Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1879-03-17
SUNDAY.SCHOOL LESSON.
The ALL-SEEING GOD.-Psalms Is

LIP. Mar %.
In preparing the lesson in Psalms we
have made free use of the critical notes
in the Sunday School Times and give
this general credit in lieu of marked
quotations from that paper. In place of
the lesson text of our English version,
we substitute parallel translation as in
many cases our version fail to give the
correct meaning. The text is given in
italics and frequently the notes divide
the numbers of the sentence, but the
whole is given either at the head of or
with the notes.
D JehoUah, thou hast searched me and
kaoa0n me. The verse has only one
member, unless the two verbs be taken
as forming two distinct clauses. The
word searched" implies careful, sharp
investigation, of which the result is the
knowing the sense is "and therefore
thou dost know me-" Thou knoaoest my
dOacnsitting and my uprising, thou an
derstandest my thought from atar. The
doaCnsittimg and uprising Chat is, SIM
ply sitting" and ''rising') being put
for all positions in which man finds
himself, when he sits down to be quiet
or work, or when he stands up to enter
on some activity. From the bodily pos
ture the description passes naturally to
the inward man, the thought, the pur-
pose, will, put here for the whole inward
nature and life, which, as we'll as the
outward movement Compare Sam. l6:
y, says the psalmist, thou understand
est from atar, from thy far off dwelling
place in heaven Compare l Kings s:
80 Psalms IA: y. 1t is natural to
think of God as being in heaven, yet he
does not the less see into the secrets of
mans soul. Here is the most solemn
reflection of the psalm, that the holy
God knows our thoughts-what ought
they, then. to be? Thou sittest my
going and lying doa0n, and art acguai'at-
ed aoih all my acayS. The terms going
and lying doaOn present an antithesis
similar to that in uprising and down.
sitting" only the figure here is Of the
man walking on his way in life, in the
transaction of business and discharge of
duties. Whether he continue on the
road, or stop and recline, God knows
every movement. These two terms and
their equivalent parallel aoays are here
used generally of all that man does,
secular or religious; but in all mans
acts there is moral element; his ways
are either good or bad, holy or unholy,
and are esteemed accordingly by the
divine holy spectator. The verb stttest
literally scattered" English version
not SO we'll, "compassed'') expresses close
scrutiny and consequent understanding
in the other verb art acquainted a0ith
there is the idea of familiar intercourse
from which comes knowledge. For (ol
''indeed, surely'') there as not sOord 0,
mig tongue-lo, Jehovoh, thou knoaCes
all of 1T. These words may be under
stood in two ways: (D "The word il
not yet on my tongue. | only propos,
to speak it; but before it is spoken, Goo
knows it." ~ There is no word ut
tered by my tongue Of which it is no
true that God knows it all. The genera
, sense is the same in the two interpreta
tions. The form of the Hebrew rathe
, favors the first, but the connection O
, thought decidedly favors the second
All that do, says the psalmist, IN,
sitting and standing, my walking AM
reclining, my thinking and speaking, i
known to God. Behind and before Iii
, all directions, all around) hast thou bese
me-pressed on me, completely surround
ed me, as city is surrounded by be
sieging army. The idea here, however
: is not of hostility on Gods part, bu
simply of such ubiquitous presence ant
proximity as gave him complete knowl
i edge (see next verse;. So also the secon
member of the verse and hast laid til
hand on me represents God as close t