Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

Psalm 90. This community lament has some unspecified disaster (vv. 13, 15) as its background, and asks God to have pity on his people and bless them. The title, which ascribes the psalm to Moses, invites the singing congregation to picture Israel around the time of Deuteronomy, as they were about to cross the Jordan River and enter the Promised Land. Their parents had followed Moses out of Egypt, through the parted Red Sea--and yet they rebelled, so that God swore that they would not enter the land (Num. 14:20-36). For the Israelites to accomplish their mission and for God to establish the work of their hands (Ps. 90:17) would require that the people embrace the covenant and live in faith toward God. Those who sing this should see themselves as the heirs of that generation, seeking like them the blessing of God so that they can carry out their mission. This psalm stresses time and how it passes, as can be seen from the various time words throughout: "days" (vv. 4, 9, 12, 14, 15); "years" (vv. 4, 9-10, 15); cf. the description of God as eternal and unchanging, "in all generations" (v. 1); "from everlasting to everlasting" (v. 2). The awareness of how short human life is (v. 10) leads to earnest prayer for God's help, without which his people can accomplish nothing of lasting value (vv. 16-17). This psalm is the basis of the familiar hymn, "O God, Our Help in Ages Past." The title points to this lament as a prayer by "Moses, the man of God." Cf. Deut. 33:1; Josh. 14:6. Generally, the OT uses the expression "man of God" for a prophet, e.g., 1 Sam. 2:27; 9:6; 1 Kings 12:22; 13:1; 17:18; 2 Kings 4:7. Moses was, of course, a prophet par excellence.

90:1-2 The Lord Is Eternal. The Lord is the dwelling place, i.e., the home and refuge, for his people in all generations because he himself is eternal. He has been God since before the creation. That God is the Creator is assumed, and that the Lord has always been God indicates that he always will be, i.e., that he will not change.