Commentary on Psalms Volume 3 John Calvin (continued)
COMMENTARY ON PSALMS - VOLUME 3
Psalm 139:13-16
13. For thou hast possessed 650 my reins; thou hast covered me 651 in my mother's womb, 14. I will praise thee; for I have been made wonderful terribly; marvellous are thy works, and my soul shall know them well. 15. My strength is not hid from thee, 652 which thou hast made in secret: I was woven together in the lowest parts of the earth. 16. Thine eyes did see my shapelessness; all are written in thy book, they were formed by days, and not one of them.
13. For thou hast possessed my reins Apparently he prosecutes the same subject, though he carries it out somewhat farther, declaring that we need not be surprised at God's knowledge of the most secret thoughts of men, since he formed their hearts and their reins. He thus represents God as sitting king in the very reins of man, as the center of his jurisdiction, and shows it ought to be no ground of wonder that all the windings and recesses of our hearts are known to him who, when we were inclosed in our mother's womb, saw us as clearly and perfectly as if we had stood before him in the light of mid-day. This may let us know the design with which David proceeds to speak of man's original formation, its scope is the same in the verse which follows, where, with some ambiguity in the terms employed, it is sufficiently clear and obvious that David means that he had been fashioned in a manner wonderful, and calculated to excite both fear and admiration, 653 so that he breaks forth into the praises of God. One great reason of the carnal security into which we fall, is our not considering how singularly we were fashioned at first by our Divine Maker. From this particular instance
"The usual signification ofקנהis, to possess, to acquire; but here it is thought to contain the notion of forming, or creating. The reason of this difference in the sense may be accounted for from the circumstance, that in Arabic there are two verbs to whichקנה may correspond, viz., one to possess, and another to form. So in Genesis 14:19, God is said to be 'the possessor ()קנהof heaven and earth.' The Septuagint for,קנהreads ὅς ἔκτισε, who created, and the Vulgate, qui creavit Again in Proverbs 8:22, forקנניthe Chaldee has,בראניhath begotten, or created me. From these and other passages it is evident thatקנהwas supposed by the ancient interpreters to have the sense of to form, or create; and this meaning seems to be required in the verse before us, which comports with the next verb." — Phillips.
The "covering" here spoken of, is illustrated by Job 10:2, where God is said to have "clothed us with skin and flesh, and fenced us with bones and sinews." "A work so astonishing," observes Bishop Horne, "that before the Psalmist proceeds in his description of it, he cannot help breaking forth in rapture at the thought: 'I will praise thee, for! I am fearfully and wonderfully made.'"
"Ou, mon os n'est point cache de toy." — Fr. marg. "Or, my bone is not hid from thee."