Psalms 90:6

In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth. IN THE MORNING IT FLOURISHETH, AND GROWETH UP; IN THE EVENING IT IS CUT DOWN, AND WITHERETH. The contrast is between the morning state of the grass and the evening state. The "it" is the figurative grass - i:e., man (; Psalms 103:15)....

1-6 It is supposed that this psalm refers to the sentence passed on Israel in the wilderness, Psalms 90:14. The favour and protection of God are the only sure rest and comfort of the soul in this evil world. Christ Jesus is the refuge and dwelling-place to which we may repair. We are dying creatures, all our comforts in the world are dying comforts, but God is an ever-living God, and believers find him so. When God, by sickness, or other afflictions, turns men to destruction, he thereby calls men to return unto him to repent of their sins, and live a new life. A thousand years are nothing to God's eternity: between a minute and a million of years there is some proportion; between time and eternity there is none. All the events of a thousand years, whether past or to come, are more present to the Eternal Mind, than what was done in the last hour is to us. And in the resurrection, the bod...

IN THE MORNING IT FLOURISHETH - This does not mean that it grows with any special vigor or rapidity in the morning, as if that were illustrative of the rapid growth of the young; but merely that, in fact, in the morning it is green and vigorous, and is cut down in the short course of a day, or before evening. The reference here is to grass as an emblem of man. AND GROWETH UP - The same word in the Hebrew which is used in the close of the previous verse. IN THE EVENING IT IS CUT DOWN, AND WITHERETH - In the short period of a day. What was so green and flourishing in the morning, is, at the close of the day, dried up. Life has been arrested, and death, with its consequences, has ensued. So with man. How often is this literally true, that those who are strong, healthy, vigorous, hopeful, in the morning, are at night pale, cold, and speechless in death! How striki

EXPOSITION THE ascription of this psalm in the title to Moses must be admitted to be very remarkable. No other psalm is so ascribed. Nor indeed is a date given to any other earlier than the time of David. The psalm itself, however, when examined, is found to accord with the traditional date. Professor Cheyne notes in it a "roughness," which is presumably a sign of antiquity. Ewald says of it, "The poem has in it something uncommonly striking, solemn, sinking into the depth of the Godhead. In contents and language it is throughout original and powerful; and, as it is undoubtedly very old, it would have been universally considered as correctly derived from Moses, had we known exactly the reasons which guided the collector." Hengstenberg, Kay, professor Alexander, and Dean Johnson accept unhesitatingly the Mosaic authorship. The psalm is termed, "A Prayer of Moses, the man of God." It is,...

IN THE MORNING IT FLOURISHETH AND GROWETH UP,.... That is, the grass, through the dew that lay all night on it, and by the clear shining of the sun after rain, when it appears in great beauty and verdure; so man in the morning of his youth looks gay and beautiful, grows in the stature and strength of his body, and in the endowments of his mind; and it may be also in riches and wealth; it is well if he grows in grace, and in the knowledge of Christ: IN THE EVENING IT IS CUT DOWN, AND WITHERETH; the Targum adds, "through heat"; but it cannot be by the heat of the sun, when it is cut down at evening; but it withers in course, being cut down. This respects the latter part of life, the evening of old age; and the whole expresses the shortness of life, which is compared to grass, that now is in all its beauty and glory, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, Matthew 6:30. This meta

A Prayer of Moses the man of God. It may help us to understand this Psalm if we recollect the circumstances which surrounded Moses when he was in the desert. For forty years, he had to see a whole generation of people die in the wilderness. In addition to the deaths which might occur among those who were born in the wilderness, the whole of that great host which came out of Egypt, numbering, probably, between two and three millions of persons, must lie in their graves in the desert, so that there must have been constant funerals, and the march of the children of Israel could be perceived along the desert track by the graves which they left behind them. You do not wonder, therefore, at this expression of the awe of «Moses the man of God» as he was so continually reminded of the mortality of mankind, and you note how reverently and trustfully he turns to the ever-living and eternal God, an...

IV. THE NUMBERS SECTION: BOOK FOUR: PSALM 90-106 The Ninetieth Psalm begins the fourth book of Psalms, corresponding in different ways with the book of Numbers. It opens with the only Psalm written by Moses in the wilderness when the people were dying on account of unbelief, and is followed by a Psalm which shows the second Man, the Lord as the head of a new creation. In this book are found numerous millennial Psalms, showing us prophetically when under Christ, in the day when all things are put under His feet, the wilderness experiences of His people end, glory comes to Israel, the nations and all the earth. Psalms 90:1 ; Psalms 91:1; Psalms 92:1;...

BOOK IV. PSS. XC.- CVI. XC. Man's Mortality and his Refuge in the Ever-living God. Psalms 90:1. The nothingness of man's life, the eternity of God's life. Psalms 90:7. It is the sinfulness of man which makes his life so short. Psalms 90:11 f. Man's lot should teach him reverence and wisdom. Psalms 90:13. Prayer for God's blessing in the future. PSALMS 90:1. DWELLING-PLACE: the thought is beautiful but irrelevant. The Psalmist is speaking of God's eternity, not of His dealing with Israel. Mo

The Psalmist's confession that God is Israel's refuge; that He alone is the Eternal; that He is the sovereign Disposer of human life....

THE PSALMS BOOK THE FOURTH[264] [264] See Table II., _ante._ PSALMS 90 DESCRIPTIVE TITLE A Prayer Against the Dominion of Death. ANALYSIS Stanza I., Psalms 90:1-2, A Foundation for Prayer, sought in the Proved Kindness and Abiding Might of the Sovereign Lord. Stanza II., Psalms 90:3-4, The Theme of the Psalm: a Two-fold Return. Stanza III., Psalms 90:5-12, The Dominion of Death; described mainly in its Divine Appointment, and its Origin in Human Sin and Divine Displeasure; and calling forth a Transitional Prayer for Divine Guidance, How to Number our Days. Stanza IV.,...