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Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents
139:13-16 You Even Saw and Loved Me before I Was Born. These verses illustrate the point of vv. 11-12 (the section begins with for, showing the connection to the previous) by describing a particular "dark place" where the Lord saw and cared for the singer, namely, his mother's womb. God was active as the unformed substance (embryo) grew and developed; indeed he is the one who formed my inward parts and knitted me together. God saw him, and even had written in his book, every one of . . . the days that were formed for me. The worshiper realizes that, even before his mother knew she was pregnant, the Lord was already showing his care for him. His personal life began in the womb (see note on 51:5), and God had already laid out its course.
139:14 I am fearfully and wonderfully made. If the ESV text is followed, the statement helps the worshiper to marvel over the mysterious process of a developing baby. The word translated "wonderfully made" (Hb. nipleti) has a slightly unusual spelling (the expected spelling is niple'ti), which favors the ESV footnote: "I am fearfully set apart." This takes the word to be the term for God setting his people apart (Ex. 8:22; Ps. 4:3) or making a distinction between them and those who are not his people (Ex. 9:4; 11:7; 33:16). The faithful person singing this, who in the OT would be the child of faithful parents, can affirm that God set his special love upon him from the earliest stages of his personal life (cf. Ps. 22:9-10; 71:5-6).
139:15 in the depths of the earth. As a parallel to in secret, this would be a poetic expression for the darkness and secrecy of the womb.
