John Calvin Commentary Psalms 139

O Jehovah! thou hast searched me, David declares at the beginning of this Psalm, that he does not come before God with any idea of its being possible to succeed by pretense, as hypocrites will take advantage of secret refuges to pursue sinful indulgences, but that he voluntarily lays bare his inmost heart for inspection, as one convinced of the impossibility of deceiving God.

It is yours, he says, O God! to discover every secret thought, nor is there anything which can escape your notice. He then elaborates on specifics to show that his whole life was known to God, who watched him in all his movements—when he slept, when he arose, or when he walked about.

The word רע, rea, which we have rendered thought, also signifies a friend or companion, for this reason some read—thou knowest what is nearest me afar off, a meaning more relevant than any other, if it could be supported by example. The reference would then be very appropriately to the fact that the most distant objects are contemplated by God as near.

Some for afar off read beforehand, in which sense the Hebrew word is used elsewhere, as if he had said—O Lord, every thought which I conceive in my heart is already known to you beforehand. But I prefer the other meaning: that God is not confined to heaven, indulging in a state of repose and indifferent to human concerns, according to the Epicurean idea; and that however far off we may be from him, he is never far off from us.

The verb זרה, zarah, means to winnow as well as to compass, so that we may very properly read the third verse—thou winnowest my ways, a figurative expression to denote the bringing of anything which is unknown to light. The reader is left to their own choice, for the other rendering which I have adopted is also appropriate.

There has also been a difference of opinion among interpreters as to the last clause of the verse. The verb סכן, sachan, in the Hiphil conjugation, as here, signifies to render successful, which has led some to think that David here thanks God for crowning his actions with success; but this is a meaning which does not at all suit the scope of the Psalmist in the context, for he is not speaking of thanksgiving.

Equally forced is the meaning given to the words by others—You have made me get acquainted or accustomed with my ways; as if he praised God for being endowed with wisdom and counsel. Although the verb is in the Hiphil, I have therefore felt no hesitation in assigning it a neuter meaning—Lord, you are accustomed to my ways, so that they are familiar to you.

For there is not a word, etc. The words admit a double meaning. Accordingly, some understand them to imply that God knows what we are about to say before the words are formed on our tongue; others, that even though we do not speak a word and try by silence to conceal our secret intentions, we cannot elude his notice. Either interpretation amounts to the same thing, and it is of no consequence which we adopt. The idea meant to be conveyed is that while the tongue is the index of thought to man, being the great medium of communication, God, who knows the heart, is independent of words. And the demonstrative particle lo! is used to indicate emphatically that the innermost recesses of our spirit stand present to his view.

In verse five, some read — behind and before thou hast fashioned me; but צור, tsur, often signifies to shut up, and David, there can be no doubt, means that he was surrounded on every side, and so kept in sight by God, that he could not escape in any direction. One who finds the way blocked up turns back; but David found himself hedged in behind as well as before. The other clause of the verse has the same meaning; for those who think that it refers to God’s fashioning us, and applying his hand as an artisan to his work, put a very forced interpretation upon it; nor does this suit the context. And it is much better to understand it as asserting that God by his hand, laid, as it were, upon men, holds them strictly under his inspection, so that they cannot move a hair’s breadth without his knowledge.

Thy knowledge is wonderful above me. Two meanings may be attached to ממני: mimmenni. We may read upon me, or, in relation to me, and understand David to mean that God’s knowledge is seen to be wonderful in forming such a creature as man, who, to use an old saying, may be called a little world in himself. Nor can we think without astonishment of the consummate skill apparent in the structure of the human body, and of the excellent endowments with which the human soul is gifted.

But the context demands another interpretation; and we are to suppose that David, pursuing the same idea upon which he had already insisted, exclaims against the folly of measuring God’s knowledge by our own, when it rises prodigiously above us. Many, when they hear God spoken of, conceive of him as like themselves, and such presumption is most condemnable.

Very commonly, they will not allow his knowledge to be greater than what matches their own understanding of things. David, on the contrary, confesses it to be beyond his comprehension. He virtually declares that words cannot express this truth: the absoluteness with which all things lie open to the eye of God. This is a knowledge having neither bound nor measure, so that he could only contemplate its extent with conscious inadequacy.

Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? I consider that David develops the same idea: that it is impossible for anyone, by any deception, to escape the eye of God. By the Spirit of God, we are not in this passage, as in several other parts of Scripture, to understand His power only, but His understanding and knowledge.

In human beings, the spirit is the seat of intelligence, and so it is here in reference to God. This is clear from the second part of the verse, where "the face of God" means His knowledge or inspection. In summary, David means that he could not move from one place to another without God seeing him and following him with His eyes as he moved.

Those who cite this passage as proof of the immensity of God’s essence misuse it. For although it is an undoubted truth that the glory of the Lord fills heaven and earth, this was not what the Psalmist was considering at this point. Rather, the Psalmist's focus was on the truth that God’s eye sees into heaven and hell, so that if anyone were to hide in the most obscure corner of the world, they would still be discovered by Him.

Therefore, he tells us that even if he were to fly to heaven, or hide in the deepest depths, everything from above or from below was exposed and clear before God.

The wings of the morning (or of Lucifer, the light-bearer) is a beautiful metaphor. This is because when the sun rises on the earth, it suddenly sends its light to all regions of the world, as with the speed of flight. The same figure of speech is used in Malachi 4:2.

The idea is that even if someone were to fly with the speed of light, they could find no hiding place where they would be outside the reach of God's power. For by hand we are to understand power, and the point is that if anyone were to attempt to escape God's observation, it would be easy for God to stop and bring back the fugitive.

If I shall say, etc. David represents himself as a man using every possible method to escape from an embarrassing situation. So, having acknowledged that it was futile to dream of flight, he considers another remedy and says, If no speed of mine can take me beyond the range of God’s vision, yet, if light were removed, the darkness might cover me, so that I might have a brief moment of relief.

But this also he declares to be hopeless, as God sees equally well in the deepest darkness as at midday. It is a mistake, in my opinion, to consider, as some have done, that the two clauses of the verse are to be taken separately and read, If I shall say the darkness will cover me, even the night shall be as light before me—meaning that darkness would be converted into light, and so, though he saw nothing himself, he would stand revealed before God’s eyes.

David is rather to be considered as expressing in both clauses what he might be supposed to be wishing for, and intimates that, if he could only find any cover or subterfuge, he would take advantage of the opportunity: “If I shall say, at least the darkness will cover me, and the night be as light for me”—that is, in the sense in which it is so for robbers or wild beasts of the forest, who then roam more freely.

We may infer that this is the proper interpretation of the words from the particle גם, gam.

If anyone should think it a very unnecessary observation to say that, regarding God, there is no difference between light and darkness, it is enough to remind him of a truth confirmed by all observation: people are brought to come forward openly and unreservedly into God’s presence only with great reluctance and extreme difficulty.

In words, we all grant that God is omniscient. However, we secretly disregard this truth—a truth no one would openly dispute—to the point that we do not hesitate to mock God. Indeed, we often lack even the basic reverence for Him that we would show to our fellow human beings.

We are ashamed to let others know and witness our wrongdoings. Yet, we are as indifferent to what God may think of us as if our sins were covered and hidden from His sight.

If this delusion is not sharply corrected, it will soon, for us, turn light into darkness. Therefore, David discusses this subject at length to refute our false understandings.

Let us then make it our concern to apply these rebukes and rouse ourselves with them whenever we feel inclined to become complacent.