24 I said, “My God, don’t take me away in the middle of my days. Your years are throughout all generations.
25 Of old, you laid the foundation of the earth. The heavens are the work of your hands.
26 They will perish, but you will endure. Yes, all of them will wear out like a garment. You will change them like a cloak, and they will be changed.
27 But you are the same. Your years will have no end.
KJVKing James Version
24 I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: thy years are throughout all generations.
25 Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands.
26 They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed:
27 But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end.
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JPSJPS Tanakh (1917)
24 (102-25) I say: 'O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days, Thou whose years endure throughout all generations.
25 (102-26) Of old Thou didst lay the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the work of Thy hands.
26 (102-27) They shall perish, but Thou shalt endure; yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt Thou change them, and they shall pass away;
27 (102-28) But Thou art the selfsame, and Thy years shall have no end.
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Will the earth last forever?Deuteronomy 4:40, Psalm 37:29, Psalm 78:69, Psalm 104:5, and Ecclesiastes 1:4 all assert that the earth abides forever — Psalm 104:5 specifically says it 'shou…
Genesis 1:1(v25)In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
Isaiah 51:6(v26)Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens will vanish away like smoke, and the earth will wear out…
Exodus 20:11(v25)for in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore Yahweh blessed the…
Matthew 24:35(v26)Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
Hebrews 1:10-12(v25)And, “You, Lord, in the beginning, laid the foundation of the earth. The heavens are the works of your hands. They will perish, but you…
Show all 35 cross-references
Hebrews 13:8(v27)Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Jeremiah 32:17(v25)“Ah Lord Yahweh! Behold, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm. There is nothing too…
Malachi 3:6(v27)“For I, Yahweh, don’t change; therefore you, sons of Jacob, are not consumed.
James 1:17(v27)Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, nor turning…
Luke 21:33(v26)Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away.
Revelation 1:8(vv24, 27)“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Isaiah 34:4(v26)All of the army of the sky will be dissolved. The sky will be rolled up like a scroll, and all its armies will fade away, as a leaf fades…
Job 36:26(vv24, 27)Behold, God is great, and we don’t know him. The number of his years is unsearchable.
Psalms 90:4(v27)For a thousand years in your sight are just like yesterday when it is past, like a watch in the night.
Hebrews 3:3-4(v25)For he has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, because he who built the house has more honor than the house. For every house is…
Revelation 1:17-18(v27)When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He laid his right hand on me, saying, “Don’t be afraid. I am the first and the last,…
Genesis 2:1(v25)The heavens, the earth, and all their vast array were finished.
Psalms 39:13(v24)Oh spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go away and exist no more.”
Habakkuk 1:12(v24)Aren’t you from everlasting, Yahweh my God, my Holy One? We will not die. Yahweh, you have appointed him for judgment. You, Rock, have…
John 8:58(v27)Jesus said to them, “Most certainly, I tell you, before Abraham came into existence, I AM.”
Revelation 20:11(v26)I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. There was found no place for them.
Job 38:4-7(v25)“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if you have understanding. Who determined its measures, if you know? Or…
Psalms 96:5(v25)For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but Yahweh made the heavens.
Proverbs 8:23-36(v25)I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, before the earth existed. When there were no depths, I was born, when there were no…
Psalms 102:12(vv24, 26)But you, Yahweh, will remain forever; your renown endures to all generations.
Isaiah 38:10-22(v24)I said, “In the middle of my life I go into the gates of Sheol. I am deprived of the residue of my years.” I said, “I won’t see Yah, Yah in…
Isaiah 66:22(v26)“For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me,” says Yahweh, “so your offspring and your name shall…
Romans 8:20(v26)For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but because of him who subjected it, in hope
Revelation 21:1(v26)I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away, and the sea is no more.
Psalms 9:7(v24)But Yahweh reigns forever. He has prepared his throne for judgment.
Psalms 90:1-2(v24)Lord, you have been our dwelling place for all generations. Before the mountains were born, before you had formed the earth and the world,…
Isaiah 65:17(v26)“For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things will not be remembered, nor come into mind.
2 Peter 3:7-12(v26)But the heavens that exist now and the earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and…
Revelation 1:4(v24)John, to the seven assemblies that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from God, who is and who was and who is to come; and from the seven…
Exodus 3:14(v26)God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM,” and he said, “You shall tell the children of Israel this: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”
35 distinct cross-references across this passage (38 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (17 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
John Calvin1540 · Public DomainOn vv24–25What then does the prophet mean when he prays,…
What then does the prophet mean when he prays, Let us not perish in the midst of our course? The reason stated in the clause immediately following, Thy years are from generation to generation, seems to be quite inapplicable in the present case. Because God is everlasting, does it therefore follow that men will be everlasting too? But on Psalm 90:2, we have shown how we may with propriety bring forward his eternity, as a ground of confidence in reference to our salvation; for he desires to be known as eternal, not only in his mysterious and incomprehensible essence, but also in his word, according to the declaration of the Prophet Isaiah,
“All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field; but the word of our God shall stand for ever.” Isaiah 40:6-8
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Now since God links us to himself by means of his word, however great the distance of our frail condition from his heavenly glory, our faith should nevertheless penetrate to that blessed state from which he looks down upon our miseries. Although the comparison between his eternal existence and the brief duration of human life is introduced also for another purpose, yet when he sees that men pass away as it were in a moment, and speedily evanish, it moves him to compassion, as shall presently be declared at greater length.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators1599 · Public DomainOn v26If heaven and earth perish, much more man shall…
If heaven and earth perish, much more man shall perish: but the Church by reason of God’s promise endureth forever.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv24–27Psa 102:24 I said, O my God, take me…
Psa 102:24 I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: thy years [are] throughout all generations.
Ver. 24. Take me not away in the midst of my days] Heb. Make me not to ascend, Serus in coelum redeam. Fain I would live to see those golden days of redemption. Abraham desired to see the day of Christ, Joh 8:56; Simeon did, and then sang out his soul. All the saints after the captivity looked hard for the consolation of Israel.
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Thy years are throughout all generations] And that is the comfort of thy poor covenanters, who are sure to participate of all thy goods.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv24–26Take me not away; do not wholly cut off…
Take me not away; do not wholly cut off and destroy thy people of Israel. In the midst of my days; before they come to a full age and stature, and to the plenary possession of thy promises, and especially of that great and fundamental promise of the Messias, in and by whom alone their happiness is to be completed, and until whose coming thy church is in its nonage; of which see Gal 4:1-4. Possibly the psalmist (whom some learned interpreters suppose to be Daniel) may have respect to that prophecy, Dan 9:24,25, which probably was published before this time; for this time was almost precisely the midst of the days between the building of the material temple by Solomon, and the building of the spiritual temple, or the church, by the Messias; there being about a thousand years distance between those two periods, whereof seventy prophetical weeks, or four hundred and ninety years, were yet to come. And so he prays that God would not root them out in this Babylonish captivity, but would graciously restore them to their own land, and preserve them as a church and nation there until the coming of the Messias.
Thy years are throughout all generations: though we successively die and perish, yet thou art the everlasting and unchangeable God, and therefore art and wilt ever be able to deliver thy people, and faithful in performing all thy promises; and therefore we beseech thee to pity our frail and languishing state, and give us a more settled and lasting felicity than yet we have enjoyed; and therefore we trust that thy people shall continue and be established before thee, as he saith, Psa 102:28, because as thou art the everlasting God, so thou hast made an everlasting covenant with them, Psa 105:10; Isa 55:3; Jer 32:40, to be their God for ever, and therefore thou wilt not now forsake or reject us.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv24–27Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the…
Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth,.... The lower part of the creation, the Lord's footstool, called the earth beneath: this has its foundation; though what it is cannot be well said, it cannot be searched out; it is sometimes said to be founded upon the waters, and yet so as not to be removed for ever, Jer 31:37, this shows the wisdom of God, as a wise master builder, and the stability of the earth; and is a proof of the deity of Christ, to whom these words belong: this is said to be done "of old", or "at" or "in the beginning", as Jarchi and the Targum; and so in Heb 1:10, where they are applied to the Messiah, the Son of God; and this, as it proves the eternity of Christ, who must be in the beginning, and before all things, so it confutes the notion of the eternity of the earth, received by some philosophers: besides, the words may be rendered, "before" (g) "thou foundest the earth"; and so refers to the preceding, "thy years", &c. were before the earth was; that is, from eternity, and so fully express the eternal existence of Christ:
and the heavens are the work of thy hands; these are the airy and starry heavens, and the heaven of heavens; which are creatures, and not to be worshipped, made by Christ himself, and are expressive of his power, wisdom, and glory.
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(g) "antea", Pagninus, Montanus, Gejerus.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn vv24, 26I said - Do not wholly destroy thy people…
I said - Do not wholly destroy thy people Israel. In the midst - Before they come to a full possession of thy promises and especially of that fundamental promise of the Messiah. Thy years - Though we die, yet thou art the everlasting God.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv24–27Verse 24. I said, O my God] This and…
Verse 24. I said, O my God] This and the following verses seem to be the form of prayer which the captives used previously to their deliverance.
Thy years are throughout all generations.] This was a frequent argument used to induce God to hear prayer. We are frail and perishing; thou art everlasting: deliver us, and we will glorify thee.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn vv24–27Psa 102:24. But, I said, O my God, take…
Psa 102:24. But, I said, O my God, take me not away, &c. — I prayed most earnestly to him, and said, O my God, who hast so graciously begun our deliverance, take me not away before it be completely finished, but let me see thy promise fulfilled, which thou, who diest not, as we do, I am sure, wilt not fail to make good. Yes: “though I should not live to have any share in the public joy for that restoration, yet thou, who art an everlasting and immutable God, whose years are throughout all generations, wilt not fail to make those who survive me happy therein.” Those who consider the psalmist, as personating the captive Jews, interpret the verse as follows: O my God, take we not away in the midst of my days — Do not wholly cut off and destroy my people Israel before they come to a full age and stature in the plenary possession of thy promises, and especially of that great and fundamental promise of the Messiah, in and by whom alone their happiness is to be completed, and until whose coming thy church is in its nonage, Gal 4:1-4. Thy years are throughout all generations — Though we successively die and perish, yet thou art the everlasting and unchangeable God, who art, and wilt ever be, able to deliver thy people, and faithful in performing all thy promises; and therefore we beseech thee to pity our frail and languishing state, and give us a more settled and lasting felicity than we have yet enjoyed.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn vv24–25I said, O my God, take me not away…
I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days - This was the burden of my prayer, for this I earnestly pleaded. See Psa 30:9; Isa 38:1-3, Isa 38:9-18. The word used here means “to cause to ascend or go up” and the expression might have been translated, “Cause me not to ascend.” The Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate render it, “Call me not away.” Dr. Horsley,” Carry me not off.” In the word there may be an allusion - an obscure one, it is to be admitted - to the idea that the soul ascends to God when the body dies. The common idea in the Old Testament is that it would descend to the regions of the departed spirits - to Sheol. It is plain, however, that there was another idea - that the soul would ascend at once to God when death occurred. Compare Ecc 3:21; Ecc 12:7. The word rendered “in the midst” means properly in the half; as if life were divided into two portions. Compare Psa 55:23.
Thy years are throughout all generations - Thou dost not die; thou art ever the same, though the generations of people are cut off. This seems to have been said here for two reasons:
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(1) As a ground of consolation, that God was ever the same; that whatever might happen to people, to the psalmist himself, or to any other man, God was unchanged, and that his great plans would be carried forward and accomplished;
(2) As a reason for the prayer. God was eternal. He had an immortal existence. He could not die. He knew, in its perfection, the blessedness of “life” - life as such; life continued; life unending. The psalmist appeals to what God himself enjoyed - as a reason why life - so great a blessing - should be granted to him a little longer. By all that there was of blessedness in the life of God, the psalmist prays that that which was in itself - even in the case of God - so valuable, might yet a little longer be continued to “him.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn vv24–2724. In the midst of my days—In the half…
24. In the midst of my days—In the half of “my days”—when my life is only half spent. This cutting short of life was regarded as a great calamity—often a sign of judgment. As applied to the nation it was what Jeremiah had foretold to Judah, and Amos to Israel, that their “sun should go down at noon.” Jer_15:9; Amo_8:9. Perowne says: “This deprecation of a short life springs not, in this instance, from a natural clinging to life, as in the case of Hezekiah, (Isa_38:10-11,) but from the intense desire to see God’s glory manifested in Israel’s restoration.”
Thy years are throughout all generations—The consolation here drawn from the eternity of God is not in the abstract idea of his existence, but in the connecting idea of his covenant relation to his people. The generations of men perish, but the immutable word of God, like his own eternity, remains the same, and by that word Israel must be restored. See on Psa_90:1; and compare Psa_103:15-18; Isa_40:6-8
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv24, 26, 2724. I will say introduces the prayer which follows…
24. I will say introduces the prayer which follows with additional emphasis. Cp. Job_10:2.
in the midst of my days] Cp. Psa_55:23; Isa_38:10.
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thy years &c.] The eternity of God is contrasted with the transitoriness of man as in Psa_102:12; Psa_102:11.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv24–26(24) Take me not away.—The fear of not living…
(24) Take me not away.—The fear of not living to see the restoration of his race prompts the psalmist to this prayer to the God whose years are not, like man’s, for one generation, but endure from age to age.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv24–27I said, O my God, take me not away…
I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days. Compare the complaint of Hezekiah. (Isa_38:10) A pious Israelite regarded himself as entitled to a fairly long life, which was promised him directly (Exo_20:12) and by implication, since it was only the wicked that were "not to live out half their days". (Psa_55:23) Thy years are throughout all generations. Dathe and Professor Cheyne translate, "O thou, whose years are eternal." But the Hebrew will scarcely admit of this rendering.
Lives taken away in the midst.
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I WHAT LIVES ARE THESE?
1. They are not those of little children. They have not yet come to the midst of their days. And the sadness that overwhelms us when they die is, after a while, lit up with the conviction that they rest in the love of God, and can never know the sins and sorrows which men and women cannot but know.
2. But they are lives mature, but not aged lives in the full meridian of their strength. Of such the psalmist is here speaking.
3. And there are others, and yet more sad. For old age has been denied to many of God"s beloved ones to the well beloved Son himself, for he was one of those who seemed to be taken away in the midst of their days, in the very prime of his manhood and his service. We may desire length of days; many and worthy motives prompt such desire; but it is often refused. God may have some better thing for us and for our beloved ones, and so we have to go. But the real sadness is not in such shortened lives, but in those which end, it may be, not literally in the midst of their days, but with the real purpose of life unachieved. God"s forgiveness not gained because never sought after. The regenerate nature, indispensable for entrance into the kingdom of God, never desired, and therefore never striven for in faith and prayer, and therefore never given. The good works by which God should be glorified, and his fellow men cheered and blessed, never wrought, his day"s work all undone. The bright hope of eternal life with God never valued, never cherished, and now never to be realized; death coming on the man with all its sting, and the grave exulting in its victory. These are the real incompleted lives by side of which the sorrow over mere brevity of earthly life is but small indeed. God grant our lives may not be thus really cut off in the midst!
II WHEREFORE ARE THEY SO DEPRECATED? See how piteous is the psalmist"s supplication. Wherefore this? Because for him, like Moses, who"On the very verge did stand, Of the blessed promised land, but yet was never permitted to enter; so the psalmist feared that in the restoration of his own people to Zion he should not live to share. But for all, life is such a blessing when the purpose for which it was given is attained; that for men to die without that purpose being attained is sad indeed. Think of life"s capacities: what glory it may bring to God! what blessing to one"s fellow men! what peace, purity, and joy to one"s own self! And all this which might be, not attained!
III BUT THIS NEED NOT BEFALL ANY ONE. He who will commit his way unto the Lord shall find that the Lord will bring it to pass. He shall not be one who goes about asking Is life worth living? and voting it all a failure. God did not bring us into existence for nothing, or without gracious purposes of good in regard to us. He sets before us life and death, and we are free to choose. Alas! many sin blinded ones mistake the one for the other, but "whosoever will may take of the water of life freely. S.C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon1885 · Public DomainOn vv24–27Ver. 24. I said, O my God, take me…
Ver. 24. I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days. He betook himself to prayer. What better remedy is there for hcart-sickness and depression? We may lawfully ask for recovery from sickness and may hope to be heard. Good men should not dread death, but they are not forbidden to love life: for many reasons the man who has the best hope of heaven may nevertheless think it desirable to continue here a little longer, for the sake of his family, his work, the church of God, and even the glory of God itself. Some read the passage, "Take me not up, "let me not ascend like disappearing smoke, do not whirl me away like Elijah in a chariot of fire, for as yet I have only seen half my days, and that a sorrowful half; give me to live till the blustering morning shall have softened into a bright afternoon of happier existence.
Thy years are throughout all generations. Thou livest, Lord; let me live also. A fulness of existence is with thee, let me partake therein. Note the contrast between himself pining and ready to expire, and his God living on in the fulness of strength for ever and ever; this contrast is full of consolatory power to the man whose heart is stayed upon the Lord. Blessed be his name, he faileth not, and, therefore, our hope shall not fail us, neither will we despair for ourselves or for his church.
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Ver. 24. 0 my God. The leaving out one word in a will may mar the estate and disappoint all a man's hopes; the want of this one word, my (God) is the wicked man's loss of heaven, and the dagger which will pierce his heart in hell to all eternity.
The degree of satisfaction in any good is according to the degree of our union to it, (hence our delight is greater in food than in clothes, and the saint's joy is greater in God in the other world than in this, because the union is nearer;)but where there is no property there is no union, therefore no complacency. The pronoun my is as much worth to the soul as the boundless portion. All our comfort is locked up in that private cabinet. Wine in the glass doth not cheer the heart, but taken down Into the body. The property of the Psalmist's in God was the mouth whereby he fed on those dainties which did so exceedingly delight him. No love potion was ever so effectual as this pronoun. When God saith to the soul, as Ahab to Benhadad "Behold, I am thine, and all that I have, "who can tell how the heart leaps for joy in, and expires almost in desires after him upon such news! Others, like strangers, may behold his honour and excellencies, but this saint only, like the wife, enjoyeth him. Luther saith, Much religion lieth in pronouns. All our consolation, indeed, consisteth in this pronoun. It is the cup which holdeth all our cordial waters. I will undertake as bad as the devil is, he shall give the whole world, were it in his power, more freely than ever he offered it to Christ for his worship, for leave from God to pronounce those two words. MY GOD. All the joys of the believer are hung upon this one string; break that asunder, and all is lost. I have sometimes thought how David rolls it as a lump of sugar under his tongue, as one loth to lose its sweetness too soon: "I will love thee, O LORD, my strength, my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower, "Ps 18:1-2. This pronoun is the door at which the King of saints entereth into our hearts, with his whole train of delights and comforts. George Swinnock.
Ver. 24. Take me not away, is more exactly, Take me not up, with possible reference to the case of Elijah, "taken up." Henry Cowles.
Ver. 24. Take me not away in the midst of my days. The word is, "Let me not ascend in the midst of my days, "that is, before I have measured the usual course of life. Thus, to ascend is the same as to be cut off;death cuts off the best from this world, and then they ascend to a better. The word ascend is conceived to have in it a double allusion; first, to corn which is taken up by the hand of the reaper, and then laid down on the stubble. Secondly, unto the light of a candle, which as the candle spends, or as that which is the food of the fire is spending, ascends, and at last goes out and vanisheth. Joseph Caryl.
Ver. 24. Thy years are throughout all generations. The Psalmist says of Christ, "Thy years are throughout all generations, " Ps 102:24; which Psalm the apostle quoteth of him, Heb 1:10. Let us trace his existence punctually through all times. Let us go from point to point, and see how in particulars the Scriptures accord with it. The first joint of time we will begin that chronology of his existence withal is that instant afore he was to come into the world.
First, We find him to have existed just afore he came into the world, the instance of his conception, Heb 10:5, in these words, "Wherefore when he comes into the world, says he, A body hast thou prepared me." Heb 10:7, "Lo, I come to do thy will, O God." Here is a person distinct from God the Father, a me, an I, distinct also from that human nature he was to assume, which he terms a "body prepared."... Therefore besides and afore that human nature there was a divine person that existed, that was not of this world, but that came into it, "when he cometh into the world, he says, "etc., to become a part of it, and be manifested in it.
Secondly, We find him to have existed afore John the Baptist, though John was conceived and born some months afore him. I note these several joints of time because the Scripture notes them, and hath set a special mark upon them: Joh 1:15. "John bare witness of him, "and cried, saying, "This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me." This priority of existence is that which John doth specially give witness to. And it is priority in existence, for he allegeth it as a reason why he was preferred afore him; "for he was before me."
Thirdly, We find him existing when all the prophets wrote and spake, 1Pe 1:11. The Spirit of Christ is said to have been in all the prophets, even as Paul, who came after Christ, also speaks, "You seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, "2Co 13:3. And therefore he himself, whose Spirit it was, or whom he sent, must needs exist as a person sending him.
Fourthly, We find him existing in Moses' time, both because it was he that was tempted in the wilderness, "Neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents, " 1Co 10:9; and it was Christ that was the person said to be tempted by them, as well as now by us, as the word kai "as they also, "evidently shows. And it points to that angel that was sent with them, Ex 23:20-21, in whom the name of God was, and who as God had the power of pardoning sins, Ex 23:21. See also Ac 7:35, Heb 12:26.
Fifthly, We find him existing in and afore Abraham's time: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am, "Joh 8:58.
Sixthly, We find him existing in the days of Noah, 1Pe 3:19. He says of Christ, that he was "put to death in the flesh, but quickened in the Spirit." He evidently distinguisheth of two natures, his divine and human, even as Ro 1:3-4 and elsewhere; and then declares how by that divine nature, which he terms "Spirit, "in which he was existent in Noah's times, he went and preached to those of the old world, whose souls are now in prison in hell. These words, "in Spirit, "are not put to signify the subject of vivification; for such neither his soul nor Godhead could be said to be, for that is not quickened which was not dead; but for the principal and cause of his vivification, which his soul was not, but his Godhead was. And besides by his Spirit is not meant his soul, for that then must be supposed to have preached to souls in hell (where these are affirmed to be). Now, there is no preaching where there is no capacity of faith. But his meaning is, that those persons that lived in Noah's time, and were preached unto, their souls and spirits were now, when this was written, spirits in prison, that is, in hell. And therefore he also adds this word "sometimes": who were sometimes disobedient in Noah's days. These words give us to understand that this preaching was performed by Noah ministerially, yet by Christ in Noah; who according to his divine person was extant, and went with him, as with Moses, and the church in the wilderness, and preached unto them.
Seventhly, He was extant at the beginning of the world, "In the beginning was the Word." In which words, there being no predicate or attribute affirmed of this word, the sentence or affirmation is terminated or ended merely with his existence: "he was, "and he was then, "in the beginning." He says not that he was made in the beginning, but that "he was in the beginning." And it is in the beginning absolutely, without any limitation. And therefore Moses's beginning, Ge 1:1, is meant, as also the words after show, "All was made by him that was made; "and, Ge 1:10, the world he came into was made by him. And as from the beginning is usually taken from the first times or infancy of the world; so then, when God began to create, then was our Christ. And this here is set in opposition (Joh 1:14) unto the time of his being made flesh, lest that should have been thought his beginning. And unto this accords that of Heb 1:10, where, speaking of Christ, out of Ps 102:24, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundations of the earth; so as to be sure he existed then. But further, in Ps 102:24, it runs thus, Thy years are throughout all generations. We have run, you see, through all generations since the creation, and have found his years throughout them all. And yet lest that should be taken only of the generations of this world, he adds (as Rivet expounds it), Before thou laidst the foundation of the earth.
Eighthly, So then we come to this, that he hath been before the creation, yea, from everlasting.
But, Ninthly, If you would have his eternity yet more express, see Heb 7:3, where mentioning Melchisedec, Christ's type, he renders him to have been his type in this"Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually." Where his meaning is to declare that, look what Melchisedec was typice, or umbraiter, in a shadow, that our Christ was really and substantially.
Lastly, Add to this that in Mic 5:2, "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting; "where he evidently speaks of two births Christ had, under the metaphor of going forth: one as man at Bethlehem in the fulness of time, the other as Son of God from everlasting. As Son of God, his goings forth (that is, his birth) are from everlasting. And it is termed, "goings forth, "in the plural; because it is actus continuus, and hath been every moment continued from everlasting. As the sun begets light and beams every moment, so God doth his Son. So then we have two everlastings attributed to Christ's person; one to come, Heb 1:10, and another past, here in Mic 5:2. And so as of God himself it is said, Ps 90:2, "From everlasting to everlasting thou art God, "so also of Christ. Condensed from T. Goodwin's Treatise on "The Knowledge of God the Father, and his Son Jesus Christ."
Ver. 24.
1. The prayer. "Take me not away, "etc. (a) Not in the midst of life, is the prayer of some. (b) Not in the midst of worldly prosperity is the prayer of many, for the sake of those dependent upon them. (c) Not in the midst of spiritual growth, is the prayer of not a few: "Oh spare me, that I may recover strength, "etc. (d) Not in the midst of Christian work and usefulness, is the prayer of others.
2. The plea. "Thy years, "etc.; years are plentiful with thee, therefore to give me longer days will be an easy giftand thine own are throughout all generations. G. R.
Psalms 102:25*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn vv24, 26, 27I said, O my God, take me not away…
Psa_102:24
I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: Thy years are throughout all generations.
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The death of good men, in the midst of their days, considered and improved
I. The reasons of this dispensation.
1. The sovereignty of the Divine will, which is--
(1) Absolute.
(2) Uncontrollable. But the will of God is always reasonable.
2. It is a point of wisdom. We are born mortal, and under a sentence of death. When any, therefore, are removed in early life, as there is nothing uncommon and extraordinary, so it is nothing but what He has a right to do by the constitution of His law, and has reserved the judgment of to Himself. But more particularly still--
3. It is a display of His all-sufficiency, and to show that He needs not the best instruments, and the most fitted for His service, but that He can do without them, or raise up others in their room.
4. It is in great mercy to themselves. It is a great kindness to them, though it is a grief and loss to us.
(1) He sometimes removes them from the evil of the world, and impending calamities coming upon it (Isa_47:1).
(2) Or they may be taken from the snares of life, and the temptations of sin, which might prove a great disadvantage to them; and from all the conflicts and hazards of the Christian life, which they are sure to be exercised with.
(3) Besides, it is a great instance of Divine mercy that He takes them the sooner to heaven, and gives them their reward betimes. They are not only the sooner out of danger, but the sooner happy.
5. It may be considered as an act of justice, and as the punishment of sin.
(1) God may remove useful persons in the midst of their days, in rebuke for their own sin. He may see fit to contend with them for former offences (Deu_32:40).
(2) Or else they may be removed for the sins of others. God may take them away for our over-indulgence, and too great opinion and expectation from them. Gustavus Adolphus, the great patron of the Reformation, is reported to have said in the midst of his remarkable victories and success, That he believed God was about to lay him aside, because the eyes of all Europe were drawn upon him, and their expectations raised to so great a height.
(3) Or else, it may be on the other hand, when they are neglected and slighted. God sometimes punishes the ungrateful world by removing early eminent persons, whom they did not know how to value or treat with kindness.
6. It is for the good of others, and to exercise the graces and virtues of those who survive. What so proper as the thoughts of death, to inspire our sluggish souls with life and vigour, and makes us more fervent in spirit and zealous of good works, to keep up a lively sense of religion in the world, and a constant care to please God? Hereupon--
7. To be a standing monument of human frailty, and to give warning to all about them.
8. Perhaps it may be considered as an instance of our conformity to Christ. As the servant must not be above his lord, and we must not expect kinder usage from the world than He met with; so we must not wonder if we are suffered to stay no longer in it than He did.
9. It is to make heaven more desirable to us, and raise our hearts more powerfully thither.
II. Improvement of the subject.
1. We should reverence and adore the Divine sovereignty and wisdom. Does He do us any wrong when He takes away what is His, and calls back again what we first received from Him, and enjoyed so long by His leave?
2. Let us look more to God, and live more entirely upon Him.
3. Let us comfort ourselves in their loss by the consideration of the mercy it is to them. Let not us be uneasy that they are happy, and repine at that which is the matter of their joy.
4. Yet we should be humbled under the sense of their loss, and lament it as a great affliction.
5. It should teach us to value useful men while they live, and make the best use of them we can. Labour to be better for them, and get some good by them, while you have them.
6. The reasonableness of early religion, and being in good earnest in it. And here let me caution you against dangerous delays, and reckoning upon long life, and neglecting present duty.
7. What reason of thankfulness for longer life and opportunity! How great is the mercy of continued life in a view of further usefulness, and better preparation for heaven. (W. Harris, D.D.)
The year past
1. Time is a sacred deposit, entrusted to them who sometimes think they have no one talent for which they must give account at last.
2. Let us ask what new principles we have gained, or what old principles have been confirmed and strengthened in that space of time. The question I have really in sight is this--Have you been leaving the first rudiments of the faith, and going on unto perfection?
3. With regard to our habits, what use have we made of the closing year? Have evil habits loosened their hold; have good ones been grafted in their place?
4. Inquire how the year has been employed with respect to the society we have sought, the connections we have made, the friendships we have cemented. Have you been prudent? Have you never sat in the seat of the scornful; nor stood in the way of sinners? (J. B. Marsden, M. A.)
The year to come
In all undertakings, success very much depends upon the plan we have laid down to guide our conduct. What, then, are the plans by which your course is to be steered throughout the coming year? Lifes voyage will lie among hidden rocks, as well as over stormy seas. Of the dangers you will meet with, some are evident, but some cannot yet be known. How, then, do you propose to conduct the frail bark in which your all is ventured? On what principles, in what direction, do you purpose to proceed?
I. Some events may be foreseen.
1. The duties which our station will demand.
2. The difficulties with which our station in life is usually connected. We should foresee, in order to resist and conquer them. Shall we pass on as heretofore? No fresh precautions! Such indifference is the prelude to destruction.
3. What facilities our condition in life will afford for spiritual improvement. Is not the Lords Day such an one?
II. Some events are contingent as regards ourselves, though not so in the sight of God. The preparation they demand is that which events call for that may come soon, and of which some at least must come at last.
1. Unexpected sorrow may surprise us; and how soon we cannot tell, for we know not what a day may bring forth.
2. Sudden prosperity may await you. In all time of our wealth, good Lord, deliver us.
3. There is another trial which may overtake us lengthened sickness.
4. Death itself may appear within the limits of the present year. Should not a great seriousness mark our deportment? Should not the world be less, and heaven far more, in our thoughts? (J. B. Marsden, M. A.)
Fear in the prospect of death
Here a pious Israelite, whether Nehemiah, or some other, for self and for the afflicted Church; elsewhere, David, Job, Hezekiah, and others, in like manner cast into gloom and great grief at the prospect.
I. If even Christians themselves had tormenting fear, let us by Gods help seek out some of the causes of this distemper, that we may be guided to its cure.
1. Christians shrink from the prospect of death as long as there remains any uncertainty as to their real state in the sight of God. The very light of the Gospel, where it is unaccompanied by the fulness of its felt comforts, intensifies the dread of the awful judgment. And what originates and fosters so much this morbid, melancholy foreboding and doubt in the matter that above all others is of most vital concern to you? What but not taking God at His word? You do not receive the record He has given concerning His Son.
2. Another hindrance to the tranquil prospect of death is the spiritual declension or backsliding to which Christians are liable. Love and zeal do not always burn with a steadfast flame, nor does this present world ever hold the child of God by such slender attachment, that like Job, Elijah, or Peter, he can pray for an instant summons hence.
3. There is sometimes a need-be, a gracious necessity in the sovereign purpose of God, that the valley that leads down to death should be shadowed with clouds and thick darkness. You know that all believers suffer chastisement in this present life for their sins; this is in Gods infinite wisdom and love, and not in anger. Thus it is that strong natural passions are curbed, and thus, too, even amiable and pious persons, who follow the guidance of Gods eye and lean on Christ, are taught that they too, like others, owe an infinite debt to the sovereign mercy; that they are infinitely unworthy, and God infinitely gracious and long-suffering; the fire is made to burn that they may meditate on love Divine and free.
4. It is sometimes a keen disappointment to a godly man to be summoned away in the midst of active usefulness.
II. Suggestions that may be helpful to Christians in preserving a tranquil and cheerful prospect of death. For though dying grace must not be expected till the dying hour, the prospect and preparation for that dying hour is one of the highest duties of our lifetime.
1. Remember, if you would welcome death without fear, your only standing ground, and refuge, and comfort, must be in the redeeming work of Christ.
2. If so, grace is begun; and as grace grows wherever it lives, seek the growth of grace if you would have a comfortable prospect of death. All who lean on Christ grow like Christ; and all who grow like Christ are fitting for heaven; and death is the happy portal that ushers them into His blissful presence, and the work and the joy of heaven differ more in measure than in character from the work and joy of the Christian life below. (G. B. Blake, M.A.)
Death in the midst of life
I. Those who are in the midst of their days are generally the most unwilling to die. Generally, I say, because there may be exceptions to this opinion. There are so many changes in the outward and inward statue of mankind, that some in the earlier, and some in the later period of life, may be the most unwilling to die.
1. Those in the midst of their days have the strongest expectations of living. They have often been visibly exposed to accidents; but have always escaped those that are fatal. They have often been sick, and sometimes dangerously so; but have always happily recovered. All these recoveries from sickness, and escapes from danger, have had a natural tendency to create hopes and expectations of living, and still escaping future dangers and diseases.
2. Those in the midst of their days often wish to do a great deal more good in the world before they die. Nature and grace unite in giving them a peculiar reluctance to leaving the stage of action, before they have gratified their benevolent feelings.
3. Those in the meridian of life very often wish, not only to do more good, but to get more good in the world before they die. Mankind generally have the most promising prospects of worldly prosperity in the midst of their days. It is, therefore, in this fascinating season, that they most sensibly dread the approach of death, which must necessarily lay all their promising hopes and prospects in the dust.
4. Those in the meridian of life are the most intimately and extensively connected with their fellow-men. These connections are the principal source of human happiness in the present life, and render it the most pleasant and agreeable.
5. Those in the meridian of life are often very unwilling to leave the world, because they have not accomplished the designs they have formed, nor obtained the purposes which they have long pursued.
6. Those in the midst of their days are more unwilling to die than others, because they are more unfit. This is commonly the case, whether they are saints or sinners. We find that the meridian of life is often very different from the beginning and close of it, both in good and bad men. Christians frequently brighten up in the decline of life, who had been cold and lifeless in the days of their vigour and prosperity. And on the other side, those who had been stupid sinners in their early days, sometimes become more serious and disposed to think about death and eternity, in the decline of life.
II. God does take away some in this period of life. It is true, indeed, He more seldom takes away the middle-aged, than either those who have not reached, or those who have passed, the meridian of life. Much the largest portion of the human race die before they have arrived at thirty years of age, and the next largest portion die after they have arrived at fifty. And between these two periods the smallest number of mankind go off the stage of action and return to dust. This may be owing to both natural and moral causes. In the meridian of life the bodily constitution is generally the most firm and robust, and least exposed to fatal accidents and disorders. The moral cause may be, that God has the most occasion for the exertion of mankind, while they are in the vigour of their mental and corporeal powers and faculties. He employs human agents in carrying on most of His providential designs. He has occasion for strong men, bold men, wise men, and enterprising men, to carry into execution His wise and holy purposes. Improvement:--
1. If those in the meridian of life are so unwilling to die, then those who have been preserved through that period have peculiar reason to be thankful that they are still among the living.
2. If those in the meridian of life are so unwilling to die, and so desirous of living, then they have been greatly favoured and distinguished. Distinguishing goodness calls for distinguishing love, gratitude and obedience.
3. If those in the meridian of life are the most unwilling to die, then they are the most unwilling to hear and obey the voice of God in His Word and providence.
4. If those who are in the midst of their days are the most fond of living, and the most unwilling to die, then we may see one reason why God does actually take away some in that period of life. He may do this for the benefit or hurt of the dying, or for the benefit or hurt of the living. He knows that the deaths of those in the midst of their days are more alarming, and make a deeper impression upon the human mind, than the deaths of the young, or of the old. He knows how painful and distressing it will be to the dying, to have all their earthly desires and hopes destroyed; and He knows how distressing it will he to the living, to have those taken away on whom they had placed peculiar hopes and dependence. But He may see it best to disappoint all such mutual hopes and expectations, to teach them and others the vanity of the world, the uncertainty of life, and the infinite importance of being habitually and practically ready to go the way of all the earth.
5. If those in the midst of their days are the most unwilling to die, then those in this stage of life, in this place, are in a very dangerous situation. How few are either habitually or practically prepared to leave the world! How many are entirely absorbed in the cares and concerns of the world, and are too busy to think, to read, to hear, to meditate, or pray! They are standing all the day idle, and refusing to enter into the vineyard of Christ. They neither worship God in secret, nor in private, nor in public. Is it safe to stand, and live, and act in such a manner, while God has need of you, and calls you into His service? Are you willing to live in this manner; are you willing to die in this manner? (N. Emmons, D.D.)
Prayer for a complete life, and its plea
This is a prayer which springs from the bosom of the Old Testament, and it bears the impress of its time. Life and immortality had not yet been brought to light; and long life in the land which the Lord their God had given them was a special promise made to these ancient saints. The prayer looks to that promise. It is thus the request for a complete life.
I. When is it that a life may be said to be complete? While length of life in this world is not the chief blessing of the New Testament, there is nothing wrong in desiring it, and that, when well used, it may have on it special marks of Gods wisdom and kindness. It is necessary, then, in speaking of a complete life, to find those elements that will suit either him who has come to his grave in a full age, or the young who have been taken away in the beginning of their days. We thank God that in His Word we can find a goal where the old and the young may meet in a complete and perfect life.
1. The first thing needed to gain this is that a man should have lived long enough to secure Gods favour. Until he has found this he has not attained the great end for which life has been given to an intelligent and responsible creature.
2. A complete life has this in it still further, that it has done God and His world some service. We are here not merely to find Gods favour, but to do Gods work (Joh_9:4). Stephens Christian life was short, and yet what ends it gained! The dying thiefs was still shorter, but how many sermons his words have preached to dying men!
3. The next thing we mention in a complete life is that it should close with submission to the call of God.
4. It should look forward to a continual life with God.
II. The plea for a complete life which this prayer contains. The psalmist contrasts his days with Gods years, his being cut off in the midst of his days with those years that are throughout all generations. There is deep pathos in it, a sense of his own utter frailty and evanescence. And yet in the heart of it there is faith and hope. It is an appeal to God as the possessor of a complete life in the most absolute sense, the inhabitant and owner of eternity.
1. The eternal life of God suggests the thought of His power to grant this request. He is the possessor of independent and everlasting existence, and can share it with His creatures as seems good to Him.
2. The eternal being of God suggests the thought of His immutability to secure the request. We may have the confidence of this if we realize the thought of an ever-living God, who not only gave being to our souls, but holds them in His hand, and puts into them desires after Himself. All the changes, whether of life or death, cannot affect our relation to Him, except in bringing us nearer. Without an eternal God, what refuge would there be for troubled souls?
3. The thought of Gods eternal being suggests His Divine consistency as an encouragement to this request. He has done so much that we may infer He will, if we ask Him, do still more. When I contemplate Him, I see that His eternity is the enclosing zone, the compact and mighty girdle of all His attributes, without which they would be scattered, conflicting forces, aimless and chaotic and fruitless. And what eternity is to God, immortality is to man. It is the indispensable requisite to the unity and completeness of His being. If, then, God has made Himself my highest standard, His unalterable truth and righteousness and goodness the goal towards which I should press, may I not expect that the course will be opened which leads to the goal?
4. Gods eternal being is a plea for this request, because it suggests His Divine compassion for us. Great natures are made not more limited by their greatness, but more comprehensive; and the eternity of God does not shut out the thoughts and trials of human lives, but brings them more within His merciful regard. When we feel a touch of tenderness to the feeble creatures around us, to the bird or butterfly that sings its song, and flutters its hour, and dies, let us not imagine that we are more compassionate than God. Every spark of mercy is from His hearth. And when He has put into our souls a sense of a higher life, and a cry for its fulness in Himself, let us not believe He will treat us worse than the beasts that perish, that He will meet their wants in His great liberality and leave ours in endless disappointment. (John Ker, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On v25they will all grow old
they will all grow old
The word "they" refers to "the earth" and "the heavens."
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your years will have no end
Here David describes the length of time that God is alive as his "years." This can be written in positive form. AT: "you will live forever" (See: Metaphor and Double Negatives)
GEBible — Godless Engineer's Bible App
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv24–25 What then does the prophet mean when he prays,…
What then does the prophet mean when he prays, Let us not perish in the midst of our course? The reason stated in the clause immediately following, Thy years are from generation to generation, seems to be quite inapplicable in the present case. Because God is everlasting, does it therefore follow that men will be everlasting too? But on Psalm 90:2, we have shown how we may with propriety bring forward his eternity, as a ground of confidence in reference to our salvation; for he desires to be known as eternal, not only in his mysterious and incomprehensible essence, but also in his word, according to the declaration of the Prophet Isaiah,
“All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field; but the word of our God shall stand for ever.” Isaiah 40:6-8
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Now since God links us to himself by means of his word, however great the distance of our frail condition from his heavenly glory, our faith should nevertheless penetrate to that blessed state from which he looks down upon our miseries. Although the comparison between his eternal existence and the brief duration of human life is introduced also for another purpose, yet when he sees that men pass away as it were in a moment, and speedily evanish, it moves him to compassion, as shall presently be declared at greater length.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v26 If heaven and earth perish, much more man shall…
If heaven and earth perish, much more man shall perish: but the Church by reason of God’s promise endureth forever.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv24–27 Psa 102:24 I said, O my God, take me…
Psa 102:24 I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: thy years [are] throughout all generations.
Ver. 24. Take me not away in the midst of my days] Heb. Make me not to ascend, Serus in coelum redeam. Fain I would live to see those golden days of redemption. Abraham desired to see the day of Christ, Joh 8:56; Simeon did, and then sang out his soul. All the saints after the captivity looked hard for the consolation of Israel.
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Thy years are throughout all generations] And that is the comfort of thy poor covenanters, who are sure to participate of all thy goods.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv24–26 Take me not away; do not wholly cut off…
Take me not away; do not wholly cut off and destroy thy people of Israel. In the midst of my days; before they come to a full age and stature, and to the plenary possession of thy promises, and especially of that great and fundamental promise of the Messias, in and by whom alone their happiness is to be completed, and until whose coming thy church is in its nonage; of which see Gal 4:1-4. Possibly the psalmist (whom some learned interpreters suppose to be Daniel) may have respect to that prophecy, Dan 9:24,25, which probably was published before this time; for this time was almost precisely the midst of the days between the building of the material temple by Solomon, and the building of the spiritual temple, or the church, by the Messias; there being about a thousand years distance between those two periods, whereof seventy prophetical weeks, or four hundred and ninety years, were yet to come. And so he prays that God would not root them out in this Babylonish captivity, but would graciously restore them to their own land, and preserve them as a church and nation there until the coming of the Messias.
Thy years are throughout all generations: though we successively die and perish, yet thou art the everlasting and unchangeable God, and therefore art and wilt ever be able to deliver thy people, and faithful in performing all thy promises; and therefore we beseech thee to pity our frail and languishing state, and give us a more settled and lasting felicity than yet we have enjoyed; and therefore we trust that thy people shall continue and be established before thee, as he saith, Psa 102:28, because as thou art the everlasting God, so thou hast made an everlasting covenant with them, Psa 105:10; Isa 55:3; Jer 32:40, to be their God for ever, and therefore thou wilt not now forsake or reject us.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv24–27 Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the…
Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth,.... The lower part of the creation, the Lord's footstool, called the earth beneath: this has its foundation; though what it is cannot be well said, it cannot be searched out; it is sometimes said to be founded upon the waters, and yet so as not to be removed for ever, Jer 31:37, this shows the wisdom of God, as a wise master builder, and the stability of the earth; and is a proof of the deity of Christ, to whom these words belong: this is said to be done "of old", or "at" or "in the beginning", as Jarchi and the Targum; and so in Heb 1:10, where they are applied to the Messiah, the Son of God; and this, as it proves the eternity of Christ, who must be in the beginning, and before all things, so it confutes the notion of the eternity of the earth, received by some philosophers: besides, the words may be rendered, "before" (g) "thou foundest the earth"; and so refers to the preceding, "thy years", &c. were before the earth was; that is, from eternity, and so fully express the eternal existence of Christ:
and the heavens are the work of thy hands; these are the airy and starry heavens, and the heaven of heavens; which are creatures, and not to be worshipped, made by Christ himself, and are expressive of his power, wisdom, and glory.
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(g) "antea", Pagninus, Montanus, Gejerus.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv24, 26 I said - Do not wholly destroy thy people…
I said - Do not wholly destroy thy people Israel. In the midst - Before they come to a full possession of thy promises and especially of that fundamental promise of the Messiah. Thy years - Though we die, yet thou art the everlasting God.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv24–27 Verse 24. I said, O my God] This and…
Verse 24. I said, O my God] This and the following verses seem to be the form of prayer which the captives used previously to their deliverance.
Thy years are throughout all generations.] This was a frequent argument used to induce God to hear prayer. We are frail and perishing; thou art everlasting: deliver us, and we will glorify thee.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv24–27 Psa 102:24. But, I said, O my God, take…
Psa 102:24. But, I said, O my God, take me not away, &c. — I prayed most earnestly to him, and said, O my God, who hast so graciously begun our deliverance, take me not away before it be completely finished, but let me see thy promise fulfilled, which thou, who diest not, as we do, I am sure, wilt not fail to make good. Yes: “though I should not live to have any share in the public joy for that restoration, yet thou, who art an everlasting and immutable God, whose years are throughout all generations, wilt not fail to make those who survive me happy therein.” Those who consider the psalmist, as personating the captive Jews, interpret the verse as follows: O my God, take we not away in the midst of my days — Do not wholly cut off and destroy my people Israel before they come to a full age and stature in the plenary possession of thy promises, and especially of that great and fundamental promise of the Messiah, in and by whom alone their happiness is to be completed, and until whose coming thy church is in its nonage, Gal 4:1-4. Thy years are throughout all generations — Though we successively die and perish, yet thou art the everlasting and unchangeable God, who art, and wilt ever be, able to deliver thy people, and faithful in performing all thy promises; and therefore we beseech thee to pity our frail and languishing state, and give us a more settled and lasting felicity than we have yet enjoyed.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv24–25 I said, O my God, take me not away…
I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days - This was the burden of my prayer, for this I earnestly pleaded. See Psa 30:9; Isa 38:1-3, Isa 38:9-18. The word used here means “to cause to ascend or go up” and the expression might have been translated, “Cause me not to ascend.” The Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate render it, “Call me not away.” Dr. Horsley,” Carry me not off.” In the word there may be an allusion - an obscure one, it is to be admitted - to the idea that the soul ascends to God when the body dies. The common idea in the Old Testament is that it would descend to the regions of the departed spirits - to Sheol. It is plain, however, that there was another idea - that the soul would ascend at once to God when death occurred. Compare Ecc 3:21; Ecc 12:7. The word rendered “in the midst” means properly in the half; as if life were divided into two portions. Compare Psa 55:23.
Thy years are throughout all generations - Thou dost not die; thou art ever the same, though the generations of people are cut off. This seems to have been said here for two reasons:
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(1) As a ground of consolation, that God was ever the same; that whatever might happen to people, to the psalmist himself, or to any other man, God was unchanged, and that his great plans would be carried forward and accomplished;
(2) As a reason for the prayer. God was eternal. He had an immortal existence. He could not die. He knew, in its perfection, the blessedness of “life” - life as such; life continued; life unending. The psalmist appeals to what God himself enjoyed - as a reason why life - so great a blessing - should be granted to him a little longer. By all that there was of blessedness in the life of God, the psalmist prays that that which was in itself - even in the case of God - so valuable, might yet a little longer be continued to “him.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv24–27 24. In the midst of my days—In the half…
24. In the midst of my days—In the half of “my days”—when my life is only half spent. This cutting short of life was regarded as a great calamity—often a sign of judgment. As applied to the nation it was what Jeremiah had foretold to Judah, and Amos to Israel, that their “sun should go down at noon.” Jer_15:9; Amo_8:9. Perowne says: “This deprecation of a short life springs not, in this instance, from a natural clinging to life, as in the case of Hezekiah, (Isa_38:10-11,) but from the intense desire to see God’s glory manifested in Israel’s restoration.”
Thy years are throughout all generations—The consolation here drawn from the eternity of God is not in the abstract idea of his existence, but in the connecting idea of his covenant relation to his people. The generations of men perish, but the immutable word of God, like his own eternity, remains the same, and by that word Israel must be restored. See on Psa_90:1; and compare Psa_103:15-18; Isa_40:6-8
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv24, 26, 27 24. I will say introduces the prayer which follows…
24. I will say introduces the prayer which follows with additional emphasis. Cp. Job_10:2.
in the midst of my days] Cp. Psa_55:23; Isa_38:10.
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thy years &c.] The eternity of God is contrasted with the transitoriness of man as in Psa_102:12; Psa_102:11.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv24–26 (24) Take me not away.—The fear of not living…
(24) Take me not away.—The fear of not living to see the restoration of his race prompts the psalmist to this prayer to the God whose years are not, like man’s, for one generation, but endure from age to age.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv24–27 I said, O my God, take me not away…
I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days. Compare the complaint of Hezekiah. (Isa_38:10) A pious Israelite regarded himself as entitled to a fairly long life, which was promised him directly (Exo_20:12) and by implication, since it was only the wicked that were "not to live out half their days". (Psa_55:23) Thy years are throughout all generations. Dathe and Professor Cheyne translate, "O thou, whose years are eternal." But the Hebrew will scarcely admit of this rendering.
Lives taken away in the midst.
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I WHAT LIVES ARE THESE?
1. They are not those of little children. They have not yet come to the midst of their days. And the sadness that overwhelms us when they die is, after a while, lit up with the conviction that they rest in the love of God, and can never know the sins and sorrows which men and women cannot but know.
2. But they are lives mature, but not aged lives in the full meridian of their strength. Of such the psalmist is here speaking.
3. And there are others, and yet more sad. For old age has been denied to many of God"s beloved ones to the well beloved Son himself, for he was one of those who seemed to be taken away in the midst of their days, in the very prime of his manhood and his service. We may desire length of days; many and worthy motives prompt such desire; but it is often refused. God may have some better thing for us and for our beloved ones, and so we have to go. But the real sadness is not in such shortened lives, but in those which end, it may be, not literally in the midst of their days, but with the real purpose of life unachieved. God"s forgiveness not gained because never sought after. The regenerate nature, indispensable for entrance into the kingdom of God, never desired, and therefore never striven for in faith and prayer, and therefore never given. The good works by which God should be glorified, and his fellow men cheered and blessed, never wrought, his day"s work all undone. The bright hope of eternal life with God never valued, never cherished, and now never to be realized; death coming on the man with all its sting, and the grave exulting in its victory. These are the real incompleted lives by side of which the sorrow over mere brevity of earthly life is but small indeed. God grant our lives may not be thus really cut off in the midst!
II WHEREFORE ARE THEY SO DEPRECATED? See how piteous is the psalmist"s supplication. Wherefore this? Because for him, like Moses, who"On the very verge did stand, Of the blessed promised land, but yet was never permitted to enter; so the psalmist feared that in the restoration of his own people to Zion he should not live to share. But for all, life is such a blessing when the purpose for which it was given is attained; that for men to die without that purpose being attained is sad indeed. Think of life"s capacities: what glory it may bring to God! what blessing to one"s fellow men! what peace, purity, and joy to one"s own self! And all this which might be, not attained!
III BUT THIS NEED NOT BEFALL ANY ONE. He who will commit his way unto the Lord shall find that the Lord will bring it to pass. He shall not be one who goes about asking Is life worth living? and voting it all a failure. God did not bring us into existence for nothing, or without gracious purposes of good in regard to us. He sets before us life and death, and we are free to choose. Alas! many sin blinded ones mistake the one for the other, but "whosoever will may take of the water of life freely. S.C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain On vv24–27 Ver. 24. I said, O my God, take me…
Ver. 24. I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days. He betook himself to prayer. What better remedy is there for hcart-sickness and depression? We may lawfully ask for recovery from sickness and may hope to be heard. Good men should not dread death, but they are not forbidden to love life: for many reasons the man who has the best hope of heaven may nevertheless think it desirable to continue here a little longer, for the sake of his family, his work, the church of God, and even the glory of God itself. Some read the passage, "Take me not up, "let me not ascend like disappearing smoke, do not whirl me away like Elijah in a chariot of fire, for as yet I have only seen half my days, and that a sorrowful half; give me to live till the blustering morning shall have softened into a bright afternoon of happier existence.
Thy years are throughout all generations. Thou livest, Lord; let me live also. A fulness of existence is with thee, let me partake therein. Note the contrast between himself pining and ready to expire, and his God living on in the fulness of strength for ever and ever; this contrast is full of consolatory power to the man whose heart is stayed upon the Lord. Blessed be his name, he faileth not, and, therefore, our hope shall not fail us, neither will we despair for ourselves or for his church.
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Ver. 24. 0 my God. The leaving out one word in a will may mar the estate and disappoint all a man's hopes; the want of this one word, my (God) is the wicked man's loss of heaven, and the dagger which will pierce his heart in hell to all eternity.
The degree of satisfaction in any good is according to the degree of our union to it, (hence our delight is greater in food than in clothes, and the saint's joy is greater in God in the other world than in this, because the union is nearer;)but where there is no property there is no union, therefore no complacency. The pronoun my is as much worth to the soul as the boundless portion. All our comfort is locked up in that private cabinet. Wine in the glass doth not cheer the heart, but taken down Into the body. The property of the Psalmist's in God was the mouth whereby he fed on those dainties which did so exceedingly delight him. No love potion was ever so effectual as this pronoun. When God saith to the soul, as Ahab to Benhadad "Behold, I am thine, and all that I have, "who can tell how the heart leaps for joy in, and expires almost in desires after him upon such news! Others, like strangers, may behold his honour and excellencies, but this saint only, like the wife, enjoyeth him. Luther saith, Much religion lieth in pronouns. All our consolation, indeed, consisteth in this pronoun. It is the cup which holdeth all our cordial waters. I will undertake as bad as the devil is, he shall give the whole world, were it in his power, more freely than ever he offered it to Christ for his worship, for leave from God to pronounce those two words. MY GOD. All the joys of the believer are hung upon this one string; break that asunder, and all is lost. I have sometimes thought how David rolls it as a lump of sugar under his tongue, as one loth to lose its sweetness too soon: "I will love thee, O LORD, my strength, my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower, "Ps 18:1-2. This pronoun is the door at which the King of saints entereth into our hearts, with his whole train of delights and comforts. George Swinnock.
Ver. 24. Take me not away, is more exactly, Take me not up, with possible reference to the case of Elijah, "taken up." Henry Cowles.
Ver. 24. Take me not away in the midst of my days. The word is, "Let me not ascend in the midst of my days, "that is, before I have measured the usual course of life. Thus, to ascend is the same as to be cut off;death cuts off the best from this world, and then they ascend to a better. The word ascend is conceived to have in it a double allusion; first, to corn which is taken up by the hand of the reaper, and then laid down on the stubble. Secondly, unto the light of a candle, which as the candle spends, or as that which is the food of the fire is spending, ascends, and at last goes out and vanisheth. Joseph Caryl.
Ver. 24. Thy years are throughout all generations. The Psalmist says of Christ, "Thy years are throughout all generations, " Ps 102:24; which Psalm the apostle quoteth of him, Heb 1:10. Let us trace his existence punctually through all times. Let us go from point to point, and see how in particulars the Scriptures accord with it. The first joint of time we will begin that chronology of his existence withal is that instant afore he was to come into the world.
First, We find him to have existed just afore he came into the world, the instance of his conception, Heb 10:5, in these words, "Wherefore when he comes into the world, says he, A body hast thou prepared me." Heb 10:7, "Lo, I come to do thy will, O God." Here is a person distinct from God the Father, a me, an I, distinct also from that human nature he was to assume, which he terms a "body prepared."... Therefore besides and afore that human nature there was a divine person that existed, that was not of this world, but that came into it, "when he cometh into the world, he says, "etc., to become a part of it, and be manifested in it.
Secondly, We find him to have existed afore John the Baptist, though John was conceived and born some months afore him. I note these several joints of time because the Scripture notes them, and hath set a special mark upon them: Joh 1:15. "John bare witness of him, "and cried, saying, "This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me." This priority of existence is that which John doth specially give witness to. And it is priority in existence, for he allegeth it as a reason why he was preferred afore him; "for he was before me."
Thirdly, We find him existing when all the prophets wrote and spake, 1Pe 1:11. The Spirit of Christ is said to have been in all the prophets, even as Paul, who came after Christ, also speaks, "You seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, "2Co 13:3. And therefore he himself, whose Spirit it was, or whom he sent, must needs exist as a person sending him.
Fourthly, We find him existing in Moses' time, both because it was he that was tempted in the wilderness, "Neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents, " 1Co 10:9; and it was Christ that was the person said to be tempted by them, as well as now by us, as the word kai "as they also, "evidently shows. And it points to that angel that was sent with them, Ex 23:20-21, in whom the name of God was, and who as God had the power of pardoning sins, Ex 23:21. See also Ac 7:35, Heb 12:26.
Fifthly, We find him existing in and afore Abraham's time: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am, "Joh 8:58.
Sixthly, We find him existing in the days of Noah, 1Pe 3:19. He says of Christ, that he was "put to death in the flesh, but quickened in the Spirit." He evidently distinguisheth of two natures, his divine and human, even as Ro 1:3-4 and elsewhere; and then declares how by that divine nature, which he terms "Spirit, "in which he was existent in Noah's times, he went and preached to those of the old world, whose souls are now in prison in hell. These words, "in Spirit, "are not put to signify the subject of vivification; for such neither his soul nor Godhead could be said to be, for that is not quickened which was not dead; but for the principal and cause of his vivification, which his soul was not, but his Godhead was. And besides by his Spirit is not meant his soul, for that then must be supposed to have preached to souls in hell (where these are affirmed to be). Now, there is no preaching where there is no capacity of faith. But his meaning is, that those persons that lived in Noah's time, and were preached unto, their souls and spirits were now, when this was written, spirits in prison, that is, in hell. And therefore he also adds this word "sometimes": who were sometimes disobedient in Noah's days. These words give us to understand that this preaching was performed by Noah ministerially, yet by Christ in Noah; who according to his divine person was extant, and went with him, as with Moses, and the church in the wilderness, and preached unto them.
Seventhly, He was extant at the beginning of the world, "In the beginning was the Word." In which words, there being no predicate or attribute affirmed of this word, the sentence or affirmation is terminated or ended merely with his existence: "he was, "and he was then, "in the beginning." He says not that he was made in the beginning, but that "he was in the beginning." And it is in the beginning absolutely, without any limitation. And therefore Moses's beginning, Ge 1:1, is meant, as also the words after show, "All was made by him that was made; "and, Ge 1:10, the world he came into was made by him. And as from the beginning is usually taken from the first times or infancy of the world; so then, when God began to create, then was our Christ. And this here is set in opposition (Joh 1:14) unto the time of his being made flesh, lest that should have been thought his beginning. And unto this accords that of Heb 1:10, where, speaking of Christ, out of Ps 102:24, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundations of the earth; so as to be sure he existed then. But further, in Ps 102:24, it runs thus, Thy years are throughout all generations. We have run, you see, through all generations since the creation, and have found his years throughout them all. And yet lest that should be taken only of the generations of this world, he adds (as Rivet expounds it), Before thou laidst the foundation of the earth.
Eighthly, So then we come to this, that he hath been before the creation, yea, from everlasting.
But, Ninthly, If you would have his eternity yet more express, see Heb 7:3, where mentioning Melchisedec, Christ's type, he renders him to have been his type in this"Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually." Where his meaning is to declare that, look what Melchisedec was typice, or umbraiter, in a shadow, that our Christ was really and substantially.
Lastly, Add to this that in Mic 5:2, "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting; "where he evidently speaks of two births Christ had, under the metaphor of going forth: one as man at Bethlehem in the fulness of time, the other as Son of God from everlasting. As Son of God, his goings forth (that is, his birth) are from everlasting. And it is termed, "goings forth, "in the plural; because it is actus continuus, and hath been every moment continued from everlasting. As the sun begets light and beams every moment, so God doth his Son. So then we have two everlastings attributed to Christ's person; one to come, Heb 1:10, and another past, here in Mic 5:2. And so as of God himself it is said, Ps 90:2, "From everlasting to everlasting thou art God, "so also of Christ. Condensed from T. Goodwin's Treatise on "The Knowledge of God the Father, and his Son Jesus Christ."
Ver. 24.
1. The prayer. "Take me not away, "etc. (a) Not in the midst of life, is the prayer of some. (b) Not in the midst of worldly prosperity is the prayer of many, for the sake of those dependent upon them. (c) Not in the midst of spiritual growth, is the prayer of not a few: "Oh spare me, that I may recover strength, "etc. (d) Not in the midst of Christian work and usefulness, is the prayer of others.
2. The plea. "Thy years, "etc.; years are plentiful with thee, therefore to give me longer days will be an easy giftand thine own are throughout all generations. G. R.
Psalms 102:25*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv24, 26, 27 I said, O my God, take me not away…
Psa_102:24
I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: Thy years are throughout all generations.
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The death of good men, in the midst of their days, considered and improved
I. The reasons of this dispensation.
1. The sovereignty of the Divine will, which is--
(1) Absolute.
(2) Uncontrollable. But the will of God is always reasonable.
2. It is a point of wisdom. We are born mortal, and under a sentence of death. When any, therefore, are removed in early life, as there is nothing uncommon and extraordinary, so it is nothing but what He has a right to do by the constitution of His law, and has reserved the judgment of to Himself. But more particularly still--
3. It is a display of His all-sufficiency, and to show that He needs not the best instruments, and the most fitted for His service, but that He can do without them, or raise up others in their room.
4. It is in great mercy to themselves. It is a great kindness to them, though it is a grief and loss to us.
(1) He sometimes removes them from the evil of the world, and impending calamities coming upon it (Isa_47:1).
(2) Or they may be taken from the snares of life, and the temptations of sin, which might prove a great disadvantage to them; and from all the conflicts and hazards of the Christian life, which they are sure to be exercised with.
(3) Besides, it is a great instance of Divine mercy that He takes them the sooner to heaven, and gives them their reward betimes. They are not only the sooner out of danger, but the sooner happy.
5. It may be considered as an act of justice, and as the punishment of sin.
(1) God may remove useful persons in the midst of their days, in rebuke for their own sin. He may see fit to contend with them for former offences (Deu_32:40).
(2) Or else they may be removed for the sins of others. God may take them away for our over-indulgence, and too great opinion and expectation from them. Gustavus Adolphus, the great patron of the Reformation, is reported to have said in the midst of his remarkable victories and success, That he believed God was about to lay him aside, because the eyes of all Europe were drawn upon him, and their expectations raised to so great a height.
(3) Or else, it may be on the other hand, when they are neglected and slighted. God sometimes punishes the ungrateful world by removing early eminent persons, whom they did not know how to value or treat with kindness.
6. It is for the good of others, and to exercise the graces and virtues of those who survive. What so proper as the thoughts of death, to inspire our sluggish souls with life and vigour, and makes us more fervent in spirit and zealous of good works, to keep up a lively sense of religion in the world, and a constant care to please God? Hereupon--
7. To be a standing monument of human frailty, and to give warning to all about them.
8. Perhaps it may be considered as an instance of our conformity to Christ. As the servant must not be above his lord, and we must not expect kinder usage from the world than He met with; so we must not wonder if we are suffered to stay no longer in it than He did.
9. It is to make heaven more desirable to us, and raise our hearts more powerfully thither.
II. Improvement of the subject.
1. We should reverence and adore the Divine sovereignty and wisdom. Does He do us any wrong when He takes away what is His, and calls back again what we first received from Him, and enjoyed so long by His leave?
2. Let us look more to God, and live more entirely upon Him.
3. Let us comfort ourselves in their loss by the consideration of the mercy it is to them. Let not us be uneasy that they are happy, and repine at that which is the matter of their joy.
4. Yet we should be humbled under the sense of their loss, and lament it as a great affliction.
5. It should teach us to value useful men while they live, and make the best use of them we can. Labour to be better for them, and get some good by them, while you have them.
6. The reasonableness of early religion, and being in good earnest in it. And here let me caution you against dangerous delays, and reckoning upon long life, and neglecting present duty.
7. What reason of thankfulness for longer life and opportunity! How great is the mercy of continued life in a view of further usefulness, and better preparation for heaven. (W. Harris, D.D.)
The year past
1. Time is a sacred deposit, entrusted to them who sometimes think they have no one talent for which they must give account at last.
2. Let us ask what new principles we have gained, or what old principles have been confirmed and strengthened in that space of time. The question I have really in sight is this--Have you been leaving the first rudiments of the faith, and going on unto perfection?
3. With regard to our habits, what use have we made of the closing year? Have evil habits loosened their hold; have good ones been grafted in their place?
4. Inquire how the year has been employed with respect to the society we have sought, the connections we have made, the friendships we have cemented. Have you been prudent? Have you never sat in the seat of the scornful; nor stood in the way of sinners? (J. B. Marsden, M. A.)
The year to come
In all undertakings, success very much depends upon the plan we have laid down to guide our conduct. What, then, are the plans by which your course is to be steered throughout the coming year? Lifes voyage will lie among hidden rocks, as well as over stormy seas. Of the dangers you will meet with, some are evident, but some cannot yet be known. How, then, do you propose to conduct the frail bark in which your all is ventured? On what principles, in what direction, do you purpose to proceed?
I. Some events may be foreseen.
1. The duties which our station will demand.
2. The difficulties with which our station in life is usually connected. We should foresee, in order to resist and conquer them. Shall we pass on as heretofore? No fresh precautions! Such indifference is the prelude to destruction.
3. What facilities our condition in life will afford for spiritual improvement. Is not the Lords Day such an one?
II. Some events are contingent as regards ourselves, though not so in the sight of God. The preparation they demand is that which events call for that may come soon, and of which some at least must come at last.
1. Unexpected sorrow may surprise us; and how soon we cannot tell, for we know not what a day may bring forth.
2. Sudden prosperity may await you. In all time of our wealth, good Lord, deliver us.
3. There is another trial which may overtake us lengthened sickness.
4. Death itself may appear within the limits of the present year. Should not a great seriousness mark our deportment? Should not the world be less, and heaven far more, in our thoughts? (J. B. Marsden, M. A.)
Fear in the prospect of death
Here a pious Israelite, whether Nehemiah, or some other, for self and for the afflicted Church; elsewhere, David, Job, Hezekiah, and others, in like manner cast into gloom and great grief at the prospect.
I. If even Christians themselves had tormenting fear, let us by Gods help seek out some of the causes of this distemper, that we may be guided to its cure.
1. Christians shrink from the prospect of death as long as there remains any uncertainty as to their real state in the sight of God. The very light of the Gospel, where it is unaccompanied by the fulness of its felt comforts, intensifies the dread of the awful judgment. And what originates and fosters so much this morbid, melancholy foreboding and doubt in the matter that above all others is of most vital concern to you? What but not taking God at His word? You do not receive the record He has given concerning His Son.
2. Another hindrance to the tranquil prospect of death is the spiritual declension or backsliding to which Christians are liable. Love and zeal do not always burn with a steadfast flame, nor does this present world ever hold the child of God by such slender attachment, that like Job, Elijah, or Peter, he can pray for an instant summons hence.
3. There is sometimes a need-be, a gracious necessity in the sovereign purpose of God, that the valley that leads down to death should be shadowed with clouds and thick darkness. You know that all believers suffer chastisement in this present life for their sins; this is in Gods infinite wisdom and love, and not in anger. Thus it is that strong natural passions are curbed, and thus, too, even amiable and pious persons, who follow the guidance of Gods eye and lean on Christ, are taught that they too, like others, owe an infinite debt to the sovereign mercy; that they are infinitely unworthy, and God infinitely gracious and long-suffering; the fire is made to burn that they may meditate on love Divine and free.
4. It is sometimes a keen disappointment to a godly man to be summoned away in the midst of active usefulness.
II. Suggestions that may be helpful to Christians in preserving a tranquil and cheerful prospect of death. For though dying grace must not be expected till the dying hour, the prospect and preparation for that dying hour is one of the highest duties of our lifetime.
1. Remember, if you would welcome death without fear, your only standing ground, and refuge, and comfort, must be in the redeeming work of Christ.
2. If so, grace is begun; and as grace grows wherever it lives, seek the growth of grace if you would have a comfortable prospect of death. All who lean on Christ grow like Christ; and all who grow like Christ are fitting for heaven; and death is the happy portal that ushers them into His blissful presence, and the work and the joy of heaven differ more in measure than in character from the work and joy of the Christian life below. (G. B. Blake, M.A.)
Death in the midst of life
I. Those who are in the midst of their days are generally the most unwilling to die. Generally, I say, because there may be exceptions to this opinion. There are so many changes in the outward and inward statue of mankind, that some in the earlier, and some in the later period of life, may be the most unwilling to die.
1. Those in the midst of their days have the strongest expectations of living. They have often been visibly exposed to accidents; but have always escaped those that are fatal. They have often been sick, and sometimes dangerously so; but have always happily recovered. All these recoveries from sickness, and escapes from danger, have had a natural tendency to create hopes and expectations of living, and still escaping future dangers and diseases.
2. Those in the midst of their days often wish to do a great deal more good in the world before they die. Nature and grace unite in giving them a peculiar reluctance to leaving the stage of action, before they have gratified their benevolent feelings.
3. Those in the meridian of life very often wish, not only to do more good, but to get more good in the world before they die. Mankind generally have the most promising prospects of worldly prosperity in the midst of their days. It is, therefore, in this fascinating season, that they most sensibly dread the approach of death, which must necessarily lay all their promising hopes and prospects in the dust.
4. Those in the meridian of life are the most intimately and extensively connected with their fellow-men. These connections are the principal source of human happiness in the present life, and render it the most pleasant and agreeable.
5. Those in the meridian of life are often very unwilling to leave the world, because they have not accomplished the designs they have formed, nor obtained the purposes which they have long pursued.
6. Those in the midst of their days are more unwilling to die than others, because they are more unfit. This is commonly the case, whether they are saints or sinners. We find that the meridian of life is often very different from the beginning and close of it, both in good and bad men. Christians frequently brighten up in the decline of life, who had been cold and lifeless in the days of their vigour and prosperity. And on the other side, those who had been stupid sinners in their early days, sometimes become more serious and disposed to think about death and eternity, in the decline of life.
II. God does take away some in this period of life. It is true, indeed, He more seldom takes away the middle-aged, than either those who have not reached, or those who have passed, the meridian of life. Much the largest portion of the human race die before they have arrived at thirty years of age, and the next largest portion die after they have arrived at fifty. And between these two periods the smallest number of mankind go off the stage of action and return to dust. This may be owing to both natural and moral causes. In the meridian of life the bodily constitution is generally the most firm and robust, and least exposed to fatal accidents and disorders. The moral cause may be, that God has the most occasion for the exertion of mankind, while they are in the vigour of their mental and corporeal powers and faculties. He employs human agents in carrying on most of His providential designs. He has occasion for strong men, bold men, wise men, and enterprising men, to carry into execution His wise and holy purposes. Improvement:--
1. If those in the meridian of life are so unwilling to die, then those who have been preserved through that period have peculiar reason to be thankful that they are still among the living.
2. If those in the meridian of life are so unwilling to die, and so desirous of living, then they have been greatly favoured and distinguished. Distinguishing goodness calls for distinguishing love, gratitude and obedience.
3. If those in the meridian of life are the most unwilling to die, then they are the most unwilling to hear and obey the voice of God in His Word and providence.
4. If those who are in the midst of their days are the most fond of living, and the most unwilling to die, then we may see one reason why God does actually take away some in that period of life. He may do this for the benefit or hurt of the dying, or for the benefit or hurt of the living. He knows that the deaths of those in the midst of their days are more alarming, and make a deeper impression upon the human mind, than the deaths of the young, or of the old. He knows how painful and distressing it will be to the dying, to have all their earthly desires and hopes destroyed; and He knows how distressing it will he to the living, to have those taken away on whom they had placed peculiar hopes and dependence. But He may see it best to disappoint all such mutual hopes and expectations, to teach them and others the vanity of the world, the uncertainty of life, and the infinite importance of being habitually and practically ready to go the way of all the earth.
5. If those in the midst of their days are the most unwilling to die, then those in this stage of life, in this place, are in a very dangerous situation. How few are either habitually or practically prepared to leave the world! How many are entirely absorbed in the cares and concerns of the world, and are too busy to think, to read, to hear, to meditate, or pray! They are standing all the day idle, and refusing to enter into the vineyard of Christ. They neither worship God in secret, nor in private, nor in public. Is it safe to stand, and live, and act in such a manner, while God has need of you, and calls you into His service? Are you willing to live in this manner; are you willing to die in this manner? (N. Emmons, D.D.)
Prayer for a complete life, and its plea
This is a prayer which springs from the bosom of the Old Testament, and it bears the impress of its time. Life and immortality had not yet been brought to light; and long life in the land which the Lord their God had given them was a special promise made to these ancient saints. The prayer looks to that promise. It is thus the request for a complete life.
I. When is it that a life may be said to be complete? While length of life in this world is not the chief blessing of the New Testament, there is nothing wrong in desiring it, and that, when well used, it may have on it special marks of Gods wisdom and kindness. It is necessary, then, in speaking of a complete life, to find those elements that will suit either him who has come to his grave in a full age, or the young who have been taken away in the beginning of their days. We thank God that in His Word we can find a goal where the old and the young may meet in a complete and perfect life.
1. The first thing needed to gain this is that a man should have lived long enough to secure Gods favour. Until he has found this he has not attained the great end for which life has been given to an intelligent and responsible creature.
2. A complete life has this in it still further, that it has done God and His world some service. We are here not merely to find Gods favour, but to do Gods work (Joh_9:4). Stephens Christian life was short, and yet what ends it gained! The dying thiefs was still shorter, but how many sermons his words have preached to dying men!
3. The next thing we mention in a complete life is that it should close with submission to the call of God.
4. It should look forward to a continual life with God.
II. The plea for a complete life which this prayer contains. The psalmist contrasts his days with Gods years, his being cut off in the midst of his days with those years that are throughout all generations. There is deep pathos in it, a sense of his own utter frailty and evanescence. And yet in the heart of it there is faith and hope. It is an appeal to God as the possessor of a complete life in the most absolute sense, the inhabitant and owner of eternity.
1. The eternal life of God suggests the thought of His power to grant this request. He is the possessor of independent and everlasting existence, and can share it with His creatures as seems good to Him.
2. The eternal being of God suggests the thought of His immutability to secure the request. We may have the confidence of this if we realize the thought of an ever-living God, who not only gave being to our souls, but holds them in His hand, and puts into them desires after Himself. All the changes, whether of life or death, cannot affect our relation to Him, except in bringing us nearer. Without an eternal God, what refuge would there be for troubled souls?
3. The thought of Gods eternal being suggests His Divine consistency as an encouragement to this request. He has done so much that we may infer He will, if we ask Him, do still more. When I contemplate Him, I see that His eternity is the enclosing zone, the compact and mighty girdle of all His attributes, without which they would be scattered, conflicting forces, aimless and chaotic and fruitless. And what eternity is to God, immortality is to man. It is the indispensable requisite to the unity and completeness of His being. If, then, God has made Himself my highest standard, His unalterable truth and righteousness and goodness the goal towards which I should press, may I not expect that the course will be opened which leads to the goal?
4. Gods eternal being is a plea for this request, because it suggests His Divine compassion for us. Great natures are made not more limited by their greatness, but more comprehensive; and the eternity of God does not shut out the thoughts and trials of human lives, but brings them more within His merciful regard. When we feel a touch of tenderness to the feeble creatures around us, to the bird or butterfly that sings its song, and flutters its hour, and dies, let us not imagine that we are more compassionate than God. Every spark of mercy is from His hearth. And when He has put into our souls a sense of a higher life, and a cry for its fulness in Himself, let us not believe He will treat us worse than the beasts that perish, that He will meet their wants in His great liberality and leave ours in endless disappointment. (John Ker, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v25 they will all grow old
they will all grow old
The word "they" refers to "the earth" and "the heavens."
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your years will have no end
Here David describes the length of time that God is alive as his "years." This can be written in positive form. AT: "you will live forever" (See: Metaphor and Double Negatives)
translationWords
time
works
hand
perish
year
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv24–25 102:24 The psalmist draws a contrast between his days…
102:24 The psalmist draws a contrast between his days (102:23) and God’s years (cp. 90:4).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.