If I ascend up into heaven, thou [art] there
No man hath ascended or can ascend to heaven of himself; it is an
hyperbolical expression, as are those that follow; none but
Christ has ascended to heaven by his own power, who descended
from it; saints hope to go there at death, and, when they do,
they find God there; that is his habitation, his throne is there,
yea, that is his throne; here he keeps court and has his
attendants, and here he will be seen and enjoyed by his people to
all eternity;
if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou [art
there];
which, if understood of the place of the damned, is a place of
torment, and a very unfit one to make a bed in, being a lake
burning with fire and brimstone; and where the smoke of their
torment ascends for ever, and they have no rest day nor night;
their worm never dies, and their fire is not quenched; and even
here God is: hell is not only naked before him, and all its
inhabitants in his view; but he is here in his powerful presence,
keeping the devils in chains of darkness; turning wicked men
daily into it, pouring out his wrath upon them, placing and
continuing an unpassable gulf between them and happy souls:
though rather this is to be understood of the grave, in which
sense the word is often used; and so Kimchi, Aben Ezra, and
Arama, interpret it of the lowest parts of the earth, as opposed
to heaven; the grave is a bed to the saints, where they lie down
and rest, and sleep till the resurrection morn, ( Job 14:12 ) ( Job 17:13 Job 17:16 ) ( Isaiah 57:2 ) ; and
here the Lord is watching over and keeping their dust, and will
raise it up again at the last day. The Targum is,
``there is thy Word.''