If I Make My Bed in Hell Thou Art There
Verse-past-Poetry Bible Commentary
If I ascend to sky, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, Yous are in that location.
New American Standard Version
Clarke'southward Commentary
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, h2o, space, place, or vacuity, by thy omnipresence. Wherever I am, at that place fine art thou; and where I cannot be, thousand art there. Thou fillest the heavens and the world.
Bibliographical Information
Clarke, Adam. "Commentary on Psalms 139:8". "The Adam Clarke Commentary". https://world wide web.studylight.org/commentaries/acc/psalms-139.html. 1832.
Bridgeway Bible Commentary
Psalms 139:0 The all-knowing, ever-present God
God knows all about the psalmist - what he does, what he thinks, where he goes and what he says (139:1-4). Because of the realization that God is all around him, the psalmist sometimes feels helpless (5-6). A person may be tempted to look for some escape from such an overpowering presence, but no escape is possible. This may bring fear to rebels simply it brings condolement to believers (7-eight). Wherever they travel, God is with them (nine-10). In darkness or in lite, God sees them constantly (11-12).
Existence the Creator, God has perfect noesis of those he created. He knows their innermost thoughts likewise as their physical characteristics, and has a detailed knowledge of their lives that are however to be (13-16). As the psalmist meditates on the mysterious purposes and wonderful works of God, he finds they are too vast to understand and as well numerous to count. When he awakes after his meditation he knows that God is notwithstanding with him (17-eighteen).
Through his meditation the psalmist has grown then close to God that he sees the wicked as God sees them and hates evil as God hates it. He therefore prays that God volition human action in righteous judgment (nineteen-22). Even so, he knows likewise that he himself is not perfect. He prays that God will show him his sin, cleanse him, and lead him into a life of holiness (23-24).
Bibliographical Information
Flemming, Donald C. "Commentary on Psalms 139:8". "Fleming'south Bridgeway Bible Commentary". https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bbc/psalms-139.html. 2005.
Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible
If I ascend up into heaven - The word "sky" here, in the original is in the plural number - "heavens," - and includes all that at that place is above the world - the highest worlds.
If I brand my bed - Properly, "If I strew or spread my couch." If I should seek that as the place where to prevarication down.
In hell - Hebrew, "Sheol." Run into the notes at Isaiah 14:nine, where the word is fully explained. The give-and-take here refers to the under-earth - the abodes of the expressionless; and, in the apprehension of the psalmist, corresponds in depth with the word "heaven" in height. The two represent all worlds, in a higher place and beneath; and the idea is, that in neither direction, above or below, could he get where God would non be.
Thou art there - Or, more emphatically and impressively in the original, "One thousand!" That is, the psalmist imagines himself in the highest heaven, or in the deepest abodes of the expressionless - and lo! God is at that place also! he has non gone from "him"! he is still in the presence of the same God!
Bibliographical Information
Barnes, Albert. "Commentary on Psalms 139:8". "Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible". https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bnb/psalms-139.html. 1870.
Smith's Bible Commentary
Psalms 139:1-24 , another psalm of David to the principal musician. As David offers this prayer really unto God, declaring, first of all,
O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me ( Psalms 139:1 ).
Recognizing that God knows me completely and fully.
Y'all know my downsittings and my uprisings ( Psalms 139:2 ),
Or yous know my ups and my downs.
yous sympathize my thoughts afar off ( Psalms 139:2 ).
The Hebrew is, "Yous understand my thoughts in their origins." Earlier I fifty-fifty think them, You know them. You know the processes by which they are formed.
You compassest my path and my lying down, you're acquainted with all my ways ( Psalms 139:3 ).
"When I'm walking, I'm encircled by You. When I'm lying downwardly, I'1000 encircled by You. I'm encompassed by Yous in everything." Paul the apostle said, "For in Him we alive, we move, nosotros have our being" ( Acts 17:28 ). The all-prevailing presence of God surrounding my life, God'due south omnipresence.
In that location is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, y'all know information technology birthday ( Psalms 139:4 ).
And so God knows me so completely.
M hast aggress me behind and earlier, and you lot've laid your paw upon me ( Psalms 139:5 ).
I look back and I see the paw of God on my life. I wait ahead and I run into God's plan. And right now I experience the hand of God upon me. Yous see, I'm surrounded. My past, present, and my future is all wrapped up with God. "Y'all've beset me behind and before, and Your mitt is upon me." The psalmist declared,
Such cognition is likewise wonderful for me; information technology is high, I cannot achieve it ( Psalms 139:6 ).
What noesis? Self-knowledge. Very few people really know their selves. We take hidden the truth virtually ourselves then long that we don't fifty-fifty know the truth about our own self. "The centre is deceitful above all things, badly wicked: who can know it?" ( Jeremiah 17:nine ) Yet God said, "I do search the hearts of man." But who really knows the motive, the true motive behind our actions? And yet, it is God who weighs the motives. We put and then much emphasis upon a person's actions. God puts the accent upon the attitudes, the motives from which the deportment leap. And information technology is possible, very possible for people to have correct actions with wrong motives. And God'southward looking at the motive.
"Take heed to yourself," Jesus said, "that you do not your righteousness earlier men, to be seen of men" ( Matthew 6:one ). In other words, that should non be your motive, to be recognized by men. That's why I'yard doing my righteous thing, so people tin encounter me. Y'all've got to be careful that that isn't your motive. For Jesus said, "I say unto you, you take your reward" ( Matthew 6:2 ).
Now he tells about people who were doing the right matter. They were giving to God. They were praying. They were fasting. But even so, they were doing it always with the incorrect motive, and thus, no reward from God. No recognition from God for what they were doing. For God weighs the center. God is checking the attitude, the motives by which I do things. And the Bible says that one day, "nosotros are all to stand before the judgment seat of Christ to receive the things that we've washed in our body, whether they exist good or evil" ( ii Corinthians 5:10 ). And our works are all going to be tried past fire, of what fashion or sort they are. So all of the works that a person has washed for God. "Oh Lord, weren't nosotros doing this? Weren't we doing that? Weren't nosotros big stars and nosotros were on Tv and we were doing all these wonderful things for Y'all." And Jesus said, "Hey, I never knew you lot. Depart from Me, you workers of iniquity." The whole motive was wrong. The motive was to receive the recognition and the glory, the applause, the praise of human being. "Then take heed to yourself," Jesus said, "how you practice your righteousness, that you lot don't do information technology with the motive of being seen of men."
Then here the psalmist declares, "Such noesis likewise much for me; I cannot attain it."
Now whither shall I go from thy presence or from thy Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I arise into heaven, thou fine art there: but if I make my bed in hell, behold, grand fine art there ( Psalms 139:seven-8 ).
The omnipresence of God filling the universe. There is no identify that you tin can become and escape the presence of God. "In Him we live, nosotros move, we have our being" ( Acts 17:28 ).
If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy mitt lead me, and thy correct hand shall agree me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the dark will exist light about me. Yea, the darkness does not hide from you lot; but the night shines as the day: and the darkness and the low-cal are both alike unto thee ( Psalms 139:nine-12 ).
In other words, with God at that place is no darkness. There is no hiding in darkness. It makes no difference to God. He tin can run across just also at night as He can during the twenty-four hours. Plow the lights out and hide from God. No, it doesn't make any difference. God tin can run into united states. Lite and darkness are the same to Him.
For you take possessed my reins: you cover me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am appallingly and wonderfully made: and marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth correct well ( Psalms 139:13-14 ).
Fearfully and wonderfully fabricated. More and more we're discovering how wonderfully made we are made. The man body. There'south a new volume entitled, Fearfully and Wonderfully Fabricated. I recommend the book. It's only first-class reading for yous. Written by a doctor who spent many years as a missionary doctor in a leprosarium and has washed his most recent work back at Carville, Louisiana in the leprosarium there, which they no longer call leprosarium. It'due south an plant for the study of Hansen's disease. And it'southward an excellent volume. I remember you'll enjoy it as he, from a medical standpoint, delves into the marvels of the man body. I'thousand appallingly and wonderfully fabricated, and the title of the book is Fearfully and Wonderfully Fabricated.
My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in underground, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the globe. Thine eyes did meet my substance, nonetheless existence unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when equally yet there was none of them ( Psalms 139:xv-16 ).
In other words, God knew me completely before I was ever born. When I was still but chemicals. God knew me completely.
How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how smashing is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am notwithstanding with you ( Psalms 139:17-18 ).
God's thoughts for me, how precious they are. How slap-up is the sum. If I should number them, more than the sand. I love to get down to the beach and simply have and get a handful of sand and only open up upward the lesser of my manus and allow it just drop on down and form a pile. And watch those grains of sand autumn. I think there's something therapeutic about it. Just feels skilful. Simply also as the grains of sand are falling, I think, "Wow, God's thoughts concerning me, if I could number them, are more than the sand of the sea." Each 1 of those little grains of sand represent one of God's thoughts concerning me. God's thinking about me all the time. And then God said, "My thoughts towards you are expert, not evil" ( Jeremiah 29:11 ). And and then I drib a few little piles of sand on the beach and so I just wait up at the beach and see all the grains of sand and call up, "Oh my, how wonderful, Lord. How precious are Thy thoughts of me."
The psalmist then speaks of the wicked. God is going to destroy the wicked. Therefore I desire to depart from wicked men. I don't want to keep company with evil men.
For they speak against God wickedly, they take his name in vain. Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate you? am I not grieved with those that rise upwardly against you? I hate them with a perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies ( Psalms 139:20-22 ).
The psalmist said. And then his prayer, that is, his petition. The whole matter is prayer. This is now the petition:
Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts ( Psalms 139:23 ):
Who is the human who prays, "Search me, O God?" He's the man who understands and knows that he doesn't know himself. The man who recognizes that he really doesn't know himself is the man who prays, "Search me, O God, and know my thoughts. And know my eye. Try me. My center is deceitful. My heart is desperately wicked. Lord, know my heart. Endeavor me. Know my thoughts."
And see if at that place exist some wicked fashion in me ( Psalms 139:24 ),
Because You're going to destroy the wicked. I don't want to be wicked. See if there is something at that place, Lord, that is displeasing to Yous.
Now the work of the Holy Spirit is not only revealing Christ to us, only revealing ourselves to us. How often the Holy Spirit reveals to me the truth most myself. My reaction, my response to a situation. The Holy Spirit will say, "All right, Chuck, at present that was incorrect. That wasn't Christ-like. That wasn't a Christ-similar spirit. You weren't responding in love. Y'all were angry with them." And I commonly say, "Aye I am, and I have a right to be." Then He starts dealing with me every bit He reveals these areas of my life that are not yet brought to the cross. Not yet brought into conformity to Jesus Christ. Those areas of self that are however there that He is desiring to requite me victory over. The Holy Spirit'southward work is that of revealing to us those areas of our lives that are displeasing to God. And then the prayer ends.
pb me in the way everlasting ( Psalms 139:24 ).
Lead me in the path of life. Lead me in the mode of everlasting life. There's one thing I don't want to be deceived nearly, and that is my eternal destiny. How many, many people are deceived apropos their eternal destiny because they're trusting in the word of some man. They're trusting in the word of some religious leader. Some maybe charismatic leader who has a lot of charisma, personal charisma, and personal magnetism and any these things are. And they are encouraging people to follow subsequently them, engaging in brainwashing techniques. Making zombies out of their followers. And how many people are blindly following them today thinking, beingness assured that this is the path of life.
"Everybody else is wrong. We're the only ones who have the truth. We're the but ones walking in the light. All of the churches are wrong. They're all lying to you. None of them are telling you the truth. We're the merely ones who take discovered the truth." And people blindly following them. And even inside the churches, how many people have come to just trust in the church, church membership, or babe baptism. And they're deceived as to their eternal destiny. "Lead me in the way everlasting." I don't want to be fooled on this. I don't want my center to be deceived on this issue. I want to make sure that I'm in the way everlasting. "For in that location is a way that seems correct unto man, merely the end of it is death" ( Proverbs fourteen:12 ). I don't want to be in that fashion, thinking that I'm right and landing upwards in the pit. "
Bibliographical Data
Smith, Charles Ward. "Commentary on Psalms 139:eight". "Smith'due south Bible Commentary". https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/csc/psalms-139.html. 2014.
Dr. Constable's Expository Notes
Psalms 139
David praised God for His omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence in this popular psalm. Information technology is a plea for God to search the life to expose sin. It consists of iv strophes of vi verses each.
"The Gelineau version gives the psalm the heading 'The Hound of Heaven', a reminder that Francis Thompson'southward fine verse form of that proper name owed its theme of flight and pursuit largely to the second stanza here (Psalms 139:vii-12), which is one of the summits of Old Testament poesy." [Note: Kidner, Psalms 73-150, p. 464.]
Bibliographical Information
Constable, Thomas. DD. "Commentary on Psalms 139:8". "Dr. Constable's Expository Notes". https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/dcc/psalms-139.html. 2012.
Dr. Constable's Expository Notes
David gave hypothetical examples of where he might become to hide from God in these verses (cf. Romans viii:38-39). Psalms 139:8 is some other merism (cf. Psalms 139:ii-iii) that expresses everywhere between sky and hell. Even if he could travel as fast as the speed of light, he could non escape God (Psalms 139:9). Even there God's paw would lead him. Psalms 139:10 pictures God gently leading and guiding David. This thought changes the fearful earlier prototype of God pursuing the psalmist.
Bibliographical Data
Constable, Thomas. DD. "Commentary on Psalms 139:8". "Dr. Constable's Expository Notes". https://world wide web.studylight.org/commentaries/dcc/psalms-139.html. 2012.
Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible
If I ascend up into sky, thou [art] there,.... No human hath ascended or tin arise to heaven of himself; it is an hyperbolical expression, as are those that follow; none just Christ has ascended to heaven by his own ability, who descended from it; saints hope to become at that place at death, and, when they do, they notice God there; that is his dwelling, his throne is there, yea, that is his throne; here he keeps courtroom and has his attendants, and here he volition be seen and enjoyed by his people to all eternity;
if I make my bed in hell, behold, grand [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, existence a lake burning with fire and brimstone; and where the smoke of their torment ascends for always, and they have no rest mean solar day nor night; their worm never dies, and their burn down is not quenched; and even here God is: hell is not merely naked before him, and all its inhabitants in his view; simply he is here in his powerful presence, keeping the devils in chains of darkness; turning wicked men daily into information technology, pouring out his wrath upon them, placing and standing an unpassable gulf betwixt them and happy souls: though rather this is to exist understood of the grave, in which sense the discussion is often used; and so Kimchi, Aben Ezra, and Arama, translate it of the lowest parts of the earth, equally opposed to sky; the grave is a bed to the saints, where they lie downward and rest, and sleep till the resurrection morn, Chore 14:12; and here the Lord is watching over and keeping their grit, and will raise it up again at the last day. The Targum is,
"there is thy Word.''
Copyright Statement
The New John Gill'south Exposition of the Entire Bible Modernised and adapted for the computer past Larry Pierce of Online Bible. All Rights Reserved, Larry Pierce, Winterbourne, Ontario.
A printed re-create of this piece of work can be ordered from: The Baptist Standard Bearer, one Iron Oaks Dr, Paris, AR, 72855
Bibliographical Information
Gill, John. "Commentary on Psalms 139:eight". "Gill'southward Exposition of the Entire Bible". https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/geb/psalms-139.html. 1999.
Henry'south Complete Commentary on the Bible
7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? 8 If I arise upwardly into heaven, grand fine art there: if I brand my bed in hell, behold, thou art in that location. 9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; 10 Fifty-fifty there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall concord me. eleven If I say, Surely the darkness shall comprehend me; even the night shall be low-cal about me. 12 Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth every bit the twenty-four hour period: the darkness and the low-cal are both alike to thee. 13 For thousand hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. 14 I will praise thee; for I am appallingly and wonderfully fabricated: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. xv My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in underground, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. sixteen Thine eyes did encounter my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in constancy were fashioned, when as however in that location was none of them.
It is of great employ to united states to know the certainty of the things wherein we have been instructed, that we may not only believe them, only be able to tell why we believe them, and to give a reason of the hope that is in u.s.. David is sure that God perfectly knows him and all his means,
I. Because he is ever under his centre. If God is omnipresent, he must needs be omniscient; but he is omnipresent; this supposes the infinite and immensity of his beingness, from which follows the ubiquity of his presence; heaven and earth include the whole cosmos, and the Creator fills both (Jeremiah 23:24); he not only knows both, and governs both, but he fills both. Every function of the cosmos is under God'south intuition and influence. David here acknowledges this also with awarding and sees himself thus open before God.
1. No flight can remove us out of God's presence: "Whither shall I get from thy Spirit, from thy presence, that is, from thy spiritual presence, from thyself, who fine art a Spirit?" God is a Spirit, and therefore it is folly to think that considering nosotros cannot see him he cannot see u.s.a.: Whither shall I abscond from thy presence? Not that he desired to go away from God; no, he desired null more than than to be nigh him; only he merely puts the case, "Suppose I should be so foolish as to think of getting out of thy sight, that I might shake off the awe of thee, suppose I should think of revolting from my obedience to thee, or of disowning a dependence on thee and of shifting for myself, alas! whither tin I become?" A heathen could say, Quocunque te flexeris, ibi Deum videbis occurrentem tibi--Whithersoever g turnest thyself, thou wilt come across God meeting thee. Seneca. He specifies the nigh remote and distant places, and counts upon meeting God in them. (1.) In sky: "If I ascend thither, as I promise to practise shortly, thou art there, and it will be my eternal bliss to be with thee there." Heaven is a vast large identify, replenished with an innumerable company, and yet there is no escaping God'south center at that place, in whatsoever corner, or in any crowd. The inhabitants of that earth have every bit necessary a dependence upon God, and lie as open to his strict scrutiny, as the inhabitants of this. (two.) In hell--in Sheol, which may exist understood of the depth of the world, the very center of it. Should nosotros dig as deep every bit we can under basis, and think to hibernate ourselves there, nosotros should be mistaken; God knows that path which the vulture's middle never saw, and to him the earth is all surface. Or it may be understood of the state of the dead. When nosotros are removed out of the sight of all living, all the same not out of the sight of the living God; from his heart nosotros cannot hide ourselves in the grave. Or it perchance understood of the place of the damned: If I make my bed in hell (an uncomfortable place to make a bed in, where at that place is no rest twenty-four hours or dark, still thousands volition brand their bed for always in those flames), behold, thou fine art there, in thy power and justice. God's wrath is the fire which will in that location burn down everlastingly, Revelation 14:x. (iii.) In the remotest corners of this globe: "If I take the wings of the morning time, the rays of the morning-light (called the wings of the sun, Malachi four:2), than which nothing more swift, and abscond upon them to the uttermost parts of the sea, or of the earth (Job 38:12; Task 38:xiii), should I flee to the most distant and obscure islands (the ultima Thule, the Terra incognita), I should find thee there; there shall thy manus lead me, equally far as I go, and thy correct hand hold me, that I can go no further, that I cannot leave of thy reach." God soon arrested Jonah when he fled to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.
2. No veil can hibernate us from God's eye, no, not that of the thickest darkness, Psalms 139:11; Psalms 139:12. "If I say, Nevertheless the darkness shall cover me, when cipher else will, alas! I find myself deceived; the curtains of the evening will stand me in no more stead than the wings of the morning; even the night shall exist low-cal about me. That which oftentimes favours the escape of a pursued criminal, and the retreat of a browbeaten army, will do me no kindness in fleeing from them." When God divided between the lite and darkness it was with a reservation of this prerogative, that to himself the darkness and the low-cal should even so exist both akin. "The darkness darkeneth non from thee, for at that place is no darkness nor shadow of decease where the workers of iniquity may hibernate themselves." No hypocritical mask or disguise, how specious soever, can save any person or action from actualization in a truthful light before God. Secret haunts of sin are every bit open earlier God as the virtually open up and bluff villanies.
II. Because he is the piece of work of his hands. He that framed the engine knows all the motions of information technology. God fabricated united states of america, and therefore no doubt he knows united states; he saw us when we were in the forming, and can we be hidden from him now that we are formed? This argument he insists upon (Psalms 139:thirteen-16; Psalms 139:thirteen-16): "1000 hast possessed my reins; one thousand art Principal of my near hole-and-corner thoughts and intentions, and the innermost recesses of my soul; thou non only knowest, simply governest, them, as we exercise that which we have possession of; and the possession thou hast of my reins is a rightful possession, for one thousand coveredst me in my mother's womb, that is, grand madest me (Task ten:11), grand madest me in secret. The soul is concealed class all about us. Who knows the things of a man, save the spirit of a homo?" 1 Corinthians 2:11. Hence we read of the hidden man of the eye. But it was God himself that thus covered us, and therefore he tin can, when he pleases, discover us; when he hid us from all the earth he did not intend to hide us from himself. Concerning the formation of man, of each of u.s.,
1. The celebrity of it is here given to God, entirely to him; for it is he that has made us and not we ourselves. "I will praise thee, the author of my being; my parents were only the instruments of it." It was done, (1.) Nether the divine inspection: My substance, when hid in the womb, nay, when it was still but in fieri--in the forming, an unshapen embryo, was not hidden from thee; thy optics did run into my substance. (2.) By the divine operation. Equally the center of God saw us then, so his hand wrought us; we were his work. (3.) Co-ordinate to the divine model: In thy book all my members were written. Eternal wisdom formed the plan, and past that almighty power raised the noble structure.
2. Glorious things are here said apropos information technology. The generation of human is to be considered with the aforementioned pious veneration as his cosmos at offset. Consider it, (1.) As a slap-up marvel, a smashing miracle we might call information technology, but that it is washed in the ordinary course of nature. We are fearfully and wonderfully made; we may justly be astonished at the admirable contrivance of these living temples, the composition of every part, and the harmony of all together. (2.) As a bully mystery, a mystery of nature: My soul knows right well that it is marvellous, but how to describe information technology for any 1 else I know not; for I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the womb equally in the lowest parts of the earth, so privately, and so far out of sight. (3.) Every bit a great mercy, that all our members in continuance were fashioned, according as they were written in the book of God'south wise counsel, when every bit nevertheless there was none of them; or, as some read information technology, and none of them was left out. If any of our members had been wanting in God's book, they would have been wanting in our bodies, just, through his goodness, we have all our limbs and sense, the want of whatsoever of which might take made us burdens to ourselves. See what reason nosotros take and so to praise God for our cosmos, and to conclude that he who saw our substance when it was unfashioned sees it now that it is fashioned.
Copyright Statement
These files are public domain and are a derivative of an electronic edition that is bachelor on the Christian Classics Ethereal Library Website.
Bibliographical Data
Henry, Matthew. "Consummate Commentary on Psalms 139:8". "Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible". https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/mhm/psalms-139.html. 1706.
Source: https://www.studylight.org/commentary/psalms/139-8.html
0 Response to "If I Make My Bed in Hell Thou Art There"
Post a Comment