“Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.”
You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. The enumeration of common human activities (sitting, rising) demonstrates that God's knowledge extends to the ordinary details of daily life. The temporal specificity (when I sit down, when I rise up) suggests attention to all transitions and moments of the day. The ability to discern thoughts from far away emphasizes that no distance separates God from knowledge of human consciousness. This verse moves from external action to internal thought, revealing that God knows both deed and intention.
Church Fathers on Psalms 139:2
1. ...Our Lord Jesus Christ speaks in the Prophets, sometimes in His own Name, sometimes in ours, because He makes Himself one with us; as it is said, “they two shall be one flesh.” Wherefore also the Lord says in the Gospel, speaking of marriage, “therefore they are no more two, but one flesh.” One flesh, because of our mortality He took flesh; not one divinity, for He is the Creator, we the creature. Whatsoever then our Lord speaks in the person of the Flesh He took upon…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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