Psalm 90

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 90:4

For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday. Time has no relation to God; it does not exist for him. "One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day" ( 2 Peter 3:8 ) Therefore we must not judge his methods of working by our own. When it is past; rather, as it passes. And as a watch in the night. To the sleeper a night watch seems gone in a moment. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 90:4

God's estimate of a thousand years. Note— I. THE GROUND OF THIS ESTIMATE . It is the eternity of God. He who is from everlasting to everlasting—God, the Eternal. There never was a period in which he was not. He is more permanent than the most changeless things. 1 . History teaches us this. Push back so far as we can into the remote past, there we find the sure proof of the Divine existence and work. 2 . Science teaches it yet more powerfully. Whether we... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 90:5

Thou carriest them away as with a flood. This verse is to be connected with Psalms 90:3 , "Thou sweepest mankind away;" i.e. removest them from the earth, when it pleases thee. They are as a sleep. Fantastic, vague, forgotten as soon as it is over. In the morning they are like grass which groweth up (comp. Psalms 37:2 ; Psalms 72:16 ; Psalms 92:7 ; Psalms 103:15 ; Isaiah 40:7 ). read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 90:5

The lesson of the grass. "And fade away suddenly as the grass." The strength of this poetical figure can only be fully recognized, by those who, know the. peculiarities of grass in the hot Eastern countries. "In the East one night's rain works a change as if by magic. The field at evening was brown, parched, and as a desert; in the morning it is green with the blades of grass. The scorching hot wind blows upon it, and again before evening it is withered." I. A LESSON FROM THE ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 90:6

In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withered (comp. Psalms 102:4 , Psalms 102:11 , Psalms 103:15 ; Isaiah 40:7 ; James 1:10 , James 1:11 ). read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 90:7

For we are consumed by thine anger . From the general reflections, and the general consideration of human weakness, which have hitherto occupied him, the psalmist proceeds to speak particularly of the weakness and sin of himself and his own people, which have brought upon them a painful visitation. God's anger is hot upon them, and has "consumed" them—not utterly, but so that they are greatly "troubled" and cast down. By thy wrath are we troubled. The expressions used suit the time of the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 90:8

Thou hast set our iniquities before thee. Instead of hiding his face from their iniquities, turning away from them and overlooking them, God has placed them steadily "before him," in the full searching and scorching light of his own purity and holiness. And not only has he done this with the sins which they know of, and whereof their consciences are afraid; but he has set their secret sins also in the light of his countenance. (On man's "secret sins," comp. Psalms 19:12 , and the comment... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 90:8

Secret sins. Nothing perishes. Nothing is forgotten. Things lost to us are found elsewhere. Things that seem to perish do but pass into new forms. The bursting bubble, the smoke scattered by the wind, the fallen leaf trampled into the mire, vanish from our sight and sense; but the atoms of which that puff of smoke is made are as old as the world, and will endure while the world endures. The image of that bubble, with its lovely colours, most lovely just before it bursts, may remain in our... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 90:8

Secret sin. The word used is a singular one, and may be rendered "our secret" (character). "God needs no other light to discern our sins by but the light of his own race. It pierceth through the darkest places; the brightness thereof enlighteneth all things, discovers all things. So that the sins that are committed in deepest darkness are all one to him as if they were done in the face of the sun. For they are done in his face, that shines more, and from which proceeds more light than from... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 90:9

For all our days are passed away in thy wrath; or, "under thy wrath"—"whilst thou art still angry with us" (comp. Deuteronomy 32:15-25 ). We spend our years —rather, bring our years to an end (Hengstenberg, Kay, Revised Version) as a tale that is told; rather, as a reverie, or "as a murmur." read more

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 90:4

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 90:4

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 90:5

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 90:5

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 90:6

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 90:7

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 90:8

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 90:8

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 90:8

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 90:9

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