“If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.”
If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. The paired cosmic extremes (heaven above, Sheol below) exhaustively enumerate possible locations; in neither can one escape God's presence. Heaven represents the realm of the divine; Sheol represents the realm of the dead and the underworld. That God is present in both realms eliminates any possible refuge. The making of bed in Sheol references lying down in death; even in death itself, the divine presence persists. This verse suggests that God's presence extends beyond the realm of the living into the realm of death itself.
Church Fathers on Psalms 139:8
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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