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Wednesday 05/28/25
Thru the Bible: Psalm Book V: Chapters 139
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A literal & relational exploration of Psalm 139
This is one Psalm I have been eager to study in preparation to teach, but which somewhat disappointed me once I got into it.
On the surface it is a very intimate psalm. It opens with words that seem very personal, even warming, but evidently they are words which are used more generically of what God does with every human being.
So while there is a romantic notion of beginning this psalm as if David were making very personal claims of the exchange he has with God, it is evidently to be taken as generalized statements which he experiences as an individual but which are not unique to him nor are they the result of being in covenant with God. They are truths respecting God’s knowing of His creatures, rather than personal statements of a Father with His son or a God with His beloved servant.
Now it was necessary for me to offer you that preamble since we need to approach scripture for what it ACTUALLY says rather than what we want it to say. When we read this psalm we need to walk away with the point it is truly making which has to do with God’s omniscience regarding His creatures..
In summary, this Psalm is a poetic way of saying Hebrews 4:12-13 & Matthew 10:29-30,
Hebrews 4:12-13, “(12) For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing even to the point of dividing soul from spirit, and joints from marrow; it is able to judge the desires and thoughts of the heart. (13) And no creature is hidden from God, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account.”
and,
Matthew 10:29-30, “(29) Aren’t two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. (30) Even all the hairs on your head are numbered.”
That having been said, all of the psalms are for God’s people of all times and since our covenant with God IS very personal from the onset, our experience of these truths IS immediately and infinitely more intimate and personal than those of the Old Covenant. So in this case alone I am going to go through this Psalm the way it was written and meant to be understood, then I am going to go BACK through it as it might be viewed and understood by one of God’s New Covenant children.
But I press upon you again the reason it is important for you to know the actual meaning of the thoughts expressed in this psalm. It is because it was recorded for a reason and while much can be gained which is in keeping with truth by making it more personal, if that be THE ONLY WAY we read it then we miss it’s greater and literal point. This is something we do not ever want to be guilty of doing with God’s word!
Nevertheless, even the passage I just quoted in Matthew goes on to say in verse 31,
“(31) So do not be afraid; you are more valuable than many sparrows.”
Psalm 139 a literal reading
“(1) For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
For the music director, a psalm of David. O LORD, you examine me and know. (2) You know when I sit down and when I get up; even from far away you understand my motives. (3) You carefully observe me when I travel or when I lie down to rest; you are aware of everything I do.”
So the statement “you have searched me and known me”, is to be understood like those verses quoted above. It is a knowledge of things about a person. It is NOT a statement of knowing them in intimacy.
“(4) Certainly my tongue does not frame a word without you, O LORD, being thoroughly aware of it.
(5) You squeeze me in from behind and in front; you place your hand on me.
(6) Your knowledge is beyond my comprehension; it is so far beyond me, I am unable to fathom it.
(7) Where can I go to escape your Spirit? Where can I flee to escape your presence? (8) If I were to ascend to heaven, you would be there. If I were to sprawl out in Sheol, there you would be.”
Though less romantic perhaps, these words seem very natural as opposed to supernatural. Meaning David is using the extremes of the natural world to illustrate how impossible it would be for him to escape God’s presence.
Even the words “You place Your hand upon me” which might be taken in a tender way as a sign of ownership and protection is here actually set forth as a truth regarding the nearness of God and how impossible it is to escape from His presence.
Heaven here is almost certainly referring to the natural heavens and Sheol is referring to the grave or the depths of the earth.
Now it isn’t that any of this makes any real difference as to the point being made which is that you cannot hide from God, nor escape His presence – at least in this life.
The real reason to file down upon the meaning is to make the misuse of these words less accessible.
Truth is, we do not know if this is about where God dwells as opposed to hell, meaning the place of condemned departed souls who are awaiting the final judgment.
However, since all the other examples are quite natural, it is in keeping with best practices to not read into the text something that is out of the way of the rest of the narrative.
“(9) If I were to fly away on the wings of the dawn, and settle down on the other side of the sea, (10) even there Your hand would guide me, Your right hand would grab hold of me.
(11) If I were to say, “Certainly the darkness will cover me, and the light will turn to night all around me,” (12) even the darkness is not too dark for You to see, and the night is as bright as day; darkness and light are the same to You.
(13) Certainly You made my mind and heart; you wove me together in my mother’s womb.”
The words rendered here by the New English Translation as “mind and heart” are translated by many other as “inward parts” pr something very much like that. The NET has it right in that these words are actually one Hebrew word which literally means kidneys.
Now obviously the word “kidneys” does not convey to a modern reader what it did in the Middle East 3000 years ago. Back then the word was more akin to the way we use the word “heart” – which can mean the actual organ or the immaterial part of humans where we experience and respond to life.
Most translators opt for the use of a hendiadys [hen-di-adys] in translating this word. A hendiadys [hen-di-adys] is when a single concept is expressed through two terms.
Here the words “inward parts” link together the concepts of emotion (heart) and moral character (mind) all of which was the intent of David in the use of the word “kidneys”.
“(14) I will give You thanks because your deeds are awesome and amazing. You knew me thoroughly; (15) my bones were not hidden from You, when I was made in secret and sewed together in the depths of the earth.”
Again language presents us with yet another challenge for understanding.
In the ancient world the womb was sometimes used as a metaphorical or euphemistic representation for the depths of the earth and vice versa. The connection between the two being like that of a cave from its all encompassing nature and its shroud of total darkness.
A well known statement of Job shows the close association between the mother’s womb with the earth.
“He said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will return there. The LORD gives, and the LORD takes away. May the name of the LORD be blessed!” – Job 1:21,
It isn’t that Job believed that at death he would return to his mother’s womb, but that the womb was being used metaphorically for the grave. A morbid comparison if carried too far, but a somewhat common comparison at the time.
“(16) Your eyes saw me when I was inside the womb. All the days ordained for me were recorded in Your scroll before one of them came into existence.”
The words “the days fashioned for me” could be used, and in fact have been by some, to support the idea of predestination. Those who think this are on thin theological ice since it superimposes upon the text something that is not there natively.
The idea is to shape and fashion not predestine.
Now you may rightly inquire as to what the difference is between predestined and fashioned. Well we see an example of this in a passage we studied this past Sunday. We are told in Ephesians 2:10,
“For we are His creation–created in Christ Jesus for GOOD WORKS, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them.”
These “good works” prepared beforehand or fashioned ahead of time do not predetermine obedience to that path. They were fashioned ahead of time with the INTENT that we should walk in them, NOT the predestination that we WILL walk in them irrespective of our will.
“(17) How difficult it is for me to fathom Your thoughts about me, O God! How vast is their sum total!”
Both this and verse 18 present us with a different way of reading this psalm. Though many translations represent the Hebrew words with God’s thoughts being “precious” or “dear” the word would be better represented as “difficult” or “beyond understanding”. Furthermore such would be far more in keeping with the development and flow of all of David’s thoughts up to this point.
“(18) If I tried to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. Even if I finished counting them, I would still have to contend with You.”
If you are reading from any number of other translations you might hardly recognize these are the words from verse 18 and I am not certain that I agree with this translation.
Most render it, “If I counted them, they would outnumber the grains of sand; when I wake up, I am still with You.”
In the notes associated with these verses the NET says that the words “I awake and I [am] still with you.” making a reference to the psalmist awakening from sleep makes little, if any, sense contextually.
I have to agree with them. As such, they suggest an emendation which has some basis in the grammar of the Hebrew, but in this case I think it is an overstep.
Nothing in the words indicate a time when the psalmist fell asleep and so the announcement of waking makes no sense on the surface.
I do have a possible suggestion but it is fanciful and unfounded.
Many cultures have an idiomatic connection between the passing of time, sleep and sand. Some in the form of an hourglass, some associated with the sea shore. In Germanic and Scandinavian folklore we are presented with the sandman who is said to put people to sleep and inspire beautiful dreams.
So I find myself wondering if such an idiom was also part of the greater Middle Eastern culture or even specifically the Hebrew culture. We know, due to the abundance of deserts the Middle East expressed an association with sand and infinity, and the Hebrew culture had a loose affiliation between the idea of sleep and the passage of time. So while it is not completely baseless, it is a bit of a reach and I admit that.
At any rate, such a connection between the infinity of sand, the passage of time and sleep might be used poetically in connection with David counting God’s like sand. Much like we in the western world might count sheep. And such may have given rise to the idea of sleep from which David woke with the awareness of God’s immediate presence being still with him.
At any rate, I don’t think that there is a need nor a justification for employing an emendation to this text nor is there a need to explain its oddity, but I thought I’d give it a go.
“(19) You murderers, get away from me! God, kill those wicked people— (20) those who say bad things about You.
Your enemies use Your name falsely. (21) LORD, I hate those who hate You. I hate those who are against You. (22) I hate them completely! Your enemies are also my enemies.
(23) God, examine me and know my mind. Test me and know all my worries. (24) Make sure that I am not going the wrong way. Lead me on the path that has always been right.”
Now let’s look at this Psalm from a New Covenant standpoint. Such is NOT useful in regard to this psalm but it IS useful in the beauty of its imagery to inspire thoughts of intimate connection with God as we experience it under the New Covenant.
After all Jeremiah foretold that under the New Covenant, everyone would know God intimately from the youngest and least experienced of God’s children to the oldest and most experienced. [See Jeremiah 31:34]
I think it also helps foster a deeper respect for God through the intimacy of that imagery.
Psalm 139:1-24,
As viewed from the intimacy of the New Covenant…
“(1) For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
O LORD, You have searched me and known me. (2) You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. (3) You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways. (4) For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O LORD, You know it altogether.”
This is true of God with His children. He knows us, in all the intimate ways He cannot know the lost. Jesus Himself tells us that on the final day of judgment, many who did great wonders in Jesus’ name were never really intimate with Him. To these He will say, “Depart from Me, I never knew you.”
It is just that type of intimate knowledge we DO witness between God and His true children.
Here we see God’s searching of us. This might suggest more than the simple fact of His knowing us as our Creator, but an ongoing interest in us.
Our sitting down and rising up might just as easily be understood as that which winds and unwinds me. What circumstances, thoughts and things get me riled up and anxious and what calms me down and settles me.
He understands my thoughts and choices, not only the reality of them, but the thoughts and motives behind them. He is thoroughly acquainted with what makes us who we are.
“ (5) You have hedged me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me. (6) Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain it.”
Read this way in a New Covenant context the words are deeply relational. God’s solicitous care over His own is expressed in His going before us and hemming us in. He lays His hand of Fatherly love, protection and ownership of us. Such thoughts are so penetratingly personal and caring from the infinite God for such as we that it seems too good to be true!
“(7) Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?
(8) If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. (9) If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, (10) Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me.
(11) If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,” Even the night shall be light about me; (12) Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, But the night shines as the day; The darkness and the light are both alike to You.”
Even in times when I am self absorbed or in my childishness I seek independence from God in His more parental expressions in my life I find that I cannot outrun Him. He is not only present wear I left, He is present where I am running to and every point in between. Like Elijah, whether in the presence of Jezebel, in the wilderness or in the cave – God is with me and sometimes even empowers my legs to run only to reveal that even in my running from Him I wind find myself back in His arms.
“(13) For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. (14) I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.
(15) My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
(16) Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them. (17) How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! (18) If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You.”
That the all-knowing, all-seeing God would take the time to take pen to paper and record all our days and even our bodily parts shows a love for us, a preoccupation with us and a pride in us as the words of His Own hands that takes our breath away. For us to view ourselves with disdain as if we are somehow less than our fellow man is to deny His skill and craftsmanship in our creation. That God would go through our lives and fashion our days so as to be chased by goodness and mercy all the days of our lives only to cross the finish line in His house forever is too wonderful to imagine. And that He especially wove encounters with Him into our every day shows an interest and involvement with us as individuals which is so personal as to be overwhelming. These thoughts are so transcendent that one could think they are dreaming, but when we come to we realize how real they are and that we have never for a moment left His presence.
“(19) Oh, that You would slay the wicked, O God! Depart from me, therefore, you bloodthirsty men. (20) For they speak against You wickedly; Your enemies take Your name in vain. (21) Do I not hate them, O LORD, who hate You? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You? (22) I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies.”
Of course a New Covenant understanding of these words are considerably different than under the old. We pray for our enemies and evoke blessings upon them that the goodness of God might lead them to repentance.
While we hate their rebellion and the way they twist the image of God which they bear in ways which distort and misrepresent Him, it only evokes in us all the more desire for them to really know Him and so conform to His image and know true peace.
“(23) Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; (24) And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.”
Such is an appeal to our Father, and not just to a God Who is far removed standing ever ready to slam His gavel at our missteps. We look to Him and invite Him to know us and reveal all that is a distortion of His true image in us. To take us by the hand and lead us towards intimate union with Him which is eternal life.
Blessings!
Tri
