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... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 139:2. _MY DOWNSITTING AND MINE UPRISING_] Even these inconsiderable and casual things are under thy continual notice. I cannot so much as _take a seat_, or _leave it_, without being marked by thee. _THOU UNDERSTANDEST MY THOUGHT_] לרעי _lerei_, "my cogitation." This word is _Chaldee_,... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 139:3. _THOU COMPASSEST MY PATH_] זרית _zeritha_ thou dost winnow, ventilate, or _sift_ my path; and my lying down, רבעי _ribi_, my _lair_, my _bed_. _AND ART ACQUAINTED_] _Thou treasurest up_. This is the import of _sachan_. Thou hast the _whole number_ of my ways, and the steps I too... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 139:4. THERE IS _NOT A WORD IN MY TONGUE_] Although (כי _ki_) _there be not a word in my tongue, behold O Jehovah, thou knowest_ _the whole of it_, that is, thou knowest all my _words before_ they are _uttered_, as thou knowest all my _thoughts_ while as yet they are _unformed_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 139:5. _THOU HAST BESET ME BEHIND AND BEFORE_] אחור וקדם צרתני _achor vekodam tsartani_, "The hereafter and the past, thou hast formed me." I think Bishop Horsley's emendation here is just, uniting the two verses together. "Behold thou, O Jehovah, knowest the whole, the hereafter and th... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 139:6. SUCH _KNOWLEDGE_ IS _TOO WONDERFUL_] I think, with _Kennicott_, that פלאיה דעת _pelaiah daath_ should be read פלאי הדעת _peli haddaath_, "THIS knowledge," ממני _mimmenni_, "is beyond or above me." This change is made by taking the ה _he_ from the end of פלאיה _pelaiah_, which is... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 139:7. _WHITHER SHALL I GO FROM THY SPIRIT?_] Surely רוח _ruach_ in this sense must be taken _personally_, it certainly cannot mean either _breath_ or _wind_; to render it so would make the passage ridiculous. _FROM THY PRESENCE?_] מפניך _mippaneycha_, "from thy faces." Why do we meet... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 139:8. _IF I ASCEND_] Thou art in _heaven_, in thy glory; in _hell_, in thy vindictive justice; and in all _parts of earth, water,_ _space, place_, or _vacuity_, by thy _omnipresence_. Wherever I am, there art thou; and where I cannot be, thou art there. Thou fillest the heavens and the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 139:11. _SURELY THE DARKNESS SHALL COVER ME_] Should I suppose that this would serve to screen me, immediately this _darkness_ is turned into _light_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 139:12. _YEA, THE DARKNESS HIDETH NOT FROM THEE_] Darkness and light, ignorance and knowledge, are things that stand in relation to us; God sees equally in _darkness_ as in _light_; and _knows_ as perfectly, however man is enveloped in _ignorance_, as if all were _intellectual brightne... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 139:13. _THOU HAST POSSESSED MY REINS_] As the Hebrews believed that the _reins_ were the first part of the human fetus that is formed, it may here mean, thou hast laid the foundation of my being.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 139:14. _I AM FEARFULLY AND WONDERFULLY MADE_] The texture of the human body is the most complicated and curious that can be conceived. It is, indeed, _wonderfully made_; and it is withal so exquisitely _nice_ and _delicate_, that the slightest accident may impair or destroy in a moment... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 139:15. _MY SUBSTANCE WAS NOT HID FROM THEE_] עצמי _atsmi_, my _bones_ or _skeleton_. _CURIOUSLY WROUGHT_] רקמתי _rukkamti_, embroidered, _made of_ _needlework_. These two words, says Bishop Horsley, describe the two principal parts of which the human body is composed; the _bony_ _skel... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 139:16. _THINE EYES DID SEE MY SUBSTANCE_] גלמי _golmi_, my _embryo state_-my yet indistinct mass, when all was _wrapped up_ together, before it was gradually unfolded into the lineaments of man. "Some think," says Dr. Dodd, "that the allusion to _embroidery_ is still carried on. As the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 139:17. _HOW PRECIOUS ALSO ARE THY THOUGHTS_] רעיך _reeycha_, thy _cogitations_; a _Chaldaism_, as before. _HOW GREAT IS THE SUM OF THEM!_] מה עצמו ראשיהם _mah atsemu_ _rasheyhem; How strongly rational are the heads or principal_ _subjects of them_! But the word may apply to the _bones... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 139:18. IF _I SHOULD COUNT THEM_] I should be glad to enumerate so many interesting particulars: but they are beyond calculation. _WHEN I AWAKE_] Thou art my Governor and Protector night and day. _I AM STILL WITH THEE._] All my steps in life are ordered by thee: I cannot go out of thy... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 139:19. _SURELY THOU WILT SLAY THE WICKED_] The remaining part of this Psalm has no visible connexion with the preceding. I rather think it a fragment, or a part of some other Psalm. _YE BLOODY MEN._] אנשי דמים _anshey damim, men of blood_, men _guilty of death_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 139:20. _THINE ENEMIES TAKE_ thy name _in vain._] Bishop _Horsley_ translates the whole verse thus: - "They have deserted me who are disobedient to thee; "They who are sworn to a rash purpose - thy refractory adversaries." The _original_ is obscure: but I cannot see these things in... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 139:21. _DO NOT I HATE THEM_] I hold their conduct in abomination.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 139:22. _WITH PERFECT HATRED_] Their _conduct_, their _motives_, their _opposition_ to _thee_, their _perfidy_ and _idolatrous_ _purposes_, I perfectly abhor. With them I have neither part, interest, nor affection.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 139:23. _SEARCH ME, O GOD_] _Investigate_ my conduct, _examine_ my _heart_, put me to _the test_, and _examine_ my _thoughts_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 139:24. _IF_ THERE BE ANY _WICKED WAY_] דרך עצב _derech otseb:_ _a way of idolatry_, or of _error_. Any thing false in _religious_ _principle_; any thing contrary to _piety_ to thyself, and love and benevolence to man. And he needed to offer such prayer as this, while filled with indign... [ Continue Reading ]