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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comAdam Clarke Commentary - Psalms 139:15 - 139:15
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My substance was not hid from thee - עצמי atsmi, my bones or skeleton.
Curiously wrought - רקמתי rukkamti, embroidered, made of needlework. These two words, says Bishop Horsley, describe the two principal parts of which the human body is composed; the bony skeleton, the foundation of the whole; and the external covering of muscular flesh, tendons, veins, arteries, nerves, and skin; a curious web of fibres. On this passage Bishop Lowth has some excellent observations: “In that most perfect hymn, where the immensity of the omnipresent Deity, and the admirable wisdom of the Divine Artificer in framing the human body, are celebrated, the poet uses a remarkable metaphor, drawn from the nicest tapestry work: -
When I was formed in secret;
When I was wrought, as with a needle,
in the lowest parts of the earth.
“He who remarks this, (but the man who consults Versions only will hardly remark it), and at the same time reflects upon the wonderful composition of the human body, the various implication of veins, arteries, fibres, membranes, and the ‘inexplicable texture’ of the whole frame; will immediately understand the beauty and elegance of this most apt translation. But he will not attain the whole force and dignity, unless he also considers that the most artful embroidery with the needle was dedicated by the Hebrews to the service of the sanctuary; and that the proper and singular use of their work was, by the immediate prescript of the Divine law, applied in a certain part of the high priest’s dress, and in the curtains of the tabernacle, Exo 28:39; Exo 26:36; Exo 27:16; and compare Eze 16:10; Eze 13:18. So that the psalmist may well be supposed to have compared the wisdom of the Divine Artificer particularly with that specimen of human art, whose dignity was through religion the highest, and whose elegance (Exo 35:30-35) was so exquisite, that the sacred writer seems to attribute it to a Divine inspiration.”
In the lowest parts of the earth - The womb of the mother, thus expressed by way of delicacy.