The Everlasting Way: A Study in Psalm 139, by E.J. Young ★★★★★
This book is a short Banner of Truth publication authored by Ed Young, who provides each chapter with a verse by verse interpretation and elaboration on Psalm 139. As stated in the back cover review, Young is the prince of conservative Old Testament scholars. He was one of the giants in academic theology that left Princeton Theological Seminary to found Westminster Theology Seminary, which also included J. Gresham Machen and Cornelius VanTil, all of whom are heroes of mine. Using both his skills in Hebrew and Aramaic languages, Young provides not only insightful but a greatly devotional reflection on the greatness of God in this Psalm.
Many use Psalm 139 as an anti-abortion statement, or as a ponderous statement about predestination. While it is both of those, neither abortion or predestination is a theme of this Psalm. Rather, it is a reflection on the complete transcendence and yet immanence of our God. It is a God who is wholly other, yet is imminentely with us, with His hand on us. We never can escape His presence, and we can never know something that God doesn’t already know.
David longs to identify with the morality of God, to hate what God hates, to love what God loves, to have the same enemies as God, and to cherish what God cherishes. Since God is intimate with us, knowing our thoughts before we know them, David desires God to search his thoughts, and lead him on an everlasting way.
Young skillfully offers many alternative interpretations to the text, especially where the Hebrew language is not so certain in its translation. Young, as a true Biblical scholar, is able to quickly demolish any liberal thinking, such as the idea that Psalm 139 was actually written long after King David since there are Aramaicisms in the Psalm. Truly, Young’s desire is to be first and foremost a Biblical scholar, holding the Scripture up as infallible and its own best interpreter, and demonstrates what is so often missing in the new generation of conservative Bible scholarship.
