A.M. 2514. B.C. 1490.
Here begins the fourth book of Psalms, according to the division of the Hebrews; “differing from the rest,” says Bishop Patrick, “in this, that as those of the first book are most of them ascribed to David, and those of the second, in great part, to the sons of Korah, and those of the third to Asaph; so there are few of these (in this fourth book) whose author is certainly known; and, therefore, they were all put together in one and the same collection. The first of them, indeed, having been made by Moses, the Hebrews have entertained a conceit, which St. Jerome and St. Hilary follow, that he was the author of the next ten immediately ensuing: but there is no reason for that opinion, as will appear in due place.” As to this Psalm or prayer of Moses, as it is called, now before us, the bishop, with the Chaldee paraphrase, and many other interpreters, considers it as “a mediation of his, when the people offended God so highly in the wilderness that he shortened their lives to seventy, or, at the most, eighty years, and suffered them not to arrive at the age of their ancestors, or of Moses, Caleb, and Joshua, whose lives he prolonged to one hundred and twenty years.” There can be little doubt, indeed, but he composed it on occasion of that terrible, but righteous sentence which God passed on that murmuring generation of Israelites, namely, that their carcasses should fall in the wilderness. See Numbers 14. The Psalm, however, is of general use, and is made, by the Church of England, a part of her funeral service. It contains an address to the eternal and unchangeable God, the Saviour and Preserver of his people, Psalms 90:1; Psalms 90:2. A most affecting description of man's mortal and transitory state on earth since the fall, Psalms 90:3-10. A complaint, that few meditate in such a manner upon death as to prepare themselves for it, Psalms 90:11. A prayer for grace so to do, Psalms 90:12. And for the mercies of redemption, Psalms 90:13-17.