7, 8. For—A reason, this is the infliction of God's wrath. troubled—literally, "confounded by terror" ( :-). Death is by sin ( :-). Though "secret," the light of God's countenance, as a candle, will bring sin to view (Proverbs 20:27; 1 Corinthians 4:5). read more
1. The transitory nature of human life 90:1-12 read more
IV. BOOK 4: CHS. 90-106Moses composed one of the psalms in this section of the Psalter (Psalms 90), and David wrote two of them (Psalms 101, 103). The remaining 14 are anonymous. Book 4 opens with a psalm attributed to Moses, and it closes with one in which Moses is the dominant figure. Prominent themes in this book include the brevity of life, Yahweh’s future reign on the earth and proper human response to that hope, and Yahweh’s creative and sustaining power. So one might think of Book 4 as... read more
Humans only live a short time because God judges the sin in their lives (cf. Romans 6:23). God knows even our secret sins. They do not escape Him, and He judges us with physical death for our sins.Assuming Moses did write this psalm, it is interesting that he said the normal human life span was 70 years. He lived to be 120, Aaron was 123 when he died, and Joshua died at 110. Their long lives testify to God’s faithfulness in providing long lives to the godly, as He promised under the Mosaic... read more
The title of this Ps. (A Prayer of Moses the man of God) ascribes it to Moses, but several considerations have been pointed out which suggest a later date for its composition. The average length of life in the time of Moses is supposed to have been greater than that mentioned in Psalms 90:10 (Deuteronomy 34:7; Joshua 24:29). Israel’s national life seems not to be just beginning, but to have lasted already for many generations (Psalms 90:1). The recent past has been a time of calamity rather... read more
Book 4The Pss. in this book, as in that which follows, are mostly of comparatively late date, and suitable for use in the worship of the sanctuary.The two books seem to have been conjoined at one time, and to have formed the third great division of the Psalter. In the 17 Pss. of Book 4 several smaller groups or collections are to be distinguished. Psalms 93, 95-100 are called the ’theocratic’ Pss., because they celebrate God as King, finding in the restoration of Israel from Babylon the... read more
(7) We.—The change to the first person plural shows that the poet was not merely moralising on the brevity of human life, but uttering a dirge over the departed glory of Israel. Instead of proving superior to vicissitude the covenant race had shared it.Troubled.—Comp. Psalms 48:6. Better here, frightened away. read more
Psalms 90:0 When we have passed that limit of age which Psalm xc. indicates as the most usual boundary of human life, the near horizons become for us those of the world beyond this present life. Ernest Naville to the Countess de Gasparin, La Comtesse Agénor de Gasparin et sa Famille, p. 426. Psalm XC. was read by the Rev. J. McCormick over the victims of the great Matterhorn disaster of 1865. The Prayer Book from which it was read was found on the body of the Rev. Charles Hudson, one of the... read more
Psalms 90:1-17THE sad and stately music of this great psalm befits the dirge of a world. How artificial and poor, beside its restrained emotion and majestic simplicity, do even the most deeply felt strains of other poets on the same themes sound! It preaches man’s mortality in immortal words. In its awestruck yet trustful gaze on God’s eternal being, in its lofty sadness, in its archaic directness, in its grand images so clearly cut and so briefly expressed, in its emphatic recognition of sin... read more
Get Bible verse every day in your inbox
Read on Mobile
Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Psalms 90:7
"For we are consumed in thine anger,And in try wrath we are troubled. Thou hast set our iniquities before thee,Our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.For all our days are passed away in thy wrath:We bring our years to an end as a sigh.The days of our years are three-score years and ten,Or even by reason of strength four-score years;Yet is there pride, but labor and sorrow;For it is soon gone, and we fly away.Who knoweth the power of thine anger,And thy wrath according to the fear that... read more