translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: PSA

label: NET study note

text: . The psalmist acknowledges that God, who created him, is aware of his every action and thought. He invites God to examine his motives, for he is confident they are pure.


text: On the wings of the dawn . This personification of the “dawn” may find its roots in mythological traditions about the god Shachar, whose birth is described in an Ugaritic myth (see G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends , 126) and who is mentioned in Isa 14:12 as the father of Helel.


text: The phrase depths of the earth may be metaphorical (euphemistic) or it may reflect a prescientific belief about the origins of the embryo deep beneath the earth’s surface (see H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament , 96-97). Job 1:21 also closely associates the mother’s womb with the earth.