Psalm 39:5 Kommentar

David seems to have been in a great strait when he penned this psalm, and, upon some account or other, very uneasy; for it is with some difficulty that he conquers his passion, and composes his spirit himself to take that good counsel which he had given to others (37) to rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him, without fretting; for it is easier to give the good advice than to give the good example of quietness under affliction. What was the particular trouble which gave occasion for the conflict David was now in does not appear. Perhaps it was the death of some dear friend or relation that was the trial of his patience, and that suggested to him these meditations of morality; and at the same time, it should seem too, he himself was weak and ill, and under some prevailing distemper. His enemies likewise were seeking advantages against him, and watched for his halting, that they might have something to reproach him for. Thus aggrieved, I. He relates the struggle that was in his breast between grace and corruption, between passion and patience (Psa 39:1-3). II. He meditates upon the doctrine of man's frailty and mortality, and prays to God to instruct him in it (Psa 39:4-6). III. He applies to God for the pardon of his sons, the removal of his afflictions, and the lengthening out of his life till he was ready for death (Psa 39:7-13). This is a funeral psalm, and very proper for the occasion; in singing it we should get our hearts duly affected with the brevity, uncertainty, and calamitous state of human life; and those on whose comforts God has, by death, made breaches, will find this psalm of great use to them, in order to their obtaining what we ought much to aim at under such an affliction, which is to get it sanctified to us for our spiritual benefit and to get our hearts reconciled to the holy will of God in it To the chief musician, even to Jeduthun. A psalm of David.

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 39 To the chief Musician, even to Jeduthun, a Psalm of David. Some take Jeduthun to be the name of a musical instrument, as Jarchi, on which, and others the first word of a song, to the tune of which, this psalm was sung, as Aben Ezra; though it seems best, with Kimchi and others, to understand it as the name of the chief musician, to whom this psalm was sent to be made use of in public service; since Jeduthun was, with his sons, appointed by David to prophesy with harps and psalteries, and to give praise and thanks unto the Lord, Ch1 16:41; he is the same with Ethan (s). The occasion of it is thought, by some, to be the rebellion of his son Absalom; so Theodoret thinks it was written when he fled from Absalom, and was cursed by Shimei; or rather it may be some sore affliction, which lay upon David for the chastisement of him; see Psa 39:9; and the argument of the psalm seems to be much the same with that of the preceding one, as Kimchi observes. (s) Vid. Hiller. Onomastic. Sacr. p. 513, 805.

Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth,.... These words, with the following clause, are the psalmist's answer to his own inquiries; or rather a correction of his inquiry and impatience, showing how needless it was to ask such questions, and be impatient to die, when it was so clear and certain a case that life was so short; not a yard or ell (forty five inches), but an handbreadth, the breadth of four fingers; or at most a span of time was allowed to man, whose days are few, like the shadow that declineth, and the grass that withers; by which figurative expressions the brevity of human life is described, Psa 102:11; and this is the measure made, cut out, and appointed by the Lord himself, who has determined the years, months, and days of man's life, Job 14:5; and mine age is as nothing before thee; in the sight of God, or in comparison of his eternity; not so much as an handbreadth, or to be accounted as an inch, but nothing at, all; yea, less than nothing, and vanity; see Isa 40:17; that is, the age or life of man in this world, as the word (w) used signifies; for otherwise the age or life of man, in the world to come, is of an everlasting duration; but the years of this present life are threescore and ten; ordinarily speaking; an hundred and thirty are by Jacob reckoned but few; and even a thousand years with the Lord are but as one day, Psa 90:4; verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. As vanity may signify sin, emptiness, folly, falsehood, fickleness, and inconstancy; for man is a very sinful creature, empty of all that is good; foolish as to the knowledge of divine things; he is deceiving and deceived, his heart is deceitful and desperately wicked; and he is unstable in all his ways: he is "all vanity" (x), as the words may be rendered; all that he has, or is, or is in him, is vanity; his body, in the health, beauty, and strength of it, is subject to change; and so are his mind, his memory, his judgment and affections, his purposes and promises; and so are his goods and estate, his riches and honours; yea, all the vanity that is in the creatures, that is, in the vegetable and sensitive creatures, yea, that is in the whole, world, is in him; who is a microcosm, a little world himself: and this is true of every man, even in his "best settled" (y) estate; when he stood the most firm, as the word used signifies; it is true of men of high and low degree, of the wise, knowing, and learned, as well as of the illiterate and ignorant, Psa 62:9; even of those that are in the most prosperous circumstances, in the greatest ease and affluence, Luk 12:16; David himself had an experience of it, Sa2 7:1; yea, this is true of Adam in his best estate, in his estate of innocence; for he was even then subject to change, as the event has shown; and being in honour, he abode not long; and, though upright, became sinful, and came short of the glory of God: indeed, the spiritual estate of believers in Christ is so well settled as that it cannot be altered; nor is it subject to any vanity. Selah. See Gill on Psa 3:2. (w) "vitale aevum meum", Cocceius; "my worldly time", Ainsworth. (x) "universa, vel omnis vanitas", Pagninus, Montanus, Gejerus, Michaelis, Musculus, Cocceius; so Ainsworth. (y) "stans", Pagninus, Montanus, Cocceius; "quamlibet firmus consistere videatur", Tigurine version, Vatablus; "though settled", Ainsworth; so Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

Such, brothers, is our life, we whose existence is so transitory. Such is the game we play on earth: we do not exist, and we are born, and being born we are dissolved. We are a fleeting dream, an apparition without substance, the flight of a bird that passes, a ship that leaves no trace on the sea. We are dust, a vapor, the morning dew, a flower growing but a moment and withering in a moment. “A person’s days are as grass: as the flower of the field, so shall he flourish.” Beautifully has holy David meditated on our weakness … and he defines the days of a person as the measure of a span.

God, who knows precisely the allotted days of each one of us, regards nothing as immeasurable. His knowledge embraces the measure of all things. To him nothing is beyond his understanding, nothing is unweighed, nothing is unmeasured, nothing is unnumbered. He says, “The very hairs of your head have been numbered.” … We know that God is said to have measured the heavens with the palm of his hand22—the palm, from thumb to little finger, being the span by which a thing is measured and its length ascertained. Those who accept this reading understand that our days are measured or numbered, and in that sense they are short. However, the all-knowing God has measured, as we said above, and fully comprehends the very heavens.… The prophet’s days are not short but great, for God has measured them with the same palm as that with which he measured the heavens.

"Behold, you have made my days old" [Psalm 39:5]. For these days are "waxing old." I long for new days "that never shall wax old," that I may say, "Old things have passed away; behold, things have become new." [2 Corinthians 5:17] Already new in hope; then in reality. For though, in hope and in faith, made new already, how much do we even now do after our old nature! For we are not so completely "clothed upon" with Christ, as not to bear about with us anything derived from Adam. Observe that Adam is "waxing old" within us, and Christ is being "renewed" in us. "Though our outward man is perishing, yet is our inward man being renewed day by day." [2 Corinthians 4:16] Therefore, while we fix our thoughts on sin, on mortality, on time, that is hastening by, on sorrow, and toil, and labour, on stages of life following each other in succession, and continuing not, passing on insensibly from infancy even to old age; while, I say, we fix our eyes on these things, let us see here "the old man," the "day that is waxing old;" the Song that is out of date; the Old Testament; when however we turn to the inner man, to those things that are to be renewed in place of these which are to be changed, let us find the "new man," the "new day," the "new song," the "New Testament;" and that "newness," let us so love, as to have no fears of its "waxing old."...This man, therefore, who is hasting forward to those things which are new, and "reaching forward to those things which are before," says, "Lord, make me to know mine end, and the number of my days, which really is, that I may know what is wanting unto me." See he still drags with him Adam; and even so he is hasting unto Christ. "Behold," says he, "you have made my days old." It is those days that are derived from Adam, those days, I say, that you have made old. They are waxing old day by day: and so waxing old, as to be at some day or other consumed also. "And my substance is as nothing before You." "Before You, O Lord, my substance is as nothing." "Before You;" who see this; and I too, when I see it, see it only when "before You." When "before men" I see it not. For what shall I say? What words shall I use to show, that which I now am is nothing in comparison of That which truly " IS"? But it is within that it is said; it is within that it is felt, so far as it is felt. "Before You, O Lord," where Your eyes are; and not where the eyes of men are. And where Your eyes are, what is the state of things? "That which I am is as nothing."

Mortal life is a harsh condition. What else is its birth but an entry into a life of toil? Even the infant’s cry bears witness to the toil that awaits it. From this burdensome banquet no one is excused. We must drink of the chalice that Adam has filled for us. We have been fashioned by the hands of Truth; yet, on account of sin, we were cast out in the day of vanity. We have been fashioned to the image of God, but we have marred that image by sinful transgression. Thus the psalm reminds us how we have been made and to what state we have fallen.

"Behold, you have made my days measurable." Above, the Psalmist mentioned the caution exercised through silence, the danger threatening from silence, and the remedy by which the danger is averted; here, however, he shows the necessity of the aforementioned caution, which is drawn from the misery of the present life. And concerning this he does two things. First he describes the misery of the present life. Second, he asks for a remedy against it, at "And now, what is." Concerning the first he does two things. First he describes the misery of this life with respect to life itself. Second, with respect to life's occupation, at "Surely in an image." Concerning the first he does two things. First he describes this misery with respect to life. Second he assigns the reason, at "Surely all things." He shows the misery of this life with respect to its brevity and with respect to its weakness. As to the first he says: "Lord, I asked that you would make known to me the number of my days. But are my days numerable? Yes, because behold, you have made my days measurable." Man was so constituted that if he had never sinned, he would not die, and thus his days would not be measured; but by sinning he dies, and so they can be numbered. Job 14: "The days of man are short; the number of his months is with you." But granted that life were short, it could still be so precious that it should be highly esteemed; yet even this is nothing, because "my substance and my nature and my life are as nothing before you," that is, in comparison with you, although it may appear to be something in comparison with the lowest creatures. Is. 40: "All nations are as though they were not, so are they before him." But it can be said thus: "my substance," that is, when I consider that which is before you, that is, the eternal goods which you will give to the saints, I regard my substance as nothing. Or thus: Those who consider the things of this world before you, that is, with a divine eye, regard them as nothing. "Surely all things." Here he assigns the reason according to the letter. "All things," according to our text, is either in the nominative case singular or in the nominative case neuter gender and plural. If in the second way, then the sense is: "Surely all things"; as if to say: it is not surprising if the life of man is nothing before you, because "all things," that is, all lower things, are vanity. And therefore Jerome has: "For all things are vanity," as being, as it were, the reason for the preceding. Eccl. 1: "All things are vanity." And they are called vanity because vanity is opposed to solidity and stability; for all things that are in the world are subject to mutability, and therefore are vain. And even among them, every living man is subject to mutability, and thus is vanity. Rom. 8: "For the creature," that is, man, "was made subject to vanity, not willingly." Or according to the letter, if "all" is in the singular, then the sense is: "All vanity," that is, every vanity, "is every man living," that is, is in every man living in a worldly manner. A man is called vain from the fact that he pursues mutable things. Jer. 2: "They walked after vanities and became vain." Or thus: "Every man living," that is, carnally, "is all," that is, complete vanity.

To Jeduthun (Ch1 16:41-42), one of the chief singers. His name mentioned, perhaps, as a special honor. Under depressing views of his frailty and the prosperity of the wicked, the Psalmist, tempted to murmur, checks the expression of his feelings, till, led to regard his case aright, he prays for a proper view of his condition and for the divine compassion. (Psa 39:1-13) I said--or, "resolved." will take heed--watch. ways--conduct, of which the use of the tongue is a part (Jam 1:26). bridle--literally, "muzzle for my mouth" (compare Deu 25:4). while . . . before me--in beholding their prosperity (Psa 37:10, Psa 37:36).

His prayer is answered in his obtaining an impressive view of the vanity of the life of all men, and their transient state. Their pomp is a mere image, and their wealth is gathered they know not for whom.