properly · verb, hiphil perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
height
מִמְּר֣וֹםmi.me.Rom
H4791
altitude · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
sanctuary
קָדְשׁ֑וֹka.de.Sho
H6944
a sacred place or thing · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
heaven
מִשָּׁמַ֤יִםmi.sha.Ma.yim
H8064
the sky (as aloft · preposition + noun, common masculine plural absolute
LORD
יְ֝הוָ֗הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
behold
הִבִּֽיטhi.Bit
H5027
to scan · verb, hiphil perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
earth
אֶ֬רֶץ'E.retz
H776
the earth (at large · noun, common feminine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Deuteronomy 26:15 Look down from thy holy habitation, from heaven, and bless thy people Israel, and the land which thou hast given us, as thou swarest unto ou…
Psalms 14:2 The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.
1 Kings 8:39 Then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (fo…
1 Kings 8:43 Hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for: that all people of the earth may know…
2 Chronicles 16:9 For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towa…
Job 22:12 Is not God in the height of heaven? and behold the height of the stars, how high they are!
Psalms 33:13-14 The LORD looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men.
Hebrews 8:1-2 Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majes…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 102:12-22
Many exceedingly great and precious comforts are here thought of, and mustered up, to balance the foregoing complaints; for unto the upright there arises light in the darkness, so that, though they are cast down, they are not in despair. It is bad with the psalmist himself, bad with the people of God; but he has many considerations to revive himself with.
I. We are dying creatures, and our interests and comforts are dying, but God is an everliving everlasting God (Psa 102:12): "My days are like a shadow; there is no remedy; night is coming upon me; but, thou, O Lord! shalt endure for ever. Our life is transient, but thine is permanent; our friends die, but thou our God diest not; what threat…
For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary,.... From heaven, as it is explained in the next clause, which is the Lord's sanctuary, or holy place, where he dwells, even in the height of it; it is both high and holy, as he himself is; yet he condescends to look down from thence on sinful mortals:
from heaven did the Lord behold the earth; the inhabitants of it, good and bad: it designs the general notice he takes of men and things in a providential way; he beholds the world, that lies in wickedness, and all the wickedness committed in it; and will one day call to an account, and punish for it; he beholds good men, not only with an eye of providence, to take care of them, protect…
Psalm 102:19-22
19. For he hath looked down from the high place of his holiness; [152] Jehovah hath looked down from the heavens unto the earth, 20. To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to release the sons of death; [153] 21. That the name of Jehovah may be declared in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem; 22. When the peoples [or the nations] shall be gathered together, and the kingdoms to serve Jehovah.
19. For he hath looked down from the high place of his holiness Now the prophet contemplates the deliverance after which he breathes with anxious desire, as if it had been already accomplished. That the malignity of men might not attempt to obscure such a signal blessing of Heaven, he openl…
The Church Fathers
"Out of the heaven did the Lord look down upon the earth" [Psalm 102:19]: "that He might hear the mournings of such as are in fetters, and deliver the children of such as are put to death" [Psalm 102:20]. We have found it said in another Psalm, "O let the sorrowful sighs of the fettered come before You;" and in a passage where the voice of the martyrs was meant. Whence are the martyrs in fetters?...But God had bound them with these fetters, hard indeed and painful for a season, but endurable on account of His promises, unto whom it is said, "On account of the words of Your lips, I have kept hard ways." We must indeed groan in these fetters in order to gain the mercy of God. These fetters must not be shunned, in order to gain a destructive freedom and the temporal and brief pleasure of this life, to be followed by perpetual bitterness. Accordingly Scripture, [Ecclesiastes 6:24-32] that we may not refuse the fetters of wisdom, thus addresses us: "...Then shall her fetters be a strong defence for you, and her chains a robe of glory." Let the fettered therefore cry out, as long as they are in the chains of the discipline of God, in which the martyrs have been tried: the fetters shall be loosed, and they shall fly away, and these very fetters shall afterwards be turned into an ornament. This has happened with the martyrs. For what have the persecutors effected by killing them, except that their fetters were thereby loosed, and turned into crowns?...The remission of sins, is the loosing. For what would it have profited Lazarus, that he came forth from the tomb, unless it were said to him, "loose him, and let him go"? [John 11:44] Himself indeed with His voice aroused him from the tomb, Himself restored his life by crying unto him, Himself overcame the mass of earth that was heaped upon the tomb, and he came forth bound hand and foot: not therefore with his own feet, but by the power of Him who drew him forth. This takes place in the heart of the penitent: when you hear a man is sorry for his sins, he has already come again to life; when you hear him by confessing lay bare his conscience, he is already drawn forth from the tomb, but he is not as yet loosed. When is he loosed, and by whom is he loosed? "Whatsoever you shall loose on earth," He says, "shall be loosed in Heaven." [Matthew 15:19] Forgiveness of sins may justly be granted by the Church: but the dead…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Heaven — (1.) Definitions. The phrase “heaven and earth” is used to indicate the whole universe (Gen. 1:1; Jer. 23:24; Acts 17:24). According to the Jewish notion there were three heavens, (a) The firmament,…
Sanctuary — Denotes, (1) the Holy Land (Ex. 15:17; comp. Ps. 114:2); (2) the temple (1 Chr. 22:19; 2 Chr. 29:21); (3) the tabernacle (Ex. 25:8; Lev. 12:4; 21:12); (4) the holy place, the place of the Presence…
Gentiles · PROPHECIES OF THE CONVERSION OF — PROPHECIES OF THE CONVERSION OF
Holy Of Holies · A type of heaven — A type of heaven
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
The poet goes on advancing motives to Jahve for the fulfilment of his desire, by holding up to Him what will take place when He shall have restored Zion. The evangel of God's redemptive deed will be written down for succeeding generations, and a new, created people, i.e., a people coming into existence, the church of the future, shall praise God the Redeemer for it. דּור אחרון as in Psa 48:14; Psa 78:4. עם נברא like עם נולד Ps 22:32, perhaps with reference to deutero-Isaianic passages like Isa 43:17. On Psa 102:20, cf. Isa 63:15; in Psa 102:21 (cf. Isa 42:7; Isa 61:1) the deutero-Isaianic colouring is very evident. And Psa 102:21 rests still more verbally upon Psa 79:11. The people of the Ex…
The heavenly sanctuary refers to God’s holy place on high (see 92:8-10).
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 102:19-20
For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did the Lord behold the earth;
To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death;
For he hath looked down from the heights of his sanctuary, or "leaned from the high place of his holiness, " from heaven did the Lord behold the earth, looking out like a watcher from his tower. What was the object of this leaning lrom the battlements of heaven? Why this intent gaze upon the race of men? The answer is full of astounding mercy; the Lord does not look upon mankind to note their grandees, and observe the doings of their nobles, but to hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are app…
