Psalms 90:4

The precise connexion of the thought is obscure. Some commentators connect Psalms 90:4 with Psalms 90:2, treating Psalms 90:3 as a parenthesis. -Thou art eternal, for lapse of time makes no difference to Thee." But it seems preferable to connect Psalms 90:4 directly with Psalms 90:3. -Thou sweepest away one generation after another, for the longest span of human life is but a day in Thy sight: though a man should outlive the years of Methuselah, it is as nothing in comparison with eternity."

when it is past Strictly, when it is on the point of passing away. A whole millennium to God, as He reviews it, is but as the past day when it draws towards its close, a brief space with all its events still present and familiar to the mind. Cp. 2 Peter 3:8, where the converse truth is also affirmed; Sir 18:10.

andas a watch in the night A climax. Said I like the past day? Nay, time no more exists for God than it does for the unconscious sleeper. The Israelites divided the night into three watches (Lamentations 2:19; Judges 7:19; 1 Samuel 11:11). The division into four watches mentioned in the N.T. was of Roman origin.

How could the profound truth that time has no existence to the Divine mind be more simply and intelligibly expressed? To God there is no before and after; no past and future; all is present. To Him -was, and is, and will be, are but is." It is only the weakness of the finite creature that -shapes the shadow, Time."