Psalms 144:4

Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away. MAN IS LIKE TO VANITY (HEBREW, hebel (H1892 ), A VAPOUR): HIS DAYS ARE AS A SHADOW THAT PASSETH AWAY - (Psalms 62:9; Psalms 39:5; Psalms 102:11; Psalms 103:15.) There is nothing in frail and dying man to merit the favour of one so glorious and infinitely great as is Yahweh....

1-8 When men become eminent for things as to which they have had few advantages, they should be more deeply sensible that God has been their Teacher. Happy those to whom the Lord gives that noblest victory, conquest and dominion over their own spirits. A prayer for further mercy is fitly begun with a thanksgiving for former mercy. There was a special power of God, inclining the people of Israel to be subject to David; it was typical of the bringing souls into subjection to the Lord Jesus. Man's days have little substance, considering how many thoughts and cares of a never-dying soul are employed about a poor dying body. Man's life is as a shadow that passes away. In their highest earthly exaltation, believers will recollect how mean, sinful, and vile they are in themselves; thus they will be preserved from self-importance and presumption. God's time to help his people is, when they are s...

Verse Psalms 144:4. _MAN IS LIKE TO VANITY_] אדם להבל דמה _Adam lahebel damah_, literally, _Adam is like to Abel_, exposed to the same miseries, accidents, and murderers; for in millions of cases the hands of brothers are lifted up to shed the blood of brothers. What are wars but fratricide in the great human family? _HIS DAYS_ ARE _AS A SHADOW_] The life of _Abel_ was promissory of much blessedness; but it afforded merely the _shadow_ of _happiness_. He was pure and holy, beloved of his parents, and beloved of God; but, becoming the object of his brother's envy, his life became a sacrifice to his piety....

MAN IS LIKE TO VANITY - See the notes at Psalms 39:5; Psalms 62:9. The idea here is, that man can be compared only with that which is utterly vain - which is emptiness - which is nothing. HIS DAYS ARE AS A SHADOW THAT PASSETH AWAY - See the notes at Psalms 102:11 : “My days are like a shadow that declineth.” The idea is essentially the same. It is, that as a shadow has no substance, and that as it moves along constantly as the sun declines, until it vanishes altogether, so man has nothing substantial or permanent, and so he is constantly moving off and will soon wholly disappear....

EXPOSITION A PSALM in which praise and prayer are commingled. Almost certainly Davidic: 1. From the title. 2. From the style. 3. From the way in which David is mentioned in Psalms 144:10 (comp. Psalms 61:6; Psalms 63:11; and especially Psalms 18:50). PSALMS 144:1 BLESSED BE THE LORD MY STRENGTH; or, "my rock" (comp. Psalms 18:2

MAN IS LIKE TO VANITY,.... Is vanity itself, in every age, state, and condition; yea, in his best estate, Psalms 39:5; or, "to the breath" h of the mouth, as Kimchi; which is gone as soon as seen almost: or, to a vapour i; to which the life of man is compared, James 4:14; HIS DAYS [ARE] AS A SHADOW THAT PASSETH AWAY; as the former denotes the frailty and mortality of man, this the shortness of his duration; his days fleeing away, and of no more continuance than the shadow cast by the sun, which presently declines and is gone. h להבל "halitui", Muis; so Kimchi. i "Vapori", Cocceius; so the Syriac and Arabic versions...

A Psalm of David. No doubt written after some great victory, and also before another severe struggle. The Christian man seldom escapes from one difficulty without falling into another. Thanks be unto God, he that is with us in six troubles will not forsake us in the seventh! Psalms 144:1. _Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hand to war, and my fingers to fight:_ David does not ascribe any honour to himself. Human strength is from within, from the nerves, and sinews, and muscles, but the believer's strength is from without: «Blessed be Jehovah my strength.» Now, if Jehovah be our strength, then nothing can be too difficult for us, for he whose strength is the omnipotence of God can do all things. «Which teacheth my hands to war:» just as the young soldier was, as it were, bound apprentice to the old warrior, went out to learn the drill, and afterwards w

PSALM 143-145 In Psalms 143:1 the enemy is mentioned again, the enemy who pursued David. “For the enemy has persecuted my soul; he has smitten my life down to the ground; he has made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have long been dead.” How this again reminds us of the death experience of the pious remnant when the man of sin, the Antichrist will rule in Israel's land. Prayer for deliverance follows. Hear me speedily--Hide not Thy face from me--Cause me to hear Thy lovingkindness--Deliver me, O LORD, from mine enemies, I flee unto Thee to hide me! The next Psalm riseth higher. Faith lays hold on God. Israel, as David did, will look in faith to Him who has the power to deliver His trusting ones. “My Goodness, and my Fortress; my high tower and my deliverer; my shield and He in whom I trust; who subdueth the peoples under me” (literal translation). They acknowledge before

CXLIV. Ascribed by LXX and also by T. to David against Goliath, but without any shadow of reason. Psalms 144:1 is really a mosaic chiefly taken from Psalms 18, but also from Psalms 8, 33, 104. It is a song of anticipated triumph. The Psalmist is in conflict with foreign enemies (strangers (Psalms 144:7) can only mean foreigners). God teaches his fingers to fight, for it is the fingers which grasp the bow and subdue peoples (not my people) under him. He prays that a display in storm and lightning may discomfit his foes. They can be bound by no treaty, for the right hand (Psalms 144:8), which is raised in taking an oath, is false and treacherous. But the Psalmist's triumph is secure. David ...

MAN. Hebrew. _'adam._ App-14....