Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/4_000_t.lzh/4_091.TXT

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different scenes of prosperity an{i adversity: and per-
haps this phrase may point at the idle and unprofitable
way and manner in which the years of life are spent,
like that of consuming time by telling idle stories;
some of them spent ia youthful lusts and pleasures;
others in an immoderate pursuit of the world, and the
things of it; very few in a religious way, and these
with great imperfection, and to very little purpose and
profit; and particularly point to the children of Israel
in the wilderness, who how they spent their time for
thirty-eight years there, we have no tale nor story of
it. The Targum is, "we have consumed the days of
"our life as the breath or yapour of the mouth in
"winter," which is very visible, and soon passes
away; see Jam. iv. 1.4.
Vet. 10. The days of our years are threescore years
and ten, &c.] In the Hebrew text it is, the days ofour
years in them are, &c. {a}q; which refers either to the days
in which we live, or to the persons of the Israelites in
the wilderness, who were instances of this term of
life, in whom perhaps it first took place in a general
way: before the flood, men lived to a great age; some
nine hundred years and upwards; after the flood, men
lived not so long; the term fixed then, as some think,
was an hundred and twenty years, grounding it on the
passage in Gen. vi. 3. but now, in the time of Moses, it
was brought to threescore years and ten, or eighty at
most: of those that were numbered in the wilderness
of Sinai, from twenty years and upwards, there were
none left, save Joshua and Caleb, when the account
was taken in the plains of Moab; see Numb. xiv. 29.
and xxvi. 63, 64, 65. so that some must die before
they were sixty; others before seventy; and perhaps
all, or however the generality of them, before eighty:
and, from that time, this was the common age of men,
some few excepted; to the age of seventy David lived,
2 Sam. v. 4. and so it has been ever since; many never
come up to it, and few go beyond it: this is not only
pointed at in revelation, but is what the Heathens have
observed. Solon used to say, the term of human life
was seventy years {b}; so others; and a people called
Berbiccae, as AElianus relates {c}, used to kill those of
them that lived above seventyyears of age, having ex-
ceeded the term of life. The Syriac version is, in our
days our years are seventy years; with which the Tar-
gum agrees," the_ days of our years in this world are
"seventy years of the stronger ;. for it is in them that
such a number of years is arrived unto; or in them, that
is, in some of them; in some of mankind, their years
amount hereunto, but not in all: and if by reason of [[
strength they be fourscore years; through a good tem-
perament of body, a healthful and strong constitution, [1
under a divine blessing, some may arrive to the age of
eighty; there have been some instances of a strong
constitution at this age and upwards, but not veryt]
common; see Josh. xiv. 11, Dent. xxxiv. 7. for, ge-[[
herally speaking, such who through strength of body
live to such an age, yet is their strength labour and sor-
row; they labour under great infirmities, feel much
pain, and little pleasure, as Barzillai at thisage intimates,
2 Sam. xix. 35. these are the evil days {d}, in which
is no pleasure, Eccl. xii. 1. or their largehess or breadth
is labour and sin {}; the whole extent of their days, from
first to last, is spent in toil and labour to live in the
world; and is attended with much sin, and so with
much sorrow :for it is soon cut off ; either the strength
of man, or his age, by one disease or incident or an-
other, like grass that is cut down with the scythe, or
a flower that is cropped' by the hand; see Job xiv. 2,
and wetly away; as a shadow does, or as a bird with
w.ings; out of time into eternity; from the place ot'
our habitation to the grave; from a land of light to
the regions of darkness: it is well if we fly away to
heaven and happiness.
Ver. 11. Who knoweth the power of thine anger?
&c.] Expressed in his judgments on men: as tim
drowning of the old world, the burning of Sodom and
Gomorrah, the consumption of the Israelites in the
wilderness; or' in shortening the days of men, and
bringing them to the dust of death; or by inflicting pu-
nishment on men after death; they are few that take
notice of this, and consider it well, or look into the
causes of it, the sins of men: such as are in hell ex-
perimentally know it; but men on earth, very few'
closely attend to it, or rarely think of it: even accord-
ing to thy fear, so is th.tt wrath; or who knows thy
wrath, so as to fear thee ? who considers it so, as that
it has such an influence upon him to fear the Lord,
and stand in awe of him, and fear to offend him, and
seek to please him ? or rather the wrath of God is an-
swerable to men's fear of him; and that, in some
things and cases, men's fears exceed the things
feared; as afflictions viewed beforehand, and death it-
self: the fears of them are oftentimes greater, and more
distressing., than they themselves, when they come;
but so it is not with the wrath of God; the greatest
fears, and the most dreadful apprehensions of it, do
not come up to it; it is full as great as they fear it is,
and more so.
Vet. lc2.. So teach us to number our days, &c.] Not
merely to count them, how many they are, in an
arithtnetical way; there is no need of diving teachings
for that; some few instructions from an arithmeticinn,
and a moderate skill in arithmetic, will enable persons
not only to count the years of their lives, but even
how many days they have lived: nor is this to be
understood of calculating or reckoning of time to
come i no man can count the number or' days he has
to live; the number of his days, months, anti years,. is
with the Lord; but is hid from him: the living know
they shall die; but know not how long they shall live,
and when they shall die: this the Lord teaches not, nor
should we be solicitous to know: but rather the mean-
ing of the petition is, that God would teach us to
number our days, as if the present one was the last';
for we can't boast of to-morrow; we know not but this
day, or night, our souls may be required of us: but
the sense is, that God would teach us seriously to me-

{a} \^Mhb\^ in ipsis, Pagninus, Montanus; in quibus vivimus, Tigurine
version, Vatablas.
{b} Laertius in Vita Solon. p. 36. Herodotus, l. 1. sive Clio, c. 32.
Macrob. in Somno Scipionis, l. 1. c. 6. p. 58. & Plin. Epist. l. 1.
Ep. 12. & Solon. Eleg. apud Clement. Alex. Stromat. l. 6. p. 685, 686.
{c} Vat. Hist. l. 4. c. 1.
{d} ----tristisque senectus
    Et labor.------- Virgil. Georg. l. 3. v. 67.
{e} \^Mbhr\^ amplitudo eorum, Montanus.