Psalm 90:1-17

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Psalms 90:1-6

This psalm is entitled a prayer of Moses. Where, and in what volume, it was preserved from Moses's time till the collection of psalms was begun to be made, is uncertain; but, being divinely inspired, it was under a special protection: perhaps it was written in the book of Jasher, or the book of the wars of the Lord. Moses taught the people of Israel to pray, and put words into their mouths which they might make use of in turning to the Lord. Moses is here called the man of God, because he was... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Psalms 90:7-11

Moses had, in the Ps. 90:1-6, lamented the frailty of human life in general; the children of men are as a sleep and as the grass. But here he teaches the people of Israel to confess before God that righteous sentence of death which they were under in a special manner, and which by their sins they had brought upon themselves. Their share in the common lot of mortality was not enough, but they are, and must live and die, under peculiar tokens of God's displeasure. Here they speak of themselves:... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Psalms 90:12-17

These are the petitions of this prayer, grounded upon the foregoing meditations and acknowledgments. Isa. any afflicted? Let him learn thus to pray. Four things they are here directed to pray for:? I. For a sanctified use of the sad dispensation they were now under. Being condemned to have our days shortened, ?Lord, teach us to number our days (Ps. 90:12); Lord, give us grace duly to consider how few they are, and how little a while we have to live in this world.? Note, 1. It is an excellent... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 90:1

Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations ,.... Even when they had no certain dwelling place in the world; so their ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, dwelt in tabernacles in the land of promise, as in a strange land; and their posterity for many years served under great affliction and oppression in a land that was not theirs; and now they were dwelling in tents in the wilderness, and removing from place to place; but as the Lord had been in every age, so he now was the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 90:2

Before the mountains were brought forth ,.... Or "were born" F2 ילדו "nascerentur", Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version, Michaelis; so Ainsworth; "geniti essent", Piscator, Gejerus. , and came forth out of the womb and bowels of the earth, and were made to rise and stand up at the command of God, as they did when he first created the earth; and are mentioned not only because of their firmness and stability, but their antiquity: hence we read of the ancient mountains and everlasting... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 90:3

Thou turnest man to destruction ,.... Or to death, as the Targum, which is the destruction of man; not an annihilation of body or soul, but a dissolution of the union between them; the words may be rendered, "thou turnest man until he is broken" F2 תשב אנוש עד דכא "convertes hominem usque ad contritionem", Montanus; "donec conteratur", Musculus, Tigurine verion; "donee sit contritus", Vatablus; "ut sit contritus", Junius & Tremellius. ; and crumbled into dust; thou turnest... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 90:4

For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday ,.... Which may be said to obviate the difficulty in man's return, or resurrection, from the dead, taken from the length of time in which some have continued in the grave; which vanishes, when it is observed, that in thy sight, esteem, and account of God, a thousand years are but as one day; and therefore, should a man lie in the grave six or seven thousand years, it would be but as so many days with God; wherefore, if the resurrection... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 90:5

Thou carriest them away as with a flood ,.... As the whole world of the ungodly were with the deluge, to which perhaps the allusion is; the phrase is expressive of death; so the Targum, "if they are not converted, thou wilt bring death upon them;' the swiftness of time is aptly signified by the flowing gliding stream of a flood, by the rolling billows and waves of it; so one hour, one day, one month, one year, roll on after another: moreover, the suddenness of death may be here intended,... read more

John Gill

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

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