1_O Lord! thou hast been our dwelling-place. _In separating the seed of Abraham by special privilege from the rest of the human family, the Psalmist magnifies the grace of adoption, by which God had embraced them as his children. The object which he has in view in this exordium is, that God would no... [ Continue Reading ]
2_Before the mountains were brought forth. _Moses designs to set forth some high and hidden mystery, and yet he seems to speak feebly, and, as it were, in a puerile manner. For who does not know that God existed before the world? This we grant is a truth which all men admit; but we will scarcely fin... [ Continue Reading ]
3_Thou shalt turn man to destruction. _Moses, in the first place, mentions how frail and transitory is the life of man, and bewails its miseries. This he does, not for the purpose of quarrelling with God, but as an argument to induce him the more readily to exercise his mercy, even as he is elsewher... [ Continue Reading ]
5_Thou carriest them away as with a flood. _Moses confirms what he had previously said, That men, so long as they are sojourners in this world, perform, as it were, a revolution which lasts only for a moment. I do not limit the expression to _carry away as with a flood to _calamities of a more griev... [ Continue Reading ]
7_For we fail by thy anger. _Moses makes mention of the anger of God advisedly; for it is necessary that men be touched with the feeling of this, in order to their considering in good earnest, what experience constrains them to acknowledge, how soon they finish their course and pass away. He had, ho... [ Continue Reading ]
8_Thou hast set our iniquities before thee. _To show that by this complaint he is far from intending to murmur against God, he asserts that the Divine anger, however terrible it had been, was just, inasmuch as the people had provoked it by their iniquities; for those who, when stricken by the Divine... [ Continue Reading ]
9._For all our days are passed away in thy indignation. _This might be viewed as a general confirmation of the preceding sentence, That the whole course of man’s life is suddenly brought to an end, as soon as God shows himself displeased. But in my opinion Moses rather amplifies what he has said abo... [ Continue Reading ]
10._In the days of our years there are threescore years and ten. _He again returns to the general doctrine respecting the precariousness of the condition of men, although God may not openly display his wrath to terrify them. “What,” says he, “is the duration of life? Truly, if we reckon all our year... [ Continue Reading ]
11._Who knoweth, the power of thy anger? _Moses again returns to speak of the peculiar afflictions of the Israelites; for he had also on this occasion complained before of the common frailty and miseries of mankind. He justly exclaims that the power of God’s wrath is immeasurably great. So long as G... [ Continue Reading ]
12._Teach us so to number our days. _Some translate to _the number of our days, _which gives the same sense. As Moses perceived that what he had hitherto taught is not comprehended by the understandings of men until God shine upon them by his Spirit, he now sets himself to prayer. It indeed seems at... [ Continue Reading ]
13._Return, O Jehovah! how long? _After having spoken in the language of complaint, Moses adds a prayer, That God, who had not ceased for a long time severely to punish his people, would at length be inclined to deal gently with them. Although God daily gave them in many ways some taste of his love,... [ Continue Reading ]
16_Let thy work appear towards thy servants. _As God, when he forsakes his Church, puts on as it were a character different from his own, Moses, with much propriety, calls the blessing of protection which had been divinely promised to the children of Abraham _God’s proper work. _Although, therefore,... [ Continue Reading ]