John Calvin Commentary Psalms 90

O Lord! You have been our dwelling-place. In separating the seed of Abraham by special privilege from the rest of the human family, the Psalmist magnifies the grace of adoption, by which God had embraced them as His children. The object he has in view in this introduction is that God would now renew the grace He had displayed in former times toward the holy patriarchs, and continue it toward their offspring.

Some commentators think that he alludes to the tabernacle, because in it the majesty of God was not less conspicuous than if He had dwelt in the midst of the people; but this seems to me to be altogether out of place. He rather encompasses the whole time in which the Fathers sojourned in the land of Canaan.

Since the tabernacle had not yet existed for forty years, the long duration mentioned here—our dwelling-place from generation to generation—would not be applicable to it at all. It is not intended, then, to recount what God showed Himself to be toward the Israelites from the time He delivered them from Egypt, but what their fathers had experienced Him to be in all ages, even from the beginning.

Now it is declared that as they had always been pilgrims and wanderers, so God served as their dwelling-place. No doubt, the condition of all people is unstable on earth; but we know that Abraham and his posterity were, above all others, sojourners and, as it were, exiles.

Since, then, they wandered in the land of Canaan until they were brought into Egypt, where they lived only by permission from day to day, it was necessary for them to seek a dwelling-place under the shadow of God. Without this, they could hardly be considered inhabitants of the world, since they remained strangers everywhere and were afterwards led about through many twists and turns.

The grace the Lord displayed in sustaining them in their wanderings, and shielding them with His hand when they sojourned among savage and cruel nations and were exposed to harmful treatment from them—this grace is extolled by Moses in very striking terms when he represents God as an abode or dwelling-place to these poor fugitives who were continually wandering from one place to another seeking places to stay. He magnifies this grace because of the length of time during which it had been exercised, for God never ceased to preserve and defend them for more than four hundred years, during which time they dwelt under the wings of His protection.

Before the mountains were brought forth. Moses intends to set forth some high and hidden mystery, and yet he seems to speak feebly, and, as it were, in a childish manner. For who does not know that God existed before the world? We grant this is a truth that all people admit; but we will scarcely find one in a hundred who is thoroughly persuaded that God remains unchangeably the same.

God is here contrasted with created beings, who, as all know, are subject to continual changes, so that there is nothing stable under heaven. Since, in a particular way, nothing is more full of change than human life, He is here presented in a state of settled and undisturbed tranquility, so that people may not judge the nature of God by their own fluctuating condition.

Thus the eternity of which Moses speaks relates not only to the essence of God but also to His providence, by which He governs the world. Although He subjects the world to many changes, He remains unmoved; and this is true not only in regard to Himself, but also in regard to the faithful, who find from experience that, instead of being wavering, He is steadfast in His power, truth, righteousness, and goodness, just as He has been from the beginning.

This eternal and unchangeable steadfastness of God could not be perceived before the creation of the world, since there were not yet any eyes to be witnesses of it. But it may be gathered a posteriori; for while all things are subject to revolution and constant change, His nature always remains the same.

There may also be a contrast here between Him and all the false gods of the pagans, who have, little by little, crept into the world in such vast numbers through the error and folly of people. But I have already shown the objective that Moses has in view, which is that we are mistaken if we measure God by our own understanding, and that we must rise above the earth, yes, even above heaven itself, whenever we think about Him.

Thou shalt turn man to destruction. Moses, in the first place, mentions how frail and fleeting human life is, and laments its miseries. He does this, not to quarrel with God, but as an argument to induce Him more readily to exercise His mercy, just as He is elsewhere said to pardon mortal men when He considers what they are made of, and remembers that they are but dust and grass (Psalms 103:14). He compares the course of our life to a ring or circle, because God, placing us on the earth, turns us about within a narrow circuit, and when we have reached the final point, draws us back to Himself in a moment.

Others offer a different interpretation, namely, that God leads men forth to death and afterward restores them at the resurrection. But this subtlety is far-fetched and does not harmonize with the context. We have here presented a simple definition of our life: that it is, as it were, a short revolution in which we quickly complete our circle, the last point of which is the termination of our earthly course.

This account of human life sets in a clearer light the gracious manner in which God deals with His servants, in adopting them to be His special people, so that He may eventually gather them together into His everlasting inheritance. Nor is it in vain that it is added, by way of contrast (Psalms 90:4), that a thousand years in God’s sight are as yesterday. Although we are convinced from experience that men, when they have completed their circle, are immediately taken out of the world, yet the knowledge of this frailty fails to make a deep impression upon our hearts, because we do not lift our eyes above the world.

From where does the great foolishness of men arise, who, firmly bound to the present state of existence, go about the affairs of life as if they were to live two thousand years? Is it not because they do not raise their thoughts above visible objects? Each man, when he compares himself with others, flatters himself that he will live to a great age. In short, men are so dull as to think that thirty years, or even fewer, are, as it were, an eternity; nor are they impressed with the brevity of their life as long as this world keeps possession of their thoughts.

This is why Moses awakens us by elevating our minds to the eternity of God, without considering which we do not perceive how speedily our life vanishes. The imagination that we shall have a long life resembles a profound sleep in which we are all numbed, until meditation on the heavenly life swallows up this foolish notion about the length of our time on earth.

Since men are thus blinded, Moses sets God before their view as their judge. O Lord! as if he had said, if men would properly reflect on that eternity from which You behold these inconstant circlings of the world, they would not place so much importance on the present life.

But since, instead of seriously considering what true duration is, they rather willfully turn their eyes away from heaven, this explains why they are so foolish and look upon one day as if it were a hundred years. Moses’ apostrophe to God is emphatic, implying that, his patience exhausted at seeing us so thoughtless, he addresses himself to God. It suggests that it was futile labor for him to speak to the deaf, who would not be taught that they were mortal, not even by the proofs of this which experience was constantly presenting before them.

This text is quoted by the Apostle Peter in a somewhat different sense (2 Peter 3:8), while at the same time he does not distort it, for he aptly and judiciously applies the testimony of Moses to illustrate the subject he is treating there. The design of Moses is to elevate the minds of men to heaven by withdrawing them from their own crude conceptions.

And what is Peter’s purpose? Since many, because Christ does not hasten His coming according to their desire, abandon the hope of the resurrection through weariness from long delay, Peter corrects this preposterous impatience with a very suitable remedy. He perceives men’s faith in the divine promises fainting and failing because they think Christ delays His coming too long.

From where does this arise, if not because they grovel on the earth? Peter therefore appropriately applies these words of Moses to cure this vice. Just as the indulgence in pleasures to which unbelievers yield can be traced to their hearts being too set upon the world, so that they do not taste the pleasures of a celestial eternity, so impatience proceeds from the same source.

Thus we learn the true use of this doctrine. Why is it that we have such great anxiety about our life, that nothing is enough for us, and that we are continually troubling ourselves? Is it not because we foolishly imagine that we shall nestle in this world forever? Again, to what are we to ascribe that extreme fretfulness and impatience, which make our hearts fail in waiting for the coming of Christ, if not to their groveling on the earth?

Let us learn then not to judge according to the understanding of the flesh, but to depend on the judgment of God. Let us elevate our minds by faith, even to His heavenly throne, from which He declares that this earthly life is nothing. Nor does Moses simply contrast a thousand years with one day, but he contrasts them with yesterday, which is already gone; for whatever is still before our eyes has a hold on our minds, but we are less affected by the recollection of what is past.

Regarding the word "watch," the ancients, as is well known, were accustomed to divide the night into four watches, each consisting of three hours. To express still more forcibly how insignificant what appears to us a long period is in God’s eyes, this comparison is added: that a thousand years in His sight are no different from three hours of the night, in which men scarcely know whether they are awake or asleep.

Thou carriest them away as with a flood. Moses confirms what he had previously said: that as long as men are sojourners in this world, they complete, as it were, a cycle that lasts only for a moment.

I do not limit the expression carry away as with a flood to calamities of a more grievous kind. Instead, I consider that death is simply compared in general to a flood, for when we have stayed a little while in the world, we at once fall into the grave and are covered with earth.

Thus death, which is common to all, is rightly called an inundation. While we are breathing the breath of life, the Lord overwhelms us with death, just as those who perish in a shipwreck are engulfed by the ocean, so that death may be aptly called an invisible deluge.

And Moses affirms that it is then clearly seen that men who flatter themselves that they possess wonderful vigor in their earthly course are merely like sleep. The added comparison to grass amounts to this: that men spring forth in the morning as grass springs up; they flourish or pass away within a short time, and when cut down, they wither and decay.

The verbs in verse 6 being singular, it is better to connect them with the word grass. However, they may also be appropriately referred to each man. Since it makes little difference to the sense of the text whether we make grass or each man the nominative to the verbs, I am not disposed to spend much effort on the matter.

This doctrine requires continual meditation. For although we all confess that nothing is more transitory than our life, yet each of us is soon carried away, as it were, by a frantic impulse to picture for himself an earthly immortality.

Whoever keeps in mind that he is mortal restrains himself, so that instead of having his attention and affections excessively preoccupied with earthly objects, he may hasten toward his goal. When we set no limit to our cares, we need to be urged forward by continual prodding, so that we may not dream of a thousand lives instead of one, which is merely like a shadow that quickly vanishes away.

For we fail by thy anger. Moses deliberately mentions God's anger, for it is necessary for people to be deeply affected by this, so that they will seriously consider what experience compels them to acknowledge: how quickly they finish their course and pass away.

He had, however, still another reason for connecting the brevity of human life with God's anger. While people are by nature so transitory and, as it were, shadowy, the Israelites were afflicted by God's hostile hand; and His anger is less bearable for our frail natures, which quickly vanish away, than it would be if we possessed some reasonable degree of strength.