Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 39:4
LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it [is; that] I may know how frail I [am].
4. His prayer is not that he may know how much of life is left him; as the P.B.V. that I may be certified how long I have to live, paraphrasing the LXX. : ut sciam quid desit mihi, Vulg.: but that he may realise how surely life must end, and how brief it must be at best. What it is = how short it is.
that I may know ] Better, as R.V., let me know. Frail, lit, ceasing, transitory.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
4 6. Silence has proved impossible. He must give vent to his emotions, and he breaks out into a prayer that he may be taught so to understand the frailty of his life and the vanity of human aims, that he may be led back from selfish, envious, murmuring thoughts, to rest in submission to God’s will. Cp. Psa 90:12.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Lord, make me to know mine end – This expresses evidently the substance of those anxious and troubled thoughts Psa 39:1-2 to which he had been unwilling to give utterance. His thoughts turned on the shortness of life; on the mystery of the divine arrangement by which it had been made so short; and on the fact that so many troubles and sorrows had been crowded into a life so frail and so soon to terminate. With some impatience, and with a consciousness that he had been indulging feelings on this subject which were not proper, and which would do injury if they were expressed before men, he now pours out these feelings before God, and asks what is to be the end of this; how long this is to continue; when his own sorrows will cease. It was an impatient desire to know when the end would be, with a spirit of insubmission to the arrangements of Providence by which his life had been made so brief, and by which so much suffering had been appointed.
And the measure of my days, what it is – How long I am to live; how long I am to bear these accumulated sorrows.
That I may know how frail I am – Margin: What time I have here. Prof. Alexander renders this: when I shall cease. So DeWette. The Hebrew word used here – chadel – means ceasing to be; hence, frail; then, destitute, left, forsaken. An exact translation would be, that I may know at what (time) or (point) I am ceasing, or about to cease. It is equivalent to a prayer that he might know when these sufferings – when a life so full of sorrow – would come to an end. The language is an expression of impatience; the utterance of a feeling which the psalmist knew was not right in itself, and which would do injury if expressed before men, but which the intensity of his feelings would not permit him to restrain, and to which he, therefore, gives utterance before God. Similar expressions of impatience in view of the sufferings of a life so short as this, and with so little to alleviate its sorrows, may be seen much amplified in Job 3:1-26; Job 6:4-12; Job 7:7; Job 14:1-13. Before we blame the sacred writers for the indulgence of these feelings, let us carefully examine our own hearts, and recall what has passed through our own minds in view of the mysteries of the divine administration; and let us remember that one great object of the Bible is to record the actual feelings of men – not to vindicate them, but to show what human nature is even in the best circumstances, and what the human heart is when as yet but partially sanctified.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 39:4
My heart was but within me; while I was musing, the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue, Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is, that I may know how frail I am.
A sense of our frailty a subject for prayer
Bishop Horsley says that David, moved by a godly contrition, pours forth this prayer, that he might know his end and the measure of his days.
I. Why should contrition lead to such a prayer? David speaks not of forgiveness, though that is what the contrite heart first asks for. But he does not here pray even for this. Apparently he does not, but really he does. For the prayer to be taught how frail we are, is virtually a prayer that we may be made holier, more averse from sin, and more devoted to the great end of our being. That it is this is shown–
1. By the fact that the interval between the evil work and the execution of the sentence against it causes the hearts of men to be steadfastly set in them to do evil. If penalty followed immediately on crime, men would not dare to sin as now they fearlessly do. They trust themselves to the hope that delay in punishment ever inspires. There is a sort of unacknowledged idea that what is protracted and indefinite will never take effect. A thousand things may intervene to prevent execution.
2. Or there is at work another, and not wholly different feeling. It is confessed that sin must be repented and forsaken, seeing that otherwise there will come a fearful retribution hereafter; but it is imagined that life will yet afford many opportunities, so that it is safe, or at least not imminently dangerous, to persist a while longer in criminal indulgence, which keeps up the sinner in this his procrastination. If you could practically overthrow this his theory, and substitute for it the persuasion, that in the midst of life he is in death, he would be almost compelled, by his felt exposure to danger, to make provision for the coming eternity, on the threshold of which he may be at any moment standing, and which may be upon him, in its awfulness and unchangeableness, ere he draw another breath. How many still believe the ancient lie with which the tempter deceived Eve, Ye shall not surely die. How few live as strangers and pilgrims here on earth. Instead of that there is a great settling themselves down, as if earth were their home; a slackness in religious duties, as if there were no great cause for diligence; a deferring of many sacrifices and performances, as though the case were not urgent; and this, too, where the parties not only avouch themselves careful for the soul, but are clearly to be distinguished from the great mass around them, by a general endeavour to do the will of their God. And what should we say is needed, in order to the correcting these errors and inconsistencies? What, at least, would be a mighty engine in producing greater steadfastness in the righteous, greater abstraction from earth, greater devotedness to religion? We reply without hesitation–a deep conviction of the uncertainty of life. Had men such conviction they could not live, as now they do, so entangled in the world, so eager in its service. It would warn him back from the inordinate pursuit of earthly things.
II. But note the petition itself. What a curious fact it is that such a petition should be offered unto God. Its terms are explicit enough, at least there can be little doubt as to its drift. He does not mean that God should show him the exact measure of his days and the precise number of them tie had yet to live. Such a petition would be unlawful, for it would be an intrusion into those secret things which belong only unto God. But that which the psalmist seeks to know is, the frailty of his life. This is the drift and scope of the petition, that he may have an abiding sense of the shortness and uncertainty of life. Now, is it not strange that such a prayer should be offered? I do not ask God to make me know that such and such substances are poisonous when all example testifies that they are; or that the weather is variable, when I have such continual proof of it. I do not pray to know anything, which I know indubitably from books, or testimony, or observation. Why, then, pray to be made to know how frail I am? It seems like praying to be made to know that the sun rises and sets; that storms may suddenly overcast the sky, or that any other thing may happen which we already know is wont to happen. And yet David, who was as little likely as we are to shut his eyes to well-known truths–he offers up this prayer, Lord, make me to know mine end, etc. I cannot but draw a lesson from this for ones own ministerial guidance in the discharge of the ministerial office. If there is one thing more than another I would desire to have impressed on all classes of my hearers, it is the simple, self-evident, universally confessed truth, that they are frail beings liable at any moment to death, and certain at no very distant time to be removed to another, even to an invisible world. I have already shown you that there is little needed, beyond the abiding consciousness of this truth, to produce in those who have hitherto neglected religion, an earnest heedfulness to the things of eternity; and in others, who have devoted themselves to God, an increased and increasing diligence in the culture of personal holiness. So that it will naturally be one great aim of the minister to gain power for the truth of the uncertainty of life; to withdraw it from the mass of facts, which are acknowledged rather than felt, and to place it amongst those which influence the conduct. How is tie to proceed in the accomplishment of this aim? You know very well what is ordinarily tried; and if reason sit in judgment on the matter, it might possibly pronounce it best fitted to succeed. There are arrayed all the affecting evidences that can be gathered together of human frailty. But, however fair and admirable in theory, is this course practically effective when the fact of which we desire to produce conviction is the uncertainty of life? Alas! no. The universal testimony from ministerial experience, is that a well wrought sermon on the frailty of life is commonly ineffectual to the making men on the watch for the approaches of death. Here it is that our text comes in with a great lesson. It does but echo this result of ministerial experience. The psalmist prays to be made to know his frailty; as though quite aware that meditation and observation would never bring it home to him, notwithstanding that it seemed impossible for him to shut his eyes to the fact. And if it be a thing for prayer, it is evident enough that all meditations amongst the tombs, and all musings over the dead, will be practically of no avail, except as they bring men to their knees. Here, then, is the great lesson which, as a minister, [ gather from the text. I wish to impress on you your frailty, and entreat you to let this be part of your daily prayer to the Almighty–Make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am. (Henry Melvill, B. D.)
Reflections for the New Year
I. That human life must terminate. The knowledge and belief that our times are in Gods hand have a powerful influence in making us humble, self-denied, watchful and holy. The return of day and night, the revolution of the heavenly bodies, the beating of our hearts, the circulation of the blood, every clock in our chamber, and every watch we carry, all proclaim the affecting truth, that our days are hastening to an end.
II. That the measure of our days is determined by God. The sovereignty of the Most High is eminently discovered in the various admeasurements of human life.
III. That the knowledge of our end, and of the measure, of our days is of great practical utility in the Christian life. That I may know how frail I am.
IV. That God alone can teach us the end, the measure, and the value of the present life. Lord, make me to know mine end, etc. This is a lesson which the wisdom of men cannot teach. We bear, we confess the general truth that all must die; but we act as if it were not true, as if it never were to be interpreted of ourselves I But when God teaches us our end, He inspires us with other views. No person can be indifferent to death and mortality when God is his teacher. (Christian Magazine.)
Make me to know mine end
From this prayer it would appear that men are prone to forget their end. Why do men forget their last end?
I. Negatively.
1. Not because there can be any doubt as to its importance. What a momentous event is death! The termination of our earthly connection, and our introduction into a state, mysterious, retributive, probably unalterable.
2. Not because men have no reminders of it. If you see a painting, the artist is in his grave–a book, the author is no more–a portrait, the subject is gone to dust.
3. Not because there is the slightest hope of avoiding it. It is appointed unto all men once to die.
II. Positively.
1. An instinctive repugnance to it. All men dread 2:2. The difficulty of realizing it. We cannot possibly know what it is to die. It is a knowledge that can only be got by experience.
3. The commonness of the occurrence. If only a few in a whole country died in the course of a year, and one or two in our neighbourhood, the strangeness might affect us.
4. The general hope of longevity.
5. The soul engrossing power of worldly things. What shall we eat, what shall we drink, wherewithal shall we be clothed? This is the all absorbing question. But why should men consider their latter end?
(1) To moderate their attachment to earthly things.
(2) To stimulate preparation for a higher state.
(3) To enable us to welcome it when it comes. (Homilist.)
Brief life is here our portion
Some see a kind of pettishness in this verse, the fruit of impatience under the chastening hand of God. But it is not for us to upbraid the psalmist, for what is his impatience compared to ours? David prays, Make me to know mine end. But was his frailty a secret that he could not discover? We may be sure that he knew it in part, but he wanted to know it after a more perfect way; with that spiritual enlightenment which God alone could communicate. Thus he would know–
I. His end. Do we know this?
1. Its certainty. I must die. There is no discharge in that war. Is that fact realized by us?
2. It will be our end. Not a halt, but a finale. Mine end for all things beneath the sun–sin, sorrow, service, opportunity for doing and getting good. Think of the accompaniments of our end, the last scenes here in which we shall take part. Picture it all to your minds so far as you can. Rehearse it so far as you may. And think of its results. Then it is that though we end here, we enter on the most solemn part of our existence. Whither wilt thou go? To be with Christ, or amongst the lost–which? We need to be made to know our end, made to believe in it firmly, realize it vividly, so as to be prepared for it whenever it comes.
II. The measure of his days. It is only the days of God that cannot be counted. Ours can, as poor men count their sheep, because they are so few. But the fact that man is sinful makes it blessed that his days should be few. Would we have a Voltaire for ever stalking about this world, or such as he? Let us measure our days so as not to waste them.
III. His frailty. We are like travellers on a road across which there is a deep gulf. Some know it, but most forget it. Those in the front ranks fall into it, and the others will, but as yet they think not of it. So we all go on until we come to that fatal step which will plunge us into eternity. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 4. Lord, make me to know mine end] I am weary of life; I wish to know the measure of my days, that I may see how long I have to suffer, and how frail I am. I wish to know what is wanting to make up the number of the days I have to live.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This verse contains either,
1. A correction of himself for his impatient motions or speeches, and his retirement to God for relief under these perplexing and sadding thoughts. Or,
2. A declaration of the words which he spake.
Make me to know; either,
1. Practically, so as to prepare for it. Or,
2. Experimentally, as words of knowledge are oft used. And so this is a secret desire of death, that he might be free from such torments as made his life a burden to him. Or,
3. By revelation; that I may have some prospect or foreknowledge when my calamities will be ended; which argued impatience, and an unwillingness to wait long for deliverance.
My end, i.e. the end of my life, as is evident from the following words.
What it is; how long or short it is, or the utmost extent or period of the days of my life.
How frail I am; or, how long (or, how little, for the word may be and is by divers interpreters taken both ways) time I have or shall continue here.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4-7. Some take these words asthose of fretting, but they are not essentially such. The tinge ofdiscontent arises from the character of his suppressed emotions. But,addressing God, they are softened and subdued.
make me to know mineendexperimentally appreciate.
how frail I amliterally,”when I shall cease.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Lord, make me to know mine end,…. Not Christ, the end of the law for righteousness, as Jerom interprets it; nor how long he should live, how many days, months, and years more; for though they are known of God, they are not to be known by men; but either the end of his afflictions, or his, latter end, his mortal state, that he might be more thoughtful of that, and so less concerned about worldly things, his own external happiness, or that of others; or rather his death; see Job 6:11; and his sense is, that he might know death experimentally; or that he might die: this he said in a sinful passionate way, as impatient of his afflictions and exercises; and in the same way the following expressions are to be understood;
and the measure of my days, what it [is]; being desirous to come to the end of it; otherwise he knew it was but as an hand’s breadth, as he says in Ps 39:5;
[that] I may know how frail I [am]; or “what time I have here”; or “when I shall cease to be” u; or, as the Targum is, “when I shall cease from the world”; so common it is for the saints themselves, in an angry or impatient fit, to desire death; see Job 7:15; and a very rare and difficult thing it is to wish for it from right principles, and with right views, as the Apostle Paul did, Php 1:23.
u “quanti aevi ego”, Montanus; “quamdiu roundanus ero”, Vatablus; “quam brevis temporis sim”, Musculus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(Heb.: 39:5-7) He prays God to set the transitoriness of earthly life clearly before his eyes (cf. Psa 90:12); for if life is only a few spans long, then even his suffering and the prosperity of the ungodly will last only a short time. Oh that God would then grant him to know his end (Job 6:11), i.e., the end of his life, which is at the same time the end of his affliction, and the measure of his days, how it is with this ( , interrog. extenuantis , as in Psa 8:5), in order that he may become fully conscious of his own frailty! Hupfeld corrects the text to , after the analogy of Psa 89:48, because cannot signify “frail.” But signifies that which leaves off and ceases, and consequently in this connection, finite and transitory or frail. , quam, in connection with an adjective, as in Psa 8:2; Psa 31:20; Psa 36:8; Psa 66:3; Psa 133:1. By (the customary form of introducing the propositio minor , Lev 10:18; Lev 25:20) the preceding petition is supported. God has, indeed, made the days, i.e., the lifetime, of a man , handbreadths, i.e., He has allotted to it only the short extension of a few handbreadths (cf. , a few days, e.g., Isa 65:20), of which nine make a yard (cf. in Mimnermus, and 1Sa 20:3); the duration of human life (on vid., Psa 17:14) is as a vanishing nothing before God the eternal One. The particle is originally affirmative, and starting from that sense becomes restrictive; just as is originally restrictive and then affirmative. Sometimes also, as is commonly the case with , the affirmative signification passes over into the adversative (cf. verum, verum enim vero ). In our passage, agreeably to the restrictive sense, it is to be explained thus: nothing but mere nothingness (cf. Psa 45:14; Jam 1:2) is every man , standing firmly, i.e., though he stand never so firmly, though he be never so stedfast (Zec 11:16). Here the music rises to tones of bitter lament, and the song continues in Psa 39:7 with the same theme. , belonging to the same root as , signifies a shadow-outline, an image; the is, as in Psa 35:2, Beth essentiae: he walks about consisting only of an unsubstantial shadow. Only , breath-like, or after the manner of breath (Psa 144:4), from empty, vain motives and with vain results, do they make a disturbance (pausal fut. energicum, as in Psa 36:8); and he who restlessly and noisily exerts himself knows not who will suddenly snatch together, i.e., take altogether greedily to himself, the many things that he heaps up ( , as in Job 27:16); cf. Isa 33:4, and on – am = , Lev 15:10 (in connection with which , cf. Isa 42:16, is in the mind of the speaker).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
4. O Jehovah! cause me to know my end. It appears from this, that David was transported by an improper and sinful excess of passion, seeing he finds fault with God. This will appear still more clearly from the following verses. It is true, indeed, that in what follows he introduces pious and becoming prayers, but here he complains, that, being a mortal man, whose life is frail and transitory, he is not treated more mildly by God. Of this, and similar complaints, the discourses of Job are almost full. It is, therefore, not without anger and resentment that David speaks in this manner: “O God, since thou art acting with so much severity towards me, at least make me to know how long thou hast appointed me to live. But is it so, that my life is but a moment, why then dost thou act with so great rigour? and why dost thou accumulate upon my head such a load of miseries, as if I had yet many ages to live? What does it profit me to have been born, if I must pass the period of my existence, which is so brief, in misery, and oppressed with a continued succession of calamities?”
Accordingly, this verse should be read in connection with the following one. Behold, thou hast made my days as a hand-breadth. A hand-breadth is the measure of four fingers, and is here taken for a very small measure; as if it had been said, the life of man flies swiftly away, and the end of it, as it were, touches the beginning. Hence the Psalmist concludes that all men are only vanity before God. As to the meaning of the words, he does not ask that the brevity of human life should be shown to him, as if he knew it not. There is in this language a kind of irony, as if he had said, Let us count the number of the years which still remain to me on earth, and will they be a sufficient recompense for the miseries which I endure? Some render the word חדל, chedel, mundane; and others temporal, that is to say, that which endures only for a time. But the latter rendering is not appropriate in this place: for David does not as yet expressly declare the shortness of his life, but continues to speak on that subject ambiguously. If the word mundane is adopted, the sense will be, Show me whether thou wilt prolong my life to the end of the world. But in my judgment, the translation which I have followed is much more appropriate; and, besides, there may have been a transposition of the letters ד, daleth, and ל, lamed, making the word chedel for cheled. It may, however, very properly be taken for an age or period of life. (66) When he says that his age is, as it were, nothing before God, in order to excite God so much the more to pity and compassion, he appeals to him as a witness of his frailty, intimating, that it is not a thing unknown to him how transitory and passing the life of man is. The expression, wholly or altogether vanity, (67) implies that among the whole human race there is nothing but vanity. He declares this of men, even whilst they are standing; (68) that is to say, when, being in the prime and vigor of life, they wish to be held in estimation, and seem to themselves to be men possessed of considerable influence and power. It was the pangs of sorrow which forced David to give utterance to these complaints; but it is to be observed, that it is chiefly when men are sore oppressed by adversity that they are made to feel their nothingness in the sight of God. Prosperity so intoxicates them, that, forgetful of their condition, and sunk in insensibility, they dream of an immortal state on earth. It is very profitable for us to know our own frailty, but we must beware lest, on account of it, we fall into such a state of sorrow as may lead us to murmur and repine. David speaks truly and wisely in declaring, that man, even when he seems to have risen to the highest state of greatness, is only like the bubble which rises upon the water, blown up by the wind; but he is in fault when he takes occasion from this to complain of God. Let us, therefore, so feel the misery of our present condition, as that, however cast down and afflicted, we may, as humble suppliants, lift up our eyes to God, and implore his mercy. This we find David does a little after, having corrected himself; for he does not continue to indulge in rash and inconsiderate lamentations, but lifting up his soul in the exercise of faith, he attains heavenly consolation.
(66) “ Mine age, i. e. , the whole extent of my life.” — Cresswell.
(67) The word הבל, hebel, rendered vanity, according to some, means the mirage, that deceptive appearance of a collection of waters in the distance, which the traveler, through the Arabian deserts, imagines he sees before him, and from which he fondly hopes to quench his thirst; but which, upon his coming up to it, he finds to be only burning sands, to which the reflection of the light of the sun had given the appearance of a lake of water. According to others, vanity means a vapor, as the breath of one’s mouth, which speedily vanishes; to which the apostle refers in Jas 4:14. “I take the word in its proper sense,” [vapor,] says Bishop Mant, “as more poetical and energetic than the derivative one of ‘vanity.’” See Simonis and Parkhurst on הבל. Abel gave to his second son the name of Hebel, vanity, and here David declares that כל-אדם col-adam, all adam, every man is hebel, vanity.
(68) This word here rendered standeth “is well paraphrased by Dathe, ‘ Dum firmissime constitutus videatur.’” — Rogers ’ Psalms in Heb. , volume 2, p. 200.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(4) Rhythmically and from every other reason the psalm onward from this verse must be treated as the utterance to which the poets feelings have at length driven him.
How frail I am.This is to be preferred to the margin, which follows the LXX. and Vulg. The Hebrew word, from a root meaning to leave off, though in Isa. 53:3 it means forsaken, here, as in Eze. 3:27, is active, and implies ceasing to live.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. Make me to know mine end The first utterance gives expression to the thought which was uppermost. He would know why he should be thus cut off in the midst of his days, as one not fit to live, and that, if such were the will of God, he might duly act with reference thereto.
How frail How passing away, transitory. Margin, “what time I have here.” See Psa 89:47
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2). His concern was with his awareness of his own frailty and of the fact that life appears on the whole to be vain and that a man does not know what will happen to the possessions that he has built up once he is dead. Thus as he lies on his sickbed it raises the question of the very meaning and purpose of life ( Psa 39:4-6 ).
Psa 39:4-5
‘YHWH, make me to know my end,
And the measure of my days, what it is,
Let me know how frail I am.
Behold, you have made my days as handbreadths,
And my lifetime is as nothing before you,
He calls on YHWH to bring home to him how short his life is, what the measure of his days is, and how frail he is. Indeed he recognises that each of his days are but a handsbreadth, a tiny length of time in the great ocean of time, and that his whole life from start to finish is as nothing before God.
Psa 39:6
Surely every man at his best estate,
Is altogether vanity.’ Selah.
Only in an image does a man walk,
Only (for) a breath do they make a noise,
He heaps up riches,
And knows not who will gather them.
And meanwhile what value does that life have? Even at a man’s very best it is simply vanity. Man’s life is like a dream, a passing image, only for a fleeting breath can men make a noise and enjoy themselves. And during this passing dream he builds up wealth and possessions only for them to fall into other hands in a way which is out of his control. And who knows what they will do with them? Such is life without God.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Psa 39:4. Lord, make me to know mine end, &c. The Lord hath shewn me my end, and the measure of my days what it is: I know how perishing I am. Mudge; who observes, that this translation seems much better to agree with what follows, and indeed the whole design of the psalm, than if in the imperative.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
DISCOURSE: 568
THE SHORTNESS OF HUMAN LIFE
Psa 39:4-5. Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am. Behold, thou hast made my days as an hand-breadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee! verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity.
THERE is nothing more painful to a pious mind than to see how generally religion is neglected and despised. A godly man delights to speak of the things which are nearest to his heart: but he is often constrained to be silent, lest he should only induce the persons whose welfare he would promote, to blaspheme God, and to increase thereby their own guilt and condemnation. Gladly would he benefit all around him: but in many cases he perceives, that the very attempt to do so would be to cast pearls before swine. In tenderness to them therefore, as well as from a regard to his own feelings, he imposes a restraint upon himself in their presence, and refrains even from good words, though it is a pain and a grief to him to do so. Such was Davids situation when he penned this psalm. He was grieved to think that rational and immortal beings, standing on the very verge of eternity, should act so irrational a part: and not finding vent for his feelings amongst men, he poured them out before God in the words which we have just read; and intreated, that, however careless others were about the concerns of eternity, he might be more deeply and abidingly impressed with them.
Wishing that your minds may be suitably affected with this all-important subject, I will set before you,
I.
Davids estimate of mans present state
He acknowledges that he himself could form but a very inadequate notion respecting it
[Speculatively indeed he knew well enough, that mans days are but few at all events, and quite uncertain as to their continuance: but the deep, and practical, and influential sense of it he had not in any degree equal to its importance; nor could he impress it on his own soul, without the powerful assistance of Gods Holy Spirit. Hence he poured forth this earnest petition to his God, Lord, make me to know my end! make me to know how frail I am!
It is thus with us also. Speculatively, the most ignorant amongst us has as perfect a knowledge of the subject as the most learned: but, practically, no one knows it, unless he have been taught of God: and even those who have heard and learned it of the Father, need to be taught it more deeply from day to day.
That children do not reflect upon it, we do not wonder, because of the vanity of their minds, and their almost entire want of serious consideration. But when persons are grown to maturity, we might well expect them to feel so obvious a truth. They see that multitudes are cut off at their age; and they know that with the termination of the present life all opportunities of preparing for eternity must cease: yet they not only do not lay these considerations to heart, but they will not hear of them, or endure to have them presented to their view. Nor are those who are more advanced in life at all more thoughtful on this subject. Engaged in worldly business, and occupied in providing for their families, they put the thoughts of eternity as far from them as they did amidst the more pleasurable pursuits of youth. And even when they attain to old age, they are as far from realizing the expectations of death and judgment as ever. They know, in a speculative way, that they are nearer to the grave than they were in early life, and that they may at no distant period expect a change. But still these views are no more influential on their minds than they were at any former period of their lives. A condemned criminal, who has but a few days to live, feels that every hour brings him nearer to the time appointed for his execution: but not so the man who is bowed down with years: the very habit of living puts at an indefinite distance the hour of death; and days and months pass on without ever bringing at all nearer to his apprehensions the time of his dissolution. Even the sick labour under the same mental blindness. They attend to the fluctuations of their disorder; and one single symptom of convalescence does more to remove the expectation of death from them, than many proofs of augmented debility do to bring it home to their feelings with suitable apprehensions: they are still buoyed up with hopes from the skill of their medical attendant, when all around them see that they are sinking fast into the grave. Whatever be a mans age or state, it is God, and God alone, that can make him thoroughly to know and feel how frail he is.]
Nevertheless the view here given us is truly just
[The life of man is so short, as to be really nothing before God. The comparison of it to an hand-breadth is peculiarly deserving of our attention; because by that image every man has, placed as it were before his eyes, the measure of his days: he cannot look upon his hand without calling to mind how frail he is, and how soon his present state of existence must come to an end. Let him divide his life into the periods of youth, manhood, and old age; and let him in his own apprehension divide his measure also; and it will bring to his imagination, in a very forcible way, the truth which he is so backward to contemplate. A great variety of other images are used in Scripture to convey this truth: life is compared to a shuttle which flies quickly through the loom [Note: Job 7:6-7.]: to a ship, which soon passes away, and leaves no trace behind it: to an eagle, which, with the rapidity of lightning, hasteth to its prey [Note: Job 9:25-26.]: but the image in our text is more striking than them all; because, whilst it is peculiarly simple, it is also practical, embodied, portable. Not that any image is sufficient to paint the shortness and uncertainty of life in its true colours; for before God, with whom one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day [Note: 2Pe 3:8.], it is absolutely as nothing.
As far as words can describe the state of man, truly the Psalmist has done it in our text. Man is vanity; not only vain, but vanity itself. Every man is so: not only the poor and ignorant, but the rich and learned: as it is said, Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie: to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity [Note: Psa 62:8.]. And this they are in their best state; even in the vigour of youth, and in the midst of all the pleasures and honours that their hearts can wish. And they are so altogether, both in mind and body; for their body is crushed before the moth; and in respect of mind, they are, as far as spiritual things are concerned, like the wild asss colt. This description may appear exaggerated: but it is true: yes, verily, things are so, whether we will believe it or not: and if any deny it, our answer is, Let God be true; but every man a liar.]
Such being the real state of man, I will endeavour to shew you,
II.
The vast importance of being duly impressed with it
It was the want of this knowledge that made the adversaries of David so proud and contemptuous: and it was from a conviction of these truths that David was led so deeply to bewail their infatuation. A due consideration of the shortness and uncertainty of life would be of infinite service,
1.
To diminish our anxieties about the things of time
[We should think but little of our pleasures, or riches, or honours, if we considered how short a time they would continue, and that they may all vanish, together with life itself, the very next hour. Examples in abundance there are, in every age and place, to shew the extreme vanity of all that the world calls good and great. It is not in the Bible only that we see those who promised themselves years wherein to enjoy their newly-acquired wealth, cut short, and called in an instant to their great account: we see it continually before our eyes: the messenger of death is sent to many, who think of their end as little as any of us can do; and the sentence, Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be required of thee, is executed without any previous notice or expectation. If it be thought that still, if not in their own persons, yet in their heirs, they enjoy the things for which they have laboured; I answer, that they are often deprived of those very heirs, on whose aggrandizement they had set their hearts; and are constrained to leave their wealth to others who are comparatively strangers to them. Moreover, supposing their destined heir to succeed to their wealth, they little know what effect it may have upon him, and whether he may not dissipate it all in a tenth part of the time that it took them to amass it. Solomon mentions this as a very great drawback upon human happiness: I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun; because I should leave it to the man that shall be after me; and who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool? yet shall he have rule over all my labour wherein I have laboured, and wherein I have shewn myself wise under the sun. This is also vanity [Note: Ecc 2:18-19.]. It is probable that Solomon saw how weak his son Rehoboam was: and certainly, of all the instances that ever occurred of the vanity of human grandeur, this is the greatest: for Solomons head was scarcely laid in the grave, before ten of the tribes out of the twelve revolted from his son, and, instead of being his subjects, became his rivals and enemies [Note: 1Ki 12:16; 1Ki 12:19.]: and in the space of fire years afterwards, all the treasures, with which Solomon had enriched both his own house and the temple of the Lord, were taken away by an invading enemy; and brazen shields were made by his son to replace the golden shields with which the temple had been adorned [Note: 1Ki 14:25-27.]. How strongly does this illustrate those words of David which immediately follow my text! Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and cannot tell who shall gather them. Assuredly, all our feelings, whether of hope or fear, whether of joy or sorrow, whether for ourselves or others, would be moderated, if only the thought of the transitoriness and uncertainty of human affairs were once duly impressed upon our minds: those who have wives, would be as though they had none; those who weep, as though they wept not; and those who rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; those who buy, as though they bought not: and those who use this world, as not abusing it: the one thought, I say, how transient every thing in this world is, would produce in us, if not an indifference to the concerns of time, yet at least a moderation in our regard for them [Note: 1Co 7:29-31.].]
2.
To augment our diligence in preparing for eternity
[Who that considered the uncertainty of life, would defer the concerns of his soul, which are of more importance than ten thousand worlds! It were rather to be expected that such an one would give neither sleep to his eyes nor slumber to his eyelids, till he should have secured, beyond a possibility of doubt, the favour of his God. One would think that every hour spent in any other pursuit should be grudged by him; and that, whatever efforts were made to divert his attention to any other subject, he should say with Nehemiah, I am doing a great work, and cannot come down [Note: Neh 6:3.]. With what care, under such impressions, would a person read the word of God! With what humility would he attend divine ordinances! With what strong crying and tears would he present his supplications at the throne of grace! How, in all that he did, would he resemble those who contended in the Olympic games, running, wrestling, fighting as for their very life! The man with the avenger of blood close at his heels would not exert himself more to reach the city of refuge, than such a one would in fleeing from the wrath to come. It is only those who promise themselves days and months to come, that can sleep at their post, and dream of more convenient seasons, which may never arrive [Note: Jam 4:13-14.]
In this view then I cannot too earnestly entreat you to offer, each of you for yourselves, the prayer of David, Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am! And I beseech you to get his estimate of human life so graven on your hearts, that you may walk under the influence of it to the latest hour of your lives. In a word, My hearts desire and prayer to God for every one of you is, that you may be so wise as to redeem your time, and be so taught to number your days as to apply your hearts unto wisdom [Note: Psa 90:12.].]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
What a devout prayer this is, and what blessedness is intended in the discovery. Observe what the object of the petition is; not to know the hour of death, or the place of departure, or the means God in wisdom might appoint to produce the termination of life; these were not the subjects the Psalmist had in view; but that grace might so impress his mind with a sense of the frailty of life’s tenure, that an habitual preparation, like a pilgrim on his journey, might make him always ready for the call. How sweetly and affectionately Jesus enforceth this, when he saith, Be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. Mat 24:44 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 39:4 LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it [is; that] I may know how frail I [am].
Ver. 4. Lord, make me to know mine end ] This Austin expoundeth of heaven, the end of all his troubles, which he now sighed after. But Vatablus, Calvin, and most modern interpreters conceive that David doth here ingenuously confess that he grudged against God; considering the greatness of his grief and the shortness of his life.
And the measure of my days
That I may know how frail I am
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
frail = short lived.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 39:4
Psa 39:4
“Jehovah, make me to know mine end,
And the measure of my days, what it is;
Let me know how frail I am.”
Barnes and many other scholars have labeled this request of David, “As an expression of impatience … which the psalmist knew was not right”; but it is possible that something else is intended here. Addis points out that, according to Duhm, “In this Psalm, the psalmist has the idea of personal and conscious immortality before him. He longs to know whether his life, or at least his full conscious life, is to cease with death; and he here asks God to teach him this mystery.
Only a very slight emendation to the text led to Duhm’s translation of this clause in Psa 39:4, “Let me know whether I shall cease to be.” This more properly fits the great prophet David than does the other supposition. Hengstenberg, as quoted by Rawlinson, also insisted that the only possible translation of this clause is, “That I may know when I shall cease to be.
As Yates pointed out, “This prayer is essentially a prayer for knowledge,” and, of course, there can be no criticism of any such prayer.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 39:4. David did not expect the Lord to name the day on which he would die. Make to know meant to help him realize the shortness and uncertainty of this life.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
make: Psa 90:12, Psa 119:84, Job 14:13
how frail I am: or, what time I have here
Reciprocal: Job 7:1 – Is there Job 14:5 – his days 1Co 7:29 – the time
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 39:4. Lord, make me to know mine end The end of my life, as is evident from the following words; and the measure of my days, what it is How short it is; or, how near is the period of the days of my life; that I may know how frail I am Hebrew, , meh-chadeel ani, quam desinens sire, quam cito desinam esse, quam parum durem, what a transient, momentary being I am, how soon I shall cease to be, how little a while I shall continue, namely, on earth. He does not mean, Lord, let me know exactly how long I shall live, and when I shall die. He could not in faith ask this, God having nowhere promised his people such knowledge, but having in wisdom locked it up among the secret things which belong not to us, and which it would not be good for us to know; but his meaning is, Give me wisdom and grace to consider my end, and how short the measure of my days will be, and to improve what I know concerning it. The living know they shall die, but few so reflect on this as to make a right use of this knowledge. Bishop Patrick thus paraphrases his words: Lord, I do not murmur nor repine at my sufferings; but that I may be able to bear them still patiently, make me sensible, I humbly beseech thee, how short this frail life is, and how soon it will have an end; that, duly considering this, I may be the less concerned about the miseries I endure, which will end together with it. Thus, wearied with the contradiction of sinners, and sickening at the prospect of so much wretchedness in the valley of weeping, the soul of the pious Christian looks forward to her departure from hence, praying for such a sense of the shortness of human life as may enable her to bear the sorrows of this world, and excite her to prepare for the joys of a better.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
David finally found relief in expressing his frustration to God. He prayed that God would teach him to appreciate the brevity of human life (cf. Psa 90:10; Psa 90:12). Evidently David was an old man at this time. His life seemed very short looking back on it. People measured short distances with handbreadths in David’s time (Psa 39:5). The pursuits of life are relatively insignificant in view of the short time we live.