Notes on the Book of Psalms, Psalm 139
The cxxxix. PSALM.
David to evince God of his integritie, and freedom from close hypocrisie (a sin too common in the world) useth several arguments of his knowledge of Gods omnisciencie, omnipresencie, and omnipotencie, as appears in his works of creation, but specially in himself so artificially framed, for which (with reverence and fear) he magnifieth and praiseth God; as also for his gracious purposes towards him, which also are ever in his eye, as the one to deter him, so the other to affect and dispose him better, than to dissemble with such a God, who is severe against sinners, with whom therefore he dare hold no correspondencie in their wicked ungodly courses, but from his heart abandons them, and bears them as much ill will that are so minded towards God, as if they were open enemies to himself, for all which, both on his integritie of heart towards God, and sincere hatred of sin and sinners, he puts himself upon Gods soul-searching inquisition, praying if he be in any thing mistaken, God would rectifie him.
Psalm cxxxix. To the chief musitian, A Psalm of David.To him that is the first, and principal of all the Quire, do I David (that made this Psalm,) recommend it, for the care and ordering of it to be sung.
1 O Lord,1O Lord, thou hast searched me, & known me. that art all-seeing and all-knowing, thou hast exercised me under many trying temptations for a long time, and what hath been my behaviour under them, thou knowest right-well, having put me to it, thou knowest me by it, what mine heart is, and how it stands affected towards thee, & thy commandements.
2 Thou knowest me throughout,2Thou knowest my down …itting, and mine uprising: thou understandest my thoughts afar off. in thought, word, and deed, all the actions of my life are apparent to thee (from one to another) of what kind or nature soever they be, none excepted; yea, my very thoughts (whence originally spring those mine actions) are also known unto thee, yea, before my mind conceive them, thou fore-seest them, much more before I act them, whilest I think them.
3 Wheresoever I am,3Thou compassest my path, and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my waies. whithersoever I go, whatsoever I do, night or day, thou art with me, and knowest both me and it, nothing can scape thee, no time nor place, for thou art present with me every step I take, and every thing I do all my life long, to judge both it and me.
4 For there is not the least word which at any time I have a purpose to speak,4For there is not a word in my tongue, but …o, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. but sure enough thou knowest it before I utter it; yea, the motives and ends whereupon, and whereunto I do speak it, are known to thee, though oftentimes they are concealed from man, who can judge onelyonly by the letter, but thou knowest the spirit.
5 Thine omnipresencie hath,5Thou hast bes…t me behind and before, and laid thine ha…d upon me. and doth begirt me round, there is no avoiding thee, if one had a mind to it; for as thou willest, or permittest, so it is, and must be; even as a child in a mans hand is guided which way he will, so am I by thine all-disposing hand of power and providence in all I do, think, or speak.
6 Lord,6Such knowledge is too wonderfull for me: it is high, I cannot attain unto it. such incomprehensible wisdom as thou hast, that thus wonderfully knowest all things before they are, and when they are, in their causes, motives, ends, is too deep for me to fathom, and too high for me to climbe, being a peculiar propertie of thine, the onelyonly wise God. I stand at gaze and admire it, and thee the God of it, that is the nearest that I a poor finite foolish creature can come to so infinite a wisdom.
7 Had I a mind to shift out of thy sight or knowledge,7Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence. as those have that walk in waies of wickedness, whither can I go to do it, or how possibly can I avoid thy presence that art both omniscient and omnipresent
8If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.8 There is neither height nor depth that can obscure or hide me from thine all-seeing eye, or ubiquitarie being: if I could ascend into the heavens, there I should be sure to find thee, where thou art more especially, or if knowing and fearing that, I run into the contrary extream, and by death seek a burying place out of thy sight, why, it is utterly impossible: For the earth, and under the earth, the very grave it self is visible to thee, thy sun shines into it, though ours do not, there thou art in power and presence, as well as in any other place, knowing and disposing every crum of dust.
9If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the ….9 If in any instant, as the light upon sun-rising disperseth it self, I could convey my self from where I am, to the remotest parts of all the world, over sea as well as land, thinking by so sudden shifting my place and sight, to so great distance, to quit thy presence, and deceive thy sight, as one may mans;
10Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.10 But I should find I am mistaken, and that as swift as I may conceive my self to move, thou wilt out-go me, and be there with me, and before me, conveying me all the way thither, if ever I come there, and ordering me there as here; and where instead of being at libertie and free from thee to do mine own will, I shall find my self under thy cognizance and power, not able to stir a foot, think nor act one jot more or less, than thou dispenseth and disposeth.
11If I say surely the darkness shall cover me: even the night shall be light about me.11, 12 If according to humane apprehension, I foolishly imagine and perswade my self, that though by transmigration of place I cannot in the day time shift thy sight,12Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee, but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee. yet no doubt when the sun is down, and that I can see nothing, nothing (not God himself) can then see me, but that I am then at mine own dispose to do what I fancie without discoverie, even that very darkness, mid-night it self shal, though indeed it be a cover from man that sees by created light, yet shall it (respecting God) be none at all, who sees not by a borrowed light as we do, but by his own, and so sees all men, and all their actions, alwaies, night as well as day, there is no difference to his uncreated allseeing eye that needs no help, nor is capable of no hinderance.
13 And Lord,13For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mothers womb. no wonder thou shouldest thus know and discern me, in all places and touching all things, thoughts as well as deeds, within as without; for from my very first initiation and beginning to be, wast thou in me and with me, yea, thy power made me, therefore thine eye saw me, even my most inward parts were then ordered by thee in their being, and so have they been ever since in their acting, as my very reins are in me, so art thou in them by thy power and efficacie, even in all those secret closeted parts of nature, which thou causedst to be thus externally covered over with flesh and skin in my conception, whereby (though born into the world) they are yet hid from mans eyes, but not from thee and thine, who as thou framedst and madest them in the dark womb, where and when no man saw them, so under this skin covering are they also open, and perspicuous to thee.
14 And though divine art and skill in framing my many inward parts,14I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well. and their concurrences, be thus hid from mine eyes, yet so much knowledge have I of it, as to know my self both within and without to be wonderfully framed by an incomprehensible power and wisdom, that makes me astonished at the consideration of it, and fear and reverence thee▪ the God of such transcendencies, and never shall my mind reflect upon my self that am thine Artifice, but with praise to thee, the great and wise Artificer. Yea, Lord, which way soever we look, either with the eyes of mind, or bodie, we cannot but acknowledge all created substances in the heavens, and the earth in their several kinds, and orderly sub-ordinations, to be all and every of them marvellously framed, and extream wisely contrived and disposed, which hath not taken me up a little time, nor a few thoughts, but many, and many a serious consideration have I had of them, and of thee, thy power and greatness manifested in them, to glorifie thee answerably: my soul hath not been idle touching thy works in general, and mine own fabrick in particular, both bodie and soul, which thou hast so marvellously made and endowed, but been studious in practical Philosophie, wherein, in a sanctified way (studying the creature, for the Creatours sake, and mine own spiritual improvements) I have made good proficiencie.
15My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret: and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.15 All that I am, my bones, veins, and sinews, every thing of me was known to thee, even from the very first conception of them, when nature made my several parts, and of them an entire body in the unseen cavern of my mothers womb, there they were most artificially framed, joynted, and contrived, and all this by thee in heaven, seemingly at infinite distance, and in (as it were) the darksom cells and concaves of the earth where no light comes (for such is the shop thou madest me in) where yet thou sawest and orderest all the marvellous proceeding of my conception, and formation here below.
16 Thou sawest and knewest me when I was in my Chaos,16Thine eyes did see my substance yet being unperfect, and in thy book all my members are written: which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. mine Embrio, even in that confused slimy congealed lump and substance of mine original matter, before nature had concocted and digested it into any form of parts and members, which yet in thine eternal decree and praeordination were appointed to be, and which for that onelyonly reason, & by thine onelyonly power, concurring with thy will, was in process of time (such, and so long) as thou hast ordained for nature to ripen, and heat and moisture to bring to maturity in, at last formed into a comely and beautifull order, worthy the name of thy creature, and bearing thine Image; even this didst thou produce out of most unlikely materials by thy skil, in thy time.
17, 18 Nor art thou onelyonly admirable in thy creative power and goodness,17How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God? how great is the summe of them? but otherwaies also; thy word declares by manifold promises and prophecies, very gracious and mercifull intentions,18If I should count them, they are moe in number than the sand: when I wake, I am still with thee. and inclinations toward me in a special manner, and thy works of grace and providence have also shewn as much, which I can better admire, than number, for they are numberless, which occupy my thoughts continually day and night, alwaies but when I am asleep.
19 And as my thoughts are of thy wisdom,19Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me t…erefore ye blo…dy men. power, and goodness, so also am I mindfull of thy justice and holiness, how that thou wilt be meet with wicked workers, and pay them in their kind; they that unjustly seek to destroy others, shall themselves justly be destroyed by thee the righteous God and judge of all the world, therefore will I keep me free from partner-ship with them in those their evil and injurious waies of wrong or revenge; no such guilt will I bring upon my head, and so I declare my self; I fear thee though they do not.
20For they speak against the… wickedly, & thine en…mies take thy name in …,20 For they stick not presumptuously to despise and despite thee by open blasphemies, and reproches of thy justice, power, and faithfulness, scornfully abusing (in the height of their pride, and malice against thee and thine,) all those thine excellencies which thy people fear, and reverence thee for
21 Thou,21Do not I hate them, O Lord, that ha… thee? and am I not grieved with these that rise up against the…? Lord, knowest how little good-will I bear to wickedness, and wicked men, I am far from having fellowship with them that I see bear an evil will toward thee, thy worship, or people; my very heart riseth at such with indignation, out of zeal to thee, and it is no small trouble to me, to see wicked men to provoke thee, and bear themselves so contemptuously toward thee so great a God, as they do.
22I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.22 Yea, from my heart root do I abominate wicked men, in their wicked courses; nor do I dissemble the matter, but profess my self no friend or favourer of them, no more (nor so much) than if they were mine own very enemies, and hated me; for my love to thee, makes me more sensible of the dishonour, and indignitie that is done thee, than my self, and worse can I endure it, or them that do it.
23Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me & know my thoughts.23 And in regard many that are mine enemies, are also thine, such as perversly sin against thee, as well as injure me, and that therefore I may play the hypocrite, and dissemblingly make shew of hatred to them for thy sake, when covertly it is for mine own, thinking thereby to commend my self unto thee, and gain upon thee by such a profession, therefore do I willingly lay my self open before thee, and uncover every corner of my heart for thee to see into it, whether it be not as I say, and that my thoughts and affections in this point be not sincere and upright, against wicked men, purely for wickedness.
24 Yea,24And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. spare not to make such discovery of me, whether (although I speciously seem to hate their persons, if yet secretly I love not their waies, and could find in my heart to practise wickedness as they do, rather than pietie; yea, if there be any the least root of bitterness remaining in me, or the least sin unmortified or abetted by me, whereby I may incur thy displeasure that art an all-discerning God, or grieve thy spirit who am judge of mine, and if there be any such unknown to me, for I know mans heart is deceitful, convince me of it and convert me from it, that by thy gracious & powerful manu-mission I may be set free from thraldom to sin, that leads to perdition the reward of every such transgression, and by thy no less gracious and powerful manu-diction be ordered and inabled in my whole man through my whole life, to walke in a perfect way of holiness, that onelyonly leads to everlasting life, and thy well pleasing, this Lord is my desire.