Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 90

Dwelling place. —The Septuagint and Vulgate render this as “refuse,” possibly reading maôz instead of maôn. Some manuscripts support this reading.

However, Deuteronomy 33:17 uses the feminine form of this latter word, and the idea of a continued abode strikes the keynote of the psalm.

The short duration of each succeeding generation of people on earth is contrasted with the eternity of God and the permanence given to Israel as a race by the covenant that united them with the Eternal.

But we may extend this thought. Human history continues from generation to generation (so the Hebrew); one departs and another comes. Yet, in relation to the unchanging God, who rules over all human history, even the transient creatures of an hour may come to feel secure and at home.

Before the mountains. — This can be rendered either as,

“Before the mountains were born,
Or ever the earth and world were brought forth,”

in synonymous parallelism, or, better, in progressive,

“Before the mountains were born,
Or ever the earth and world brought forth”—

that is, before vegetation or life appeared. (Compare to Job 15:7.)

“Mountains” are a frequent symbol of antiquity, as well as of enduring strength. (Proverbs 8:25.)

The expression, “earth and the world,” may be taken as meaning the earth, as distinguished from either heaven or the sea, and the habitable globe (Septuagint, οἰκουμένη). (Compare to Proverbs 8:31.)

From everlasting to everlasting — that is, from an indefinite past to an indefinite future (literally, from hidden time to hidden).

You turn ... —Probably, we should interpret this as, You turn man to dust; and say, Turn, sons of Adam — i.e., one generation dies and another succeeds , the continuance of the race being regarded as distinctly due to Divine power, similar to the Creation, to which there is probably an allusion.

The Septuagint suggests as the true reading, “Turn not man to dust, but say rather,” etc.

A thousand years. —This verse, which, when 2 Peter was written (see New Testament Commentary), had already begun to receive an arithmetical treatment, and to be made the basis for Millennarian computations, merely contrasts the unchangeableness and eternity of the Divine existence and purpose with the vicissitudes of the brief life of man. To One who is from the infinite past to the infinite future, and Whose purpose runs through the ages, a thousand years are no more than a yesterday to man:

“And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death;”

or even as a part of the night passed in sleep:
“A thousand years, with You they are no more
Than yesterday, which, before it is, is spent.
Or, as a watch by night, that course does keep,
And goes and comes, unawares to those who sleep.”

FRANCIS BACON.

The exact rendering of the words translated in the Authorized Version, when it passeth, is doubtful. The Septuagint has, “which has passed;” and the Syriac supports this rendering. For the night watches, see Note, Psalms 63:6.

The following is suggested as the most satisfactory rendering of these verses: Time (literally, a year; but the root idea is the repetition or change of the seasons) carries them away with its flood; they are in the morning like grass sprouting; in the morning it flourishes and sprouts, in the evening it is cut down and withered.

This is obtained by taking the verb as third feminine instead of second masculine, and slightly changing the vowels of the noun rendered in the Authorized Version sleep. The confusion of the metaphor is thus avoided, and immediately on the mention of the stream of time, the image of vegetation springing into life at the first touch of rain and dying in a day—an image so natural to an inhabitant of Eastern lands—is suggested.

The verb carries away with its floods is found only here and in Psalms 77:17 (the clouds poured out water), but the cognate noun is frequent for a heavy rainfall (Isaiah 4:6 and other passages), such as in Eastern regions in a few moments causes a flood. This interpretation is partly supported by the Septuagint and Vulgate: “Their years shall be nothingness;” and many commentators have felt that the image of the stream of time was required here. For the rendering cut down, compare Job 24:24. Some prefer “fades.” The general force of the figure is the same whether we think of the generations dropping away like withered grass or cut down and dried like hay.