PSALM 90: Tale of our Years (a Psalm of Moses)

Psalm 90:

For all our days are passed away in thy wrath:

we spend our years as a tale that is told.

The days of our years are threescore years and ten;

and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years,

yet is their strength labor and sorrow;

for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

So teach us to number our days,

that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

Psalm 90:9,10,12

Listen to PSALM 90

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"This psalm is the only one written by Moses and thus the oldest in the Psalter. Four key comparisons are used:

(1) A thousand years are like one day to God.

(2) A thousand years are like a watch in the night (three hours). The implication of these comparisons is simple: if a thousand years to God are like a day or a night watch, man’s life is like a vapor.

(3) Your life is like a particle swept away by a flood.

(4) Your life is like a blade of grass that sprouts, fades, withers, and dies in a day.

Moses was most qualified to speak of death, since he witnessed an entire generation perish in the wilderness.

 

The psalm seems to have been composed as the older generation of Israelites who had left Egypt were dying off in the wilderness (Num. chapter 14).

I.            The Praise of God’s Eternality (90:1-2).

Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. vs.2

II.          The Perception of Man’s Frailty (90:3-12).

For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told. vs.9

III.       The Plea for God’s Mercy (90:13-17).

O satisfy us early with thy mercy; vs.14

Title: “Moses, the man of God”: Moses the prophet (Deut. 18:15-22), was unique in that the Lord knew him “face to face” (Deut. 34:10-12). “Man of God” (Deut. 33:1), is a technical term used over 70 times in the Old Testament, always referring to one who spoke for God. It is used of Timothy in the New Testament (1 Tim. 6:11; 2 Tim. 3:17).

 
The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
vs.10
A long life or a short life, what a little difference it makes when the last hour comes! 

Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, even our secret sins. (vs.8) It was not without cause that God was angry with them.

Thou carriest them away as with a flood (vs.5) 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.

Our secret sins (vs.8) Those committed in darkness and privacy are easily discovered by thee,...Darkness is no darkness to him; wherever he comes there is a profusion of light - for God is light!

Though God turns all men to destruction, yet he will again say, Return, you children of men, (vs.3) at the general resurrection, when, though a man dies, yet he shall live again;"

And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: vs.17

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