Psalms 89

Verse 1. God. This characterizes the Jewish legislator. Bert. Deuteronomy 33:1. D.—David composed it in his name, ( Menochius.) or it bears some analogy with his writings. S. Jerom maintains, that he was the author of the nine following psalms, ( Calmet.) which have no title in Hebrew Tirinus.—But Saint Augustine thinks they would then have formed a part of the pentateuch. Calmet.—The life of man was longer in the days of Moses than seventy or eighty years. Bell. verse 10.—Moses cannot be the author of the 94th and 95th psalms. Worthington.—In the 98:6. Samuel is mentioned, and it is not necessary to haver recourse to the prophetic spirit. One of the descendants of Moses, during the captivity, may have been the author, ( Calmet.) or David may have predicted that event. Bible.

Verse 2. Formed. Hebrew “brought forth.” Job 38:8. Calmet.—Here Origen improperly concluded the sentence. Saint Jerome Ep. ad Cypr.—God, is not in Septuagint Syr. or ancient Latin psalters. Calmet.—Al signifies both God, and not, and seems to be twice explained in the Vulg. as Hebrew omits not, verse 3. Bible.—The sentence would be very striking, if God were left out, as it is done by Houbigant. The eternity of matter is refuted by this text. Bert. Worthington.—God’s eternity is contrasted with man’s short life. Calmet.—New gods must of course be false. Menochius.—Plato asserted, that “the creator of all must be unbegotten and eternal.” Plut. Conviv. viii.

Verse 3. Turn not man away, and so forth Suffer him not quite to perish from thee, since thou art pleased to call upon him to be converted to thee. Challoner.—God wills not the death of the sinner. Worthington.—Give him grace not to yield to his base passions. Saint Augustine—Hebrew “thou humblest man,” ( Bible.) that he may enter into himself. Calmet.

Verse 4. For, &. This thought naturally tends to convert the sinner.—Watch. Consisting of three hours, (Bert.) which were of unequal length, according to the seasons. Calmet.—A thousand years seem not so long to God. Bible.—What them must be the short life of man? See Job 7:8. Calmet.—None ever lived one thousand years. Yet what would that be, compared with eternity? Worthington.

Verse 5. Their years be. Hebrew “thou strikest, ( Calmet.) or inundatest them: they are a dream.” But our version is accurate. Bert.

Verse 6. Fall. Hebrew “it is cut down and dries.” The heat of the climate caused the flowers to decay ver soon. Isaiah 40:6. Man’s youth touches on old age. Calmet.—The present moment is all we can call our own. Bert.—“A young man may die soon: an old man cannot live long,” says an English proverb. Worthington.

Verse 8. Life. Lit. “age.” Thou clearly discernest all our proceedings. Bible.—Man is condemned for Adam’s sin. The Israelites who were fit for arms, and gave way to murmuring, were sentenced to die in the desert. He may allude to this event. Bert.—Hebrew may signify also, “our hidden things,” or “youth,” ( Calmet.) or “mistakes,” (Houbig.) or “negligences.” Saint Jerome—From these we should always pray to be delivered. Psalms 24:7. Bible.—Sin occasions the shortness of life, ( Worthington.) as man was created to be immortal. Bible.—Before the deluge, men lived indeed longer. Menochius.

LORD or GOD in all caps is from the Hebrew יהוה Yahweh except when otherwise noted as being from the short form יה Yah.

Hebrew: יה Yah

Verse 9. As a spider. As frail and weak as a spider’s web; and miserable withal, whilst, like a spider, we spend our bowels in weaving webs to catch flies. Challoner.—Meditabuntur is here used in a passive sense. Tirinus.—Hebrew “we have spent our years like one speaking a word.” Saint Jerome—When he has done, the sound is no more: so their memory has perished with a sound. Psalms 9:8. Bible.—Hebrew Chal. and so forth do not mention the spider: Yet it seems to have been originally in the text, as it is recognized by the Syr. Septuagint and the other Greek interpreters, and makes the sense more complete. Calmet.—The transcribers might more easily omit than the Septuagint and so forth could insert this word. Bert.

Verse 10. In them. Years, ( Calmet.) “in the world.” Chal. “together.” Sym. years. This was the usual term of man’s life in David’s time, ( Bible.) and about the captivity, when this was written. Many lived above one hundred years when Moses wrote. Calmet.—Yet this proves nothing, as there are still instances of equal longevity, though it is true, that people in general seldom live above seventy, or eighty, or if they do, their days ar a burden to them. The same might be the case under Moses. He probably alludes to those warriors, who were cut off in the wilderness, few of whom would survive 80. Bert.—The author of Ecclesiasticus, (18:8) gives one hundred, for the utmost limits of life. The pagan sages speak in the same style as the psalmist. Calmet.—Strong. Septuagint “in dominion.” But here it means in a vigorous constitution. Bell.—Princes lived no longer than others. Hebrew and Vulg. may be “the prime, or most of them,” as even a great part of the time before seventy, as well as after, ( Bible.) is usually spent in misery. Genesis 47:9. Calmet.—Mildness. God’s mildness corrects us: in as much as he deals kindly with us, in shortening the days of this miserable life; and so weaning our affections from all its transitory enjoyments, and teaching us true wisdom. Challoner.—Hebrew “we pass quickly and fly away, (Saint Jerome) like birds of passage, ( Calmet.) or “it is cut down soon,” (Mont.) “in silence,” (Drusius) tacitisque senescimus annis. Bible.—S. Jerom wonders, that the Septuagint should have translated as they have done: But they are followed by Theodotion, and the Sext. edit. who may have had different copies, equally good. Bert.—Corrected (corripiemur) or “hurried away,” Geneb.—But this is not the sense of the Septuagint Amama.—“We grow tired.” Houbig.—It is a mercy of God to shorten men’s lives, ( Menochius.) as many would sin more, if they had a probability of continuing upon earth. Worthington.

Verse 11. Anger? God must punish actual sin severely, since he thus condemns mankind on account of original sin. Worthington.

Verse 12. Thy right hand. Your Messias, to liberate and instruct us. Saint Augustine—“Make us know how to number our days thus, and we shall come to thee with a wise heart.” Saint Jerome Sirach 7:40. Bible.—Septuagint have read iminoc for yamenu, “our days.” Amama.—Make us truly wise, (Sa.) or acquainted with teachers of truth. Bellar. Menochius.

Verse 14. We are. Hebrew “Fill us.” Mont.—But the psalmist feels interiorly, that his petition has been granted. Bert.—The prospect of a glorious immortality fills us with hope in proportion to our sufferings for the truth. Worthington.

Verse 17. Yea, the work. Each in particular. Septuagint Rom. and so forth omit this sentence, which Houbigant improperly deems useless. Bert.—Charity must direct all. Saint Augustine Worthington.

Sheol is the place of the dead.