Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 103:14
For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we [are] dust.
14. Here as often the frailty of man is pleaded as a motive for mercy. Cp. Psa 78:39; Psa 89:47.
our frame ] Lit. our formation; what we are made of. The verse is an allusion to Gen 2:7, “The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For he knoweth our frame – Our formation; of what we are made; how we are made. That is, he knows that we are made of dust; that we are frail; that we are subject to decay; that we soon sink under a heavy load. This is given as a reason why he pities us – that we are so frail and feeble, and that we are so easily broken down by a pressure of trial.
He remembereth that we are dust – Made of the earth. Gen 2:7; Gen 3:19. In his dealings with us he does not forget of what frail materials he made us, and how little our frames can bear. He tempers his dealings to the weakness and frailty of our nature, and his compassion interposes when the weight of sorrows would crush us. Remembering, too, our weakness, he interposes by his power to sustain us, and to enable us to bear what our frame could not otherwise endure. Compare the notes at Isa 57:16.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 103:14
For He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust.
Gods perfect knowledge and merciful consideration of our frame
I. The nature of the human frame.
1. The body.
(1) Its wants and necessities.
(2) Its weakness.
(3) Its pains and sicknesses.
(4) Its mortality.
2. The soul, as in union with the body.
(1) The disadvantage arising from hence to that faculty of the soul which we call the understanding; the foundation of all the excellency and glory of man, but liable to be sadly confined, clouded and even distracted by the alterations that happen in the temperature of the body.
(2) Being united to a fleshly body, the soul is beset and agitated by a variety of passions, that are not natural to it, and yet could not more vex and influence it if they were.
(3) The consequence of all the rest is, that the embodied soul has a great many difficulties to struggle with and surmount, in the steady exercise of virtue and piety, in the regular exercises of devotion, and in maintaining its integrity and faithfulness to the end of this mortal life.
II. Gods knowledge of the human frame.
1. Immediate and direct.
2. Perfect. He sees us through and through, without and within. This perfect knowledge of God extends not to some actions only, but to all; not only to our external actions, but even those which pass no further than the mind itself; its thoughts, and purposes, and affections; its least tendencies to good or evil; and the degree of good or evil in each.
III. Gods compassionate regard to the nature and weakness of our frame in all His dealings with those that fear Him.
1. He does not expect that they should new-model and alter their frame. This is absolutely out of their power, and therefore no part of their duty.
2. God, who knoweth our frame, requires no other measures of virtue, obedience, and devotion, than are proportioned to the nature He hath given us, and the state and circumstances of being in which we are placed.
3. He knoweth our frame, and therefore does not willingly afflict and grieve us, not for His pleasure but for our profit, and that we may be made partakers of His holiness. And when He sees it necessary to correct us, it is in measure, and for no longer time than is expedient.
4. Out of a merciful regard to our frame, and remembrance that we are but dust, our gracious God grants us all that assistance and support and consolation of which we stand in need.
5. Remembering that we are dust (as liable to be swept out of the world as dust is to be scattered and blown away by the wind), He watches over us with a most tender care, and preserves us in life, as long as His own glory and our interest requires it.
IV. The ground or reason of that mercy which God exercises towards them that fear Him. He has the relation of a father to us, and the affection of a father for us; the affection or love without any of the imperfections attending it in earthly parents. Application.
1. Since the words of the text are designed not only for the consolation of those that fear God, they that do not fear Him have nothing to do with the comfort they administer, as long as they continue in their sins.
2. This should make us more favourable in our censures of the characters and actions of others, than we too commonly are.
3. Let such as truly fear God often revolve the subject of this discourse in their thoughts: it would be of great use to them, by affording them ground of caution on the one hand, and of comfort and encouragement on the other.
(1) Let me consider that I am dust, and from hence learn not to boast of anything I call mine, or to presume upon it: for, alas! what is anything merely human as such? human life, or reason, or virtue, or any other accomplishment? how weak the foundation! how uncertain the tenure!
(2) The comfort which the same consideration yields to persons of integrity is very great, and very apparent. Does not my heart condemn me, as wanting sincerity? I may, then, have confidence towards God, that He will not condemn me for the want of perfection: all my desire is before Him, and my groaning is not hid from Him. As He knoweth my most secret sins, so my sorrow for them, and my conflicts with them. As He knoweth all my weaknesses, so He knoweth how to pity them, and is both willing and able to help them. He will proportion my burdens to my strength, or my strength to my burdens. (H. Grove.)
God remembers mans weakness
1. God is absolutely faithful in all His dealings with us. He treats us as just such creatures as we really are. He remembers that we are dust. But He remembers, too, what is in this dust: our insignificance in connection with our immortality, our powers and capacities of spirit. He therefore does not despise, but pities us. As a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him. And this knowledge of our frailty is given as the occasion of His compassion, For He knoweth our frame, etc. It is thus contrast in us which stirs the Divine heart. I never had my sympathy more excited than once when I found a man, of superb education and talent, doing the most menial tasks, in order to get food and raiment. Had he been a boor, of spirit in keeping with his condition, he would have hardly awakened a passing thought. And if mans soul were as limited as his bodily condition, as the materialist says, only animated dust, God would have evinced no such concern, for there would have been no occasion for it. It is the reflection of Gods own image in human nature, spirituality, that might glow at His throne, confined in clay, an incorruptible chrysalized in corruption, that brings the Divine to bow in solicitude over us.
2. But the Divine compassion is not of the nature of comfort in our perishing condition, to sustain us until all is over. He does not let us perish. Note the contrast in a succeeding verse, But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him. How many once familiar faces I miss! Others are getting ready to fold up the tent of the flesh and disappear over the horizon of time. I shall soon miss others, or you will miss me; but not much. Lord Macaulay, speaking of the death of Wilberforce, says, I was truly fond of him. And how is that? How very little the world misses anybody! If I were to die to-morrow, not one of the fine people with whom I dine every week will take the less on Saturday at the table to which I was invited to meet them . . . And I am quite even with them . . . There are not ten people in the world whose deaths would spoil my dinner; but there are one or two whose deaths would break my heart. Macaulay was not hard-hearted, only plain-spoken, to say that, for it is true of all of us. God alone follows us with His solicitous care when we leave the world. If we have accepted His companionship, and walked with Him on earth, He will conduct us for ever in the land of His rest.
3. The expression, God remembereth that we are dust, suggests that the plan of salvation which He has devised for us may be easily understood. If we were fallen angels, with powerful intellects, accustomed to solve eternal mysteries, glowing, like stars in this, our nether firmament, and with vast moral energies, and ages in which to perform, I can imagine that God would have given us a very different and immensely fuller scheme of doctrine and duties than He has given. But remembering that so brief is life that we can know but little, He has flashed the saving truth before our souls, so that he may run that reads. Behold the consideration of God in telling us, so simply and vet so clearly, all we need to know; and telling it in such a way that it falls into the heart as easily as light through a window into your dwelling, if you will only make your heart walls transparent with sincerity.
4. God, remembering that we are dust, has given a religion which may be readily accepted. We have no time to transform our natures by any process of development in virtue, by the evolution of any slight germ of spirituality we may have within us, for have we the strength any more than the leaves now dropping from the trees in the winter winds have strength of growth to grow into a forest? Some of you have tried it; ten, twenty, thirty years have been spent in the honest attempt to make over your lives, refine your dispositions, spiritualize your natures. But you will confess that you have made hardly perceptible progress; perhaps have only felt more strangely the downward current in your attempt to buffet it.
5. Behold the loving consideration of God, in making, not the complete renovation of heart and life the condition of salvation, but simple faith and repentance, and the acceptance of the peace of the Spirit, which transforms the nature. I cannot revive myself, lying as a poor, drooping, dying plant; but I can give myself up to the showers of heaven which quicken me. I can accept of immortality with the gasp of my mortality. (J. M. Ludlow, D.D.)
The pity of the Lord
The pity of the Lord is here said to spring out of His knowledge and His memory; but if He were not pitifully inclined towards the frail children of the dust, no amount of knowledge and memory could in themselves originate in Him the sweet qualities of tenderness and mercy. A hard man may fully know and well remember the sorrows and afflictions of his neighbours, and yet feel no pity, and exercise no benevolence. Even the fact that such an one is a father is no absolute security here; for there are fathers without natural affection, who harden their hearts against their children, and close their doors against their own flesh and blood. As to the limitation that is here, them that fear Him, there need be no thought for a moment of narrowness or exclusiveness; for if the Lord pitied only those who fear Him, what would have become of us when we feared Him not? He knoweth our frame, for He hath made it. He, and He alone, understands the mystery of life, and the invisible link that binds together the body and the spirit, the silver cord which, being loosened, ends the feast of life so far as this present world is concerned. He knoweth our frame, too, for He has taken part with us in our very flesh in the person of His Son Jesus Christ. Forasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself took part in the same. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. He knows the weakness of our flesh, for He Himself was weak; when shrinking from the Cup He said, If it be possible, let it pass, while yet, in the impossibility of loves failure, it passed not. Could ye not watch with Me one hour? not one brief hour? Verily, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. We are but dust. He knows it, and by the experience of His humanity remembers it. He knows, too, the strength of our temptation, matched, and, alas! sometimes overmatched, against this weakness, and He will not burden us above our strength; or if even for wise ends this should be, and we should faint and fall, we shall be sure still of His pity, for He knoweth our frame. (J. W. Lance.)
Gods individual care
The historian tells us that the great Duke of Wellington, who was known as the Iron Duke, before one of his earliest campaigns had a soldier with his full marching equipment accurately weighed. Knowing what one soldier of average strength had to carry, he could judge how far his army might be called to march without breaking down. Our Heavenly Father does not deal in averages. With infinite wisdom and love He cares individually for us. (L. A. Banks, D.D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 14. For he knoweth our frame] yitsrenu, “our formation;” the manner in which we are constructed, and the materials of which we are made. He knows we cannot contend with him, and if he uses his power against us, we must be crushed to destruction. In all his conduct towards us he considers the frailty of our nature, the untowardness of our circumstances, the strength and subtlety of temptation, and the sure party (till the heart is renewed) that the tempter has within us. Though all these things are against us, yet it must ever be said, whatever use we make of it, “the grace of God is sufficient for us.” But alas! alas! who makes use of that sufficient grace? Here, then, is cause for condemnation. But, O amazing mercy! if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him; for he knoweth our frame, he remembereth that we are but dust. The man who can say, in the face of these Scriptures, Let us sin that grace may abound, is a brute and demon, who has neither lot nor part in this thing.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Our frame; either,
1. The corruption of our natures; which God is pleased sometimes to make an argument to pity and spare men, as Gen 8:21. So the sense is, He considereth that great and constant propension to evil which is naturally in all mankind, and that therefore if he should deal severely with us, he should immediately destroy us all. So this clause contains one motive of Gods pity, and the next another. Or rather,
2. The weakness and mortality of our natures, and the frailty and misery of our condition, as it seems to be explained in the following clause, that we are but dust. So the sense is, He considereth that if he should let loose his hand upon us, and pour forth all his wrath, we should be suddenly and irrecoverably destroyed, and therefore he spareth us.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
14. he“who formed,”Ps 94:9.
knoweth our frameliterally,”our form.”
we are dustmade of andtending to it (Ge 2:7).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For he knoweth our frame,…. The outward frame of their bodies, what brittle ware, what earthen vessels, they be; he being the potter, they the clay, he knows what they are able to bear, and what not; that if he lays his hand too heavy, or strikes too hard, or repeats his strokes too often, they will fall in pieces: he knows the inward frame of their minds, the corruption of their nature, how prone they are to sin; and therefore does not expect perfect services from them: how impotent they are to that which is good; that they can do nothing of themselves; nor think a good thought, nor do a good action; and that their best frames are very uncertain ones; and that, though the spirit may be willing, the flesh is weak. The word used is the same that is rendered “imagination”, Ge 6:5, and by which the Jews generally express the depravity and corruption of nature; and so the Targum here paraphrases it,
“for he knows our evil concupiscence, which causes us to sin;”
and to this sense Kimchi.
He remembereth that we are dust b; are of the dust originally, and return to it again at death; and into which men soon crumble when he lays his hand upon them; this he considers, see Ps 78:38. The Targum is,
“it is remembered before him, that we are of the dust:”
the Septuagint version makes a petition of it, “remember that we are dust”; and so the Arabic version. And we should remember it ourselves, and be humble before God; and wonder at his grace and goodness to us,
Ge 18:27.
b “Pulvis et umbra sumus”, Horat. Carmin. l. 4. Ode 7. v. 16.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
14. For he knoweth David here annihilates all the worth which men would arrogate to themselves, and asserts that it is the consideration of our misery, and that alone, which moves God to exercise patience towards us. This again we ought carefully to mark, not only for the purpose of subduing the pride of our flesh, but also that a sense of our unworthiness may not prevent us from trusting in God. The more wretched and despicable our condition is, the more inclined is God to show mercy, for the remembrance that we are clay and dust is enough to incite him to do us good.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(14) Frame.Rather, fashioning; referring to Gen. 2:7, or possibly to the image so common in the prophecy of the potters vessel.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
14. Our frame Our formation, or workmanship, referring specially to the body, or perishable nature. The reference is to Gen 2:7: “The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground.” See notes on Psa 139:15-16
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Nothing can he more beautiful and interesting than the striking contrast the Psalmist hath drawn in these verses between the frail, perishing, dying nature of man, and the strength and eternity of God. And what endears it to our view, is, that amidst all our dying circumstances in Adam, our everlasting existence, is secured in Christ. The oneness between Jesus and his people, gives a right of interest in all that belongs to Him, as the head and Mediator of his redeemed. He hath said himself, Because I live, ye shall live also. Joh 14:19 . Reader, I pray you, do not overlook this, for in this consists the whole beauty and loveliness of the passage. It is our union with, and our interest in Christ Jesus, that brings with it these unspeakable mercies. It is the covenant relation in which believers stand to God in Christ which secures the peace of this life, and the everlasting happiness of that which is to come. Oh! for grace to enter into the hearty, cordial belief, and perfect enjoyment of those blessed words of Jesus: At that day ye shall know, that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Joh 14:20 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 103:14 For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we [are] dust.
Ver. 14. For he knoweth our frame ] Our evil concupiscence, saith the Chaldee; Figulinam et fragilem constitutionem nostram, saith Junius, that we are nothing better than a compound of dirt and sin.
He remembereth that we are dust
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
frame = formation. He remembereth. Compare Isa 29:16; Isa 45:9, Isa 45:10 : i.e. God remembers what man forgets (i.e. our infirmities); and He forgets what man remembers (i.e. our sins). See Isa 43:25; Isa 44:22. Jer 31:34. Compare Isa 55:8.
dust. See Gen 2:7; Gen 3:19. Ecc 12:7.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 103:14-18
Psa 103:14-18
GOD’S CONSIDERATION OF MAN’S FRAILTY
“For he knoweth our frame;
He remembereth that we are dust.
As for man, his days are as grass;
As a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.
For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone;
And the place thereof shall know it no more.
But the lovingkindness of Jehovah is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him,
And his righteousness unto children’s children;
To such as keep his covenant,
And to those that remember his precepts to do them.”
The first part of this paragraph gives some of the reasons for God’s pity mentioned in the preceding verses. especially man’s weakness and the brevity of his existence.
“From everlasting to everlasting … unto children’s children” (Psa 103:17). As a special encouragement to his children, particularly those who keep the covenant and remember the precepts of God to do them, God reminds us here that his mercies and lovingkindness are eternal, benefitting, not merely those who love him, but also extending the benefits to their children.
“To such as keep his covenant and remember his precepts to do them” (Psa 103:18). There is a reciprocal element in the great blessings and mercies of God, which are never bestowed upon the wicked and the righteous alike, except in the matter of such general blessings as the sunshine and the rain provided for both. The special lovingkindness and mercy of God in evidence here are promised to the obedient.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 103:14. Frame is from a word that is defined “form,” specifically the human form or body. God realizes that man’s body is of the dust which is another word for “earth.” As man’s body is of that origin it is inclined to uncertainty in conduct and God takes that into consideration in his dealings with human beings.
Psa 103:15. The connection shows the remarks in this and the following verse apply to the earthly part of man. His body came from the ground, the place that also supports vegetation. Hence his existence in the flesh is subject to the same conditions that cause the plants to flourish and take on the appearance of strength.
Psa 103:16. This does not mean that the passing of the wind removes man, but that his fleshly existence is as uncertain and comparatively short-lived as the passing of a breeze. Its place shall not know it means that man will not again be seen in the place where he once lived on the earth. (See comments at Job 7:9-10.)
Psa 103:17. From everlasting to, everlasting means without beginning or end. But mercy is a favor shown to man, and he did have a beginning. The statement means that the quality of love and pity and mercy is a fixed attribute of God and hence it always existed. But the application of it came only after there was a man who needed the favor. And again we should note that it is limited to them that fear him. There never was and never will be a time or place when God would not do right. Righteousness is used in reference to the benefits that it brings to generation after generation.
Psa 103:18. The favor mentioned in the close of the preceding verse is here based on condition that they keep his covenant. The additional thought is given that they remember his commandments in a particular way; that they do them.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
he knoweth: Psa 78:38, Psa 78:39, Psa 89:47
we are dust: Gen 3:19, Job 7:5-7, Job 7:21, Job 10:9, Job 13:25, Ecc 12:7
Reciprocal: Gen 2:7 – dust Jdg 6:36 – If thou wilt 1Ki 19:7 – because the journey Job 6:11 – What Psa 125:3 – the rod Isa 27:8 – measure Isa 42:3 – bruised Joh 20:27 – Reach hither thy finger
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 103:14-16. For he knoweth our frame The weakness and mortality of our natures, and the frailty and misery of our condition, (as the expression seems to be explained in the following clause) That we are but dust And that if he should let loose his hand upon us, we should be irrecoverably destroyed. For, as for man Fallen, mortal man; his days are as grass Which grows out of the earth, rises but a little way above it, and soon withers and returns to it again: see Isa 40:6-7. As a flower of the field If man, in his best estate, seem somewhat more than grass; if he flourish in health and strength, youth and beauty, riches and honour; if he look fresh and fair, gay and lovely, glorious and powerful; yet even then he is but as a flower which, though distinguished a little from the grass, will wither with it; yea, as a flower of the field Which is more exposed to winds and other violences than the flowers of the garden, that are secured by the art and care of the gardener; so he flourisheth Unfolds his beauty in youth, and flourishes a while in the vigour of manhood; but the wind A blasting or blighting wind, unseen and unlooked for; passeth over it Over the flower, even when it is in its perfection; and it is gone It droops, shrinks, and bows its head; its leaves fall off, and it sinks into the ground that gave it birth. And the place thereof shall know it no more There is no more any appearance or remembrance of it in the place where it stood and flourished. Thus the life of man is not only wasting of itself, but its period is liable to be anticipated by a thousand accidents. If the breath of the divine displeasure pass over him, and God, with rebukes, correct him for iniquity, his beauty consumes away like a moth fretting a garment: his comeliness and vigour; his prosperity, wealth, and glory; his health, strength, and life, waste away gradually, or vanish suddenly; and he bows his drooping head and mingles again with his native dust; his friends and his companions look for him at the accustomed spot which he once adorned, but in vain: the earth has opened her mouth to receive him, and his place shall know him no more.