To the leader. Of David. A Psalm.
1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from far away.
3 You search out my path and my lying down,
and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
O Lord, you know it completely.
5 You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is so high that I cannot attain it.
7 Where can I go from your spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning
and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light around me become night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as bright as the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my thoughts.
24 See if there is any wicked way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalm 139 is like the beautiful Hindu text Atharva Veda Book IV, Hymn 16, from 1200-1000 BC. The Hindu hymn offers a praise to the gods, who beholds the worlds as though nearby. It warns that one who thinks he or she acts by stealth, the gods see and know. The gods know what we whisper or do in secret. King Varuna is like the secret presence of another in all that we do. King Varuna possesses all we see to the furthest regions. He beholds all that is between the heavens and the earth and what is beyond them. Yet, he also sees how often we blink. He is the watcher of humanity. He lays snares and the hymn prays that they will catch the liar. He sends disease and drives it away. He is like one native to the land and one who is a stranger. He is celestial and human. We find a similar spirit binds these two hymns together.
The Psalm deals with theological concepts of omnipresence and omniscience. One of the reasons scholars tend to date this psalm late in the biblical period is because of its presentation of divine omniscience, specifically of human emotions, thoughts and will. Although the idea of God having knowledge of our thoughts seems commonplace to contemporary readers of the Bible, and although the notion is not unique to this psalm, it is not a common motif in the OT, which focuses far more of its attention on human acts rather than on their underlying motives. Psychological “roundedness,” of the sort that modern anthropology takes for granted, is not a theme we find widely in the Old Testament, occurring in the books of Job and Jeremiah. For example, we might note Jeremiah 17:10, “I the Lord test the mind / and search the heart, // to give to all according to their ways, / according to the fruit of their doings”. Bible scholars understand such themes to be a development from the wisdom tradition in Israel and surrounding cultures.
The psalm is one of the theological and literary treasures of the Bible. One of the most familiar and beautiful of the Hebrew Psalms, the psalm stresses two main theological points: God's omniscient omnipresence and God's role as creator, not only of the created universe, but also as the divine parent of every human being. The Psalm addresses the first of these topics in verses 1-12 and the second in verses 13-18. It challenges human thought and experience, often disorienting even as it profoundly discloses truth. Since one of the provocative questions of human existence concerns how a woman or a man may find a place in an often-hostile universe, the enthusiasm with which readers over the generations have responded to Psalm 139 is understandable. This wonderful hymn of Israel sings not just of a God who cares, but also of a God whose being has such an intimate connection with our own being that God forms part of the fabric of each of us. We sense that the author finds amazement that God has such intimate knowledge of him as an individual. Yet, we also wonder if he has some fear that God knows him so well. The searching and examining that God performs on him, and on us, is not always welcome. We are naked before God, but we may want to conceal some things. We do conceal some things from others and even from ourselves. The author reminds us that we can conceal nothing from God. In fact, as God seeks me and finds me, I discover my identity. God has an all-embracing knowledge of us as individuals that rests upon the presence of God with all creation. In other words, the omnipresence of God is the basis for the omniscience of God. The author seems amazed and a little frightened by all this. Yet, in the end, he invites God to search, know, and test him. He invites God to question, probe, and engage in a detailed investigation of him. Yet, the purpose is simple. In welcoming such examination, the psalmist can be the person God wants him to be. He moves toward his true self as God intended.
The superscription to the Psalm is typical. To the leader (lam-menatzeach). The reference is to the leader of musicians at the temple. Mitchell Dahood has suggested the view that a "leader" wrote this psalm (but a religious one, not just the musical one) whom others accused of worshiping foreign gods. Seen in this light, it does sound like an appeal to innocence on the part of someone so accused. Only a true worshiper of YHWH would believe in YHWH's role in his or her conception and birth. Only a true worshiper of YHWH would be willing to have YHWH examine him and would trust that YHWH knew the true content of his or her heart. While this is certainly an interesting idea, and a compelling lens through which to read the psalm, it is, of course, only one context for which one might have written the psalm. Of David (le-david). Psalm 139 is one of 75 out of the 150 that the canon identifies to be "of" or "for" David. The other "Davidic" psalms are 3-9, 11-32, 34-41, 51-65, 68-70, 86, 101, 103, 108-110, 122, 124, 131, 138-145. It is unclear from the phrase if it identifies David as the author of all these psalms. It is possible that the Hebrew phrase means "about David," "belonging to David" or "written for David." A Psalm (mizmor). This implies writing the psalm for voices rather than instruments.
Psalm 139:1-18 is an exquisitely detailed and poetic description of divine omniscience.
Psalm 139: 1-6 express the intimate knowledge the Lord has of the self. 1 O Lord, you have searched (chaqar, implying a thoroughgoing investigation and not simply a steady penetrating gaze) me in the past, in the sense of questioning, probing, detailed investigation, and cross-examination. Further, the Lord has known (yada’ suggesting intimate knowledge) him, in the sense of intimate knowledge. The Psalmist then offers the classical expressions of the inescapability of the presence of God. 2 You know (yada’) when I sit down and when I rise up, an expression comprising the whole of one’s life and activity; you discern my thoughts from far away. One of the chief features of wisdom literature that distinguishes it from other (usually, but not always, earlier) types of biblical literature is its universality: the universality of divine rule and the universality of the human condition under that rule. Ancient Israel, like all its neighbors, originally conceived of its god as a localized divine patron, whose influence and protection were found first in local shrines (such as Bethel) and later in the land of Israel itself, primarily in the temple in Jerusalem. Note the geographical specificity in the petition in Solomon’s prayer of dedication for the temple in I Kings 8:41-43. “Likewise, when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a distant land because of your name — for they shall hear of your great name, your mighty hand and your outstretched arm — when a foreigner comes and prays toward this house, then hear in heaven your dwelling-place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to you.” Although they understood Yahweh to dwell in heaven, they understood the activity and influence of Yahweh to focus primarily on the chosen people in the Promised Land. This psalm’s reference to “far away” may suggest heaven, but more likely, it refers to the universality of the divine presence. 3 You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know (yada’) it completely. 5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me, an expression for divine control and assistance. The Lord has knowledge of the everyday activities of the poet, as well as inner thoughts and not-yet-uttered words. His point is that we stand naked before the Lord. We can conceal nothing from the Lord. On the practical side, one who knows us this well may not always be a welcome guest. Yet, we find no suggestion of judgment. 6 Such knowledge (da’at) is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain (context suggesting “fathom,” “comprehend” or “grasp” would be better, since the psalmist has no intention of trying to attain divine knowledge; he simply cannot grasp how Yahweh can have such knowledge) it. He marvels that the Lord knows him in such a personal way. As the Lord has searched him and found him, he discovers his identity as the beloved child of the Lord. He only hints in this negative direction. We see more clearly the fearful side of these matters in Job 7:17-21. Job wants the Lord to look away from him for a while because the Lord is paying too much attention! His little sin does nothing to the majesty of God. He wants pardon. Yet, he shall be in Sheol, where the Lord will seek him but not find him.
One who knows us as well as the Lord does is not always a welcome guest. Everyone does or says things they would rather keep hidden. The point here may not be so much “original sin” as “original shame.” Many people today feel stupid, inadequate, dirty, or unworthy. The assumption is that if people knew the real self, they would not love us. The feeling is one of almost radical unworthiness. To counteract this, we need to see the Lord clearly, which usually comes from an experience that teaches us that God has mercy toward us even with our unruly behavior. Out of that experience, amendment of our behavior can follow. We must first experience original blessing from the Lord, realizing the Lord chooses us and loves us. If we focus upon sin and shame, we will dig a pit so deep we never get out of it. Of course, this does not mean we are to have a form of cheap optimism that says it is useless to waste our time in regretting what we have done wrong in our past. Such experiences are a matter of constant conversation with the Lord. We are sinners. Our sin is all part of our days’ work! We are to be sin-conscious always, which is why we consistently offer confession of sin.
Psalm 139: 7-12 seem to focus upon the omnipresence of God. 7 Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? One can go nowhere to escape this divine presence, which, at heart, the psalmist does not wish to escape. To use a modern analogy from physics, the Spirit of God is like the force field of the mighty presence of God. This unique understanding of the Spirit of God leads on to what this psalm says about the all-embracing knowledge of God, which rests indeed on the presence of God with all the creatures of God. [5] 8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there, suggesting a vertical axis reach, from apex to nadir. The Old Testament viewed Sheol as a shadow world separate from the life-giving power of God. However, this poet, with rhetorical overstatement, says that even there, the presence of the Lord reaches the individual. There are no barriers to the Lord’s power. There are no borders around God's presence. [6] 9 If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, suggesting the horizontal axis, from east to west, 10 even there your hand shall lead me, (the Hebrew verb is also in Psalm 23:3, where the author’s divine Shepherd leads him in right paths), and your right hand shall hold me fast. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night,” 12 even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you. Thus, while human beings can hide from each other in the darkness, there is no such hiding place from the Lord. People have understood verses 7-12 in two disparate ways. Is the author asserting that he would like to hide from YHWH who knows him so dangerously well, yet acknowledging that wherever he might go, God is already there? Or is the author marveling at God’s caring presence, no matter what the circumstances of his life? Either way, God is ever-present to the author, wherever he may be. Moreover, in God’s presence the author (and we) can always find safe refuge. We also see the fearful side of the omnipresence of God in Job 23:8-17. He wants to move to a position where he can see God, but he never does. The Lord knows the way he takes and tests him. He comes out like gold. He has kept to the path the Lord established. He has treasured the word of the Lord. He has terror and dread of the presence of the Lord. He wishes he could vanish in the darkness to escape the presence of the Lord. The point is that the theological notions of the omniscience and omnipresence of God may well be spiritually and personally comforting for us most of the time. However, do we ever want to conceal who we are or what we do from the Lord? If so, we catch a hint of why this part of the nature and character of God may frighten us as well.
Psalm 139: 23-24 become a petition for guidance. He returns to the theme of knowledge, as an all-knowing God surely knows the righteousness of the poet. The poet expresses willingness to listen, to be malleable, and to be changed. 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. The psalm ends as it begins, with a focus on searching, knowing, and testing. “Test” in this case refers to assaying precious metals or to examine and put to the test. 24 See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. God amazes (and frightens) the author, but he ends up inviting God to do what God already has been doing all the author’s life. This required a lot of confidence in God, did it not it? Dare we believe that God will do in our lives what God did in the life of the author? God already knows us better than we know ourselves. The omniscience of God is the basis for the trust exhibited here. Yet, do we trust God enough to invite God to search, know, and test us, to see if there is any wicked, hurtful way in us? The poet knows he has faults.
like the take on self concept
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