To modern readers, this pa... Shout. But for most of human history, people didn’t know each other’s movements to that extent unless they were living in the same house. Each person has existed in the mind of God eternally. There is a point of contact between our knowledge and God’s knowledge. 2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Yahweh created him. For further study, see Craig C. Broyles, New International Biblical Commentary: Psalms, pages 26-31 and A.A. Anderson, The New Century Bible Commentary: Psalms (1-72), pages 43-45. Does the psalmist see God’s presence as a blessing or a curse? Psalm 139:4 "For [there is] not a word in my tongue, [but], lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether." 21 Yahweh, don’t I hate those who hate you? You may unsubscribe from these email communications at any time. His very presence casts out all darkness (John 1:5). 4 (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1996), Ross, Allen P., A Commentary on the Psalms, 90-150, Vol. 23-24). Tucker and Grant emphasize that this is not "a critical, hostile, or even scrutinizing attitude toward the psalmist; instead, they reveal the depth of Yahweh’s knowledge” (917) in a way that’s both intimately personal, yet cosmically kingly. This knowledge is firmly in view through the rest of this first strophe, where the reach of Yahweh’s knowledge extends to even the psalmists thoughts (v 4). When we are doing something wrong, we would prefer that God look the other way. Am I not grieved with those who rise up against you? No reason is provided or justification offered for the divine hand that has befallen the psalmist. Or where could I flee from your presence? Psalm 139 is a beautiful meditation on four attributes of God: His knowledge, presence, power, and holiness. If you have any questions, please review our. And he marvels at this, confessing a sense of awe at the vastness of God’s thoughts about him. Chapter 139 Some of the Jewish doctors are of opinion that this is the most excellent of all the psalms of David; and a very pious devout meditation it is upon the doctrine of God’s omniscience, which we should therefore have our hearts fixed upon and filled with in singing this psalm. In our day, we see anatomical drawings in our doctors’ offices that demonstrate the intricate detail that went into the design of our bodies. Elsewhere the psalmist says, “for you are with me” (Psalm 23:4). One image that comes to mind is a mother tending her child. Tucker and Grant consi… “If I take the wings of the dawn, and settle in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand will hold me” (vv. ‘osem) wasn’t hidden from you when I was made in secret, woven together in the depths of the earth. Now the psalmist pulls back from the panoramic view of Yahweh’s love to focus on one detail. Walter Brueggemann describes this relationship by saying, “The Psalms are prayers addressed to a known, named, identifiable You. 1 O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. “You hem me in (Hebrew: sur) behind and before. The supplicant David, then, blends wisdom themes with a complaint in offering his psalm of prayer and worship before the Lord. A Psalm by David. He hates those who hate Yahweh. LORD, you know it all.. 5 Behind and before you encircle me “For the Chief Musician” (Hebrew: menasseah––leader). “Because the psalmist desires the presence of God, he seeks to eradicate anything in his own life that might vitiate that life-giving relationship” (925). Instead, they point to Goldingay here: “‘the person who has nothing to hide has nothing to fear of Yhwh’s binding or the touch of Yhwh’s hand’ [Psalms 3, 630]. The psalmist further prays that Yahweh will guide him “in the everlasting way” (derek). Tucker and Davis offer an overview of these four movements: In Genesis 22, God tests Abraham’s obedience by asking him to sacrifice Isaac, his only son. But Yahweh knows even more than our sitting down and rising up. Enter. W. Dennis Tucker and Jamie A. These merisms follow the Lord’s searching of the psalmist, where thereafter he knows him. (General Editor), New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology & Exegesis, 5 vol., (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1997), All Rights Reserved | © 1997-2020 Richard Niell Donovan. We can be grateful that Yahweh loves us enough to use both ways to understand us. “My frame (Heb. “The psalmist acknowledges that human creation, from its beginning, is a mystery and a wonder known only to God” (921). Psalm 139:16 “Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” Explanation and Commentary of Psalm 139:16. And laid Your hand upon me. “The hymnic nature of the first eighteen verses seems to support the claims of Hermann Gunkel and Claus Westermann” (915). This is one of a number of psalms that include a superscription concerning David. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me; Your form could not be submitted. The writer of Psalm 139 suggests that if he were in the darkness, the place of chaos and death, the place that is absent of light, then perhaps finally he would find a place apart from God. There has been considerable debate about the precise genre of this psalm. He has made a deliberate effort to know him. The point of this verse is that God knew all about the psalmist, including the shape that his life would take, even before the psalmist was born––even before he had experienced one day of life. You laid your hand on me. How vast is their sum! The psalmist expresses his faith that Yahweh designed and brought into being the hidden parts of his body. 9-10). Yahweh has taken the initiative to know the psalmist in depth, which sounds like a lover seeking to understand the beloved. Tucker and Davis offer an overview of these four movements: The language adopted in the first two strophes underscores the dominance of the “I-Thou” relationship in the poem. . even the darkness doesn’t hide from you, but the night shines as the day. Earlier in the poem the hand of God is said to guide the psalmist (v. 10a), thereby suggesting once more the formative work of God in his life. We might think of hagar and zarah as reflecting the right brain/left brain dichotomy. Note that the Hebrew word translated search in this verse (zarah) is different from the word translated searched (haqar) in verse 1. 4 Even before there is a word on my tongue,. They could see that they were fearfully and wonderfully made––but not a great deal more. ; and Briggs, Charles A., The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 1906, 2004), Doniach, N.S. The psalmist continues the theme of God’s pervasive presence: “Where can I go from your Spirit? What’s more, the psalmist uses four verbs of perception, reflecting Yahweh’s attentiveness to the fullness of the psalmist’s life: “to know” (yada‘); “to perceive” (bin); “to discern” (zarah); and “to be familiar with” (sakan). In the first strophe "you" serves as the subject of nearly all the verbs, while in the second strophe, "I" dominates throughout. 12 even the darkness doesn’t hide from you, “When I wake up, I am still with you” (v. 18b). The psalm is intimately personal, as is the God to whom the psalm testifies” (925). This verse states that Yahweh had foreknowledge of the psalmist’s life before he was born. (Also see the comments on verse 2 above.). This connects well with the rest of v. 15, where the “secret” place and “depths of the earth” likely refers to the depths his mother’s womb. when as yet there were none of them. 2 You know my sitting down and my rising up. ), The New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, 5 vol. Tucker and Grant note several verses that seems to suggest the weightiness that comes with the nearness of God’s presence in offering comfort: Then there are the images of God’s hand that further illustrate this “flight and fascination” with God’s presence in the psalm: This tenuous balance between “flight and fascination” exists throughout Scripture. 17 How precious to me are your thoughts, God! Yahweh lays his hand on the psalmist to steady him––to reassure him––to guide him––to strengthen him––not to trap him. He knows our every movement hour by hour and day by day. We don’t know. O LORD, You have searched me and known me.You know my sitting down and my rising up;You understand my thought afar off.You comprehend my path and my lying down,And are acquainted with all my ways.For there is not a word on my tongue,But behold, O LORD, You know it altogether.You have hedged me behind and before,And laid Your hand upon me.Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;It is high, I cannot attain it.a. My soul (Hebrew: nepes) knows that very well” (v. 14b). If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there!” (vv. How vast is their sum! A Psalm by David. The God who appears to Israel on Mount Sinai in a theophany is the same God who exacts judgment moments later at the base of that very mountain. Psalm 139 reflects on the human condition, and specifically God’s interaction with the individual human experience. 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