CXXXIX. This psalm falls into four strophes unequal in length, but clearly marked. Had it ended at the third it could have been easily described as a poem on the omniscience and omnipresence of God, and though many of the expressions that have been used about this psalm would seem extravagant if rep... [ Continue Reading ]
SEARCHED... — Comp. Psalms 44:21, “shall not God search this out.” The word is used of mining operations, Job 28:3; of exploring a country, Judges 18:2.... [ Continue Reading ]
DOWN-SITTING AND UPRISING — as in Deuteronomy 6:7, to denote the whole daily life — business and rest. THOUGHT. — An Aramaic form found nowhere else, but, from one possible derivation (“companion”), meaning the thoughts which are inseparable companions, _most intimate thoughts._ Comp. _Macbeth_ 3:... [ Continue Reading ]
COMPASSEST. — There is some obscurity about this word. The Hebrew verb means first _to scatter,_ and is used of throwing corn about to winnow it (Isaiah 30:24; Jeremiah 4:11; Ruth 3:2). Hence by an easy metaphor it may mean _to sift_ or _search out._ The LXX. and Theodotion, followed by the Vulg., h... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THERE IS NOT... — This has been understood in two ways: — My tongue cannot utter a word which thou dost not altogether know. or, Before my tongue can utter a word thou knowest it altogether.... [ Continue Reading ]
BESET — as a beleagured city from which there is no escape.... [ Continue Reading ]
SUCH... — God’s omniscience is for man at once _transcendent, unattainable, impossible._ Possibly the article has dropped away, and we should read _this knowledge._ LXX. and Vulg. have “thy knowledge.” For the thought comp. Psalms 139:17, and Romans 11:33.... [ Continue Reading ]
SPIRIT. — If this clause stood alone we should naturally understand by God’s _Spirit_ His creative and providential power, from which nothing can escape (comp. Psalms 104:30). But taken in parallelism with _presence_ in the next clause the expression leads on to a thought towards which the theology... [ Continue Reading ]
IF I MAKE MY BED IN HELL. — Literally, _If I make Sheôl my bed._ (For the thought see Amos 9:2, and comp. Proverbs 15:11; Job 26:6.) This conviction that the underworld was not exempt from the vigilance and even from the visitation of Jehovah makes an advance in thought from Psalms 6:5 (where see N... [ Continue Reading ]
IF... — Literally, I lift wings of dawn I dwell in the end of the sea. THE WINGS OF THE MORNING. — This exquisite image suggesting not only the pinions of cloud that seem often to lift the dawn into the sky, but also the swift sailing of the light across the world, may be compared to the “wings of... [ Continue Reading ]
EVEN THERE... — The expressions “lead me,” “hold me,” are elsewhere used of the protecting and guiding providence of God (Psalms 5:8; Psalms 23:3; Psalms 27:11; Psalms 73:24). And yet the psalmist speaks here as if he were a guilty being trying to escape from the Divine notice. The truth is a profou... [ Continue Reading ]
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... [ Continue Reading ]
HIDETH NOT. — Better to keep as near as possible to the original _maketh not dark._ Others render _cannot be too dark for thee._ The highest development of the psalmist’s thought is of course to be found in St. John’s declaration, “God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.” SHINETH. — Or, _giv... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR... — The mystery of birth regarded as one of the greatest mysteries (see Ecclesiastes 11:5), is a proof of God’s omniscience. POSSESSED. — The context seems to require _formed, fashioned,_ as, according to Gesenius, in Deuteronomy 32:6, (Authorised Version “bought”) (Comp. Genesis 14:19, where... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR I AM... — Literally, _because I am fearfully separated_ or _distinguished_ (see Note on Psalms 26:7; Psalms 40:5), which might mean _separated from the womb, i.e., born._ (Comp. Galatians 1:15; Psalms 22:10.) Or if the reference is national rather than individual, it would imply, as so frequentl... [ Continue Reading ]
SUBSTANCE. — Aquila “bones,” LXX. and Vulg. “bone,” Symmachus “strength.” Perhaps, generally, _body._ But the common Hebrew word for bone differs only in the pointing. IN SECRET. — Comp. _Æ_sch. _Eum._ 665. CURIOUSLY WROUGHT. — From the use of the verb in Exodus 26:36; Exodus 27:16, it plainly ref... [ Continue Reading ]
This difficult verse, rendered word for word, gives — “My fœtus (literally, _rolled_) saw thine eyes, And on thy book all of them were written; Days were formed, and not (or, as the Hebrew margin, _to him_) one in them.” The reading “substance yet being imperfect” of the Authorised Version follow... [ Continue Reading ]
PRECIOUS. — Rather, _weighty,_ the first meaning of the word. The parallelism requires this, as also the peculiar word for “thoughts,” for which see Psalms 139:2. We have here the antithesis to that verse: while the Divine penetration discovers the most intimate thought of man, man finds God’s secre... [ Continue Reading ]
IF I SHOULD... — The original is more expressive: — “Let me count them — more than the sand they are many: I have awaked — and still with thee.” With the countless mysteries of creation and providence the poet is so occupied, that they are his first waking thought; or, perhaps, as the Hebrew sugge... [ Continue Reading ]
SLAY THE WICKED. — This abrupt transition from a theme so profound and fascinating to fierce indignation against the enemies of God, would certainly be strange anywhere but in the Psalms. And yet, perhaps, philosophically regarded, the subject of God’s omniscience must conduct the mind to the though... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THEY SPEAK. — Better, _Who rebel against thee._ This is actually the reading of the fifth of the Greek translations preserved by Origen, and entails only a change of the vowel pointing. AND THINE ENEMIES. — The state of the text is unsatisfactory. The subject to the verb must be that of the las... [ Continue Reading ]
DO NOT I... — Better — “Must I not hate thy haters, Jehovah, And feel loathing for thy assailants?”... [ Continue Reading ]
WITH PERFECT HATRED. — Literally, _with perfection of hatred._ Comp. Tennyson’s “Dowered with the hate of hate.”... [ Continue Reading ]
SEARCH. — The same word with which the psalm opens. The inevitable scrutiny of the Divine Being is invited. THOUGHTS. — As in Psalms 94:19; a word meaning (Ezekiel 31:5) _branches,_ and so expressing the _ramifications_ of thought.... [ Continue Reading ]
WICKED WAY. — The Hebrew may mean (after 1 Chronicles 4:9; Isaiah 14:3) _way of sorrow,_ or (after Isaiah 48:5) _way of an idol, i.e.,_ idolatry, which is preferable. WAY EVERLASTING. — Rather, here as in Jeremiah 6:16; Jeremiah 18:15, of the old, _i.e.,_ the true, religion, _in the ancient way._ T... [ Continue Reading ]