Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 103:15
[As for] man, his days [are] as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.
15. As for man ] Mortal man: the Heb. ’ensh denotes man in his weakness and frailty (Psa 90:3). For the figure of the grass cp. Psa 90:5-6; Isa 51:12; for that of the flower, Job 14:2; for both, Isa 40:6 ff.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
15 18. Man passes away, but God’s mercy endures for ever.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
As for man – literally, Man; like the grass are his days! The thought is fixed on man: man so frail and weak; man, not only made originally of earth, but man delicate, feeble, soon to pass away like the springing grass, or like the fading flower.
His days are as grass – See the notes at Psa 90:5-6; compare Isa 40:6-8, notes; 1Pe 1:24, note.
As a flower of the field – As a blossom. It opens with beauty and fragrance, but soon fades and perishes.
So he flourisheth – Rather, So he blossoms. That is, he is like a flower that is fresh and beautiful, and that soon withers away.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 103:15-18
As for man, his days are as grass.
Human life
We have here presented mans existence in relation to–
I. The material and the moral.
1. His relation to the material. Like the flower–
(1) He springs out of the earth.
(2) He is sustained by the earth.
(3) He returns to the earth.
2. His relation to the moral. Inside this flame of organized dust there is a spirit that can reverence the Infinite, that can keep His covenant and attend to His precepts. Herein is the glory of mans nature. The power to do this is His distinction; the willingness to do this is his glory.
II. The temporary and the eternal.
1. The connection of all men with the earth is temporary (verses 15, 16). The wind of mortality is ever breathing through the human world, and men like flowers wither every hour, aye, every minute.
2. The connection of good men with mercy is eternal (verses 17, 18; Isa 54:10). (Homilist.)
The lessons o/autumn
There is a pensiveness in this season, which surely all must feel, and which must dispose all, except the most thoughtless, to some degree of reflection. It would be strange if we could stand amidst the decay, which is now so rapidly advancing, without being led by it into some train of meditation, favourable to religious feeling; and without receiving impressions calculated to make us wiser and better.
I. The frail and fleeting nature of man (verses 15, 16; Psa 90:5-6; Isa 64:6; Isa 40:6-7; Job 14:2; Jam 1:10). The place which we now occupy was once occupied by others, but it knows them no more; and soon it will know nothing of us. Our occupation will be gone–our daily doings will have ceased–our history will have come to its close. To fix our wishes on earth, would be to doom them to certain disappointment; it would be like putting our goods into a dwelling which we knew the next hour would be burned unto the ground–trusting our treasure to a vessel which we knew would go to pieces in the coming storm.
II. The enduring nature of the mercy of God (verses 17, 18; 1Jn 2:17; Joh 6:27; Mat 24:35). Why, then, need we be depressed at the thought, that our days on earth are but as grass, and our joys but as the fading flowers of the field, since we may revive again, and become partakers of an enduring substance in a better world.
III. The character of those to whom this mercy will be shown. Although it is free in its offers, it is not indiscriminate in its gifts: although it is given gratuitously, it is not given unconditionally: although it is offered to all, it is not granted to all. (G. Bellett.)
Mortality
If we consider ourselves as offenders in many things, which we all are, death is a just consequence of our transgressions; for it is fit and reasonable that disobedient creatures should be deprived of the powers which they pervert and abuse.
I. Our present state of mortality is upon many accounts convenient and useful.
1. It is convenient that we should die, because this world is a state of trial.
2. As the consideration of death hath a tendency to deter us from vice, it consequently prevents some disorders, and makes us live together in society better than we else should pass our days.
3. It is also convenient that we should die, because the future recompenses of obedience are of a spiritual nature.
4. Another reason why it is convenient that we should die, is, that our obedience at best being defective, death prepares us for the next state, and excites in the soul thoughts and inclinations which ought to accompany it at its entrance into the world of spirits, and into the presence of its Maker.
5. It is not only convenient, but desirable and profitable, that we should die, if death conducts us to life eternal.
6. If by obedience and perseverance we secure to ourselves an inheritance in the Kingdom of God, when that promised time shall come, and this corruptible shall have put on incorrutption, the remembrance of our former earthly state, and of all its inconveniences, may probably add to our happiness; and then it will be good for us that we once were mortal creatures.
II. The methods which we must use, to allay and restrain those immoderate fears of death, which are blameable, and which also render life itself, with all its conveniences, dull and comfortless.
1. Frequent thoughts of our latter end will assist to produce this good effect.
2. Another way of reconciling ourselves to death is to consider it as unavoidable.
3. Another consideration tending to make us more willing to die, is, that it is common to all.
4. The troubles of life, rightly considered, may help to remove a great dislike of death. (J. Jortin, D. D.)
As a flower of the field.—
What the flowers say
(Flower Service):–Let us listen to the preaching of the flowers today. What do they say to us? One thing they all say is–trust God. God takes care of the flowers, and sends them dew, and rain, and sunshine, and fresh air, and they tell us that the same God who cares for them cares also for us. And next, I think, all the flowers say to us, thank God. See how the daisies in the meadow seem to look up thankfully to God. Some one says that God smiles on the earth, and that the earth smiles back again with its flowers. Next, the flowers say to us, be contented. They are quite satisfied to grow, and smell sweet, and look pretty, in the place where God puts them. Now, just as God plants the flowers in a certain place, some up high on the hills, others down low in the valley; some in the Queens greenhouse, others in the cottagers garden, so He puts you children in your right place. Another thing which all the flowers tell us is this, remember that you must die. When the autumn and winter come we say the flowers are dead because we cannot see them. But the flowers are not really dead. They are sleeping in the earth till the spring comes again. God has put them to bed in the warm ground, and when the proper time comes they will waken up. Just what God does to the flowers He does to us. What else do the flowers say to us? I think they say, keep in the sunshine, be happy. You always find that flowers are on the sunny side of things. So ought we to be. There is another thing which the flowers say to us–Be sweet. There is nothing so delicious as to go into a flower garden after a warm shower, and to smell the sweet scents. Well, God has sent you into the garden of this world to be sweet like the flowers. Some children are regular stinging nettles in a home, or a school. They always make people uncomfortable. They sting with their tongues, and they sting with their looks and their tempers. (H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, M.A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 15. His days are as grass] See Clarke on Ps 90:5.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
A flower of the field; which is more exposed to winds and other violences than the flowers of the garden, which are secured by the art and care of the gardener.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
15, 16. So short and frail islife that a breath may destroy it.
it is goneliterally,”it is not.”
know it no moreno morerecognize him (Psa 90:6; Isa 40:6-8).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
As for man, his days are as grass,…. He himself is like the grass which springs out of the earth; continues on it for a time, and then drops into it; the continuance of the grass is very short, it flourishes in the morning, is cut down at evening, and withers; see
Ps 90:5. As a flower of the field, so he flourisheth; which denotes the goodliness of man, and describes him in his best estate, as possessed of health, riches, honour, and all the gifts and endowments of nature; and yet, with all these, is only like a field flower, exposed to every wind, liable to be cropped by every hand, and to be trampled upon by the beasts of the field; and therefore flourishes not long: so very precarious and uncertain is man in his most flourishing circumstances; see Isa 40:6.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The figure of the grass recalls Psa 90:5., cf. Isa 40:6-8; Isa 51:12; that of the flower, Job 14:2. is man as a mortal being; his life’s duration is likened to that of a blade of grass, and his beauty and glory to a flower of the field, whose fullest bloom is also the beginning of its fading. In Psa 103:16 (the same as in Isa 40:7.) refers to man, who is compared to grass and flowers. is with a hypothetical perfect; and the wind that scorches up the plants, referred to man, is an emblem of every form of peril that threatens life: often enough it is really a breath of wind which snaps off a man’s life. The bold designation of vanishing away without leaving any trace, “and his place knoweth him no more,” is taken from Job 7:10, cf. ibid. Job 8:18; Job 20:9. In the midst of this plant-like, frail destiny, there is, however, one strong ground of comfort. There is an everlasting power, which raises all those who link themselves with it above the transitoriness involved in nature’s laws, and makes them eternal like itself. This power is the mercy of God, which spans itself above ( ) all those who fear Him like an eternal heaven. This is God’s righteousness, which rewards faithful adherence to His covenant and conscientious fulfilment of His precepts in accordance with the order of redemption, and shows itself even to ( ) children’s children, according to Exo 20:6; Exo 34:7; Deu 7:9: on into a thousand generations, i.e., into infinity.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
To the same purpose is the comparison immediately following, (verse 15,) that all the excellency of man withers away like a fading flower at the first blast of the wind. Man is indeed improperly said to flourish. But as it might be alleged that he is, nevertheless, distinguished by some endowment or other, David grants that he flourishes like the grass, instead of saying, as he might justly have done, that he is a vapor or shadow, or a thing of nought. Although, as long as we live in this world, we are adorned with natural gifts, and, to say nothing of other things, “live, and move, and have our being in God,” (Act 17:28😉 yet as we have nothing except what is dependent on the will of another, and which may be taken from us every hour, our life is only a show or phantom that passes away. The subject here treated, is properly the brevity of life, to which God has a regard in so mercifully pardoning us, as it is said in another psalm: “He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again,” (Psa 78:39.) If it is asked why David, making no mention of the soul, which yet is the principal part of man, declares us to be dust and clay? I answer, that it is enough to induce God mercifully to sustain us, when he sees that nothing surpasses our life in frailty. And although the soul, after it has departed from the prison of the body, remains alive, yet its doing so does not arise from any inherent power of its own. Were God to withdraw his grace, the soul would be nothing more than a puff or blast, even as the body is dust; and thus there would doubtless be found in the whole man nothing but mere vanity.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
15. As for man As for the human race, “man” being used collectively of all men, as Deu 32:26; Job 7:17; Psa 8:4-5.
Grass flower Emblems of frailty and beauty. Job 14:2; Psa 90:6
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
DISCOURSE: 674
PERPETUITY OF GODS MERCY
Psa 103:15-18. 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 mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto childrens children; to such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them.
THE consideration of the shortness and uncertainty of human life is at all times seasonable, and more especially on such an occasion as this; when &c. [Note: The occasion may be stated as for a Funeral, or on New Years Day.] If indeed we had no hope beyond the grave, such a subject would be most gloomy and appalling: but when connected, as in the passage before us, with the unbounded mercy of our God, it is full of consolation to all who are looking forward to the eternal world. But we must have a good hope that we shall be partakers of Gods mercy, or else not even the glorious description which is here given of it will divest death of its sting, or reconcile us to the thought of approaching dissolution. Let us then from these words consider,
I.
The character of Gods people
In general terms they are represented as fearing God. This of itself would be sufficient to distinguish them from all other people, more especially as it marks the spirit of their minds. A humble sense of his presence, a dread of doing any thing contrary to his will, and a filial desire to please him, universally distinguish his children: but still they are more clearly discerned by the characters assigned to them in our text:
1.
They keep Gods covenant
[This is the covenant which was made with Abraham [Note: Gal 3:16-17.]; and of which Christ is the surety: he has undertaken to accomplish every thing for his believing people; to expiate their sins by his blood, and to renew their souls by his grace It is ordered in all things and sure [Note: 2Sa 23:5.] This the Believer sees to be exactly suited to his necessities, in that it provides every thing for him, and only requires that he receive thankfully what is thus offered to him freely. This therefore he embraces: He lays hold on it as all his hope: and he relies upon it with his whole heart ]
2.
They do his commandments
[They are not negligent of good works, though they do not rely upon them for their justification before God: they love Gods law, which is written in their hearts: and they treasure up in their minds his precepts, no less than his promises. To do the will of God, to do it universally without exception, and constantly without intermission, is the one desire of their hearts. They would gladly, if it were possible, stand perfect and complete in all the will of God, being holy, as God is holy, and perfect, even as their Father which is in heaven is perfect.]
Such are the objects of Gods love: but how shall we express,
II.
The extent of his mercy towards them
The mercy of God is the great subject of this psalm. In the foregoing verses it is set forth in a way of comparison; (equalling the boundless extent of heaven;) but in the words before us it is declared in a way of contrast with the transitoriness of mans existence upon earth.
Mans existence here is only as the flower of the field
[It was but yesterday that we grew up and to-morrow our place will no more be found. If suffered to continue for a while, we are only ripening for the scythe; but a burning sun, or blasting wind, may cut short our existence in an hour [Note: Jam 1:10-11.]. And when once the flower of the grass is withered, all remembrance of it is gone: and so it is with us: we look gay and flourish for a little moment: and then pass away, and give place to other generations.]
But the mercy of God towards his people is from everlasting to everlasting
[As to its origin, it existed from all eternity. It is not excited in the bosom of our God by any thing that he sees in man: neither the misery of our fallen state, nor any goodness which we may be supposed to manifest, move him to exercise a disposition that was not antecedently conceived in his own mind. Both his determination to exercise mercy, and the objects towards whom it should be exercised, were from all eternity fixed in his own bosom [Note: Eph 3:11. 2Ti 1:9.]. His people are chosen by him, not because they are holy, or will be holy, but that they may be holy, and without blame before him in love [Note: Eph 1:4-6.]. He loved them with an everlasting love, and therefore with loving-kindness hath he drawn them [Note: Jer 31:3.].
In its duration also it is everlasting. If he have begun a good work in them, we may be confident that he will carry it on [Note: Php 1:6.]. As, on the one hand, he will not depart from them, so, on the other hand, he will put his fear in their hearts, that they may not depart from him [Note: Jer 32:40.]. If at any time they transgress against him, he will chastise them with the rod, till he has brought them back to himself: but his loving-kindness will he not utterly take from them [Note: Psa 89:30-36.]: for his gifts and callings are without repentance [Note: Rom 11:29.]. In every age will he prove faithful to his promises, even to all posterities for evermore.
This doctrine is thought by many to encourage a presumptuous confidence, and a consequent neglect of holiness. But, if we only bear in mind the statement before given of the character of Gods people, and our unequivocal declaration, that no person who does not answer to that character can have any scriptural hope of mercy, we shall see, that there is no occasion for jealousy on that head. The holiness of man is secured by the irreversible decree of Heaven, That the end shall be combined with the means; and that every one whom God has ordained unto life, shall be made meet for the inheritance of the saints in light. We need not be afraid to give unto God all the glory of our salvation, and to ascribe all to the operation of his sovereign grace, since, whatever may be said of Gods decrees, it is an infallible truth, that without holiness no man shall see the Lord.]
Let us learn from hence,
1.
In what light we should view our present state of existence
[We should learn from nature, and from every thing we see around us. Let all, and the young especially, look, not at the grass merely, but at the flower of the grass, and learn from that, how transient their life is [Note: Isa 40:6-8. This would be proper to insist on, if it were the funeral of a young person.] And let none, like the fool in the Gospel, promise themselves years, when, for ought they know, this very night their souls may be required of them.]
2.
In what way we should improve it
[What have we to do, but to attain the character of Gods people, and to secure the mercy which he will exercise towards them? In comparison of this, all earthly pursuits are vanity; since, transient as our life is, we may yet find the objects of our fondest regard still more transient [Note: If this were a Funeral Sermon for an eminently pious person, his views and conduct might with propriety be stated here.].]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 103:15 [As for] man, his days [are] as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.
Ver. 15. As for man, his days are as grass ] The frailty of man’s life, intimated in the former verse, is here lively painted out under the similitude of grass, as likewise in many other Scriptures. See Psa 37:2 ; Psa 90:5-6 , &c.
As a flower of the field, so he flourisheth
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 103:15-18
15As for man, his days are like grass;
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
16When the wind has passed over it, it is no more,
And its place acknowledges it no longer.
17But the lovingkindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him,
And His righteousness to children’s children,
18To those who keep His covenant
And remember His precepts to do them.
Psa 103:15-16 As for man, his days are like grass This strophe (Psa 103:15-18) is an emphasis on the eternality of God and the insignificant finitude of mankind. This same metaphor is used several times in the OT (cf. Job 14:1-2; Psa 90:5-6; Isa 40:6-8), and in the NT (cf. 1Pe 1:24-25).
Psa 103:17-18 These verses contain a threefold series which describes mankind’s need to respond to God’s initiating love (i.e., human freewill).
1. Psa 103:17, those who fear Him
2. Psa 103:18, those who keep His covenant
3. Psa 103:18, those who remember His precepts to do them
Psa 103:17 the lovingkindness of the Lord This refers to His covenant faithfulness. See SPECIAL TOPIC: LOVINGKINDNESS (HESED) .
from everlasting to everlasting This is the doubling of ‘olam (BDB 761, cf. Psa 90:2). See Special Topic: Forever (‘olam) .
And His righteousness to children’s children We learn from parts of the Pentateuch that God visits the iniquity of the father on the children to the third and fourth generation (cf. Exo 20:5; Deu 5:9). However, for those who love Him He visits His blessings to the thousandth generation (cf. Deu 5:10; Deu 7:9)! Faith and faithfulness in YHWH moves through families (cf. Deu 4:9; Deu 6:7; Deu 6:20-25; Deu 11:19; Deu 32:46), as do sin and rebellion.
Psa 103:18 to do them Obedience is crucial to the covenant. The sovereign God initiates it and sets limits but demands that His people obey (see Special Topic: Keep ; cf. Deu 4:2; Deu 4:6; Deu 4:9; Deu 4:40; Deu 5:10; Deu 5:12; Deu 5:29; Deu 5:32; Deu 6:2-3; Deu 6:17; Deu 6:25; Deu 7:8-9; Deu 7:11-12). This concept of hearing God’s word and then obeying it is the Hebrew word Shema (BDB 1033, cf. Deu 4:1; Deu 5:1; Deu 6:3-4; Deu 9:1; Deu 20:3; Deu 27:10; Deu 33:7). Jesus made this same point in Luk 6:46!
covenant See Special Topic: Covenant.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
man. Hebrew. ‘enosh. App-14.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
his days: Psa 90:5, Psa 90:6, Isa 40:6-8, Isa 51:12, Jam 1:10, Jam 1:11, 1Pe 1:24
a flower: Job 14:1-3, Isa 28:1, Isa 28:4, Nah 1:4
Reciprocal: Job 4:19 – crushed Job 7:6 – swifter Job 7:21 – but I shall not be Job 10:20 – my days few Job 14:2 – like Job 20:9 – The eye Psa 92:7 – wicked Psa 144:4 – his days Ecc 6:10 – and it Isa 37:27 – as the grass of Luk 8:42 – and she 1Co 7:29 – the time
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
103:15 [As for] {i} man, his days [are] as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.
(i) He declares that man has nothing in himself to move God to mercy, but only the confession of his infirmity and misery.