Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/4_000_t.lzh/4_088.TXT

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this prayer of his (so it is called, as several other psalms
are, see Paul. xvii. 86, 102, 142 was made by him
when he. was about seventy years of age, ten years be-
fore he was sent to Pharaoh, while he was in Midian,
which he gathers from ver. 10; others think it was
written towards the end of his life, and when weary
of it, and his travels in the wilderness; but it is more
generally thought that it was penned about the time
when the spies brought a bad report of the land, and
the people fell a murmuring; which provoked the
Lord, that he threatened them that they should .spend
their lives in misery in the wilderness, and their car-
casses should fall there; and their lives were cut short,
and reduced to threescore years and ten, or there-
about; only Moses, Joshua, and Caleb, lived to a
greater age; and on occasion of this Moses wrote this
psalm, setting forth the brevity and misery of human
life; so the Targum, "a prayer which Moses the
"prophet of the Lord prayed, when the people of the
"house of Israel sinned in the wilderness. Jarehi
and some other Jewish writers s not only ascribe this
psalm to Moses, but the ten following, being without
a name; but it is certain that Psal. xcv. was written
by David, as appears from Heb. iv. 7. and Psai. xevi.
is his, compared with 1 Chron. xvi. 23. land in Psal.
xcix. mention is made of Samuel, who lived long after
the times of Moses.
Ver. 1. Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place in all
generations, &c.] Even when they had no certain
dwelLing-place in the world; so their ancestors,
Abraham, Isaac, ,and Jacob, dwelt in tabernacles in
the land of promise, as in a strange land; and their
posterity for many years served under great affliction
and oppression in a land that was not theirs; and now
they were 'dwelling in tents in the wilderness, and
removing from place to place; but as the Lord had
been in every age, so he now was the dwelling-place
of those that trusted in him; being that to them as an
habitation is to man, in whom they had provision,
protection, rest, and safety; see Psal. xxxi. 2. and lxxi.
3. so all that believe in Christ dwell in him, and he in
them, John vi. 56. they dwelt secretly in him before
they believed; so they dwelt in his heart's love, in his
arms, in him as their head in election, and as their re-
presentative in the covenant of grace from eternity;
and, when they fell in Adam, they were preserved in
Christ, dwelling in him; and so they were in him
when on the cross, in the grave, and now in heaven;
for they are said to be crucified, buried, and risen with
him, and set down in heavenly places in him, Gal. ii.
20. Col. ii. 12. and iii. 1. Ephes. ii. 6. and, being con-
verted, they have an open dwelling in him by faith, to
whom they have fled for refuge, and in whom they
dwell safely, quietly, comfortably, pleasantly, and
shall never be turned out: here they have room, plenty
of provisions, rest, and peace, and security from all
evils; he is an hiding-place from the wind, and a
covert from the storm. Some render the word refuge ·;
such is Christ to his people, being the antitype of the
cities of refuge; and others helper, as the Targum;
which also well agrees with him, on whom their help
is laid, and is found.
Vet. 2. Before the mountains were brought forth,
&c.] Or were born {b}, and came forth out of the
womb and bowels of the earth, and were made to rise
and stand up at the command of God, as they did when
he first created the earth; and are mentioned not only
because of their tirmness and stability, but their an-
tiquity: hence we read of the ancient mountains and
everlasting hills, Gen. xlix. 26. Dent. xxxiii. 15. for
they were be.fore the flood, and as soon as the earth
was; or otherwise the eternity of God would not be
so filly expressed by this phrase as it is here, and else-
where the eternity of Christ, Prov. viii. 25. or ever thou
hadst formed the earth and the world; the whole ter-
raqueous globe, and all the inhabitants of it; so
the Targum; or before the earth brought forth; or
thou causedst it to bring forth r its herbs, plants, and
trees, as on the third day: even from everlasting to
everlasting, thou art God; and so are his love, grace,
and mercy towards his people, and his covenant' with
them; and this is as true of Jehovah the Son as of the
Father, whose eternity is described in the same man-
ner as his; see Prov. viii.. 22--30. Rev. i. 4, 8. and may
be concluded from his name, the everlasting Father;
from his having the same nature and perfections with.
his Father; from his concern in eternal election, in
the everlasting covenant of grace, and in the creation
of all things; and his being the eternal and unchange-
able I AM, yesterday, to-day, and for ever, is matter
of comfort to his people.
Ver. 3. Thou turnest man to destruction, &c.] Or to
death, as the Targum, which is the destruction of man;
not an annihilation of body or soul, but a dissolution
of the union between them; the words may be ren-
dered, thou turnest man until he is broken a; and crum-
bled into dust; thou turnest him about in the world,
and through a course of afflictions and diseases, and at
last by old age, and however by death, returns him to
his original, from whence he came, the dust of the
earth, which he becomes again, Gen. iii. 19. Eccl,
xii. 7. the grave may be meant by destruction: and
sayest, return, ye children of men, or Adam; from
whom they all spr. ung,. and 'in whom they all sinned,
andso became subject to death; to these he says, when
by diseases he threatens them with a dissolution, re-
turn by repentance, and live; and sometimes, when
they are brought to the brink of the grave, he returns
them from sickness to health, delivers them from the
pit, and enlightens them with the light of the living,
as he did Hezekiah: or this may refer to the resurrec-
tion of the dead, which will be by Christ, and by his
voice calling the dead to return to life, to rise and come
to judgment; though some understand this as de-
scriptive of death, when by the divine order and com-
mand man returns to his original dust; thus the frailty
of man is opposed to the eternity of God. Gussetins
understands all this of God's bringing men to repent-


{z} Huillus Patriarch. in Origen. apud Hieron. adv. Ruffin. l. 1.
fol. 67. L.
{a} \^Nwem\^ refugium, V. L. Vatablus; asylum, Gejerus.
{b} \^wdly\^ nascerentur, Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version, Mi-
chaelis; so Ainsworth; geniti essent, Piscator, Gejerus.
{c} \^Ura llwxtw\^ antequam parturiret terra, Syr. aut peperisses
terram, Piscator, Amama.
{d} \^akd de vwna bvt\^ convertes hominem usque ad contritionem,
Montanus; donec conteratur, Musculus, Tigurine verion; donee sit
contritus, Vatablus; ut sit contritus, Junius & Tremellius.