms which individual activity can assume. If, to these specifications, are added those processes of the mind which prepare for speech, and which prompt and guide the tongue in its utterance,we may conclude that nothing of importance remains uncomprehended in this brief enumeration. Nevertheless, there is yet another aspect under which individual activity may be viewed; and that is, its narrow limitation. There are on every side bounds which it cannot overpass; an individuals downsittings and uprisings can only attain a certain number, and then they must cease; and so with all his forms of activity. Such limitation is graphically set forth in the simplest and most picturesque language: Behind and before hast thou shut me in, and kast laid on me thine outspread hand. This reflection, by so far, enhances the thoroughness of Jehovahs knowledge of me. He knows all the movements I can make, and he himself strictly limits those movements; which emphasises the main point, which is, that Jehovah knows every individual thoroughly: knows with first-hand knowledge; as the result of personal search and tracing and testing; knows, by anticipation, even the as yet unspoken words that are coming. It is not surprising that the psalmist realises how such knowledge surpasses any knowledge which he himself possesses: Too wonderful is thy knowledge for me.

II. There is no Escaping that Knowledge by Distance or Darkness. The psalmist first tests the question, whether by Distance he can hide himself from God. No: not by distance: whether the distant height, or the distant depth, or the distant breadth: the distant and dazzling height of heaven; or the dim, dark depth of hades, the underworld of the dead; or the hazy remoteness of the shores and islands behind the hinder Mediterranean Sea: escape to any of these distances will be no escape from Jehovah; who is above, below, beyond; present everywherepresent, in the diffused vitality of his spirit, present, in the personal capacity of revealing his face in wrath or love. The poet is only testing the question in all the forms his thoughts can appreciate. He does not say he wishes to escape: in fact, he almost implies that he does not; for, in putting the case, merely to test the possibility, he rather assumes the love than the wrath of the Omnipresent One: There, thy hand leadeth me, and thy right hand holdeth me. But, if he would escape, he could notthat is his main point.

Having tested the question of escape from Gods knowledge by means of Distance, he next propounds the question whether by means of Darkness such escape were possible. Again he concludes in the negative. Darkness is no darkness to Jehovah.

III. Based upon the Creatorship of Each Individual, Jehovahs Knowledge rises to Precious Purposes realisable by Fellowship with Him in a Higher Life.

This comprehensive summary of the third stanza of our psalm is not more comprehensive than the particulars which it seeks to express. Nevertheless, being highly charged with meaning, it may be helpful to draw out its main points in the form of three distinct propositions.
1. Jehovahs knowledge of men is based upon his creatorship of each individual.
2. His creatorship of each individual comprehends benevolent purposes with respect to them.
3. His benevolent purposes with respect to each individual require for their realisation the advantages of a higher life than the present.
1. Jehovahs knowledge of men is based upon his creatorship of each individual. The causal word For=Because, which opens this stanza, strictly and properly leads up to this conception: Thou hast such an intimate knowledge of me as neither change of activity, nor distance, nor darkness can obstruct, because thou didst make me: because I am thy creature: because thou art my creator. This is the first strong and clear point in this third stanza of our psalm. Observe that it is clearly and strongly expressed. It is expressed by almost every form of language by which the idea could be conveyed: He originated the first rudiments of my being. Then he carries on the formative work so begun: He wove me together. He constructed my bony framework. Moreover he yet further advanced his handiwork to completion, by skilfully imparting the whole variegated web-work of nerves and blood-vessels. We need not trust too much to a single form of expression; but it may safely be said that at least three times over in this short paragraph is Jehovahs creatorship of the human body affirmed. Sum them all up, and put them in their proper connection of thought, by saying: He knows me thoroughly because he made me. He made, not only my spirit, but my body also.

We are not going too far when we individualise, and say: He made me. He made my body. We are not going too far, because precisely that is what the psalmist says.

But does he not also generalise, and speak of the origin of the race under cover of the origin of the individual? The correct answer to that plausible question would seem to be this: Yes, he does also generalise; but without withdrawing his individualisation. He refers to the literal mothers womb of the individual, as well asprobably and allusivelyto the figurative mothers womb here glanced at under the terms underparts of the earth. We need not deny the allusion. It is the easiest and happiest way of accounting for the introduction of that remarkable expression; which it may be observed is also found in the Septuagint and Vulgate: As the race was originally brought forth out of the underparts of the earth, so the individual is, at birth, brought forth from the maternal concealment answering thereto. But such an allusion does not dominate the passage: the psalm distinctly and repeatedly affirms the Divine Creatorship of the body of each individual human being.

The importance of this teaching will be evident to every thoughtful mind. The consequences which follow from it may, without exaggeration, be described as tremendous. To say that BEHIND EVERY HUMAN BIRTH DIVINE CAUSATION IS IMPLIED is to make a statement which may undoubtedly be abused. But, on the other hand, still more deplorable consequences will result from denying it. The alternativethat of cutting any single creature adrift from its Creatormust at all costs be avoided.
Jehovah created the race: Jehovah creates every individual of the race. Jehovah is the Father of our spiritsdoubtless with special immediateness, beautifully symbolised by the directness with which each breathing thing draws its breath from God. But, though not without creaturely intervention, yet through the fathers of our flesh, Jehovahs creatorship takes effect: his power and wisdom and love are operative in the production of our individual bodies also. It is this which the third stanza of our psalm so strongly teaches, and the more thoroughly and fearlessly we appropriate the solemn thought, the more shall we have ultimate cause for rejoicing.
Jehovah knows me thoroughly, because he made me; and he made my body as well as my spirithe made the whole man, the entire compound psychic individual.
This is not to say that even he, at my first birth, brought a clean thing out of an unclean; but it is to say, that my first birth, with all its drawbacks, lays a foundation for a second: a second birth whose very object will be to bring a clean thing out of an unclean. Creation may be followed by destruction; but that is not its object. Creation may be followed by salvation.
2. Jehovahs creatorship of each individual comprehends benevolent purposes respecting each. What is it but Jehovahs individual creatorship which calls forth the significant line which now comes before us?

To me, then, how precious thy purposes, O God!

Having employed the word purpose, in Psa. 139:2, in relation to man, we are bound in consistency to use it now, in Psa. 139:17, in relation to God, the word being the same in the original. God has not only thoughts about us when individually creating us, but purposes, and because these purposes are precious, therefore we must assume them to be benevolent; purposes of good and not of evil; of salvation, and not of destruction. Some, indeed, prefer the qualifying word weighty here instead of precious; but as precious is the more customary and obvious rendering, we shall hold ourselves warranted to abide by that more inspiring word until driven out of it. Inasmuch, however, as the immediately following context confirms the preferred and customary rendering, we have no fear of being driven out of the welcome conception of a benevolent Divine purpose in connection with every human birth.

It is quite true that the psalmist with great emphasis asserts the individuality of his own appreciation of Gods benevolent purposes in his creation. To me, then, how precious! and he had every right to do this. To me, knowing thee as I know thee; To me, then, considering this matter as I have done, and pondering deeply upon it as I have pondered,how precious thy purposes are! But is this to shut others out from the same appreciation; or, is it, rather, to invite them to follow him? Let us beware of narrowing the ground of the exclamation so as to cut it away from under any mans feet. Suffice it, then, to observethat the psalmist neither says nor implies, Because I am a good man, therefore are thy purposes such as they are, therefore are they precious to me. No! the whole spirit of the stanza, and of the psalm hitherto, suggests the simpler and broader ground: Because I am a man, and because thou didst make me to be a man, therefore are thy purposes to me as man so precious.

3. Jehovahs benevolent purposes with respect to each individual require for their realisation the advantages of a higher life than the present. Nearly everything here turns on the bearing of the word awake; although something also turns upon the fact that the words I am still may give place to a more literal rendering, my continuance, which more literal rendering may justly assume the significant form, my continued being, as we see from Psa. 104:33 : I awakemy continued being is with thee. Chiefly, the decision turns upon the scope or intention of the word awake. Does the psalmist intend to imply that he had nearly or quite fallen asleep under the weight of his profound meditation, but that when he roused himself he still found himself revolving the old problem,found him with God in the sense of still thinking about him? Or does he rather rise to a higher thoughtthat of awaking to a higher life than the present?

We may and must dismiss the former as purely fanciful: there is nothing sleepy about what has gone beforeall is alert, wakeful; with no indication even of weariness in the mind of the psalmist. Besides which, there is something essentially feeble in reducing the weighty words with thee to mean no more than thinking about thee; since they more properly mean in company with theein thy presence.

On the other hand there are attractive parallels for investing the word awake with a far richer meaning; such as, Awake and sing ye that dwell in the dust (Isa. 26:19), many of the sleepers in the dusty ground shall awake (Dan. 12:2), and especially

As for me, I shall behold thy face in righteousness, I shall be satisfied when I awake in thy likeness.

Psa. 17:15.

Who can deny that, so to understand the words of our psalm, is to bring its third stanza to an altogether worthy conclusion? The whole context is strong, and favours a strong conclusion. Particularly strong and suggestive are the two lines falling between the two great words purposes and awake: how numerous have become the heads of them, namely thy purposes; andI would recount thembeyond the sands they multiply. Only regard the purposes as finding final culmination in the bestowment of IMMORTAL LIFE; only regard the awaking as being the GREAT AWAKING to that life; and then this multiplication of the Divine purposes is abundantly accounted for. The purposes culminating in the Great Awaking naturally multiply on both sides of that climax: on this side, and on that; as leading up to it, and as carrying us beyond it. He who purposes to bestow on me immortality, will he not purpose to prepare me for that priceless boon? Will he not purpose redemption, purpose sanctification, purpose the necessary discipline of suffering, purpose victory over temptation? So that we may well exclaim, How numerous the purposes leading me up to the Great Awaking! And again, will that Great Awaking not itself lead on to further and higher and still multiplying results? Does Jehovah purpose to awake me to an idle, sterile life? When I am awakened, will there be nothing for me to do, no lost ones to seek and save, no new worlds to conquer, no new victories to achieve, no new songs to sing, no new book of natures secrets to open? Verily, it is as the psalmist says, How the heads of coming possibilities in the future multiply beyond the sands?

On every ground, therefore, are we emboldened to conclude, that this Awaking is THE GREAT AWAKING TO IMMORTALITY. On the ground of the utter feebleness of the alternative view, which fancies that this wakeful psalmist fell asleep; on the ground of the felt preciousness of these Divine purposes; and on the ground of their abundant multiplication, which can never so prolifically multiply as when clustered about Jehovahs greatest gift, age-abiding life:on all these substantial grounds we choose this conclusion, and rest in it, that the climax of this third stanza does really meanI awake to immortal lifeand find that my continued being is to be enjoyed in fellowship with thee my loving Creator!

IV. The lesson thus learned produces a Passionate Espousal of Jehovahs honour: which feeling, however, is Jealously Guarded by Prayer.

That is what we really have here, in the final stanza of our psalm: let us brush aside everything which hinders our seeing it.
Granted that the language employed is, some of it, such as we could not use: simply because we are not in the psalmists circumstances. What were those circumstances?
As this question necessarily throws us back on the problem of authorship, it may be permitted us to say: that this Study was commenced under the impression that DAVID HIMSELF was the Writer of the whole of this psalm, the manifest difference in tone between the first three stanzas and the last being sufficiently accounted for by the easy supposition, that three-fourths of the psalm were written by David in his comparatively early and untroubled days, and the last part, after his days of conflict had set in; but that, on closer consideration of the peculiar language of the fourth stanza and contemplation of the circumstancesthe whole state of thingsthereby implied, the modified conclusion was reached, that, while David probably wrote the major part of the psalm, namely its continuously calm stanzas one, two, and three, being probably the whole original psalm, and abundantly entitling the psalm as a whole to bear his honoured name, it was his descendant HEZEKIAH who, having drunk in the existing psalm, in letter and spirit, then added to it the present fourth stanza. The sufficient reason for this modification may be allowed to stand thus: the fourth stanza does not exactly suit any known circumstances through which David passed, but does exactly and most wonderfully fit the peculiar condition of things which existed in the days of Hezekiah. So much for clearness being premised, the case may be thus stated, looking steadfastly and with a single eye to the exact language of this the fourth stanza of the psalm.

These are the words of a responsible King in Israel: with a foreign invader trampling down the land; leaving his subjects little chance of exercising the most ordinary rights of citizenship, and still less of maintaining the appointed central worship in Jerusalem; many of the Levites being beleaguered in the cities where are their homes, and consequently being unable to ascend to the holy city to attend there to their sacerdotal duties. All this, observe, simply because of this same Invaderthis lawless foreignerwho will, if he can, dethrone Israels rightful monarch, and draw the people away from their allegiance to Jehovah himself. And now the question is:If, under these circumstances, the King praysWouldst thou, O God, slay the lawless one! is he doing wrong? Deserves he to lose our sympathies? Can we condemn him? Note, that he does not propose to slay the lawless one himself; he merely commits him to the judgment of God: Slay him, O God! Is that a wrong prayer for Israels King, under such circumstances.

But let us be at pains to take in the whole situation. There is a war-party in Israel, who are prepared to rush forward into blood-shed, with or without Jehovahs permission. We know them; we have met with them before: we have heard their peace-loving King lament that he dwelt among them: bitterly complaining of them in such terms as these, I am peace; but when I speak, they are for war! (Psalms 120). These are the men to whom the devout monarch here says threateningly in a significant aside: then, ye men of blood-shed, depart from me! As much as to say, Once the Lawless One is slain by Gods hand, your excuses for plunging into a wilful war will be silenced; and, depend upon it, I shall hasten to rid myself of your hated presence in my Court.

Not only was there a war-party in Israel, but that war-party was composed of profane menmen who spake of Jehovah wickedly, who tried to maintain falsehoods by the irreverent use of his holy name: men, in a word, who hated Jehovah! Those are the men whom this praying, Jehovah-loving monarch has to confront. And we ask, was he wrong in drawing a line at them? Could he do otherwise than exclaim, in loyalty to the God whom he adored and loved: Must I not hate them who hate thee, O Jehovah? There is no paltry, personal animosity in the language. In point of fact, these men might have been the kings own enemies, but of that he takes no account. Wholly on public groundssolely for Jehovahs sakehe accounts them as his own enemies. Thatno more, no lessis what the language expresses.

And so we claim to have brushed aside all obstructions to the reception of the large and solemn lesson here conveyed. It is an object-lesson; and is nothing less than this: That when a man rightly appreciates the precious purposes which his Creator cherishes towards him, then is he propelled by the highest moral compulsion to love him in return; to vindicate his honour; and to count his Creators enemies as his own.

Yet, in such a passionate espousal of Jehovahs honour, there undoubtedly lurks a subtle danger: lest the public hate should take up into itself personal animosity; let an abhorrence of mens godless principles and animus should overlook the yet lingering preciousness of their personalities, not yet, it may be, wholly corrupt and finally abandoned.
And it is submitted, that this is one of the finest things in this matchless psalm; namely, that the psalmist is fully aware of this danger; and makes a determined stand against it, by voluntarily submitting himself to the searching eye of his heart-searching God; imploring to know whether there is in himeven by way of mixed motivesany hurtful way; and seeking to be Divinely led into a wayup to and through the great Awakingto the pure life that shall abide to the ages.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1.

Perhaps this is the most meaningful of all the psalms. Please read it and the exposition on it with this thought in mind. Discuss why you believe this psalm has meaning for you.

2.

Someone said, for the Christian, nothing happens in his life by accident, all is under Gods hand of intent. The first six verses of this psalm surely confirm this thought. Discuss.

3.

Not only does God know all my movements, he himself strictly limits those movements, discuss this thought.

4.

Does man have a strong temptation to run away and hide? Why? Is this true of all men?

5.

There are various attempts to get away from God . . . to put distance between you and God. Discuss some modern-day applications of this.

6.

Every fifth man in America is emotionally sicki.e. according to some statisticsis this an attempt to escape God in the darkness? Discuss other forms of darkness. Most of all; discuss not only the futileness of this effort but the needlessness of it.

7.

What a tremendous thought! Not only did God create man, but He took a personal interest in creating each one. Discuss how very complete is the interest of our Creator in each one of us.

8.

What is involved in the expression the underparts of the earth?

9.

God has a plan and purpose for every life, is this taught in this psalm? Discuss.

10.

How do the first and second births relate?

11.

How is the word precious used in this psalm?

12.

How is the word awake here used?

13.

The multiplicity of the purposes of God is a strong argument for immortality. How so?

14.

Rotherham has an interesting thought about the writing of the fourth stanza. Discuss.

15.

Who was the lawless one? Why to be slain? Was this merciful?

16.

What protection did the psalmist seek against the lawless one?

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(1) Searched . . .Comp. Psa. 44:21, shall not God search this out. The word is used of mining operations, Job. 28:3; of exploring a country, Jdg. 18:2.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

1. Searched me The psalmist begins with self-application of the doctrine of omniscience. It is more to know the human heart than to know distant worlds and laws of matter.

Known me Hebrew, simply, Thou hast known, comprehending not me only, but all things relating to me, as in next verse.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Psalms 139

Structure Psalms 139 can be divided into four stanzas of six verses each. Three of these stanzas declare a different aspect of God’s character. The last stanza is the psalmist’s humbling response to God’s unspeakable character.

1. First stanza (Psa 139:1-6) – God’s omniscience. He knows all things.

Psa 139:2 a – God knows what I do.

Psa 139:2 b – God knows what I think.

Psa 139:3 a – God knows where I go.

Psa 139:4 – God knows what I say.

2. Second stanza (Psa 139:7-12) – God’s omnipresence. He dwells everywhere.

3. Third stanza (Psa 139:13-18) – God’s omnipotence. He is all-powerful.

4. Fourth Stanza (Psa 139:19-24) – Overwhelmed by this revelation of God, the psalmist cries out for divine justice upon the wicked (19-22) and for pureness of heart (23-24).

Psa 139:1  (To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.) O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.

Psa 139:2  Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.

Psa 139:2 “Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising” – Comments – God knows everything that we do from the end of the day to the beginning of a new day. He knows what we dream in our sleep.

Psa 139:2 “thou understandest my thought afar off” – Comments – God knows all of our thoughts.

Psa 139:3  Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.

Psa 139:3 “Thou compassest my path and my lying down” – Comments – God knows where we go.

Psa 139:4  For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.

Psa 139:4 Comments – God knows every word that we say.

Psa 139:5  Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.

Psa 139:5 Comments – God is always with us.

Psa 139:6  Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.

Psa 139:7  Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?

Psa 139:7 Comments – When someone is in God’s presence, it can be overwhelming for the flesh. The flesh wants to flee. Adam and Eve tried to flee from the presence of God when they had sinned. As a result of partaking of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, man became self-centered and insecure in the presence of the Lord. These feelings make the knowledge and presence of God appear fearful, when in fact, they are the source of peace and security. [125]

[125] Rick Joyner, The Call (Charlotte, North Carolina: Morning Star Publications, 1999), 129-30.

Gen 3:8, “And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.”

Cain was also driven from the presence of the Lord because of his sin.

Gen 4:16, “And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.”

Jonah found that he could not flee from the presence of the Lord.

Jon 1:3, “But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD , and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.”

Jon 1:10, “Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them .”

God does not allow uncleanness in His presence.

Lev 22:3, “Say unto them, Whosoever he be of all your seed among your generations, that goeth unto the holy things, which the children of Israel hallow unto the LORD, having his uncleanness upon him, that soul shall be cut off from my presence : I am the LORD.”

There is judgment in the presence of the Lord. This is why it is so unbearable for flesh to dwell in God’s presence.

1Ch 16:33, “Then shall the trees of the wood sing out at the presence of the LORD, because he cometh to judge the earth.”

Isa 19:1, “The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.”

Jer 4:26, “I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger.”

Jer 5:22, “Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?”

Scripture References – Note other verses about God’s presence on earth:

Psa 97:5, “The hills melted like wax at the presence of the LORD, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.”

Psa 100:2, “Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.”

Psa 114:7, “Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob;”

Psa 139:8  If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.

Psa 139:8 Comments – Psa 139:8 refers to the presence of the Lord from heights to the depths, from heaven to hell.

Psa 139:9  If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;

Psa 139:9 Comments – Psa 139:9 refers to the presence of the Lord from the east to the west. The “wings of the morning” would be figurative of the east. John Gill says the wings are the sun rays of the morning light race across the sky. [126] The “uttermost parts” would be figurative of the west, since the Mediterranean Sea is to the west of Palestine.

[126] John Gill, Psalms, in John Gill’s Expositor, in e-Sword, v. 7.7.7 [CD-ROM] (Franklin, Tennessee: e-Sword, 2000-2005), comments on Psalms 136:9.

Psa 139:10  Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.

Psa 139:11  If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.

Psa 139:12  Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

Psa 139:12 Comments – God sees mankind as clearly in the night as in the day.

Psa 139:13  For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.

Psa 139:13 Word Study on “covered” Strong says the Hebrew word “cover” ( ) or ( ) (H5526) is a primitive root word meaning, “to entwined as a screen.” It implies the idea of “to fence in,” or “to cover over,” and figuratively, it means, “to protect.” Strong notes that the other uses of this Hebrew word in the Old Testament translated in the KJV are, “cover, defense, defend, hedge in, join together, set, and shut up.”

Comments – Carl Baugh likens the root meaning of “entwine” to describe the fact that DNA is “woven” in the mother’s womb during the fertilization of the egg with the sperm and as a part of the development of the fetus, thus creating a living being. [127]

[127] Carl Baugh, Creation in the 21 st Century (Glen Rose, Texas: Creation Evidence Museum) , on Trinity Broadcasting Network (Santa Ana, California), television program.

Psa 139:24  And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Psa 139:23-24 “Search me, O God, and know my heart” – Comments – God will not lie to us:

Num 23:19, “ God is not a man, that he should lie ; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”

The heart is the most deceitful of all things:

Jer 17:9-10, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.”

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

The Omniscience, Omnipresence, and Omnipotence of God.

To the chief musician, for performance in the liturgical part of public worship, a psalm of David, in which he first describes the chief attributes of God and then adds a prayer for a pure heart and a faultless conduct. David addresses himself, first of all, to the omniscient God, vv. 1-6.

v. 1. O Lord, Thou hast searched me, making a careful survey of his innermost heart and mind, and known me, having a full understanding of all the motives which prompted his every thought and act.

v. 2. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, every movement which every person in the world makes; Thou understandest my thought afar off, being familiar with it even before the desire is fully formed or the idea takes shape.

v. 3. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, literally, “my walking and my lying down Thou siftest,” that is, the Lord proves it out; He weighs it even before it happens and while the act is going on, and art acquainted with all my ways, his entire conduct being uncovered before the eyes of God’s omniscience.

v. 4. For there is not a word in my tongue, uttered or unuttered, but, lo, O Lord, stated with emphasis, Thou knowest it altogether, in every respect, both as to motive and performance.

v. 5. Thou hast beset me behind and before, so that there is no way for him to escape from the Lord’s surveillance, and laid Thine hand upon me, holding him in bounds, guarding against an unbridled use of freedom, for the consciousness of the omniscience of God will act as a curb against an undue assertion of what men claim as their rights. The contemplation of these facts causes David to cry out:

v. 6. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, it is beyond the reach of man’s mind; it is high, I cannot attain unto it; it is beyond man’s comprehension, it is an article of faith.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

EXPOSITION

A song of praise to God for his omniscience, his omnipresence, and his marvelous powers, ending with a prayer for the destruction of the wicked, and for the purifying from evil of the psalmist’s own heart. The psalm divides into four stanzas of six verses eachthe first (Psa 139:1-6) dealing with the omniscience of God; the second (Psa 139:7-12), with his omnipresence; the third (Psa 139:13-18), with his omnipotence; and the fourth (Psa 139:19-24) containing the supplication.

Psa 139:1

O Lord, thou hast searched me; rather, hast searched me out; i.e. examined into all my thoughts and feelings (comp. Psa 17:3). And known me; i.e. arrived at a full knowledge of my spiritual condition.

Psa 139:2

Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising. All that I do from one end of the day to the other. Thou understandest my thought afar off; i.e. while it is just forminglong before it is a fully developed thought.

Psa 139:3

Thou compassest (rather, siftest) my path and my lying down; literally, my path and my couchthe time of my activity and the time of my rest. And art acquainted with all my ways (comp. Psa 119:168, “All my ways are before thee”).

Psa 139:4

For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. What has been already said of deeds and thoughts is now extended to “words.” God hears every word we speak.

Psa 139:5

Thou hast beset me behind and before; i.e. “thou art ever close to me, and therefore hast complete knowledge of me. Thine omniscience arises out of thy omnipresence.” And laid thine hand upon me. To uphold me, and at the same time to restrain me (comp. Psa 139:10).

Psa 139:6

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. The psalmist does not say, “such knowledge,” but simply “knowledge,” i.e. real true knowledge, such as deserves the name. “The thought of God’s omniscience makes him feel as if real knowledge were beyond his reach” (Kay).

Psa 139:7

Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? The transition is now made from God’s omniscience to God’s omnipresence, Psa 139:5 having paved the way for it. God’s presence is not to be escaped; his spirit is everywhere. “In him we live, and move, and have our being” (Act 17:28). When Jonah sought to flee from his presence, he only found himself brought more absolutely and more perceptibly into his presence (comp. Jer 23:24).

Psa 139:8

If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there; i.e. “if I were to ascend up into heaven, if I could do so, thou wouldst still be thereI should not find myself where thou wert not; no, nor even if I went down to hell (Sheol), should I escape theethou wouldst be there also.” If I make my bed in hell means, “if I go down and take my rest in hell”the place of departed spirits. Behold, thou art there; literally, behold, thou!

Psa 139:9, Psa 139:10

If I take the wings of the morning. If I were to speed across the earth on the wings of the dawn, and, having done so, were then to dwell in the uttermost parts of the seathe extreme west, where the sun sotseven there shall thy hand lead me. In that distant region I should still find thy guiding hand. And thy right hand shall hold me. Thy strong right hand would uphold me.

Psa 139:11, Psa 139:12

If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. If I think to escape thee by plunging into darkness, and say to myself, “Surely the darkness shall screen me, and night take the place of light about me,” so that I cannot be seen, even then my object is not accomplished; even the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day. Thy essential light penetrates every dark place, and makes the deepest gloom as radiant as the brightest sunshine. The darkness and the light are both alike to thee; literally, as the darkness, so the light; but the paraphrase of the Authorized Version gives the true sense.

Psa 139:13

For thou hast possessed my reins. Thou knowest me and seest me always, because thou madest me. Thy omniscience and thy omnipresence both rest upon thine omnipotence. Thou hast covered me (rather, woven me) in my mother’s womb (comp. Job 10:11).

Psa 139:14

I will praise thee. The note of praise, which has rung through the whole poem in an undertone, is here openly struck. Reflections upon God’s wonderful works must overflow into praise; and the phenomena of man’s creation and birth are, at least, as calculated to call forth praise and adoration as any other. For I am fearfully and wonderfully made. The wonderfulness of the human mechanism is so great that, if realized, it produces a sensation of fear. It has been said that, if we could see one-half of what is going on within us, we should not dare to move. Marvelous are thy works; i.e. thy doings generally. And that my soul knoweth right well. The extent of the marvelousness I may not be able to comprehend; but at least I know the fact that they are marvelous, That fact I know “right well.”

Psa 139:15

My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret. The formation of the embryo in the womb seems to be intended. This remains as much a mystery as ever, notwithstanding all the pryings of modern science. And curiously wrought; literally, and embroidered, or woven with threads of divers colors (comp. Psa 139:13; and note that modern science speaks of the various “tissues” of the human frame, and calls a portion of medical knowledge “histology”). In the lowest parts of the earth. This is scarcely to be taken literally. It is perhaps only a variant for the “secretly” of the preceding clause.

Psa 139:16

Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; or, “my embryo.” The Hebrew text has but the single word , which probably means, “the still unformed embryonic mass” (Hengstenberg). And in thy book all my members were written; literally, all of them; but the pronoun has no antecedent. Professor Cheyne and others suspect the passage to have suffered corruption. But the general meaning can scarcely have been very different from that assigned to the passage in the Authorized Version. Which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. Modern critics mostly translate “the days,” or “my days,” “were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them;” i.e. “my life was planned out by God, and settled, before I began to be.”

Psa 139:17

How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! If God’s works are admirable, and, therefore, precious, so still more are his thoughtsthose deep counsels of his, which must have preceded all manifestation of himself in act or work. How great is the sum of them! Were they all added together, how immeasurable would be the amount! What a treasure of wisdom and knowledge;

Psa 139:18

If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand (comp. Psa 40:5, “Thy thoughts which are to usward cannot be reckoned up”). When I awake, I am still with thee. I meditate on thee, both sleeping and waking, nor ever find the subject of my thought exhausted.

Psa 139:19

Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God; or, “Oh that thou wouldst slay the wicked!” (comp. Psa 5:6, Psa 5:10; Psa 7:9-13; Psa 9:19; Psa 10:15; Psa 21:8-12, etc.). Depart from me therefore, ye bloody men (comp. Psa 119:115). There is no fellowship between light and darkness, between the wicked and the God-fearing.

Psa 139:20

For they speak against thee wickedly; literally, who speak of thee for wickedness; i.e. use thy Name for the accomplishment of wicked ends. And thine enemies take thy Name in vain. The text must be altered to produce this meaning. As it stands, it can only be rendered, “Thine enemies lift up [their scull to vanity” (comp. Psa 24:4).

Psa 139:21

Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? Those who love God must hate God’s enemies. The psalmist claims to be of this number.

Psa 139:22

I hate them with perfect hatred; i.e. with pure, absolute, intense hatreda hatred commensurate with the love that he felt towards all God’s saints. I count them mine enemies; i.e. I regard them as my private foes. I have the same feeling towards them as I have towards those who are at open enmity with me, and seek my destruction. The command had not yet been given, “Love your enemies” (Mat 5:44).

Psa 139:23

Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts. Examine me, and see if I have not represented my feelings as they really are. Keep on always searching me out (comp. Psa 139:1), and “trying my reins and my heart” (Psa 26:2). My desire is to be proved and tested.

Psa 139:24

And see if there be any wicked way in me; literally, any way of grief. “Ways of grief” are ways which lead to grief, which involve either bitter repentance or severe chastisement. And lead me in the way everlasting; i.e. either “the way that leadeth to everlasting life,” or “the good old way, the way that enduresthe way of righteousness.” David, with all his faults, is one of those who “hunger and thirst after righteousness” (Mat 5:6).

HOMILETICS

Psa 139:1-6

God’s knowledge of us.

1. We sometimes say that “we know” a certain man who is a neighbor. By this we may mean nothing more than that we can distinguish him from his fellows, and give him his proper name. That is a slight acquaintance indeed.

2. Sometimes when we make such an affirmation we mean that we have a general knowledge of his occupation and his more outward and formal habits. That goes a very little way.

3. Sometimes we mean more than thiswe intimate that we know what a man’s principles are, what he believes, after what manner he worships, what are his tastes and his companionships. Here we may think that we have arrived at something very definite and solid.

4. We do not really know what a man’s spirit is, and what is his real character, until we have seen him (as the apostles saw our Lord) both in public and in privateat those times when he is conscious of our observation, and when he is perfectly unrestrained, and expresses himself with unchecked freedom.

5. Even then, how imperfect is our knowledge of one another! how often and how greatly we mistake one another! how frequently we ascribe to one another deeds that were not done, or words that were not spoken, or feelings that were not cherished! how different we know ourselves to bein character, in spirit, in motivefrom the conception of ourselves which our neighbor has formed of us!

6. And, yet again, how far from being absolutely true is the estimate we form of ourselves! how possible and how practicable it is for us to over-estimate our virtues and under-estimate our weaknesses, our follies, our guilt! So much so that it is a question whether a man knows himself as well as his discerning neighbor does. We are convinced that it is often the case that the verdict of a man’s intimate friend is much nearer the mark of truth than is his own.

7. The conclusion to which we are driven is that One, and only one, “knows us altogether.” Only God knows us as we are. Guided by the text, we think of God’s knowledge of us thus.

I. ALL THINGS ARE OPEN TO HIS VIEW. (Psa 139:1.) He “searches “us through and through. There are inward recesses and remote points that escape our eye, but not one that escapes his penetrating, his far-reaching glance. We may conceal some things from man and elude his keenest search; we can hide nothing from God; he searches and knows all things, even the most secret chambers of the soul.

II. HE OBSERVES ALL OUR WAYS. (Psa 139:2, Psa 139:3.) From morning till evening, from evening till morning, everything is done before him. He is the Lord “before whom we stand,” as the old prophets used to say. There is no action of ours that is too slight for his notice; he is the Infinite One, and infinity reaches downwards as well as upwards.

III. HE IS FAMILIAR WITH EVERY UTTERED WORD AND UNUTTERED THOUGHT. (Psa 139:2, latter part, and 4.) It is not difficult to think of our shouted sentences or of our formal addresses being heard and noticed by God; it requires some effort of thought to realize that the casual conversation, the interjected remark, the whispered secret,that these are heard and heeded by him. Yet it becomes us to remember that they are. This is the thought of Christ when he said, “Of every idle [casual] word shall men give account,” etc. (Mat 12:36, Mat 12:37). Nay, the unspoken sentence, the half-formed thought, the rising feeling, that has not found expression, the “thought afar off,” is understood by that omniscient Spirit! What reason here for purity of mind, for the “clean heart and the right spirit!”

IV. HE TOUCHES US AT EVERY POINT, “Thou hast laid thine hand upon me.” It has been the unseen and unfelt touch of the Divine hand that has:

1. Preserved our spirit in being from moment to moment; for all earthly forces have been the working of his power.

2. Restored us every night, and renewed to us the vigor of body and mind we have needed for the labor and endurance of another day.

3. Quickened our mind and enabled us to think, to reason, to reply, to invent, to devise, to direct.

4. Brought us back from sickness and the shadow of death to life and health again.

5. Made our souls to be refilled with love and hope and sacred joy, so that we have lived the life of holy service and of spiritual growth. The explanation of all our power, our excellency, our success, is found in the simple words, “Thou hast laid thine hand upon me.”

Psa 139:7-16

The domain of God.

The main thought of these noble words is

I. THE BOUNDLESSNESS OF GOD‘S DOMAIN. Wherever we are, whithersoever we go, we are always within his charge. Could we reach the highest heavens, he is there; or the lowest depths of Hades, he is there; and could we wing our way to the far horizon, where sea and sky meet, he is there. In vain should we seek the shelter of the darkness, for darkness and light are alike to him. Even before the light of life shone upon us, when our members were unformed, everything about us and before us was within his knowledge. There is absolutely no remotest or darkest corner of this wide world which is not included in God’s realmthe realm of his presence, his observation, his action. Everywhere his hand leads us; everywhere his right hand of power upholds and restrains us. Since God is everywhere, we infer

II. THE FOLLY OF OBDURACY. The psalmist is not the man who wishes to escape from the presence and the power of God, but his words bring out very forcibly the impossibility of so doing. There are too many souls who would gladly “flee from his presence” if they could.

1. Many try to escape from the consciousness of it by immersing themselves in some form of activity, or burying themselves in excitement, but they are very partially and only temporarily successful. Beneath all and after all that they do rises up the unextinguishable thought, “Surely God is in this place!”

2. Many try to escape the remorse of a rebuking conscience by taking their own life, but they only pass from one part of God’s domain to another. Whithersoever they go, “his right hand holds them.” If it be possible, they only enter his nearer presence, and come into closer contact with his power than ever. The one wise thing to do is to draw near to God in penitential prayer, to seek and find reconciliation to him by faith in the Divine Savior, that there may be no need and no desire to hide from his face, to shun his voice, to fear the touch of his hand.

III. THE CONFIDENCE OF CHRISTIAN SONSHIP. ‘Chat thought which is a terror to the guilty is a comfort and a security to the good. It is a strong assurance to the heart to feel that whithersoever its path may lie it must be where the Father is at hand to guide and bless.

“I know not where his islands lift

Their fronded palms in air;

I only know I cannot drift

Beyond his love and care.”

It must be well with us; for we shall be with God, we shall be with Christ, in whatever part of the universe we may be. Anywhere, everywhere, his hand will be laid upon us, his arm will be around us.

Psa 139:17-24

Thoughts, Divine and human.

With some apparent abruptness, the psalmist calls our attention

I. THE THOUGHTS OF GOD.

1. Their manifoldness.

2. Their preciousness.

Everything we see and hear and touch is a manifested thought of God; it must have existed in his mind before it took shape, color, substance. It adds deep interest to all natural scenery to think of sea and sky, of flower and tree, of the wooded glen and the snow-clad mountain, as thoughts of God. So also of ourselves, of our wonderful, complex nature, of manhood and womanhood in their strength and beauty, in their intellectual and spiritual maturity. And so also of the profoundest, of the loftiest, of the most beautiful and entrancing thoughts we have ever entertained in our minds. They are there because they were first in the mind of God. They are thoughts that have passed from the Divine to the human intelligence. How elevating and enriching must it be to be daily receiving the thoughts of God into our souls! What a new aspect is given to all study, in every sphere of knowledge, by looking at all objects and processes in this light! How near it brings God to us! We are never far from him whose uttered thoughts are around us on every handshining in the sun, singing in the song of birds, etc. At all times we are with himas we walk, and as we work, and as we rest; and “when we awake we are still with him.”

II. OUR THOUGHT ABOUT HIM. (Psa 139:19-22.) The psalmist cannot tolerate the idea of men living to deny, to blaspheme, to disobey, to grieve God. His anger is stirred against them; they are an offence to him; he would like to have them removed from the earth. Jesus Christ has taught us a “more excellent way” than that of destroying such men. He bids us go forth and win them; conquer their disobedience, their rebelliousness; capture their will for wisdom and worth; bring them into that captivity to truth and righteousness which is freedom itself and lasting joy. But the root-thought of the psalmist is true. It is deep sympathy with the Divine; it is the identifying of ourselves with the Divine Object of our love. We love them that love him; we hate (are grieved with and are opposed to) those that hate him. The Christian man regards all things as they affect Jesus Christ and his kingdom; he looks with a profound dissatisfaction and sorrow on lives that are dissociated from the service of Jesus Christ. He feels that something vital is wanting to those who do not call Jesus Lord and Friend. He is separated by an immeasurable distance from those who speak ill of his Master. His soul is stirred to its depths by conduct or language which is irreverent or antagonistic toward him. His prayer is for their conversion; he hopes that such may be convicted and ashamed.

III. A WISE THOUGHT FOE OURSELVES. (Psa 139:23, Psa 139:24.) “Who can understand his errors?” There is no maxim more difficult to obey than that which seems the simplest of all, “Know thyself.” For we are all of us subject to the law which makes familiarity blunt the sense of importance; and we are all of us liable to form the habit of excusing ourselves those duties which are disagreeable, and lessening the guilt of these sins to which we are inclined; and the result is that our measurement of ourselves is often very far from being the true one. We do not see ourselves as others (who judge without prejudice or passion) see us, or as God sees us. There may be within us, awakening and arising to power, some “wicked way,” some evil habit, some strong craving, which, if not eradicated or subdued, will gain a mastery over us, and will destroy us. Or if not that, there may be within our heart, or in our life, some distinct imperfection or inconsistency which goes far to diminish our worth and to nullify our influence for good; and we may be unconscious of it. We do not know ourselves. We may be making a very serious, if not fatal, mistake about ourselves. Hence the wisdom of accepting, modestly and even gratefully, the counsel of the wise and true; hence the wisdom of asking the Searcher of hearts to try us and to cleanse us, and to lead us in “the way everlasting.” If we do thus honestly and earnestly ask God’s interposition, we must be prepared for his answer. That may take a different form from what we expect or desire. It may come in the shape of trouble, of loss, of affliction, of humiliation. But however it come, it is infinitely better to be led back into the way of everlasting life than to be allowed to go on and down in the path of sin and death.

HOMILIES BY S. CONWAY

Psa 139:1-24

Lord, thou knowest altogether.

This psalm, one of the most sublime of them all, is of unknown authorship. It seems to be the composition of some saint of God who lived after the Captivity. If so, what proof it gives of the blessing of sanctified sorrow (cf. the probably companion psalm, Psa 119:1-176; Psa 119:67, Psa 119:71, Psa 119:75)! The furnace of the Exile, the husks of the far country, did bring prodigal Israel to himself; and this psalm is one clear evidence thereof. And so, we believe, God will do with all like prodigals. They may seem set against himthey very often are; but his resources are not exhausted, and he will find ways and means to bring them to a better mind. The psalm is divided into four stanzas, of which

I. THE FIRST TELLS OF THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF CONCEALING ANYTHING FROM GOD. (Psa 139:1-6.)

1. Here is a fact asserted. “Lord, thou hast searched me,” etc. The word originally means “to dig,” and is applied to the searching for precious metals (Alexander). God had penetrated far below the surface of the psalmist’s acts and words, so that he knew him perfectly. And he knows our time of rest and of going forth to active work (Psa 139:2). He winnows or fanssuch the meaning of the word rendered “compassest”so as to sift our whole life, separating the evil in it from the good, as the chaff is separated from the wheat. And this is true of the night-life as well as of the day (Psa 139:3). He knows not only the words that we do speak, but those that we are going to speak (Psa 139:4). The past and the futurethat which is behind and beforeare all known to him, and under the control of his hand (Psa 139:5). We cannot understand all this, but so it is (Psa 139:5, Psa 139:6). Thus emphatically is the truth asserted.

2. And altogether credible.

(1) For reason would infer it (comp. Psa 94:9). The maker of a machine would surely know how his machine would work! Much more must the Lord know our nature and the workings of man’s mind and will. He knows our nature (twice) as one knows the dwelling in which he has lived, for he tabernacled in it and dwelt among us (Joh 1:1-51.). He was the Son of man, and he knows what is in man.

(2) And there is the testimony of conscience. The very etymology of that word implies the knowledge of some one with us; and what we call “conscience” is our recognizing that God sees and judges all we are and do. “Thou God seest me” is not a mere text, but the confession of every soul.

(3) And then there is the testimony of our Lord’s life on earth. He revealed God in his holiness, power, and love; but he revealed this alsoGod’s knowledge of our inmost heart. Again and again do we meet with statements that assert this superhuman knowledge of our Lord. See how he knew Nathanael, Peter, Judas. Others did not thus know themselves or their fellow-men, but he knew them perfectly. This also was a revelation of what is ever in God.

3. And blessed. For it shows that we are not under the rule of a stranger. The rule of a stranger is ever a hard and irksome rule. And it shows how gracious he is; for, though he knows all about us, yet this does not stay his blessing. And how holy; for, though with us the knowledge of evil and the continual contact of it defiles, or at least tends to deaden our sense and horror of evil, and so to lessen our own holiness, it is not at all so with God. See this in Christ. He was surrounded always by sin, but yet was himself “holy, harmless, and undefiled.” And because he thus knows us, he must know what is best for us, so that we may be well content with his ordering of our lot. What a holy restraint this truth exercises upon the believing soul! Indeed, it is only to such soul that this truth is or can be welcome; to the ungodly it is all unwelcome, and they seek to cast it out of their minds. God forbid that we should do this!

II. THE SECOND DECLARES THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF ESCAPING FROM THE PRESENCE OF GOD. (Psa 139:7-12.) The height of heaven cannot transcend him; the depth of hell cannot hide from him; flight, rapid as the rays of the morning sun, cannot outstrip him; distance, like that of the uttermost parts of the sea, cannot separate from him; darkness, deep as midnight, cannot conceal from him. It used to be said of ancient Rome that the extent of her empire rendered it impossible for any one who had incurred the displeasure of her emperors to escape their vengeance; yet more truly is it impossible for us to do what Jonah vainly tried to doto flee from the presence of the Lord. But this perpetual presence is a perpetual joy to the people of God. Our Lord cheered his disciples ere he left them, by promising that he would be with them always. He had said before that “wherever two or three are gathered together in my Name, there,” etc. He is a God “at hand, and not afar off.” “At thy right hand, therefore, I shall not be moved.” But this perpetual presence, inescapable, is the terror of the wicked man, for he knows he cannot get away from God. How needful that we should acquaint ourselves with God, and so be at peace! So shall the terror be turned into joy.

III. THE THIRD SETS FORTH THE GROUND OF GOD‘S PERFECT KNOWLEDGE OF US. (Verses 13-16.) “The mysterious beginnings of life which none can trace, the days all of which are ordered before the first breath is drawn,these are fashioned and ordered by the hand of God.” How, then, can it be otherwise than that he should know us altogether? And how reassuring is this truth of God’s knowing us from the very start of our being, because he is the Author of that being!

IV. THE FOURTH SHOWS THE EFFECT OF THIS TRUTH ON THE DEVOUT SOUL. (Verses 17-24.)

1. It gives rise to a vast throng of precious thoughts within Him. He calls them (verse 17) “thy thoughts,” which may refer either to God’s thoughts about us, or to our thoughts about God. Probably both are meant; for God’s thoughts about us are precious, for they are thoughts of good, and not evil. And how great and undeserved and freely given is that good! And our thoughts about God are precious also, if indeed we be reconciled to God. None others can think about God and find delight in such thoughts. But if we be his servants, we think of what God is in himself, of what he has done and will do, in things temporal and in things spiritual, for ourselves, for others dear to us. How vast the sum of these thoughts, and how precious!

2. His soul is filled with a holy hatred of the ungodly. Not because of what they had done to him, though that was bad enough, and could not but wake up the spirit of resentment, but because they were the enemies of God (verses 19-22). It is good to hate evil, first in ourselves, then in others; and if those others will cleave to it, then they and their sin cannot be separated, and we must “count” both our “enemies.” “Ye that fear the Lord hate evil.” Would to God we all did (cf. homily on Psa 97:10)!

3. An intense longing after entire holiness. (Verses 23, 24.) The psalmist yearned to be free from all sin, not only from some sins. Therefore he would lay bare his soul before Godwould come into the full light of God, that the Divine scrutiny might be thorough and complete. He knew that after all his own search sin might yet lurk in unthought-of places, and hence he prays God to search, and try, and know, and see, and show him the wrong, and then lead him “in the way everlasting.” Such is the effect of this faith: “Lord, thou knowest me altogether.”S.C.

Psa 139:14

The mystery of man’s being.

The psalm shows that the knowledge of God brings peace. It appeals to God’s omniscience, that which would confound him if he were not at peace with God. They who are not hide away from God, and dread the truth the psalm declares. But let us listen to the patriarch Job (Job 22:21). The psalmist had done so, and hence he is able now to challenge even the all-searching eye and the absolute knowledge of God, to attest his sincerity and the integrity of his heart. No hypocrite or pretender to piety could possibly do this, or ever can. Our text tells how God had known man from the beginning of his lifemust know him, for he had created him. This leads to reflection on the mystery of man’s being. Note

I. THE TRUTH OF THE PSALMIST‘S ASSERTION. “I am fearfully and wonderfully made” Now, this is true:

1. As regards the body. This is what the psalmist had mainly in his thoughts. Now, our corporeal structure is wonderful, whether we regard it as a whole or in its separate parts. But it is “fearful” also; there is an awe and mystery about it, as his soul knew right well. That it should be subject to pain and disease; that it should be so often a clog to the spirit and a hindrance to our higher life rather than a help; and that it should be ever hastening deathwards, and be at last a prey to corruption. And yet God made itnot man.

2. As regards the soul. It is marvelous, whether, as with the body, we consider it in its entirety or in its several partsintellect, imagination, affections, judgment, conscience, will. How wonderful it is! But how fearful also! That it should be born with a fatal bias and tendency towards evil; that thus it is in continual peril, and is often in bondage to sin; and it can perish, and, so far as we can see, it often does. And yet God formed the soul as he did the body. How true that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made”!

II. THE SPIRIT IN WHICH WE ARE TO REGARD THIS TRUTH. With praise. “I will praise thee.” So speaks the psalmist.

1. Many wonder how he or any one could possibly do this. Some even dare to censure and blame the Creator that he has made man so; and they audaciously assert that the coming judgment will not be so much God calling us to account for what we have done, as man calling God to account for what he has done. Far enough are such from the spirit of this psalm.

2. But we cannot but askWhat was the ground of the psalmist‘s praise? Now, it was not in spite of evil, defying and scorning it; nor ignoring it, for none were more sensible of it; nor by minimizing it in comparison with the superabundant good. And, in comparison with the good gifts of God, evil is as the small dust in the balancenot worthy of account, though to us here and now it looms so large. But not for such reasons is this praise. But because by means of this strange and fearful mingling of evil in our constitution we come to know, as otherwise we could not, the highest good. God has caused that sin should be as a foil to make more manifest his grace. The devil meant only our harm. God turned it round to good. Thus we come to know evil and hate it; we come to know God in Christ, and to love him as we never else should have loved him; the unfallen angels cannot love him as we may and will and do. And we come to know goodholiness, purity, truth, and to hunger for them, and to rejoice in them as else we had not done.

III. THE LESSON TO BE LEARNT. If God turns the greatest ill into good, be sure he will all lesser ones. But it is only by the knowledge of God that evil is thus transformed. Praise him evermore!S.C.

Psa 139:23, Psa 139:24

God’s searching desired.

In these verses we seem to be standing by a fair river, a very river of the water of lifefull, flowing, beautiful, fertilizing; a joy to all beholders and all who dwell by it. And as we look back at the former parts of this “crown of the psalms,” as it has been called, we see the lofty spiritual heights from whence this river has flowed down; we realize the glorious truths about Godhis omnipresence and omnisciencewhich are the source from whence this prayer we are to consider has sprung. But such thoughts about God have not always such results. They are terrors to the mind of the godless, and of all who are not walking in the light of the Lord. Hence the truths taught in this psalm serve as a test of our own spiritual condition. Are they welcome to us, or the reverse? They cannot be welcome to an ungodly soul, but they are to such as him who wrote this psalm. Now, in our text, note

I. WHAT IS IMPLIED.

1. That there has been a previous searching of ourselves. Here is one great excellence of this prayerit compels sincerity. For how can the sin-loving man pray, “Search me, O God!” when he can see quite plainly himself what he is? And how, “See if there be,” etc; when there is no “if” at all? It is only those who, like Peter, can lay bare their hearts, and say, “Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee,” that can thus pray. We do not say that a man must be sinless, but he must be sincere. Can we pray this prayer?

2. That our searching is not sufficient. It is implied, what all experience proves so surely, that none of us can understand his errors; and we ever need God to cleanse us from our secret, hidden, and so, to us, unknown faults. “The heart is deceitful above all things; who can know it?” None but God can.

II. THE REGIONS WHERE GOD‘S SEARCHING IS FELT TO BE NEEDED.

1. In the heart. Our life is visible to others and to ourselves, and our words audible, but our hearts are neither. The seeds of conduct and character are so minute, so seemingly insignificant, our motives are of such mingled, mixed nature, so chameleon-like, that we are baffled.

2. In the thoughts. “Try me thoughts.” They need to be tried; they often seem right when they are not so. Judas was, no doubt, self-deceived in this way, thinking his thought to be right when it was all evil. And God does try them; he is ever applying his tests and revealing us to ourselves, as the moonlight reveals the ship that crosses its path, as the lightning reveals the unseen precipice. And he does this for gracious purposes, that so we may be led to betake ourselves to this prayer.

3. The ways. “See if way in me.” The prayer confesses that a man’s ways are in him before he is in them. There were evil ways he knewbehind him, and he had gone in them; around him, many were going in them; before him, seeking to attract him. But all this did not matter so long as they were not in him. That the ship should be in the water is all right; but for the water to he in the ship! It is what is in us which is all-important.

III. THE ULTIMATE OBJECT OF THIS PRAYER. That he might be led “in the way everlasting.”

1. There is such a waythe way of the everlasting God.

2. And the ways of God are fitly so called. Other ways may go on for a long distance, but they are cut short at last.

3. All joy, goodness, and strength are in these ways; all that the heart can desire, all that can bless our fellow-men, and that can glorify Christ.

4. And in these ways we need to be “led,” not merely have them shown to us. Many see them, but do not walk in them; and none ever will unless the Lord leads them. But this he is most willing to do. If sincerely we pray this prayer, his leading has begun.S.C.

HOMILIES BY R. TUCK

Psa 139:1

The Divine inspection.

“Searched;” the figure is “winnowed” or “sifted.” “Before men we stand as opaque bee-hives. They can see the thoughts go in and out of us, but what work they do inside of a man they cannot tell. Before God we are as glass bee-hives, and all that our thoughts are doing within us he perfectly sees and understands” (Beecher). How near the ancient poets of India could get to the thought and feeling of this psalm is indicated in the following hymn taken from the Atharva-Veda: “

1. The great lord of these worlds sees as if he were near. If a man thinks he is walking by stealth, the gods know it all.

2. If a man stands, or walks, or hides; if he goes to lie down or to get up; what two people sitting together whisper,King Varuna knows it: he is there as a third.

3. This earth, too, belongs to Varuna the king, and this wide sky with its ends far apart. The two seas (the sky and the ocean) are Varuna’s loins; he is also contained in this same drop of water.

4. He who should flee far beyond the sky, even he would not be rid of Varuna the king. His spies proceed from heaven toward this world; with thousand eyes they overlook this earth.

5. King Varuna sees all this, what is between heaven and earth, and what is beyond. He has counted the twinklings of the eyes of men. As a player throws the dice, he settles all things.

6. May all thy fatal nooses, which stand spread out seven by seven and threefold, catch the man who tells a lie; may they pass by him who tells the truth!”

I. THE DIVINE INSPECTION IS AN OBSERVATION. All outward things related to us are “naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.” Illustrate by the regiment inspected by the colonel. Everythinghealth, bearing, dress, weapons, etc.is carefully observed. God knows all about us.

II. THE DIVINE INSPECTION IS A SPIRITUAL TESTING. It concerns the inner man. It deals with cherished thought, fixed motive, passing mood, varying feeling. There is so much that never gets expressed in word and act, which nevertheless makes up our real selves; and all this God knows.R.T.

Psa 139:6

The oppression of the Divine omniscience.

“Such knowledge is too wonderful for me.” “Nowhere are the great attributes of Godhis omniscience, his omnipresence, his omnipotenceset forth so strikingly as they are in this magnificent psalm. Nowhere is there a more overwhelming sense of the fact that man is beset and compassed about by God, pervaded by his Spirit, unable to take a step without his control; and yet nowhere is there a more emphatic assertion of the personality of man as distinct from, not absorbed in, the Deity” (Perowne). A philosopher was asked by a monarch about God, and he desired a day for his answer. He then asked for another day in which to give his answer. The more he thought about God, the more he seemed unable rightly to describe him. At last the monarch asked the philosopher why he so often delayed to tell him what he knew about God; and he replied, “The more I think about God, the more incomprehensible he seems to be.” The kind of oppression which comes from feeling that God knows even the very minutest things about us, and even everything that will come to us, may be illustrated by the oppressed feeling that the persons skilled in palmistry give us. Looking at our hands, they seem able to read our character and our destiny; and we shun them with a kind of fear, lest, knowing so much, they become mischief-makers. It really is an awe-ful thing that God should know us altogether. This is seen in Hagar’s oppressed exclamation,” Thou God seest me!” and in a better way, in Jacob’s devout utterance, when he had seen the ladder of God’s care, “How dreadful is this place!” Notice

I. HOW PERFECT THE DIVINE OMNISCIENCE IS! The psalm illustrates the Divine knowledge, not of things in general, but of us”Thou knowest me,” my doing this or that;

(1) my imaginations;

(2) my designs and undertakings;

(3) even my retirements and hidings;

(4) my sayings;

(5) my entire history;

(6) every part of me (“Beset me behind and before”).

II. HOW OPPRESSIVE THE DIVINE OMNISCIENCE IS! Even when we are in right relations with God, it is oppressive. It is an awful feeling that we can never be alone. We can never escape the eye. The only relief comes by the knowledge that it is our Father’s eye. He knows only that he may help. What is Divine omniscience to those who neither know nor love God?R.T.

Psa 139:7-10

Omnipresence a fear and a satisfaction.

Calvin says, “The word ‘Spirit’ is not put here simply for the power of God, as commonly in the Scriptures, but for his mind and understanding.” Milton, as a young man, traveled much abroad. Years afterwards he thus expressed himself: “I again take God to witness that in all places where so many things are considered lawful, I lived sound and untouched from all profligacy and vice, having this thought perpetually with methat though I might escape the eyes of men, I certainly could not the eyes of God.”

I. OMNIPRESENCE A FEAR. This term is not here used in a sense that applies to the ungodly man. Indeed, such a man will in no way apprehend or encourage the idea of God’s omnipresence; it has no practical reality to him. The omnipresence of God is a religious man’s idea, and we have to think of its influence upon him. It fills him with a holy fear, which is a mingling of awe and reverence and anxiety. That presence brings the perpetual call to worship; it keeps before us the claims of obedience; and it shows us continually the model of righteousness. “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.” It has been said that a “Christian should go nowhere if he cannot take God with him;” but that presence would make him afraid to go to many places where he does go; and it is a weakness of Christian life that the holy fear of the sense of God’s presence is not more worthily realized. The fear to offend or grieve is a holy force working for righteousness.

II. OMNIPRESENCE A SATISFACTION. When we really love a person, and are quite sure of their response to our love, we want to be always with them. Separation is pain; presence is rest and satisfaction. And it is in the fullest sense thus with God. “We love him because he first loved us.” And since there is this responsive love, we cannot be happy away from him; and we are permitted to think that he cannot be happy away from us. And so the psalmist says, “I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever, to behold the beauty of the Lord.” And the Lord Jesus satisfies the longing of his people with his promise, “Lo, I am with you all the days.”R.T.

Psa 139:13, Psa 139:14

The mystery of being is with God.

The expression translated, “hast covered me,” really is, “thou weavest me,” as boughs are woven into a hedge. The “reins” may denote the sensational and emotional part of the human being. It is not possible to deal with the detailed expressions of this psalm in a public ministry. Reticence in regard to the human origin and birth, and in regard to the inner mysteries of bodily life, is characteristic of our times. Eastern people are still accustomed to talk freely of such matters; and conversation was much less delicate at the time our Bible was translated. It must suffice for us to set before our minds the great truth concerning God which is thus illustrated.

I. THE DESIGN OF A HUMAN BEING IS THE THOUGHT OF GOD, Here we may be met by the doctrine of evolution, which teaches that the bodily organization of man is a development out of some lower forms of life. But this in no way affects our position. It does not say that man is an accidentmade without any design; it only explains to us what the design was; it unfolds for us the particular method in which the Divine design was out-wrought and accomplished. Because God’s design took ages to complete, it did not cease to be God’s design. God thought a man. But a man is much more than a body. Man is not the fulfillment of God’s design until God has got him into his image, breathed into him the breath of life, and even requickened him with a spiritual life. But what a thought that design of God was! It embraced all the complicated and delicate organs of man’s frame, all the subtle relations of body and mind, and all the varying response which body and mind must ever make to surrounding circumstances. A man designs a house or a machine, and his work is within limits that can be grasped. God designs a man, and the complications are beyond us; we can only wonder and adore.

I[. THE WORKING OUT OF HIS DESIGN IS IN THE HANDS OF GOD. A man may give his design into the hands of a fellow man, and entrust him with the duty of working it out. God can never trust his design to anybody; for there is nobody who could understand or grasp it. He must work it out himself. And to us the great glory of the complex story of humanity is thishumanity is God’s thought and God’s purpose, and that thought and purpose God himself is working out.R.T.

Psa 139:15, Psa 139:16

What a man can be and do God knows.

The latter clause of Psa 139:15 has been well rendered, “When I was wrought with a needle in the depths of the earth.” There is an evidence of allusion to the sacerdotal robes, and the undescribable texture of the human system is compared to the exquisite needlework of the high priest’s garments. Every man is a bundle of possibilities; but no man has precisely the same possibilities as any other man. Each man can be what nobody else can be; each man can do what nobody else can do. This does not mean that any man can transcend the sphere and limitations of man, only that there is a very wide variety within the limitations. There are, indeed, general powers and faculties, and general elements of character and disposition, so that men can be classified; bat within the classes there is what may be called an infinite individualityremarkable varieties of ability, and even more remarkable combinations of ability and disposition and sphere. Nothing oppresses so much as to think what we should do if it were laid on us to find their right places for every man and every woman.

I. GOD KNOWS EVERY MAN‘S INDIVIDUALITY. Science may trace that individuality to heredity, to the bodily and mental condition of parents, to food and atmospheres, or anything else; it remains the fact that the estimate of the individuality is possible only with God. Man must have the actual story of another man’s life and experience ere he can discern his individuality. God alone can know it anticipatively from the beginning. A man’s individuality is not shown in any one thing; it is the stamp on the life, and the life must be lived before it can be seen. God knows the end from the beginning, because he knows what man essentially is. Of Christ it is said, “He knew what was in man.”

II. GOD CAN PRESIDE OVER THE ADJUSTMENT OF MAN‘S PLACE AND WORK TO HIS INDIVIDUALITY. Oftentimes the surprise of life is the place in which God puts men, and the work he gives them to do. Men always err when they force themselves to do what they think they would like to do. We are only on safe lines when we do what God gives us to do. He knows us; he knows all places, all work, all circumstances; so he can fit things and people together, and make both work together for good. “My times are in thy hands.”R.T.

Psa 139:18

The abiding sense of the Divine presence.

“I fall asleep, exhausted with the effort of counting thy thoughts or desires; and when I awake I find myself still engaged in the same spiritual arithmetic, which is my dearest delight.”

I. IT IS THE SUGGESTION OF DELIGHTFUL THOUGHTS. The psalmist exclaims, “How precious are thy thoughts unto me!” This may mean, “my cherished thoughts of thee,” or, “thy loving thoughts of me, of which I have the most comfortable assurance.” Probably the psalmist meant the former. “Thy presence wakens in me such loving, tender, trustful thoughts concerning thee.” “We cannot conceive how many of God’s kind counsels have been concerning us, how many good turns he has done us, and what variety of mercies we have received from him.” The sense of God’s presence excites meditation; and what is lacking in modern Christian life is that which meditation can supply.

II. IT IS THE ASSURANCE OF DIVINE SECURITY. Compare the absolute confidence of the psalmist when he sings his refrain, “The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our Refuge.” Compare apostolic assurances: “If God be for us, who can be against us?” “For he hath said, I will not leave thee, nor forsake thee.” If God is with us, we can always have this confidencewhosoever would deal adversely with us must take account of God, and deal with him; and

“He is safe, and must succeed,
For whom the Lord vouchsafes to plead.”

III. IT IS THE INSPIRATION OF NOBLE ENDEAVOR. It is not just a cold doing of actual duty, “as ever in the great Taskmaster’s eye.” The loving child-soul never talks about the “great Taskmaster.” It is a parental presence that wakens everything noble and beautiful in the child. And God’s presence is peculiar in this, that it brings to us the sense of power. It makes us feel that we can do whatever he inspires us to do. “I can do all things in him who strengtheneth me.”

IV. IT IS THE COMFORT OF EVERY TROUBLE. The hardest thing in trouble is to have to bear it alone. It is eased if another sympathetically shares it with us. We are never alone in trouble-bearing if we cherish the sense of God’s presence.R.T.

Psa 139:23, Psa 139:24

Our thoughts.

“Know my thoughts.” This psalm contains the finest utterance of human feeling about the Divine omniscience that has ever come from human lips. God sees everything and everywhere. He sees the hidden mystery, man’s secret thought and purpose. To the God-fearing man that is no trouble; it is rather a source of satisfaction and holy joy.

I. THE IMPORTANCE OF OUR THOUGHTS. The wise man says, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” A man is as his thoughts. Man cannot rightly judge the thoughts of his fellow-man; but God is the “Discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Many religious people cherish the notion that they have no control over the suggestions that are made to their minds, no responsibility for the contents of their thoughtsonly for cherishing thought, only for letting thought inspire conduct. This, however, is only true within certain narrow limits, which need to be very carefully defined.

1. The importance that attaches to our thoughts we may realize from our observation of men. We have to do with them, but we cannot be said to know them until we come into such relations as reveal to us their thinking. We can only be said to know our friends, in whom is the “mirror of an answering mind.”

2. The experience of Christian life impresses us with the importance of our thoughts. It is difficult to restrain and mould aright our conduct and conversation; but the supreme difficulty is to control and purify our thoughts. There are two hard things we have to do”patiently continue in well-doing;” and “keep the heart with all diligence.” And the latter is the harder of the two. Its hardness has driven men and women into convent and hermit-cells, as providing the only hopeful conditions. The scheme of redemption is really a heart-regeneration, a purifying of the very springs of thought and feeling. It does deliver us from outward foes; but its supreme interest lies in its going right down to the very root of the mischief in man. It proposes to deliver man from his own evil self. It reaches to the very fountains of our thoughts, and cleanses them.

II. THE CONTROL WHICH WE SHOULD HAVE OVER OUR THOUGHTS. We must have some measure of control over them, or we could have no responsibility in relation to them.

1. We have control over the material of our thoughts. It is commonly assumed that thoughts and suggestions are absolutely put into our minds either by God or by Satan. But thought is really the comparison, selection, and association of the actual contents of our mind in the power and activity of our will. All that has impressed us during our lives, by the eye, the ear, or the feeling, has passed into our mental treasury. It is all there, and all linked together by the most subtle connections. The contents of each of our minds today is the sum of past impressions and associations; and we are adding to that sum day by day. What we call “thinking” is taking up a portion of these contents, and recombining and rearranging them to form new ideas. Then we must be, in some measure, responsible for the contents of our minds. Not wholly, because we have been placed in circumstances and under influences over which we had no control. We can, however, put ourselves where we shall receive evil impressions, and we can put ourselves in the sphere of good impressions. No man needs to fill his mind with evil things, which sooner or later must become the material of evil thoughts. We need not choose evil companionships, or read demoralizing books. Oar lives are so far in our hands that we can to a large extent settle what shall be the materials of our thoughts. We might fill up our souls with good things.

2. We have control over the course and the processes of our thought. We can deliberately choose to think about evil things or about good things. If our will is a renewed and sanctified will, then we ought to expect it to gain presidency over our thoughts.

III. THE HELP WHICH GOD IS EVER READY TO GIVE US IN THE EXERCISE OF SUCH CONTROL. This help the psalmist sought, “Try me, and know my thoughts.” Our self-trusting attempts to regulate our thoughts are sure to bring us a feeling of depression, almost of hopelessness. The work proves to be beyond us. It is not beyond us when God is our Helper. And his gracious response ever freshly comes to the trustful, up-looking soul. He does “cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of his Holy Spirit.”R.T.

HOMILIES BY C. SHORT

Psa 139:5

Wonderful knowledge.

“Thou hast laid thine hand upon me.” Aben Ezra called this “the crown of all the psalms.” Man is completely in God’s powerphysically, intellectually, and morally.

I. Look AT THE PROOFS.

1. Man‘s spiritual nature. Sense of sin and responsibility; conscience; instinct of prayer; sense of Divine omniscience.

2. The Divine providence. God’s omnipresence; our lot appointed and mysteriously controlled.

3. In the provisions of the gospel. Cannot wholly throw off the power of the Divine love or Divine Law. God’s hold of us through Christ much greater that our hold of him.

II. FOR WHAT PURPOSE DOES GOD EXERCISE HIS POWER OVER MAN? Not to destroy his freedom of will and action.

1. To assert his property in us.

2. To make man conscious of his calamity and his hope. By the remedy in the gospel.

3. To draw man to himself as the exclusive Redeemer.S.

Psa 139:7-10

God everywhere.

“Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there; if I make my bed in bell, behold, thou art there,” etc.

I. GOD IS PRESENT EVERYWHERE. Let us try to fill ourselves with this great thought.

1. God is in heaven. There have been atheists on earthfools who have said in their hearts that there is no God. Let me tell you what an atheist is like. He is like a man going to hear an oratoriothe ‘Messiah’ or the ‘Elijah’performed by a hundred musicians, and who says that all those wonderful harmonies that intoxicate the soul were not previously arranged and designed by Handel or Mendelssohn, but were the accidental result of those hundred men playing at random upon a hundred instruments. But if an atheist could be taken to heaven, he would be an atheist no longer. He would be overpowered with the proofs, not only of God’s existence, but with the tokens of his presence. What and to whom are those mighty hymns the angels sing? Who commands those mighty works which they perform? Not a God whose existence is argued out or doubtfully apprehended. Why has the city no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it? Because the glory of God lightens it, and the Lamb is the Light thereof. Why is there no temple? Because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple of it. The throne of God and of the Lamb is in it; and his servants serve him, and they see his face, and his Name is in their foreheads.

2. God is in hellSheol, Hades. The devils believe in God, and tremble. There are no atheists in hell. God will be felt in the consciences of lost spirits. This is one of the most powerful ways of feeling God’s presence. Hell is the carrying out of the Divine law. The Law-giver is known in the carrying out of his law. As in a jail the power of the state is felt.

3. God is in every part of this world. The meaning of the text is that God is in the most distant, even the uninhabited, places of the earth. The thought of the psalmist was that God could be found amongst the solitudes of nature. And it is not in crowded cities that we can most strongly feel the presence of God. On the sea, on the mountain-top, down in deep glens and valleys, in the morning or at midnight, studying the smallest or sublimest of God’s works. But God is to be found amongst men, only so often face to face with the devil. Go on the Exchange, into the street, into the gin-palace, and there the world seems without a God, or without a God that cares for it. But go into that sick-room where the Christian is dying, or into that closet where the saint is wrestling with God, or where a sorrowing mother is pouring out a broken heart before God over a profligate son or daughter, or into that family where there is a daily altar before which all devoutly kneel, or glance into the dark cell of the prisoner, and you exclaim, “The darkness hideth not from thee.”

II. THE RELATION OF THIS TRUTH TO SEVERAL CLASSES OF MEN.

1. To those who wish to escape from God. “Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down.” In no part of any world can you fly from him. If, therefore, you cannot fly from him, there are two things which you may try to doeither to make yourself blind and deaf and dead to his presence; or to awake up more intensely to him, and welcome his presence. The former you cannot do forever; the latter you might do.

2. To those who depend upon God for support. “If I take the wings of the morning even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.” God is present everywhere, not only to judge the wicked, but to reward the righteous. The Bible tells me I have begun a very long journey; that I shall often become footsore and weary, often miss my way; but also that God will be with me; that as my day is so my strength shall be; that “they that wait upon the Lord,” etc. It tells me that I shall die; that I must go into a far-distant country which eye hath not seen.

3. To those who are seeking the everlasting way. There are many ways leading to honor, pleasure, wealth, but none of them is the everlasting way. We are guided in them and to them by false lights which will go out and leave us in darkness. But God is always present, and he can light us and guide us into the one everlasting way. He is a Lamp and a Guide.

“Nearer, my God, to thee!
E’en though it be a cross

That raiseth me;

Still all my song shall be,
Nearer, my God, to thee,

Nearer to thee.”

If God could or would come to me only at times, what should I often do?S.

Psa 139:23, Psa 139:24

Request for God’s searching.

“Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

I. SOME THINGS IMPLIED IN THE TEXT.

1. The imperfect knowledge of his own character. Though it lies so near to usnot a far-off country. Though it is the most important of all knowledge. Knowledge of the body important; but that we can trust to anothernot this. Sin creates darkness.

2. That he was aiming at the perfection of his nature. It is only such as he who want to know themselves better. This is the idea of a Christian; and all other aims are poor and selfish.

II. SOME THINGS STATED IS THE TEXT.

1. That he was willing to know the worst of himself. Men generally are afraid to know themselves. If we think our child is in danger from some disease, we ask to know the worst; and so of our own bodily disease. But not so with the soul. Men try to keep out of sight and forget their true selves.

2. That he was willing to be triedto submit to the means by which this knowledge could be gained. Put me to the proof. Few know what they are asking for in using this prayer. “Try me, so as to show me what I am.” The axe willing to be proved is put on the grindstone, and then taken into the forest. The wheat”try me”is bruised; the gold is cast into the furnace. Christ tried the rich young man in the Gospel.

III. THE PRAYER OF THE TEXT. Founded on the conviction:

1. That God alone is able to show us what we are. We want a revelation from heaven for that. It is not self-developed knowledge, nor is it a sudden, but a gradual, revelation. No man knows himself till he has known Christ, his true and better Self.

2. That God, and not himself, is his Savior. “Lead me in the way everlasting.” Ways that lastGod leads us into them, keeps us in them, and draws us onward along these ways.S.

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

Psalms 139.

David praiseth God for his all-seeing providence, and for his infinite mercies: he defieth the wicked: he prayeth for sincerity.

To the chief musician, A Psalm of David.

Title. lamnatseach ledavid mizmor. This psalm is generally thought to have been composed by David when he lay under the imputation of having evil designs against Saul: in which view, it is a solemn appeal to the divine omnipresence and omniscience, for his innocence in that matter: the Psalmist tacitly and elegantly intimating hereby, how foolish as well as impious it would be for him to prevaricate and dissemble with a God, whose knowledge and power it was impossible to elude. But it is Mr. Mudge’s opinion, from the strong tincture of Chaldaism in the psalm, that it was written in or after the captivity. Be that as it may, the sentiments it contains are most noble and elevated. There is a peculiar beauty and a sublimity in the representation of the divine attributes in it, which deserve particular attention. The psalm begins with a devout contemplation of the omniscience of God; not, indeed, expressly considered in its utmost extent, as it penetrates at once, with an exact and infallible comprehension, through the whole scope of created nature, and reaches to the utmost verge and limits of the universe: nor as, together with the present system and complete actual state of things, it has an intuitive and clear view of the past, and conceives the most obscure and remote futurities, and all possible natures and modes of existence; but as it particularly respects mankind, and more immediately influences human morality and a serious humble discharge of all the duties of religion. O Lord! says the Psalmist, in a most elevated strain of thought and expression, thou hast searched, &c. to Psa 139:6. This thought impressed upon his mind such a veneration and awe of the great Deity, the fountain and support of universal life and being, and he found his faculties so swallowed up, and as it were lost in meditating on so deep and immense a subject, that man’s reason, in its utmost pride and glory, and with its most boasted improvements and acquisitions of knowledge, seemed now so debased, so weak, so narrow, and, in comparison with infinity, so despicable, that the author of this psalm could proceed no further without expressing his admiration at a boundless scope of intelligence, which he could neither explain nor comprehend; and therefore he immediately adds; such knowledge, &c. Psa 139:6. See Foster’s Discourses, vol. 1. 4to. p. 76.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Psalms 139

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David

O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.

2Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising;

Thou understandest my thought afar off.

3Thou compassest my path and my lying down

And art acquainted with all my ways.

4For there is not a word in my tongue,

But, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether.

5Thou hast beset me behind and before,

And laid thine hand upon me.

6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me:

It is high, I cannot attain unto it.

7Whither shall I go from thy Spirit?

Or whither shall I flee from thy presence?

8If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there:

If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.

9If I take the wings of the morning,

And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;

10Even there shall thy hand lead me,

And thy right hand shall hold me.

11If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me;

Even the night shall be light about me.

12Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee;

But the night shineth as the day:
The darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

13For thou hast possessed my reins:

Thou hast covered me in my mothers womb.

14I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made

Marvellous are thy works;

And that my soul knoweth right well.

15My substance was not hid from thee,

When I was made in secret,

And curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

16Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect;

And in thy book all my members were written,

Which in continuance were fashioned,

When as yet there was none of them.

17How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God!

How great is the sum of them!

18If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand:

When I awake, I am still with thee.

19Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God:

Depart from me therefore, ye bloody men

20For they speak against thee wickedly,

And thine enemies take thy name in vain.

21Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee?

And am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?

22I hate them with perfect hatred:

I count them mine enemies.

23Search me, O God, and know my heart:

Try me, and know my thoughts:

24And see if there be any wicked way in me,

And lead me in the way everlasting.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Contents and Composition.The depth of religious feeling, the weightiness of thought, and the force and beauty of expression, which characterize this Psalm, may be readily acknowledged without praising it, in an excess of admiration, as the crown of Psalm-poetry (Aben Ezra). On account of some words and word-forms incontestably Aramaic, the correctness of the superscription is brought into question, and the composition of this poem, which otherwise might well be justly held as Davids, must, on linguistic grounds, be assigned to a period subsequent to the exile. The Cod. Alex. of the Sept. has also the addition: of Zechariah, and besides, by a second hand: in the Diaspora.

[Few of the German commentators hold to a Davidic authorship. Ewald, Hupfeld and Del. pronounce against it for the reasons cited above. Hengstenberg clings to it firmly, and accounts for the Aramaisms as he does in Psalms 6, 17, 18, by supposing that the Psalmist penetrated by the loftiness of his subject, shuns also in the form what is of common and daily use. He also remarks that a late writer could have no motive for prefixing the formula: to the chief musician. Perowne seems inclined to the opinion of a late origin, but in this he may have been influenced by his erroneous supposition that in the Hebrew the Psalm is anonymous, which error he repeats in his last edition. He however feels the force of the view that linguistic anomalies may be due to the use of another dialect within Palestine. The English commentators generally are unwilling to give up the Davidic authorship.J. F. M.]

There are four clearly distinguishable strophes, each consisting of six verses, although the latter are not all of equal length. The Psalmist declares his persuasion that he is intimately and completely scanned and proved by Jehovah, the omniscient God (Psa 139:1-6), that he is surrounded by His illuminating presence, as the omnipresent God (Psa 139:7-12), that he is perfectly known and understood by Him as his almighty and eternal Creator (Psa 139:13-18), and feeling this profoundly and truly, is thereby admonished and comforted. Then, after strong asseverations of his abhorrence of men who act wickedly against God and are thus deserving of punishment, he prays that he may be preserved from self-deception by the revelation of the true condition of his soul, and that he may be led in the way which excludes the danger of destruction (Psa 139:19-24).

[Perowne: Nowhere are the great attributes of GodHis omniscience, His omnipresence, His omnipotenceset forth so strikingly as they are in this magnificent Psalm. Nowhere is there a more overwhelming sense of the fact that man is beset and compassed about by God, pervaded by His Spirit, and unable to take a step without His control; and yet nowhere is there a more emphatic assertion of the personality of man as distinct from, not absorbed in, the Deity. This is no pantheistic speculation. Man is here the workmanship of God, and standsin the presence and under the eye of Him who is his Judge. The power of conscience, the sense of sin and responsibility, are felt and acknowledged, and prayer is offered to One who is not only the Judge but the Friend; One who is feared as none else are feared; One who is loved as none else are loved.J. F. M.]

Psa 139:1-2. And known. It is scarcely conceivable that no special object is to be understood here (Stier, Kster, Hengstenberg). For the connection by vav conversive shows that knowing is regarded as a consequence of searching, and it is as natural to supply me from the preceding here, as it is in Exo 2:25. The word (Psa 139:2), here is not the familiar term denoting: a friend, but an Aramaic one, with the signification: willing, wishing, striving, and also, as in Syriac and Arabic: thinking. The expression: afar off is, as in Psa 138:6, to be understood as contradicting the delusion (Job 22:12-14) that Gods dwelling in heaven prevents Him from observing mundane things (Calvin, Hengst., Hupfeld), comp. Jer 22:23. It is hardly intended to be expressed that God knows the thought when it is only in process of conception (Del.).

Psa 139:3-6. The translation in Psa 139:3 : Thou art around me (Luther), results from a false derivation of from : a garland, which was held by some of the Rabbins. But the word in question signifies: to winnow, to sift; poetically: to prove, try. [Translate accordingly Psa 139:3 a: Thou triest my walking and lying down. The translation of 6b in E. V. is rather ambiguous. Literally it would be: I am not able for it, not capable of it, that is, of comprehending it.J. F. M.]

Psa 139:7-10. From thy Spirit, namely, in His power over the universe (Psa 104:30) and not in His all-comprehending vision of it. [Psa 139:8. If I make my bed in Sheolthe unseen world.J. F. M.]The wings of the morning (Psa 139:9) denote, like the wings of the sun (Mal. 3:20), and of the wind (Psa 18:11), extreme swiftness in a long flight (Psa 139:8), as also do the wings of a dove (Psa 55:7). The morning is here the starting in the East, in a flight to the uttermost part of the sea, the extreme West. None can escape from the hand (Psa 139:10) of the Omnipotent and Omnipresent God (Amo 9:2; comp. Jer 23:24; Job 34:21) and before the light of His eyes no darkness can exclude His power of vision. Hence the righteous may trust in God even in darkness (Isa 50:10).

Psa 139:11-12. The translation in Psa 139:11 : yea darkness will crush me (Hengst.) accords with the reading in the Text, for means only conterere, contundere (Gen 3:15; Job 9:17). But the meaning obvelare corresponds perfectly with the context (Chaldee, Symmachus, Jerome, Saadias, et al.); and if it is preferred here it is better to make a slight change in the Text in order to gain a suitable word (Ewald). The best word to insert is , after Job 11:17 (Bttcher, Hupfeld, Del.). This is preferable to giving to the word as it stands the meaning: to fall upon (Hitzig) or, by comparing with , the sense of inhiare, insidiari, invaders (Umbreit, Gesenius) or, by comparing with : to becloud, darken (the Rabbins, Geier, and most). The apodosis begins not in Psa 139:11 b, (Luther), but in 12a (Calvin). And in that verse it is not a state of darkness (Luther) that is mentioned, but a making dark (Psa 105:28). [Dr. Moll accordingly translates Psa 139:11-12, And if I say: only let darkness cover me, and let night be the light about me; even the darkness, etc.J. F. M.]

Psa 139:13-16. Formed my reins.According to the context here does not mean: to possess, hold in ones power (Hengst., with Sept., Vulg., Luth., and most of the ancients) but: to fashion, as Deu 22:6, comp. Gen 14:19; Pro 8:22 (most of the recent expositors since Clericus with the Syr., Arab., and Ethiop. Versions). And does not mean: to cover, (Hengst., with the ancients), but, as Job 10:11 shows: to plait, to weave, in allusion to the body framed and interwoven with bones, sinews, and veins (Chald., and the recent expositors). In Psa 139:15 it is said to be wrought or embroidered with various colors [E. V.: curiously wrought], on account of its seemingly elaborate formation from parts of different forms and colors. [Translate Psa 139:15 : My frame-work (lit., bones) was not hidden from Thee when I was formed in secret, curiously wrought (as) in the depths of the earth. On the last clause Perowne: Elsewhere the phrase denotes the unseen world, comp. Psa 63:9; Psa 86:13. Here, as the parallelism shows, it is used in a figurative sense to describe a region of darkness and mystery.J. F. M.] The choice of the word (Psa 139:16), was probably connected with the phrase just discussed. It signifies something rolled up (2Ki 2:8) a mantle (Eze 27:24), a crude and unformed mass, as designating the human embryo (Sept., Aquila, Symmachus, Rabbins). But if we study the word in connection with the remaining clauses of the verse, it will appear probable that the conception of an undeveloped complex mass of members (so most), passes over into that of a skein of life, in which the threads which are to form the web of human existence and destiny (Isa 38:12), are not yet unrolled (Hupfeld). For the simplest way of construing is to refer it to days [E. V.: in continuance] which, with the future they enfold, are formed [E. V.: fashioned], i.e., planned, predetermined in the Divine counsel, when not a single one of them had come into the sphere of actual existence. Yet they were beheld by God even then, and so were entered (imperfect) in His book (Psa 56:9; Psa 69:29). This view, at all events, gives a sound sense, agreeing with the accents and with grammatical rules. Others refer the to the members of the body forming in the embryo (Kimchi, Geier, et. al.), which were being fashioned through the course of days, i.e., gradually, and not at once. But it would not then be said of them that they were recorded in the book of life. [Hupfeld says that this would be an absurdity.J. F. M.] Another interpretation refers all of them to all men as embryos (Clericus, Hitzig); but this is very forced. The reading of the Masorites, also, instead of the written , leads to the explanation either that all the days formed by God are to Him only a single day (Rabbins) which is over-subtle, or that, among those days, there was one at hand for him, that is, for the undeveloped mass of the embryo, namely, the day of his birth, (Hitzig, Del.), which appears strange in the connection. Such a simple thought would not be expressed in such a curious manner. Vav in the adverbial clause might have the sense: while or as, and be used for , incorrectly indeed, but not without example (comp. Lev 15:25; Job 15:32). It is against the accents to construe, according to a view opposed already by Geier, the suffix in pleonastically as referring to the following (De Wette and most of the recent expositors). In Psa 139:15, according to the pointing, the word is not which denotes directly the bones and also the body, but : strength, power, from which notion the bones receive their Hebrew name. The place where the human body is formed before birth is called secret (Ecc 11:5). It appears as if the parallel expression: in the depths of the earth. were only intended to serve as a poetical comparison (Hupfeld, comp. Isa 45:19). At all events there is no reference to a pre-existence in the realm of shadows (as in Virg. neid V. 713 f.) or to a laboratory in the under-world (J. D. Michaelis, Knapp, Muntinghe). It may possibly be, however, that there is some more special reference to mans origin from the dust (Delitzsch, Hitzig), in this comparison of the depths of the earth with the maternal womb (Job 1:21; Job 33:6; Jon 2:3; Sir 40:1; Sir 51:5) even if not in the form disputed by Hupfeld (Qusliones in Jobeidos locos vexatos). [Alexander agrees exactly with Hupfeld and Moll. Hengst. agrees also in the main. So also do Perowne and Wordsworth. Noyes translates generally: and in Thy book was everything written.J. F. M.]

Psa 139:17-18. How weighty are thy thoughts.[E. V.: How precious, etc.] The primary notion: heavy, may be transferred to that of value, costly, precious (Del. and most), or with reference to mental judgment or comprehension it may have the sense of: difficult of conception (Kimchi, De Wette, Maurer, Olshausen, Hupfeld), or weighty, important (Hitzig), Job 6:2; Dan 2:11. The context appears to favor the latter. The sum, the total amount of these arriving through different channels, is so overpowering (Psa 40:6) that if they were to be reckoned up (fut. hypoth.) they would be shown to be as the sand of the sea. He does not reach the end of them, although his wakeful heart (Sol. Son 5:2) busies itself even in sleep with these thoughts, which he ponders over by night upon his couch (Job 4:13) and, wearied with the effort, falls asleep. When he wakes he finds himself still attended and occupied with the same thoughts concerning God, His counsels, and dealings. The Text says nothing of any hope or belief that after death, in his communion with God, he shall still be reckoning up that sum of thoughts more numerous than the sand (see Hofmann).

Psa 139:19-20. Depart from me.The transition from the optative [if thou wouldst slay the wicked!J. F. M.], to the imperative is harsh, especially on account of the Vav copulative. Yet there is no ground for a change of into (Olshausen). A change in the text of Psa 139:20 would be more justifiable. For is, it is true, not meaningless (Hupfeld), but the expression: they say, with thee as an object, is harsh, and can only by extreme necessity (2Sa 19:24; Isa 26:13) be explained as equivalent to: they mention Thee (Del.) they pronounce Thy name (Chald.) or: they speak against Thee as plotters. The correction into : they embitter (the Fifth Greek version),1 they provoke Thee (Olsh.), they excite rebellion against Thee (Hupf. after Jerome, Ven, De W.), is very readily suggested, and, since it changes only the vowel, is preferable to the conjecture which affords the sense: they sing praises to Thee with deceit (Hitzig). In the following member of the verse, also, occasions some difficulty. The meaning properly is: Thy cities (Sept., Vulg., Arabic Vers., Cocceius). But there is no suitableness in the thought: Thy cities have risen in vain, or for wickedness, or faithlessly. But if we translate: Thy enemies (Aquila, Symmachus, Chald., Rosen., De Wette) the doubt of the correctness of this sense is scarcely removed by Dan 4:16; for in 1Sa 28:16 the reading is suspected. [The word occurs in the Chald. of Dan. in the place referred to. Hupfeld remarks that it is unknown elsewhere, even in the Aramaic, in that sense.J. F. M.] The conjecture (Hupfeld, Kamphausen): against Thee, is then naturally suggested. But means not only to raise (Psa 24:4) and to arise (Hab 1:3) but also to utter (Exo 20:7). Now if we follow that passage where the connection with also occurs we would be tempted to change the doubtful word into , thus giving the sense: utter thy name to falsehood, swear falsely (Olsh., Bttcher), or into thy remembrance (Hitzig formerly) or , thy testimonies (Ewald). The last conjecture agrees very nearly at least in the consonants with a reading : to Thee, in seven Codices of Kennicott and twenty of De Rossi. So also does the reading which would lead to the rendering: they wore Thy robe with deceit (Hitzig now). We may, however, hold to the Text and retain the signification: enemies. This, as Delitzsch shows, is gained by means of the intermediate notion: ardent persons, zealots. [Delitzsch illustrates this sense of the root from the Arabic, as well as from the passages referred to above, and considers the use of the word in the Text as in keeping with the Aramaisms in which it abounds.J. F. M.] But assuming this, we are still not to regard the enemies as the subject of the wicked rising (most), for a subject has already occurred in the relative, and a thought parallel to that of the preceding clause would be expected, or of false swearing (Hengst. after Chald. and Rabbins). Nor are they the object of an exaltation, by which Gods enemies are said to be brought to honor through deceit and wickedness (Rudinger, Geier). They are in apposition to the last. [That is, in apposition to the subject of the preceding member of the verse. This view is expressed in the following translation: Who mention Thee in craftiness (and) speak with deceit, Thine enemies. For the peculiar form of the verb in the second member see Green, Heb. Gr., 164, 3.J. F. M.]

Psa 139:21-22. Should I not hate,etc.?[E. V.: Do I not, etc.] This question does not express uncertainty or doubt in the mind of the Psalmist, but the most unshaken assurance that he is right in feeling thus. [Dr. Moll thus translates the verse: Should I not hate thy haters, Jehovah, and abhor thy adversaries?J. F. M.] The extent of this feeling of hatred is expressed by a word which denotes the extreme end of an object [With perfection of hatred.J. F. M.]

Psa 139:23-24. In Psa 139:24 the phrase which we translate: way of suffering, Psa 16:6; Isa 14:3 [E. V.: wicked way], is, according to our view, the way of provoking and arousing God to anger (Kimchi, Amyrald, Btt.), Isa 63:10. According to another, it is the way of the idol-image, i.e., to the idol (Isa 48:5) as contrasted with the way of Jehovah, Psa 25:4 (Rosenm., Gesen., Maurer), identical with the way of opposition to the law (Sept.), of falsehood (Syr.), of the erring (Chald.). It is best to regard it as the way which causes both inward and outward pain. [See the different significations of the Heb. word.J. F. M.]. Whether this is endured only in time or in eternity also, is not stated here. And the way which is contrasted with this by the Psalmist is not that which leads to bliss in eternity (Flaminius, Geier, Hengst., et al.), or that of former or ancient times, Jer 6:16; Jer 18:15 (Rosenm., De Wette, Maurer, Olsh.), but the one which endures forever. The idea is therefore not to be limited to that of an unchangeable purpose, followed out during the whole life, even to the end (Calvin, Clericus), comp. Psa 1:6; Psa 27:11. In Psa 139:23. thoughts are represented by the term branches (Eze 31:5) as ramifying thoughts and cares (Psa 94:19). The demand is not the challenge of a confident and vain man, conscious of his own purity, but it is a prayer for divine help and illumination, for the proving of the conscience and the searching out of the soul.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. Men are not to suppose that Gods omniscience is an attribute in repose, and standing in exclusive relation to Himself. They must ever keep in remembrance that He gives proof of it by constant exercise, and that in relation to the person of man; not as being cognizant of certain individual facts, but of the whole sum of inner and outer circumstances, actions and needs, and likewise of their whole range and significance. Its transcendent superiority to human possibilities of knowing, imagining, and comprehending is a fact of the divine nature, whose salutary truth becomes fruitful certainty when viewed in its proper connection with the fact of the divine omnipresence.
2. For it is in the omnipresence of God that we are able and bound to trace the proofs that He does not, like a limited human creature or an isolated being, move through the perpetual change of place, circumstances, and employment, by which alone nearness and distance, repose and action, suffering and influencing, receive their significance. And if we hold fast to the truth that God is completely and indivisibly Spirit, Life, and active Energy, we can understand the close relation of His omnipresence, with His omniscience, on the one hand, and with His omnipotence, on the other, and also their practical bearing upon human life, especially in its moral and religious aspects.
3. From this point of view, even the natural life of man, from its miraculous origin in the mysterious depths of the laboratory of creation, and onwards through its whole course in the worlds history, receives a highly increased significance. It is not merely unfolded under the eye of God; it even assumes its outward form in conformity to divine pre-determination. Of so much the greater moment does it become, that such a life should be regulated religiously and morally in accordance with the divine will, that its relation to eternity and to its divinely-appointed destiny should ever be kept in mind, and be deeply impressed upon the spiritual nature.

4. To realize this end, it is necessary that men should continually yield themselves up to God; especially that they should give themselves up to meditation upon His thoughts, though they cannot sum them up, even if they should be busied with their contemplation in their wakeful hours and in their dreams, by day and by night, as in the noblest and sweetest employment (Jer 31:25-26); that they should give themselves up to obedience to His holy will in opposition to transgressors and hypocrites, in order to overcome evil; that they should give themselves up to love, believing in Gods gracious guidance, in order to obtain real and abiding salvation.

[5. Hengstenberg: The more glorious the formation of man is, so much the stronger is the proof of Gods absolute omniscience and omnipresence, so much the more striking the testimony it furnishes against those who abandon themselves to sin, under the idea that God does not see or judge, or those who surrender themselves to despair, saying: My way is hidden from God, Job 10:9-11.J. F. M.]

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

What avails all knowledge of Gods nature, words, works and ways, if it is not improved according to His will?We should impress upon our conscience what we hear, experience, and learn to know of God, so that we shall not only meditate upon His counsels, but consider what shall promote our peace.We cannot comprehend God; all is wonder and mystery; but we can apprehend what He has ordained and revealed and communicated to us for our salvation.When shall the time arrive when we shall not only cease to have outward fellowship with the wicked, but shall also have no inward and private connection with them?God is ever round about us; oh that we were ever with Him!

Starke: Blessed is that soul which can appear before God, the omniscient God, with joy and confidence. But to do this it must have been continually controlled by conscience.Gods omniscience is terrible to the wicked, but comforting to the pious.Continue in what is good, and God will behold it, and so behold it as to further it.God can press upon a man so closely that he will acknowledge at last that the hand of God is there.It is foolish and unavailing for a man to try to measure the divine mysteries by the short standard of the understanding. Mirari licet, non rimari. Anything that is done in darkness lies as clear before God as if it were done in mid-day and in the bright sunshine.Men can inflict no greater injury upon themselves than to imagine that the Spirit of God is far away from them. This persuasion of Satan makes them daily more presumptuous.If great earthly rulers can reach so far that it is often very difficult to escape from them, how is it possible to flee from the Lord of all lords who fills heaven and earth?If there is so much that is wonderful and incomprehensible in the natural birth, what shall we say of regeneration? Oh that all might know and experience it truly!Be not so insensible and indifferent towards Gods wonderful works and the dealings in which thou also dost share. Be thou able to say: And that my soul knoweth well!If a soul has not communion with God, it cannot be said to be surrendered to Him. In heavenly contemplation the soul is with God. The anchor of its hope and desire is cast in heaven.A true Christian can and must pray against those enemies of God and His Church who oppose themselves, not through ignorance or weakness, but from wickedness; yet he must do it in such a way as not to prescribe to God the time, mode, or place of punishment.We must hate the wicked, yet not their persons, for we should seek their conversion, but on account of their wickedness.The noblest hatred is that which is directed against wickedness.The first effect of divine illumination is to make men learn the folly of their hearts.The reason why so many awakened souls relapse again into slumber and even fall away from every good thing, is chiefly because they neglect to prove themselves.Man carries the Judge and the judgment in his own breast, even in the smallest actions. This is conscience, implanted within him by God.There are only two ways leading to eternity, the narrow and the broad. Let no one think that he will reach heaven by an intermediate road. All such by-ways lead into the broad road.

Frisch: Do not fancy that your demeanor, posture, dress, or deportment are not under Gods providence. You deceive yourself. Do not think that your thoughts pass free from inspection. The Lord understands them afar off. Think not that your words are dissipated in the air before God can hear. Oh, no! He knows them even when still upon your tongue. Do not think that your ways are so private and concealed that there is none to know or censure them. You mistake. God knows all your ways.Give thyself up to God as guilty, and seek His mercy. Flee not from Him, but to Him. It is always better to fall into the hand of God than into the hands of men.If the heart is not well kept, it goes astray and becomes lost from God.Rieger: We learn how well it is with that soul which has been withdrawn away from sin by the word of truth, and brought to a just hatred of all wickedness; when it has, and desires to have, no secrets from God, who is so near, and no secret connection with evil, but can behold reflected in conscience all that God knows of us, and rejoice in the comfort it gives.Stier: Why would David flee from Him who is so near on every side of him? Or why does he say first that he cannot do so, even if he were to fly over the whole creation in its height and depth, from east to west? Because as soon as he reflects with wonder upon Gods omnipresence, the terrors of conscience are awakened with the consciousness of unrighteous courses and sinful words and thoughts, which are manifest to the sight of the Eternal and Holy One.Tholuck: Who can embrace or touch that Spirit by whom he is every where embraced and touched?Richter: The unconverted fear to search their hearts earnestly, to try them and judge themselves, and much more to pray God that He would enlighten them.Guenther: God is everywhere, even in the realms of death, and therefore men can never rid themselves of His presence; if they do not follow Him willingly, they must submit themselves to His omnipotence unwillingly.I must love my enemy and hate Gods; but it is hard to make the distinction. How easily does self-love deceive us, desire of revenge lead us into error, and anger make us sin! Yet I must decide between them. Who helps me to judge aright?Diedrich: To know the truth when it is presented, and yet to slight it, and come to terms with falsehood, is an act worthy of double stripes.The seeing and knowing which are attributed to God were nothing but loving and caring, helping and delivering, leading and blessing, so as to crown with blessedness.

[Matt. Henry: Divine truths look as well when they are prayed over as when they are preached over, and much better than when they are disputed over.Those that are upright can take comfort in Gods omniscience as a witness to their uprightness, and can with humble confidence beg Him to search and try them, and discover them to themselves; for a good man desires to know the worst about himself, and to discover them to others; he that means honestly could wish he had a window in his breast, that any man may look into his heart.All the saints desire to be led in the way everlasting, that they may not miss it, turn out of it, or tire in it.Bp. Horne: The same consideration which should restrain us from sin should also encourage us to work righteousness, and comfort us under all our sorrows; namely the thought that we are never out of the sight and protection of our Maker.The reformation of our corrupted and dissolved bodies, which is to be wrought at the last day in the womb of the earth, in order to their new birth, will crown the works of the Almighty.We are neither to hate men on account of the vices they practise, nor love the vices for the sake of the men who practise them. He who observeth invariably this distinction fulfilleth the perfect law of charity and hath the love of God and of his neighbor abiding in him.Scott: We should inquire what the Lord would have us to do, and whither we ought to remove, and pray that His gracious presence may always attend us; and then we shall have everything to hope, and nothing to fear, in life, in death, and in the eternal world.Barnes: Search me thoroughly; examine not merely my outward conduct, but what I think about; what are my purposes; what passes through my mind; what occupies my imagination and my memory; what secures my affection and controls my will.J. F. M.]

Footnotes:

[1][The fifth of the versions collected by Origen in the Hexapla, author unknown, like those of the Sixth and Seventh. They are called respectively the Quinta, Sexta, and Septima versions.J. F. M.]

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

DISCOURSE: 734
THE OMNIPRESENCE AND OMNISCIENCE OF GOD

Psa 139:1-12. O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine up-rising; thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path, and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways: for there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

DAVID was a man bitterly persecuted and greatly calumniated. Nothing could exceed the acrimony with which Saul pursued him to take away his life. But David had the comfort of a good conscience: and he often appealed to the heart-searching God to attest his innocence of those crimes that were laid to his charge. It is probable that such were his circumstances when he composed this psalm; and that, when traduced by men, he consoled himself with the reflection, that every thought of his heart was fully known to God. The sentiments are delivered in an immediate address to the Deity himself: and they are such as ought to be deeply impressed on every mind.
Let us in our comment on this passage consider,

I.

The truths here acknowledged

David asserts in a most solemn manner the omnipresence of the Deity
[Certain it is, that God is everywhere present. If we should go up to heaven, he is there; or down to the grave or the abodes of departed spirits, he is there. There is no point of space where he is not, or where he is not as wholly and entirely present as in heaven itself. The heavens cannot contain him. He himself puts the question to every child of man; Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord [Note: Jer 23:23-24.]. It is in vain therefore for us to think of hiding ourselves from him, since in every place he besets us both behind and before, and so lays his hand upon us, that it is not possible for us to escape. He is present with us, to lead us, if we seek his guidance; or to hold us, if we would attempt to run from him.]

Together with the omnipresence of the Deity, the Psalmist further asserts also his omniscience
[The eyes of God are continually upon the ways of the children of men. What men know only by searching, God knows by a single glance of his eye, and as perfectly, as if he had searched with the utmost care and diligence into the minutest parts and circumstances of every transaction. Even the thoughts, yea, and every imagination of the thoughts of mens hearts, are open to him, together with the whole frame and habit of our minds. Are we retiring to rest, or lying upon our bed, or rising from thence after our nights repose? he knows precisely in what state we are. He sees whether we are calling our ways to remembrance, and humbling ourselves before him, and imploring mercy at his hands, together with grace that we may serve him more acceptably; or whether our minds be running out after earthly objects, and occupied about the things of time and sense. Do we go forth to our respective callings? he sees by what motives we are actuated, and by what principles we are governed. Whatever fraud we may practise in our dealings with men, or whatever artifice we may use to promote our own interests, he is privy to it: on the other hand, whatever dispositions we may exercise, or actions we may perform, for the glory of his name, he beholds them also. We may be so unostentatious, that even our right hand may not know what our left hand doeth: but he knoweth it, and marks it with his special favour. So likewise in the public assemblies of his people, he sees whether in our devotions we be humble, fervent, and believing; or whether we have a mere form of godliness, without the power of it. In a word, wherever we be, in public or in private, he knoweth infinitely more of us than the best-instructed Christian in the universe can know of himself: Such knowledge is too wonderful for us; we cannot attain unto it. As for light or darkness, it makes no difference to him: the night and the day to him are both alike. All things without exception, even the most hidden recesses of the heart, are naked and open before him; as the inmost parts of the sacrifices, when cut down the back-bone, were to the priest appointed to inspect them [Note: Heb 4:12-13. . See also Jer 16:17 and Job 34:22.].]

These are solemn truths: and the importance of them will forcibly appear, whilst we suggest,

II.

Some reflections naturally arising from them

On this subject we might multiply reflections without end, seeing that there is not any part of a Christians experience which is not most intimately connected with it. But we will confine ourselves to two; namely,

1.

That many, however high they may be in their own estimation, will be found most awfully to have deceived themselves in the last day

[Among the foremost of these are the ungodly and profane. These, with an atheistical contempt of God, go on in their own way, saying, Tush, God shall not see, neither shall the Almighty regard it: How doth God know? can he judge through the dark cloud? Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not [Note: Job 22:13-14. Psa 73:11.]. But how will they be surprised in the day of judgment, to find, that not one single act, word, or thought of their whole lives had escaped the notice of the Deity! They, if no human eye beheld them, prosecuted their licentious pleasures without fear; little thinking Who was present, beholding their every act, hearing their every word, noting their every thought. Had but a child been present, they could not have proceeded with such indifference: but Jehovahs presence they regarded not, any more than if he had been, like the heathen gods, unknowing, unconscious, unconcerned. Truly, it is a fearful account which they will have to give, when they shall see the long catalogue of their crimes written with unerring accuracy, and brought forward against them as the ground of their eternal condemnation.

Next to these are the proud formalists, who, because they have never run to any excess of riot, applaud themselves as righteous and secure of the Divine favour. But whilst they boast of their negative righteousness and their performance of some external duties, and look with contempt upon those who have been less moral than themselves, little do they think in what a different light they are viewed by God, who knoweth their hearts; in whose sight that which is highly esteemed amongst men is not unfrequently an utter abomination [Note: Luk 16:15.]. Very different is the standard by which he estimates them, from that by which they estimate themselves. The things for which he looks are, a tenderness of spirit, a lowliness of mind, a brokenness of heart, a deep self-lothing and self-abhorrence; not one atom of which has he ever seen in these self-applauding Pharisees. Say, thou formal moralist, when did the heart-searching God ever see thee weeping for thy sins, and smiting on thy breast, like the repenting publican, and fleeing to Christ as the manslayer to the city of refuge? When did he ever hear thee adoring and magnifying him for the exceeding riches of his grace in Christ Jesus? Know that He can discern between true and false religion, whether thou canst or not; and that it is not he who commendeth himself, that shall be approved in the judgment, but he whom the Lord commendeth.

But of all self-deceiving people, there are none who have so much reason to tremble at the idea of Gods omniscience as the false and hypocritical professor. True, if there were ten thousand of this complexion present, not one would apply the title to himself, or suppose himself to be comprehended under this head. Yet are there many such in the Church of God; many, whose religion consists in hearing and talking about the Gospel, rather than in exercising the spirit it inculcates. If a zeal about certain tenets, or running to hear sermons, or putting themselves forward in religious meetings, or sitting in judgment upon others who are not of their party, if this were religion, they would be very eminent: but if religion consist in humility of mind, in meekness and lowliness of heart, in patience and forbearance towards those who differ from them, in a diligent attention to the duties of their place and station, and in a secret walk with God, they will be found most awfully wanting in them all. Alas! the religion of many makes them not a whit more amiable and lovely in their dispositions and habits, than if they had never heard of the example of Christ: on the contrary, their pride, and conceit, and forwardness, and presumption, render them ten-fold more disgusting both to God and man, than if they made no profession of religion at all. When such persons come into the presence of their God at the last day, what testimony will they receive from the heart-searching God but this, that they had a name to live, and were dead; and that whilst they said that they were Jews, they lied, and were in reality of the synagogue of Satan? Yes; their excellency may mount up to the heavens; but they shall perish like their own dung; and they that have seen them shall with surprise and grief exclaim, Where are they [Note: Job 20:4-7.]?

The confidence which any of these classes may profess, only binds upon them the more strongly the fetters they have forged for themselves, and ensures more certainly their everlasting ruin [Note: Pro 21:2 and Psa 50:21.].]

2.

That many who are low in the estimation both of themselves and others, shall receive at last from God himself a glorious testimony in their behalf

[Many there are of the Lords hidden ones, who have been kept back by diffidence or other circumstances from joining themselves to the Lords people in an open and ostensible way, who yet shall receive from God the strongest tokens of his approbation. They perhaps envied the gifts and talents of some more forward professors, and thought themselves unworthy to join in their society: but God, who knew their hearts, said of them, I know thy poverty; but thou art rich. He heard the sighs and groans which they uttered from day to day under a sense of their own unworthiness. He treasured up in his vial the tears they shed from a lothing of themselves, and an admiration of their God. He saw how precious the Lord Jesus Christ was to their souls, as their hope, their peace, their strength, their all. They were of no account perhaps amongst their fellow-Christians; but they were greatly beloved of their God. The more abased they were in their own eyes, the more exalted they were in his. He saw that in their prayers, their fastings, their alms, they sought not glory from men; and therefore he in the last day will reward them openly. He will say of them in that day, I saw thee under the fig-tree: if thy talent was small, thou madest a good improvement of it: thou thoughtest that in giving thy mite to the sanctuary, thou hadst done nothing; but I testify for thee, that it was more in my sight than all that the rich gave out of their abundance. Yes, Beloved, as ye desire to serve and honour God, so will God accept and bless you: He will bring to light the counsels of the heart; and then shall every man, who was of no account in his own eyes, have praise of God. If then, Brethren, ye be overlooked, or even calumniated and traduced by men, lay it not to heart, but seek to approve yourselves to the heart-searching God. Let man have his day, knowing assuredly that God will have his also [Note: 1Co 4:3-4. See the Greek.], and that his judgment will be according to truth.]

Application

[Let all now shew what regard they have for God. Let all retire, with a consciousness that God sees them: let them go to their secret chamber, and there implore mercy from him for their past neglect of his presence, and grace that they may henceforth be enabled to set him always before them, and to walk in his fear all the day long.]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

CONTENTS

This Psalm was written by David; but it is evident that he was directed by the Holy Spirit to say in it much concerning Christ. In the former part, he dwells upon the divine perfections in the foreknowledge, and fore-appointment concerning Christ. In the latter part, Christ expresseth his agreement with the Father in the perfect holiness and purity of the thoughts and intentions of his heart.

To the chief musician, a Psalm of David.

Psa 139:1

I beg the Reader, before he enters upon this blessed Psalm, to recollect what I humbly offered upon the title, in former Psalms, to the chief musician. For it, as I then remarked (and as I think is more than probable) it be addressed particularly to the Lord Jesus, it will serve much to illustrate the several parts of it. And I yet more particularly desire the Reader, before he enters upon the perusal of it, to ponder well in his mind, whether, like several other Psalms, which the Holy Ghost himself hath explained unto us (Psa 16 ; Act 2 ; Psa 22:18 ; Mar 15:24 , etc.) it be not best thus to discover Christ, if, without violence to the original, the words may be applied to him? With these impressions on his mind, I beg the Reader to enter upon this most sublime portion of scripture. And while I venture to suggest (and I beg him, once for all, to remember I do but suggest, not affirm) in what sense the several passages contained in it strike me, I entreat him to look up with earnestness to God the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of truth, to guide him into all truth, that his faith may be found to stand, not in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God, 1Co 2:5 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

The Searching of God

Psa 139:1

We are prone to associate the searching-work of God with events of a striking or memorable kind. It is in great calamities and overwhelming sorrow that we feel with peculiar vividness God’s presence. When Job was in the enjoyment of prosperity he was an eminently reverent man; but it was in the hour of his black and bitter midnight that he cried out, ‘The hand of God hath touched me’. And that same spirit lodges in every breast, so that God’s searching comes to be associated with hours when life is shaken to its deeps, and when all the daughters of music are laid low. Now the point to be noted is, that in this Psalm the writer is not thinking of such hours. There is no trace that he has suffered terribly, or been plunged into irreparable loss. ‘Thou knowest my downsitting and my uprising’ my usual, ordinary, daily life it was there that the Psalmist recognized the searching; it was there that he woke to see that he was known.

I. We are searched and known by the slow and steady passing of the years. There is a revealing power in the flight of time, just because time is the minister of God. In heaven there will be no more time; there will be no more need of any searching ministry. There we shall know even as we are known in the burning and shining of the light of God. But here, where the light of God is dimmed and broken, we are urged forward through the course of years, and the light of the passing years achieves on earth what the light of the Presence will achieve in glory.

II. Then once again God searches all of us by the responsibilities He lays upon us. It is in our duties and not in our romance that the true self is searched and known. Think of those servants in the parable who got the talents. Could you have gauged their character before they got the talents? Were they not all respectable and honest, and seemingly worthy of their Master’s confidence? But to one of the servants the Master gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, and what distinguished and revealed the men was the use they made of that responsibility. They were not searched by what they had to suffer; the men were searched by what they had to do. They were revealed by what their Master gave, and by the use they made of what they got.

III. Once more, God has a way of searching us by lifting our eyes from the detail to the whole. He sets the detail in its true perspective, and seeing it thus, we come to see ourselves. You note how the writer of this Psalm proceeds: ‘Thou knowest my downsitting and my uprising,’ he says. These are details; little particular actions; the unconsidered events of every day. But the writer does not stop with these details he passes on to the survey of his life: ‘Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways’.

We are all prone to be blinded by detail, so that we scarcely realize what we are doing. There are lines of conduct which we would never take if we only realized all that they meant. There are certain sins to which we would never yield, if we but saw them in their vile completeness. But the present is so tyrannical and sweet, and the action of the hour is so absorbing, that we cannot see the forest for the trees, nor reckon out the course that we are taking. We often say, looking back upon our sufferings, ‘We wonder how we ever could have borne it’. One secret of our bearing it was this, that we only suffered one moment at a time. And so, looking back upon our foolish past, we sometimes say, ‘How ever could we do it?’ and one secret of our doing it was this, that we only acted one moment at a time. When a man is dimly conscious he is wrong, he has a strange power of forgetting yesterday. When a man is hurrying to fulfil his passion, he shuts his ears to the calling of tomorrow. And the work of God is to revive that yesterday, and tear the curtain from the sad tomorrow, and show a man his action of today set in the general story of his life.

IV. Again, God has a common way of searching us, by showing us our own case in another’s life. We may never know ourselves until we see ourselves divested of all the trappings of self-love.

V. Does not God search us by bringing new influences to bear upon our lives? Some one enters the circuit of our being, and the light they bring illuminates ourselves. We are all prone in our ordinary course to settle down into a dull routine. The vision of the highest fades away from us, and we go forward without high ambition. Our feelings lose their freshness and their zest, and we are not eager and strenuous as we once were, and we are content with far lower levels now than would have contented us in earlier days. All this may come to a man, and come so gradually that he hardly notices all that he has lost. His spiritual life has grown so dull and dead that prayer is a mockery and joy is flown. Then we meet one whom we have not seen for years, one who has wrestled heavenward ‘gainst storm and tide and in that moment we realize it all. Nothing is said to blame or to rebuke us. The influence lies deeper than all speech. Nothing is done to make us feel ashamed. We may be welcomed with the old warmth of friendship. But there is something in that nobler life, suddenly brought into contact with our own, that touches the conscience, and shows us to ourselves, and quickens us to the shame that is medicinal.

G. H. Morrison, The Return of the Angels, p. 109.

Psa 139:1

Ruskin says of this Psalm: ‘All the true religions of the world are forms of the prayer, “Search me and know my heart: prove me and examine my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting”. And there are, broadly speaking, two ways in which the Father of men does this: the first, by making them eager to tell their faults to Him themselves (Father, I have sinned against heaven and before Thee); the second, by making them sure they cannot be hidden, if they would: “If I make my bed in hell, behold, Thou art there”.’

References. CXXXIX. 1. J. Keble, Sermons for Easter to Ascension Day, p. 97. CXXXIX. 1, 2. C. Vince, The Unchanging Saviour, p. 21. CXXXIX. 1-3. Bishop Temple, Rugby Sermons (1st Series), p. 178. CXXXIX. 1-6. W. G. T. Shedd, American Pulpit of Today, vol. i. p. 281. CXXXIX. 1-12. E. W. Shalders, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xi. p. 328. H. Woodcock, Sermon Outlines, p. 138. CXXXIX. 7. Bishop Bethell, Sermons, vol. i. p. 351. A. P. Peabody, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xx. p. 118. P. McAdam Muir, Modern Substitutes for Christianity, p. 65. CXXXIX. 9. A. P. Stanley, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xiv. p. 257.

The Comfort of God’s Omnipresence

Psa 139:9-10

I. The greatest comfort in all hours of separation is the idea of God. When you are to be divided from a friend by an earthly sea there can be no deeper solace than the thought that you and he are to be really within the hollow of a single hand that, while unable to touch one another, you will be in the presence of one who is touching you both. And when there comes the separation of that widest sea death, there is again no solace so deep as that. At such a time what do I want to know? Is it whether the streets of heaven are paved with gold? Is it whether the songs of heaven are rich in music? Is it whether the work of heaven is wrought by angels? It is none of these things. It is whether in this vast universe beyond the earth there is anything which can connect my life with the life of my departed brother.

II. What a comfort to be told that, with all our seeming separation, we are still inmates of the same house the house of God! That is just what the Psalmist says. He says that absolute separation between two souls is an impossibility that the wings of the morning can never lift outside the gates of God. If you had departed into the far-off land and I, lingering here, had a message to send you, I should not, like Adelaide Procter, make music the medium of transmission. That would be wireless telegraphy; the song might reach the wrong quarter. But if I knew there was an invisible being in the universe who, spite of the poles of distance, had one hand on you and the other on me, I should find my medium of communication in him. I should say, ‘Convey into the heart of my friend the impression that he is still remembered by me, still loved by me, still longed for by me’.

III. If a man feels himself in contact with God, he is in contact with all worlds. I once heard an old woman express great confidence that she would meet her departed husband beyond the grave. Experimenting on her understanding I said, ‘Of course in that vast district it may take some time to find him’. She answered, ‘It will need no time; I shall just ask Christ to take me to my husband, and He will take me at once’. With all its crudeness and primitiveness, the answer was on the lines of Herbert Spencer. If all the forces of the universe are the parts of one central force, that central force can at any moment unite them all: the wings of the morning can do nothing to divide.

G. Matheson, Messages of Hope, p. 196.

Psa 139:9-10

From this text Bishop Selwyn preached on the Sunday after his arrival in Auckland in 1842. In the afternoon of the same day, to the astonishment of all, he conducted a service in the Maori language, so quickly had he learned it while on his voyage out.

References. CXXXIX. 11. H. N. Butler, Harrow School Sermons, p. 245 (P.B.V.). M. G. Glazebrook, Prospice, p. 241. CXXXIX. 12. B. Gregory, How to Steer a Ship, p. 50. CXXXIX. 13-24. E. W. Shalders, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xi. p. 360. CXXXIX. 14. C. Perren, Revival Sermons, p. 306. J. Baldwin Brown, Christian World Pulpit, vol. vi. p. 321.

Psa 139:16

Ruskin says: ‘Was the great precipice shaped by His finger, as Adam was shaped out of the dust? Were its clefts and ledges carved upon it by its Creator, as the letters were on the Tables of the Law? The only answer is “Behold the cloud”. No eye ever “saw its substance, yet being imperfect”; its history is a monotone of endurance and destruction; all that we can certainly know of it is that it was once greater than it is now, and it only gathers vastness and still gathers, as it fades into the abyss of the unknown.’

References. CXXXIX. 16. Bishop Bethell, Sermons, vol. i. p. 369. CXXXIX. 17. W. L. Alexander, Sermons, p. 191. Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 121.

Still with Thee

Psa 139:18

A max whose religion is of a shallow kind is content with occasional acknowledgment of God. He has his stated seasons of approach, and his rigid periods of worship. There are long times when, as the Psalmist says, God is not in all his thoughts. He wages his warfare on the field of business in total forgetfulness of the Divine. That is one mark of a religious life which is neither very deep nor very real; it never issues in spiritual strength, nor in the bright experience of joy. Now in the book of Psalms it is not so. The Psalmist’s recognition is continuous. What you feel about the Psalmist is just this, that always he sets the Lord before him. And it is this continual recognition, and this unvarying practice of God’s presence, which kindle the Psalmist when he is discouraged, and bring the joy that cometh in the morning. When we go to sleep mastered by some thought, that thought is still beside us when we wake. If it be trouble on which we closed our eyes, how swiftly in the morn does it return! And it was because the Psalmist lived with God, and went to sleep under the wing of God, that he could take his pen and write in all sincerity, ‘When I awake, I am still with Thee’.

Now I want to widen out that thought, for human life has various awakings.

I. And in the first place we might apply it to the waking of the child into maturity. God is with us in our sorest duty. God is with us in our heaviest sorrow. God is with us in our humblest task, if only it be valiantly done. And this is the joy of it when we awake, that through all we strive to do, and all we bear, God and His grace become more wonderful than in the earlier morning when we dreamed.

II. Again our text has a deep application when we think of the awaking to new knowledge. Through every increase and advance of knowledge the heart still hungers for the living God. We never outgrow that, no matter what we learn. We never get beyond it or above it The heart and God were made for one another, and only in that communion is there rest.

III. Once more, our text is full of meaning when we think of the waking from spiritual lethargy. I believe that the longsuffering of God shines brightest, not against our blackest sins, but against those periods when we were slumberous, and when the eyes of our trust were sealed in sleep.

IV. I think, too, we should bear our text in mind in view of any time of crushing sorrow. In all great sorrow there is something numbing, an insensibility like that of sleep. It is one of the triumphs of our modern medicine that it can apply opiates so powerfully. A prick of a needle or a little sprinkling, and one forgets the agony of pain. But God has His opiates no less than man, reserved for the hours when the physician fails, so that the mourner says, ‘I cannot take it in it is like a dream I cannot realize it’. There is mercy in that numbing of the spirit. The worst might be unbearable without it. When vividness of perception would be torture, God giveth to His beloved sleep.

V. Does not our text apply to the last awaking in eternity? ‘I shall be satisfied when I awake,’ and satisfied because I am with Thee.

G. H. Morrison, The Return of the Angels, p. 290.

Always with God

Psa 139:18

Under what conditions did the Psalmist make this declaration? He said, ‘When I awake I am still with Thee’. Where else had he been? He had been asleep; the reference is to natural sleep, but I am going to broaden the outlook and say next to nothing about that natural sleep. Still, confined to that little event, it is a very marvellous text. ‘When I awake, I am still with Thee:’ I have been in the darkness, and I should have been lost there, my dream teacher was grim, and the darkness was full of nightmare and sorrow and bitterness, but lo, when I awake, it is all right, I am still in my bed, I am still in safety, I am still in my house, I am still with Thee.

I. ‘When I awake,’ let us take that in its more ideal and poetic sense, in its higher intellectual aspect, and let us begin by saying how well we know what it is for a man to have his eyes opened, and yet not to be awake. We characterize some persons as sleepy, not alert, allowing chances to pass by, seeing nothing; it would require all God’s thunder to get an idea into their heads. So we speak of them, so we characterize them: let us take care lest we are taking our own portraits, lest we are indicating our own intellectual and spiritual condition.

1. When I awake intellectually I am still with Thee; once I did not seem to have any mind; as for intellect, I did not know the meaning of the word. I begin to see somewhat of it now in dim outline, and what I do see I like, for there is a light even in the shadow. The weary, trying, weakening thing is that men who can be alert in business and bargaining are absolutely and wilfully half-asleep when the question is God, prayer, forgiveness, immortality. That is so strange and so wearying to the poor heart.

2. When I awake spiritually I am astounded at myself. I knew nothing about myself; I thought I was good enough so far as time permitted me to be good and circumstances allowed me to look after my own conduct, but when I awoke I saw that there was something finer than conduct, behind it, beneath it, above it. What was that ethereal, spiritual something? It was motive, disposition, spiritual impulse, moral intent. Conduct was a thing that was marked up in plain figures in the window, and I could go and buy it, and wear it, and look as respectable as other men; but when I awoke spiritually I saw that what I really needed was not something marked in plain figures in the window, but a new heart, a new life, new sensitiveness, in other words, a grander, a new personality. I thought life a run, a rattle, a feast, a wedding, a burial; I now see that all these poor outlines are nothing except in so far as they indicate that behind them all and above them all there is a spirit, a slumbering immortality.

II. Thus it is so all the way through. When I am awake and take a wakeful man’s view of God’s providence, I see how much God has been doing in the sleeping time. I used to call all these things events; in my fancy I published a morning journal, and called the leading column Events of the Day. Now that I am awake, at noonday awake, throbbing in every pulse, quivering in every nerve, I see that events make up a great Bible, a marvellous revelation; I see that God takes up these little patches, and so to say makes of them a great coverlet, a great area of philosophy, experience, and suggestion. Oh that men would connect things, bring them up into coherency and unity and final meaning.

III. Now the singer says, ‘When I awake, I am still with Thee’. Always with God, without knowing it sometimes. I now begin to see that I live and move and have my being in God. Oh, it is all so mystic, so wondrous! I used to desire to fall asleep that I might forget everything; I have got so far on the road of progress that I sometimes say in my poor bedside prayer, ‘Lord, send me to-night a dream of comfort, a dream of light, a dream of song’. And then I do this, as you do it which is the most perilous experiment that a man can conduct or have any hand in conducting I fall asleep. We have taken the poetry out of that expression and made it flat prose. ‘I fell asleep,’ says the man who does not know what sleep means in its innermost purpose and providential interpretation. That a man should willingly and eagerly go out of himself, leave himself as a half-dead thing on his feather-bed, and go away whence he may never return oh, that is surely, if properly interpreted and understood, a deeply religious act. And yet men who throw themselves into that invisible power and presence and sanctuary called Sleep, dare not throw themselves by faith into the heart of God.

IV. ‘I am still with Thee.’ One man said this in other words on a very remarkable occasion. He fell asleep wearied, fatigued, exhausted, self-despising in some degree; he fell asleep among the stones, he could not keep his eyes open, and therefore he fell into natural slumber. And as the morning crept on and all things showed themselves in a grey light, he arose, and looking round upon all the spectres of cloud and mist and growing light, he said, ‘I am in the house of God, this is the gate of heaven, and I knew it not’. With true wakefulness comes true religion. Get intellectually alert, and you will begin to be religious. The universe is a less place to the fool than it is to the wise man. Have we not all hours of darkness? Are there not times when we cannot see the star? and yet when we sleep, partially at least, through the weary night there comes a great evangel, a great revelation on the white hills of the east, and we say, ‘Why, we must have been mistaken, it was not darkness, at least it was that kind of darkness which is a quality of light. This is none other than the house of God.’ These are the experiences that thief cannot steal, that moth and rust cannot corrupt. We must pass through them personally and really, and not try to live upon the leavings of other souls. Then what shall come to pass? We shall say, as the east whitens and the opal rises which will die in crimson, ‘Lo! this is none other than the house of God God God’.

Joseph Parker, City Temple Pulpit, vol. v. p. 252.

Divine Scrutiny and Guidance

Psa 139:23-24

The Psalmist sets forth in poetry what theology calls the doctrine of the Divine omniscience. He believes in Jehovah, the God of all the earth, and therefore believes in a Providence so universal that it misses nothing.

I. God’s providence is everywhere, but it does not dissipate itself in a mere general supervision of creation. It is all-seeing, all-surrounding, all-embracing, but it is not diffused in matter and dispersed through space. The Psalmist dwells on what that means, how there is no limit to God’s knowledge of him. The strange and awe-inspiring thought is borne in on him that the God with whom he has to do has a perfect knowledge of him, that the whole life and soul lie open and naked before Him. No spot of creation is empty of God. Whither can he go from God’s spirit, or whither can he flee from His presence? The practical ethical thought suggested by such a conception to the Psalmist is the question, how can God, the pure and holy One, with such an intimate and unerring knowledge, tolerate wicked men? He feels he must separate himself from the men who live in revolt against good and who hate God. But he is not content with such moral indignation against others. He is driven in to consider the state of his own heart, and to be willing to open up his whole nature to the Divine scrutiny that he may be purged from evil.

II. Divine examination and Divine guidance are the two petitions of the prayer; and the two are not only connected, but are dependent on each other. We all in some form know and admit the value of some sort of examination of life, the need of some kind of judgment and test; and we know that life and character are weighed on some balance or other. Religion also seeks for self-examination. Any kind of self-judgment is better than none; for there is always a chance of learning the truth, and of discovering duty. There is another kind of examination we are constantly undergoing the judgment of others. We are always incurring criticism, the attempt of others to estimate our work and our worth. The world judges results. It cannot take account of motives or even of opportunities. Outside criticism cannot avoid being largely surface criticism. In the region especially of character, such examination constantly errs. On the whole, self-examination has a better chance of arriving at a true state of affairs.

III. But here is a judgment, both from without and from within, which can test the life. It is to this the Psalmist offers himself, to a judgment that is unerring, a scrutiny that is both just and merciful, an examination that will set for him a standard by which he can examine himself. All the methods of self-examination most approved of by the masters of devotional life will not themselves lead a man to the way everlasting. The Psalmist is not thinking of any such methods, or even of self-scrutiny at all when he asks to be searched and tried. It is the recognition and acceptance of God that he feels is the important thing. He would have God hold his hand and lead him in the way of life. He would turn the scrutiny into guidance; and this is done by simple surrender.

Hugh Black, Christ’s Service of Love, p. 158.

The Sign of the Sincere

Psa 139:23-24

In this wonderful Psalm the Divine attributes of omnipresence and omniscience are most eloquently set forth. It is a large subject; but the writer does not lose himself in immensity he recognizes its immediate personal bearing. ‘O Lord, Thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising. Thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou searchest out my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.’ And the moral bearing of the solemn theme is felt by the Psalmist to be of the first consequence. He does not contemplate the Divine immanence and transcendence like a poet, nor treat it as a philosopher, metaphysician, or theologian. He is fully alive to the fact that the all-pervading Spirit is the Spirit of righteousness.

I. The Examination Invoked. 1. Mark the range of this examination. ‘Search me, O God, and know my heart.’ Bishop Horsley’s translation reads: ‘O Jehovah, Thou hast explored me, and Thou knowest me’. God knows him because He has explored him. The Psalmist stands perplexed before the mystery of his own being; he is at once ignorant of himself and yet mistrustful of himself; he does not know himself, yet knows himself sufficiently well to suspect himself; therefore he appeals to the Spirit who searcheth all things. How true it is that we are mainly unknown to ourselves; that within us are unexplored regions; that our heart is substantially undiscovered! Schopenhauer one day strayed into the Royal Gardens of Berlin; and when an officer inquired of him, ‘Who are yon, sir?’ the philosopher responded, ‘I don’t know; I shall be glad if you can tell me’. The officer reported him for a lunatic; but he was far from that he was one who had deeply pondered the mystery of personality, and was accordingly puzzled by it.

Our personality is largely unmapped; the heights and depths of the soul, its capacities and forces, its possibilities for good and evil, are only dimly perceived and faintly understood. We know more of the world outside than we do of the universe within us. The psychological Columbus has not yet arrived; no Cortez has yet scaled the peaks of the soul.

But what is beyond our ken is set in the light of God’s countenance.

2. The depth of this examination. ‘And know my thoughts’ ‘My inward thoughts, my distant thoughts, the thoughts not yet come into my mind.’ Ewald translates this, ‘Prove me, and know my dreams’. Not the dreams of the night, which are fantastic and negligible; but the waking dream, the first ghostly inception of the act All acts are first dreams, too faint for definition, too elusive for anything like satisfactory explanation; and evil acts are first evil dreams so shadowy as apparently to be without serious signification. Every robbery is first transacted in the phantom gold of imagination; murder is first rehearsed within the closed doors of secret malice; we lie in our heart before we lie with our tongue; the unclean act is born in a sullied fancy; deeds of pride, covetousness, and ambition are first dalliances with mental imagery and emotional moods apparently far from reality. Our dreams indicate what we potentially are, they forecast what we may actually become, and they have a strange trick of fulfilling themselves. Yes, this is the main matter what we mean in our heart of hearts, what lies at the bottom of our heart. ‘All mind finally becomes visible.’

It is one thing to examine ourselves; it is another to surrender ourselves unreservedly to the Divine criticism. When, in 1896, the engineers were planning the foundations for the Williamsburg Bridge, New York, the deepest of their twenty-two borings was a hundred and twelve feet below high water. Steel drills had indicated bedrock from twelve to twenty feet higher than was the actual case; the diamond drill, however, showed the supposed bedrock to be merely a deposit of boulders. So the diamond drill of God pierces our self-delusions, detects the fallacy of our assumptions, proves what we thought sterling to be only stones of emptiness, discloses the very truth of things far down the secret places of the soul.

3. The severity of this examination. ‘ Try me.’ ‘Prove me.’ He is willing to be subjected to severe discipline that the falseness and foulness of nature shall be sevenfold purified. In the Revised Version the third verse stands, ‘Thou searchest out my path and my lying down’. But the margin reads, ‘Thou winnowest my path’ a close and cleansing scrutiny. As the thresher separates the golden corn from the valueless chaff, so the Psalmist prays that the Divine Analyst will deliver him from whatever is gross and worthless.

The consummate ability of Stas, the Belgian chemist, is celebrated because he ‘eliminated from his chemicals every trace of that pervasive element, sodium, so thoroughly that even its spectroscopic detection was impossible’. But such is the efficacy of Divine grace that it can eliminate so thoroughly every trace of that pervasive and persistent element known as sin that we may be presented before the throne holy and unreprovable and without blemish. That the sincere may attain this purification, they are prepared to pass through the hot fires of bitter and manifold discipline.

II. The Design of this Examination. The ulterior purpose, as expressed by the text, is twofold.

1. Deliverance from our own way of life. Our own way is a way of emptiness. Some would translate these words, ‘any way of idols in me’. It signifies the vanity, the unreality, the delusiveness of the objects on which the natural man fixes his ambition and hope. We sometimes say of a thing, ‘There is nothing in it’. We may say this of wealth, honour, pleasure, fame; if we make idols of them, we know that an idol is nothing in the world. If I follow the desires and devices of my own heart, I walk in a vain show and disquiet myself in vain. Our own way is a way of pain. ‘See if there is any way of grievousness in me.’ Our own way is a way of destruction. Not leading to a goal of lasting felicity, but descending into darkness and despair. The other petition seeks

2. Guidance in God’s way. ‘And lead me in the way everlasting.’ The way of final peace, security, and progress; of imperishable strength, full felicity, and of eternal life.

W. L. Watktnson, The Fatal Barter, pp. 95-109.

God’s Microscope

Psa 139:23-24

Let us look at the request preferred, a request for the scrutiny of God to examine David’s heart, then the acknowledgment which the Psalmist makes; and then the purpose which he proposes leading in the way everlasting.

I. Let us look at the request: ‘Search me, O Lord, and examine my heart: try me, and know my thoughts’. This is a rare desire, taken in all its comprehensiveness. It is not a common thing for a man to desire anything that is calculated to wound his pride or mortify his vanity. The man must have been very sincere towards himself, and must have been very anxious to be sincere towards God, before he ever could have preferred such a request as this. Then this desire shows that David had made considerable progress in the things of God. No man who is not influenced by religious principles can with sincerity offer this prayer. A man may feel, for instance, a desire for deeper acquaintance with God; but that does not necessarily imply a knowledge of religion; for we know that unbelievers have desired to know about Him who everywhere gives manifestations of His power. But show me a man who is anxious to know how many secret evils are lurking and undetected in his moral nature; show me a man who is anxious that God should bring into the full blaze of Divine truth all the evils in his heart, and you show me a man who is anxious for holiness.

II. Next David’s acknowledgments, first of the omnipotence and omniscience of God; second that that omniscience alone can search his heart. ( a ) First the omnipotence and omnipresence of God; the Psalm is a treatise on the omniscience and omnipresence of Jehovah. He ascends to the height of heaven, then to the depths of hell; He fills the whole of nature, and David feels that everywhere God is at his side, and His eye upon him; that he cannot escape from that glance, either in heaven or hell, or in the infinite space ( b ) And the next acknowledgment is that this omniscience alone could search him; that if he was to do it effectually God was to do it with His glance. What deep conviction David must have had of the depravity of his heart when he felt that no glance but the glance Divine could search his heart.

III. There is next a gracious purpose proposed to lead in the way everlasting. Now David did not want to know himself merely out of curiosity, he did not want to know himself that he might see how much good was in him, but that he might know the bad that was in him. There was another thing self-examination should lead to correction. It would have been sheer hypocrisy if David knew that there had been any way of wickedness in him; if he knew that there were wrongs unconnected it was his business to correct the wrongs he did know before asking God to show him other wrongs. We must correct ourselves as fast as we know ourselves if there be any good in self-examination. It would be in vain to attempt to conquer a country leaving enemies behind, and so it is in spiritual life. It is not for you to leave enemies behind you, foes unconquered, and then for you to ask God to show you foes that you might fight them; but you must master every rood of the field over which you march, and then when every foe is conquered you may say, ‘Thou hast led me in the way everlasting’.

R. Roberts, Penny Pulpit, vol. XVI. No. 934, p. 193.

References. CXXXIX. 23, 24. J. Keble, Sermons for Lent to Passiontide, p. 253. J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons (10th Series), p. 222. CXXXIX. 24. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xv. No. 903. CXXXIX. J. Martineau, Endeavour After the Christian Life, p. 12. International Critical Commentary, vol. ii. p. 491. CXL. 12. J. M. Neale, Sermons on Passages of the Psalms, p. 310. CXL. International Critical Commentary, vol. ii. p. 402.

Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson

PSALMS

XI

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF PSALMS

According to my usual custom, when taking up the study of a book of the Bible I give at the beginning a list of books as helps to the study of that book. The following books I heartily commend on the Psalms:

1. Sampey’s Syllabus for Old Testament Study . This is especially good on the grouping and outlining of some selected psalms. There are also some valuable suggestions on other features of the book.

2. Kirkpatrick’g commentary, in “Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges,” is an excellent aid in the study of the Psalter.

3. Perowne’s Book of Psalms is a good, scholarly treatise on the Psalms. A special feature of this commentary is the author’s “New Translation” and his notes are very helpful.

4. Spurgeon’s Treasury of David. This is just what the title implies. It is a voluminous, devotional interpretation of the Psalms and helpful to those who have the time for such extensive study of the Psalter.

5. Hengstenburg on the Psalms. This is a fine, scholarly work by one of the greatest of the conservative German scholars.

6. Maclaren on the Psalms, in “The Expositor’s Bible,” is the work of the world’s safest, sanest, and best of all works that have ever been written on the Psalms.

7. Thirtle on the Titles of the Psalms. This is the best on the subject and well worth a careful study.

At this point some definitions are in order. The Hebrew word for psalm means praise. The word in English comes from psalmos , a song of lyrical character, or a song to be sung and accompanied with a lyre. The Psalter is a collection of sacred and inspired songs, composed at different times and by different authors.

The range of time in composition was more than 1,000 years, or from the time of Moses to the time of Ezra. The collection in its present form was arranged probably by Ezra in the fifth century, B.C.

The Jewish classification of Old Testament books was The Law, the Prophets, and the Holy Writings. The Psalms was given the first place in the last group.

They had several names, or titles, of the Psalms. In Hebrew they are called “The Book of Prayers,” or “The Book of Praises.” The Hebrew word thus used means praises. The title of the first two books is found in Psa 72:20 : “The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.” The title of the whole collection of Psalms in the Septuagint is Biblos Psalman which means the “Book of Psalms.” The title in the Alexandrian Codex is Psalterion which is the name of a stringed instrument, and means “The Psalter.”

The derivation of our English words, “psalms,” “psalter,” and “psaltery,” respectively, is as follows:

1. “Psalms” comes from the Greek word, psalmoi, which is also from psallein , which means to play upon a stringed instrument. Therefore the Psalms are songs played upon stringed instruments, and the word here is used to apply to the whole collection.

2. “Psalter” is of the same origin and means the Book of Psalms and refers also to the whole collection.

3. “Psaltery” is from the word psalterion, which means “a harp,” an instrument, supposed to be in the shape of a triangle or like the delta of the Greek alphabet. See Psa 33:2 ; Psa 71:22 ; Psa 81:2 ; Psa 144:9 .

In our collection there are 150 psalms. In the Septuagint there is one extra. It is regarded as being outside the sacred collection and not inspired. The subject of this extra psalm is “David’s victory over Goliath.” The following is a copy of it: I was small among my brethren, And youngest in my father’s house, I used to feed my father’s sheep. My hands made a harp, My fingers fashioned a Psaltery. And who will declare unto my Lord? He is Lord, he it is who heareth. He it was who sent his angel And took me from my father’s sheep, And anointed me with the oil of his anointing. My brethren were goodly and tall, But the Lord took no pleasure in them. I went forth to meet the Philistine. And he cursed me by his idols But I drew the sword from beside him; I beheaded him and removed reproach from the children of Israel.

It will be noted that this psalm does not have the earmarks of an inspired production. There is not found in it the modesty so characteristic of David, but there is here an evident spirit of boasting and self-praise which is foreign to the Spirit of inspiration.

There is a difference in the numbering of the psalms in our version which follows the Hebrew, and the numbering in the Septuagint. Omitting the extra one in the Septuagint, there is no difference as to the total number. Both have 150 and the same subject matter, but they are not divided alike.

The following scheme shows the division according to our version and also the Septuagint: Psalms 1-8 in the Hebrew equal 1-8 in the Septuagint; 9-10 in the Hebrew combine into 9 in the Septuagint; 11-113 in the Hebrew equal 10-112 in the Septuagint; 114-115 in the Hebrew combine into 113 in the Septuagint; 116 in the Hebrew divides into 114-115 in the Septuagint; 117-146 in the Hebrew equal 116-145 in the Septuagint; 147 in the Hebrew divides into 146-147 in the Septuagint; 148-150 in the Hebrew equal 148-150 in the Septuagint.

The arrangement in the Vulgate is the same as the Septuagint. Also some of the older English versions have this arangement. Another difficulty in numbering perplexes an inexperienced student in turning from one version to another, viz: In the Hebrew often the title is verse I, and sometimes the title embraces verses 1-2.

The book divisions of the Psalter are five books, as follows:

Book I, Psalms 1-41 (41 chapters)

Book II, Psalms 42-72 (31 chapters)

Book III, Psalms 73-89 (17 chapters)

Book IV, Psalms 90-106 (17 chapters)

Book V, Psalms 107-150 (44 chapters)

They are marked by an introduction and a doxology. Psalm I forms an introduction to the whole book; Psa 150 is the doxology for the whole book. The introduction and doxology of each book are the first and last psalms of each division, respectively.

There were smaller collections before the final one, as follows:

Books I and II were by David; Book III, by Hezekiah, and Books IV and V, by Ezra.

Certain principles determined the arrangement of the several psalms in the present collection:

1. David is honored with first place, Book I and II, including Psalms 1-72.

2. They are grouped according to the use of the name of God:

(1) Psalms 1-41 are Jehovah psalms;

(2) Psalms 42-83 are Elohim-psalms;

(3) Psalms 84-150 are Jehovah psalms.

3. Book IV is introduced by the psalm of Moses, which is the first psalm written.

4. Some are arranged as companion psalms, for instance, sometimes two, sometimes three, and sometimes more. Examples: Psa 2 and 3; 22, 23, and 24; 113-118.

5. They were arranged for liturgical purposes, which furnished the psalms for special occasions, such as feasts, etc. We may be sure this arrangement was not accidental. An intelligent study of each case is convincing that it was determined upon rational grounds.

All the psalms have titles but thirty-three, as follows:

In Book I, Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 10 ; Psa 33 , (4 are without titles).

In Book II, Psa 43 ; Psa 71 , (2 are without titles).

In Book IV, Psa 91 ; Psa 93 ; Psa 94 ; Psa 95 ; Psa 96 ; Psa 97 ; Psa 104 ; Psa 105 ; Psa 106 , (9 are without titles).

In Book V, Psa 107 ; III; 112; 113; 114; 115; 116; 117; 118; 119; 135; 136; 137; 146; 147; 148; 149; 150, (18 are without titles).

The Talmud calls these psalms that have no title, “Orphan Psalms.” The later Jews supply these titles by taking the nearest preceding author. The lack of titles in Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; and 10 may be accounted for as follows: Psa 1 is a general introduction to the whole collection and Psa 2 was, perhaps, a part of Psa 1 . Psalms 9-10 were formerly combined into one, therefore Psa 10 has the same title as Psa 9 .

QUESTIONS

1. What books are commended on the Psalms?

2. What is a psalm?

3. What is the Psalter?

4. What is the range of time in composition?

5. When and by whom was the collection in its present form arranged?

6. What the Jewish classification of Old Testament books, and what the position of the Psalter in this classification?

7. What is the Hebrew title of the Psalms?

8. Find the title of the first two books from the books themselves.

9. What is the title of the whole collection of psalms in the Septuagint?

10. What is the title in the Alexandrian Codex?

11. What is the derivation of our English word, “Psalms”, “Psalter”, and “Psaltery,” respectively?

12. How many psalms in our collection?

13. How many psalms in the Septuagint?

14. What about the extra one in the Septuagint?

15. What is the subject of this extra psalm?

16. How does it compare with the Canonical Psalms?

17. What is the difference in the numbering of the psalms in our version which follows the Hebrew, and the numbering in the Septuagint?

18. What is the arrangement in the Vulgate?

19. What other difficulty in numbering which perplexes an inexperienced student in turning from one version to another?

20. What are the book divisions of the Psalter and how are these divisions marked?

21. Were there smaller collections before the final one? If so, what were they?

22. What principles determined the arrangement of the several psalms in the present collection?

23. In what conclusion may we rest concerning this arrangement?

24. How many of the psalms have no titles?

25. What does the Talmud call these psalms that have no titles?

26. How do later Jews supply these titles?

27. How do you account for the lack of titles in Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 10 ?

XII

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF PSALMS (CONTINUED)

The following is a list of the items of information gathered from the titles of the psalms:

1. The author: “A Psalm of David” (Psa 37 ).

2. The occasion: “When he fled from Absalom, his son” (Psa 3 ).

3. The nature, or character, of the poem:

(1) Maschil, meaning “instruction,” a didactic poem (Psa 42 ).

(2) Michtam, meaning “gold,” “A Golden Psalm”; this means excellence or mystery (Psa 16 ; 56-60).

4. The occasion of its use: “A Psalm of David for the dedication of the house” (Psa 30 ).

5. Its purpose: “A Psalm of David to bring remembrance” (Psa 38 ; Psa 70 ).

6. Direction for its use: “A Psalm of David for the chief musician” (Psa 4 ).

7. The kind of musical instrument:

(1) Neginoth, meaning to strike a chord, as on stringed instruments (Psa 4 ; Psa 61 ).

(2) Nehiloth, meaning to perforate, as a pipe or flute (Psa 5 ).

(3) Shoshannim, Lilies, which refers probably to cymbals (Psa 45 ; Psa 69 ).

8. A special choir:

(1) Sheminith, the “eighth,” or octave below, as a male choir (Psa 6 ; Psa 12 ).

(2) Alamoth, female choir (Psa 46 ).

(3) Muth-labben, music with virgin voice, to be sung by a choir of boys in the treble (Psa 9 ).

9. The keynote, or tune:

(1) Aijeleth-sharar, “Hind of the morning,” a song to the melody of which this is sung (Psa 22 ).

(2) Al-tashheth, “Destroy thou not,” the beginning of a song the tune of which is sung (Psa 57 ; Psa 58 ; Psa 59 ; Psa 75 ).

(3) Gittith, set to the tune of Gath, perhaps a tune which David brought from Gath (Psa 8 ; Psa 81 ; Psa 84 ).

(4) Jonath-elim-rehokim, “The dove of the distant terebinths,” the commencement of an ode to the air of which this song was to be sung (Psa 56 ).

(5) Leannoth, the name of a tune (Psa 88 ).

(6) Mahalath, an instrument (Psa 53 ); Leonnoth-Mahaloth, to chant to a tune called Mahaloth.

(7) Shiggaion, a song or a hymn.

(8) Shushan-Eduth, “Lily of testimony,” a tune (Psa 60 ). Note some examples: (1) “America,” “Shiloh,” “Auld Lang Syne.” These are the names of songs such as we are familiar with; (2) “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” and “There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood,” are examples of sacred hymns.

10. The liturgical use, those noted for the feasts, e.g., the Hallels and Hallelujah Psalms (Psalms 146-150).

11. The destination, as “Song of Ascents” (Psalms 120-134)

12. The direction for the music, such as Selah, which means “Singers, pause”; Higgaion-Selah, to strike a symphony with selah, which means an instrumental interlude (Psa 9:16 ).

The longest and fullest title to any of the psalms is the title to Psa 60 . The items of information from this title are as follows: (1) the author; (2) the chief musician; (3) the historical occasion; (4) the use, or design; (5) the style of poetry; (6) the instrument or style of music.

The parts of these superscriptions which most concern us now are those indicating author, occasion, and date. As to the historic value or trustworthiness of these titles most modern scholars deny that they are a part of the Hebrew text, but the oldest Hebrew text of which we know anything had all of them. This is the text from which the Septuagint was translated. It is much more probable that the author affixed them than later writers. There is no internal evidence in any of the psalms that disproves the correctness of them, but much to confirm. The critics disagree among themselves altogether as to these titles. Hence their testimony cannot consistently be received. Nor can it ever be received until they have at least agreed upon a common ground of opposition.

David is the author of more than half the entire collection, the arrangement of which is as follows:

1. Seventy-three are ascribed to him in the superscriptions.

2. Some of these are but continuations of the preceding ones of a pair, trio, or larger group.

3. Some of the Korahite Psalms are manifestly Davidic.

4. Some not ascribed to him in the titles are attributed to him expressly by New Testament writers.

5. It is not possible to account for some parts of the Psalter without David. The history of his early life as found in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1and 2 Chronicles, not only shows his remarkable genius for patriotic and sacred songs and music, but also shows his cultivation of that gift in the schools of the prophets. Some of these psalms of the history appear in the Psalter itself. It is plain to all who read these that they are founded on experience, and the experience of no other Hebrew fits the case. These experiences are found in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles.

As to the attempt of the destructive critics to rob David of his glory in relation to the Psalter by assigning the Maccabean era as the date of composition, I have this to say:

1. This theory has no historical support whatever, and therefore is not to be accepted at all.

2. It has no support in tradition, which weakens the contention of the critics greatly.

3. It has no support from finding any one with the necessary experience for their basis.

4. They can give no reasonable account as to how the titles ever got there.

5. It is psychologically impossible for anyone to have written these 150 psalms in the Maccabean times.

6. Their position is expressly contrary to the testimony of Christ and the apostles. Some of the psalms which they ascribe to the Maccabean Age are attributed to David by Christ himself, who said that David wrote them in the Spirit.

The obvious aim of this criticism and the necessary result if it be Just, is a positive denial of the inspiration of both Testaments.

Other authors are named in the titles, as follows: (1) Asaph, to whom twelve psalms have been assigned: (2) Mosee, Psa 90 ; (3) Solomon, Psa 72 ; Psa 127 ; (4) Heman, Psa 80 ; (5) Ethem, Psa 89 ; (6) A number of the psalms are ascribed to the sons of Korah.

Not all the psalms ascribed to Asaph were composed by one person. History indicates that Asaph’s family presided over the song service for several generations. Some of them were composed by his descendants by the game name. The five general outlines of the whole collection are as follows:

I. By books

1. Psalms 1-41 (41)

2. Psalms 42-72 (31)

3. Psalms 73-89 (17)

4. Psalms 90-106 (17)

5. Psalms 107-150 (44)

II. According to date and authorship

1. The psalm of Moses (Psa 90 )

2. Psalms of David:

(1) The shepherd boy (Psa 8 ; Psa 19 ; Psa 29 ; Psa 23 ).

(2) David when persecuted by Saul (Psa 59 ; Psa 56 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 52 ; Psa 54 ; Psa 57 ; Psa 142 ).

(3) David the King (Psa 101 ; Psa 18 ; Psa 24 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 110 ; Psa 20 ; Psa 20 ; Psa 21 ; Psa 60 ; Psa 51 ; Psa 32 ; Psa 41 ; Psa 55 ; Psa 3:4 ; Psa 64 ; Psa 62 ; Psa 61 ; Psa 27 ).

3. The Asaph Psalms (Psa 50 ; Psa 73 ; Psa 83 ).

4. The Korahite Psalms (Psa 42 ; Psa 43 ; Psa 84 ).

5. The psalms of Solomon (Psa 72 ; Psa 127 ).

6. The psalms of the era of Hezekiah and Isaiah (Psa 46 ; Psa 47 ; Psa 48 )

7. The psalms of the Exile (Psa 74 ; Psa 79 ; Psa 137 ; Psa 102 )

8. The psalms of the Restoration (Psa 85 ; Psa 126 ; Psa 118 ; 146-150)

III. By groups

1. The Jehovistic and Elohistic Psalms:

(1) Psalms 1-41 are Jehovistic;

(2) Psalms 42-83 are Elohistic Psalms;

(3) Psalms 84-150 are Jehovistic.

2. The Penitential Psalms (Psa 6 ; Psa 32 ; Psa 38 ; Psa 51 ; Psa 102 ; Psa 130 ; Psa 143 )

3. The Pilgrim Psalms (Psalms 120-134)

4. The Alphabetical Psalms (Psa 9 ; Psa 10 ; Psa 25 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 37 ; 111:112; Psa 119 ; Psa 145 )

5. The Hallelujah Psalms (Psalms 11-113; 115-117; 146-150; to which may be added Psa 135 ) Psalms 113-118 are called “the Egyptian Hallel”

IV. Doctrines of the Psalms

1. The throne of grace and how to approach it by sacrifice, prayer, and praise.

2. The covenant, the basis of worship.

3. The paradoxical assertions of both innocence & guilt.

4. The pardon of sin and justification.

5. The Messiah.

6. The future life, pro and con.

7. The imprecations.

8. Other doctrines.

V. The New Testament use of the Psalms

1. Direct references and quotations in the New Testament.

2. The allusions to the psalms in the New Testament. Certain experiences of David’s life made very deep impressions on his heart, such as: (1) his peaceful early life; (2) his persecution by Saul; (3) his being crowned king of the people; (4) the bringing up of the ark; (5) his first great sin; (6) Absalom’s rebellion; (7) his second great sin; (8) the great promise made to him in 2Sa 7 ; (9) the feelings of his old age.

We may classify the Davidic Psalms according to these experiences following the order of time, thus:

1. His peaceful early life (Psa 8 ; Psa 19 ; Psa 29 ; Psa 23 )

2. His persecution by Saul (Psa 59 ; Psa 56 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 7 ; Psa 52 ; Psa 120 ; Psa 140 ; Psa 54 ; Psa 57 ; Psa 142 ; Psa 17 ; Psa 18 )

3. Making David King (Psa 27 ; Psa 133 ; Psa 101 )

4. Bringing up the ark (Psa 68 ; Psa 24 ; Psa 132 ; Psa 15 ; Psa 78 ; Psa 96 )

5. His first great sin (Psa 51 ; Psa 32 )

6. Absalom’s rebellion (Psa 41 ; Psa 6 ; Psa 55 ; Psa 109 ; Psa 38 ; Psa 39 ; Psa 3 ; Psa 4 ; Psa 63 ; Psa 42 ; Psa 43 ; Psa 5 ; Psa 62 ; Psa 61 ; Psa 27 )

7. His second great sin (Psa 69 ; Psa 71 ; Psa 102 ; Psa 103 )

8. The great promise made to him in 2Sa 7 (Psa 2 )

9. Feelings of old age (Psa 37 )

The great doctrines of the psalms may be noted as follows: (1) the being and attributes of God; (3) sin, both original and individual; (3) both covenants; (4) the doctrine of justification; (5) concerning the Messiah.

There is a striking analogy between the Pentateuch and the Psalms. The Pentateuch contains five books of law; the Psalms contain five books of heart responses to the law.

It is interesting to note the historic controversies concerning the singing of psalms. These were controversies about singing uninspired songs, in the Middle Ages. The church would not allow anything to be used but psalms.

The history in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles, and in Ezra and Nehemiah is very valuable toward a proper interpretation of the psalms. These books furnish the historical setting for a great many of the psalms which is very indispensable to their proper interpretation.

Professor James Robertson, in the Poetry and Religion of the Psalms constructs a broad and strong argument in favor of the Davidic Psalms, as follows:

1. The age of David furnished promising soil for the growth of poetry.

2. David’s qualifications for composing the psalms make it highly probable that David is the author of the psalms ascribed to him.

3. The arguments against the possibility of ascribing to David any of the hymns in the Hebrew Psalter rests upon assumptions that are thoroughly antibiblical.

The New Testament makes large use of the psalms and we learn much as to their importance in teaching. There are seventy direct quotations in the New Testament from this book, from which we learn that the Scriptures were used extensively in accord with 2Ti 3:16-17 . There are also eleven references to the psalms in the New Testament from which we learn that the New Testament writers were thoroughly imbued with the spirit and teaching of the psalms. Then there are eight allusions ‘to this book in the New Testament from which we gather that the Psalms was one of the divisions of the Old Testament and that they were used in the early church.

QUESTIONS

1. Give a list of the items of information gathered from the titles of the psalms.

2. What is the longest title to any of the psalms and what the items of this title?

3. What parts of these superscriptions most concern us now?

4. What is the historic value, or trustworthiness of these titles?

5. State the argument showing David’s relation to the psalms.

6. What have you to say of the attempt of the destructive critics to rob David of his glory in relation to the Psalter by assigning the Maccabean era as the date of composition?

7. What the obvious aim of this criticism and the necessary result, if it be just?

8. What other authors are named in the titles?

9. Were all the psalms ascribed to Asaph composed by one person?

10. Give the five general outlines of the whole collection, as follows: I. The outline by books II. The outline according to date and authorship III. The outline by groups IV. The outline of doctrines V. The outline by New Testament quotations or allusions.

11. What experiences of David’s life made very deep impressions on his heart?

12. Classify the Davidic Psalms according to these experiences following the order of time.

13. What the great doctrines of the psalms?

14. What analogy between the Pentateuch and the Psalms?

15. What historic controversies concerning the singing of psalms?

16. Of what value is the history in Samuel, 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles, and in Ezra and Nehemiah toward a proper interpretation of the psalms?

17. Give Professor James Robertson’s argument in favor of the Davidic authorship of the psalms.

18. What can you say of the New Testament use of the psalms and what do we learn as to their importance in teaching?

19. What can you say of the New Testament references to the psalms, and from the New Testament references what the impression on the New Testament writers?

20. What can you say of the allusions to the psalms in the New Testament?

XVII

THE MESSIAH IN THE PSALMS

A fine text for this chapter is as follows: “All things must be fulfilled which were written in the Psalms concerning me,” Luk 24:44 . I know of no better way to close my brief treatise on the Psalms than to discuss the subject of the Messiah as revealed in this book.

Attention has been called to the threefold division of the Old Testament cited by our Lord, namely, the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms (Luk 24:44 ), in all of which were the prophecies relating to himself that “must be fulfilled.” It has been shown just what Old Testament books belong to each of these several divisions. The division called the Psalms included many books, styled Holy Writings, and because the Psalms proper was the first book of the division it gave the name to the whole division.

The object of this discussion is to sketch the psalmist’s outline of the Messiah, or rather, to show how nearly a complete picture of our Lord is foredrawn in this one book. Let us understand however with Paul, that all prophecy is but in part (1Co 13:9 ), and that when we fill in on one canvas all the prophecies concerning the Messiah of all the Old Testament divisions, we are far from having a perfect portrait of our Lord. The present purpose is limited to three things:

1. What the book of the Psalms teaches concerning the Messiah.

2. That the New Testament shall authoritatively specify and expound this teaching.

3. That the many messianic predictions scattered over the book and the specifications thereof over the New Testament may be grouped into an orderly analysis, so that by the adjustment of the scattered parts we may have before us a picture of our Lord as foreseen by the psalmists.

In allowing the New Testament to authoritatively specify and expound the predictive features of the book, I am not unmindful of what the so-called “higher critics” urge against the New Testament quotations from the Old Testament and the use made of them. In this discussion, however, these objections are not considered, for sufficient reasons. There is not space for it. Even at the risk of being misjudged I must just now summarily pass all these objections, dismissing them with a single statement upon which the reader may place his own estimate of value. That statement is that in the days of my own infidelity, before this old method of criticism had its new name, I was quite familiar with the most and certainly the strongest of the objections now classified as higher criticism, and have since patiently re-examined them in their widely conflicting restatements under their modern name, and find my faith in the New Testament method of dealing with the Old Testament in no way shattered, but in every way confirmed. God is his own interpreter. The Old Testament as we now have it was in the hands of our Lord. I understand his apostle to declare, substantially, that “every one of these sacred scriptures is God-inspired and is profitable for teaching us what is right to believe and to do, for convincing us what is wrong in faith or practice, for rectifying the wrong when done, that we may be ready at every point, furnished completely, to do every good work, at the right time, in the right manner, and from the proper motive” (2Ti 3:16-17 ).

This New Testament declares that David was a prophet (Act 2:30 ), that he spake by the Holy Spirit (Act 1:16 ), that when the book speaks the Holy Spirit speaks (Heb 3:7 ), and that all its predictive utterances, as sacred Scripture, “must be fulfilled” (Joh 13:18 ; Act 1:16 ). It is not claimed that David wrote all the psalms, but that all are inspired, and that as he was the chief author, the book goes by his name.

It would be a fine thing to make out two lists, as follows:

1. All of the 150 psalms in order from which the New Testament quotes with messianic application.

2. The New Testament quotations, book by book, i.e., Matthew so many, and then the other books in their order.

We would find in neither of these any order as to time, that is, Psa 1 which forecasts an incident in the coming Messiah’s life does not forecast the first incident of his life. And even the New Testament citations are not in exact order as to time and incident of his life. To get the messianic picture before us, therefore, we must put the scattered parts together in their due relation and order, and so construct our own analysis. That is the prime object of this discussion. It is not claimed that the analysis now presented is perfect. It is too much the result of hasty, offhand work by an exceedingly busy man. It will serve, however, as a temporary working model, which any one may subsequently improve. We come at once to the psalmist’s outline of the Messiah.

1. The necessity for a Saviour. This foreseen necessity is a background of the psalmists’ portrait of the Messiah. The necessity consists in (1) man’s sinfulness; (2) his sin; (3) his inability of wisdom and power to recover himself; (4) the insufficiency of legal, typical sacrifices in securing atonement.

The predicate of Paul’s great argument on justification by faith is the universal depravity and guilt of man. He is everywhere corrupt in nature; everywhere an actual transgressor; everywhere under condemnation. But the scriptural proofs of this depravity and sin the apostle draws mainly from the book of the Psalms. In one paragraph of the letter to the Romans (Rom 3:4-18 ), he cites and groups six passages from six divisions of the Psalms (Psa 5:9 ; Psa 10:7 ; Psa 14:1-3 ; Psa 36:1 ; Psa 51:4-6 ; Psa 140:3 ). These passages abundantly prove man’s sinfulness, or natural depravity, and his universal practice of sin.

The predicate also of the same apostle’s great argument for revelation and salvation by a Redeemer is man’s inability of wisdom and power to re-establish communion with God. In one of his letters to the Corinthians he thus commences his argument: “For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? -For after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preach-ing to save them that believe.” He closes this discussion with the broad proposition: “The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God,” and proves it by a citation from Psa 94:11 : “The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.”

In like manner our Lord himself pours scorn on human wisdom and strength by twice citing Psa 8 : “At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight” (Mat 11:25-26 ). “And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children that were crying in the temple and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, and said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?” (Mat 21:15-16 ).

But the necessity for a Saviour as foreseen by the psalmist did not stop at man’s depravity, sin, and helplessness. The Jews were trusting in the sacrifices of their law offered on the smoking altar. The inherent weakness of these offerings, their lack of intrinsic merit, their ultimate abolition, their complete fulfilment and supercession by a glorious antitype were foreseen and foreshown in this wonderful prophetic book: I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices; And thy burnt offerings are continually before me. I will take no bullock out of thy house, Nor he-goat out of thy folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, And the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all of the birds of the mountains; And the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee; For the world is mine, and the fulness thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, Or drink the blood of goats? Psa 50:8-13 .

Yet again it speaks in that more striking passage cited in the letter to the Hebrews: “For the law having a shadow of good things to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshipers, once purged should have no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance made of sins year by year. For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, But a body didst thou prepare for me; In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hadst no pleasure: Then said I, Lo, I am come (In the roll of the book it is written of me) To do thy will, O God. Saying above, Sacrifice and offering and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou wouldst not, neither hadst pleasure therein, (the which are offered according to the law), then hath he said, Lo, I am come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second” (Heb 10:1-9 ).

This keen foresight of the temporary character and intrinsic worthlessness of animal sacrifices anticipated similar utterances by the later prophets (Isa 1:10-17 ; Jer 6:20 ; Jer 7:21-23 ; Hos 6:6 ; Amo 5:21 ; Mic 6:6-8 ). Indeed, I may as well state in passing that when the apostle declares, “It is impossible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins,” he lays down a broad principle, just as applicable to baptism and the Lord’s Supper. With reverence I state the principle: Not even God himself by mere appointment can vest in any ordinance, itself lacking intrinsic merit, the power to take away sin. There can be, therefore, in the nature of the case, no sacramental salvation. This would destroy the justice of God in order to exalt his mercy. Clearly the psalmist foresaw that “truth and mercy must meet together” before “righteousness and peace could kiss each other” (Psa 85:10 ). Thus we find as the dark background of the psalmists’ luminous portrait of the Messiah, the necessity for a Saviour.

2. The nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation to be wrought by the coming Messiah. In no other prophetic book are the nature, fullness, and blessedness of salvation so clearly seen and so vividly portrayed. Besides others not now enumerated, certainly the psalmists clearly forecast four great elements of salvation:

(1) An atoning sacrifice of intrinsic merit offered once for all (Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:4-10 ).

(2) Regeneration itself consisting of cleansing, renewal, and justification. We hear his impassioned statement of the necessity of regeneration: “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts,” followed by his earnest prayer: “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me,” and his equally fervent petition: “Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean; wash me and I shall be whiter than snow” (Psa 51 ). And we hear him again as Paul describes the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputes righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, And whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin Psa 32:1 ; Rom 4:6-8 .

(3) Introduction into the heavenly rest (Psa 95:7-11 ; Heb 3:7-19 ; Heb 4:1-11 ). Here is the antitypical Joshua leading spiritual Israel across the Jordan of death into the heavenly Canaan, the eternal rest that remaineth for the people of God. Here we find creation’s original sabbath eclipsed by redemption’s greater sabbath when the Redeemer “entered his rest, ceasing from his own works as God did from his.”

(4) The recovery of all the universal dominion lost by the first Adam and the securement of all possible dominion which the first Adam never attained (Psa 8:5-6 ; Eph 1:20-22 ; Heb 2:7-9 ; 1Co 15:24-28 ).

What vast extent then and what blessedness in the salvation foreseen by the psalmists, and to be wrought by the Messiah. Atoning sacrifice of intrinsic merit; regeneration by the Holy Spirit; heavenly rest as an eternal inheritance; and universal dominion shared with Christ!

3. The wondrous person of the Messiah in his dual nature, divine and human.

(1) His divinity,

(a) as God: “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever” (Psa 45:6 and Heb 1:8 ) ;

(b) as creator of the heavens and earth, immutable and eternal: Of old didst thou lay the foundation of the earth; And the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure; Yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; As a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed. But thou art the same, And thy years shall have no end Psa 102:25-27 quoted with slight changes in Heb 1:10-12 .

(c) As owner of the earth: The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof; The world, and they that dwell therein, Psa 24:1 quoted in 1Co 10:26 .

(d) As the Son of God: “Thou art my Son; This day have I begotten thee” Psa 2:7 ; Heb 1:5 .

(e) As David’s Lord: The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, Until I make thine enemies thy footstool, Psa 110:1 ; Mat 22:41-46 .

(f) As the object of angelic worship: “And let all the angels of God worship him” Psa 97:7 ; Heb 1:6 .

(g) As the Bread of life: And he rained down manna upon them to eat, And gave them food from heaven Psa 78:24 ; interpreted in Joh 6:31-58 . These are but samples which ascribe deity to the Messiah of the psalmists.

(2) His humanity, (a) As the Son of man, or Son of Adam: Psa 8:4-6 , cited in 1Co 15:24-28 ; Eph 1:20-22 ; Heb 2:7-9 . Compare Luke’s genealogy, Luk 3:23-38 . This is the ideal man, or Second Adam, who regains Paradise Lost, who recovers race dominion, in whose image all his spiritual lineage is begotten. 1Co 15:45-49 . (b) As the Son of David: Psa 18:50 ; Psa 89:4 ; Psa 89:29 ; Psa 89:36 ; Psa 132:11 , cited in Luk 1:32 ; Act 13:22-23 ; Rom 1:3 ; 2Ti 2:8 . Perhaps a better statement of the psalmists’ vision of the wonderful person of the Messiah would be: He saw the uncreated Son, the second person of the trinity, in counsel and compact with the Father, arranging in eternity for the salvation of men: Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:5-7 . Then he saw this Holy One stoop to be the Son of man: Psa 8:4-6 ; Heb 2:7-9 . Then he was the son of David, and then he saw him rise again to be the Son of God: Psa 2:7 ; Rom 1:3-4 .

4. His offices.

(1) As the one atoning sacrifice (Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:5-7 ).

(2) As the great Prophet, or Preacher (Psa 40:9-10 ; Psa 22:22 ; Heb 2:12 ). Even the method of his teaching by parable was foreseen (Psa 78:2 ; Mat 13:35 ). Equally also the grace, wisdom, and power of his teaching. When the psalmist declares that “Grace is poured into thy lips” (Psa 45:2 ), we need not be startled when we read that all the doctors in the Temple who heard him when only a boy “were astonished at his understanding and answers” (Luk 2:47 ); nor that his home people at Nazareth “all bear him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth” (Luk 4:22 ); nor that those of his own country were astonished, and said, “Whence hath this man this wisdom?” (Mat 13:54 ); nor that the Jews in the Temple marveled, saying, “How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?” (Joh 7:15 ) ; nor that the stern officers of the law found their justification in failure to arrest him in the declaration, “Never man spake like this man” (Joh 7:46 ).

(3) As the king (Psa 2:6 ; Psa 24:7-10 ; Psa 45:1-17 ; Psa 110:1 ; Mat 22:42-46 ; Act 2:33-36 ; 1Co 15:25 ; Eph 1:20 ; Heb 1:13 ).

(4) As the priest (Psa 110:4 ; Heb 5:5-10 ; Heb 7:1-21 ; Heb 10:12-14 ).

(5) As the final judge. The very sentence of expulsion pronounced upon the finally impenitent by the great judge (Mat 25:41 ) is borrowed from the psalmist’s prophetic words (Psa 6:8 ).

5. Incidents of life. The psalmists not only foresaw the necessity for a Saviour; the nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation; the wonderful human-divine person of the Saviour; the offices to be filled by him in the work of salvation, but also many thrilling details of his work in life, death, resurrection, and exaltation. It is not assumed to cite all these details, but some of the most important are enumerated in order, thus:

(1) The visit, adoration, and gifts of the Magi recorded in Mat 2 are but partial fulfilment of Psa 72:9-10 .

(2) The scripture employed by Satan in the temptation of our Lord (Luk 4:10-11 ) was cited from Psa 91:11-12 and its pertinency not denied.

(3) In accounting for his intense earnestness and the apparently extreme measures adopted by our Lord in his first purification of the Temple (Joh 2:17 ), he cites the messianic zeal predicted in Psa 69:9 .

(4) Alienation from his own family was one of the saddest trials of our Lord’s earthly life. They are slow to understand his mission and to enter into sympathy with him. His self-abnegation and exhaustive toil were regarded by them as evidences of mental aberration, and it seems at one time they were ready to resort to forcible restraint of his freedom) virtually what in our time would be called arrest under a writ of lunacy. While at the last his half-brothers became distinguished preachers of his gospel, for a long while they do not believe on him. And the evidence forces us to the conclusion that his own mother shared with her other sons, in kind though not in degree, the misunderstanding of the supremacy of his mission over family relations. The New Testament record speaks for itself:

Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them. How is it that ye sought me? Knew ye not that I must be in my Father’s house? And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them Luk 2:48-51 (R.V.).

And when the wine failed, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. And Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. Joh 2:3-5 (R.V.).

And there come his mother and his brethren; and standing without; they sent unto him, calling him. And a multitude was sitting about him; and they say unto him. Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee. And he answereth them, and saith, Who is my mother and my brethren? And looking round on them that sat round about him, he saith, Behold, my mother and my brethren) For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother Mar 3:31-35 (R.V.).

Now the feast of the Jews, the feast of tabernacles, was at hand. His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judea, that thy disciples also may behold thy works which thou doest. For no man doeth anything in secret, and himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou doest these things, manifest thyself to the world. For even his brethren did not believe on him. Jesus therefore saith unto them, My time is not yet come; but your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that its works are evil. Go ye up unto the feast: I go not up yet unto this feast; because my time is not fulfilled. Joh 7:2-9 (R.V.).

These citations from the Revised Version tell their own story. But all that sad story is foreshown in the prophetic psalms. For example: I am become a stranger unto my brethren, And an alien unto my mother’s children. Psa 69:8 .

(5) The triumphal entry into Jerusalem was welcomed by a joyous people shouting a benediction from Psa 118:26 : “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord” (Mat 21:9 ); and the Lord’s lamentation over Jerusalem predicts continued desolation and banishment from his sight until the Jews are ready to repeat that benediction (Mat 23:39 ).

(6) The children’s hosanna in the Temple after its second purgation is declared by our Lord to be a fulfilment of that perfect praise forecast in Psa 8:2 .

(7) The final rejection of our Lord by his own people was also clear in the psalmist’s vision (Psa 118:22 ; Mat 21:42-44 ).

(8) Gethsemane’s baptism of suffering, with its strong crying and tears and prayers was as clear to the psalmist’s prophetic vision as to the evangelist and apostle after it became history (Psa 69:1-4 ; Psa 69:13-20 ; and Mat 26:36-44 ; Heb 5:7 ).

(9) In life-size also before the psalmist was the betrayer of Christ and his doom (Psa 41:9 ; Psa 69:25 ; Psa 109:6-8 ; Joh 13:18 ; Act 1:20 ).

(10) The rage of the people, Jew and Gentile, and the conspiracy of Pilate and Herod are clearly outlined (Psa 2:1-3 ; Act 4:25-27 ).

(11) All the farce of his trial the false accusation, his own marvelous silence; and the inhuman maltreatment to which he was subjected, is foreshown in the prophecy as dramatically as in the history (Mat 26:57-68 ; Mat 27:26-31 ; Psa 27:12 ; Psa 35:15-16 ; Psa 38:3 ; Psa 69:19 ).

The circumstances of his death, many and clear, are distinctly foreseen. He died in the prime of life (Psa 89:45 ; Psa 102:23-24 ). He died by crucifixion (Psa 22:14-17 ; Luk 23 ; 33; Joh 19:23-37 ; Joh 20:27 ). But yet not a bone of his body was broken (Psa 34:20 ; Joh 19:36 ).

The persecution, hatred without a cause, the mockery and insults, are all vividly and dramatically foretold (Psa 22:6-13 ; Psa 35:7 ; Psa 35:12 ; Psa 35:15 ; Psa 35:21 ; Psa 109:25 ).

The parting of his garments and the gambling for his vesture (Psa 22:18 ; Mat 27:35 ).

His intense thirst and the gall and vinegar offered for his drink (Psa 69:21 ; Mat 27:34 ).

In the psalms, too, we hear his prayers for his enemies so remarkably fulfilled in fact (Psa 109:4 ; Luk 23:34 ).

His spiritual death was also before the eye of the psalmist, and the very words which expressed it the psalmist heard. Separation from the Father is spiritual death. The sinner’s substitute must die the sinner’s death, death physical, i.e., separation of soul from body; death spiritual, i.e., separation of the soul from God. The latter is the real death and must precede the former. This death the substitute died when he cried out: “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me.” (Psa 22:1 ; Mat 27:46 ).

Emerging from the darkness of that death, which was the hour of the prince of darkness, the psalmist heard him commend his spirit to the Father (Psa_31:35; Luk 23:46 ) showing that while he died the spiritual death, his soul was not permanently abandoned unto hell (Psa 16:8-10 ; Act 2:25 ) so that while he “tasted death” for every man it was not permanent death (Heb 2:9 ).

With equal clearness the psalmist foresaw his resurrection, his triumph over death and hell, his glorious ascension into heaven, and his exaltation at the right hand of God as King of kings and Lord of lords, as a high Driest forever, as invested with universal sovereignty (Psa 16:8-11 ; Psa 24:7-10 ; Psa 68:18 ; Psa 2:6 ; Psa 111:1-4 ; Psa 8:4-6 ; Act 2:25-36 ; Eph 1:19-23 ; Eph 4:8-10 ).

We see, therefore, brethren, when the scattered parts are put together and adjusted, how nearly complete a portrait of our Lord is put upon the prophetic canvas by this inspired limner, the sweet singer of Israel.

QUESTIONS

1. What is a good text for this chapter?

2. What is the threefold division of the Old Testament as cited by our Lord?

3. What is the last division called and why?

4. What is the object of the discussion in this chapter?

5. To what three things is the purpose limited?

6. What especially qualifies the author to meet the objections of the higher critics to allowing the New Testament usage of the Old Testament to determine its meaning and application?

7. What is the author’s conviction relative to the Scriptures?

8. What is the New Testament testimony on the question of inspiration?

9. What is the author’s suggested plan of approach to the study of the Messiah in the Psalms?

10. What the background of the Psalmist’s portrait of the Messiah and of what does it consist?

11. Give the substance of Paul’s discussion of man’s sinfulness.

12. What is the teaching of Jesus on this point?

13. What is the teaching relative to sacrifices?

14. What the nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation to be wrought by the coming Messiah and what the four great elements of it as forecast by the psalmist?

15. What is the teaching of the psalms relative to the wondrous person of the Messiah? Discuss.

16. What are the offices of the Messiah according to psalms? Discuss each.

17. Cite the more important events of the Messiah’s life according to the vision of the psalmist.

18. What the circumstances of the Messiah’s death and resurrection as foreseen by the psalmist?

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

Psa 139:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known [me].

A Psalm of David ] There is not in all the five books of psalms so notable a one as this, saith Aben Ezra, concerning the ways of God and the workings of conscience. It was penned, saith the Syriac interpreter, upon occasion of Shimei’s railing upon him for a bloody man and a Belialist, 2Sa 16:5-13 Here, therefore, he purgeth himself by an appeal to God, and delivereth up his false accusers to God’s just judgment, Psa 139:19 .

Ver. 1. O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me ] Even mine heart and reins, Jer 17:10 , hast thou searched as with lights, Zep 1:12 , by an exact scrutiny, by a soul searching inquisition, whereby thou art come to know me through and through; not only me natural, as Psa 139:15-16 , but also me civil and moral, as Psa 139:2-3 , &c.; neither stayeth thy knowledge in the porch or lobbies (my words and ways), but passeth into the presence, yea, privy chamber; for

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

“To the chief musician: a psalm of David.” The execution of external judgment, when Christ takes the world-kingdom (Rev 11 .), does not hinder the inner work for the faithful Jew, who here tells out his confidence in the heart-searching of Jehovah. This recalls not only His own omnipresence and omniscience, as the, faithful Creator, but His thoughts about us. For truly His complacency is in men, not angels: the Christ was to be man, though Son of the Highest. Therefore as a godly Jew he heartily goes with the vengeance to fall on the wicked, while he desires yet more God’s searching of himself lest any grievous way should be found in him.

From the deep searching, yea God’s searching, of the heart in the last psalm, we turn to a group of five, rising from a cry for full deliverance by executed judgment to anticipated thanksgiving in Psa 145 , a millennial strain, followed by varied and ceaseless praises to the end of the book.

Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 139:1-6

1O Lord, You have searched me and known me.

2You know when I sit down and when I rise up;

You understand my thought from afar.

3You scrutinize my path and my lying down,

And are intimately acquainted with all my ways.

4Even before there is a word on my tongue,

Behold, O Lord, You know it all.

5You have enclosed me behind and before,

And laid Your hand upon me.

6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;

It is too high, I cannot attain to it.

Psa 139:1 Lord This is the covenant name for God, YHWH, from the Hebrew verb to be, which implies the ever-living, only-living God (cf. Exo 3:14). See SPECIAL TOPIC: NAMES FOR DEITY .

You have searched me and known me The first verb (BDB 350, KB 347, Qal perfect) begins and ends the Psalm. Psa 139:21 is an imperative form, which implies Psa 139:1 could also be understood in an imperatival sense. The basic etymology is to dig into so as to find. YHWH examines the hearts of humans ( cf. Job 13:9; 1Sa 16:7; 1Ki 8:39; 1Ch 28:9; 2Ch 6:30; Psa 7:9; Psa 44:21; Pro 15:11; Pro 20:27; Pro 21:2; Jer 11:20; Jer 17:9-10; Jer 20:12; Luk 16:15; Act 1:24; Act 15:8; Rom 8:27). See SPECIAL TOPIC: GOD TESTS HIS PEOPLE .

known me The OT word to know is used here in the sense of intimate, personal knowledge (cf. Gen 4:1; Jer 1:5; this imperfect is used in a jussive sense, see Special Topic: Know ).

Psa 139:2 when I sit down and when I rise up God’s complete knowledge of each individual life (i.e., Deu 6:7) is described in Psa 139:2-4.

1. sit down – rise up, Psa 139:2

2. journeying – lying down, Psa 139:3

3. before a word – You know it, Psa 139:4

4. Psa 139:2 b,3b, and 4b serve as summary statements

The word translated thought (BDB 946 III) is found only here and in Psa 139:17. BDB has its meaning as purpose or aim. The LXX translates it as a similar root, friends (DB 946) in Psa 139:17 but has thoughts in Psa 139:2.

Psa 139:3 You scrutinize my path The verb scrutinize (BDB 279, KB 280, Piel perfect) normally means

to scatter but here, and here alone, it seems to denote a winnowing or sifting. KB sees the root as also possibly meaning to measure (KB 280 II) in the sense of know.

The term path (BDB 73) is a metaphor of one’s life (cf. Job 14:16; Job 31:4). The concept is parallel to the everlasting way of Psa 139:24.

my lying down The Septuagint has the term bed. This seems to refer either to nightly stopping places where one sleeps while traveling or to one’s sexual activity (i.e., God knows all humans’ activities).

NASBintimately acquainted

NKJV, NRSVacquainted

TEVknow

NJBevery detail

JPSOA, REBfamiliar

This Hebrew root (BDB 698) has several meanings.

1. 698 I – Qal, be of service or benefit

– Hiphil used here and in Num 22:30; Job 22:21, know intimately

2. 698 II – incur danger, Ecc 10:9 (Niphal)

3. 698 III – be poor, Isa 40:20 (Pual)

They all have the same root consonants and Masoretic vowel points. Only context can give a clue to its meaning.

Psa 139:4 Even before there is a word on my tongue The Peshitta has deception, while the Septuagint has the phrase unrighteous word. It is obvious that the ancient versions believed that Psa 139:4 was related to mankind’s evil side. Humans’ spoken words reveal who we truly are (cf. Mat 12:36-37; Mar 7:15).

Psa 139:5 You have enclosed me The Septuagint and the Peshitta have the verb formed instead of enclosed (BDB 848, KB 1015, Qal perfect). However, because of the following phrase, enclosed seems to be more appropriate. This Hebrew root (BDB 848 II) has a military connotation (cf. Isa 29:3) or a sense of confinement (cf. Son 8:9). Here it denotes YHWH’s sovereign control and guidance of a person’s life.

The Hebrew words behind and before reflect the Hebrew words east and west (cf. Job 18:20).

laid Your hand upon me This is anthropological language (see SPECIAL TOPIC: GOD DESCRIBED AS HUMAN (ANTHROPOMORPHISM) ). The hand is a Hebrew idiom of power and control (see SPECIAL TOPIC: HAND ).

Psa 139:5 b is a statement of YHWH’s sovereignty and control of His human creature (cf. Psa 139:10). This knowledge is comforting to faithful followers and terrifying to the disobedient.

Psa 139:6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me The Septuagint puts Psa 139:6 with the next paragraph. This phrase reflects a knowledge of God which is too much for mankind to comprehend (cf. Psa 139:14; Psa 139:17-18; Psa 40:5; Isa 55:8-9; Rom 11:33). Ultimately we must trust God without fully understanding (i.e., Job 1-2, 42).

The Hebrew term wonderful can mean difficult (cf. Deu 30:11 and Pro 30:18; see Special Topic: Wonderful Things ).

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

Title. A Psalm. Hebrew. mizmor. App-65.

of David = by David. The words alleged to be Chaldaisms in verses: Psa 139:3, Psa 139:4, Psa 139:8, Psa 3:20, are found in the earlier books such as Lev. 1 and 2 Samuel. There is no internal evidence of non-Davidic authorship.

LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4.

searched = search out as for treasures or secrets.

known = seen, so as to understand.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Psa 139:1-24 , another psalm of David to the chief musician. As David offers this prayer really unto God, declaring, first of all,

O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me ( Psa 139:1 ).

Recognizing that God knows me completely and fully.

You know my downsittings and my uprisings ( Psa 139:2 ),

Or you know my ups and my downs.

you understand my thoughts afar off ( Psa 139:2 ).

The Hebrew is, “You understand my thoughts in their origins.” Before I even think them, You know them. You know the processes by which they are formed.

You compassest my path and my lying down, you’re acquainted with all my ways ( Psa 139:3 ).

“When I’m walking, I’m encircled by You. When I’m lying down, I’m encircled by You. I’m encompassed by You in everything.” Paul the apostle said, “For in Him we live, we move, we have our being” ( Act 17:28 ). The all-prevailing presence of God surrounding my life, God’s omnipresence.

There is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, you know it altogether ( Psa 139:4 ).

So God knows me so completely.

Thou hast beset me behind and before, and you’ve laid your hand upon me ( Psa 139:5 ).

I look back and I see the hand of God on my life. I look ahead and I see God’s plan. And right now I feel the hand of God upon me. You see, I’m surrounded. My past, present, and my future is all wrapped up with God. “You’ve beset me behind and before, and Your hand is upon me.” The psalmist declared,

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it ( Psa 139:6 ).

What knowledge? Self-knowledge. Very few people really know their selves. We have hidden the truth about ourselves so long that we don’t even know the truth about our own self. “The heart is deceitful above all things, desperately wicked: who can know it?” ( Jer 17:9 ) Yet God said, “I do search the hearts of man.” But who really knows the motive, the true motive behind our actions? And yet, it is God who weighs the motives. We put so much emphasis upon a person’s actions. God puts the emphasis upon the attitudes, the motives from which the actions spring. And it is possible, very possible for people to have right actions with wrong motives. And God’s looking at the motive.

“Take heed to yourself,” Jesus said, “that you do not your righteousness before men, to be seen of men” ( Mat 6:1 ). In other words, that should not be your motive, to be recognized by men. That’s why I’m doing my righteous thing, so people can see me. You’ve got to be careful that that isn’t your motive. For Jesus said, “I say unto you, you have your reward” ( Mat 6:2 ).

Now he tells about people who were doing the right thing. They were giving to God. They were praying. They were fasting. But yet, they were doing it always with the wrong motive, and thus, no reward from God. No recognition from God for what they were doing. For God weighs the heart. God is checking the attitude, the motives by which I do things. And the Bible says that one day, “we are all to stand before the judgment seat of Christ to receive the things that we’ve done in our body, whether they be good or evil” ( 2Co 5:10 ). And our works are all going to be tried by fire, of what manner or sort they are. So all of the works that a person has done for God. “Oh Lord, weren’t we doing this? Weren’t we doing that? Weren’t we big stars and we were on TV and we were doing all these wonderful things for You.” And Jesus said, “Hey, I never knew you. Depart from Me, you workers of iniquity.” The whole motive was wrong. The motive was to receive the recognition and the glory, the applause, the praise of man. “So take heed to yourself,” Jesus said, “how you do your righteousness, that you don’t do it with the motive of being seen of men.”

So here the psalmist declares, “Such knowledge too much for me; I cannot attain it.”

Now whither shall I go from thy presence or from thy Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend into heaven, thou art there: but if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there ( Psa 139:7-8 ).

The omnipresence of God filling the universe. There is no place that you can go and escape the presence of God. “In Him we live, we move, we have our being” ( Act 17:28 ).

If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night will be light about me. Yea, the darkness does not hide from you; but the night shines as the day: and the darkness and the light are both alike unto thee ( Psa 139:9-12 ).

In other words, with God there is no darkness. There is no hiding in darkness. It makes no difference to God. He can see just as well at night as He can during the day. Turn the lights out and hide from God. No, it doesn’t make any difference. God can see us. Light and darkness are the same to Him.

For you have possessed my reins: you cover me in my mother’s womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: and marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well ( Psa 139:13-14 ).

Fearfully and wonderfully made. More and more we’re discovering how wonderfully made we are made. The human body. There’s a new book entitled, Fearfully and Wonderfully Made. I recommend the book. It’s just excellent reading for you. Written by a doctor who spent many years as a missionary doctor in a leprosarium and has done his most recent work back at Carville, Louisiana in the leprosarium there, which they no longer call leprosarium. It’s an institute for the study of Hansen’s disease. And it’s an excellent book. I think you’ll enjoy it as he, from a medical standpoint, delves into the marvels of the human body. I’m fearfully and wonderfully made, and the title of the book is Fearfully and Wonderfully Made.

My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them ( Psa 139:15-16 ).

In other words, God knew me completely before I was ever born. When I was still just chemicals. God knew me completely.

How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with you ( Psa 139:17-18 ).

God’s thoughts for me, how precious they are. How great is the sum. If I should number them, more than the sand. I love to go down to the beach and just take and get a handful of sand and just open up the bottom of my hand and let it just drop on down and form a pile. And watch those grains of sand fall. I think there’s something therapeutic about it. Just feels good. But also as the grains of sand are falling, I think, “Wow, God’s thoughts concerning me, if I could number them, are more than the sand of the sea.” Each one of those little grains of sand represent one of God’s thoughts concerning me. God’s thinking about me all the time. And then God said, “My thoughts towards you are good, not evil” ( Jer 29:11 ). And so I drop a few little piles of sand on the beach and then I just look up at the beach and see all the grains of sand and think, “Oh my, how wonderful, Lord. How precious are Thy thoughts of me.”

The psalmist then speaks of the wicked. God is going to destroy the wicked. Therefore I want to depart from wicked men. I don’t want to keep company with evil men.

For they speak against God wickedly, they take his name in vain. Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate you? am I not grieved with those that rise up against you? I hate them with a perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies ( Psa 139:20-22 ).

The psalmist said. And then his prayer, that is, his petition. The whole thing is prayer. This is now the petition:

Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts ( Psa 139:23 ):

Who is the man who prays, “Search me, O God?” He’s the man who understands and knows that he doesn’t know himself. The man who recognizes that he really doesn’t know himself is the man who prays, “Search me, O God, and know my thoughts. And know my heart. Try me. My heart is deceitful. My heart is desperately wicked. Lord, know my heart. Try me. Know my thoughts.”

And see if there be some wicked way in me ( Psa 139:24 ),

Because You’re going to destroy the wicked. I don’t want to be wicked. See if there is something there, Lord, that is displeasing to You.

Now the work of the Holy Spirit is not only revealing Christ to us, but revealing ourselves to us. How often the Holy Spirit reveals to me the truth about myself. My reaction, my response to a situation. The Holy Spirit will say, “All right, Chuck, now that was wrong. That wasn’t Christ-like. That wasn’t a Christ-like spirit. You weren’t responding in love. You were angry with them.” And I usually say, “Yes I am, and I have a right to be.” Then He starts dealing with me as He reveals these areas of my life that are not yet brought to the cross. Not yet brought into conformity to Jesus Christ. Those areas of self that are still there that He is desiring to give me victory over. The Holy Spirit’s work is that of revealing to us those areas of our lives that are displeasing to God. And then the prayer ends.

lead me in the way everlasting ( Psa 139:24 ).

Lead me in the path of life. Lead me in the way of everlasting life. There’s one thing I don’t want to be deceived about, and that is my eternal destiny. How many, many people are deceived concerning their eternal destiny because they’re trusting in the word of some man. They’re trusting in the word of some religious leader. Some maybe charismatic leader who has a lot of charisma, personal charisma, and personal magnetism and whatever these things are. And they are encouraging people to follow after them, engaging in brainwashing techniques. Making zombies out of their followers. And how many people are blindly following them today thinking, being assured that this is the path of life.

“Everybody else is wrong. We’re the only ones who have the truth. We’re the only ones walking in the light. All of the churches are wrong. They’re all lying to you. None of them are telling you the truth. We’re the only ones who have discovered the truth.” And people blindly following them. And even within the churches, how many people have come to just trust in the church, church membership, or infant baptism. And they’re deceived as to their eternal destiny. “Lead me in the way everlasting.” I don’t want to be fooled on this. I don’t want my heart to be deceived on this issue. I want to make sure that I’m in the way everlasting. “For there is a way that seems right unto man, but the end of it is death” ( Pro 14:12 ). I don’t want to be in that way, thinking that I’m right and landing up in the pit. “

Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary

Psa 139:1. O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.

Thou hast explored me, as men dig in mines, and make subterranean excavations. Thou hast searched into my secret parts, and known me.

Psa 139:2. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising,

My simplest acts, those which I scarcely premeditated.

Psa 139:2. Thou understandest my thought afar off.

Before I think it, when I think it, and when I forget it, thou dost understand my every thought.

Psa 139:3. Thou compassest my path and my lying down,

Making a ring around me, so that I am entirely under thine observation. My roving and my resting are both known to thee.

Psa 139:3. And art acquainted with all my ways.

My habits, and the exceptions from my habits, are all known to thee.

Psa 139:4. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.

When it is in my tongue, and not spoken, like a seed sown, hidden away, not yet sprouted, thou, O Jehovah, knowest it altogether!

Psa 139:5. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.

I am like a prisoner, with guards before me and behind me, and the officers hand upon my shoulder all the while. Thou hast arrested me, O Lord; I can never get away from thee.

Psa 139:6. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain up to it.

I believe it, but I cannot understand it; even my imagination cannot picture it to me.

Psa 139:7. Wither shall I go from thy spirit?

If I want to do so, if I desire to avoid thee, where can I go to escape from thine omnipresent Spirit?

Psa 139:7-8. Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there:

The true glory of that bright world.

Psa 139:8. If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.

The terror of that place of woe, in the land of death-shadow and darkness, thou art living, whoever else is dead. If I make my abode in Hades, in Hell, thou art there.

Psa 139:9-10. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me,

If the breath of the morning breeze should bear me far away across the pathless sea, thou art there before me; if I ride upon a flash of light, thou art swifter than the sunbeam: even there shall thy hand lead me. The lone missionary in the furthest parts of the earth is led by God. When, he knows not his way, God leads him; and when he has no companion to cheer him Gods hand upholds him. What a comfort to any of you who have to journey far away from your kindred! You cannot be alone, for God is there; be of good comfort, and go as bravely as if you walked the crowded streets of this great city.

Psa 139:10-12. And thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee, but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

It is impossible to conceive that God should need the light in order to see. He can see as well in the midnight shades as in the blaze of noon. Let no man think that he may sin in secret, because he is not seen of the eye of man; Gods eye is on him in the dark as much as in the light.

Psa 139:13-14. For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mothers womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

He was no agnostic, he never dreamed of being a know-nothing.

Psa 139:15-17. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them!

How sweet to be thought of by God! How charming and how cheering to be the perpetual object of the Lords thoughts! The psalmist does not tell us how precious are Gods thoughts; but he sets a note of admiration to them: How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! He does not try to calculate the total of their value; but he says, How great is the sum of them!

Psa 139:18. If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.

Thou hast thought of me when I was asleep, and when I wake, I think of thee. Happy living, happy dying, to feel that, if we never wake again on earth, we shall wake up with God! How precious it is to think that when good and useful men fall asleep, when they awake, they are for ever with the Lord! Our turn will come soon, my brothers and sisters. May it be our portion to die in harness, and to be taken away while yet we have the light of Gods sustenance resting upon our work!

Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible

Psa 139:1-6

Psalms 139

THE OMNISCIENCE; OMNIPRESENCE; AND OMNIPOTENCE OF GOD

This writer’s love of this psalm is enhanced by his remembrance of the frequent reading of it in the chapel services of Abilene Christian College by Dean Henry Eli Speck in the years of 1923-1924.

Scholars have exhausted their vocabularies extolling the glory and greatness of Psalms 139. “This poem is not only one of the chief glories of the Psalter, but in its religious insight and devotional warmth, it is conspicuous among the great passages of the Old Testament.

Regarding the authorship, it is ascribed to David in the superscription, and as Barnes bluntly stated it, “There is no reason to doubt it. Counting the Aramaisms is a favorite device of critics, but as Kidner said, “Aramaic influence is no proof of late dating.

This writer has lost patience with the type of thinking that seems to count the contradiction of something in the Bible, even if it is only a superscription, as some kind of a climax in human intelligence! The following quotation from Charles Haddon Spurgeon expresses perfectly our own views on this question:

“Of course, the critics take this composition away from David on account of certain Aramaic expressions in it, but, upon the principles of criticism now in vogue, it would be extremely easy to prove that John Milton did not write Paradise Lost. Knowing to what wild inferences the critics have run in other matters, we have lost nearly all faith in them. We prefer to believe that David is the author of this Psalm from internal evidences of style and matter, rather than to accept the opinions of men whose modes of judgment are manifestly unreliable.

As John Jebb stated it, “I cannot understand how any critic could assign this psalm to any other than David. Every line, every thought, every turn of expression and transition is his, and his only.

The paragraphing of the psalm is quite simple. It falls into four strophes or stanzas of six verses each.

In Maclaren’s paragraphing, he assigned “omniscience” to Psa 139:1-6, and “omnipresence” to Psa 139:7-12, and Rawlinson assigned the word “omnipotence” to Psa 139:13-18. Strangely enough, none of these four-syllable words appears in the versions! One great beauty of the psalm is the simplicity of the language.

Psa 139:1-6

OMNIPRESENCE

“O Jehovah, thou hast searched me, and known me.

Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine uprising;

Thou understandest my thoughts afar off.

Thou searchest out my path and my lying down,

And art acquainted with all my ways.

For there is not a word in my tongue,

But, lo, Jehovah, thou knowest it altogether.

Thou hast beset me behind and before,

And laid thy hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;

It is high, I cannot attain unto it.”

“And laid thy hand upon me” (Psa 139:5). There is something very personal to this writer in this line. He suffered from spinal stenosis, unable to walk a step, and within a few months, following all kinds of “remedies,” his normal health returned. Dr. Deane Cline, a very distinguished Houston physician, was asked, “What do I tell people who inquire as to what helped me to get well.?” He pointed heavenward and said, “My medical opinion is that the Great Physician above laid his hand upon you.” The tears of gratitude to God from this writer water the page as he writes this. Blessed be the name of the Lord!

“Too wonderful for me” (Psa 139:6). When what is written here is understood of merely a single individual, it is “wonderful,” but when it is multiplied by all of the individuals who ever lived on earth or who may yet live upon it, the immensity of this “wonder” is astronomically increased, surpassing all the laws of geometrical progression. There is an infinity of knowledge here that denies any human ability to comprehend it.

E.M. Zerr:

Psa 139:1. The main subject of this chapter is the infinite knowledge and existence of the Lord. This verse is a general statement as to that knowledge in regard to the life of the Psalmist, in all of the conditions surrounding his actions.

Psa 139:2. Downsitting and uprising are combined to make a figure of speech. They are opposite terms and hence indicate the completeness of the knowledge of God. Thought afar off simply means that not even a single thought of David could be so far away that God could not see it.

Psa 139:3. Compassest literally means to diffuse or winnow or fan. In order to fan out a mass of grain one would need to have complete mastery of it, so the Psalmist means that God is complete Master of the situation.

Psa 139:4. The several verses in this part of the chapter are specifications of the complete knowledge of God. David had said that the Lord knew all about his thoughts. Then he surely would know altogether the words of his mouth.

Psa 139:5. To beset means to confine or limit. David means that his entire life was within the knowledge and grasp of the Lord.

Psa 139:6. The Psalmist has reference to himself merely as a human being aside from his inspiration.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

The conception of intimate personal relation between God and man is perhaps more remarkably and forcefully dealt with in this song than in any other in the whole collection.

The great facts are first stated. Jehovahs knowledge of personal life is declared. He is familiar with every motion even to the simplest of downsitting and uprising. He knows thought afar off, that is, in the strange and mystic processes of its making. All ways and words are intimately know to the God Who is the nearest environment of human life. And from all this there can be no escape, for the Omniscient is also the Omnipresent. He is in heaven, but Sheol also is full of His presence. Distance is a human term only, and the uttermost parts of the trackless sea are also in the Presence. Darkness is light to Him, and has no hiding place from Him. The deep mysteries of being are not involved to Jehovah, for He presided in wisdom over all the mystic processes of the beginnings of human life. All this does not affright the singer, for he knows the love of Jehovah, and exclaims in glad praise for the presciousness of the unnumbered thoughts of God concerning him.

In view of all this it is hopeless for the wicked to attempt to escape from God, and the singers desire for separation from all such is the final word of the psalm. The way of separation is that of personal choice. He must and will separate himself. Yet he is also dependent upon God in this matter, and prays for His examination and leading.

Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible

the All-seeing God

Psa 139:1-13

The psalmist speaks as if there were only two beings in the universe-God and himself. In all literature there is no nobler conception of the divine attributes.

Gods omniscience, Psa 139:1-6. The downsittings of life are times of weariness, depression, failure, shortcoming, and inconsistency, when we are far short of our best. Our uprisings are our strongest, happiest, holiest moments, when we are at our best. God knows all. He cannot be surprised. He besets us before-the future is full of Him-and behind, as the wave follows closely in the wake of the bather or the rear guard the march. His hand is laid upon us, shielding and protecting. His winnowing-fan is ever detecting every grain of wheat and extracting it from the chaff.

Gods omnipresence, Psa 139:7-12. It is impossible to flee from God. However thick the foliage, it cannot separate the sinner from those eyes of love and fire. This thought is terrible to those who are not at peace with Him, but delightful to those who love. Be of good cheer, lonely one; thy night of sorrow is as the day-full of Him.

Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

Psa 139:1-2

I. Deep indeed and mysterious, far beyond what we can understand, are our own ordinary sleeping and waking; we know not how it is that the soothing quietness which we call sleep steals over the soul and body, nor how the two wake together and begin to act as before. Our sleeping and our waking are beyond our own knowledge and our own power; God keeps both in His own hand. And if our ordinary taking of rest in sleep and rousing up to our work again-if these are so strange and mysterious, how much more the death and resurrection of our Lord, His slumber on the Cross and His wakening out of the grave.

II. We know not concerning other men’s death and resurrection; and what is still more awful to each one of us, and comes nearer home to our hearts, we know not, every one for himself, what manner of death and resurrection our own will be. We know not, but God knoweth all. Let us trust Him without asking questions, as little children trust their parents. Surely He has power to order all for our good; else how could He raise Himself again, and in His human soul and body ascend into heaven, and there sit down at the right hand of the Father, all power being given unto Him in heaven and in earth?

J. Keble, Sermons for the Christian Year: Easter to Ascension Day, p. 97.

References: Psa 139:1, Psa 139:2.-W. M.Taylor, Preacher’s Monthly; vol. iii., p. 32; J. W. Gleadall, Church Sermons, vol. i., p. 27.

Psa 139:1-3

The fact that God is always present and knows every minute trifle in our lives, and that His unerring judgment will assuredly take count of every detail of our character and conduct, neither exaggerating nor omitting, but applying absolute justice-this truth is one of those which lose force from their very universality. That we should be so little checked, so little awed, in the course of our daily lives, by this perpetual and awful Presence; that we should know God to be looking at every motion and every impulse, and should be so unmoved; that we should do so many things before God’s face which the opening of a door and the entrance of a fellow-creature would instantly stop-this is an instance of that weakness of faith which proves the fall of man.

I. There is no need to exaggerate in this matter. We may recognise to the full that it is a part of God’s own ordinance that we should be, as it were, unconscious of His presence during the greater part of every day of our lives. But that which is quite peculiar in this case is the nature of the forgetfulness. In the presence of father or of mother, or of any one else for whom you care, though you forget, yet the slightest real temptation, still more the slightest open sin, is sure to put you instantly in remembrance. Now I fear there is no such perpetual readiness in us to remember the presence of God. We forget His presence in the absorption of our daily employments and amusements; and forgetting it, we approach some sin which we know that He has forbidden. But our approach to the forbidden path rarely puts us in mind of the awful eye that is ever silently marking our steps. This is a veil which the devil puts before our eyes. It is the blindness of our fallen state.

II. The right state of mind plainly is to have the thought of God’s presence so perpetually at hand, that it shall always start before us whenever it is wanted. (1) This perpetual, though not always conscious, sense of God’s presence would, no doubt, if we would let it have its perfect work, gradually act on our characters just as the presence of our fellow-men does. (2) This habit, beyond all others, strengthens our faith.

Bishop Temple, Rugby Sermons, 1st series, p. 178.

References: Psa 139:1-12.-F. Tholuck, Hours of Devotion, p. 110; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. xii., p. 83; E. W. Shalders, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xi., p. 328. Psa 139:5.-G. Matheson, Moments on the Mount, p. 70; C. S. Robinson, Preacher’s Monthly, vol. v., p. 73. Psa 139:7.-A. P. Peabody, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xx., p. 118. Psa 139:7-10.-Preacher’s Monthly, vol. viii., p. 10. Psa 139:9.-A. P. Stanley, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xiv., p. 257.

Psa 139:7

I. God is in all modes of personal existence. These are all covered by the contrast between heaven and hell, than which no words would suggest a completer contrast to every thoughtful Hebrew.

II. God’s presence is in the yet untrodden ways of human history. There came sometimes to the untravelled Israelites a perception that the world was very large. The ninth verse of this Psalm gives us an image of the Psalmist, standing by the sea-shore, watching as the rising sun broadens the horizon, and brings into view an islet here and there, which, by catching the sight, serves but to lengthen still more the indefinite expanse beyond. The fancy is suggested, half of longing, half of dread, What would it be to fly until he reached the point where now the furthest ray is resting, to gaze upon a sea still shoreless or to land in an unknown region and find himself a solitary there? But he is not daunted by the vision; one Presence would still be with him. Vast as the world is, it is contained within the vaster God. In a similar mood of not wholly barren dreaming we sometimes look out over the boundless possibilities of human life. Amid all possibilities one thing is sure: go where we may, go the world how it may, we shall find the ever-present God.

III. God’s presence is in the perplexities of our experience. The untrodden ways of life are not the only, nor even the principal, obscurities in life; there are incidents in man’s experience which seem only the more perplexing the more we know of them. There is the mystery of pain, and that strange fluctuation of spiritual emotion which pain often brings; there are the complications of human relations, in which the saintliest seem often the victims of the basest or the sacrifices for the sins of others; there are the conflicts of noble affections, of the purpose of patience with the impulse of indignation, of our love of men in its pleadings against the fear of God. It is by perceiving the fruitful issues of perplexity in our experience that we gain the confidence that God is in the discipline, its Author and Controller. He who believes in God enters into rest; a large faith means a repose which cannot be shaken.

A. Mackennal, Sermons from a Sick-room, p. 85.

Psa 139:11

I. There is the darkness of perplexity. If ever it be worth while to think over what have been our most unhappy moments, we shall find that they have been those when our mind was divided. The language of our hearts at such a time would be, “Lord, give me light; make Thy way plain before my face.” But then another Scripture saith-and brings surely the same answer of peace-“The darkness is no darkness to Thee. The darkness and light to Thee are both alike.”

II. There is the darkness of shame after relapse into sin. There is scarcely anything so paralysing to the energies of a young soul seeking after God as the sense of shame for sins renewed. But if we could believe the words in their spiritual meaning, “The darkness and light to Thee are both alike,” surely we should gather fresh might from our defeat, and learn in the darkness of self-distrust the secret of final victory.

III. The darkness of gloomy, distressing thoughts. Across all the varied phrases which describe the different interpretations that men have put upon their own unrest lies the deep, abiding fact that the heart will have its hours of darkness. In the midst of joy we are in gloom. These are the hours or moments when we are tempted to be unbelievers. The “still, small voice” of conscience is inaudible; and the Lord is not in the gloom. Here again let us listen to the voice of the Psalmist, “The darkness is no darkness with Thee. The darkness and light to Thee are both alike.” Once let us grasp the truth that God, who made the light, made the darkness also, and that He wishes us to feel alone that we may at last be alone with Him, from that moment the darkness lifts.

IV. The darkness of sorrow. The darkness and the light are both alike to God. Those dear friends who have gone down into darkness and silence are in light with God. Our darkness is no darkness to Him. Our night is His and their eternal day.

V. The darkness of religious doubt. Those who are tried by even the extreme shadow of this darkness, and groan under its chilly touch, need most of all cling to the central conviction that here too, where full faith is not, God is. “Even here shall His hand lead them, and His right hand shall hold them,” if only they will not “cast away their confidence,” nor place it anywhere but in Him.

H. M. Butler, Harrow Sermons, 2nd series, p. 245.

References: Psa 139:13-24.-E. W. Shalders, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xi., p. 360.

Psa 139:11

Consider sonic of the thoughts which press upon a mind conscious of its own wonderful nature. It perceives in part an evident likeness, and in part an equally marked unlikeness, to its Maker. (1) We know by instinct and by revelation that God has made us in part like to Himself; that is, immortal. (2) We learn that our nature stands in a marked contrast to the Divine; that the immortal nature which is within us is of a mutable kind, susceptible of the most searching changes.

I. Our immortal being is always changing, for good or evil, always becoming better or worse. All our life long, and in every stage of it, this process, which we vaguely call the formation of character, is going on. Our immortal nature is taking its stamp and colour; we are receiving and imprinting ineffaceable lines and features. As the will chooses, so the man is.

II. This continual change is also a continual approach to, or departure from, God. Heaven and hell are but the ultimate points of the diverging lines on which all are ever moving. The steady and changeless rise and fall of the everlasting lights is not more unerring. It is a moral movement, measured upon the boundaries of life and death.

III. Such as we become in this life by the moral change wrought in our immortal nature, such we shall be for ever. Our eternal state will be no more than the carrying out of what we are now. And if these things be so, with how much awe and fear have we need to deal with ourselves. (1) We must needs learn to keep a keen watch over our hearts. Every change that passes upon us has an eternal consequence; there is something ever flowing from it into eternity. (2) We have need not only to watch, but to keep up a strong habit of self-control. By its own continual acting, our fearful and wonderful inward nature is perpetually determining its own character. It has a power of self-determination, which to those who give over watching and self-control becomes soon unconscious, and at last involuntary.

H. E. Manning, Sermons, vol. i., p. 47.

Psa 139:14

Let us observe some of the mysteries which are involved in our own nature.

I. We are made up of soul and body. Now if we did not know this so that we cannot deny it, what notion could our minds ever form of such a mixture of natures; and how should we ever succeed in making those who go only by abstract reason take in what we meant?

II. The soul is not only one, and without parts, but moreover, as if by a great contradiction even in terms, it is in every part of the body. It is nowhere, yet everywhere.

III. Consider what a strange state we are in when we dream, and how difficult it would be to convey to a person who had never dreamed what was meant by dreaming. These are a few out of the many remarks which might be made concerning our own mysterious state, but this is a very large subject. Let a man consider how hardly he is able and how circuitously he is forced to describe the commonest objects of nature, when he attempts to substitute reason for sight how difficult it is to define things, and he will not wonder at the impossibility of duly delineating in earthly words the First Cause of all thought, the Father of spirits, the one eternal Mind, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who only hath immortality, dwelling in light unapproachable, whom no man hath seen or can see, the incomprehensible, infinite God.

J. H. Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons, vol. iv., p. 282.

References: Psa 139:14.-J. Baldwin Brown, Christian World Pulpit, vol. vi., p. 321; E. A. Abbott, Sermons in Cambridge, pp. 1, 23, 49, Psa 139:17.-Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 121. Psa 139:17, Psa 139:18.-A. C. Price, Christian World Pulpit, vol. vi., p. 171.

Psa 139:19-24

I. There is a peculiarity of expression in this Psalm which we certainly should not find in any Christian hymn, and one which cannot fail to strike us. What can be more remarkable than the contrast between the former part of the text and the sublime meditation which precedes? It startles us thus to be carried from thoughts of God’s omniscience and omnipresence and His superintending providence and watchful love into the midst of a conflict in which human passions are roused, to find their vent in strong invective. It is impossible to disguise the fact that there does run through the Psalter this spirit of intense hatred of wickedness and wicked men. In many instances, no doubt, the sense of wrong, and violence, and persecution stirs it into keener life. The psalmists are always in the minority, always on the weak side, humanly speaking. But they are profoundly convinced that their cause is right. They are sure that God is on their side. They hate evil with all their hearts, because they love God with all their hearts.

II. But now the question forces itself upon us, Are we justified ourselves in using these bitter and burning words? Is it right to pray, “Oh that Thou wouldest slay the wicked, O God”? Are these words in harmony with the Christian conscience? (1) It is quite plain that the general current of the Psalter, the strain and tone of feeling running through it, cannot be antagonistic to our Christian conscience, or the Christian Church throughout the world would not have adopted the Psalter as its perpetual book of devotion. Therefore, though there may be single expressions in the Psalter, imprecations and burning words, which are not suitable in Christian mouths, depend upon it that the whole strain of the Psalter, as sternly set against evil, is not opposed to the Christian conscience. (2) The New Testament is not so entirely opposed to the spirit and teaching of the Old on this point as is sometimes asserted. The chief difference lies here: (a) that in the New Testament we are taught to carry the endurance of wrong much further than was possible or conceivable before Jesus our Master set us an example that we should follow in His steps, and (b) that we are taught by Him and His Apostles what we are not taught distinctly by psalmists and prophets: to distinguish between the sinner and the sin, between the wickedness which a man does and the man himself; that we are to try and root out wickedness without rooting out the wicked from the earth; that, with the patience of God, we are to bear with the evil and seek to reform the evil, even whilst we long to see it come to an end. (3) We may not cherish a personal hatred; we may not seek for a personal vengeance. But it is our bounden duty to hate wickedness and wicked characters with all our hearts.

J. J. S. Perowne, Sermons, p. 68.

Psa 139:21

The Psalmist answers his own question: “Yea, I hate them right sore, even as though they were mine enemies.” We should most of us reply quite differently. We should say, Hate them! We hate nothing. We try to obey Christ’s command, “Love thy neighbour as thyself.” “There is a way which seemeth right to a man, but the end of it is the way of death.” I believe that this plausible, self-complacent language of ours indicates that we are in exceeding danger of wandering into that dark road, if we are not walking in it already.

I. The force of the sentence evidently turns upon the word “Thee.” David knew that there was a Divine Presence with him. When he clave to this righteous Judge and Lawgiver, when he acknowledged His guidance and desired that all the movements of his life should be ruled by Him, then did he himself, and his fellow-men, and the world around, come forth out of mist and shadow into the sunlight. Everything was seen in its true proportions.

II. David hated whatever rose up against righteousness and truth in the earth, whatever sought to set up a lie. He felt that there were deadly powers which were working deadly mischief in God’s world. In the inmost region of his being he had to encounter these principalities of spiritual wickedness. His hatred grew just in proportion to the degree in which he believed, trusted, delighted in, a Being of absolute purity and perfection.

III. Can it be that the blessing of our Christian profession consists in this, that we have acquired a patience of whatever hates God and rises up against Him, which David had not? Assuredly our Christian profession then does not mean the following the example of our Saviour Christ and being like Him. He was engaged in a conflict to blood against evil, in a death-struggle whether it should put out the light of the world or whether that light should prevail against it.

IV. Determine to hate that which rises up in you against God-that first, that chiefly-and you will hate, along with your indifference, cowardice, meanness, all your conceit of your own poor judgment, your dislike of opposition to it, your unwillingness to have your thoughts probed to the quick. And so with this hatred, deeply and inwardly cherished, will come the true, and not the imaginary, charity, the genuine, not the bastard, toleration.

F. D. Maurice, Sermons, vol. v., p. 309.

Psa 139:23-24

I. These words express an appeal to the omniscience of God in proof of the sincerity of the Psalmist’s love to Him. There is a frank affection and candour about the words to which the heart of our own personal experience readily corresponds. They breathe the quiet repose of one speaking in confidence to another whom he trusts, and whom he is authorised to trust.

II. The words express a single-hearted and undivided desire that nothing whatever may interpose between the soul and God, or interrupt the enjoyment of His presence. This second feeling is a necessary part of the first. Whatever there was in his heart, or in his thoughts, or in his manner and his conduct, displeasing to God, and which prevented his walking in the way of everlasting life-that the Psalmist was prepared to give up, holding nothing back. His prayer implies a desire for holiness at any cost of discipline and chastisement, a wish to learn the lesson even though it should be beneath the rod, to get nearer to God even though the path should tear him away from all he loved below.

E. Garbett, Experiences of the Inner Life, p. 106.

The blessedness of God’s thorough knowledge of us-this is the subject of our meditation.

I. Think, first, of the blessedness of God’s knowledge of our loyalty.

II. Think of the blessedness of God’s knowledge of our struggles.

III. Think of the blessedness of God’s thorough knowledge of our sins.

IV. Consider the power which every good resolve derives from the fact that we can make it known to God.

V. Notice the blessedness of the fact that He who knows us thoroughly is our Helper and Leader.

A. Mackennal, Christ’s Healing Touch, p. 45.

References: Psa 139:23, Psa 139:24.-J. Keble, Sermons from Lent to Passiontide, p. 253; J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 10th series, p. 222; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. iv., p. 205. Psa 139:24.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xv., No. 903; T. Wallace, Christian World Pulpit, vol. viii., p. 260. Psalm 139-P. Thomson, Expositor, 2nd. series, vol. i., p. 177; G. Matheson, Ibid., vol. iv., p. 356. Psa 140:12.-J. M. Neale, Sermons on Passages of the Psalms, p. 310. Psa 141:2.-E. M. Goulburn, Thoughts on Personal Religion, p. 50. Psa 141:5.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xviii., No. 1049.

Fuente: The Sermon Bible

Psalm 139

In the Divine Presence

1. His omniscience (Psa 139:1-6)

2. His omnipresence (Psa 139:7-12)

3. Praising Him (Psa 139:13-18)

4. Delighting in His holiness (Psa 139:19-24)

Here we see the people of God in the light of God, standing in His presence. He is an omniscient and an omnipresent God. How marvellously this is given in this Psalm. And what a comfort to know that He knoweth, that He seeth, that He is about us, around us, with us everywhere, that His hand leads, that His hand upholds the saint, and that darkness and light are both alike to Him. And this God has fashioned us, He is our Creator. And the thoughts of God mentioned in Psa 139:17 and Psa 139:18 may be applied to the thoughts of His love in redemption. How precious are these thoughts in which He has remembered the sinners need. They are indeed more than the sand. And with the knowledge of Gods omniscience, His omnipresence, His thoughts of love and grace, the saint loves Gods holiness, separating himself from the wicked, counting Gods enemies his enemies, hating those who rise up against God. And then that prayer-Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my thoughts. And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Can you pray thus daily in the presence of an omniscient and omnipresent Lord?

Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)

thou hast: Psa 139:23, Psa 11:4, Psa 11:5, Psa 17:3, Psa 44:21, 1Ki 8:39, 1Ch 28:9, Jer 12:3, Jer 17:9, Jer 17:10, Joh 21:17, Heb 4:13, Rev 2:18, Rev 2:23

Reciprocal: Gen 3:8 – hid Gen 16:13 – Thou Gen 18:21 – I will know Jos 22:22 – he knoweth 1Sa 20:12 – O Lord 2Sa 7:20 – knowest 2Sa 12:9 – to do evil 1Ki 14:5 – the Lord 2Ki 6:12 – telleth 2Ki 19:27 – I know 1Ch 17:18 – thou knowest 2Ch 32:31 – to try him Job 10:7 – Thou knowest Job 10:14 – then Job 14:16 – thou numberest Job 22:14 – General Job 23:10 – he knoweth Job 31:4 – General Job 33:27 – I have sinned Psa 1:6 – knoweth Psa 7:9 – for Psa 73:11 – is there Psa 73:23 – Nevertheless Psa 90:8 – Thou Psa 94:9 – hear Pro 5:21 – General Isa 29:15 – seek Isa 48:8 – thine ear Jer 23:23 – General Oba 1:6 – are the Mat 6:4 – seeth Mar 9:33 – What Luk 16:15 – God Luk 19:5 – he looked Joh 1:48 – when Joh 16:19 – Jesus Act 15:8 – which Act 17:27 – he be 1Co 8:3 – is 1Th 2:4 – but God 1Jo 3:20 – and

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

THE INDWELLING GOD

O Lord, Thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, Thou understandest my thought afar off.

Psa 139:1-2

Our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.

1 St. Joh 1:3

What do you mean by God? On a mans answer to that question depends ultimately all his thinking about the world and all his living within it. We cannot escape from God in our daily life.

I. How are we to conceive of this indwelling God?All nature is a revelation of God, and nature must be interpreted by what is highest in man. God in His nature cannot be less, He can only be infinitely more, than what is really revealed in man. That is, if there be in man the power of a rational ordering of things there must be in God also mind and purpose. If there be in man the power to will, so there must be sovereignty of will in God. But in man there are higher things than mere will and intelligence; there is the power of conscience. You may remember how a great philosopher said that the two things which most loudly spoke of God were the stars of heaven without and the voice of conscience within. God, therefore, cannot be less, He can only be infinitely more than all the highest goodness disclosed in the best of men. Yet one step more. When we think of man we think not only of his will, his mind, and his goodness, but of something higher still of which he is capablethe quality of love. God, therefore, cannot be less, He can only be infinitely more than all we can conceive of love in its utmost intensity and self-sacrifice. In Him, wisdom, will, goodness, love, reach to the highest imaginable point of intensity and reality, and this God is every moment within youcloser than your breathing, nearer than your very selves, so close that He is not even so far off as to be near.

II. What is the right relationship with this indwelling God?We know love to be the highest revelation of God in man, and we know that what love yearns for is fellowship in the lower orders of life. He is satisfied with the creature which fulfils the law of its life; we can think of God rejoicing in the beauty of the flower or the song of the bird, but when we come to man we come to gifts which he shares with God; a man has a heart that can feel and a will that can choose. So what God is yearning for is that we may enter into fellowship with Himself.

III. Are you not conscious as you think of this necessary fellowship between you and the indwelling God of at least two obstacles to our attaining to it?(1) The first is our ignorance. If we are really to know a man it is not sufficient to know the attributes of his characterthat he is able, kind, brilliant, unselfish, and the like; we must know him closer, we must come into contact with the man as he isthe man himself; he must disclose himself if we are to become aware of the real man. So must it be with us if we are to become acquainted with God.

(2) The second obstaclewhat is it? Your conscience gives the answerit is sin! There is in me, in you, a self-chosen will of aversion from God, as well as a God-chosen will of conversion to Him, and unless that self-will were conquered and overcome there would be at the root of life always a breach in the harmony with God. We might expect surely that God would overcome this obstacle, for the very freedom which makes it possible to sin is the freedom which makes possible a willing fellowship with God. Once again an historical answer comes: this Man Christ Jesus came claiming to be a Saviour of His brethren from their sins; the Man Jesus has come to us not only as a revelation of God in human flesh, but also as a power by which our sin can be overcome. Our relationship with this God must be the primary fact of our life. It is to be a relationship of communion of heart and will made possible for us through the Manhood of Jesus. In Him the character of God is disclosed; by Him we are redeemed, restored to God. Therefore, to take Christ as God and Saviour is to be put right with Godthat is, to be saved.

Bishop C. G. Lang.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

Thou God Seest Me

Selections from Psa 139:1-24

INTRODUCTORY WORDS

The world today needs a new vision of the Deity of Christ. Our Lord Jesus has been dragged down from His place of authority and power, until the men of the world would leave us nothing but a great man as our Lord and Saviour.

The Christ of the Bible was God manifest in the flesh. He was the One who was on earth, and came down from Heaven, even the One who was in Heaven. He was the One who knew all things, who looked into the heart of man, who laid bare their innermost secrets.

The Christ of the Bible was the Christ of God’s eternal now. He was the One who could say, “Before Abraham was, I am.” He could even say, “Before the day was, I am.” Reaching back into the eternity past, He could say, “The glory which I had with Thee before the world was.” Looking on into the eternal future, He could say, And now Father, “I come to Thee.”

Known unto God are all His works from before the foundation of the world. Known unto God are all things yet to be revealed to saints. See Eph 2:7. He is the Alpha and the Omega. He is the beginning and the end. He is the First and the Last. In Him all move, and live, and have their being. His eye beholdeth all things, and all things move at His will.

Of old, God looked down, from Heaven and saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth. He even saw that every imagination of the thoughts of man’s heart was only evil continually.

God looked down from Heaven and saw the abominations of Sodom and Gomorrah, and said that the cry of the city “is come up before Me.”

God saw Abraham as he raised his hand to slay his son. God saw Jacob as he slept with his head upon a stone. God saw Moses as he turned aside to behold the wonders of the burning bush.

God beheld the perfidy of Achan as he hid the gold, and the silver, and the Babylonian garments, in his tent. God saw the insurrection of Korah and of Abiram, and the earth opened up her mouth and swallowed them up. God saw the hypocrisy of King Saul, and announced his destruction.

Let not the sinner imagine that he can hide any thing from God; for, the darkness and the light are the same to Him.

God not only sees the wickedness of the wicked, but He beholds the righteousness of the righteous.

God saw the shepherd lad, the son of Jesse, as he moved among the flock; and, when Jesse brought forth his sons, He refused them one by one. He said unto Samuel concerning Eliab, “Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.” Thus it was that David, and not Eliab, nor Abinadab, nor Shamman, was chosen of God.

God looked upon Mary, espoused to Joseph, He knew the beauty of her character, the strength of her purpose, and He chose her to be mother to Christ.

God looked upon Saul of Tarsus; looked beneath the bitterness of his spirit, and the ruggedness of his ways, and He stopped him on the Damascus road and said, “Why persecutest thou Me?” This man was chosen by God as a vessel to bear His Name before Gentiles, and kings, and the Children of Israel, before ever he saw the light of day.

Christ saw Zacchaeus in the tree. Saw the purpose of his heart and the longing of his soul. Christ saw the woman who was a sinner weeping at His feet; and, though Simon said that He knew not that she was a sinner, yet Christ did know, and He said,-“Her sins, which are many, are forgiven.”

“Come near me, O my Saviour!

Thy tenderness reveal:

Oh, let me know the sympathy

Which Thou for me dost feet!

I need Thee every moment;

Thine absence brings dismay;

But when the tempter hurls his darts,

‘Twere death with Thee away!”

I. “THOU HAST SEARCHED ME AND KNOWN ME” (Psa 139:1-2)

We wonder how many stand with awe before the words of our text. Does it solemnize the heart to know that God has searched us and known us? Does it startle us, to realize that God knows our downsitting and our uprising, and understands our thoughts afar off?

We have before us God’s X-ray picture of our heart. He looks into the innermost recesses of our being. Do we cringe? Do we seek to draw away from Him? Or, do we gladly lay bare our whole being, saying, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me”?

1. Let us consider the thoroughness of God’s knowledge. Surely, there is nothing hid from His eyes. He knows us altogether. We are naked and open before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. If we think that we can ascend some mountain-top where He cannot find us, we deceive ourselves. If we imagine that we can hide away to some depth or abyss where He cannot pursue us, we are deceived.

We remember how a young Scotchman left home to flee from his mother’s prayers, and from her daily testimony and pleas. He reached New York City, employed himself as coachman to a rich New Yorker. The next day he was told to drive his master to the church, and as the master left the coach he said to the driver, “Are you a Christian?” The coachman cried out, “I came all the way from Scotland to hide from God, but I find Him here.”

2. Let us consider the purpose of God’s search. Why does God look into the heart? Is it that He may find the evil that lurks within, and slay us; or, is it, that, finding the evil, He may provide the remedy? “He knoweth our frame. He remembereth that we are dust.” Does He not then pity us, “like as a father”?

David wanted the Lord to search him out, that He might lead him in the way everlasting.

II. “THOU COMPASSEST MY PATH” (Psa 139:3-4)

Three things are stated in Psa 139:3 and Psa 139:4.

1. We are told that our path and our lying down are “compassed”; that is, God has surrounded our path and our lying down. The word seems to suggest that we are hedged in by the Almighty. We cannot walk beyond the limit of His watchful eye. Even though we lie down and rest, we are lying down within the shelter of His care.

These words may strike terror to the wicked. Yet, they bear consolation to the saved. The hedge which God put around Job was his security and protection. When God compasses our path and our lying down, He not only keeps us from getting beyond the circle of His love and care, but He also keeps any and every opposing force from breaking through that circle.

There is no arrow flying by day, and no pestilence stalking by night, that can come nigh our dwelling. God garrisons us round about. We are sheltered under His wings.

2. We are told that God is acquainted with all our ways. In Job we read, “Acquaint now thyself with Him.” Here we read that He is acquainted not only with us, but with our ways.

The word “acquaint” carries with it the thought of intimate relationship. It enters into the details of life. It conveys the idea of personal interest.

The Lord Jesus on one occasion said, that He and the Father would come in and take up Their abode with us. Such Heavenly comradeship is most delightful to the loving trusting heart.

3. We are told that there is not a word in our tongue but that the Lord knoweth it altogether. Our conversation is in Heaven. Our words must judge us in that day. If our words are pure, and lovely, and of good report, we will have nothing to fear. If, however, our words have been stout against the Lord, we may well tremble in His presence.

‘Tis good to dwell where all is well,

Within the secret place;

God, the Most High, is always nigh

To those who seek His face.

My God alway, my Rock and Stay,

Thou art my fortress strong;

On battlefield my sword and shield.

My victory and song.

We will abide and safely hide

Under His shelt’ring care;

There, ‘neath His wing, we’ll trust and sing,

Safe from the tempter’s snare.

Terror by night, nor arrow’s flight,

Shall make our soul afraid;

Naught can alarm; no foe can harm;

In Him our trust is stayed.

Tho’ thousands fall, God’s over all;

He’ll safely bring us through:

His angels guard, and keep their charge,

And render service true.

III. “THOU HAST BESET ME BEHIND AND BEFORE” (Psa 139:5)

Once more three things are suggested:

1. Thou hast beset me behind. The 23rd Psalm says, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” Some one has suggested that “goodness and mercy” are the shepherd dogs that protect the rearward of our march. God is behind us to guard us and befriend us, but He is also behind us so that we cannot turn around and escape Him. He besets us. He is a wall through which we cannot pass.

Jonah thought that he would flee from the presence of God. So instead of going to Nineveh, he took ship to Tarshish. We know very well the folly of his attempt, for the Lord would not let him go, but caused him to be thrown from the ship that he might be swallowed of a prepared fish and carried to the land.

2. Thou hast beset me before. There are some who think that they can escape God, but this is impossible. There is nowhere that we can go from His Spirit. There is no place that we can flee from His presence. If we go to the rearward He is there. If we go forward, He is there. We cannot even go upward; for, if we ascend into Heaven, He is there. We cannot escape by going downward; for, if we make our bed in hell, He is there. If we take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, His hand will lead us, and His right hand will hold us. If, in our vanity, we say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,” “even the night shall be light about me.”

3. Thou hast laid Thine hand upon me. We remember preaching in the Baptist Temple in Charleston, W. Va. In the center of the dome, in the main auditorium, a great eye was painted. That eye was ever looking down. It seemed to be saying to us, “Thou God seest me.” Does fear come into our soul as we have thought of these statements, concerning the all-observing Jehovah? It should rather rejoice our heart.

Does the little violet, blooming alone ‘neath the dark blue sky cringe with fear because it lies exposed to wind and sky and star? Does it not, the rather, feel that all of these are working for its good.

“When through the deep waters I call thee to go,

The rivers of sorrow shall not overflow,

For I will be with thee thy trials to bless,

And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress,

“When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,

My grace all sufficient shall be thy supply;

The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design

Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.”

IV. “THOU HAST POSSESSED MY REINS” (Psa 139:13-15)

We are now carried back to the beginning of things. Before ever we saw the light of day, God’s watchful eye beheld us, and His loving care overshadowed us. Our substance was not hid from Him when we were made in secret.

Paul wrote that God had called him, saved him by His grace, having separated him unto Himself, before he was born. However, God did not reveal Himself unto Paul, until that remarkable light from Heaven shone upon him on the Damascus road. My father has told me that I was dedicated to the ministry before I was born, but this was only my parent’s dedication. Firmly do I believe that God took hold of the reins which have directed my life, long before my parents yielded me to God, How does the knowledge of the predestinating God affect us? We read that we are chosen in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. We read that we have been predestinated unto the adoption of children. We read that the inheritance which we have obtained was wrought out according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things according to the counsel of His will.

These things should cheer us, and fill our lips with praise. David, seeing all of this, immediately cried out, in spirit, “I will praise Thee.” Shall we not also praise? Would we rather live a hit-and-miss life, without any God to plan our being, or to direct our steps?

We have often spoken of the helplessness of a little babe as it lay in its mother’s arms. That babe is more helpless than a newborn chick. And yet, the infant who utters its first little cry is sheltered by a mother’s love. Beyond that mother’s love, however, and beyond the arms of men, is the love of the great and eternal God who watches over us, and loves and cares. Surely we will rejoice and praise God for these things. Is it nothing to us that God’s eye saw our substance when we were yet imperfect? Is it nothing to us that all of our members were written in God’s Book, when as yet there was none of them?

Surely, we will now love Him the more and trust Him the stronger. With John, we will steal a little closer to our Saviour and our Lord, and lean our head upon His breast.

“Hold Thou my hand; so weak I am and helpless,

I dare not take one step without Thy aid;

Hold Thou ray hand; for then, O loving Saviour,

No dread of ill shall make my soul afraid.

Hold Thou my hand, and closer, closer draw me

To Thy dear self-my hope, my joy, my all;

Hold Thou my hand, lest haply I should wander,

And, missing Thee, my trembling feet shall fall.”

V. “HOW PRECIOUS ARE THY THOUGHTS UNTO ME, O GOD” (Psa 139:17-18)

We now come to that part of the Psalm which reveals David’s own conception of his words. Two things throb in his mind, as he is borne along by the Spirit:

1. The preciousness of God’s thoughts toward him. How great was the sum of them! They were more in number than the sand.

Thus did David feel toward the omniscient God, He reveled in the tender considerations of his Lord. He rejoiced that his God knew him, understood him, even to his innermost soul, Instead of seeking to fly from God’s presence, he would fly into His arms; instead of seeking to hide himself from God in the heights, or in the depths, or under coyer of the darkness, he would hide himself in the light of His countenance.

Adam, the disobedient, might endeavor to hide from God among the trees of the garden, but, not so, the one whose sins are forgiven, and whose transgressions are covered. “If we walk in the light, as He is in the light,” we have fellowship with Him.

We who are in Christ Jesus are made nigh by the Blood of Christ. We are no longer dwelling in the far country. We are basking in the sunshine of His face. Enoch was not afraid to walk with God, for he knew God. Abraham had no fear of going out with God, even though he knew not whither he went. Abraham was the friend of God. Moses was not afraid when God spoke to him face to face, as when a man speaketh unto a man, for, as the Lord spoke unto Moses, so did he.

2. The fear of God upon the wicked. In Psa 139:19 of our Psalm we read, “Surely Thou wilt slay the wicked, O God.” He who is disobedient may well tremble before the revelation of God’s presence and knowledge, as set forth in this Psalm. From the presence of God the very earth will one day flee away. When God sets His judgments among men, and says, “Depart from Me, ye cursed,” The wicked will weep and wail, When the Books which hold the record of God against the ungodly, are opened, and when God’s perfection of knowledge is revealed, the ungodly will cry unto the rocks and to the mountains to fall upon them, and hide them from the face of their Judge. Even hell with its burnings would be more welcome to the wicked than the light of His face.

AN ILLUSTRATION

WHO TAUGHT THE BEE?

With lovingkindness have I drawn thee. Here is a little bee that organizes a city, that builds ten thousand cells for honey, twelve thousand cells for larv, a holy of holies for the mother queen; a little bee that observes the increasing heat, and, when the wax may melt and the honey be lost, organizes the swarm into squads, puts sentinels at the entrances, glues the feet down, and then, with flying wings, creates a system of ventilation to cool the honey that makes an electric fan seem tawdry-a little honey bee that will include twenty square miles in the field over whose flowers it has oversight. But if a tiny brain in a bee performs such wonders who are you, that you should question the guidance of God? Lift up your eyes, and behold the hand that supports these stars, without pillars, the God who guides the planets without collision.-From “Beams of Light.”

Fuente: Neighbour’s Wells of Living Water

Manifest in the presence of God, with the moral result of this.

To the chief musician, a psalm of David.

The last verse of the previous psalm, as so often is the case, leads on to the psalm that follows it. We see in this how truly we are the work of God’s hands, and the marvelousness of this work; and this naturally leads further to the recognition that we are still in His hands, who made us, and who will not forsake His work. Thus under His eye, searched out in the light of His presence, we yet realize the blessedness of this, and find with Him our sanctuary-refuge from the evil in ourselves as elsewhere.

The psalm has a peculiar and elaborate structure,quite suited to the character of its contents: the regularity of it showing the perfect divine control of material, which belongs to the Creator of all. Its twenty-four verses are divided into four parts, -the number of testing, -each of six verses, the number of discipline and of mastery of evil; while each of these is again divided into three parts of two verses each, the numbers of manifestation and of witness together.

The first section speaks of Jehovah’s omniscience simply, as realized by one who is under the awe of it, -a fear which in the second section breaks out into the cry of one who would fain escape to the ends of the earth or into Sheol itself to be free from it, but knows well the impossibility of this. In the third section there is a change, however, and a tender thankfulness comes in with the thought of how in the very womb of his mother this omniscience had been exercised in building up in mysterious secrecy the marvelous structure of the future man. The preciousness of God’s thoughts toward him now take possession of him, and that, sleeping or waking, the unslumbering Eye is on him becomes only happiness. In the fourth section he is now with God against the evil manifested in the world, and from that which he fears and hates within himself, the presence of God becomes now his sanctuary-refuge. He invites the searching Eye which once he dreaded. But we must take up the psalm in detail.

1. The first section, as already said, speaks of Jehovah’s omniscience; the first two verses, as knowledge simply, though the Light never withdrawn searches all out. But in the next verses, He winnows the path, -an intimation of discriminating judgment which would imply, as result, thorough “acquaintance” or “familiarity” with all the ways. And the words are known altogether, -all that can be known of them. The third subsection speaks not simply of knowledge, but of action: “Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid Thy hand on me.” He realizes, as well he may, this knowledge as too wonderful for him, -an unattainable height.

2. In the next section the three smaller divisions are similarly distinguishable. In the first, Spirit and presence are, I suppose,the same essentially, while heaven and hell -Sheol or hades, not Gehenna, -are wide asunder: it is omnipresence simply that is in question. In the next, it is relation to the Omnipresent, and that in dependence: the wings of the dawn and the uttermost parts of the sea convey the thought apparently of the utmost solitude; but “even there shall Thy hand lead me and Thy right hand hold me.” In the third, exposure is what he cannot escape: darkness and light are relative only to man; for God there is no difference.

3. In the third section we come to that which is the full expression for the psalmist of that compassing about of man on God’s part,which at the same time shows fully the divine interest in him, and thus is the revelation to him of God, so as to bring him to fullness of delight in all His thoughts. As Christians we should not take up the mystery of our formation in the womb to assure ourselves of this; and that he does so shows us sufficiently the difference of the Old Testament standpoint. Christians are naturally, therefore, disposed to find in all this the typical presentation of Christian truths. But however this may do as application, the literal meaning must come first, and be the foundation of all other. It is true that this speaks to us only of the Creator, and leaves the question of sin unbottomed. Yet a soul that has realized redemption can and will come back to God’s creative thoughts, with fresh apprehension of the truth that He cannot “forsake the work of His own hands.” And the question of sin being here left out, at least makes the whole matter proportionately simple.

“For Thou hast acquired my reins” is the keynote of what follows. “The reins” stand for the very innermost parts; and, according to the Old Testament, the deepest recesses of the mind: there where the fundamental moral questions are entertained and find solution, -the good is received and the evil rejected.* God is the Master here; Lord of the conscience, which continually reminds us of Him and summons before His judgment-seat; and He has acquired this right over us by the fact to which the psalmist now goes on; that He is our Maker: “Thou hast acquired my reins: Thou coveredst” -or, perhaps, “didst interweave me in my mother’s womb.” Marvelous power it was that was at work there, and not idly, but with purpose and plan. “I will praise Thee, for I am fearfully, wonderfully made: marvelous are Thy works, and that my soul knoweth well.”

{*The reins or kidneys, as excretory organs, naturally speak of this and of such symbolism as far as possible from materialism -the Old Testament is full.}

He proceeds to speak of these marvels: of the bony framework upon which the flesh was supported; of the delicate embroidery of vessels and nerves ramifying through it; all this wrought in secret, in underparts of earth,” -not the ground, surely, which would scarcely have been true of Adam, -but of that human substance which is but animated dust. He thinks of that wrapped up embryo, and of the sketched out plan; in which each part of that continually progressing organism had, before coming into being, its predestined place.

Surely for us, who know much more of these things than the psalmist, the wonder of them should not be less. To him they were a revelation of God’s thoughts toward him, -precious thoughts of divine wisdom and love, which when looked at in the sum; the final outcome of it all, it was great indeed; but if you took them up to look at them in detail, they were numberless as the grains of sand. And still, to the man wakened up out of the unconsciousness of his beginning, as he has been rehearsing it, this same God abides. Could he desire to have Him banished?

4. How awful, then; the condition of the wicked: strangers and enemies to Him who made them; necessarily devoted to death by the very Author of their life. The psalmist is in perfect accord with the divine sentence, and counts the enemies of God as enemies to himself. But he is not unconscious of his own malady; and the sanctity of God’s presence is not a refuge merely for him from the wickedness around. He seeks it as a refuge from himself also, and welcomes the light of it, as where sin cannot be hid. Search me,” he cries, “O Mighty One,and know my heart; try me, and know my diverse” -literally, “branching” -“thoughts”: all those to him perplexing entanglements of thought which God alone could unravel; “and see if there be any grievous way in me,” -anything which is grievous to Thee: “and lead me in the way everlasting.”

This is “truth in the inward parts” attained then; and God is become the one help and refuge of the soul: first of all, where we must surely begin; for itself. The setting aside of man must begin here in order to be truthful. But it does not end here, as manifestly the need of redemption is not yet recognized, and the world is not seen either in its true character. The experience of this section has room yet to deepen and widen in those that are to come.

Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary

Psa 139:1-3. O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me That is, known me exactly, as men know those things which they diligently search out. Thou knowest my down-sitting, &c. All my postures and motions; my actions, and my cessation from action. Thou understandest my thoughts All my secret counsels, designs, and imaginations; afar off Before they are perfectly formed in my own mind. Thou knowest what my thoughts will be in such and such circumstances, long before I know it, yea, from all eternity. Thou compassest my path Thou watchest me on every side, and therefore discernest every step which I take. The expression is metaphorical, and seems to be taken either from huntsmen watching all the motions and lurking places of the beasts they hunt, and endeavour to catch; or from soldiers besieging their enemies in a city, and setting watches round about them. And my lying down When I am withdrawn from all company, and am reflecting on what has passed during the day, and am composing myself to rest, thou knowest what I have in my heart, and with what thoughts I lie down to sleep; and art acquainted with all my ways At all times, in all places, and in all situations and circumstances. Thou knowest what rule I walk by, what end I walk toward, and what company I walk with.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

This psalm is entitled, a psalm of David. All the Versions agree with the Hebrew in this. It must be regarded as one of the sublimest representations of the Divinity, and particularly with regard to omniscience, ever composed. It also represents the moral perfections of God as the searcher of hearts, and the avenger of crime. It represents the divinity under all the grandeur of the Godhead, by the name Jehovah, associated with the enquiry, Whither shall I go from thy Spirit, or flee from thy presence. Here we have JEHOVAH, his SPIRIT, and his PRESENCE. panayca, his faces or appearances, viz. the Messiah, of whom Isaiah says, the Angel of his presence saved them. The doctrine of an adorable Trinity beams out in the radiance of revelation. Gen 1:2. Isa 63:7.

Psa 139:19. Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, and bring to light every evil work. It is therefore the best wisdom and the first duty of man to purge his conscience of all crimes, by the proper fruits of unfeigned repentance; by restitution, by apologies for slander, by self-denial, and charities to the poor.

REFLECTIONS.

Here is another psalm which David composed in exile, as appeals from the nineteenth verse, in which he prays to be delivered from bloodthirsty men. It opens with a series of sublime and beautiful thoughts on the omniscience and omnipresence of God. He acknowledges with the highest reverence that the Lord knew what he would think, and how he would act in every possible situation and circumstance of life; and that he compassed his path as a fowler encloses game in his net, or as a general invests a fortress. These ideas of the divine perfections should inspire us with humiliation. We cannot comprehend the heights, we cannot fathom the depths of providence. We cannot attain to a perfect knowledge of the divine perfections; but God is graciously pleased so far to open his ways to those that fear him, as to give the fullest confidence in his power and love.

We cannot hide from God. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? In heaven God reigns on his high throne; in the grave his power is manifest, and he alone can make it a bed of down; or if we are in trouble, and would fain take wing like a dove in the morning, and fly to the uttermost parts of the west, there we should find God exactly as in the place we left. And if we should, being ashamed of our sins, hope for shelter in the darkest recesses of midnight, behold the darkness and the light are both alike to him. Then, Lord, we would run to thee; and not attempt, like the fruitless efforts of guilt, to seek a retreat from thee while corrupting ourselves with thy gifts. But what an argument is here to purity of heart, and rectitude of life. If God is an omnipresent being; if the Holy Spirit searches the deep things of God; if the great head of the church has eyes of flame; if the Holy Trinity, and the angelic hosts surround us; how vain is it for weak mortals to mask their vices in the garb of virtue, or to hide their shameful crimes with the veil of midnight gloom. Do they think that heaven will wink at wickedness? Will God be deaf to the cries of injured innocence; or will he suffer the secrets of hell to be unrevealed? Oh no; no, no. The walls of the house will tell, the whistling of the winds will whisper it abroad, the moon and stars will carry it afar, and the rising sun shall shame the deed. God will commission some angel to unravel all the plots, will embolden the injured, and the sinners own conscience, to implead him in open court. Teach us then to revere thy name, oh Lord; to walk as in thy sight; and fearing thee, may we fear none besides.

David founded this doctrine, so full of comfort, on the creative power of God. The Lord possessed his reins, or the interior of his heart, because he had formed him in the lowest parts of the earth; a modest expression for the bosom of his mother. Hence, as a prince delights to preserve and adorn a palace, or a temple he has built, so the everliving God must delight in the preservation and happiness of man.

These most sanctifying thoughts of God, prompted David to hate vice and vicious company; which hatred must be understood in unison with the many prayers he offers up for their conversion. And as a proof of his sincerity, he prays the Lord to search his heart for every latent seed of self- love, of known pride, and wrong desire; and to lead him in the way, so anciently marked by the paths of the patriarchs.

Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

CXXXIX. God is Everywhere: He Knows EverythingOh that He would Destroy the Wicked.This Ps. is among the most spiritual productions of the OT. It deals with the mystery of Divine providence, a theme frequently discussed after the Exile, when the national life had died out and each individual was brought face to face with the difficulties which surrounded him and with the thought of his ultimate fate. Other nations, of course, have engaged in similar speculation, but in very different tone and spirit. Here, as elsewhere, the Hebrew poet manifests intense belief in the personality of God, in His righteousness, in His care for the men He has made. He speaks in the first person singular, because he is giving expression to his own faith and in part to his own experience. Again, he uses no abstract terms such as omnipresence, omniscience, and the like: indeed in Biblical Heb. no such words are to be found. There is no indication of date, except the reason given above, for placing the Ps. after the Exile, but the strong Aramaic colouring of the vocabulary and the high probability that in Psa 139:13-16 we have a reminiscence of Job 10:9-11, point to a late origin. Certainly the greater originality seems to be with the passage in Job.

Psa 139:1-12. Gods intimate knowledge of the Psalmist and His constant proximity to him. He is familiar with all his ways and observes his most ordinary movements and actions. He knows the thought which is still unformed and the word which is still unuttered. The Psalmist finds such knowledge inconceivable. Further, God is in heaven and no less truly in Sheol, the latter assertion marking a significant advance in religious ideas, for the old notion (Psa 115:17) was that all memory of God ceased in Sheol. Were the poet to be borne on the wings of the morning (here personified, cf. Job 3:9*) and fly to the western ocean, God would still be with him. To God darkness and light are alike.

Psa 139:4. Translate, Before there is a word on my tongue, thou, O Yahweh, knowest it (the unuttered word) altogether, i.e. exactly.

Psa 139:11 b. Follow mg.

Psa 139:13-16. Mans wonderful creation.

Psa 139:13. reins: here all the interior organs.

Psa 139:15. Read, as in the lowest parts of the earth.

Psa 139:16 is corrupt and proposed emendations are very doubtful. Read perhaps, Thine eyes saw my days. They were all being written in thy book; they were formed while as yet there was none of them for me. The days of the Psalmists life were preordained by God and visible to Him, long before they had actual existence. For the Book of Life, see Psa 56:8; Psa 69:28.

Psa 139:17 f. Yahwehs inscrutable providence. The thoughtful care which God takes of the Psalmist is a heavy burden. The common interpretation, How precious, is unsuitable to the context, and the rendering just given, though Aramaic and not Heb., is quite permissible in a Ps. like this, which is partly Aramaic in its vocabulary. Moreover Gods care extends to all men, or at least to all Israelites. Great then is the sum (lit. sums) of them, i.e. the aggregate of Gods care for countless souls. The Psalmist is lost in contemplation of this mystery, and next morning when he wakes he is possessed by the same thought.

Psa 139:19-24. Oh that God would but destroy the wicked! The Psalmist has no theory on the existence of evil. His solution is a practical one. He will ever hate the wicked utterly. He begs Yahweh to see if there is anything in him which is sinful and must therefore result in affliction, and prays God to lead him in the way everlasting. It is impossible to say whether the poet was thinking of a life beyond death or only of a happy life prolonged to old age.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

PSALM 139

The godly man welcomes the searchings of God into the inmost recesses of his heart, desiring that he may be delivered from every evil way and led in the way everlasting.

In the experience of the psalmist the consciousness of the omniscience of God at first plunges his soul into the deepest distress as he thinks of his own broken responsibilities towards God. When, at length, he realizes that God’s works and God’s thoughts are toward him in grace, the omniscience of God becomes the source of his deepest comfort.

(vv. 1-6) Psalm 138 had closed with the recognition that we are the work of God’s hands. This psalm opens with the realization that, if this is so, we must be fully known to God, and ever in His hands. Thus the first six verses speak of the omniscience of God. First, we are searched and known (vv. 1-2); furthermore God searches into our paths, and takes note of all our ways: lastly, His hand is upon us, dealing with us according to His perfect knowledge. Such knowledge is too wonderful for us.

(vv. 7-12) Thinking of his own failure in responsibility, the godly man is overwhelmed in the presence of the omniscience of God. He would fain flee from the presence of God, and escape His all-searching gaze. He finds, however, that God is not only omniscient but also omnipresent. There is no escape from the Spirit of God; no place that God cannot penetrate; no solitude where God is not; no darkness that can hide from God.

(vv. 13-18) Here, however, there comes a great change in his experiences, as the result of turning from himself, and his own works, to God and His marvellous works as the Creator. With this change of experience he breaks into praise. He realizes that he is God’s possession, formed by God for God’s own purposes settled before ever he was fashioned. Above all, he realizes that God’s thoughts are towards him and not against him. They are precious and beyond comprehension. God is not only for him, but he is ever with God, the object of His unceasing care.

(vv. 19-24). Conscious that God is with him, the godly man realizes that he cannot associate with the wicked, who will be dealt with in judgment as those that speak against God.

Fuente: Smith’s Writings on 24 Books of the Bible

Psalms 139

David praised God for His omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence in this popular psalm. It is a plea for God to search the life to expose sin. It consists of four strophes of six verses each.

"The Gelineau version gives the psalm the heading ’The Hound of Heaven’, a reminder that Francis Thompson’s fine poem of that name owed its theme of flight and pursuit largely to the second stanza here (Psa 139:7-12), which is one of the summits of Old Testament poetry." [Note: Kidner, Psalms 73-150, p. 464.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

1. God’s omniscience 139:1-6

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

The opening verse expresses the theme of the psalm. God knew David intimately because of His penetrating examination.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Psa 139:1-24

THIS is the noblest utterance in the Psalter of pure contemplative theism, animated and not crushed by the thought of Gods omniscience and omnipresence. No less striking than the unequalled force and sublimity with which the psalm hymns the majestic attributes of an all-filling, all-knowing, all-creating God, is the firmness with which the singers personal relation to that God is grasped. Only in the last verses is there reference to other men. In the earlier parts of the psalm, there are but two beings in the universe-God and the psalmist. With impressive reiteration, Gods attributes are gazed on in their bearing on him. Not mere omniscience, but a knowledge which knows him altogether, not mere omnipresence, but a presence which he can nowhere escape, not mere creative power, but a power which shaped him, fill and thrill the psalmists soul. This is no cold theism, but vivid religion. Conscience and the consciousness of individual relation to God penetrate and vitalise the whole. Hence the sudden turn to prayer against evil men and for the singers direction in the right way, which closes the hymn, is natural, however abrupt.

The course of thought is plain. There are four strophes of six verses each, -of which the first (Psa 139:1-6) magnifies Gods omniscience; the second (Psa 139:7-12), His omnipresence; the third (Psa 139:13-18), His creative act, as the ground of the preceding attributes; and the fourth (Psa 139:19-24) recoils from men who rebel against such a God, and joyfully submits to the searching of His omniscient eye, and the guidance of His ever-present hand.

The psalmist is so thoroughly possessed by the thought of his personal relation to God that his meditation spontaneously takes the form of address to Him. That form adds much to the impressiveness, but is no rhetorical or poetic artifice. Rather, it is the shape in which such intense consciousness of God cannot but utter itself. How cold and abstract the awestruck sentences become, if we substitute “He” for “Thou,” and “men” for “I” and “me”! The first overwhelming thought of Gods relation to the individual soul is that He completely knows the whole man. “Omniscience” is a pompous word, which leaves us unaffected by either awe or conscience. But the psalmists God was a God who came into close touch with him, and the psalmists religion translated the powerless generality of an attribute referring to the Divine relation to the universe into a continually exercised power having reference to himself. He utters his reverent consciousness of it in Psa 139:1 in a single clause, and expands that verse in the succeeding ones. “Thou hast searched me” describes a process of minute investigation; “and known [me],” its result in complete knowledge.

That knowledge is then followed out in various directions, and recognised as embracing the whole man in all his modes of action and repose, in all his inner and outward life. Psa 139:2 and Psa 139:3 are substantially parallel. “Down-sitting” and “uprising” correspond to “walking” and “lying down,” and both antitheses express the contrast between action and rest. “My thought” in Psa 139:2 corresponds to “my ways” in Psa 139:3, -the former referring to the inner life of thought, purpose, and will; the latter to the outward activities which carry these into effect. Psa 139:3 is a climax to Psa 139:2, in so far as it ascribes a yet closer and more accurate knowledge to God. “Thou siftest” or winnowest gives a picturesque metaphor for careful and judicial scrutiny which discerns wheat from chaff. “Thou art familiar” implies intimate and habitual knowledge. But thought and action are not the whole man. The power of speech, which the Psalter always treats as solemn and a special object of Divine approval or condemnation, must also be taken into account. Psa 139:4 brings it, too, under Gods cognisance. The meaning may either be that “There is no word on my tongue [which] Thou dost not know altogether”; or, “The word is not yet on my tongue, [but] lo! Thou knowest,” etc. “Before it has shaped itself on the tongue, [much less been launched from it], thou knowest all its secret history” (Kay).

The thought that God knows him through and through blends in the singers mind with the other, that God surrounds him on every side. Psa 139:5 thus anticipates the thought of the next strophe, but presents it rather as the basis of Gods knowledge, and as limiting mans freedom. But the psalmist does not feel that he is imprisoned, or that the hand laid on him is heavy. Rather, he rejoices in the defence of an encompassing God, who shuts off evil from him, as well as shuts him in from self-willed and self-determined action; and he is glad to be held by a hand so gentle as well as strong. Thou God seest me may either be a dread or a blessed thought. It may paralyse or stimulate. It should be the ally of conscience, and, while it stirs to all noble deeds, should also emancipate from all slavish fear. An exclamation of reverent wonder and confession of the limitation of human comprehension closes the strophe.

Why should the thought that God is ever with the psalmist be put in the shape of vivid pictures of the impossibility of escape from Him? It is the sense of sin which leads men to hide from God, like Adam among the trees of the garden. The psalmist does not desire thus to flee, but he supposes the case, which would be only too common if men realised Gods knowledge of all their ways. He imagines himself reaching the extremities of the universe in vain flight, and stunned by finding God there. The utmost possible height is coupled with the utmost possible depth. Heaven and Sheol equally fail to give refuge from that moveless Face, which confronts the fugitive in both, and fills them as it fills all the intervening dim distances. The dawn flushes the east, and swiftly passes on roseate wings to the farthest bounds of the Mediterranean, which, to the psalmist, represented the extreme west, a land of mystery. In both places and in all the broad lands between, the fugitive would find himself in the grasp of the same hand (compare Psa 139:5).

Darkness is the friend of fugitives from men; but is transparent to God. In Psa 139:11 the language is somewhat obscure. The word rendered above “cover” is doubtful, as the Hebrew text reads “bruise,” which is quite unsuitable here. Probably there has been textual error, and the slight correction which yields the above sense is to be adopted, as by many moderns. The second clause of the verse carries on the supposition of the first, and is not to be regarded, as in the A.V., as stating the result of the supposition, or, in grammatical language, the apodosis. That begins with Psa 139:12, and is marked there, as in Psa 139:10, by “even.”

The third strophe (Psa 139:13-18) grounds the psalmists relation to God on Gods creative act. The mysteries of conception and birth naturally struck the imagination of nonscientific man, and are to the psalmist the direct result of Divine power. He touches them with poetic delicacy and devout awe, casting a veil of metaphor over the mystery, and losing sight of human parents in the clear vision of the Divine Creator. There is room for his thought of the origin of the individual life, behind modern knowledge of embryology. In Psa 139:13 the word rendered in the A.V. “possessed” is better understood in this context as meaning “formed,” and that rendered there “covered” {as in Psa 140:7} here means to plait or weave together, and picturesquely describes the interlacing bones and sinews, as in Job 10:11. But description passes into adoration in Psa 139:14. Its language is somewhat obscure. The verb rendered “wondrously made” probably means here “selected” or “distinguished,” and represents man as the chef doeuvre of the Divine Artificer. The psalmist cannot contemplate his own frame, Gods workmanship, without breaking into thanks, nor without being touched with awe. Every man carries in his own body reasons enough for reverent gratitude.

The word for “bones” in Psa 139:15 is a collective noun, and might be rendered “bony framework.” The mysterious receptacle in which the unborn body takes shape and grows is delicately described as “secret” and likened to the hidden region of the underworld, where are the dead. The point of comparison is the mystery enwrapping both. The same comparison occurs in Jobs pathetic words, “Naked came I out of my mothers womb, and naked shall I return thither.” It is doubtful whether the word rendered above “wrought like embroidery” refers to a pattern wrought by weaving or by needlework. In any case, it describes “the variegated colour of the individual members, especially of the viscera” (Delitzsch). The mysteries of antenatal being are still pursued in Psa 139:16, which is extremely obscure. It is, however, plain that a sets forth the Divine knowledge of man in his first rudiments of corporeity. “My shapeless mass” is one word, meaning anything rolled up in a bundle or ball. But in b it is doubtful what is referred to in “they all.” Strictly, the word should point back to something previously mentioned; and hence the A.V. and R.V. suppose that the “shapeless mass” is thought of as resolved into its component parts, and insert “my members”; but it is better to recognise a slight irregularity here, and to refer the word to the “days” immediately spoken of, which existed in the Divine foreknowledge long before they had real objective existence in the actual world. The last clause of the verse is capable of two different meanings, according as the Hebrew text or margin is followed. This is one of a number of cases in which there is a doubt whether we should read “not” or “to him” (or “it”). The Hebrew words having these meanings are each of two letters, the initial one being the same in both, and both words having the same sound. Confusion might easily therefore arise, and as a matter of fact there are numerous cases in which the text has the one and the margin the other of these two words. Here, if we adhere to the text, we read the negative, and then the force of the clause is to declare emphatically that the “days” were written in Gods book, and in a real sense “fashioned,” when as yet they had not been recorded in earths calendars. If, on the other hand, the marginal reading is preferred, a striking meaning is obtained: “And for it [i.e., for the birth of the shapeless mass] there was one among them [predestined in Gods book].”

In Psa 139:17-18 the poet gathers together and crowns all his previous contemplations by the consideration that this God, knowing him altogether, ever near him, and Former of his being, has great “thoughts” or purposes affecting him individually. That assurance makes omniscience and omnipresence joys, and not terrors. The root meaning of the word rendered “precious” is weighty. The singer would weigh Gods thoughts towards him, and finds that they weigh down his scales. He would number them, and finds that they pass his enumeration. It is the same truth of the transcendent greatness and graciousness of Gods purposes as is conveyed in Isaiahs “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My thoughts than your thoughts.” “I awake, and am still with Thee,”-this is an artless expression of the psalmists blessedness in realising Gods continual nearness. He awakes from sleep, and is conscious of glad wonder to find that, like a tender mother by her slumbering child, God has been watching over him, and that all the blessed communion of past days abides as before.

The fiery hatred of evil and evil men which burns in the last strophe offends many and startles more. But while the vehement prayer that “Thou wouldest slay the wicked” is not in a Christian tone, the recoil from those who could raise themselves against such a God is the necessary result of the psalmists delight in Him. Attraction and repulsion are equal and contrary. The measure of our cleaving to that which is good, and to Him who is good, settles the measure of our abhorrence of that which is evil. The abrupt passing from petition in Psa 139:19 a to command in b has been smoothed away by a slight alteration which reads, “And that men of blood would depart from me”; but the variation in tense is more forcible, and corresponds with the speakers strong emotion. He cannot bear companionship with rebels against God. His indignation has no taint of personal feeling, but is pure zeal for Gods honour.

Psa 139:20 presents difficulties. The word rendered in the A.V. and R.V. (text) “speak against Thee” is peculiarly spelt if this is its meaning, and its construction is anomalous. Probably, therefore, the rendering should be as above. That meaning does not require a change of consonants, but only of vowel points. The difficulty of the last clause lies mainly in the word translated in the A.V. adversaries; and in the R.V. “enemies.” That meaning is questionable; and if the word is the nominative to the verb in the clause, the construction is awkward, since the preceding “who” would naturally extend its influence to this clause. Textual emendation has been resorted to: the simplest form of which is to read “against Thee” for “Thine adversaries,” a change of one letter. Another form of emendation, which is adopted by Cheyne and Graetz, substitutes “Thy name,” and reads the whole, “And pronounce Thy name for falsehoods.” Delitzsch adheres to the reading “adversaries,” and by a harsh ellipsis makes the whole to run, “Who pronounce [Thy name] deceitfully-Thine adversaries.”

The vindication of the psalmists indignation lies in Psa 139:21-22. That soul must glow with fervent love to God which feels wrong done to His majesty with as keen a pain as if it were itself struck. What God says to those who love Him, they in their degree say to God: “He that toucheth Thee toucheth the apple of mine eye.” True, hate is not the Christian requital of hate, whether that is directed against God or Gods servant. But recoil there must be, if there is any vigour of devotion; only, pity and love must mingle with it, and the evil of hatred be overcome by their good.

Very beautifully does the lowly prayer for searching and guidance follow the psalmists burst of fire. It is easier to glow with indignation against evildoers than to keep oneself from doing evil. Many secret sins may hide under a cloak of zeal for the Lord. So the psalmist prays that God would search him, not because he fancies that there is no lurking sin to be burned by the light of Gods eye, like vermin that nestle and multiply under stones and shrivel when the sunbeams strike them, but because he dreads that there is, and would fain have it cast out. The psalm began with declaring that Jehovah had searched and known the singer, and it ends with asking for that searching knowledge.

It makes much difference, not indeed in the reality or completeness of Gods knowledge of use but in the good we derive therefrom, whether we welcome and submit to it, or try to close our trembling hearts, that do not wish to be cleansed of their perilous stuff, from that loving and purging gaze. God will cleanse the evil which He sees, if we are willing that He should see it. Thoughts of the inner life and “ways” of the outer are equally to be submitted to Him. There are two “ways” in which men can walk. The one is a “way of grief or pain,” because that is its terminus. All sin is a blunder. And the inclination to such ways is “in me,” as every man who has dealt honestly with himself knows. The other is “a way everlasting,” a way which leads to permanent good, which continues uninterrupted through the vicissitudes of life, and even (though that was not in the psalmists mind) through the darkness of death, and with ever closer approximation to its goal in God, through the cycles of eternity. And that way is not “in me,” but I must he led into and in it by the God who knows me altogether and is ever with me, to keep my feet in the way of life, if I hold the guiding hand which He lays upon me.

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary