Psalms 102:14

My days are like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like grass. -In contrast to his own frailty, the Psalmist finds that consolation in God's abiding character which assures him that God will arise and have mercy on Zion, whose representative he is. Verse 11. MY DAYS ARE LIKE A SHADOW THAT DECLINETH - i:e., which is on the point of vanishing, as the shadows at evening (; .) Or else 'like a shadow inclined and lengthened out from the sun.' The decline of day is marked by the lengthening shadows (; , margin; ). (Muis and Gejer.) And I am with...

14._For thy servants take pleasure in her stones _To restrict this to Cyrus and Darius is altogether unsuitable. It is not at all wonderful to find the Jewish doctors hunting, with excessive eagerness, after foolish subtilties; but I am surprised that some of our modern commentators subscribe to such a poor and cold interpretation. I am aware that, in some places, the unbelieving and the wicked are called the servants of God, as in Jeremiah 25:9, because God makes use of them as instruments for executing his judgments. Nay, I admit that Cyrus is called by name God’s chosen servant, (Isaiah 44:28) but the Holy Spirit would not have bestowed so honorable a title, either on him or Darius, without some qualification. Besides, it is probable that this psalm was composed before the edict was published, which granted the people l

12-22 We are dying creatures, but God is an everlasting God, the protector of his church; we may be confident that it will not be neglected. When we consider our own vileness, our darkness and deadness, and the manifold defects in our prayers, we have cause to fear that they will not be received in heaven; but we are here assured of the contrary, for we have an Advocate with the Father, and are under grace, not under the law. Redemption is the subject of praise in the Christian church; and that great work is described by the temporal deliverance and restoration of Israel. Look down upon us, Lord Jesus; and bring us into the glorious liberty of thy children, that we may bless and praise thy name....

Verse Psalms 102:14. _THY SERVANTS TAKE PLEASURE IN HER STONES_] Though Jerusalem was at this time in a heap of ruins, yet even her rubbish was sacred in the eyes of the pious; for this had been _the_ _city of the great King_....

FOR THY SERVANTS TAKE PLEASURE IN HER STONES - Those who profess to be thy servants; thy friends. This was the “evidence” to the mind of the psalmist that God was about to visit his people, and to rebuild Jerusalem. It was an “awakened interest” among the professed people of God, leading them to manifest their love for Zion, and for all that pertained to her - a love for the very stones that lay in undistinguished heaps where the city once stood - the piles of rubbish where the walls and dwellings had once been. The people of God in their captivity began to look with strong interest on these very ruins, and with an earnest wish that from these ruins the city may again arise, and the walls be rebuilt. AND FAVOR THE DUST THEREOF - literally, pity - or, show compassion for. They no longer look with indifference on these ruins of Zion. They look with a tender heart on the very dust of those...

EXPOSITION THE "title" of this psalm is altogether peculiar, being "a Prayer for the afflicted, when he faints, and pours out his complaint before Jehovah." This is clearly a general direction for the use of the psalm by afflicted persons, either universally, or, at any rate, when in circumstances resembling those of the writer. The writer appears to have belonged to the period of the Captivity, and probably to the later portion of it (Psalms 102:13). It has been conjectured that he is Daniel; but there are no sufficient grounds for assigning the composition to any special individual. It is the voice of a representative sufferer in Babylon, mourning over his own afflictions and those of his nation. The psalm consists of three main portions: first, a complaint, prefaced by an appeal to God for aid (verses 1-11); secondly, a confident expression of an

FOR THY SERVANTS TAKE PLEASURE IN HER STONES,.... Meaning not Cyrus and Darius, who gave leave and orders for the rebuilding of the city and temple of Jerusalem, as some; nor Nehemiah, and Ezra, and others, who took more pleasure in the stones and rubbish of the temple, as it lay in ruins, than in all the stately palaces in Babylon; and who were very desirous of, and took delight in gathering these stones, and putting them together again, as others; but, the ministers of the Gospel, and other Christians, in the latter day, who will take pleasure in the great number of converts that there will then be, who, as lively stones, will be built up a spiritual house; and especially when those stones shall be laid with fair colours, and the headstone shall be brought in with acclamations, crying, Grace, grace unto it; see 1 Peter 2:5. AND FAVOUR THE DUST THEREOF; which sometimes desig

Psalms 102:1. _Hear my prayer, O LORD, and let my cry come unto thee. Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble; incline thine ear unto me: in the day when I call answer me speedily._ Sincere suppliants are not content with praying for praying's sake, they desire really to reach the ear and heart of Jehovah: «Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come unto thee.» When prayer is intensified into a cry, then the heart is even more urgent to have audience of the Lord. Psalms 102:3. For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as an hearth. My heart is smitten, and withered like grass; so that I forget to eat my bread. By reason of the voice of my groaning my bones cleave to my skin. I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the

Psalms 102 Christ the King in His Humiliation _ 1. In the place of humiliation and dependence (Psalms 102:1)_ 2. His enemies (Psalms 102:8) 3. The set time for Zion (Psalms 102:12) 4. The blessings which follow (Psalms 102:17) 5. The God-man in His work (Psalms 102:23) That this Psalm is a prophecy concerning the sufferings of Christ, His humiliation and death, and the gracious results which flow from

CII. The title, which is unique in the Psalter, describes the contents of Psalms 102:1 very well. So far the Ps. is the prayer of a man in extreme affliction. The same may be said of Psalms 102:23 and Psalms 102:24 a. But the theme which occupies the rest of the Ps. is quite different and indeed contrary. The poet turns to the eternal life of Yahweh. He has already built up Zion: His glory has appeared: not only the Jews but other peoples and kingdoms are to serve Yahweh. We may try to evade this difficulty by treating the perfect verbs as futures of prophetic certainty. Thus in Psalms 102:16 the translation would be Yahweh sh