Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 139:11
If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.
11, 12. And if I say, Nay, but darkness might shroud me,
And the light about me become night;
Even darkness hideth not from thee, &c.
It is as impossible to hide from God under cover of darkness as it is to escape from Him by change of place ( Psa 139:8-9). The A.V. even the night shall be light about me seems to mean that the light of God’s presence will banish the terrors of darkness; but this sense does not fit the context. The Psalmist is not expressing his confidence in God’s protection, but his conviction of His omniscience. Those who think to escape God’s notice in the night as they avoid the eye of men (Job 24:13-17) do but delude themselves. The word rendered cover or shroud is a rare one, and is elsewhere taken to mean overwhelm (R.V.) but this sense does not suit the context and we must either assume that it has an unusual meaning, or emend the text. Symm. and Jer. render cover.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me – If I seek to find refuge in the darkness of the night so that God would not see me. The word rendered cover – shuph – means properly to snap, to gape after; then, to lie in wait for; and then, to attack, or fall upon anyone, unexpectedly. It is rendered bruise (twice) in Gen 3:15, He shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel; breaketh in Job 9:17, He breaketh me with a tempest; and in this place cover. It does not occur elsewhere. Here it means to fall upon; to overpower; to cover. The idea is, If it should come suddenly upon me; if I should be involved in sudden darkness – as if the darkness should come and attempt to snatch me away from God. All this would be in vain, for it would be, so far as God is concerned, bright day around me.
Even the night shall be light about me – In respect to me. It shall be as if I stood in the full blaze of light. God can see me still; he can mark my goings; he can perceive all that I do as plainly then as at mid-day. This is so: and what a thought this is for a wicked man who seeks to escape detection in his crimes by perpetrating them in the night! What a thought for a good man, that in the darkest night of sorrow, when there seems to be nothing but deep midnight, when there appears to be not a ray of light in his dwelling, or on his path that all to the eye of God is as clear as noon-day! For in that night of sorrow God sees him as plainly as in the brightest days of prosperity and joy.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 11. Surely the darkness shall cover me] Should I suppose that this would serve to screen me, immediately this darkness is turned into light.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Shall be as clear and manifest to God as the light itself.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me,…. The darkness of a cloud or of the night, so that my actions shall not be seen; that is, if I entertain such a thought in my mind, that what I do in the dark will escape the sight and knowledge of God, and so be emboldened to commit it;
even the night shall be light about me; and make all my works manifest, as light does.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
11. If I shall say, etc. David represents himself as a man using every possible method to make his escape from a situation of embarrassment. So having acknowledged that it was vain to dream of flight, he bethinks himself of another remedy, and says, If no speed of mine can bear me out of the range of God’s vision, yet, on the supposition of light being removed, the darkness might cover me, that I might have a short breath of respite. But this also he declares to be hopeless, as God sees equally well in the deepest darkness as at noon-day. It is a mistake in my opinion to consider, as some have done, that the two clauses of the verse are to be taken separately, and read, If I shall say the darkness will cover me, even the night shall be as light before me — meaning that darkness would be converted into light, and so though he saw nothing himself, he would stand manifest before the eye of God. David is rather to be considered as in both clauses expressing what he might be supposed to feel desirous of, and intimates that, could he only find any covert or subterfuge, he would avail himself of the license; (208) “if I shall say, at least the darkness will cover me, and the night be as light for me,” that is, in the sense in which it is so to the robbers or wild beasts of the forest, who then range at greater liberty. That this is the proper construction of the words we may infer from the particle גם , gam. If any one should ‘think it a very unnecessary observation to say that as respects God there is no difference between light and darkness, it is enough to remind him that all observation proves with what reluctance and extreme difficulty men are brought to come forward openly and ‘unreservedly into God’s presence. In words we all grant that God is omniscient; meanwhile what none would ever think of controverting we secretly make no account of whatsoever, in so far as we make no scruple of mocking God, and lack even that reverence of him which we extend to one of our fellow-creatures. We are ashamed to let men know and witness our delinquencies; but we are as indifferent to what God may think of us, as if our sins were covered and veiled from his inspection. This infatuation if not sharply reproved will soon change light, so far as we are concerned, into darkness, and therefore David insists upon the subject at length in order to refute our false apprehensions. Be it our concern to apply the reproofs given, and stir ourselves up by them, when we feel disposed to become secure.
(208) “ C’est plustost que David prononcant ee propos selon son propre sentiment, entend que pourveu qu’il puisse estre par quelqne moyen couvert et cache, il aura quelque peu de bon temps,” etc. — Fr.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(11) If I say . . .Rather,
I say only let darkness crush me,
And light become night around me.
Commentators have mostly been frightened by the metaphor in the first line, though it has been preserved both by the LXX. and Vulg., and can only be avoided either by forcing the meaning of the verb from what it bears in Gen. 3:15, Job. 9:17, or altering the text. Yet the Latins could speak even in prose of a region oppressed by darkness (Sen. Ep. 82); and when night was used as figurative of death, nocte premi was a common poetical figure. Indeed, the word rendered darkness here is actually, in Psa. 88:6, used of death, and if we understood this figure here we might render the word trample, illustrating by Horace
Jam te premet nox fabulque Manes.
Such a view would suit the thought to which the poet immediately passesto God the darkness of death and the nothingness before birth are alike. On the other hand, as the main thought is that nowhere is there escape from Gods sight in height, or depth, or distance so to exhaust the possibilities we seem to need, darkness.
The second clause does not begin the apodosis: it is in synthetic parallelism with the first.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
11. Darkness He has found distance to make no difference with the power, knowledge, and presence of God. He now shows that darkness and light are both alike with him.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 139:11 If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.
Ver. 11. The darkness shall cover me ] The Hebrew phrase is taken from beasts that lie a-squat, saith Diodati, Nocte latent mendae, sed non Deum. The guilty conscience sharketh up and down for comfort, but getteth none.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Surely: Psa 10:11-13, Psa 94:7, Job 22:12-14, Isa 29:15, Jer 23:24
even the night: Job 12:22
Reciprocal: Num 32:23 – be sure your sin 1Ki 3:20 – midnight Job 22:14 – General Job 26:6 – Hell Job 34:22 – no Eze 16:36 – and thy Dan 2:22 – he knoweth Heb 4:13 – is there
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
139:11 If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be {g} light about me.
(g) Though darkness is a hinderance to man’s sight, yet is serves your eyes as well as the light.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
David spoke of the night as bruising him (Psa 139:11) because it is often at night that harm comes to people. The only other places in the Old Testament where the Hebrew word sup, translated "overwhelm" (NASB) or "hide" (NIV), occurs are in Gen 3:15 and Job 9:17 where the translation is "bruise." However, since darkness and light are the same to God, David felt secure always. Darkness does not hide things from God’s sight as it does from human eyes.