John Calvin Commentary Psalms 39:4

"Jehovah, make me to know mine end, And the measure of my days, what it is; Let me know how frail I am." — Psalms 39:4 (ASV)

O Jehovah! cause me to know my end. It appears from this that David was carried away by an improper and sinful excess of passion, since he finds fault with God. This will appear even more clearly from the following verses. It is true, indeed, that in what follows he introduces pious and fitting prayers, but here he complains that, being a mortal man whose life is frail and transitory, he is not treated more mildly by God.

The discourses of Job are almost full of this and similar complaints. It is, therefore, not without anger and resentment that David speaks in this manner: “O God, since you are acting with so much severity toward me, at least let me know how long you have appointed me to live.”

“But if it is so that my life is but a moment, why then do you act with such great rigour? And why do you accumulate upon my head such a load of miseries, as if I still had many ages to live? What does it profit me to have been born, if I must pass the period of my existence, which is so brief, in misery, and oppressed with a continual succession of calamities?”

Accordingly, this verse should be read in connection with the following one: Behold, thou hast made my days as a hand-breadth. A hand-breadth is the measure of four fingers and is here taken for a very small measure; as if it had been said, the life of man flies swiftly away, and the end of it, as it were, touches the beginning.

Hence the Psalmist concludes that all men are only vanity before God. As to the meaning of the words, he does not ask that the brevity of human life should be shown to him, as if he did not know it. There is in this language a kind of irony, as if he had said, “Let us count the number of the years which still remain to me on earth, and will they be a sufficient recompense for the miseries which I endure?”

Some render the word חדל, chedel, as mundane; and others as temporal, that is to say, that which endures only for a time. But the latter rendering is not appropriate in this place: for David does not yet expressly declare the shortness of his life but continues to speak on that subject ambiguously.

If the word mundane is adopted, the sense will be, “Show me whether you will prolong my life to the end of the world.” But in my judgment, the translation I have followed is much more appropriate; and, besides, there may have been a transposition of the letters ד, daleth, and ל, lamed, making the word chedel for cheled. It may, however, very properly be taken for an age or period of life.

When he says that his age is, as it were, nothing before God, in order to move God all the more to pity and compassion, he appeals to him as a witness of his frailty, intimating that it is not unknown to him how transitory and passing the life of man is.

The expression, wholly or altogether vanity, implies that among the whole human race there is nothing but vanity. He declares this of men, even while they are standing; that is to say, when, being in the prime and vigor of life, they wish to be esteemed and seem to themselves to be men possessed of considerable influence and power.

It was the pangs of sorrow that forced David to give utterance to these complaints; but it is to be observed that it is chiefly when men are severely oppressed by adversity that they are made to feel their nothingness in the sight of God. Prosperity so intoxicates them that, forgetful of their condition and sunk in insensibility, they dream of an immortal state on earth.

It is very profitable for us to know our own frailty, but we must be careful that, on account of it, we do not fall into such a state of sorrow as may lead us to murmur and repine. David speaks truly and wisely in declaring that man, even when he seems to have risen to the highest state of greatness, is only like the bubble that rises on the water, blown up by the wind; but he is at fault when he uses this as an occasion to complain of God.

Let us, therefore, so feel the misery of our present condition that, however cast down and afflicted, we may, as humble suppliants, lift up our eyes to God and implore his mercy. This we find David does shortly after, having corrected himself; for he does not continue to indulge in rash and inconsiderate lamentations, but lifting up his soul in the exercise of faith, he attains heavenly consolation.