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

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90:3-6 But Man's Life Is Fleeting. In contrast to God's eternity, human life--even the longest imaginable (a thousand years, v. 4)--is insignificantly brief (as expressed in the images of a watch in the night, a flood, a dream, and grass). Cf. 103:15-18; Job 14:1-2; Isa. 40:6-8; James 1:11. The psalm evokes God's sentence in Eden on the sin of Adam and Eve (Ps. 90:3), which means that the fleeting life span is due to the entry of sin into the world (i.e., it is not an inherent part of being human).

90:3 return man to dust. Even though the word "dust" here (Hb. dakka’) is not the same as that in Gen. 3:19 (Hb. ‘apar, the ordinary word), the coupling of "return" with a word for loose soil makes the reference to Genesis clear.

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