Psalms

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Psalm 139

1 For the music director, a psalm of David. O Lord, you examine me and know me. 2 You know when I sit down and when I get up; even from far away you understand my motives. 3 You carefully observe me when I travel or when I lie down to rest; you are aware of everything I do. 4 Certainly my tongue does not frame a word without you, O Lord, being thoroughly aware of it. 5 You squeeze me in from behind and in front; you place your hand on me. 6 Your knowledge is beyond my comprehension; it is so far beyond me, I am unable to fathom it.⁠ 7 Where can I go to escape your Spirit? Where can I flee to escape your presence? 8 If I were to ascend to heaven, you would be there. If I were to sprawl out in Sheol, there you would be. 9 If I were to fly away on the wings of the dawn and settle down on the other side of the sea, 10 even there your hand would guide me, your right hand would grab hold of me. 11 If I were to say, “Certainly the darkness will cover me, and the light will turn to night all around me,” 12 even the darkness is not too dark for you to see, and the night is as bright as day; darkness and light are the same to you. 13 Certainly you made my kidneys²¹; you wove me together in my mother’s womb.⁠ 14 I will give you thanks because your deeds are awesome and amazing. You knew me thoroughly; 15 my frame^* was not hidden from you, when I was made in secret and sewed together in the depths of the earth.⁠ 16 Your eyes saw me when I was inside the womb. All the days ordained for me were recorded in your scroll before one of them came into existence.⁠ 17 How difficult it is for me to fathom your thoughts about me, O God! How vast is their sum total. 18 If I tried to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. Even if I finished counting them, I would still have to contend with you. 19 If only you would kill the wicked, O God! Get away from me, you violent men! 20 They rebel against you and act deceitfully; your enemies lie. 21 O Lord, do I not hate those who hate you and despise those who oppose you?⁠ 22 I absolutely hate them; they have become my enemies. 23 Examine me, O God, and probe my thoughts. Test me, and know my concerns. 24 See if there is any idolatrous way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.

Texts in conversation

Compare Psalm 139:15 and Genesis Rabbah 24:2

Hebrew Bible · Rabbinic

Summary

Rabbinic tradition in Genesis Rabbah uses Psalm 139 to describe Adam as a golem, interpreting Adam's creation as an unformed mass, made in secret under earth. This also depicts Adam receiving divine revelation before he could reason.

Passages

Psalm 139:15

Hebrew Bible

14 I will give you thanks because your deeds are awesome and amazing. You knew me thoroughly; 15 my frame^* was not hidden from you, when I was made in secret and sewed together in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw me when I was inside the womb. All the days ordained for me were recorded in your scroll before one of them came into existence. 17 How difficult it is for me to fathom your thoughts about me, O God! How vast is their sum total.

600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Psalms

Genesis Rabbah 24:2

Rabbinic · Aggadah

Another matter, “this is the book of the descendants of Adam,” it is written: “Your eyes saw my unformed parts, and in Your book they were all written. Of the days that were created, each one is His” (Psalms 139:16). Rabbi Yehoshua bar Neḥemya and Rabbi Yehuda bar Simon said in the name of Rabbi Elazar: When the Holy One blessed be He created Adam the first man, He created him [so large as to be] filling the whole world. From east to west, from where is it derived? It is as it is stated: “From back [aḥor] and front [kedem], You shaped me” (Psalms 139:5). From north to south, from where is it derived? It is as it is stated: “[From the day God made Adam on the earth,] and from one end of the heavens to the other end” (Deuteronomy 4:32). From where is it derived that he even filled the empty space of the world? It is as it is stated: “You placed Your palm upon me” (Psalms 139:5). Rabbi Tanḥuma in the name of Rabbi Benaya, and Rabbi Benaya and Rabbi Berekhya in the name of Rabbi Elazar, said: He created him unformed and he was placed from the end of the world to its end. That is what is written: “Your eyes saw my unformed parts” (Psalms 139:16). Rabbi Yehuda bar Simon said: While Adam the first man was placed unformed before Him who spoke and the world came into being, He showed him each and every generation and its scholars, each and every generation and its wise men, each and every generation and its interpreters of the Torah, each and every generation and its leaders, as it is stated: “Your eyes saw my unformed parts, [and in Your book they were all written]” – the unformed ones whom Your eyes saw, they were already written in the book of Adam the first man. That is, “this is the book of the descendants of Adam.”

500 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis Rabbah

References

"... Some Jewish legends relate that Adam, in his state as a lifeless mass, or a golem, was uniquely educated by the deity. This divine instruction included a comprehensive vision of the entire human history. (A reference to this vision may be hinted already in Psalm 139:15-16, where a possible reference to Adam’s golem coincides with the revelation about all days of humankind: “My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed.”) Later Jewish mystics often received a similar vision on the heavenly curtain Pargod, which showed them the course of human history together with all its generations and leaders. According to Scholem, “even before Adam has speech and reason, he beholds a vision of the history of Creation, which passes before him in images.” Genesis Rabbah 24:2 underlines the comprehensiveness of this revelation when it tells that the first-formed beheld every generation and its sages, judges, scribes, interpreters, and leaders ..."

Andrei A. Orlov, Golem’s Education: Descent Pedagogy in the Apocalypse of Abraham (Marquette University, 2024), 1–34.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

Psalms150 psalms

Compare Psalm 139:15 and Genesis Rabbah 24:2

Summary

Passages

Psalm 139:15

Genesis Rabbah 24:2

References

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