Psalm 90: A Complaint
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE TRIPTYCH
The language and structure of Psalms 90-92 seem to flow together and the themes are complementary and, therefore, may be studied together as a synthetic psalmic triptych. This triad of songs moves from the “complaint” of Psalm 90 to the wisdom motif of Psalm 91 and culminates with the worshipful hymnic structure of Psalm 92. As you may know, Psalm 90 contrasts the steadfast character of God with the frail temporality of mankind. The theme of Psalm 90 segues naturally into the theme of Psalm 91, a wisdom Psalm, that instructs believers how to live in the shelter of the Most High. There one learns what God will do and why He is willing to do it. Although written to the nation of Israel, it is written as though the psalmist has a particular individual in mind (you might want to insert your own name in the place of that person’s pronoun). Psalm 92, is a Sabbath Psalm of celebration that brings this trio of Psalms to their proper climax. This hymn of worship follows logically from the preceding two Psalms. In it the psalmist declares the just end of the wicked who, like the grass of the field, are forever destroyed. However, the righteous will exalt the Lord and sing his praises. While the Psalm does not deal directly with the problem of theodicy ("the vindication of Divine goodness and providence in the view of the existence of evil"), it does give assurance to the believer that his trust in the Lord will result in God’s providential care and that the wicked will in due course be punished.
VanGemeren structures the three Psalms concentrically as follows:
A. Hymn (90:1-2)
B. Complaint (90:3-17)
C. Wisdom Poem (91:1-13)
C1. Divine Oracle (91:14-16)
A1. Hymn (92:1-3)
B1. Individual Thanksgiving (92:4-15) (EBC vol. 5, p. 602)
A brief overview of Psalm 90
A. The Lord Is God (vv. 1-2)
B. God’s Authority Over Man (vv. 3-6)
C. God’s Wrath (vv. 7-10)
C’. Proper Response to God’s Wrath (vv. 11-12)
B’. Prayer for God’s Mercy (vv. 13-16)
A’. May the Lord Be Our God (v. 17) (EBC VOL. 5, p. 592)
The Psalm opens with a hymn of praise to the sheltering, sovereign God of creation (vv. 1-2). By way of contrast the psalmist continues with a lament about the brevity of life and God’s severe judgment upon the sins of mankind (vv. 3-11). Despite the brevity of life and the anger of God’s wrath against sin, the Psalm ends with a prayer for the Lord’s favor (vv. 12-17). The obedient and wise servant of God learns from his temporal judgment to number his days aright in order to gain a heart of wisdom (a theme that is developed in Psalm 91). Even without the judgment of the Lord, man’s life is but a brief span. Consequently, the perceptive and righteous man lives his live knowing that he must give an account of it to God. Paul writes, “Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil (Ephesians 5.14-16; cp. Amos 5.12-15). So, too, when Jesus was confronted with the atrocities of Pilate, he ignored the opportunity to criticize Rome’s occupation of Israel; rather, he addressed the universality of judgment on all men: “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! but unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them – do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish” (Luke 13.1-5).
This is one of the oldest and most beautiful of the Psalms. Credited as a prayer of Moses, it is compatible with the image of Moses leading a rebellious cohort of Hebrews through the wilderness. That generation of Israelites suffered the penalty of their disbelief and died in the desert. At the same time their parents were being judged by God the children were being taught to fear the Lord, so that they might take possession of a land promised centuries earlier to Abraham, the faithful patriarch and progenitor of Israel. The apostle Paul’s comment that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6.23) seems most fitting in the context of Moses’ observation, We are consumed by your anger and terrified by your indignation. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. All our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a moan (90.7-9). As the leader of God’s people, Moses no doubt struggled with the enormous task set before him. Life is short and there is precious little time to do what is right before having to give an account of the things done in the body (cf. Romans 2.16; 1 Corinthians 4.5). Thus, one needs to live in the recognition of life’s transience. Like a humming bird that darts from flower to flower in search of nectar, so men swiftly pass from one season of life to another. Isaiah writes: “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever” (Isaiah 40.6-8).
Moses pleads for the restoration of God’s blessing. Although He is angry, Moses knows that God will not be angry forever (Deuternomy 32.36; Psalm 80.3; Exodus 32.2). He may still relent and bless the people whom He has chosen to be His royal priesthood, a holy nation. Furthermore, Moses keeps in mind that the Israelites are God’s people, even though they are suffering. “Though his people are suffering, they are still his ‘servants’ (v.13), as they wait patiently for the compassion of their Master. The favor of God is particularly known as his ‘unfailing love’ (hesed, v. 14) or covenantal love. The renewal of his love is associated with the ‘morning’ (cf. Psalm 30:5; 49:14; 143:8; Lamentations 3:23), as the light of day is contrastive with the darkness (gloom) of the night” (VanGemeren, p. 597).
Moreover, Moses prays that the Lord will restore joy to his people and that they would experience the Lord’s uninterrupted and undiminished blessing. Moses acknowledges that the days of suffering have been long. Therefore, he prays that the Lord would lengthen the days of gladness as well. He concludes the Psalm with a request that God’s favor would rest upon His people and that their work would be established.
Regarding this Psalm’s emphasis on labor and the brevity of life, Alexander McClaren comments that such meditation produces two opposite effects:
“What is the use of my doing anything? I may just as well sit down here, and let things slide, if they are all going to be swallowed up in the black bottomless gulf of forgetfulness.’ The contemplation has actually produced two opposite effects. ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die,’ is quite as fair an inference from the fact as is ‘Awake to righteousness and sin not,’ if the fact itself only be taken into account. There is nothing religious in the clearest conviction of mortality, if it stands alone. It may be a ally of profligate and cynical sensuality quite as easily as it may be the preacher of asceticism. It may make men inactive, from their sense of the insignificant and fleeting nature of all human works, or it may stimulate to intensest effort, from the thought, ‘I must work the works of Him that sent me while it is day. The night cometh.’ All depends on whether we link the conviction of mortality with that of eternity, and think of our perishable selves as in relationship with the unchanging God” (Expositions of Holy Scripture Vol. 4, p. 181).
Just as the love of God is limitless so too, is the wrath of God. Ten times the Israelites tested the Lord as they sojourned in the Arabian wilderness. Nine times the Lord was graciously disposed to forgive and help them. The tenth time was the last time. If you refuse to learn from the consequence of your sin, then, in due course, you will die in your sin. The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished (Numbers 14.18). Not one person, save Joshua and Caleb, entered the promised land; everyone died in the desert. Therefore, one must give to God the reverence due Him. Any petitions for His mercy ought to be accompanied by a soul searching contrition. The psalmist writes: For your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you (90.11b). There can be no assurance of God’s blessing for those who are unresponsive to God’s judgment.
The psalmist (Moses?) prayed that God’s people might gain a heart of wisdom and so learn to honor the Lord. Because there are so few days allotted to man, one cannot afford to squander any of them. Moreover, the psalmist pleads with the Lord to be compassionate towards His own, that they may experience again the joy of their salvation and the divine blessing of being the chosen people of Yahweh.
God’s favor, bestowed on His people, results in an assured permanence to the work performed by them. There is a vanity to everything under the sun and “the man under God’s judgment can accomplish no ultimate good. However, the godly and wise pray that the Lord will accept their work and ‘establish’ [konenah] it as having value (cf. Deut 2:7; 14:29; 16:15). Frail, limited, and sinful as man is, the love of God can transform what is weak to his own glory (VanGemeren, p. 597-8).
The language and structure of Psalms 90-92 seem to flow together and the themes are complementary and, therefore, may be studied together as a synthetic psalmic triptych. This triad of songs moves from the “complaint” of Psalm 90 to the wisdom motif of Psalm 91 and culminates with the worshipful hymnic structure of Psalm 92. As you may know, Psalm 90 contrasts the steadfast character of God with the frail temporality of mankind. The theme of Psalm 90 segues naturally into the theme of Psalm 91, a wisdom Psalm, that instructs believers how to live in the shelter of the Most High. There one learns what God will do and why He is willing to do it. Although written to the nation of Israel, it is written as though the psalmist has a particular individual in mind (you might want to insert your own name in the place of that person’s pronoun). Psalm 92, is a Sabbath Psalm of celebration that brings this trio of Psalms to their proper climax. This hymn of worship follows logically from the preceding two Psalms. In it the psalmist declares the just end of the wicked who, like the grass of the field, are forever destroyed. However, the righteous will exalt the Lord and sing his praises. While the Psalm does not deal directly with the problem of theodicy ("the vindication of Divine goodness and providence in the view of the existence of evil"), it does give assurance to the believer that his trust in the Lord will result in God’s providential care and that the wicked will in due course be punished.
VanGemeren structures the three Psalms concentrically as follows:
A. Hymn (90:1-2)
B. Complaint (90:3-17)
C. Wisdom Poem (91:1-13)
C1. Divine Oracle (91:14-16)
A1. Hymn (92:1-3)
B1. Individual Thanksgiving (92:4-15) (EBC vol. 5, p. 602)
A brief overview of Psalm 90
A. The Lord Is God (vv. 1-2)
B. God’s Authority Over Man (vv. 3-6)
C. God’s Wrath (vv. 7-10)
C’. Proper Response to God’s Wrath (vv. 11-12)
B’. Prayer for God’s Mercy (vv. 13-16)
A’. May the Lord Be Our God (v. 17) (EBC VOL. 5, p. 592)
The Psalm opens with a hymn of praise to the sheltering, sovereign God of creation (vv. 1-2). By way of contrast the psalmist continues with a lament about the brevity of life and God’s severe judgment upon the sins of mankind (vv. 3-11). Despite the brevity of life and the anger of God’s wrath against sin, the Psalm ends with a prayer for the Lord’s favor (vv. 12-17). The obedient and wise servant of God learns from his temporal judgment to number his days aright in order to gain a heart of wisdom (a theme that is developed in Psalm 91). Even without the judgment of the Lord, man’s life is but a brief span. Consequently, the perceptive and righteous man lives his live knowing that he must give an account of it to God. Paul writes, “Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil (Ephesians 5.14-16; cp. Amos 5.12-15). So, too, when Jesus was confronted with the atrocities of Pilate, he ignored the opportunity to criticize Rome’s occupation of Israel; rather, he addressed the universality of judgment on all men: “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! but unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them – do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish” (Luke 13.1-5).
This is one of the oldest and most beautiful of the Psalms. Credited as a prayer of Moses, it is compatible with the image of Moses leading a rebellious cohort of Hebrews through the wilderness. That generation of Israelites suffered the penalty of their disbelief and died in the desert. At the same time their parents were being judged by God the children were being taught to fear the Lord, so that they might take possession of a land promised centuries earlier to Abraham, the faithful patriarch and progenitor of Israel. The apostle Paul’s comment that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6.23) seems most fitting in the context of Moses’ observation, We are consumed by your anger and terrified by your indignation. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. All our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a moan (90.7-9). As the leader of God’s people, Moses no doubt struggled with the enormous task set before him. Life is short and there is precious little time to do what is right before having to give an account of the things done in the body (cf. Romans 2.16; 1 Corinthians 4.5). Thus, one needs to live in the recognition of life’s transience. Like a humming bird that darts from flower to flower in search of nectar, so men swiftly pass from one season of life to another. Isaiah writes: “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever” (Isaiah 40.6-8).
Moses pleads for the restoration of God’s blessing. Although He is angry, Moses knows that God will not be angry forever (Deuternomy 32.36; Psalm 80.3; Exodus 32.2). He may still relent and bless the people whom He has chosen to be His royal priesthood, a holy nation. Furthermore, Moses keeps in mind that the Israelites are God’s people, even though they are suffering. “Though his people are suffering, they are still his ‘servants’ (v.13), as they wait patiently for the compassion of their Master. The favor of God is particularly known as his ‘unfailing love’ (hesed, v. 14) or covenantal love. The renewal of his love is associated with the ‘morning’ (cf. Psalm 30:5; 49:14; 143:8; Lamentations 3:23), as the light of day is contrastive with the darkness (gloom) of the night” (VanGemeren, p. 597).
Moreover, Moses prays that the Lord will restore joy to his people and that they would experience the Lord’s uninterrupted and undiminished blessing. Moses acknowledges that the days of suffering have been long. Therefore, he prays that the Lord would lengthen the days of gladness as well. He concludes the Psalm with a request that God’s favor would rest upon His people and that their work would be established.
Regarding this Psalm’s emphasis on labor and the brevity of life, Alexander McClaren comments that such meditation produces two opposite effects:
“What is the use of my doing anything? I may just as well sit down here, and let things slide, if they are all going to be swallowed up in the black bottomless gulf of forgetfulness.’ The contemplation has actually produced two opposite effects. ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die,’ is quite as fair an inference from the fact as is ‘Awake to righteousness and sin not,’ if the fact itself only be taken into account. There is nothing religious in the clearest conviction of mortality, if it stands alone. It may be a ally of profligate and cynical sensuality quite as easily as it may be the preacher of asceticism. It may make men inactive, from their sense of the insignificant and fleeting nature of all human works, or it may stimulate to intensest effort, from the thought, ‘I must work the works of Him that sent me while it is day. The night cometh.’ All depends on whether we link the conviction of mortality with that of eternity, and think of our perishable selves as in relationship with the unchanging God” (Expositions of Holy Scripture Vol. 4, p. 181).
Just as the love of God is limitless so too, is the wrath of God. Ten times the Israelites tested the Lord as they sojourned in the Arabian wilderness. Nine times the Lord was graciously disposed to forgive and help them. The tenth time was the last time. If you refuse to learn from the consequence of your sin, then, in due course, you will die in your sin. The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished (Numbers 14.18). Not one person, save Joshua and Caleb, entered the promised land; everyone died in the desert. Therefore, one must give to God the reverence due Him. Any petitions for His mercy ought to be accompanied by a soul searching contrition. The psalmist writes: For your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you (90.11b). There can be no assurance of God’s blessing for those who are unresponsive to God’s judgment.
The psalmist (Moses?) prayed that God’s people might gain a heart of wisdom and so learn to honor the Lord. Because there are so few days allotted to man, one cannot afford to squander any of them. Moreover, the psalmist pleads with the Lord to be compassionate towards His own, that they may experience again the joy of their salvation and the divine blessing of being the chosen people of Yahweh.
God’s favor, bestowed on His people, results in an assured permanence to the work performed by them. There is a vanity to everything under the sun and “the man under God’s judgment can accomplish no ultimate good. However, the godly and wise pray that the Lord will accept their work and ‘establish’ [konenah] it as having value (cf. Deut 2:7; 14:29; 16:15). Frail, limited, and sinful as man is, the love of God can transform what is weak to his own glory (VanGemeren, p. 597-8).