Psalm 139:15

[Peairtach]

139:15 My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

Why does the Psalmist say that he was made in "the lowest parts of the earth" ?

 

[Bill The Baptist]

It is simply a euphemism for the womb.

 

[Rev. Todd Ruddell]

And a fitting euphemism, when the human being is at his most humble and vulnerable.

 

[Peairtach]

It is simply a euphemism for the womb.

So was this a Hebrew way of speaking about the womb, as it were a cave, I suppose.

 

[whirlingmerc]

I think it's unanimous.... womb

best song on Ps 139 is from the Fighter verse songs from Bethlehem Baptist church https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lChH4TZmuto&list=PLAdKzOzCc6WIkEKO5scYmE311EqBZFr-7

I see that there is a discussion of this question here.... the lower parts of the earth?

 

[Peairtach]

Yes. Having looked at various commentaries that seems to be the consensus. I'm just trying to understand further why the womb would be called, "the lower parts of the earth".

Sent from my HTC Wildfire using Tapatalk 2

 

[whirlingmerc]

I think the lower parts of the earth would be inscrutable to ancient people.... the womb is totally mysterious to them..
The womb is as mysterious to them as what happens miles into the earth... maybe not a poetic image modern people might use
It may as well be something going on miles into the earth... the people can't see what's going on

 

[One Little Nail]

The Grave, Sheol or Hades, is described as the lower parts of the earth, so the womb's similarity to a tomb is the reason for such.

Remember when the Prophet Jonah cried out from the belly of the great fish and referred to it as Sheol.

Jonah 2:1Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish’s belly,
2And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.

 

[MW]

Why does the Psalmist say that he was made in "the lowest parts of the earth" ?

Is he reflecting on the original creation of man as described in Genesis 2:7, and extending the image to his own individual creation?

 

[hammondjones]

This work is wrought as much in private as if it had been accomplished in the grave, or in the darkness of the abyss. The expressions are poetical, beautifully veiling, though not absolutely concealing, the real meaning.*

~Treasury of David

 

[One Little Nail]

Why does the Psalmist say that he was made in "the lowest parts of the earth" ?

Is he reflecting on the original creation of man as described in Genesis 2:7, and extending the image to his own individual creation?

This work is wrought as much in private as if it had been accomplished in the grave, or in the darkness of the abyss. The expressions are poetical, beautifully veiling, though not absolutely concealing, the real meaning.* ~Treasury of David

After reading this, it reminded me of a verse of scripture

Gen 3: 19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

seeing as their was an allusion to both the creation & the grave.