For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did the LORD behold the earth;
For He has looked down upon the earth from the height of His sanctuary in heaven, where His throne is. From there His eyes behold and test the children of men, looking forth upon all the inhabitants of the earth. He fashions their hearts alike, the hearts of them all, and considers all their works.
He reigns high above all people as Lord of heaven and earth whose kingdom rules over all, seated between the cherubim, great and terrible and holy in Zion. He is not shut up in temples made with hands like the gods of the heathen, yet He is not far from every person. He gives to all life and breath and all things, and He meets His people by His Spirit whenever and wherever they worship Him, in the dedicated house, in their homes, or in every place.
His watchful attention carries a saving purpose for all nations and for the heathen, to hear the groaning of the prisoner and to loose those appointed to death by freeing those facing death in their suffering. This beneficent design for the salvation of the heathen was set forth anew in the verse after it had been almost wholly lost sight of in the years following the occupation of the Promised Land. The deliverance is so that His name may be declared in Zion and His praise in Jerusalem when peoples and kingdoms are gathered together to serve Him.
Because of His exalted rule, all the earth is to keep silence before Him, and all the earth should fear Him and all the inhabitants of the world should stand in awe of Him. The verse means that man cannot by searching find out God, and none is to seek with presumptuous hand to lift the veil that conceals His glory, for His judgments are unsearchable and His ways past finding out. Only what He sees fit to reveal can be comprehended, and reason must acknowledge an authority superior to itself with heart and intellect bowing to the great I AM. The hiding of His power is mercy, for to intrude unbidden into the divine presence is death.
For He has looked down upon the earth from the height of His sanctuary in heaven, where His throne is. From there His eyes behold and test the children of men, looking forth upon all the inhabitants of the earth. He fashions their hearts alike, the hearts of them all, and considers all their works.
He reigns high above all people as Lord of heaven and earth whose kingdom rules over all, seated between the cherubim, great and terrible and holy in Zion. He is not shut up in temples made with hands like the gods of the heathen, yet He is not far from every person. He gives to all life and breath and all things, and He meets His people by His Spirit whenever and wherever they worship Him, in the dedicated house, in their homes, or in every place.
His watchful attention carries a saving purpose for all nations and for the heathen, to hear the groaning of the prisoner and to loose those appointed to death by freeing those facing death in their suffering. This beneficent design for the salvation of the heathen was set forth anew in the verse after it had been almost wholly lost sight of in the years following the occupation of the Promised Land. The deliverance is so that His name may be declared in Zion and His praise in Jerusalem when peoples and kingdoms are gathered together to serve Him.
Because of His exalted rule, all the earth is to keep silence before Him, and all the earth should fear Him and all the inhabitants of the world should stand in awe of Him. The verse means that man cannot by searching find out God, and none is to seek with presumptuous hand to lift the veil that conceals His glory, for His judgments are unsearchable and His ways past finding out. Only what He sees fit to reveal can be comprehended, and reason must acknowledge an authority superior to itself with heart and intellect bowing to the great I AM. The hiding of His power is mercy, for to intrude unbidden into the divine presence is death.