Friday Night Message – Threescore and Ten

Feb. 9, 2024

Good evening brethren,

In reading through the Psalms lately, I came across a well-known verse, but noticed something I had previously not known. Here is the verse:

Ps. 90:10 - The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years, Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow;

The title of this psalm is as follows …

PSALM 90

A prayer of Moses, the man of God.

I find it rather ironic that the psalmist sets the average human lifespan at 70 years (uh-oh, I am already three years now on borrowed time!) … while Moses himself lived to be 120 years, and was still going strong:

Deut. 34:7 – Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died, His eyes were not dim [HEB. eyesight was not weakened.], nor his natural vigor diminished [HEB reduced].

Now, on to more important matters regarding the 90th Psalm.

Moses begins by asserting that God is everlasting and almighty (verses 1-2). He can destroy men's lives, and centuries or millennia later He resurrects them back to life (verses 3-4) Thousands of years can pass, and God can still bring people back from the dead! Man does not have that ability to overturn death. God will overcome time and death by the power of the resurrection. To God, thousands of years pass swiftly "like yesterday . . . like a watch in the night."

This is in stark contrast, man's point of view. As noted above, "The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away" (verse 10). Ethan, the psalmist of Psalm 89:47-48, echoes this in his plea to God:

And now let us notice another psalm about the shortness of human life… it is most sobering.

Ps. 89:47-48 - Remember how short my time is; for what futility have You created all the children of men? What man can live and not see death? Can he deliver his life from the power of the grave? Selah.

Now back to the 90th Psalm…, here are the first 10 verses:

Ps. 90:1-10 Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God. You turn man to destruction, And say, "Return, O children of men." For a thousand years in Your sight Are like yesterday when it is past, And like a watch in the night. You carry them away like a flood; They are like a sleep. In the morning they are like grass which grows up: In the morning it flourishes and grows up; In the evening it is cut down and withers. For we have been consumed by Your anger, And by Your wrath we are terrified. You have set our iniquities before You, Our secret sins in the light of Your countenance. For all our days have passed away in Your wrath; We finish our years with a sigh. The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years, Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

Psalm 90 gives us probably the best biblical perspective of time. This psalm, the only one attributed to Moses, compares how man and God view time and life. The conclusion, of course, is that man and God look at time from entirely different perspectives. It is this difference in point of view that makes a huge difference in how we conduct our lives, and that in turn determines whether or not God will give us life (true life, real life eternal life) beyond our allotted threescore and ten.

Have a meaningful Sabbath,

Fred