Psalms Commentary – Psalm 139: To the choirmaster, a Psalm of David
Psalm 139
To the choirmaster, a Psalm of David.
O Creator, you have searched me and known me!
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
3 You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
Behold, O Creator, you know it altogether.
5 You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.
7 Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
9 If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
13 For you formed my inward parts.
You knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O Creator!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.
19 Oh that you would slay the wicked, O Creator!
O men of blood, depart from me!
20 They speak against you with malicious intent;
your enemies take your name in vain.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Creator?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
22 I hate them with complete hatred;
I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, O Creator, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
This Psalm is the request, where one agrees at every second, in every state, to chase “There is none else besides Him,” to recognize that the Creator (i.e. the quality of bestowal and love) surrounds everything, and that other than the detachment inherent to the person’s perception and sensation, everything is the Creator.
However, the person perceives from within that detachment, from a broken piece of the soul, seeing through the filter of that breakage to the world.
And as the person tries to see “There is none else besides Him” at every moment, in spite of every other appearance, then it is considered that the person tries to reconnect Malchut to Zeir Anpin, awakening the cause of all causes, and as such, the person undergoes many corrections, eventually reaching a state where the person disappears, entering complete adhesion with the Creator.
This Psalm depicts the path in spiritual work: to try, at every moment, through the dressings, to reach their true cause, which is to discover everything taking place to us, in us, and around us, as being the Creator.
What is the meaning of “There is none else besides Him”? What is the soul? What does it mean that we perceive and feel through a broken piece of the soul? What does it mean to reconnect Malchut to Zeir Anpin? All these questions and more are dealt with in the Free Kabbalah Course, which provides the fundamental principles and tools by which to correctly approach the wisdom of Kabbalah. It is recommended to take the Free Kabbalah Course before approaching the Daily Kabbalah Lessons with Dr. Michael Laitman. Click the banner below to sign up…
