Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me. Psalm 139:10 NASB Lay hold– I could hide in the twilight. I could flee to end of the sea. But the result will be the same. YHVH is there. The only question is why He is there. Is He there as guide and…
If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, Psalm 139:9 NASB Wings of the dawn– Twilight is a time of strange visions. It’s that time just before the sun breaks the horizon or just after the sun hides behind the edge of the world. When Hebrew…
A great place. Lower Antelope Canyon
If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. Psalm 139:8 NASB Behold– We’ve looked at this verse several times.[1]Our previous investigations concentrated on the use of She’ol and its distinction from the contemporary idea of Hell. But this time we’ll look at the tone of the verse,…
Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? Psalm 139:7 NASB Flee– “Basically bāraḥ means to go or pass through, and to flee or hurry. It occurs mostly in narratives, referring to flight from an enemy.”[1] But how can this be true in this psalm? Is God the enemy? Do we…
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it. Psalm 139:6 NASB Too wonderful– What does “too wonderful” mean to a poet in the tenth century BCE? Well, not just any poet, but a poet who is saturated with a culture and a nation that believes YHVH to be the one true God. Perhaps…
You have enclosed me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me. Psalm 139:5 NASB Behind and before– What does it feel like to have God’s hand heavy upon you? Does it feel comfortable? Gracious? Or do you feel as if you can’t move? Pressed? Coerced? Curbed? In this verse, the emphasis comes first, and in this…
You have enclosed me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me. Psalm 139:5 NASB Enclosed– There’s not much wiggle room here. ṣûr, the Hebrew verb used in this expression, is related to words meaning, ‘besiege, bind, tie down’ and ‘encircle.’ The psalmist’s choice seems to make it abundantly clear that God Himself puts restrictive fences around our…
