Psalms 90:5 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Thou carriest them away as with a flood— Agreeable to the ideas in the foregoing verses, death is here considered as a sort of sleep; from whence they should awake in the morning, fresh and flourishing as an herb: and I think we have this image of a resurrection exhibited to us more than once in the prophets. Thou sweepest them away as with a flood; they shall be as a sleep: in the morning they shall be as the herb which renews itself. In this sense the verb ףּחל chalap, is used here, and so in the following verse, where there is a turn of thought and expression very remarkable and poetical. For the sacred writer, from giving them this glimpse of their future resurrection and renovation, returns to take a view of their present dying and distressful condition; and this in the same metaphor, and with a repetition which is very beautiful: a repetition, I mean, of the delightful part of the contemplation; (for we love to dwell upon what is pleasing to us;) but followed with a reflection sad and gloomy. "Yes," says he, "in the morning it flourishes and renews itself; at evening it is down, and dried up; and this last,—as he goes on,—is a just image of our present case. The evening of our life comes on apace; for we are consumed by thine anger," &c. Psalms 90:7-10.