Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/4_200.lzh/4_288.TXT

Text File | 1994-09-08 | 7KB | 130 lines

brought forth, and God knows the first motions of it
there; and that the imagination of the thought of
mau's heart is evil continually, Gen. vi. 5. Thou hast
covered me in my mother's womb; with the secundine,
or after-birth, in which he carefully wrapped him, a
proof of his knowledge of him, and care for him in the
womb; or with skin and flesh he covered his bones
with as they grew there; see Job x. 11. or the sense is,
he protected and defended him in his embryo state,
and when ripe for birth took him out from thence, and
held him up ever since, Psal. xxii. 9. and lxxi. 6. he
had his eye on him when no other eye could see him,
not even his mother that bare him, and before ever
he himself saw light. The Targum is, "thou hast
"rounded me in my mother's womb."
Vet. 14. l will praise thee: for I am .fearfully and
wonderf ally made, &c.] the tbrmation of man is not
of himself, nor of Iris parents, but of God, and is very
wonderful in all its parts; it has been matter of asto-
nishment to many Heathens, as Galen and others, who
have, with any carefulness, examined the structure
and texture of the human body, the exact symmetry
and just proportion of all its parts, their position and
usefulness; holy every bone, muscle, artery, nerve
and fibre, are nicely framed and placed to answer their
designed end; partictdarly the eye and ear, the exqui-
site make of them for sight and sound, have filled the
most diligent inquirers into nature with amazement
and wonder, and are a full proof of the wisdom and
knowledge of God; see Psal. xciv. 9. no man has cause
to reproach his parents, nor blame the Former of all
things for making him thus, but on the contrary should
praise the Lord, as David did, who has given him
life and breath, and all things; or own and confess{l},
as the word may be rendered, that he is in various
surprising instances a wonder of nature.; see Isa. xlv.
9, 10. Rom. ix. c2_0. Psal. c. 3. R. Moses in Aben
Ezra thinks David is speaking of the first father, or
the first Adam; who was wonderfully made of the dust
of the earth, and had a living soul breathed into him;
was made after the image of God, holy and upright:
but rather he speaks of Christ, the second Adam, his
antitype, who as man is a creature of God's make,
and was wonderfully made, even of a virgin, without
the use and knowledge of man; is the stone cut out of
the mountain without hands, the tabernacle which
God pitched and not man; was produced by the power
of the Holy Ghost, was born without sin, which no
man is, and united personally to the son of God,
and is the great mystery of godliness; and his name is
justly called Wonderful. Cocceius interprets this
passage of God's separating act of David, and so of
others in election; which is a wonderful setting apart
of than for himself, as the word is used Psal. iv. 3. it
is the effect of amazing love, and to be ascribed to the
sovereignty of God, and the unsearchable riches of his
grace; but this seems not to be intended here, though
it is a marvelIons act, as all the works of God are, as
follows; rather, since the word may be rendered, I
am wonderfully separated{m}, it may be inteepreted of
his being separated in his mother's womb from the rest
of the mass and matter of her blood, and formed from
thence; which was done in a secret, unknown, and
marvelious way and manner. MarcelIons are thy works
of creation, providence, sustentation of all creatures,
the government of the world, the redemption of
mankind, the work of grace and conversion, the per-
severance of the saints, and their eternal salvation.
And that my soul knoweth right well: having diligently
sought them out, and having such a distinct know-
ledge of them as to be capable of talking of them, and
of shewing them to others, and pointing out the
wonders, beauties, and excellencies of them; see Psal.
cxi. 2. and cxlv. 5. and ix. 1. however, he well and
perfectly knew, or knew so much of them that they
were very wonderful and amazing: some connect the
word rendered right well, which signifies greatly, or
exceedingly, not with his knowledge, but with the
marvelIons works known; and take the sense to be,
that he knew them to be greatly or exceedingly won-
derful; so R. Moses in Aben Ezra, Kimchi, and Ben
Melech.
Ver. 15. My substance was not hid from thee when I
was made in secret, &c.] Or my bone {n}; every one of
his bones, which are the substantial parts of the body,
the strength of it; and so some render it my strength°;
those, though covered with skin and flesh. yet, being
done by the Lord himself, were not hid froth him;
nor the manner of their production and growth, which
being done in secret is a secret to men; for they
know not how the bones grow in the womb of her
that is with-child, Eccl. xi. 5. but God does. And
curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth; or
formed in my mother's womb, as the Targum, and so
Jarchi, like a curious piece of needle-work or
broidery, as the word {p} signifies; and such is the con-
texture of the human body, and so nicely and curiously
are all its parts put together, bones, muscles, arteries,
veins, nerves, and fibres, as exceed the most curious
piece of needle-work, or the finest embroidery that ever
was made by the hands of men; and all this done in
the dark shop of nature, in the ovarium, where there
is no more light to work by than in the lowest parts of
the earth. The same phrase is used of Christ's de-
scent into this world, into the womb of the virgin,
where his human nature was curiously wrought by the
finger of the blessed Spirit, Ephes. iv. 9.
Vet. 16. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being
unperfect, &c.] 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
separated in the wontb, containing all the essentials of
the human frame, but not yet distinguished or reduced
into any form or order; yet, even when in this state,
the eyes of the Lord see it and all its parts distinctly.
And in thy book all my members were written: which
in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was
none of them; in the book of God's eternal mind, and

{l} \^Kdwa\^ confitebor tibi, V. L. Pagninus, Montanus; confiteor,
Tigurine version, Cocceius, Michaelis.
{m} \^ytalpn\^ tremendis modis separatus sum, Cocceius; so Gussetius,
p. 676, 677.
{n} \^ymue\^ os meum, V. L. Vatablus, Gejerus, ossa mea, Piscator;
apparatio ossium meorum, Cocceius.
{o} Robur meum, Tigurine version; vis mea, Junius & Tremellius.
{p} \^ytmqr\^ velut opere phrygio effingerer, Tigurine version; velut
acupictur sum, Grotius.
{q} \^ymlg\^ informe meum, Montanus; glomus meum, Michaelis.