Psalm 90

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 90:6

In the morning it flourisheth and groweth up ,.... That is, the grass, through the dew that lay all night on it, and by the clear shining of the sun after rain, when it appears in great beauty and verdure; so man in the morning of his youth looks gay and beautiful, grows in the stature and strength of his body, and in the endowments of his mind; and it may be also in riches and wealth; it is well if he grows in grace, and in the knowledge of Christ: in the evening it is cut down, and... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 90:7

For we are consumed by thine anger ,.... Kimchi applies this to the Jews in captivity; but it is to be understood of the Israelites in the wilderness, who are here introduced by Moses as owning and acknowledging that they were wasting and consuming there, as it was threatened they should; and that as an effect of the divine anger and displeasure occasioned by their sins; see Numbers 14:33 . Death is a consumption of the body; in the grave worms destroy the flesh and skin, and the reins of... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 90:8

Thou hast set our sins before thee ,.... The cause of all trouble, consumption, and death; these are before the Lord, as the evidence, according to which he as a righteous Judge proceeds; this is opposed to the pardon of sin, which is expressed by a casting it behind his back, Isaiah 38:17 , our secret sins in the light of thy countenance ; the Targum and Jarchi interpret it of the sins of youth; the word is in the singular number, and may be rendered, "our secret sin" F6 עלמנו ... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 90:9

For all our days are passed away in thy wrath ,.... The life of man is rather measured by days than by months or years; and these are but few, which pass away or "decline" F7 פנו "declinaverunt", Pagninus, Montanus; "declinant", Munster, Muis. as the day does towards the evening; see Jeremiah 6:4 or "turn away their face", as the word F8 "Deflectunt faciem", Gejerus, so Ainsworth. may be rendered: they turn their backs upon us, and not the face to us; so that it is a hard... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 90:10

The days of our years are threescore years and ten ,.... In the Hebrew text it is, "the days of our years in them are", &c.; F1 בהם "in ipsis", Pagninus, Montanus; "in quibus vivimus", Tigurine version, Vatablus. ; which refers either to the days in which we live, or to the persons of the Israelites in the wilderness, who were instances of this term of life, in whom perhaps it first took place in a general way: before the flood, men lived to a great age; some nine hundred years... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 90:11

Who knoweth the power of thine anger ?.... Expressed in his judgments on men: as the drowning of the old world, the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah, the consumption of the Israelites in the wilderness; or in shortening the days of men, and bringing them to the dust of death; or by inflicting punishment on men after death; they are few that take notice of this, and consider it well, or look into the causes of it, the sins of men: such as are in hell experimentally know it; but men on earth,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 90:12

So teach us to number our days ,.... Not merely to count them, how many they are, in an arithmetical way; there is no need of divine teachings for that; some few instructions from an arithmetician, and a moderate skill in arithmetic, will enable persons not only to count the years of their lives, but even how many days they have lived: nor is this to be understood of calculating or reckoning of time to come; no man can count the number of days he has to live; the number of his days, months,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 90:13

Return, O Lord ,.... Either from the fierceness of thine anger, according to Aben Ezra and Jarchi; of which complaint is made, Psalm 90:7 , or unto us, from whom he had departed; for though God is everywhere, as to his being and immensity, yet, as to his gracious presence, he is not; and where that is, he sometimes withdraws it; and when he visits again with it, be may be said to return; and when he returns, he visits with it, and which is here prayed for; and designs a manifestation of... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 90:14

O satisfy us early with thy mercy ,.... Or "grace" F7 חסדך "gratia tua", Cocceius, Gejerus, Michaelis. ; the means of grace, the God of all grace, and communion with him, Christ and his grace; things without which, souls hungry and thirsty, in a spiritual sense, cannot be satisfied; these will satisfy them, and nothing else; namely, the discoveries of the love of God, his pardoning grace and mercy, Christ and his righteousness, and the fulness of grace in him; see Psalm 63:3 , this... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 90:15

Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us ,.... The days of affliction are times of sorrow; and days of prosperity make glad and joyful; and the psalmist here seems to desire an equal number of the one as of the other; not that an exact precise number of the one with the other is intended; but that there might be a proper proportion of the one to the other; and commonly God does "set the one over against the other": there is a mixture of both in the believer's life,... read more

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