John Calvin Commentary Psalms 139:7

"Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence?" — Psalms 139:7 (ASV)

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.