Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 39:11
When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man [is] vanity. Selah.
11. When thou with rebukes dost chasten a man for iniquity,
Thou wastest like a moth his desirableness:
Nought but vanity are all men.
The A.V. obscures the correspondence of the first line with Psa 38:1; Psa 6:1. As easily as the moth-grub, working unseen, destroys ‘goodly raiment’ (Gen 27:15), so easily does God’s chastisement destroy a man’s ‘goodliness,’ the bodily strength and beauty which make him attractive (Isa 53:2). It is God’s consuming ‘hand’ which is compared to the ‘moth’ (Hos 5:12); not, as the A.V. might seem to imply, the ephemeral duration of man’s goodliness. Cp. Job 13:28; Isa 50:9; Isa 51:8.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
When thou with rebukes – The word here rendered rebukes means properly:
(a) proof or demonstration;
(b) confutation or contradiction;
(c) reproof or admonition by words;
(d) reproof by correction or punishment.
This is the meaning here. The idea of the psalmist is, that God, by punishment or calamity, expresses his sense of the evil of human conduct; and that, under such an expression of it, man, being unable to sustain it, melts away or is destroyed.
Dost correct man for iniquity – Dost punish man for his sin; or dost express thy sense of the evil of sin by the calamities which are brought upon him.
Thou makest his beauty – Margin: That which is to be desired in him. The Hebrew means desired, delighted in; then, something desirable, pleasant; a delight. Its meaning is not confined to beauty. It refers to anything that is to man an object of desire or delight – strength, beauty, possessions, life itself. All are made to fade away before the expressions of the divine displeasure.
To consume away like a moth – Not as a moth is consumed, but as a moth consumes or destroys valuable objects, such as clothing. See the notes at Job 4:19. The beauty, the vigor, the strength of man is marred and destroyed, as the texture of cloth is by the moth.
Surely every man is vanity – That is, he is seen to be vanity – to have no strength, no permanency – by the ease with which God takes away all on which he had prided himself. See the notes at Psa 39:5.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 39:11
When Thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, Thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth; surely every man is vanity.
The secret blasting of men
These words give an account of two things which are the matter of the greatest wonder.
1. How it comes to pass there are so many and so great evils in the world.
2. How so many persons come to wither and fall away, and come to nothing in the world. As to the first we are told what is the cause of their evils–iniquity; and as to the second, it is Gods rebukes which do blast men. Therefore we learn–
I. That God doth punish sinners. The word punish is used when not strictly correct, for we say a man is punished when any evil befalls him, though he hath done nothing that may procure it. Therefore, in such punishment as the text speaks of, we must except–
1. The effects of Gods absolute sovereignty and power. Therefore, we are not to say that God punishes a man because of the lot in life that He has appointed him. These differences lie within the lot of Gods sovereignty, and speak nothing of either love or hatred.
2. Trials, such as Jobs and many other good men.
3. Disciplines to teach us not to over-value the world.
4. Those sufferings that come upon us through the evil of others. But, these exceptions being made, it is yet true that sin is the cause of punishment. For many sins are the natural cause of the evils that follow them. Punishments are required to maintain Gods honour in the world (Ecc 8:11), and the variety of things and changeable conditions are as requisite to maintain virtue and holiness among mankind as the winds, which occasion storms and tempests, which put the air and sea into motion, and so keep them from stench and putrefaction. This I observe, a great many scriptures impute creatures degeneracy to their living at ease (Zec 1:1-21.; Amo 6:1; Luk 12:19; Jer 48:11).
II. These rebukes of God do blast men. God can immediately, by His influence, fortify and encourage a mans mind, or else throw him down into discontent and frowardness. For the minds and spirits of men lie open to God as much as ought of the creation. When God will, the hearts of men will serve them, and be more than themselves; and if God withdraws, they come to nothing. How contented are some men in a condition that the world doth despise? and how much discontent in others, that live in worldly splendour? Therefore, note–
1. How doth God bring about the ruin of men? Sometimes by taking away their understanding; as Ahithophel and Judas. Making a man discontented and unhappy with his lot in life (Ecc 1:24). All good becomes insipid (Job 6:6). By suspending the forces of nature so that they render not the service they are wont (Deu 28:23). By withdrawing His blessing from mens endeavours, so that they become unprosperous (Ecc 2:26; Pro 10:22). By awakening the guilt of the sinner upon his conscience, making that to sting and gall him, and then all the world is nothing. Or, when men, through their own fear, suspicion and jealousy, have certain foretastes of Gods refusal and displeasure.
2. Where there is imminent danger of such judgments. Where a man sins against light. Where there is hypocrisy, apostacy, worldliness, exemption from outward punishment as these may be. Whensoever God is pleased out of respect to His worshippers, or out of His compassion towards innocent infants and harmless creatures, to keep off judgments, then is it to be thought that, those persons that are wilful sinners, etc., shall hear from God in private; to abate their confidence, and to show how exorbitant they are in their ways. This God can do by letting them sink down into mental distraction, etc. For God can dispossess a man of all his comforts by not giving him power of self-enjoyment and taking content. For this of the two is a far greater mercy of God, for a man to have less and a contented mind, than to have much more and not have satisfaction :For power of self-enjoyment is a far greater thing than right and title. In the last place the case of high spiritual advantages. That was the aggravation of the sin of Capernaum, Coraizin and Bethsaida, that they were lifted up to heaven; and they are threatened to be thrown down into hell. There is no wonder that men cannot hold up their heads, when they are neither at peace with God, nor at peace with their own consciences; and all these things that are without a man will make no more recompense for the want of the peace of conscience than it will make a recompense for the pain of the gout to lie upon a bed of down. Men have no peace, neither with God, because not reconciled to the nature, mind nor will of God; nor have they peace in their own consciences, because under guilt. Therefore, no wonder that friends and revenues, etc., will not relieve them; they have an internal wound. In this respect I may truly say that mens sin go before them lute judgment. It was something in secret between Cain and his conscience that his countenance fell; for he had sacrificed as well as his brother Abel; but it was something within him. In Nabal, his heart died within him upon his wifes words only; which is strange, for a covetous miserable wretch will most commonly endure words hard enough; for words break no bones, but the text tells us God struck him. Other instances are Ahithophel (2Sa 17:14-23); Judas (Mat 27:3-5); Ananias and Sapphira (Act 5:9). Another lesson from the subject is, the world and the devil cannot hurt men if men do not themselves consent. If we are guilty before God, and repent not, and do not seek pardon, then are we in fear and damager every moment, for at Gods sentence our souls live or die. (B. Whichcote, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 11. When thou with rebukes dost correct man] tochachoth signifies a vindication of proceedings in a court of law, a legal defence. When God comes to maintain the credit and authority of his law against a sinner, he “causes his beauty to consume away:” a metaphor taken from the case of a culprit, who, by the arguments of counsel, and the unimpeachable evidence of witnesses, has the facts all proved against him, grows pale, looks terrified; his fortitude forsakes him, and he faints in court.
Surely every man is vanity.] He is incapable of resistance; he falls before his Maker; and none can deliver him but his Sovereign and Judge, against whom he has offended.
Selah.] This is a true saying, an everlasting truth.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
With rebukes, i. e. with punishment, which is oft so called. See Psa 6:1; 76:6.
Dost correct man for iniquity, i. e. dost punish him as his iniquity deserves. His beauty, Heb. his desire, i.e. his desirable things, as this word signifies, Lam 1:11; Dan 9:23; 10:3,11,19. His comeliness, strength, wealth, and prosperity, and all his present excellencies or felicities.
Like a moth; either,
1. Passively, as a moth is quickly and easily crushed to pieces with a touch as this phrase is used, Job 4:19. Or,
2. Actively as a moth consumeth a garment, as it is Job 13:28; Isa 1:9; to which God compareth himself and his judgments, secretly and insensibly consuming a people, Isa 51:8; Hos 5:12.
Every man is vanity; and this confirms what I said Psa 39:5, that every man is vanity; which though men in the height of their prosperity will not believe, yet when God contendeth with them by his judgments, they are forced to acknowledge it.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
11. From his own case, he arguesto that of all, that the destruction of man’s enjoyments isascribable to sin.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity,…. The psalmist illustrates his own case, before suggested, by the common case and condition of men, when God corrects them; which he has a right to do, as the Father of spirits, and which he does with rebukes; sometimes with rebukes of wrath, with furious rebukes, rebukes in flames of fire, as the men of the world; and sometimes with rebukes of love, the chastenings of a father, as his own dear children; and always for iniquity, whether one or another; and not the iniquity of Adam is here meant, but personal iniquity: and correction for it is to be understood of some bodily affliction, as the effect of it shows;
thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth; that is, secretly, suddenly, and at once; as a moth eats a garment, and takes off the beauty of it; or as easily as a moth is crushed between a man’s fingers; so the Targum;
“he melts away as a moth, whose body is broken:”
the Vulgate Latin, Septuagint, Ethiopic, and Arabic versions, and so the metaphrase of Apollinarius, read, as a spider which destroys itself. The word rendered “beauty” takes in all that is desirable in man; as his flesh, his strength, his comeliness, his pleasantness of countenance, c. all which are quickly destroyed by a distemper of the body seizing on it wherefore the psalmist makes and confirms the conclusion he had made before:
surely every man [is] vanity; [See comments on Ps 39:5];
Selah; on this word, [See comments on Ps 3:2].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(11) When.This is unnecessary. With judgments for sin Thou chastenest a man.
Rebukes.The word rendered reproofs in Psa. 38:14, where see Note.
Beauty.Literally, Something desirable. (See margin.) Thou, like a moth (consuming a garment: see Pr. Bk. Version), causest his desirable things to melt. (For the image, singularly apt. and natural in a country where changes of raiment were so prized, and hoarded up as wealth, comp. Job. 13:28; Mat. 6:19; Jas. 5:2.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
11. When thou with rebukes Still the psalmist holds before him the avenging hand of God, as in vers. 9, 10, as the efficient cause of his affliction.
Beauty to consume away like a moth Judgments cause the beauty of man to perish, as the garment falls into shreds when eaten by the clothes-moth. The figure is quite common, but startling, (Job 4:19; Job 13:28; Isaiah 1, 9; Hos 5:12; Mat 6:19😉 and more impressive in the East, as abundance of clothing was coveted as a token of wealth and rank, with greater exposure to the , ( ‘ash,) or destructive clothes-moth, whose work was stealthy and silent.
Surely every man is vanity Surely a breath is every man. A refrain of Psa 39:6
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 39:11. Like a moth i.e. “As a moth consumes a garment.” The Chaldee paraphrase has it, like a moth broken asunder; but the phrase is more properly applied to the moth’s consuming other things, and not to the being itself consumed: thus Hos 5:12. I will be to Ephraim as a moth; i.e. “I will consume him.” and Isa 50:9. The moth shall eat them as a garment.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psa 39:11 When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man [is] vanity. Selah.
Ver. 11. When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity ] Or shouldest thou but correct him according to his iniquity; correct him, I say, or instruct him. Kimchi’s note here is, Morbi sunt interpretes inter Deum et homines increpantes, ut Job 33:19 . Diseases are God’s chiding messages or real rebukes.
Thou makest his beauty
To consume away like a moth
Surely every man is vanity. Selah
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
man. Hebrew. ‘ish. App-14. See note on “moth”, below.
moth. Hebrew. ‘ash. Forming the Figure of speech Paronomasia (App-6), connecting man (‘ish) with a moth (‘ash).
Selah. Connecting human vanity with an abiding reality and a divinely provided resource prayer, and hope in Jehovah. See App-66.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 39:11
Psa 39:11
“When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity,
Thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth;
Surely every man is vanity. (Selah)”
This is a comment upon the dire results of being rebuked by God for iniquity. It is no light thing at all. “When God corrects a man for sin, he consumes what the man holds dear, just like a moth eats up clothes.”
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 39:11. Here we see the writer speaks of man in general which shows he did not have anything special in mind about his own experiences under the discipline of God. But the chastisement coming from the Lord will expose the vanity of man’s earthly pretentions and desires. It will make them appear as flimsy as the moth that shines brilliantly in the light at the moment and in the next is gone out of sight.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
When: Psa 38:1-8, Psa 90:7-10, 1Co 5:5, 1Co 11:30-32, Heb 12:6, Rev 3:19
his beauty: etc. Heb. that which is to be desired in him to melt away, Psa 102:10, Psa 102:11, Job 4:19, Job 13:28, Job 30:30, Isa 50:9, Hos 5:12
surely: Psa 39:5
Reciprocal: 2Ki 19:3 – This day Job 4:21 – excellency Job 7:8 – thine eyes Job 9:25 – they flee away Job 22:4 – reprove Job 33:21 – His flesh Psa 32:4 – hand Psa 38:2 – thy hand Psa 49:14 – their Psa 62:9 – Surely Psa 80:16 – perish Act 13:11 – hand Jam 5:2 – your garments
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
39:11 When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou {h} makest his {i} beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man [is] vanity. Selah.
(h) Though your open plagues do not light on them forever, yet your secret curse continually frets them.
(i) The word signifies all that he desires, as health, force, strength, beauty, and in whatever he has delight, so that the rod of God takes away all that is desired in this world.