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Meaning Of Psalm 139

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SIM #7 Psalm 139 Genre: The genre of Psalm 139 is Hebrew poetry, simply because the psalms were written in Hebrew and are a collection of poems and laments. The first principle of interoperation is that the psalms blend experience, emotion, and theology. This should be taken into account while reading the poem in order that the reader does not simply skip over the theology by only focusing on experience and emotion. The second interoperation principle is that each psalm should be read as a whole. Verses of psalms should not be taken out of context, in doing this the reader may distort the meaning of the psalm. Another interpretation principle to take into consideration is the different genres of psalms such as: laments, thanksgiving, hymns of praise, wisdom, and songs of trust. With that being said, Psalm 139 not only falls under the Hebrew poetry genre, but is also classified as a psalm of trust. Lastly, the fourth interpretation principle is that parallelisms are used. In other words, ideas correlate in many different ways such as: synonymously, antithesis, intensifying, specifying, and synthetically.
Grammatical/Literacy: Why does David specify that God will hold him with his right hand? What is the “depths” and does this refer to hell?
Historical/Cultural: Are “concerning” and “precious” interchangeable in Hebrew (During this time period)?
Does “written in your (God’s) book” refer to the Old Testament that has been previously written, such as the Mosaic Covenant?

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