SS Lesson Archive Week 3

Fairview Baptist Church
2040 Main Street WW - Ashland, Kentucky 41102
"Where Everybody Is Somebody and Jesus is Lord"

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2. Based on these verses, what actions does God take toward people? (See underlined phrases.)

3. Do you think everything God observes and knows of people is positive? Why, or why not?

4. Does negative knowledge about people make them any less valuable? Why, or why not?

5. Do you believe that no matter what life has done to people or what people have done to life, they are still valuable to God? Why?

7. What does verse 1 tell us about our God? What does this mean to you (as an individual)?

8. What does verse 2 tell us about our God? What does this mean to you (as an individual)?

9. What does verse 3 tell us about our God? (See Job 34:21; Ps 33:13; Jer. 23:24; Heb. 4:13.)

10. What does verse 4 tell us about our speech? (See Ps. 34:13; Jas. 3:1-12; 1 Pet. 3:10.)

11. What indicated to David that God valued him even though God knew him (v. 5)?

16. Did God know David or did He know just facts about him? How do you know (vv. 1-5)?

17. What is the psalmist’s response to God’s knowledge of him? Does this apply to each believer today? Why, or why not?

22. What does omnipresent mean? (See Digging Deeper.) How do verses 7-12 give us a picture of Yahweh’s omnipresent?

23. If you knew everything about a person, what might be your attitude about them? Why? How does how we value others contrast with how God values them?

24. How do you envision this God, who knows all about you, placing His hand on you? What does His doing so say about our value to Him?

1. What do verses 7-12 tell us about God’s presence in the life of the psalmist?

3. How does David describe God’s work in the womb? How are the unborn described in these verses?

6. What does verse 15 tell us about God? What does this mean to you as an individual?

7. What should be our response to the work God did in the development of our physical bodies?

8. What does verse 16a tell us about God? What does this mean to you as an individual?

10. Do you believe verse 16 describes God’s purpose for all unborn children? Why, or why not?

11. Will the fact that God knows the direction of our lives impact your present life style? Why, or why not?

12. What does omnipotent mean? (See Digging Deeper.) How do verses 13-16 give us a picture of Yahweh’s omnipotent?

13. How do these verses speak to the issues of abortion, euthanasia, and other ways human life is devalued today?

15. Do you think medical advancements have added to or taken away from the majesty and mystery of conception and birth? Why, or why not?

18. How can we speak out against abortion and still be compassionate with those who have been personally scarred by abortion?

4. How do we distinguish what we can understand from what we cannot understand about God?

8. What was David’s conclusion as he pondered the wonders of God’s creative work in his life?

11. How does it make you feel when someone says you’ve been on their mind a lot?

12. Would you believe them if they said they think of you constantly? Why? Can you believe God when He declares that? Why?

14. Because people are always on God’s mind, how should that affect our own thought patterns?

Lesson Outline, Introduction, Discussion Questions, and Conclusion adapted from the following sources:

SOURCE: Life Ventures-Bible Studies for Life; Leader Guide; LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention; Nashville, TN.

SOURCE: The Herschel Hobbs Commentary; Family Bible Study; by Robert J. Dean; LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention; 1 LifeWay Plaza, Nashville, TN.

SOURCE: Advanced Bible Study; LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention; One LifeWay Plaza, Nashville, TN.

COMMENTARY:

(NOTE: Commentary for the focal verses comes from two sources: “The Treasury of David; Psalms,” “The Expositor’s Bible Commentary Old Testament” and “The Complete Biblical Library Commentary,” and is provided for your study.)

1 O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. 2 Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. 3 Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. 4 For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. 5 Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. (KJV)

Verse 1. “O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.” He invokes in adoration Jehovah the all-knowing God, and he proceeds to adore him by proclaiming one of his peculiar attributes. If we would praise God aright we must draw the matter of our praise from himself—“O Jehovah, thou hast.” No pretended god knows aught of us; but the true God, Jehovah, understands us, and is most intimately acquainted with our persons, nature, and character. How well it is for us to know the God who knows us! The divine knowledge is extremely thorough and searching; it is as if he had searched us, as officers search a man for contraband goods, or as pillagers ransack a house for plunder. Yet we must not let the figure run upon all fours, and lead us further than it is meant to do, the Lord knows all things naturally and as a matter of course, and not by any effort on his part. Searching ordinarily implies a measure of ignorance which is removed by observation; of course this is not the case with the Lord; but the meaning of the Psalmist is, that the Lord knows us as thoroughly as if he had examined us minutely, and had pried into the most secret corners of our being. This infallible knowledge has always existed—“Thou hast searched me”: and it continues unto this day, since God cannot forget that which he has once known. There never was a time in which we were unknown to God, and there never will be a moment in which we shall be beyond his observation. Note how the Psalmist makes his doctrine personal, he saith not, “O God, thou knowest all things”; but, “thou hast known me.” It is ever our wisdom to lay truth home to ourselves. How wonderful the contrast between the observer and the observed! Jehovah and me! Yet this most intimate connection exists, and therein lies our hope. Let the reader sit still a while and try to realize the two poles of this statement,—the Lord and poor puny man—and he will see much to admire and wonder at.

Verse 2. “Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising.” Me thou knowest, and all that comes of me. I am observed when I quietly sit down, and marked when I resolutely rise up. My most common and casual acts, my most needful and necessary movements, are noted by thee, and thou knowest the inward thoughts which regulate them. Whether I sink in lowly self-renunciation, or ascend in pride, thou seest the motions of my mind, as well as those of my body. This is a fact to be remembered every moment: sitting down to consider, or rising up to act, we are still seen, known, and read by Jehovah our Lord. “Thou understandest my thought afar off.” Before it is my own it is foreknown and comprehended by thee. Though my thought be invisible to the sight, though as yet I be not myself cognizant of the shape it is assuming, yet thou hast it under thy consideration, and thou perceivest its nature, its source, its drift, its result. Never dost thou misjudge or wrongly interpret me, my inmost thought is perfectly understood by thine impartial mind. Though thou shouldst give but a glance at my heart, and see me as one sees a passing meteor moving afar, yet thou wouldst by that g!impse sum up all the meanings of my soul, so transparent is everything to thy piercing glance.

Verse 3. “Thou compassest my path and my lying down.” My path and my pallet, my running and my resting, are alike within the circle of thine observation. Thou dost surround me even as the air continually surrounds all creatures that live. I am shut up within the wall of thy being; I am encircled within the bounds of thy knowledge. Waking or sleeping I am still observed of thee. I may leave thy path, but thou never leavest mine. I may sleep and forget thee, but thou dost never slumber, nor fall into oblivion concerning thy creature. The original signifies not only surrounding, but winnowing and sifting. The Lord judges our active life and our quiet life; he discriminates our action and our repose, and marks that in them which is good and also that which is evil. There is chaff in all our wheat, and the Lord divides them with unerring precision. “And art acquainted with all my ways.” Thou art familiar with all I do; nothing is concealed from thee, nor surprising to thee, nor misunderstood by thee. Our paths may be habitual or accidental, open or secret, but with them all the Most Holy One is well acquainted. This should fill us with awe, so that we sin not; with courage, so that we fear not; with delight, so that we mourn not.

Verse 4. “For there is not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether.” The unformed word, which lies within the tongue like a seed in the soft, is certainly and completely known to the Great Searcher of hearts. A negative expression is used to make the positive statement all the stronger: not a word is unknown is a forcible way of saying that every word is well known. Divine knowledge is perfect, since not a single word is unknown, nay, not even an unspoken word, and each one is “altogether” or wholly known. What hope of concealment can remain when the speech with which too many conceal their thoughts is itself transparent before the Lord? O Jehovah, how great art thou! If thine eye hath such power, what must be the united force of thine whole nature!

Verse 5. “Thou hast beset me behind and before.” As though we were caught in an ambush, or besieged by an army which has wholly beleaguered the city walls, we are surrounded by the Lord. God has set us where we be, and beset us wherever we be. Behind us there is God recording our sins, or in grace blotting out the remembrance of them; and before us there is God foreknowing all our deeds, and providing for all our wants. We cannot turn back and so escape him, for he is behind; we cannot go forward and outmarch him, for he is before. He not only beholds us, but he besets us; and lest there should seem any chance of escape, or lest we should imagine that the surrounding presence is yet a distant one, it is added,—“And laid thine hand upon me.” The prisoner marches along surrounded by a guard, and gripped by an officer. God is very near; we are wholly in his power; from that power there is no escape. It is not said that God will thus beset us and arrest us, but it is done—“Thou hast beset me.” Shall we not alter the figure, and say that our heavenly Father has folded his arms around us, and caressed us with his hand? It is even so with those who are by faith the children of the Most High.

Verse 6. “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me.” I cannot grasp it. I can hardly endure to think of it. The theme overwhelms me. I am amazed and astounded at it. Such knowledge not only surpasses my comprehension, but even my imagination. “It is high, I cannot attain unto it.” Mount as I may, this truth is too lofty for my mind. It seems to be always above me, even when I soar into the loftiest regions of spiritual thought. Is it not so with every attribute of God? Can we attain to any idea of his power, his wisdom, his holiness? Our mind has no line with which to measure the Infinite. Do we therefore question? Say, rather, that we therefore believe and adore. We are not surprised that the Most Glorious God should in his knowledge be high above all the knowledge to which we can attain: it must of necessity be so, since we are such poor limited beings; and when we stand a-tip-toe we cannot reach to the lowest step of the throne of the Eternal.

The various components—hymn, thanksgiving, lament—of this psalm expose us to the intensely personal relationship between the psalmist and his God. The psalm defies the canons of genre criticism, as scholarship is divided on the genre and Sitz im Leben. Siegfried Wagner finds in this psalm a coming together of a variety of motifs: meditation, confession, prayer, and reflection. Helen Schungel-Straumann argues in favor of a wisdom context.

The structure reveals an obvious break between v. 18 and v. 19. The first part (vv. 1-18) consists mainly of thanksgiving for God’s discernment, perception, and purpose of the individual. The second part (vv. 19-24) is in the form of a prayer made during a period of distress. The reflections of the past and the present situation express a profound knowledge of God and a conviction that this God has a concern for individuals. Yahweh loves and knows his people, and they, in turn, need not be afraid of his scrutiny.

139:1-6 The Lord “knows” his own. The knowledge of God is relational. He knows his own (see 1:6), as he discerns the righteous from the wicked (cf. vv. 19-20). The root y-d-‘ (“know”) occurs throughout this section: “you know me.... you know when.... you know it completely.... Such knowledge.” It signifies here divine discernment. The Lord discerns the actions of his own (v. 1), whether they sit or stand (v. 2; see 1:6). This discernment belongs uniquely to God, who alone is the Judge of all flesh. Hence the psalmist exclaims that this divine prerogative is beyond him: “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me” (v. 6).

In his prayer (vv. 23-24), which gives expression to his recommitment, the psalmist prayed for the Lord’s justification of his acts against those who maligned him. He prayed for the Lord to examine him as in a judicial case and to declare him to be innocent of the charges (vv. 23-24; see below). Now that the ordeal is over and he has been justified by the Lord, the psalmist testifies that the Lord is a righteous judge. He has come to a new level of relationship with the Lord who knows him through and through: “you have searched me” (v. 1; cf. 7:9; 17:3; 26:2; Jer 17:10), “you know” (vv. 1-2, 4; see above), “you perceive” (v. 2; or “you have an understanding of,” from b-y-n), “you discern” (v. 3, or “you have winnowed me”), and “you are familiar with.” The Lord knows his every move (“when I sit and when I rise,” v. 2).

However, the accused is not afraid of his judge. The divine Judge is more than an arbiter, because he is also the one in whom the psalmist has found protection. He hedges in his own for the purpose of protection (“behind and before,” v. 5). This thought receives further amplification in v. 5b: “you have laid your hand upon me.” The placement of the divine hand signifies protection and blessing (cf. Gen 48:14, 17; Ex. 33:22).

This knowledge of God is nothing less than a knowledge that discerns and discriminates in favor of those who are loyal to the Lord. The discerning and favorable acts of God are gracious. It is grace that justifies, and it is by grace that humans are blessed. Though the psalmist has not taken his responsibilities lightly in all of his ways (his sitting, rising, going out, lying down, and speaking; cf. vv. 2-4), he exclaims that God’s favorable acts toward him are “too wonderful” and “too lofty” to apprehend (v. 6; cf. Rom 11:33).

SOURCE: The Expositor’s Bible Commentary Old Testament; Frank E. Gaebelein; General Editor; Zondervan Publishing House; A Division of Harper Collins Publishers

Psalm 139. This is the noblest utterance in the Psalter of pure contemplative theism, animated and not crushed by the thought of God’s omniscience and omnipresence. No less striking than the unequalled force and sublimity with which the Psalm hymns the majestic attributes of an all-filling, all-knowing, all-creating God is the firmness with which the singer’s personal relation to that God is grasped. Only in the last verses is there reference to other men. In the earlier parts of the Psalm, there are but two beings in the universe—God and the psalmist.

The course of thought is plain. There are four strophes of six verses each: the first (vv. 1-6) magnifies God’s omniscience; the second (vv. 7-12), his omnipresence; the third (vv. 13-18), his creative act, as the ground of the preceding attributes; and the fourth (vv. 19-24) recoils from men who rebel against such a God, and joyfully submits to the searching of his omniscient eye, and the guidance of his ever-present hand.

139:1. The psalmist is so thoroughly possessed by the thought of his personal relation to God that his meditation spontaneously takes the form of address to Him. That form adds much to the impressiveness, but is not a rhetorical or poetic artifice. Rather, it is the shape in which such intense consciousness of God cannot but utter itself. How cold and abstract the awestruck sentences become if we substitute “he” for “thou,” and “men” for “me”! The first overwhelming thought of God’s relation to the individual soul is that He completely knows the whole man. “Omniscience” is a pompous word, which leaves us unaffected by either awe or conscience. But the psalmist’s God was a God Who came into close touch with him, and the psalmist’s religion translated the powerless generality of an attribute referring to the divine relation to the universe into a continually exercised power having reference to himself. He utters his reverent consciousness of it in v. 1 in a single clause and expands that verse in the succeeding ones. “Thou hast searched me” describes a process of minute investigation; “and known [me],” its result in complete knowledge.

139:2-4. That knowledge is then followed out in various directions and recognized as embracing the whole man in all his modes of action and repose, in all his inner and outward life. Verses 2 and 3 are substantially parallel. “Downsitting” and “uprising” correspond to “walking” and “lying down,” and both antitheses express the contrast between action and rest. “My thought” in v. 2 corresponds to “my ways” in v. 3, the former referring to the inner life of thought, purpose and will and the latter, to the outward activities which carry these into effect. Verse 3 is a climax to v. 2, insofar as it ascribes a yet closer and more accurate knowledge to God. “And art acquainted” implies intimate and habitual knowledge. But thought and action are not the whole man. The power of speech, which the Psalter always treats as solemn and a special object of divine approval or condemnation, must also be taken into account. Verse 4 brings it, too, under God’s cognizance. The meaning may either be that “there is no word on my tongue [which] thou dost not know altogether”; or, “the word is not yet in my tongue, [but] lo! Thou knowest,” etc.

139:5-6. The thought that God knows him through and through blends in the singer’s mind with the other, that God surrounds him on every side. Verse 5 thus anticipates the thought of the next strophe, but presents it rather as the basis of God’s knowledge and as limiting man’s freedom. But the psalmist does not feel that he is imprisoned, or that the hand laid on him is heavy. Rather, he rejoices in the defense of an encompassing God, Who shuts off evil from him, as well as shuts him in from self-willed and self-determined action; and he is glad to be held by a hand so gentle as well as strong. “Thou hast beset me” may either be a dread or a blessed thought. It may paralyze or stimulate. It should be the ally of conscience, and while it stirs to all noble deeds, should also emancipate from all slavish fear. An exclamation of reverent wonder and confession of the limitation of human comprehension closes the strophe.

II. God Has a Plan for Us (Ps. 139:13-16) Commentary

13 For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. 14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made, marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. 15 My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. 16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

Verse 13. “For thou hast possessed my reins.” Thou art the owner of my inmost parts and passions: not the indweller and observer only, but the acknowledged lord and possessor of my most secret self. The word “reins” signifies the kidneys, which by the Hebrews were supposed to be the seat of the desires and longings; but perhaps it indicates here the most hidden and vital portion of the man; this God cloth not only inspect, and visit, but it is his own; he is as much at home there as a landlord on his own estate, or a proprietor in his own house. “Thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.” There I lay hidden—covered by thee. Before I could know thee, or aught else, thou hadst a care for me, and didst hide me away as a treasure till thou shouldst see fit to bring me to the light. Thus the Psalmist describes the intimacy which God had with him. In his most secret part—his reins, and in his most secret condition—yet unborn, he was under the control and guardianship of God.

Verse 14. “I will praise thee:” a good resolve, and one which he was even now carrying out. Those who are praising God are the very men who will praise him. Those who wish to praise have subjects for adoration ready to hand. We too seldom remember our creation, and all the skill and kindness bestowed upon our frame, but the sweet singer of Israel was better instructed, and therefore he prepares for the chief musician a song concerning our nativity and all the fashioning which precedes it. We cannot begin too soon to bless our Maker, who began so soon to bless us: even in the act of creation he created reasons for our praising his name. “For I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” Who can gaze even upon a model of our anatomy without wonder and awe? Who could dissect a portion of the human frame without marvelling at its delicacy, and trembling at its frailty? The Psalmist had scarcely peered within the veil which hides the nerves, sinews, and blood-vessels from common inspection; the science of anatomy was quite unknown to him; and yet he had seen enough to arouse his admiration of the work and his reverence for the Worker. “Marvellous are thy works.” These parts of my frame are all thy works; and though they be home works, close under my own eye, yet are they wonderful to the last degree. They are works within my own self, yet are they beyond my understanding, and appear to me as so many miracles of skill and power. We need not go to the ends of the earth for marvels, nor even across our own threshold; they abound in our own bodies.

“And that my soul knoweth right well.” He was no agnostic—he knew; he was no doubter—his soul knew; he was no dupe—his soul knew right well. Those know indeed and of a truth who first know the Lord, and then know all things in him. He was made to know the marvellous nature of God’s work with assurance and accuracy, for he had found by experience that the Lord is a master-worker, performing inimitable wonders when accomplishing his kind designs. If we are marvelously wrought upon even before we are born, what shall we say of the Lord’s dealings with us after we quit his secret workshop, and he directs our pathway through the pilgrimage of life? What shall we not say of that new birth which is even more mysterious than the first, and exhibits even more the love and wisdom of the Lord.

Verse 15. “My substance was not hid from thee.” The substantial part of my being was before thine all-seeing eye; the bones which make my frame were put together by thine hand. The essential materials of my being before they were arranged were all within the range of thine eye. I was hidden from all human knowledge, but not from thee: thou hast ever been intimately acquainted with me. “When I was made in secret.” Most chastely and beautifully is here described the formation of our being before the time of our birth. A great artist will often labour alone in his studio, and not suffer his work to be seen until it is finished; even so did the Lord fashion us where no eye beheld us, and the veil was not lifted till every member was complete. Much of the formation of our inner man still proceeds in secret; hence the more of solitude the better for us. The true church also is being fashioned in secret, so that none may cry, “Lo, here!” or “Lo, there!” as if that which is visible could ever be identical with the invisibly growing body of Christ. “And curiously wrought it in the lowest parts of the earth.” “Embroidered with great skill,” is an accurate poetical description of the creation of veins, sinews, muscles, nerves, etc. What tapestry can equal the human fabric? This work is wrought as much in private as if it had been accomplished in the grave, or in the darkness of the abyss. The expressions are poetical, beautifully veiling, though not absolutely concealing, the real meaning. God’s intimate knowledge of us from the beginning, and even before it, is here most charmingly set forth. Cannot he who made us thus wondrously when we were not, still carry on his work of power till he has perfected us, though we feel unable to aid in the process, and are lying in great sorrow and self-loathing, as though cast into the lowest parts of the earth?

Verse 16. “Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect.” While as yet the vessel was upon the wheel the Potter saw it all. The Lord knows not only our shape, but our substance: this is substantial knowledge indeed. The Lord’s observation of us is intent and intentional,—“Thine eyes did see.” Moreover, the divine mind discerns all things as clearly and certainly as men perceive by actual eye-sight. His is not hearsay acquaintance, but the knowledge which comes of sight. “And in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.” An architect draws his plans, and makes out his specifications; even so did the great Maker of our frame write down all our members in the book of his purposes. That we have eyes, and ears, and hands, and feet, is all due to the wise and gracious purpose of heaven: it was so ordered in the secret decree by which all things are as they are. God’s purposes concern our limbs and faculties. Their form, and shape, and everything about them were appointed of God long before they had any existence. God saw us when we could not be seen, and he wrote about us when there was nothing of us to write about. When as yet there were none of our members in existence, all those members were before the eye of God in the sketch-book of his foreknowledge and predestination.

This verse is an exceedingly difficult one to translate, but we do not think that any of the proposed amendments are better than the rendering afforded us by the Authorized Version. The large number of words in italics will warn the English reader that the sense is hard to come at, and difficult to express, and that it would be unwise to found any doctrine upon the English words; happily there is no temptation to do so.

The great truth expressed in these lines has by many been referred to the formation of the mystical body of our Lord Jesus. Of course, what is true of man, as man, is emphatically true of Him who is the representative man. The great Lord knows who belong to Christ; his eye perceives the chosen members who shall yet be made one with the living person of the mystical Christ. Those of the elect who are as yet unborn, or unrenewed, are nevertheless written in the Lord’s book. As the form of Eve grew up in silence and secrecy under the fashioning hand of the Maker, so at this hour is the Bride being fashioned for the Lord Jesus; or, to change the figure,—a body is being prepared in which the life and glory of the indwelling Lord shall for ever be displayed. The Lord knoweth them that are his: he has a specially familiar acquaintance with the members of the body of Christ; he sees their substance, unperfect though they be.

139:13 Confidence in the Lord’s ability to discern and perceive the nature and needs of his people comes from a belief in God’s purpose. He is the Creator, and his creative concerns include individuals!

In a sense this section continues the emphasis on divine involvement by an emphatic use of “you” (‘attah vv. 2, 13: “you know.... you created”) and by the use of the pronominal prefixes and suffixes to the verbs and nouns in Hebrew (translated by “you” and “your”). The Lord has formed the individual as a spiritual (“you created [q-n-h; Gen 14:22; Prov 8:22] my inmost being [‘kidneys’],” v. 13) and a physical being (“you knit me together”; cf. Job 8-11; Jer 1:5). All beings owe their existence to the Creator-God. How much more the individual who walks with God! He knows that the Lord has formed him for a purpose.

139:14 Creation is existential! The intensely personal language the psalmist returns to (“I” and “my”) complements that of the second section. God is concerned with the individuals whom he has formed for his purpose. Therefore praise is the proper response to God’s grace of discernment, perception, and purpose. The child of God sees God’s presence everywhere (vv. 7-12) and experiences the joy of God’s watchful eye over him. All of God’s “works” are “wonderful,” but the believer senses more than any other part of God’s creation that he is “fearfully and wonderfully made.” Though God’s grace to him is like a “knowledge ... too wonderful for” him (v. 6), he lives with a personal awareness of God’s gracious purpose (“I know that full well”). The psalmist reveals a unique awareness of God’s grace toward him and responds with a hymn of thanksgiving (“I praise you”).

139:15-16 Even when unborn (“when I was made in the secret place,” v. 15) and little more than a physical being (“my frame”; lit., “my bone”) in the womb (“when I was woven together in the depths of the earth”), the Lord had a purpose for the undeveloped embryo (“my unformed body,” v. 16).

The idea of purpose comes more clearly to expression in v. 16. The Lord’s writing in the book (cf. 51:1; 69:28) refers to God’s knowledge and blessing of his child “all the days” of his life (cf. Eph 2:10). His life was written in the book of life, and each of his days was numbered.

SOURCE: The Expositor’s Bible Commentary Old Testament; Frank E. Gaebelein; General Editor; Zondervan Publishing House; A Division of Harper Collins Publishers

139:13-14. The third strophe (vv. 13-18) grounds the psalmist’s relation to God on God’s creative act. The mysteries of conception and birth naturally struck the imagination of nonscientific man and are to the psalmist the direct result of divine power. He touches them with poetic delicacy and devout awe, casting a veil of metaphor over the mystery and losing sight of human parents in the clear vision of the divine creator. There is room for his thought of the origin of the individual life behind modern knowledge of embryology. In v. 13, the word sometimes rendered “possessed” (HED # 7353) is better understood in this context as meaning “formed,” and that rendered there “covered” (as in Ps. 140:7) here means “to plait or weave together” and picturesquely describes the interlacing bones and sinews, as in Job 10:11. But description passes into adoration in v. 14. Its language is somewhat obscure. The verb rendered “wondrously made” (HED #6640) probably means here “selected” or “distinguished” and represents man as the crowning work of the divine artificer. The psalmist cannot contemplate his own frame, God’s workmanship, without breaking into thanks, nor without being touched with awe. Every man carries in his own body reasons enough for reverent gratitude.

139:15-16. The word for “substance” (HED #6344) in v. 15 is a collective noun and might be rendered “bony framework.” The mysterious receptacle in which the unborn body takes shape and grows is delicately described as “secret” and likened to the hidden region of the underworld, where the dead are. The point of comparison is the mystery enwrapping both. The same comparison occurs in Job’s pathetic words, “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither” (Job 1:21). It is doubtful whether the word rendered “wrought like embroidery” refers to a pattern wrought by weaving or by needlework. The last clause of the verse is capable of two different meanings, according as the Hebrew text or margin is followed. This is one of a number of cases in which there is a doubt whether we should read “not” or “to him” (or “to it”). The Hebrew words having these meanings are each of two letters, the initial one being the same in both, and both words having the same sound.

Confusion might easily therefore arise, and as a matter of fact, there are numerous cases in which the text has the one and the margin the other of these two words. Here, if we adhere to the text, we read the negative, and then the force of the clause is to declare emphatically that the “days” were written in God’s book, and in a real sense “fashioned,” when as yet they had not been recorded in earth’s calendars. If, on the other hand, the marginal reading is preferred, a striking meaning is obtained: “And for it [i.e., for the birth of the shapeless mass] there was one among them [predestined in God’s book].”

III. God Is with Us (Ps. 139:17-18) Commentary

17 How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! 18 If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.

Verse 17. “How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God!” He is not alarmed at the fact that God knows all about him; on the contrary, he is comforted, and even feels himself to be enriched, as with a casket of precious jewels. That God should think upon him is the believer’s treasure and pleasure. He cries, “How costly, how valued are thy thoughts, how dear to me is thy perpetual attention!” He thinks upon God’s thoughts with delight; the more of them the better he is pleased. It is a joy worth worlds that the Lord should think upon us who are so poor and needy it is a joy which fills our whole nature to think upon God; returning love for love, thought for thought, after our poor fashion. “How great is the sum of them!” When we remember that God thought upon us from old eternity, continues to think upon us every moment, and will think of us when time shall be no more, we may well exclaim, “How great is the sum!” Thoughts such as are natural to the Creator, the Preserver, the Redeemer, the Father, the Friend, are evermore flowing from the heart of the Lord. Thoughts of our pardon, renewal, upholding, supplying, educating, perfecting, and a thousand more kinds perpetually well up in the mind of the Most High. It should fill us with adoring wonder and reverent surprise that the infinite mind of God should turn so many thoughts towards us who are so insignificant and so unworthy! What a contrast is all this to the notion of those who deny the existence of a personal, conscious God! Imagine a world without a thinking, personal God! Conceive of a grim providence of machinery!—a fatherhood of law! Such philosophy is hard and cold. As well might a man pillow his head upon a razor edge as seek rest in such a fancy. But a God always thinking of us makes a happy world, a rich life, a heavenly hereafter.

Verse 18. “If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand.” This figure shows the thoughts of God to be altogether innumerable; for nothing can surpass in number the grains of sand which belt the main ocean and all the minor seas. The task of counting God’s thoughts of love would be a never-ending one. If we should attempt the reckoning we must necessarily fail, for the infinite falls not within the line of our feeble intellect. Even could we count the sands on the sea-shore, we should not then be able to number God’s thoughts, for they are “more in number than the sand.” This is not the hyperbole of poetry, but the solid fact of inspired statement. God thinks upon us infinitely, there is a limit to the act of creation, but not to the might of divine love.

“When I am awake I am still with thee.” Thy thoughts of love are so many that my mind never gets away from them, they surround me at all hours. I go to my bed, and God is my last thought; and when I wake I find my mind still hovering about his palace-gates; God is ever with me, and I am ever with him. This is life indeed. If during sleep my mind wanders away into dreams, yet it only wanders upon holy ground, and the moment I wake my heart is back with its Lord. The Psalmist does not say, “When I awake, I return to thee,” but, “I am still with thee”; as if his meditations were continuous, and his communion unbroken. Soon we shall lie down to sleep for the last time. God grant that when the trumpet of the archangel shall waken us we may find ourselves still with him.

139:17-18 In reflection the psalmist exclaims again in wonder and amazement the magnificence of God’s purpose (“your thoughts,” v. 17; cf. 92:5; Job 42:3). The “thoughts” of God are too magnificent, too numerous, and too exalted for man, whose “thoughts” (v. 2) are fully known to the Lord. It is impossible for the creature to comprehend the Creator! Yahweh’s plans are beyond man’s ability to comprehend, as they are more in number than the sand of the sea (vv. 17-18; cf. Gen 22:17; 32:12). They are like a dream; but, unlike a dream, God’s love is real. When awake the psalmist knows that he still enjoys God’s presence (v. 18).

SOURCE: The Expositor’s Bible Commentary Old Testament; Frank E. Gaebelein; General Editor; Zondervan Publishing House; A Division of Harper Collins Publishers

139:17-18. In vv. 17f, the poet gathers together and crowns all his previous contemplations by the consideration that this God, knowing him altogether, ever near him, and fashioner of his being, has great “thoughts” or purposes affecting him individually. That assurance makes omniscience and omnipresence joys and not terrors. The root meaning of the word rendered “precious” (HED #3478) is “weighty.” The singer would weigh God’s thoughts toward him, and finds that they weigh down his scales. He would number them and find that they pass his enumeration. It is the same truth of the transcendent greatness and graciousness of God’s purposes as conveyed in Isaiah’s, “as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are... my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa. 55:9). “I awake, and am still with thee” is an artless expression of the psalmist’s blessedness in realizing God’s continual nearness. He awakes from sleep and is conscious of glad wonder to find that, like a tender mother by her slumbering child, God has been watching over him and that all the blessed communion of past days abides as before.

Known (v. 1): The Hebrew word translated “known” in verse 1, expressed a variety of senses, including literal, figurative, and euphemistic meanings. While we might mistakenly limit the meaning to imply that one has a mental grasp of facts, the Hebrew word included a much broader understanding. Context revealed a writer’s meaning, which could range from knowing something intellectually to the idea of having a relationship with a person, extending even to the most intimate of physical relations. Here, David expressed how thoroughly and completely God knew and understood him.

SOURCE: Life Ventures-Bible Studies for Life; Leader Guide; LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention; Nashville, TN.

“known” (v. 1): The Hebrew root for known can refer to knowing something by observation and reflection or to knowing something through personal experience. While the all-seeing, all-wise God knows us by observation, the context her makes it clear that God’s knowledge is much more intimate. The same word is used in Genesis 18:19 to describe God’s care and choice of Abraham. God also used the word when He said to Jeremiah, “I chose you before I formed you in the womb” (Jer. 1:5), tying the knowledge of God to the concept of being set apart for God.

SOURCE: Advanced Bible Study; LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention; One LifeWay Plaza, Nashville, TN.

“planned” (v. 16): The Hebrew word for planned can be translated as “to shape” or “to fashion.” IN all instances, it speaks of the control of one over another. God shapes us according to a certain style, specifically His plan. A specific example is seen in Jeremiah, of whom God said, “I chose you be for I formed you in the womb; I set you apart before you were born” (Jer. 1:5).

SOURCE: Advanced Bible Study; LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention; One LifeWay Plaza, Nashville, TN.

“the choir director”: The Hebrew word translated “choir director” is not an unusual word, but it’s meaning in the psalms is unclear. It is usually found in the Old Testament indicating some one who is preeminent or conspicuous, thus its rendering as someone who is the chief or overseer. The word is used in Second Chronicles 2:18 to refer to supervisors in the building of the temple. The presence of the preposition “for” means the psalm could have been assigned to the person named , but it is more likely that it means the psalm belonged to a larger collection of psalms associated with the person.

SOURCE: Advanced Bible Study; LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention; One LifeWay Plaza, Nashville, TN.

OMNISCIENCE (ahm' nih sshenke): The state of being all-knowing which theology ascribes to God. Though Scripture affirms God’s immeasurable understanding (Ps. 147:5), God’s omniscience is not a matter of abstract speculation. Rather, God’s knowing is a matter of personal experience. God knows us intimately (Ps. 139:1-6; Matt. 6:4, 6, 8). Such knowledge is cause for alarm for the unrighteous but for confidence for God’s saints (Job 23:10; Pss. 34:15-16; 90:8; Prov. 15:3; 1 Pet. 3:12).

OMNIPRESENCE: [God as Present with Us]: God is present in His world in a unique manner. He is never separated from any part of His creation. As spirit, God has the perfect capability of being present everywhere in the world at once.

The Bible speaks of God’s presence in two major ways: in space and in relationships. Theologians used the term omnipresence, derived from Latin, to speak of God’s presence everywhere in all the world’s space. Moses experienced that presence on a wilderness mountain (Ex. 3); Isaiah, in the Jerusalem Temple (Isa. 6); and Paul, on an international highway (Acts 9). Most often the Bible speaks in terms of God being present in relationships. He called Israel to be His people (Ex. 19:3-6). He appeared to Elijah in a “still, small voice” (1 Kings 19:12). Most of all God appeared Person to person in the human flesh of His Son Jesus.

OMNIPOTENCE (ahm' nih poh tihnke): The state of being all-powerful which theology ascribes to God. Scripture often affirms that all power belongs to God (Ps. 147:5), that all things are possible for God (Luke 1:37; 19:26), and that God’s power exceeds what humans can ask or think (Eph. 3:20). For Scripture, God’s omnipotence is not a matter of abstract speculation but a force to be reckoned with. God’s power is revealed in God’s creating and sustaining the universe (Ps. 65:6; Jer. 32:17; Heb. 1:3), in God’s deliverance of Israel from Pharaoh’s forces (Ex. 15:1-18), in the conquest of Canaan (Deut. 3:21-24), in the incarnation (Luke 1:35), in Christ’s death on the cross (1 Cor. 1:17-18, 23-24), and in the ongoing ministry of the church (1 Cor. 2:5; Eph. 3:20).

SOURCE: Holman Bible Dictionary; General Editor, David S. Dockery; Holman Bible Publishers; Nashville, Tennessee.

“We cannot understand God’s mercy and love without also understanding His holiness and wrath toward sin and sinners.”

ELL, ACCORDING TO BIBLICAL REVELATION, is the final destination of fallen angels and sinful people who suffer the eternal wrath of a holy God (Matt. 25:41). The purpose of this article is to explain the background of the words translated and/or transliterated “hell” and “Hades” in the Old Testament. The background of the Old Testament Hebrew word transliterated “Sheol” will serve as the basis for understanding the New Testament’s use of the Greek word “Hades,” as is in Jesus’ story of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31).

The word “hell” comes from a Germanic root meaning “to hide or conceal.”¹ “Hell” has become familiar to Bible readers because of its use by early English translations such as Wycliffe (1382), Coverdale (15:35), and the King James Version (1611), which translate the Hebrew noun “Sheol” as “hell” in the Old Testament. Early English translations also used “hell” to translate the Greek nouns for “Hades,” “Gehenna,” and the Greek verb tartaroo (see 2 Pet. 2:4) in the New Testament.

A correct understanding of the use of the Greek word “Hades” in the New Testament begins with a study of the Hebrew word “Sheol” in the Old Testament. The Hebrew noun “Sheol,” which occurs 65 times in the Old Testament,² was translated “grave” 31 times, “hell”31 times, and “pit” 3 times in the King James Version. Complicating the modern English reader’s task of interpretation is the fact that most people primarily think of “hell” as referring solely to the final place of torment for lost angels and persons. The Hebrew word “Sheol” did not uniquely identify the place of eternal punishment indicated by the current meaning of “hell.”

“Sheol” was a place where the dead descended (Job 11:8; Ezek31:15-17). It referred to the realm of all the dead, righteous and unrighteous, as indicated in David’s statement, “For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell [Sheol]; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption” (Ps. 16:10, KJV). Peter quoted this verse in referring to Jesus’ resurrection (see Acts 2:27) as did Luke, in quoting Paul (see 13:35). These passages clearly indicate that “Sheol” was the equivalent of “death” or “the grave.” The Old Testament does use “Sheol” to point toward a place of punishment for the wicked after death (Job. 24:19; Ps. 9:17). However, a more complete revelation of a specific place assigned for the wicked awaited the revelation given through Jesus Christ and the writing of the New Testament canon. For this reason many newer translations, such as the New International Version, do not use “hell” to translate “Sheol” or any other Hebrew for the Old Testament.

The Old Testament use of “Sheol” provides the proper background for understanding the New Testament writer’s use of the Greek word for “Hades.” “Hades” came directly into English as a transliteration of the Greek word. Although “Hades” has a rich association with Greek mythology, the New Testament reflects a different understanding. Greek thought and literature do not define “Hades” in the New Testament, but Hebrew thought and the use of “Sheol” in Old Testament Scriptures do. “Hades” translates “Sheol” most frequently in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament in the second century AD).³ The Greek “Hades” occurs 11 times in the New Testament. The King James Version translates it “hell” 10 times and “grave” 1 time. As in the Old Testament use of “Sheol,” it refers most often to the grave or death. For the same reasons that modern translators have chosen not to translate “Sheol” with “hell,” many have chosen not to translate “Hades” as “hell.” The preference of modern translations, such as the New International Version, is to transliterate the Greek word as “Hades” or to translate it as “grave” (Acts 2:27, NIV) or “depths” (Matt. 11:23). Luke 16:23 is the one exception where NIV translators chose to translate “Hades” as “hell.” We will examine that exception later in our study.

Before considering Jesus’ use of “Hades” in Luke 16:23, we should first understand the New Testament use of the Greek word geenna (Gehenna). This word occurs 12 times (11 by Jesus Himself, with James 3:6 as the one exception). Each occurrence refers to a place of punishment and torment after death. The King James and New International Version translate the word as “hell.” “Gehenna” was the Greek designation of the Valley of the sons of Hinnom located south of Jerusalem (Josh. 15:8). It was a place associated with evil, idolatrous practices in the Old Testament including child sacrifice during the reigns of Ahaz (2 Chron. 28:3) and Manasseh (33:6). Gehenna later became a place where people threw bodies of dead animals and criminals to be burned.⁴ In rabbinic literature written during the intertestamental period (ca. 400 BC to AD 1), Gehenna became a designation for the place of eternal punishment and torment of the wicked. The Mishna, reflecting rabbinic thought in the first century AD, says “How do the disciples of Abraham our father differ from the disciples of Balaam the wicked? The disciples of Abraham our father enjoy this world and inherit the world to come … The disciples of Balaam the wicked inherit Gehenna and go down to the pit of destruction” (Mishnah, Aboth 5:19).⁵ Jesus’ use of the word “Gehenna” assures us of the reality of a place of unquenchable (Mark 9:43) and eternal fire (Matt. 18:8). Although many people currently question the reality of hell, its reality, based on biblical revelation, is undeniable. We cannot understand God’s mercy and love without also understand His holiness and wrath toward sin and sinners.

“Gehenna” and “Hades” account for all of the New Testament occurrences of “hell” with one exception. The New International Version translates the Greek verb tartaroo in 2 Peter 2:4 as “sent them to hell”; the King James Version, as “cast them down to hell.” The reference is to fallen angels whom God judged and who are in chains until a future judgment. The Greek verb literally means “to be sent to Tartarus.” “Tartarus” was in Greek mythology a place of punishment loser than Hades.⁶ Peter used this vocabulary to warn of a place of punishment for fallen angels and, by implication, sinful people after death.

In considering the use of “Hades” in the story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:23, we see that the earthly fortunes and the eternal destinies of these two men were complete opposites. In life the poor man, Lazarus, had few possessions and the rich man (sometimes mistakenly called “Dives” because of the Latin word for “wealth”) had great riches. At death they were transported to two distinct realms. The poor man went to “the side” (NIV, Greek kolpos, literally “chest”) of Abraham indicating that he was saved and in the kingdom of God (Rom. 4:11; Matt. 8:11). The rich man went to “hell (literally “Hades”), where he was in torment” (NIV).

As Jesus told this story, His listeners likely would have been familiar with rabbinic literature from the intertestamental period that spoke of two compartments in Sheol, one for the righteous and another for the wicked (for instance, Enoch 22:1-14). The question is whether Jesus’ use of “Hades” referred to hell (Gehenna) or a temporary place of confinement for the wicked until the great white throne judgment (Rev. 20:11-15).

Some Bible interpreters believe that “Hades” in Luke 16:23 refers to an intermediate state of punishment until of final, future judgment.⁷ According to this interpretation the wicked dead go to Hades and the righteous to Paradise at death (23:43; 2 Cor. 12:4; Rev. 2:7). Those who adopt this view stress two important aspects of Hades. First, the punishment is irreversible and no escape is possible (Luke 16:26). Second, it is a place of consciousness, regret, and punishment (vv. 23-24). This interpretation states that Christ will return and rule for 1,000 years on earth. Following that reign there will be a final judgment of the wicked dead before the great white throne when they will then be cast into hell (Rev. 20:14, “the lake of fire”). Other Bible interpreters equate “Hades” in Luke 16:23 with “Gehenna.”

Regardless of the interpretation though, the important facts revealed about heaven and hell are clear. Those who put their faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior immediately come into the presence of the Lord at death (23:43). Jesus brings the believer at death to a place prepared for them in the Father’s house (John 14:1-6). The lost are transported at death to a place of torment that is eternal. Greek vocabulary words referring to hell in the New Testament are warnings to all people to be saved before it is eternally too late. IB

1. “Hell” in The Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971), 1:1285.

2. Blue Letter Bible. “Dictionary and Word Search for ‘sh@ ‘ owl (Strong’s 07585)’”. Blue Letter Bible. 1996-2002. 5 Apr 2004. Available from Internet: http//www.blueletterbible.org/tmp_dir/words/7/1081170627-2626.html

3. D. K. Innes, “Hell” in The New Bible Dictionary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1977), 518-519.

4. Steven Barabas, “Hinnom, Valley of” in The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1975), 3:160-161.

6. William F. Arndt and F. Wilbur Gingrich, A Greek English Lexicon of the New Testament (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1957), 813.

7. Harry Buis “Hades” in The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1975), 3:7-9.

SOURCE: Biblical Illustrator; LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention; Nashville, TN 37234; Vol. 35, No. 2; Winter 2008-09.

Fred Howard is retired Professor of New Testament at Wayland Baptist University, and lives in San Angelo, Texas.

O YOU OFTEN THINK about the nature of the afterlife? Of course, the Bible has much to say about our personal existence beyond physical death. Since the Hebrew and Greek terms used have different shades of meaning, questions naturally arise. Even our English words heaven and hell raise questions about the exact nature of each. The problem is especially relevant to the Hebrew term Sheol in Psalm 139:8, as well as Psalm 16:10. In both instances, the King James Version translates Sheol as “hell.”

In contrast, the New International Version translates it as “depths” but grave in 16:10. Yet, the New American Standard Bible and the New English Bible render it as “Sheol,” a mere transliteration of the Hebrew word. To add to the confusion, the final form of the Apostles’ Creed says of Christ, “He descended into hell.” Although the Apostles’ Creed predates the King James Version by many years, it is not of apostolic origin and apparently originated in the last half of the second century. Moreover, the original version did not contain the clause “He descended into hell.”

Psalm 139 contains two main emphases: God’s omniscience and His omnipresence. According to verses 7-8, the writer (presumably David) affirmed God’s omnipresence: “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there” (KJV). Notice that the author viewed heaven and hell (Sheol) as the extremes of height and depth. Thus, vertically no one can escape God’s presence. Similarly, verses 9-10 may indicate that no one can escape God horizontally. Thus, He is everywhere at he same time.

Observe that the Scriptures seemingly depict a three-storied universe: heaven, earth, and under the earth. Thus, Paul wrote: “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth” (Phil. 2:10). Similarly, he wrote in Romans 10:6-7, “Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down form above:) Or, Who shall descend into the deep abyss (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead).”

Perhaps Paul also viewed heaven as consisting of three stories or layers. For example, he (possibly referring to his own experience) wrote of a man “caught up to the third heaven” (2 Cor. 12:2). Because three is the symbolic number for deity, Paul apparently referred to the part of heaven in which God especially dwells as the holy of holies signified in the tabernacle and subsequent temples. At the same time, however, we must remember that Psalm 139 teaches that God is present everywhere at the same time. To illustrate, John wrote of the eternal state: “And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it” (Rev. 21:22). Since the temple merely symbolized God’s presence, when we have the real thing, we no longer need a symbol!

The King James Version translates Sheol 31 times as “hell,” 31 times as “grave,” and 3 times as “pit.” The latter seems to be the equivalent of the Greek term abyss. For example, the Greek phrase meaning the “shaft of the abyss” appears as the “bottomless pit” (Rev. 9:2). Since the biblical writers located Sheol in the depths of the earth, notice that all three translations of Sheol involve that concept. Yet, the “grave” clearly suggests less depth than the other two.

Although the King James Version translates Sheol as “hell” in Psalm 139 and 16:10, some New Testament references to Psalm 16:10 depict it as the “grave.” However, Peter in his great message at Pentecost quoted Psalm 16:10 to prove that the Old Testament prophesied Jesus’ resurrection (Acts 2:24-32) and the KJV used “hell” to translate the verse. Also in his sermon at Antioch of Pisidia (Acts 13:16b-41), Paul alluded to Psalm 16:10 as a prediction of Christ’s resurrection. The word translated as “hell” implies punishment, but Sheol rarely has such a meaning. In fact, the Old Testament as a whole stresses punishment in this life, in contrast to the New Testament’s emphasis on punishment in life after death.

Sheol basically refers to the realm of the dead. According to Old Testament usage, both saints and sinners went there after death. When his older sons insisted that they must take Benjamin to Egypt in order to obtain more food, Jacob argued that if any harm came to Benjamin, it would cause his gray hair to go down to Sheol (Gen. 42:38). Job asked God to hide him in Sheol (Job 14:13). Some of the Jewish apocryphal literature describes Sheol as having two compartments, one for the righteous dead, the other for the unrighteous dead. In Sheol, all occupants were only shadowy replicas of their earthly counterparts. In fact, they were mere “shades,” much as a shadow is to a real person. Although those in Sheol had consciousness, they preferred any condition of life on earth to the most favored status in Sheol.

Almost without exception, the Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) translates Sheol as “Hades,” the unseen or spirit world. Originally, “Hades” referred to the god of the underworld.¹ Unfortunately, the King James Version translates all 10 occurrences of Hades as “hell.” Yet, with one exception, His parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31), Jesus used Gehenna (“valley of Hinnom”), not Hades, to denote “hell.” The King James Version correctly translates Gehenna as “hell” in all 11 of its occurrences in the New Testament. Four of these also include the word “fire” (Matt. 5:22; 18:9; Mark 9:47; Jas. 3:6), suggesting pain and anguish.

Sometimes referred to as “the valley of the son of Hinnom” (Josh. 18:16), this infamous valley, just south of Jerusalem, became identified with child sacrifice to Molech, the Ammonite god of fire. One of King Josiah’s reforms was to destroy Molech worship. Later, the valley of Hinnom became Jerusalem’s garbage dump; with decaying animal bodies and burning trash it was an appropriate symbol for hell, the spiritual garbage dump of the universe.

According to 2 Peter 2:4, “God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.” Apparently quoting the noncanonical book of 1 Enoch 20:2, Peter used a Greek participle form tartaroo [tar ta ROW oh], meaning “to hold captive in Tartarus [hell].”² In the Greek view of afterlife, Tartarus was lower than Hades and also was the opposite of the Elysian Fields. The latter referred to a beautiful garden-like place, similar to paradise, a Persian word, or the garden of Eden (Gen. 2:8). You will recall that Jesus said to the repentant robber: “To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).

Whether we prefer to translate Sheol in Psalm 139:8 as “hell,” “grave,” or “pit,” we must remember that the verse’s emphasis is on God’s omnipresence. How often have you heard someone begin a prayer by saying, “Lord, as we now enter your presence”? Does that mean God was absent until the person praying admitted Him? No! If we pray in the sense of Psalm 139:8, we rather should pray, “Lord, as we acknowledge your presence.” Just remember! We cannot limit God’s presence. Because of His divine nature, He is everywhere! Bi

1. William F. Arndt and F. Wilbur Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1952), 16.

SOURCE: Biblical Illustrator; LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention; Nashville, TN 37234; Summer, 1996.

BIBLE CHARACTER TRIVIA

Where In The Bible Is The Answer To This Week’s Trivia Question Found? Who is represented in the Bible as a model housekeeper? Answer next week!

The answer to last week’s trivia question: Who is poetically represented as weeping for her children no more in Bethlehem? Answer! Rachel; Matt. 2:18.

Study Theme: Going Right in a Culture Gone Wrong					What This Lesson Is About:
Week of:			Lesson Title:		God values life and so should we.
	Jan 1		Thriving in a Fast-Food Culture
	Jan 8		Seeking Purity in a Sensual Culture
X	*Jan 15*		*Caring in an Expendable Culture*
	Jan 22		Loving in a Divided Culture
	Jan 29		Giving in a Greedy Culture
BACKGROUND PASSAGE:				Psalm 139:1-24
FOCAL PASSAGE:				Psalm 139:1-6,13-18
LIFE IMPACT:				This lesson can help you show respect for others by treating them as God sees them and values them.
LESSON OUTLINE:				I. God Values Us (Ps. 139:1-6) II. God Has a Plan for Us (Ps. 139:13-16) III. God Is with Us (Ps. 139:17-18)
OVERVIEW OF BACKGROUND PASSAGE: Ps. 139:1-24
His Omniscience and Omnipotence (Ps 139). This psalm of David is a companion to the preceding one. The same divine promise of an enduring house (2 Sam 7) is in view. The psalm focuses on the character of God. Yahweh is (1) omniscient (vv. 1-6); (2) omnipresent (vv. 7-12); (3) omnipotent (vv. 13-18); and (4) omnirighteous (vv. 19-24). 139:1-3. Yahweh has perfect knowledge of all David’s life and thoughts. It is God alone who possesses such absolute knowledge of his creatures. He understands David’s thoughts “afar off;” neither space nor time exist for God. The Lord had winnowed or sifted David, subjecting his life to the closest and most discriminating investigation. 139:4-6. God knows the spoken word which men can hear. He also knows the true meaning, and the secret thoughts which prompt its utterance. David feels that God has hemmed him in on all sides so that he cannot escape. God holds him in his grip, i.e., exercises authority over him. Such infinite knowledge baffles human thought. It is inaccessible to man. 139:7-12. God is everywhere present; man cannot escape nor hide himself from God. He fills heaven above and Sheol beneath. If David should fly across the sky with the swiftness of light from east (“the dawn”) to west (“the sea”), still he would be under the authority and control of God. One cannot hide from God under cover of darkness. 139:13-16. God must know David perfectly for he “knit” him in the womb of his mother. He praises God because of the wondrous nature of his physical body and mental capacity. He had been fashioned with skill and care “in the lowest parts of the earth,” i.e., the womb, which is so called because it is as dark and mysterious as Sheol. Even when he was in the form of an undeveloped embryo, God had his future mapped out in his “book” of providence. Here is clear expression of the belief that an ideal plan of life has been providentially marked out for every individual. 139:17-18. David delights to meditate upon the purposes of God’s providence. He cannot even begin to count all the individual components of that theme. His last thoughts as he falls asleep were of God. When he awakes, he finds himself still in the Lord’s presence. 139:19-22. The problem of the existence of evil perplexes David. Why does God tolerate wicked men? Surely at some point God must slay such men. For this reason, David will have nothing to do with them. He does not wish to be tempted by their example and therefore be involved in their fate. David loathed those that hate the Lord. He hates them with “perfect hatred,” i.e., without any mental reservation. 139:23-24. David welcomes the continuance of the piercing scrutiny with which God examines him. He wants any wicked way which might be detected to be exposed. He wants God to lead him “in the way everlasting,” i.e., a way of life as opposed to the way of ruin and death. He seems to perceive that such a way must lead on to fuller life after death as well as a more abundant life now. SOURCE: The Old Testament Survey Series: The Wisdom Literature And Psalms; By James E. Smith; College Press Publishing Company; Joplin, Missouri
INTRODUCTION:
The purpose of this week’s study is to remind us that none of us are expendable. Southern Baptist have set aside the third Sunday in January as Sanctity of Human Life Day. And as Christians, we are to be people who live and act like Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Our study of Psalm 139 will show us just how God views people. God not only knew the psalmist intimately, He knew everything about him. God knew his words and deeds, his thoughts and intentions. God’s knowledge grew out of the fact that He had created him and formed him in his mother’s womb. David, as all human beings, was fearfully and wonderfully made. David’s psalm illustrates God’s love for all people. And because God loves all people, He values all people, and because He values them, He has a plan for them. The challenge we face as we study this psalm is to evaluate our own actions (or inactions) that either devalue people or usurp the plans God has for them.
I.		God Values Us (Ps. 139:1-6)
¹ Lord, You have searched me and known me. ² You know when I sit down and when I stand up; You understand my thoughts from far away. ³ You observe my travels and my rest; You are aware of all my ways. ⁴ Before a word is on my tongue, You know all about it, Lord. ⁵ You have encircled me; You have placed Your hand on me. ⁶ This extraordinary knowledge is beyond me. It is lofty; I am unable to reach it.

I. God Values Us (Ps. 139:1-6) Commentary

II. God Has a Plan for Us (Ps. 139:13-16) Commentary

III. God Is with Us (Ps. 139:17-18) Commentary

DIGGING DEEPER:

III.	God Is with Us (Ps. 139:17-18)
¹⁷ God, how difficult Your thoughts are for me to comprehend; how vast their sum is! ¹⁸ If I counted them, they would outnumber the grains of sand; when I wake up, I am still with You.