Davids Harp Strung and Tuned, Book 4 · Psalm 90
PSAL. XC. foreign.
THE inſcription makes Moſes to be the Author of this Pſalm, and becauſe here is mention made in it of the Mortality of man, the fragility of his nature, and the brevity and miſery of his life, which proceeded from the wrath of God, moved to cut off his life, and puniſh him while he lives, for his iniquity, conceiv'd it is, that Moſes compoſed it upon ſome notable diſobedience and rebellion of Iſrael, while they were in the Wilderneſs, for which God brought upon them an exemplary vengeance, whether that of Corah, Dathan, or Abiram, or the plague that conſumed them for making the golden Calf, or as the common opinion is, for their murmuring upon the return, and report of the Spies, Numb. 14. For which God ſent a plague among them: or elſe when God ſmote the people with a very great plague at Kibroth Hattaavah, Numb. 11. Which of theſe it was, is uncertain. One of theſe is ſuppoſed to be the occaſion of the compoſition, and that which moved God to indignation, which Moſes deprecates in the end, and prayes to God to return, and ſhew favour to his people.
There be four parts of this Pſalm.
1. An ingenious acknowledgment of Gods protection of them, ver. 1, 2.
2. A lively Narration of the mortality of man, his fragility and brevity of his life, together with the miſery of it, from ver. 2. to 7.
3. The cauſes, mans rebellion, and Gods anger for it, from ver. 7. to 12.
4. A Petition, which is double; 1. That God would inſtruct man to know his fragility; 2. That he would return, and reſtore him to his favour, from ver. 12. to 17.
1. The firſt part. An acknowledgment of Gods protection to his people.In the beginning Moſes the man of God freely acknowledgeth what God had alwayes been unto his people.
2. What he is in himſelf, and his own nature.
1. To his people he had been alwayes a refuge, as it were, a dwelling place, though they had been Pilgrims and Sojourners in a ſtrange land for many years, Ver. 1 yet he had been, nay dwelt among them; and no queſtion he alludes to the Tabernacle of God that was pitched among them, as an evidence of preſence and protection: Lord, Thou haſt been our dwelling place, a ſecure place to reſt in, in all Generations, Deutr. 33. from 1. to 6.
2. 2And in himſelf from everlaſting.But in himſelf he was from everlaſting; other creatures had a beginning, and their Creation and Ornaments from him, he the eternal being: Before the Mountains were brought forth, Ver. 2 or ever thou hadſt formed the earth, and the world, Not like man.even from everlaſting to everlaſting, Thou art God: Not like man then, whoſe mutability, fragility, mortality, brevity, he next deſcribes.
2. The ſecond part. Who is from duſt, and to duſt muſt return.Thou turneſt man to deſtruction; though framed according to thy own image, yet he is but an earthen veſſel, & rid gis mortalem eo uſ que ut ſit contritus; to that paſs thou bringeſt him, till he be broken to pieces, broken as a potters veſſel: To him thou ſayeſt, Return ye children of men of Adam, return; for duſt thou art, Ver. 3 and to duſt ſhalt thou return. The mortality of man may not be then attributed to diſeaſes, Man is then mortal, and his life ſhort as a day.chance, fortune, &c. but to Gods Decree, pronounced to man upon his diſobedience.
Firſt then, let the ſons of Adam remember, that they are mortal; next, that their life is but very ſhort; ſuppoſe a man ſhould live the longeſt life, and ſomewhat longer than the oldeſt Patriarch, a thouſand years, yet let it be compared with eternity, Ver. 4 it is as nothing: A thouſand years in thy ſight, are but as yeſterday when it is paſt: Like aBut as of a day, which is ſhort, of a day that is paſt and forgotten; which the Prophet farther illuſtrates by elegant ſimilitudes.
1. 1Watch.And as a watch in the night: A time of three houres continuance, which is but the eighth part of a natural day, and ſo far leſs than he ſaid before; the flower of our youth, our conſtant age, and our old age may well be the three houres of this watch, and wiſe they are that obſerve their ſtations in either of them.
2. 2A flood.Thou carrieſt them away, as with a flood; as a ſudden inundation of waters our life paſſeth, Ver. 5 we ſwell and fall; or as all waters come from the Sea, and return thither, ſo from the earth we came, and thither return; or we are as water ſpilt on the earth, that cannot be gathered up again.
3. 3A ſleep, or dream.They are as a ſleep, or rather a dream; all our happineſs a dream of felicity; in our dreams, many pleaſant, many fearful things are preſented; ſo in life, or we paſs half our time in ſleep, drowſily 'tis certain; there be ſome men that are filthy dreamers; our life, foreign, Pindar.
4. 4Graſs.Or we are like graſs: Quaſi herba ſolſtitialis paulisper fui, repentè exortus ſum, repentè occidi. In the morning they are like graſs, that groweth up; in the morning it flouriſheth and groweth up, in the evening it is cut down, and withereth: The herb hath its morning and evening, The cauſes of it.and its midday, and ſo hath our life; naturally it fades, or violently it is cut off.
3. After he had ſpoken of, and explained our mortality, the brevity, The third part. 1. Gods anger.the miſery of our life, he next deſcends to examine the cauſes of it, which are two: 1. Gods anger; 2. And that which brought it upon us, our own iniquities. Ver. 7
1. Gods anger: We conſume away by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled: The cauſe then of death and diſeaſes, is not the decay of the radical moyſture, or defect of natural heat, but that which brought theſe defects upon us, Gods wrath.
2. Our own ſin: For this anger of God was not raiſed without a juſt cauſe; 2Our ſin that cauſed it.a juſt Judge he is, and he proceeds not to puniſhment, but upon due examination and trial, and to that end he takes an account, not only of our open ſins, but even of our ſecret faults, ſuch as are not known to our ſelves, or ſuch as we labour to conceal from others.
1. Thou haſt ſet our iniquities before thee.
2. And our ſecret ſins in the light of thy countenance: No hypocriſie, He repeats again the effects.no contempt can eſcape thy eye, all to thee is revealed, and clear as the light.
3. And then he repeats the effect, together with the cauſe: Therefore all our dayes, viz. the forty years in the Wilderneſs, are paſſed away in thy wrath. 2. We ſpend our dayes, as a tale that is told; Et fabuſa fies, the tale ended, vaniſheth, and is no more thought of, & foreign.
4. And as for our age it is of no great length: The dayes of our years are threeſcore years and ten: To that time ſome men may be ſaid to live, becauſe the faculties of their ſouls are tolerably vigorous, and their bodies proportionably able to execute the offices of life: 2. Our life encumbred with,But ſay now it ſo happen, which happens not to many, That by reaſon of strength, ſome excellent natural conſtitution, a man arrive to fourſcore years; yet our life is incumbred with theſe three inconveniences; labour, ſorrow, brevity.
1. 'Tis laborious, nay, labour it ſelf; one is deſirous to be rich, 1Labour.another wiſe, this man potent, that man prudent, or at leaſt to ſeem ſo, and this will not be without labour, all is affliction of ſpirit.
2. Sorrow; for foreign.2Sorrow.
3. Short: For it is ſoon cut off, and we flie away: Avolat umbra.3Brevity.
Thus much by experience there is no man but knows to be true, every man feels that his life is laborious, ſorrowful, ſhort, and upon the wing; but ſuch is the ſecurity of man, that this is not well thought, nor the nature of our life, nor the cauſe, viz. Gods anger for ſin is not laid to heart; This yet not conſidered.and of this the Prophet in the next verſe ſadly complains, Who knows the power of thy anger? Thy anger is great for ſin, the power of it fearful and terrible; Thou canſt, and wilt bring man to judgment; Thou canſt, and wilt caſt ſinners into Hell-fire, but who regards it? Thy threats to men ſeem to be aniles fabulae. 2. Even according to thy fear, ſo is thy wrath: But be it that this ſtupidity poſſeſs men, yet this is certain, that thy wrath is great, and it ſhall be executed according to thy fear, And thereforein ſuch proportion as men have ſtood in fear of thee; they that have in a reverential fear ſtood in awe of thee ſhall eſcape it; they that have contemned and ſlighted thy wrath, ſhall feel it to the uttermoſt.The fourth part. He prayes that God would move our hearts to conſider it.
4. Upon all the former conſiderations, Moſes converts his words to a prayer, in which he implores Gods mercy, that he would turn the ſtupidity of men into wiſdom: 2. Our calamity into felicity: 3. His wrath into compaſſion; and, 4. Our ſorrow into joy; for the firſt he begins thus:
1. So teach us to number our dayes; to caſt up the labour, the ſorrow, the brevity, the fugacity; thy anger, our ſin, that cauſed it.
2. That we may apply our hearts to wiſdom; be no more ſtupid and ſecure, but wiſe; wiſe to avoid thy anger, wiſe to ſet a true eſtimate on this life, and wiſe in time to provide for another.
3. So teach us; for God muſt teach it, or it will not be learned, this wiſdom comes from above.
Secondly, He deprecates Gods anger; Return, O Lord, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy ſervants.Then he deprecates Gods anger: And
Thirdly, He begs reſtitution to Gods favour, and what will follow upon it, peace of conſcience.
1. Begs reſtitution to Gods favour for himſelf and Gods people.O ſatisfie us with thy mercy; we hunger for it, as men do for meat.
2. Early let it be done, quickly, before our ſorrows grow too high, and overwhelm us.
3. With thy mercy, not with wealth, delights, &c.
4. And with a perpetual joy of heart; That we may be glad, and rejoyce all our dayes.
5. And let our joy bear proportion to our ſorrows; Make us glad according to the dayes thou hast afflicted us, and the years we have ſeen evil.
6. This is the work he calls Gods work, for as to puniſh is his ſtrange work, Iſa. 28. ſo to have pity and mercy, is his own proper work, and this he deſires, that it ſhould be made manifeſt: Let thy work appear to thy ſervants, and thy glory to their children.
Fourthly, He begs for ſucceſs in all their work and labours.
1. 2And ſucceſs in their laboursLet the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us; for no action of our's is beautiful, except the beauty of God be ſtamped upon it, done by his Direction, his Rule, his Word, and to his Glory.
2. And therefore he prayes, and ingeminates his prayer: Eſtabliſh thou the work of our hands upon us, How many things required to make our labours ſucceſsful.yea, the work of our hands eſtabliſh thou it: There muſt be opus, our work; for God bleſſeth not the idle: 2. And opus manuum, a laborious work: 3. Gods direction, his Word the Rule: 4. A good end in it, for that is his beauty upon it: 5. So it will be eſtabliſhed, confirmed, ratified: 6. And laſtly, know that there is no bleſſing to be expected without prayer; and therefore he prayes, Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, &c.
The Prayer out of the ninety Pſalm.
O Lord, Ver. 1 whoſe being is eternal, and beginning without beginning, who alone art what thou art, and wilt be the ſame for ever; we mutable creatures of a ſhort life, and full of miſeries, adore thy eternity, and humbly béſéech thy Majeſty, that thou wouldſt be to us, who acknowledge thée to be God alone, and flie unto thée alone for help, that thou wouldſt be unto us, what thou haſt béen to thy people in all Generations, our Sanctuary, our dwelling place, our refuge in this néedful time of trouble.
Man, of all thy creatures here below, is moſt glorious; but his glory thou turneſt to ſhame: Thou madeſt him little lower than the Angels, to crown him with glory and worſhip; but before he can attain that Crown, that honour, Thou turneſt him to deſtruction: Thou haſt ſaid it, and by the power of this Decrée, from duſt he was taken, and to duſt muſt he return. Say his dayes were a thouſand years, to which yet no man hath attained, yet were they as nothing, compared with eternity, they were in thy ſight but as yeſterday; a time that is paſt, and comes not again; but what ſpeak I of a day? it is far ſhorter, it is but as a watch in the night, a time of thrée houres continuance, involved in darkneſs, clouded with ignorance, diſcomfortable with miſeries in his youth, in his ſtrength, in his old age: Thou carrieſt us away as with a flood, a violent torrent, whoſe ſtreams quickly ariſe, and quickly fall; all our happineſs is but as a ſléep, or as a dream in ſléep, we dream our ſelves to be happy men, but when we awake, we find nothing. In the morning of our age, we are like graſs, by thy light and heat of thy favour, is it were the Sa…dme, we come up, and grow, and increaſe to a perfect ſtature; but when the evening of our life, whether haſtned by diſeaſes, or brought on by time, doth approach, cut down we are by thy hand, and inſtantly we wither.
This is our condition, this our miſery; a conſumption we have brought upon our ſelves, and it procéeds from thine anger, in it we are conſumed, and by thy wrath we are troubled; for we have provoked thée by our iniquitie…, which, though unknown to us, yet are known to thée; theſe, Thou haſt let before thin… eyes, yea, and the moſt ſecret of our ſins, paſt or preſent, in the light of thy countenance. Hence it is, That our dayes are paſſed away in thy wrath, and we ſpend our years as a Tale that is told; which being brought to an end, vaniſheth, and no more words made of it.
Many of our fore-fathers indéed were of a long life, but our dayes are contracted, thréeſcore and ten with us is a long time; and if any among us be ſo vigorous, that he attain to fourſcore, yet his ſtrength then is accompanied with labour, and attended with much ſorrow, and at the end of that length, ſoon cut off, and we flie away. This effect and experience we daily have of thy wrath and diſpleaſure, and yet what man is there amongſt us that regards it? nor the labour, nor ſorrow, nor brevity, nor fugacity of our lives is ſufficient to make us wiſe. Some few there be that lay it to heart, and by it eſcape the wrath to come; but the greateſt part of men paſs their dayes without a due conſideration of thy fear, and therefore thy wrath unexpectedly overtakes them to their eternal ruine.
Teach us therefore, O Lord, ſo to number our dayes, that we may apply our hearts to wiſdom; being taught by thée, let us caſt up the account of our lives to be ſhort and fading, that the total is labour and ſorrow; make us wiſe to falvation upon this account, and laying to heart, that theſe ou…eries have overtaken us by thy wrath, and thy wrath provoked by our ſin; make us ſo to fear thy wrath here, that we be no object of thy wrath hereafter.
O Lord, in mercy return to us, receive us once more to thy former favour: How long Lord, how long ſhall thy fury ſmoak againſt the ſhéep of thy paſture? ſhall thy jealouſle burn like fire for ever? Let it repent thee concerning thy ſervants; and let not thy Spirit alwayes ſtrive with man, for he is but fleſh, weak and ſinful fleſh, who muſt periſh at thy wrathful indignation; adert therefore thy juſt anger from us, and ſatisfie our fainting and hungry ſouls with thy marcy; early do it, defer us not, leſt we pine to nothing, make the bones which thou haſt broken to rejoyce; and in our joy, let us magnifie thy Name, and be glad all the dayes of our life. Many are the dayes that we have ſuffered under thy hand, make us glad according to the dayes wherein thou haſt afflicted us: Many are the years in which we have ſéen evil, return as good according to the number of thoſe years; it is thy own proper work to have pity and mercy, let this thy work appear unto thy ſervants, and manifeſt thy glory unto their children; be a guide to us, and a leader to our poſterity, that all that we and they take in hand, may ſuccéed proſperouſly, and be bleſſed with a happy iſſue.
No action of our's can be beautiful, except the beauty of the Lord our God be upon it; idle we may not be, for God bleſſeth not the idle; work we may, but except it be by thy direction, it will not pleaſe; bring we may our work to an end, but except thou bleſs it, it will never be eſtabliſhed: We therefore humbly beſéech thée to put thy beauty upon us, and all we undertake; let us take our directions from thy Word, and make thy glory our end in all we do, ſo we may expect ſucceſs, proſperity, and eſtabliſhment; ſo much happineſs in what we do here, that it may be a way to promote us to eternal happineſs in the life to come; which we beg of thée to beſtow upon us, for the merits of our Lord and Saviour, Ieſus Chriſt.