8 Thou hast set our iniquities before Thee, Our hidden things at the light of Thy face,
Errors! who doth understand? From hidden ones declare me innocent,
For Mine eyes `are' upon all their ways, They have not been hidden from My face, Nor hath their iniquity been concealed from before Mine eyes.
At which time the myriads of the multitude having been gathered together, so as to tread upon one another, he began to say unto his disciples, first, `Take heed to yourselves of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy; and there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known;
and I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and scrolls were opened, and another scroll was opened, which is that of the life, and the dead were judged out of the things written in the scrolls -- according to their works;
for the reckoning of God is living, and working, and sharp above every two-edged sword, and piercing unto the dividing asunder both of soul and spirit, of joints also and marrow, and a discerner of thoughts and intents of the heart; and there is not a created thing not manifest before Him, but all things `are' naked and open to His eyes -- with whom is our reckoning.
so, then, nothing before the time judge ye, till the Lord may come, who will both bring to light the hidden things of the darkness, and will manifest the counsels of the hearts, and then the praise shall come to each from God.
For His eyes `are' on the ways of each, And all his steps He doth see.
And He saith unto me, `Hast thou seen, son of man, that which elders of the house of Israel are doing in darkness, each in the inner chambers of his imagery, for they are saying, Jehovah is not seeing us, Jehovah hath forsaken the land?'
And Jehovah saith: Because of their forsaking My law that I set before them, And they have not hearkened to My voice nor walked in it, And they walk after the stubbornness of their heart, And after the Baalim, that their fathers taught them, Therefore, thus said Jehovah of Hosts, God of Israel: Lo, I am causing them -- this people -- to eat wormwood, And I have caused them to drink water of gall, And I have scattered them among nations Which they knew not, they and their fathers, And have sent after them the sword, Till I have consumed them.
For over-against the eyes of Jehovah are the ways of each, And all his paths He is pondering.
To the Overseer. -- A Psalm by David. Jehovah, Thou hast searched me, and knowest. Thou -- Thou hast known my sitting down, And my rising up, Thou hast attended to my thoughts from afar. My path and my couch Thou hast fanned, And `with' all my ways hast been acquainted. For there is not a word in my tongue, Lo, O Jehovah, Thou hast known it all!
Burnt with fire -- cut down, From the rebuke of Thy face they perish.
These thou didst, and I kept silent, Thou hast thought that I am like thee, I reprove thee, and set in array before thine eyes.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 90
Commentary on Psalms 90 Matthew Henry Commentary
Psalm 90
The foregoing psalm is supposed to have been penned as late as the captivity in Babylon; this, it is plain, was penned as early as the deliverance out of Egypt, and yet they are put close together in this collection of divine songs. This psalm was penned by Moses (as appears by the title), the most ancient penman of sacred writ. We have upon record a praising song of his (Ex. 15, which is alluded to Rev. 15:3), and an instructing song of his, Deu. 32. But this is of a different nature from both, for it is called a prayer. It is supposed that this psalm was penned upon occasion of the sentence passed upon Israel in the wilderness for their unbelief, murmuring, and rebellion, that their carcases should fall in the wilderness, that they should be wasted away by a series of miseries for thirty-eight years together, and that none of them that were then of age should enter Canaan. This was calculated for their wanderings in the wilderness, as that other song of Moses (Deu. 31:19, 21) was for their settlement in Canaan. We have the story to which this psalm seems to refer, Num. 14. Probably Moses penned this prayer to be daily used, either by the people in their tents, or, at lest, by the priests in the tabernacle-service, during their tedious fatigue in the wilderness. In it,
Though it seems to have been penned upon this particular occasion, yet it is very applicable to the frailty of human life in general, and, in singing it, we may easily apply it to the years of our passage through the wilderness of this world, and it furnishes us with meditations and prayers very suitable to the solemnity of a funeral.
A Prayer of Moses the man of God.
Psa 90:1-6
This psalm is entitled a prayer of Moses. Where, and in what volume, it was preserved from Moses's time till the collection of psalms was begun to be made, is uncertain; but, being divinely inspired, it was under a special protection: perhaps it was written in the book of Jasher, or the book of the wars of the Lord. Moses taught the people of Israel to pray, and put words into their mouths which they might make use of in turning to the Lord. Moses is here called the man of God, because he was a prophet, the father of prophets, and an eminent type of the great prophet. In these verses we are taught,
Psa 90:7-11
Moses had, in the foregoing verses, lamented the frailty of human life in general; the children of men are as a sleep and as the grass. But here he teaches the people of Israel to confess before God that righteous sentence of death which they were under in a special manner, and which by their sins they had brought upon themselves. Their share in the common lot of mortality was not enough, but they are, and must live and die, under peculiar tokens of God's displeasure. Here they speak of themselves: We Israelites are consumed and troubled, and our days have passed away.
Psa 90:12-17
These are the petitions of this prayer, grounded upon the foregoing meditations and acknowledgments. Is any afflicted? Let him learn thus to pray. Four things they are here directed to pray for:-