Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 102:11
My days [are] like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like grass.
11. like a shadow that declineth ] Or, like a shadow stretched out (Jer 6:4) towards evening, and about to disappear altogether as the sun sinks below the horizon.
I am withered like grass ] Rather, I am withering away like grass. The common emblem for frail and transitory mortality. Cp. Isa 40:7; Jas 1:11.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
My days are like a shadow that declineth – The shadow made by the gnomon on a sun-dial, which marks the hours as they pass. See 2Ki 20:10. The idea is that the shadow made by the descending sun was about to disappear altogether. It had become less distinct and clear, and it would soon vanish. It would seem from this, that the dial was so made that the shadow indicating the hour ascended when the sun ascended, and declined when the sun went down. See the notes at Isa 38:8.
And I am withered like grass – See the notes at Psa 102:4.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 11. My days are like a shadow that declineth] Or rather, My days decline like the shadow. I have passed my meridian, and the sun of my prosperity is about to set for ever. There may be here an allusion to the declination of the sun towards the south, which, by shortening their days, would greatly lengthen their nights. Similar to the exclamation of a contemporary prophet, Jer 8:20: “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” There is now scarcely any human hope of our deliverance.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
My days; my hopes, and comforts, and happiness; days being oft put for happy days, or a happy state, as Psa 37:18; Lam 5:21, as elsewhere they are put more generally for the events which happen in those days; in both which cases it is a metonymy of the adjunct.
That declineth; or, that is extended or stretched out to its utmost length, as it is when the sun is setting, when it speedily and totally vanisheth. And just so the hopes of our restitution, which sometimes we have, are quickly cut off and disappointed.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
11. shadow . . . declinethsoonto vanish in the darkness of night.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
My days are like a shadow that declineth,…. Or, “that is stretched out” s, which, though it may appear long, is soon at an end; as it does appear longer when the sun sets t, and departs from the earth: he reckons his life not by months and years, but by days; and these he compares to a “shadow”, which has no substance in it; his age being as nothing before the Lord, and has much darkness and obscurity in it; his days being days of darkness, affliction, and trouble, and quickly gone, as man’s life is; there is no abiding; see
1Ch 29:15. Pindar u calls man the dream of a shadow:
and I am withered like grass; which in the morning is flourishing, is cut down at noon, and withered at evening: this is the case of all flesh, however beautiful and goodly it may look; it is weak, frail, and mortal; cannot stand before the force of afflictions, which quickly consume strength and beauty, and much less before the scythe of death; see Ps 90:5.
s “inclinata”, Pagninus, Montanus, Piscator, Musculus, Cocceius; “extensa”, Michaelis. t “Et sol crescentes decedens duplicat umbras”, Virgil. Bacol. Eclog. 2. u Pyth. Ode 8.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
11. My days are like the shadow which declineth (146) When the sun is directly over our heads, that is to say, at mid-day, we do not observe such sudden changes of the shadows which his light produces; but when he begins to decline towards the west the shadows vary almost every moment, This is the reason why the sacred writer expressly makes mention of the shadow which declineth What he attributes to the afflicted Church seems indeed to be equally applicable to all men; but he had a special reason for employing this comparison to illustrate the condition of the Church when subjected to the calamity of exile. It is true, that as soon as we advance towards old age, we speedily fall into decay. But the complaint here is, that this befell the people of God in the very flower of their age. By the term days is to be understood the whole course of their life; and the meaning is, that the captivity was to the godly as the setting of the sun, because they quickly failed. In the end of the verse the similitude of withered grass, used a little before, is repeated, to intimate that their life during the captivity was involved in many sorrows which dried up in them the very sap of life. Nor is this wonderful, since to live in that condition would have been worse than a hundred deaths had they not been sustained by the hope of future deliverance. But although they were not altogether overwhelmed by temptation, they must have been in great distress, because they saw themselves abandoned by God.
(146) It is literally, “My days are like a shadow, stretched out.” As the sun descends in the firmament, the shadow of any terrestrial object gradually lengthens, and grows fainter as it becomes longer, until shooting out to an unmeasurable length, it disappears. The Psalmist complains that his days were like a shadow nearly stretched to its utmost length, and at the point of being lost in total darkness. He felt that he had far passed his meridian, that the sun of life was about to set, and the dark night of death to fall down upon him” — See Psa 109:23.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(11) A shadow that declineth.Rather, a lengthening shadow, growing longer as the day declines, and therefore soon to vanish altogether. (Comp. Psa. 109:23.)
And now the sun had stretched out all the hills.
MILTON: Lycidas,
See also Note, Son. 2:17.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
11. Shadow that declineth Which lengthens and darkens till it loses itself in night.
Withered like grass See on Psa 102:4
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 102:11. My days are like a shadow that declineth My days are as a shadow which is gone down. The shadow which is gone down, seems not so much to describe a common shadow, as the shadow of a dial; which in that of Ahaz is said to go down, (the same original word) as the hour goes on. Mudge.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psa 102:11 My days [are] like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like grass.
Ver. 11. My days are like a shadow that declineth ] As at sunset the shadows are at longest, but not longlasting.
And I am withered like grass
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
My days: Psa 102:3, Psa 39:5, Psa 39:6, Psa 109:23, Psa 144:4, Job 14:2, Ecc 6:12, Jam 4:14
I am withered: Psa 102:4, Isa 40:6-8, Jam 1:10, 1Pe 1:24
Reciprocal: 2Ki 19:26 – they were 1Ch 29:15 – our days Job 7:6 – swifter Job 8:9 – we are but Job 19:10 – I am gone Psa 39:11 – his beauty Isa 38:12 – is removed Lam 4:8 – their skin
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 102:11-12. My days are like a shadow Which never continueth in one stay, but is still gliding imperceptibly on, lengthening as it goes, and at last vanisheth into darkness. The period of its existence is limited to a day at farthest. The rising sun gives it birth, and in the moment when the sun sets it is no more. Horne. And just so, the psalmist intimates, the hopes which they had sometimes entertained of a restitution were quickly cut off and disappointed. But thou shalt endure for ever But this is my comfort, although we die, and our hopes vanish, yet our God is unchangeable and everlasting, and therefore not to be conquered by his and our enemies, however numerous and powerful, but is constant in his counsels and purposes of mercy to his church, steadfast and faithful in the performance of all his promises; and therefore he both can and will deliver his people. And thy remembrance unto all generations To the end of time, nay, to eternity: thou shalt be known and honoured; and the remembrance of thy former works and mercies comforts our hearts, and encourages us to hope, nay, even to rejoice, in the midst of our sorrow and tribulation.