4 Man is like a breath: his life is like a shade which is quickly gone.
My days are like a shade which is stretched out; I am dry like the grass.
(For we are but of yesterday, and have no knowledge, because our days on earth are gone like a shade:)
For death comes to us all, and we are like water drained out on the earth, which it is not possible to take up again; and God will not take away the life of the man whose purpose is that he who has been sent away may not be completely cut off from him.
For we, as all our fathers were, are like men from a strange country before you, who have got a place for a time in the land; our days on the earth are like a shade, and there is no hope of going on.
As for man, the son of woman, his days are short and full of trouble. He comes out like a flower, and is cut down: he goes in flight like a shade, and is never seen again. Is it on such a one as this that your eyes are fixed, with the purpose of judging him?
You have made my days no longer than a hand's measure; and my years are nothing in your eyes; truly, every man is but a breath. (Selah.) Truly, every man goes on his way like an image; he is troubled for no purpose: he makes a great store of wealth, and has no knowledge of who will get it.
Truly men of low birth are nothing, and men of high position are not what they seem; if they are put in the scales together they are less than a breath.
See how short my time is; why have you made all men for no purpose?
All is to no purpose, said the Preacher, all the ways of man are to no purpose.
I have seen all the works which are done under the sun; all is to no purpose, and desire for wind.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 144
Commentary on Psalms 144 Matthew Henry Commentary
Psalm 144
The four preceding psalms seem to have been penned by David before his accession to the crown, when he was persecuted by Saul; this seems to have been penned afterwards, when he was still in trouble (for there is no condition in this world privileged with an exemption from trouble), the neighbouring nations molesting him and giving him disturbance, especially the Philistines, 2 Sa. 5:17. In this psalm,
In singing this psalm we may give God the glory of our spiritual privileges and advancements, and fetch in help from him against our spiritual enemies; we may pray for the prosperity of our souls, of our families, and of our land; and, in the opinion of some of the Jewish writers, we may refer the psalm to the Messiah and his kingdom.
A psalm of David.
Psa 144:1-8
Here,
Psa 144:9-15
The method is the same in this latter part of the psalm as in the former; David first gives glory to God and then begs mercy from him.