Psalm 139 (138):16Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

He either reiterates the same concept, stating that you recognized me when I was still unformed—for another translator, Symmachus, phrases it as “Your eyes have seen me unformed”—or he refers to the very deeds themselves, indicating that your eyes have witnessed events yet to unfold. “And in your book shall all (men) be written: in the course of time, they shall be brought into being, but none shall be without record.” These statements may be somewhat obscure, yet their significance can be discerned through the context of the discourse and alternative translations. The intent of these words, as established earlier, is as follows. What was previously articulated?

Our Lord Jesus Christ communicates through the Prophets, at times using His own voice and at others our own, for He unites Himself with us; as it is written, the two shall become one flesh. This is why the Lord states in the Gospel regarding marriage that they are no longer two but one flesh. One flesh, as He took on human nature due to our mortality; not as one divine essence, for He is the Creator while we are the created. Thus, what our Lord expresses through the human form He has embraced pertains to both that Head which has ascended to heaven and those members still navigating their earthly path. Let us listen to our Lord Jesus Christ as He speaks in the prophecies. The psalms were sung long before He was born of Mary, but not before He became Lord: for from eternity, He was the Creator of all things, though in the fullness of time, He was born from His own creation. Let us have faith in this divine nature, and as much as we are able, comprehend Him as equal to the Father. This divine nature, which is equal to the Father, partook of our mortality, not from His own lineage but from ours, so that we too might partake of His divine essence, not derived from our own, but from His.

"Lord, Thou hast searched me, and known me" (Psalm 138:1). Let the Lord Jesus Christ proclaim this; let Him also address His Father, "Lord." His Father is not His Lord unless He chose to be born in flesh. He is the Father of God, the Lord of humanity. Do you know whom He fathers? The Son who is equal to Him. The Apostle states, "Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God" (Philippians 2:6-7). This form is that of the Father, the Form equal to His own, the only begotten Son, begotten from His own essence. Yet for our benefit, so that we might be reshaped and share in His divine nature, being renewed unto eternal life, He embraced our human condition. What does the Apostle declare about Him? "But He emptied Himself, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men" (Philippians 2:7). He was in the Form of God, equal to the Father; He took upon Himself the form of a servant so that in it He might appear less than the Father.

"You have searched my sitting and my rising" (Psalm 138:2). What does it mean to sit, and what does it mean to rise? He who sits humbles himself. Thus, the Lord sat during His Passion and rose in His Resurrection. You, He states, understood it; that is, You willed it, You approved it; by Your will, it came to pass. But if you consider the words of the Head as spoken through the Body: a man sits down when humbled in repentance and rises when his sins are forgiven, ascending in the hope of eternal life. Do not elevate yourselves unless you have first humbled yourselves, for many seek to stand before they kneel, wishing to seem righteous before they admit their sins.

"You have understood my thoughts from afar; You have searched out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways" (Psalm 138:3-4). What is far away? While I am still on my journey, before I reach my true homeland, You have divined my thoughts. Like the prodigal son who ventured into a distant land, after enduring labor, suffering, sorrow, and need, he thought of his father and yearned to return, declaring, "I will arise and go to my father." Here, you can discern him saying, "You knew my sitting and my rising." I sat down in need; I rose in longing for Your Bread. You have understood my thoughts from a distance. Though I traveled far, where can I find a place without Him whom I have forsaken? Therefore, the Lord says in the Gospel that his father met him as he approached, for He understood his thoughts from afar.

"My way," he laments, "is nothing but a bad way, the path I chose to leave my father." What is my way? The route I have taken. What is my limit? What I have accomplished. You have delineated my path and my limits. However distant this limit, it was not out of Your sight. Far I have wandered, and yet You were there. All my pathways, You foresaw. He did not say "saw," but "saw beforehand." Before I traversed them, before I entered them, You perceived them in advance, and You allowed me to walk my paths of toil, so that if I failed to toil, I might return to Your ways. There is no falsehood upon my tongue. What does he mean by this? Behold, I confess to You; I have followed my own course, growing distanced from You, from whom it was good for me; it has become detrimental for me without You.

"Behold, O Lord, You know all my works, both last and ancient" (Psalm 138:5). You knew my final actions when I fed the swine, and You recognized my early works when I sought my share of the inheritance. These earlier deeds led to the newer trials I now endure—the initial sin of our fall and the consequent punishment we faced, plunged into this frustrating and perilous mortal existence. If this serves as the terminal point for us; so it shall be, provided we wish to return. For there exists one final end for some wicked individuals, to whom it will be proclaimed, "Depart into everlasting fire" (Matthew 25:41). You have fashioned me, and Your hand rests upon me. Fashioned where? In this mortality, now for the endeavors for which we are all born. For no man is born without God's creation in his mother's womb; every creature is formed by God. Yet You have made me for this labor and laid upon me Your avenging hand, a hand that humbles the proud—so effectively does He lower the proud, that He may exalt the humble.

"Your art has marvellously manifested itself in me; it has become strong; I cannot attain it" (Psalm 138:6). Listen now to something truly profound, that brings deep joy through understanding. Moses, the holy servant of God, to whom the Lord spoke through the cloud, had to receive such communication in some manner of His handiwork... He longed to behold the truth of God's manifestation, and thus he requested of God, who spoke to him: "If now I have found grace in Your sight, show me Your glory" (Exodus 33:13). In His fervent desire, he implored so earnestly, as if God had condescended to converse with him, to see His Glory, His Face, as we might discuss the Face of God. Yet the Lord replied, "You cannot see My Face, for no man may see My Face and live" (Exodus 33:20). "But I will place you in the cleft of the rock, and I will pass by, and I will cover you with My hand; and as I pass, you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen." This utterance brings forth yet another enigma, an obscure representation of truth. "When I pass by," says God, "you shall see My back," as if there were a face on one side and a back on the other. We should not be led to such thoughts of His majesty! For whoever holds such opinions about God, what profit is there in their temples being closed? They construct idols in their hearts. These words hide profound mysteries... Those who were angered by the Lord whom they had seen now seek counsel for salvation; and it is proclaimed to them, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, and your sins shall be forgiven" (Acts 2:38). Behold, they saw His back, for His hand was not upon their eyes for eternity, but while He was passing. After He had departed, He removed His hand from their eyes. Upon that release, they inquired of the disciples, "What shall we do?" Initially cruel, then compassionate; first angry, then fearful; first resistant, now agreeable; at last blind, yet now enlightened.

Look, you discover that a fugitive in a distant land cannot escape the gaze of the One from whom he flees. And where now shall he go whose limits are exhausted? Is this what he asks? "Where shall I escape from Your Spirit?" (Psalm 138:7). Who in this world can evade the Spirit that fills all? "And where shall I flee from Your presence?" He seeks a refuge from God's wrath. What sanctuary will harbor God's runaway? Those who protect fugitives inquire from whom they have fled. Should they uncover someone enslaved to a master weaker than themselves, they offer refuge without fear, thinking, "He has no master to pursue him." Yet witnessing a mighty lord, they either refuse him refuge or extend it with great trepidation, for even a mighty man may be deceived. Where is there no God? Who can mislead God? Who is beyond God's sight? From whom will God not demand His accountability? Where shall that fugitive hide from the countenance of God? He twists and turns, seeking a place to escape.

"If I ascend to heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there" (Psalm 138:8). At long last, wretched fugitive, you have discovered that you cannot depart from Him from whom you've been trying to flee. Behold, He is everywhere; you cannot evade Him. He has found a strategy, for that counsel was inspired by Him who now chooses to remember it... If, having sinned, I plunge into the depths of wickedness and refuse to confess, saying, "Who sees me?" (for who in Hades confesses to Thee?), "You are there to punish." Where can I go to escape Your presence, that is, to avoid finding You angry? I devise a plan: "I will flee from Your face, I will abandon Your Spirit; from Your avenging Spirit, from Your wrath, I will flee." How? "If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea" (Psalm 138:9), then perhaps I can evade Your gaze. If I escape to the furthest reaches of the sea from Your countenance, will not the One I flee from be there? For what is the end of the sea but the conclusion of the world? Let us now move forward with hope and desire on the wings of dual love; let us find no rest except at the edges of the sea. For if we seek rest elsewhere, we shall be cast into the depths. We should soar to the sea's borders, ascending on the wings of dual love; while we endeavor to reach God in hope, let us contemplate at the other end of the sea.

Now listen to the One who may lead us there. The very One from whom we wish to flee out of His anger. What then follows? "And there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me" (Psalm 138:10). Lend your attention to this, beloved brethren, let it be our hope and solace. Let us reclaim through love the wings we have lost through lust. For lust has ensnared our wings, grounding us from the freedom of our heavenly realm, which is the free breeze of God's Spirit. As we descended, we forfeited our wings and were, as it were, ensnared by the trapper; from whom He redeemed us by His blood, the very One we fled to evade capture. He now provides us the wings of His commandments, allowing us to rise, liberated from entanglements... Therefore, we must have wings, requiring His guidance, for He is our Support. We are graced with free will; nonetheless, with this free will, what can we achieve unless He who commands lends us His aid?

Your gaze has witnessed my unformed state. Prior to being shaped, your divine foresight recognized me, perceiving not only my current existence but also as one who has been called, registered, and recorded in your sacred scroll. The appointed time will come, and none within it shall be absent. Throughout their entire lifetime, they maintained a consistent and harmonious way of living, without a single day marked by chaos or instability.

Simmah expresses it in this way: I, who had yet to take form, were perceived by Your gaze alongside all those inscribed in Your book, individuals who do not require a day after their nurturing. Therefore, the Prophet asserts, You beheld me before I was shaped and had taken on my form; You also beheld those who were already brought forth, who had reached perfection, who require no additional day, and who are recorded in Your books. The blessed Daniel also alludes to these books, declaring: 'The judgement has come, and the books are opened' (Dan. 7:10); and the Lord states in the Holy Gospel: 'But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered' (Matt. 10:30). By ‘books,’ we understand the all-encompassing knowledge of God and His indelible memory. In this way, having depicted the Divine, Josiah discloses his own intent, not motivated solely by piety, but demonstrating an example of that which is beneficial.

My unformed state, which was not crafted within me, has been seen by Your eyes. The term unformed, as used by David, may refer to an uneducated and imperfect human infant, who has yet to be properly shaped within the hidden and intricate design of nature in the womb, or it may describe a nascent thought that has not yet reached maturity. The Lord states, “Thou didst know me before I was formed in my mother’s womb,” indicating Your awareness of my thoughts and intentions even before they have been fully developed; for You possess complete knowledge of all things, as noted in the story of Susanna, “before the being of all things.” Everything is recorded in Your book.

As a person of profound intellect and an astute scholar, you cannot lack awareness of anything. You have gathered knowledge during your youth, allowing you to experience tranquility in your later years. Your gaze perceives the unfinished aspects of my existence—those actions yet to be realized, as Adam states. You recognize them as already complete, and you are aware of those who have not yet come into being as if they already exist. This can also be interpreted in a different light: You see my wrongdoing, my naivety, and my shortcomings (often referred to as actions in Scripture), and all of this is recorded in Your book. This indicates that there is nothing beyond Your knowledge or concealed from You. You also possess knowledge of the future and witness my transgressions, how I have succumbed to deception through ignorance. In the everlasting nature of Your memory, all my thoughts are inscribed.

The translation may obscure the meaning, but in the Hebrew text, it reads more clearly: “Thy eyes have seen my unformed body, and all these things are recorded in Your book; the days when they were made, not one of them has occurred yet.” The prophet elaborates on God's wisdom concerning the creation of the human body, with "unformed" referring to the body in its preconception state, which is known in common parlance as a fetus, wherein the distinct features and sections of the body are not yet discernible. He states that God’s eyes have observed his unformed existence, indicating that the Lord has known him even before he took on his current shape, as he is still being fashioned and assembled.

It is essential to clarify the meaning behind the phrase: In the daytime they are created, and no one in them. This suggests that humanity does not come into existence during the obscurity of night; instead, individuals are born, develop, and are shaped as if illuminated by daylight, under the radiance of Your all-knowing presence. Furthermore, there is none hidden from Your Divine Awareness, as every person is fully exposed to Your Sovereign Gaze.