Psalms 139:16

Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect,.... The word (q) for "substance" signifies a bottom of yarn wound up, or any rude or unformed lump; and designs that conglomerated mass of matter

Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

Yet being unperfect; when I was a mere embryo, a rude and shapeless lump, when I was first conceived. In thy book; in thy counsel and providence, by which thou didst contrive and effect this great work, and all the parts of it, according to that model which thou hadst appointed. This is a metaphor taken from workmen, who when they are to make some curious structure, they first draw a rude draught or delineation of it, by which they govern themselves in the building of it. All my members; all the several parts of my substance. When in continuance were fashioned; which in due time and by degrees were formed into bones, fleshy sinews, &c. Or, as it is in the margin, what days (and the days in which) they were or should be fashioned; by what steps, in what order and time, each part of the body should receive its proper form. This also was written or appointed by God. When as yet there was none of them, Heb. and not one of them; understand either yet was, as it is in our translation; or, was lacking, to wit, in thy book. All my parts without exception were written by thee. But then these words are not to bc joined with those immediately foregoing, but with the former, and the words are to be read thus, in thy book all my members were written, (which in continuance were fashioned,) when as yet, &c.

Psalms 139:16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all [my members] were written, [which] in continuance were fashioned, when [as yet there was] none of them.Ver. 16. Thine eyes did see my subtsance] Galmi; est semen coagulatum ante formationem membrorum, saith Kimchi; when I was but an embryo, or hardly so much. Disponit Deus membra culicis, et pulicis, saith Austin; how much more of man? The word signifieth my wound up, or unwrought up, mass. And in thy book all my members were written] A metaphor from curious workmen, that do all by the book, or by a model sat before them, that nothing may be deficient or done amiss. Had God left out an eye in his common place book, saith one, thou hadst wanted it. Which in continuance] In process of time, and by degrees. When as yet there was none of them] But all was a rude lump. This is a great secret of nature, and to be modestly spoken of.

(16) This difficult verse, rendered word for word, gives— “My fœtus (literally, rolled) saw thine eyes, And on thy book all of them were written; Days were formed, and not (or, as the Hebrew margin, to him) one in them.” The reading “substance yet being imperfect” of the Authorised Version follows the LXX. and Vulg., and (Symmachus, “shapeless thing”) periphrastically denotes the embryo, which the Hebrew word—literally, rolled, or wrapped, used in 2 Kings 2:8, “of a mantle,” in Ezekiel 27:24, “bales” (Authorised Version, “clothes;” margin, “foldings”)—almost scientifically describes. (Comp. Job 10:8-12; 2Ma 7:22.) Others take it of the ball of the threads of destiny; but this is not a Hebrew conception. By inserting the word members, the Authorised Version suggests a possible, but not a probable, interpretation. The Hebrew language likes to use a pronoun before the word to which it refers has occurred (see Note, Psalms 68:14); and, in spite of the accents, we must refer all of them to “days” (Authorised Version, “in continuance”). “Thine eyes beheld my embryo, And in thy book were written All the days, the days Which were being formed, When as yet there were none of them.” But a much more satisfactory sense is obtained by adopting one slight change and following Symmachus in the last line— “The days which are all reckoned, and not one of them is wanting.” All the ancient versions make that which is written in God’s book either the days of life, or men born in the course of these days, each coming into being according to the Divine will.

Verse 16. Thine eyes did see my substance] גלמי golmi, my embryo state-my yet indistinct mass, when all was wrapped up together, before it was gradually unfolded into the lineaments of man. "Some think," says Dr. Dodd, "that the allusion to embroidery is still carried on. As the embroiderer has still his work, pattern, or carton, before him, to which he always recurs; so, by a method as exact, revere all my members in continuance fashioned, i.e., from the rude embryo or mass they daily received some degree of figuration; as from the rude skeins of variously coloured silk or worsted, under the artificer's hands, there at length arises an unexpected beauty, and an accurate harmony of colours and proportions." And in thy book all my members were written] "All those members lay open before God's eyes; they were discerned by him as clearly as if the plan of them had been drawn in a book, even to the least figuration of the body of the child in the womb."

16. my substance, yet being unperfect] R.V. mine unperfect substance. The word (gτlem) is a different one from that in Psalms 139:15, and denotes the undeveloped embryo. Cp. Aram, gτlmβ, an unfinished vessel. all my members] Lit. all of them, which A.V. and R.V. interpret to mean all the members into which the embryo was to develop. But it is better (cp. R.V. marg.) to regard the pronoun as anticipatory, and to render, And in thy book were all of them written, Even days which were formed, When as yet there was none of them. Each day of his life with all its history was pre-determined by the Creator and recorded in His book, before one of them actually was in existence:—a clear expression of the truth that there is an ideal plan of life providentially marked out for every individual. (Ephesians 2:10.) The Q’rη or traditional reading of the Hebrew text, reads lτ, ‘for it’ instead of lτ’ ‘not’ (see note on Psalms 100:3), giving the sense, and for it there was one among them: one of them was pre-ordained as ‘its day,’ the day of its birth. Cp. ‘his day,’ Job 3:1.

Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect - This whole verse is very obscure, but the “idea” in this expression clearly is, “Before I had shape or form thou didst see what I was to be.”

15, 16. Substance—Literally, My strength; referring to the bones, or osseous system, as the solid basis of muscular strength. Their growth is a mystery. Ecclesiastes 11:5.