PSALM 139

I will be skipping around a little so you may want to have the whole psalm in front of you as we go.

First to note is that there are some confusing things regarding Psalm 139, starting with the superscription: “for the director of music.” The meaning of the Hebrew is dubious. It may mean to the choirmaster, to the leader, to be performed, from him who excels as a poet and singer, etc. More important is the confusion regarding what kind of psalm it is. Experts who classify the psalms according to type disagree; it has been called a hymn, individual song of thanksgiving, a declaration of innocence, an imprecatory (cursing) psalm, and a wisdom psalm. In addition, as we will see, this psalm drastically changes in tone around verse 19. So some have even argued that it is not a single psalm at all, but should be broken into two or three separate psalms. But we will see it is a unity.

Despite these areas of disagreement, it remains a very important and influential psalm. For example, verses 7-12 were quoted by both Amos (9:2-3) and Jeremiah (23:23-24). One of the hymns in the Dead Sea scrolls borrows language from this psalm. In 1936, James Edwin Orr wrote a famous hymn based on the last two verses, and in 1980 Philip Yancey and physician Paul Brand wrote a book on the marvels of the human body entitled Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, the title quoting from verse 14.

The purpose for choosing this particular text for a lesson in church is usually to see what it has to say about the nature of human life and when it begins. But that is not really the primary subject of this psalm. As Warren Wiersbe said, “One of the major themes of Psalm 139 is the wonder of God. But this psalm is not a lecture on theology. It is the record of a believer when he takes time to think on the wonders of God.” So it is really about how God's attributes impact us personally. Verses 1-18 zero in on the attributes of God: the various “omni's” – What are they? Omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence.

NRSV Study Bible states that verses 1-18 “are the most detailed and poetic description of divine omniscience in the Bible.”

Omniscient (1-6)  knowledge of the Psalmist

Omnipresent (7-12)  in space

Omnipotent (13-14)  power over life

Omnipresent (15-16)  in time

Omniscient (17-18)  inherent knowledge

And if we glance ahead to verse 19, we can see that the Psalmist recognizes that God has the power over death as well.

As poetry we would expect the use of figurative language to enhance the meaning of the text. Let's focus on only one type of figure of speech – merism. This is the use of contrasts or extremes to indicate a totality. Examples—Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End.

Merisms in Psalm 139

“You know when I sit and when I rise.” (v. 2)

        “You” is emphatic (ONLY you). The verse refers to whatever posture we are in.

“You discern my going out and my lying down.” (v. 3)

        All our activities day or night.

“If I go up to the heavens you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol you are there.” (v. 8)

        Vertical dimensions

“If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea...” (v. 9)

        East and West—horizontal dimensions

“The night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.” (v. 12)

This could possibly remind you of Santa Claus: “He knows when you are sleeping, he knows when you're awake, he knows if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake.”

Let's read the key verses relating to the conception of life.

Psalm 139:13-16

We get the idea that there is no part of our life from conception to death that God is powerless over. This is spelled out in verse 16: “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”

This isn't the only proof text for the personhood of, and God's involvement with, someone while they are still in the womb.

“Your hands fashioned and made me...you fashioned me like clay...Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese?...You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews.” Job 10:8-11

“The LORD called me before I was born, while I was in my mother's womb he named me...who formed me in the womb to be his servant” Isaiah 49:1,5

“Now the word of the LORD came to me saying, 'Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.'” Jeremiah 1:4-5

Then there is the passage that is often read during the Christmas season:

“When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, '...why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy.'” Luke 1:41-44

This happened when Elizabeth was six months pregnant. This is especially relevant for me since my oldest grandson was born premature at six months. Now he is twenty years old and over six feet tall. You could even say that John the Baptist at three months before birth showed more spiritual discernment in recognizing Jesus as the Messiah than he did years later when he was in prison and questioned whether Jesus was really the one.

We should take comfort from these verses that God is in charge of each human soul even if that child is never born (abortion or miscarriage), or dies in infancy, or is born severely handicapped.

Too often we boil down the issue of the sanctity of life to one issue only: lobbying for laws that make it harder for women to get abortions. This is important, but sadly we have found from experience that the politicians who run on that issue either are in no position to change the laws or, if they do have any influence, they often choose not to exercise it. And ultimately, you can't legislate morality. It takes a change of heart.

I think we need to think more broadly about the subject of sanctity of life.

Now, I often ask God to bring something pertinent to my attention while I am preparing a lesson. The issue of Christianity Today I happened to start reading had four articles dealing with different aspects of this subject as well as a book I received in the mail. I'll share some of these with you in a minute.

The sanctity of all life:

What can we do as individuals or as a church to support people in the following categories of persons who sometimes are not considered by society as full human beings of worth. And you may have other categories to bring up. What can government, church or we individually do for these people?

The Unborn crisis pregnancy centers

Children of Single Parents Christian daycare centers

Orphans and Abandoned Children foster care, adoption, Financial aid, Moral support to adoptive parents in the church. CT, pp. 26-27. “Ultimately, adoptive families don't need resources that are adoption-focused as much as they need a community that is Christ-focused.” “Redemptive hospitality affirms that the responsibility of loving and healing the wounded child is not the task of one family alone, but of the entire church community”

Children CT, p. 25 “Children are not lesser members, waiting for a time when they can be really useful. Even young children can visit the elderly, give some of their allowance to missions. We can teach them that even a small act is significant to Christ. Little ones are weak, but God says they are also indispensable.”

mentoring at school

Handicapped    special-needs ministries in the church and those that tax dollars support (This is an item that shouldn't be the first on the chopping block in attempts to balance the national and state budgets).

I met a 28-year old girl once through a Christian art group in Austin. She has severe autism, doesn't make eye contact, is confined to a wheelchair most of the time, has little control over her limbs, has seizures, and can't talk. I thought she was severely mentally retarded as well. It turns out she is an accomplished artist in collages and, with assistance, can slowly type. She writes poetry. Her friends, mainly from her church, contributed enough money so that she could achieve her life's dream—publishing a book of her art and poetry.

Elderly        Meals on Wheels, volunteering at assisted living centers and nursing homes

Ill and Terminally Ill       visiting the sick, volunteering at hospitals, Hospice ministries

But there is another class of people that many of us might feel are unworthy of life.

Sermon on the Mount “You have heard it said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” Matthew 5:43-44 It is felt that Psalm 139 is probably one of the OT passages he is referring to here.

This most controversial aspect of the sanctity of life issue brings us to verses 19-22. It is interesting that the liturgical churches, both Protestant and Catholic, skip these verses as unfit for Christians to recite or hear. Of course, we wouldn't do the same thing, would we? Note that the Southern Baptis lesson guide omits these verses entirely. It doesn't seem to fit in to a lesson on the sanctity of life. But as C. S. Lewis said, “The bad parts [of the Bible] will not come away clean and may be intertwined with the most exquisite things.”

What do we do about these feelings of hatred which David has?

1. Progressive revelation “in the Bible is not from the false to the true, but from lesser light to greater light. The psalmist's views of sin and judgment were not false, but neither were they complete.” – Warren Wiersbe

New Bible Dictionary “It should be remembered that...the psalmists...had as yet no conception of judgment in a...future state in which the ungodly would be punished and the godly rewarded. Therefore if righteousness is to be vindicated it has to be vindicated now. When the righteous man prayed for the destruction of wickedness he did not distinguish in his mind between the ungodly and his ungodliness. The destruction of the one without the other was unthinkable to the pious.”

“... for the Psalmist and his contemporaries, evil was no abstract idea but was embodied in evil men.” A. A. Anderson (Psalms) There was no way to separate the sinner from the sin.

2. Remember that all the poetic sections of the Bible are written to engage not just our intellect, but our emotions as well, including hatred. We should be scrupulously honest in our prayers to God and let our emotions come out without editing them. One commentary I have subtitles Psalm 139 “Honest to God.”

3. Note the limitations to David's hatred -- it is directed first and foremost to people who have proclaimed themselves as God's enemies, not his own personal enemies.

4. David recognizes that it is up to God to deal with such people, not himself. Remember that in his own life, David (as field general and later commander in chief of Israel's army) was responsible for killing thousands of his country's enemies, but he purposely refrained from killing those who attacked him personally such as Saul, Nabal, Shimei or Absalom even though he had the opportunity. [It was only his friends like Uriah the Hittite that had reason to worry.]

But what about the issue of serving in the military or on a jury where the death penalty is involved?

There are at least two alternatives for a Christian:

one is pacifism – There were two articles in CT on this subject. One points out that for the first 200 years of Christianity, a pro-life ethic ruled. That included (1) opposition to the Roman practices of abortion and exposing unwanted infants to die, and adopting those children it could save. Unfortunately, this practice still going on today in the Hamer tribe in Ethiopia. A “cursed child” is left to die of exposure or thrown off a cliff. The “cursed” include those children whose top teeth grow in first. A Christian man named Lale Labuko has set up an organization to rescue them. Early church practices also included refusal of Christians to serve in the military.

The second article is entitled “The Manly Christian Pacifist” about Preston Sprinkle, a gun-loving, red meat-eating, weight-lifting, action movie-loving, Republican evangelical who has written a book describing why he decided to embrace non-violence after studying the Scriptures more closely. He realizes that his position runs counter to current American culture but should be seriously considered anyway.

But that isn't the only option for Christians who believe consistently in the sanctity of life.

William Holladay – “The call to love one's enemies must be exercised within the claims of justice: if an injustice has been done, then it needs to be made right. Here it becomes complicated, for one must deal with one's own stance, the stance of one's enemies, and the stance of God.” Apply this principle to Psalm 139. David says that the enemies hate God, speak against Him, and lift themselves up against God to do evil. (verses 20-21) Then regarding his own stance he concludes in verses 23-24 by asking God to confirm that his motives are wholly righteous. Note that regarding God's stance in this particular case, he leaves it up to Him to address the situation (verse 19). But it does open the door to pursuing justice even if it involves violent means such as war or legal execution if and only if we are sure that our own motives are pure, are convinced that our enemies are evil, and feel that our actions are completely within God's will for the situation.

Psalm 139:23-24 The psalm ends as it started, talking about God searching the psalmist's heart. And here we see two additional attributes of God in the psalm that are complementary to one another.

Love (vv. 10, 13): He formed each of us with care and leads us wherever we go.

Justice/righteousness (vv. 19-20): He opposes evil in the world.

Love and righteousness come together in the end.

James Orr paraphrased these words and set them to an old Hawaiian tune. We know it as the hymn “Cleanse Me.” It is written in the first person, so you can read it as a prayer to God.

“Search me, O God, and know my heart today. Try me, O Savior, know my thoughts, I pray. See if there be some wicked way in me; cleanse me from every sin and set me free