John Gill Commentary Psalms 102:11

"My days are like a shadow that declineth; And I am withered like grass." — Psalms 102:11 (ASV)

My days are like a shadow that declineth
Or, "that is stretched out" ^F19 , which, though it may appear long, is soon at an end; as it does appear longer when the sun sets ^F20 , and departs from the earth: he reckons his life not by months and years, but by days; and these he compares to a "shadow", which has no substance in it; his age being as nothing before the Lord, and has much darkness and obscurity in it; his days being days of darkness, affliction, and trouble, and quickly gone, as man's life is; there is no abiding; see (1 Chronicles 29:15) (Job 14:2) . Pindar ^F21 calls man the dream of a shadow:

and I am withered like grass ;
which in the morning is flourishing, is cut down at noon, and withered at evening: this is the case of all flesh, however beautiful and goodly it may look; it is weak, frail, and mortal; cannot stand before the force of afflictions, which quickly consume strength and beauty, and much less before the scythe of death; see (Psalms 90:5Psalms 90:6) (Isaiah 40:6–8) .

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FOOTNOTES:

• F19: (ywjn) "inclinata", Pagninus, Montanus, Piscator, Musculus, Cocceius; "extensa", Michaelis.
• F20: "Et sol crescentes decedens duplicat umbras", Virgil. Bacol. Eclog. 2.
• F21: Pyth. Ode 8.