Devotional Short Note to Psalm 139: The
first thing we need to point out is that scholars thought the Psalm is filled
with Aramaisms and for that reason especially F. Delitzsch did not want to
assign the Psalm to David but to a post-Exilic author who was using Davidic
style. Delitzsch was quite a scholar and for him to say this in 1885 makes one
wonders if he was too young. Nevertheless, he claimed that because the direct
object marker that is supposed to be in Hebrew eth- connected to a noun, is not
eth- in this Psalm but l- therefore this common feature in late Aramaic makes
it Aramaic influence and a post-exillic date is proposed. We can now say with
confidence that such chrono-grammar observations can be shelved. Language
appears, disappears and reappears again and there is no fixed or stable
chronology to be attached to linguistic elements. In Samuel’s book it is used
in 1 Samuel 23:10 to say “do destroy the town” as l-town instead of eth-town. David
is in good company if Samuel is pulled closer. David is aware of the fact that God
through His Spirit is very close as he says in 139:7a “where shall I go from
Your Spirit?” Therefore the Lord has searched him and knows him (139:1). What God knows about all of us is
everything: stand-up; sit-down; from a long distance God reads the thoughts
(139:2); God sift his going around and lying down, and knows all his ways (139:
3); if he speaks God knows what he is going to say (139:4). For protection God has secure him from
the front and back (139:5). This insight is too high for him, he has
never seen this in his life and cannot explain it (139:6). Running from the Holy Spirit? Thinking
to go at a space where the Spirit is not? Impossible: into heaven = He is
there; under the earth = He is there (139:8). If he jumps on a ship and goes
overseas = He is there (139:9). “Even there would Your hand lead me” (139:10).
Some scholars thought that “lifting up the wings of the morning” means the
goddess of the morning with wings but that is not what is indicated here. It is
the sails of the ship that are hoisted in the morning so that the wind can
drive and push the “wings” of the sails of the ship further into the sea. It is
that concrete and simple. If he thought that the darkness my cut
him off from the Holy Spirit, “even the darkness is not too dark for You”
(139:12). Here is the reason of all this: God has
knitted together everyone that is born on earth for a destiny and a purpose, of
course for His good will and glory (139:13). Of course somewhere along the
line, truth approaches the person, no matter where, and the light that shines
from that illumination should have alight the world and all those around him/her
but failing obstinately from such splendor task, shirking the responsibility,
ends in self-inflicted pain an disaster. It is the corridor God cannot enter
but can wait at the end of it. All of us are wonderfully made by the
Creator (139:14). Are you suffering from a handicap of some kind? All will
eventually when they get old. Others just get it earlier but for every handicap
that Satan invented for his enjoyment on this earth, God has a solemn right to
provide a bonus for such a soul in heaven on his/her behalf more than others
who had a full grown bloom life. The Master of the scales is still the Master
of the Universe. Rewards are waiting for the patience of the saints. “My frame was not hidden from You”
(139:15). When God was weaving a human in the womb of his/her mother “in secret”
for no one can see how it is done, God’s eyes were there with the unformed substance
[watch-out abortionists!] (139:16) “and in Your book they were all written”.
The Great Book-Keeper is at work here. The Divine Holy Book-Accountant of
souls. “Even the days were formed and not one
in them” (139:16). Our days are counted by God. Dutch Reform Calvinist pastor Danie
Steyn in his Youtube video on the Hell explained in late 1968 that a young man
came to a pastor to ask: “Pastor, when should I give my heart to God?” The
pastor answered: “I do not know, as long as you do it before you die”. The
young man left but then came the next day back to the pastor: “Pastor, I have
been thinking again: when will I die?” The pastor said: “I do not know, it may
be tonight, it may be next year, it may be many years later, it can be any time”.
The young man answered: “Then Pastor, I do not wait one moment longer, I want
to give my heart to God right now”. “And to me, how weighty are Your *thoughts,
O God. How great are the sum [literally ‘head’] of them” (139:17). *This word is
a hapax legoumenon meaning that it appears only once in the Bible according to
F. Delitzsch. Scholars tried late Aramaic “desires” or Arabic “concerns” but it
is better to suggest that David used a Late Egyptian word r-cwy meaning “gateway”
or “gate” as it was used in Middle Egyptian earlier. The context of the Psalm
indicate that there are many of them and they can be counted and like the stars
in heaven, they are so many that they are like the sand of the sea. Maleachi
said that if one pays tithe, see if “I will not open the windows of heaven for
you” bestowing blessings. David is on the same wave-length here as Maleachi. Even if David would count the million and
trillions of gates of God’s blessings, then if he comes to the end of all of
them, God will not be left behind remotely in a distance “I would still be with
You” (139:18). “If You will slay the wicked O God”
(139:19). For that reason he wish the evil to depart from him. He does not want
to associate with them since he does not want to get their plaques. David wants
to follow the “come out of her My people” command. The wicked are defined: with a wicked
thought in their desires, passions and thoughts they use on their lips the name
of God as if He is on their side (139:20). They reckon God’s name as falsehood, the
enemies of God (139:20). David declared that he hate them that
hate the Lord (139:21-22). He counts them as his enemies. But, notice
something. David’s religion does not suggest that he should grab a sword and
fight God’s war for Him. God can fight His own war. There is no mention of
humans that should do the work of killing the wicked because they do not
believe in God. A God Who does not expect humans to kill for Him, is worth
worshipping for. Is that not right? David wants God to research and know his
innermost thinking (139:23) and God must see if the way is grievous in him
(139:24). And should he be outside the way of the Lord, “lead me in the way,
everlasting” (139:24). I am not sure if it was dr. Roy Gane of Andrews
University’s father pastor Gane who came to our town Vryheid in South Africa in
the late sixties when I was very young (1968) to preach for us with a
translator and his sermon I can remember since it was taped: “We are on the
one-way highway”.