Psa 90:2-7 | Clarke | e4.org | Verse 2. Before the mountains were brought forth ] The mountains and hills appear to have been everlasting; but as they were brought forth out of the womb of eternity, there was a time when they were not : but THOU hast been ab aeternitate a parte ante, ad aeternitatem a parte post ; from the eternity that is past, before time began; to the eternity that is after, when time shall have an end. This is the highest description of the eternity of God to which human language can reach.

‏ Psalms 90:2-7

Verse 2. Before the mountains were brought forth] The mountains and hills appear to have been everlasting; but as they were brought forth out of the womb of eternity, there was a time when they were not: but THOU hast been ab aeternitate a parte ante, ad aeternitatem a parte post; from the eternity that is past, before time began; to the eternity that is after, when time shall have an end. This is the highest description of the eternity of God to which human language can reach.

Verse 3. Thou turnest man to destruction] Literally, Thou shalt turn dying man, enosh, to the small dust, dacca but thou wilt say, Return, ye children of Adam. This appears to be a clear and strong promise of the resurrection of the human body, after it has long slept, mingled with the dust of the earth.

Verse 4. For a thousand years in thy sight] As if he had said, Though the resurrection of the body may be a thousand (or any indefinite number of) years distant; yet, when these are past, they are but as yesterday, or a single watch of the night. They pass through the mind in a moment, and appear no longer in their duration than the time required by the mind to reflect them by thought. But, short as they appear to the eye of the mind, they are nothing when compared with the eternity of God! The author probably has in view also that economy of Divine justice and providence by which the life of man has been shortened from one thousand years to threescore years and ten, or fourscore.

Verse 5. Thou carriest them away as with a flood] Life is compared to a stream, ever gliding away; but sometimes it is as a mighty torrent, when by reason of plague, famine, or war, thousands are swept away daily. In particular cases it is a rapid stream, when the young are suddenly carried off by consumptions, fevers, &c.; this is the flower that flourisheth in the morning, and in the evening is cut down and withered. The whole of life is like a sleep or as a dream. The eternal world is real; all here is either shadowy or representative. On the whole, life is represented as a stream; youth, as morning; decline of life, or old age, as evening; death, as sleep; and the resurrection as the return of the flowers in spring. All these images appear in these curious and striking verses, Ps 90:3-6.

Verse 7. We are consumed by thine anger] Death had not entered into the world, if men had not fallen from God.

By thy wrath are we troubled] Pain, disease, and sickness are so many proofs of our defection from original rectitude. The anger and wrath of God are moved against all sinners. Even in protracted life we consume away, and only seem to live in order to die.

"Our wasting lives grow shorter still,

As days and months increase;

And every beating pulse we tell

Leaves but the number less."