Tehillim 90 | “For a thousand years in Your eyes are like yesterday when it passes”

Psalm 90, which opens the fourth book of Tehillim, is theological in nature. It explores at length the contrast between human existence and God's reality. God preceded the world: “Before the mountains were born, before You brought forth the earth and the world, from eternity to eternity, You are God” (v. 2). His concepts of time are entirely different: “For a thousand years in Your eyes are like yesterday when it passes... in the morning it sprouts and flourishes; by evening it withers and dries up” (vv. 4–5).

Alongside the internalization of God's absolute and timeless nature, the poet is struck by fear in light of the fragility of human existence: “For we are consumed by Your anger, terrified by Your fury” (v. 7) — a fear intensified by the awareness that man is full of sins, laid bare before God: “You have set our iniquities before Yourself, our secret sins in the light of Your presence” (v. 8). Regarding the timeline, the poet becomes acutely aware of the brevity of his life compared to God's eternity: “The span of our life is seventy years – perhaps eighty, if we are strong – but the best of them are toil and sorrow, for they are soon gone, and we fly away” (v. 10), and he realizes that even this short time is filled with “toil and sorrow,” with fleeting and trivial pursuits.

The core idea of this psalm — the absoluteness of God’s existence versus the transience of man — is a foundational theological truth. This idea will continue to accompany us throughout the psalms of the fourth book of Tehillim. Try to note it as we continue our learning, and reflect on the meaning and role of this idea within the psalms.