Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 102:23
He weakened my strength in the way; he shortened my days.
23, 24. He hath brought down my strength in the way;
He hath shortened my days.
I will say, O my God &c.
Life has been a toilsome journey for him; he is prematurely old; but he deprecates an untimely death. He would fain survive to see with his own eyes the glory which he knows is to be revealed. Cp. Psa 89:47, note. The contrast of God’s eternal years adds pathos to the thought of the brevity of his own life, yet at the same time that eternity is the guarantee for His faithfulness to His people.
My strength is the traditional reading ( Q’r), which is supported by most of the Versions. The written text ( K’thbh) has his strength, which must be rendered, He hath afflicted me with his strength; or, His strength hath brought me down. But the Q’r gives a better sense.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
23 28. From the contemplation of the glorious future the Psalmist returns to the present, and takes up the thought of Psa 102:11.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
He weakened my strength in the way – Margin, as in Hebrew, afflicted. The idea is, that God had taken his strength away; he had weakened him – humbled him – brought him low by sorrow. The word way refers to the course which he was pursuing. In his journey of life God had thus afflicted – humbled – prostrated him. The psalmist here turns from the exulting view which he had of the future Psa 102:21-22, and resumes his complaint – the remembrance of his troubles and sorrows Psa 102:3-11. He speaks, doubtless, in the name of his people, and describes troubles which were common to them all. Perhaps the allusion to his troubles here may be designed, as such a recollection should do, to heighten his sense of the goodness and mercy of God in the anticipated blessings of the future.
He shortened my days – Compare Job 21:21; Psa 89:45. That is, He seemed to be about to cut me off from life, and to bring me to the grave. The psalmist felt so confident that he would die – that he could not endure these troubles, but must sink under them, that he spoke as if it were already done. Compare Psa 6:4-5.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 23. He weakened my strength in the way] We are brought so low in our captivity by oppression, by every species of hard usage, and by death, that there is now no hope of our restoration by any efforts of our own.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He, to wit, God, to whom he ascribes these calamities, Psa 102:10; to whom therefore he addresseth himself for relief.
In the way; either,
1. In the midst of our expectations. Whilst we are expecting the accomplishment of thy promise, either of bringing us out of Babylon, or of sending the Messias, we faint, and one of us perish after another, and our hope is like the giving up of the ghost. Or rather,
2. In the midst of the course of our lives; which sense is confirmed,
1. From the following clause; which, after the manner, explains the former,
he shortened my days; as also from the next verse, where he begs relief from God against this misery in these words, take me not away in the midst of my days.
2. From the use of this word way, which is used for the course of a mans life, Psa 2:12, and (which comes to the same thing) for the course of a journey, as it is opposed to the end of the journey, Gen 24:27; Exo 23:20, and elsewhere; the life of man being oft compared to a journeying or travelling, and death to his journeys end. And the psalmist here speaks (as other sacred writers do elsewhere, and as all sorts of writers frequently do) of the whole commonwealth as of one man, and of its continuance as of the life of one man. And so this seems to be the matter of his complaint and humble expostulation with God: O Lord, thou didst choose us out of all the world to be thy peculiar people, and didst plant us in Canaan, and cause a glorious temple to be built to thy name, to be the only place of thy public and solemn worship in the world, and didst make great and glorious promises, that thine eyes and heart should be upon it perpetually, 1Ki 9:3, and that thy people should be planted in thy land, so as not to be moved any more or afflicted, as they had been in the days of the judges, 2Sa 7:10,11; from whence we promised to ourselves a long and settled prosperity. But, alas, how soon were our hopes blasted! not long after the beginning of our settlement, in Rehoboams time, and so successively in the course of our affairs under the following kings, till at last thou didst give us up to ruin and desolation, as at this day. And this he doth not allege to accuse God, or excuse himself or his people, but only that he might move the Divine Majesty to show them some pity, considering the shortness of their days, and his own eternity, as he pursues the argument in the following verses. My days; the days of my life, or of my prosperous state, as above, Psa 102:1; for adversity is a kind of death, and is frequently so called.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
23-28. The writer, speaking forthe Church, finds encouragement in the midst of all his distresses.God’s eternal existence is a pledge of faithfulness to His promises.
in the wayofprovidence.
weakenedliterally,”afflicted,” and made fearful of a premature end, a figureof the apprehensions of the Church, lest God might not perform Hispromise, drawn from those of a person in view of the dangers of earlydeath (compare Ps 89:47). Paul(Heb 1:10) quotes Ps102:26-28 as addressed to Christ in His divine nature. The scopeof the Psalm, as already seen, so far from opposing, favors thisview, especially by the sentiments of Ps102:12-15 (compare Isa 60:1).The association of the Messiah with a day of future glory to theChurch was very intimate in the minds of Old Testament writers; andwith correct views of His nature it is very consistent that He shouldbe addressed as the Lord and Head of His Church, who would bringabout that glorious future on which they ever dwelt with fonddelightful anticipations.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
He weakened my strength in the way,…. The psalmist here returns to his complaint of his afflictions, weakness, and frailty, which ended Ps 102:11, after which some hints are given of the latter day glory, which though he despaired of seeing, by reason of his frailty and mortality, yet comforts himself with the eternity and immutability of Christ, and that there would be a succession of the church, a seed of true believers, who would see and enjoy it: as for himself, he says that God (for he is that “He”, and not the enemy, as some) had “weakened” his “strength in the way”, by afflictions, as the word e signifies; which weakens the strength and vigour of the mind, and discourages and dispirits it, and enfeebles the body: many are the afflictions which the people of God meet with in the course of their life, in their way to heaven, which have such an effect upon them; through many tribulations they pass to enter the kingdom, as the Israelites in their way to Canaan, and Christ to glory: some think the psalmist represents the Jews in their return from the Babylonish captivity, meeting with difficulties and discouragements in the way; rather the church of God, in the expectation of the Messiah, who, because his coming was delayed, grew feeble in their faith and hope, had weak hands and feeble knees, which needed strengthening by fresh promises: though it may be, best of all, the people of God, waiting for latter day glory, enfeebled by the persecutions of antichrist, or grown weak in the exercises of their grace, faith, hope, and love; which will be their case before these glorious times, and now is, see Re 3:2,
he shortened my days; which he thought he should live, and expected he would; and which, according to the course of nature, and the common term of man’s life, he might, in all human appearance, have lived; otherwise, with respect to the decree of God, which has fixed the bounds of man’s days, they cannot be shorter or longer than they are,
Job 14:5.
e “afflixit”, Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version, Musculus, Piscator, Gejerus, Schmidt; so Ainsworth.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
On the way ( as in Psa 110:7) – not “by means of the way” ( as in Psa 105:18), in connection with which one would expect of find some attributive minuter definition of the way – God hath bowed down his strength (cf. Deu 8:2); it was therefore a troublous, toilsome way which he has been led, together with his people. He has shortened his days, so that he only drags on wearily, and has only a short distance still before him before he is entirely overcome. The Chethb (lxx ) may be understood of God’s irresistible might, as in Job 23:6; Job 30:18, but in connection with it the designation of the object is felt to be wanting. The introductory (cf. Job 10:2), which announces a definite moulding of the utterance, serves to give prominence to the petition that follows. In the expression life is conceived of as a line the length of which accords with nature; to die before one’s time is a being taken up out of this course, so that the second half of the line is not lived through (Ps 55:24, Isa 38:10). The prayer not to sweep him away before his time, the poet supports not by the eternity of God in itself, but by the work of the rejuvenation of the world and of the restoration of Israel that is to be looked for, which He can and will bring to an accomplishment, because He is the ever-living One. The longing to see this new time is the final ground of the poet’s prayer for the prolonging of his life. The confession of God the Creator in Psa 102:26 reminds one in its form of Isa 48:13, cf. Psa 44:24. in Psa 102:27 refers to the two great divisions of the universe. The fact that God will create heaven and earth anew is a revelation that is indicated even in Isa 34:4, but is first of all expressed more fully and in many ways in the second part of the Book of Isaiah, viz., Isa 51:6, Isa 51:16; Isa 65:17; Isa 66:22. It is clear from the agreement in the figure of the garment (Isa 51:6, cf. Psa 50:9) and in the expression ( , perstare, as in Isa 66:22) that the poet has gained this knowledge from the prophet. The expressive , Thou art He, i.e., unalterably the same One, is also taken from the mouth of the prophet, Isa 41:4; Isa 43:10; Isa 46:4; Isa 48:12; is a predicate, and denotes the identity (sameness) of Jahve (Hofmann, Schriftbeweis, i. 63). In v. 29 also, in which the prayer for a lengthening of life tapers off to a point, we hear Isa 65:2; Isa 66:22 re-echoed. And from the fact that in the mind of the poet as of the prophet the post-exilic Jerusalem and the final new Jerusalem upon the new earth under a new heaven blend together, it is evident that not merely in the time of Hezekiah or of Manasseh (assuming that Isa 40:1 are by the old Isaiah), but also even in the second half of the Exile, such a perspectively foreshortened view was possible. When, moreover, the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews at once refers Psa 102:26-28 to Christ, this is justified by the fact that the God whom the poet confesses as the unchangeable One is Jahve who is to come.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Hoping in God’s Compassion. | |
23 He weakened my strength in the way; he shortened my days. 24 I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: thy years are throughout all generations. 25 Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands. 26 They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: 27 But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end. 28 The children of thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established before thee.
We may here observe,
I. The imminent danger that the Jewish church was in of being quite extirpated and cut off by the captivity in Babylon (v. 23): He weakened my strength in the way. They were for many ages in the way to the performance of the great promise made to their fathers concerning the Messiah, longing as much for it as ever a traveller did to be at his journey’s end. The legal institutions led them in the way; but when the ten tribes were lost in Assyria, and the two almost lost in Babylon, the strength of that nation was weakened, and, in all appearance, its day shortened; for they said, Our hope is lost; we are cut off for our parts, Ezek. xxxvii. 11. And then what becomes of the promise that Shiloh should arise out of Judah, the star out of Jacob, and the Messiah out of the family of David? If these fail, the promise fails. This the psalmist speaks of as in his own person, and it is very applicable to two of the common afflictions of this time:– 1. To be sickly. Bodily distempers soon weaken our strength in the way, make the keepers of the house to tremble and the strong men to bow themselves. 2. To be short-lived. Where the former is felt, this is feared; when in the midst of our days, according to a course of nature, our strength is weakened, what can we expect but that the number of our months should be cut off in the midst? and what should we do but provide accordingly? We must own God’s hand in it (for in his hand our strength and time are), and must reconcile it to his love, for it has often been the lot of those that have used their strength well to have it weakened, and of those that could very ill be spared to have their days shortened.
II. A prayer for the continuance of it (v. 24): “O my God! take me not away in the midst of my days; let not this poor church be cut off in the midst of the days assigned it by the promise; let it not be cut off till the Messiah shall come. Destroy it not, for that blessing is in it,” Isa. lxv. 8. She is a criminal, but, for the sake of that blessing which is in her, she pleads for a reprieve. This is a prayer for the afflicted, and which, with submission to the will of God, we may in faith put up, that God would not take us away in the midst of our days, but that, if it be his will, he would spare us to do him further service and to be made riper for heaven.
III. A plea to enforce this prayer taken from the eternity of the Messiah promised, v. 25-27. The apostle quotes these verses (Heb. i. 10-12) and tells us, He saith this to the Son, and in that exposition we must acquiesce. It is very comfortable, in reference to all the changes that pass over the church, and all the dangers it is in, that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. Thy years are throughout all generations, and cannot be shortened. It is likewise comfortable in reference to the decay and death of our own bodies, and the removal of our friends from us, that God is an everliving God, and that therefore, if he be ours, in him we may have everlasting consolation. In this plea observe how, to illustrate the eternity of the Creator, he compares it with the mutability of the creature; for it is God’s sole prerogative to be unchangeable. 1. God made the world, and therefore had a being before it from eternity. The Son of God, the eternal Word, made the world. It is expressly said, All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made; and therefore the same was in the beginning from eternity with God, and was God,Joh 1:1-3; Col 1:16; Eph 3:9; Heb 1:2. Earth and heaven, and the hosts of both, include the universe and its fulness, and these derive their being from God by his Son (v. 25): “Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth, which is founded on the seas and on the floods and yet it abides; much more shall the church, which is built upon a rock. The heavens are the work of thy hands, and by thee are all their motions and influences directed;” God is therefore the fountain, not only of all being, but of all power and dominion. See how fit the great Redeemer is to be entrusted with all power, both in heaven and in earth, since he himself, as Creator of both, perfectly knows both and is entitled to both. 2. God will unmake the world again, and therefore shall have a being to eternity (Psa 102:26; Psa 102:27): They shall perish, for thou shalt change them by the same almighty power that made them, and therefore, no doubt, thou shalt endure; thou art the same. God and the world, Christ and the creature, are rivals for the innermost and uppermost place in the soul of man, the immortal soul; now what is here said, one would think, were enough to decide the controversy immediately and to determine us for God and Christ. For, (1.) A portion in the creature is fading and dying: They shall perish; they will not last so long as we shall last. The day is coming when the earth and all the works that are therein shall be burnt up; and then what will become of those that have laid up their treasure in it? Heaven and earth shall wax old as a garment, not by a gradual decay, but, when the set time comes, they shall be laid aside like an old garment that we have no more occasion for: As a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed, not annihilated, but altered, it may be so that they shall not be at all the same, but new heavens and a new earth. See God’s sovereign dominion over heaven and earth. He can change them as he pleases and when he pleases; and the constant changes they are subject to, in the revolutions of day and night, summer and winter, are earnests of their last and final change, when the heavens and time (which is measured by them) shall be no more. (2.) A portion in God is perpetual and everlasting: Thou art the same, subject to no change; and thy years have no end, v. 27. Christ will be the same in the performance that he was in the promise, the same to his church in captivity that he was to his church at liberty. Let not the church fear the weakening of her strength, or the shortening of her days, while Christ himself is both her strength and her life; he is the same, and has said, Because I live you shall live also. Christ came in the fulness of time, and set up his kingdom in spite of the power of the Old-Testament Babylon, and he will keep it up in spite of the power of the New-Testament Babylon.
IV. A comfortable assurance of an answer to this prayer (v. 28): The children of thy servants shall continue; since Christ is the same, the church shall continue from one generation to another; from the eternity of the head we may infer the perpetuity of the body, though often weak and distempered, and even at death’s door. Those that hope to wear out the saints of the Most High will be mistaken. Christ’s servants shall have children; those children shall have a seed, a succession, of professing people; the church, as well as the world, is under the influence of that blessing, Be fruitful and multiply. These children shall continue, not in their own persons, by reason of death, but in their seed, which shall be established before God (that is, in his service, and by his grace); the entail of religion shall not be cut off while the world stands, but, as one generation of good people passes away, another shall come, and thus the throne of Christ shall endure.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
23. He hath afflicted my strength in the way Some improperly restrict this complaint to the time when the Jews were subjected to much annoyance after the liberty granted them to return to their own land. We are rather to understand the word journey or way in a metaphorical sense. As the manifestation of Christ was the goal of the race which God’s ancient people were running, they justly complain that they are afflicted and weakened in the midst of their course. (158) Thus they set before God his promise, telling him, that although they had not run at random, but had confided in his protection, they were nevertheless broken and crushed by his hand in the midst of their journey. They do not indeed find fault with him, as if he had disappointed their hope; but fully persuaded, that he does not deal deceitfully with those who serve him, by this complaint they strengthen themselves in the hope of a favorable issue. In the same sense they add, that their days were shortened, because they directed their view to the fullness of time, which did not arrive till Christ was revealed. (159) It accordingly follows, — (verse 24,) Cut me not off in the midst of my days. They compare the intervening period until Christ should appear to the middle of life; for, as has been already observed, the Church only attained to her perfect age at his coming. This calamity, no doubt, had been foretold, but the nature of the covenant which God had entered into with his ancient people required that he should take them under his protection, and defend them. The captivity, therefore, was as it were a violent rupture, on which account the godly prayed with the greater confidence, that they might not be prematurely taken away in the midst of their journey. By speaking in this manner, they did not fix for themselves a certain term of life; but as God, in freely adopting them, had given them the commencement of life, with the assurance that he would maintain them even to the advent of Christ, they might warrantably bring forward and plead this promise. Lord, as if they had said, thou hast promised us life, not for a few days, or for a month or for a few years, but until thou shouldst renew the whole world, and gather together all nations under the dominion of thine Anointed One.
(158) Way or journey is a term often used in Scripture to denote the course of a man’s life; and here the Psalmist speaks, as other sacred writers not unfrequently do, of the whole Jewish nation as if it were one man, and of its continuance, which was to be until the coming of Christ, as if the life of one man. It was now, so to speak, only in its meridian. An attention to this remark will assist the reader in understanding Calvin’s exposition of the passage.
(159) Consequently, the ruin and desolation to which they seemed given up by the Babylonish captivity, was like the cutting off or shortening of their days.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(23) In the wayi.e., in the course of life. Others render, by reason of the way, but the meaning is the same. The clause is exactly parallel to shortened my days.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
23. He weakened my strength in the way The psalmist returns to a brief reminiscence of his affliction and the agony of his prayer, but in a more hopeful strain than in his complaint, Psa 102:1-11. “In the way,” here, may be understood by means of “the way,” as “in fetters” means, by means of “fetters,” (Psa 105:18,) and in “the way” means, because of “ the way,” (Num 21:4,) or, it may signify that the visitations of God “ along the way,” had bowed down his “strength.” But the former is the more probable sense. The allusion is to the journeyings of Israel in the desert. See Exo 18:8; Num 17:12-13; Deu 8:2; especially, Num 21:4, “And the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way.” The abrupt transition of Psa 102:23-24, is exceedingly impassioned and plaintive.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 102:23. He weakened my strength The connection is this, “Notwithstanding these glorious hopes of being speedily restored to my native country, I find that through continual afflictions God hath weakened my strength, even whilst I thought that I was in the way to that happiness; and that on account of the short remainder of my life I shall not be able to attain it.” But he goes on, “Though I do not live to have any share in the public joy for that restoration; yet thou, who art an everlasting and immutable God, whose years are throughout all generations, wilt not fail to make those who survive me happy therein.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psa 102:23 He weakened my strength in the way; he shortened my days.
Ver. 23. He weakened my strength in the way ] This is the complaint of the poor captives yet undelivered, In via, hoc est in vita, quia hic sumus viatores, in coelo comprehensores, here we are but on our way to heaven, and we meet with many discouragements.
He shortened my days
Stat sua cuique dies.
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 102:23-28
23He has weakened my strength in the way;
He has shortened my days.
24I say, O my God, do not take me away in the midst of my days,
Your years are throughout all generations.
25Of old You founded the earth,
And the heavens are the work of Your hands.
26Even they will perish, but You endure;
And all of them will wear out like a garment;
Like clothing You will change them and they will be changed.
27But You are the same,
And Your years will not come to an end.
28The children of Your servants will continue,
And their descendants will be established before You.
Psa 102:23-28 This strophe, like the two previous ones, uses personal imagery in a national sense. It affirms YHWH’s act of creation (Psa 102:26); He is eternal (Psa 102:27)! His people have gone through a devastating time (defeat, destruction, exile), but He will restore them (Psa 102:28) because as heaven and earth are the work of His hands (cf. Psa 8:6; Psa 19:1; Isa 45:12; Isa 48:13), so too, the covenant people (cf. Psa 138:8; Psa 143:5; Isa 45:11; Isa 60:2; Isa 64:8; even Assyria, Isa 19:25).
Psa 102:23-24 The LXX translates these verses as YHWH speaking to the psalmist. The NT book of Heb 1:10-12 quotes Psa 102:25-27 as referring to Jesus. The MT translates the same Hebrew consonants in a different way (cf. Tyndale OT Commentaries, vol. 16, Psalms 73-150, pp. 395-396).
Psa 102:23 strength The term (BDB 470) was used of national strength being affected by YHWH’s judgment (cf. Lev 26:20; Lam 1:6; Lam 1:14; Amo 2:14).
Psa 102:25-27 These verses from the LXX are quoted in Heb 1:10-11, where they are applied to Jesus (cf. Heb 13:8).
Psa 102:27 But You are the same YHWH does not change nor do His purposes (cf. Psa 33:11; Mal 3:6; Jas 1:17). Psa 102:27 is a dramatic contrast to Psa 102:26. Even heaven and earth will pass away (cf. Isa 34:4; Isa 51:6; Mat 5:18; Mat 24:35; Mar 13:31; Luk 21:33; 2Pe 3:10; Rev 20:11), but not YHWH!
For a good brief discussion of God’s unchangeableness see Millard Erickson, Christian Theology, 2nd ed., pp. 304-308.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
This is a study guide commentary which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.
These discussion questions are provided to help you think through the major issues of this section of the book. They are meant to be thought provoking, not definitive.
1. Is this Psalm about an individual or the nation of Israel?
2. Explain the imagery of Psa 102:6-7.
3. Does Psa 102:14 imply a reference to the destruction of the temple?
4. Does the universal emphasis of Psa 102:15; Psa 102:22 refer to restoration from exile or an eschatological setting?
5. Are heaven and earth permanent or transitory?
6. How is Psa 102:28 related to
a. Gen 12:1-3
b. Rom 2:28-29
He weakened. A return to the subject corresponding with (verses: Psa 102:3-11), above.
in the way: i.e. of His humiliation.
Psa 102:23-28
Psa 102:23-28
THE GLORY OF THE MESSIAH
“He weakened my strength in the way;
He shortened my days.
I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days:
Thy years are throughout all generations.
Of old didst thou lay the foundation of the earth;
And the heavens are the work of thy hands.
They shall perish, but thou shalt endure;
Yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment;
As a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed:
But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end.
The children of thy servants shall continue,
And their seed shall be established before thee.”
Psa 102:23-24 a appear in this version to have been the words of the psalmist; but in the LXX, we have the following:
“He (God) answered him in the way of his strength: tell me the fewness of my days. Take me not away in the midst of my days.
The significance of this rendition is that it makes God the speaker of this whole passage, indicating that the Messiah is the only person to whom such language from God could be applied. Without passing any judgment at all upon the Septuagint (LXX) rendition, one thing is certain: “Every word of Psa 102:24 bff is indeed and truth a reference to Jesus Christ.” This does not deny that the passage, as it appears here, is most certainly addressed to Jehovah. Note the following quotation from Heb 1:10-12.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 102:23. David again took up the subject of his personal afflictions. shortened is from a word that Strong says has both a literal and figurative meaning. Figuratively it would mean to cut off some of the enjoyment of his days. That was done by suffering his enemies to oppose him for the purpose of testing his faith.
Psa 102:24. God had no beginning and will have no ending in his existence. He therefore is prepared to extend the life of his servants according to his judgment and mercy. The Psalmist expressed another of his earnest pleas to God for his favor.
Psa 102:25-28. I have grouped these verses into one paragraph because they are thus grouped in Heb 1:10-12. The connection in that place shows that Christ is the one spoken of. The present verse is a prophecy of Christ and the Psalmist made it as an inspired prophet. But while he may not have Intended it as a change in subject, it at first appears so to us. Upon close consideration we will see a connection in thought. The writer had just mentioned the endless existence of God; that time would not bring any changes in Him. It was an appropriate place to speak of another person whose work would outlive the existence of material things. That person was Christ and his work would be the great institution of his kingdom that was to stand forever. (Dan 2:44.)
He weakened: Heb. He afflicted, Psa 89:38-47, 2Th 2:3-12, 1Ti 4:1-3, 2Ti 3:1-17, Rev 11:2-19, Rev 12:13-17
shortened: Job 21:21
Reciprocal: Job 6:11 – What Ecc 12:3 – strong Isa 38:12 – is removed Joh 11:52 – gather 1Co 15:43 – weakness
Psa 102:23. He Namely, God, whom he considered as bringing these calamities upon them for their sins, and to whom therefore he applies for relief; weakened my strength in the way That is, soon impaired the prosperity and flourishing condition of our church and commonwealth, in the course of our affairs. They were for many ages, says Henry, in the way to the performance of the great promise made to their fathers, concerning the Messiah, longing as much for it as ever a traveller did to be at his journeys end; the legal institutions led them in the way; but when the ten tribes were lost in Assyria, and the two almost lost in Babylon, the strength of that nation was weakened, and, in all appearances, its days shortened, for they said, Our hope is lost, we are cut off for our parts, Eze 37:11. The prophet, says Dr. Horne, in the person of captive Zion, having, from Psa 102:13-22, expressed his faith and hope in the promised redemption, now returns to his mournful complaints as at Psa 102:11. Israel doubts not of Gods veracity, but fears lest his heavy hand should crush the generation then in being, before they should behold the expiration of their troubles. They were in the way, but their strength was so weakened, and their days shortened, that they almost despaired of holding out to their journeys end. Bishop Patrick, however, supposes that the psalmist spake of himself personally, and interprets the passage thus: I had hopes to have lived to see this blessed time, (namely, of the redemption from Babylon, and the accession of the Gentile nations to the church of God, spoken of in the preceding verses,) and thought I had been in the way to it, Ezr 3:8. But he hath stopped our vigorous beginnings, Ezr 4:4, and thereby so sorely afflicted me, that I feel I am like to fall short of my expectations. Dr. Dodd understands the words nearly in the same sense, observing, The connection is this: Notwithstanding these glorious hopes of being speedily restored to my native country, I find that through continual affliction God hath weakened my strength, even while I thought I was in the way to that happiness; and that, on account of the short remainder of my life, I shall not be able to attain it. This interpretation of the words connects well with the following verse.
102:23 He {q} weakened my strength in the way; he shortened my days.
(q) The church lament that they see not the time of Christ, which was promised, but have but few years and short days.
4. Hope in God’s ceaseless existence 102:23-28
It seemed as though God was killing the psalmist prematurely. He prayed for a continuation of his life. This request led him to reflect further on the duration of God’s existence. To picture God’s ceaseless continuance, he referred to the creation (Genesis 1) and then the consummation of the present heavens and earth (Rev 21:1; cf. 2Pe 3:10). His point was that God will outlast His creation. Really God is eternal, having no beginning or ending (Psa 102:27). Therefore He will preserve the children of His servants who were then in danger of dying or had already died.
The writer to the Hebrews applied Psa 102:25-27 to Jesus Christ (Heb 1:10-12; Heb 13:8). He is the Person of the Trinity who created and sustains all things (Col 1:16-17). These verses are some of the clearest and most majestic revelations of God’s eternal nature in Scripture. This revelation gave the psalmist hope in his personal distress. In the same way, knowledge of God’s changeless character can be a great comfort to all of God’s people when they suffer. It helps to view personal suffering in the context of eternity.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)