Psalms 139:8

If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. IF I ASCEND UP INTO HEAVEN, THOU ART THERE: IF I MAKE MY BED IN HELL (SHEOL, HADES-THE UNSEEN WORLD OF SPIRITS DEPARTED THIS LIFE), BEHOLD, THOU ART THERE - cf. on the latter clause, ....

7-16 We cannot see God, but he can see us. The psalmist did not desire to go from the Lord. Whither can I go? In the most distant corners of the world, in heaven, or in hell, I cannot go out of thy reach. No veil can hide us from God; not the thickest darkness. No disguise can save any person or action from being seen in the true light by him. Secret haunts of sin are as open before God as the most open villanies. On the other hand, the believer cannot be removed from the supporting, comforting presence of his Almighty Friend. Should the persecutor take his life, his soul will the sooner ascend to heaven. The grave cannot separate his body from the love of his Saviour, who will raise it a glorious body. No outward circumstances can separate him from his Lord. While in the path of duty, he may be happy in any situation, by the exercise of faith, hope, and prayer....

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 earth....

IF I ASCEND UP INTO HEAVEN - The word “heaven” here, in the original is in the plural number - “heavens,” - and includes all that there is above the earth - the highest worlds. IF I MAKE MY BED - Properly, “If I strew or spread my couch.” If I should seek that as the place where to lie down. IN HELL - Hebrew, “Sheol.” See the notes at Isaiah 14:9, where the word is fully explained. The word here refers to the under-world - the abodes of the dead; and, in the apprehension of the psalmist, corresponds in depth with the word “heaven” in height. The two represent all worlds, above and below; and the idea is, that in neither direction, above or below, could he go where God would not be. THOU ART THERE - Or, more emphatically and impressivel

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 each—the first (Psalms 139:1) dealing with the omniscience of God; the second (Psalms 139:7), with his omnipresence; the third (Psalms 139:13), with his omnipotence; and the fourth (Psalms 139:19) containing the supplication. Psalms 139:1

IF I ASCEND UP INTO HEAVEN, THOU [ART] THERE,.... No man hath ascended or can ascend to heaven of himself; it is an hyperbolical expression, as are those that follow; none but Christ has ascended to heaven by his own power, who descended from it; saints hope to go there at death, and, when they do, they find God there; that is his habitation, his throne is there, yea, that is his throne; here he keeps court and has his attendants, and here he will be seen and enjoyed by his people to all eternity; IF I MAKE MY BED IN HELL, BEHOLD, THOU [ART THERE]; which, if understood of the place of the damned, is a place of torment, and a very unfit one to make a bed in, being a lake burning with fire and brimstone; and where the smoke of their torment ascends for ever, and they have no rest day nor night; their worm never dies, and their fire is not quenched; and even here God is: hell is not only n...

Psalms 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.» Psalms 139:2. _Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising,_ «My simplest acts, those which I scarcely premeditated.» Psalms 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.» Psalms 139:3. _Thou compassest my path and my lying down,_ Making a

HELL Hebrew, "Sheol," (_ See Scofield) - (Habakkuk 2:5). _...

Psalms 139 In the Divine Presence _ 1. His omniscience (Psalms 139:1)_ 2. His omnipresence (Psalms 139:7) 3. Praising Him (Psalms 139:13) 4. Delighting in His holiness (Psalms 139:19) 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

CXXXIX. GOD IS EVERYWHERE: HE KNOWS EVERYTHING OH 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 ar...