John Calvin Commentary Psalms 90:3

"Thou turnest man to destruction, And sayest, Return, ye children of men." — Psalms 90:3 (ASV)

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.