Psalm 90:4

Context

Psalms 90 bears the superscription "A Prayer of Moses the man of God" and is the first psalm of Book Four of the Psalter (Psalms 90–106). The psalmist opens with "Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations" (v. 1). He then contrasts the eternal God (v. 2) with human beings, who return to the dust (v. 3). Verse 4 expresses this contrast through an image of time: "For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night." The psalm goes on to compare human beings to grass that flourishes in the morning and withers by evening (vv. 5–6). After a lament over the brevity of life and over sin (vv. 7–11), it moves to the petition "So teach us to number our days" (v. 12) and closes with a prayer for God's favor.

The phrase "a watch in the night" refers to an ancient unit for dividing the hours of the night. The Hebrew term denotes a night "watch," a period of guard duty. Israel in the Old Testament period is believed to have divided the night into three watches, so a single watch lasted several hours. The image is of a short span of time that slips by while one is asleep.

Interpretation

• Reading within the flow of the psalm: Most commentaries read this verse as a poetic expression contrasting God's eternity with human transience. Even a span as long as a thousand years is, to God, as brief as a day already gone or a few hours of the night. On this reading, the point is not the calculation of time but the need for short-lived human beings to rely on the eternal God.
• The reading in 2 Peter: 2 Peter 3:8 urges readers not to forget "that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." This is commonly understood as an allusion to Psalm 90:4. The context is a response to those who scoff that the Second Coming has been delayed. The apparent delay is explained as God's longsuffering, as He waits for people to come to repentance (3:9).
• The early church's "world-week" reading: The second-century Epistle of Barnabas and Irenaeus, among others, are known to have applied the idea that "a day of the Lord is a thousand years" to the six days of creation. They interpreted world history as lasting six thousand years, to be followed by a sabbath rest, namely the millennial kingdom.
• Doctrinal reading: Systematic theology cites this verse, together with verse 2, as a proof text for the eternity of God, the doctrine that God is not bound by the passage of time.

Debates and Issues

• The age of creation: In the creation and evolution debate, proponents of the day-age theory sometimes cite this verse. The day-age theory holds that the "days" of Genesis 1 represent long ages. Young-earth creationists counter that the verse is a simile ("as"). They further argue that because the psalm also compares a thousand years to "a watch in the night," it cannot be treated as a conversion formula in which one day equals a thousand years.
• Calculating the end times: Throughout history there have been repeated attempts to use this verse and 2 Peter 3:8 as a "one day equals a thousand years" formula for calculating the date of the Second Coming or the end of the world. Commentators across many denominations regard this as quoting the verse out of context. Citing the teaching that no one knows the day or the hour (Mark 13:32; Acts 1:7), they caution against date-setting.

In the Korean Church

Psalm 90 is a song about the brevity of human life and the eternity of God. For this reason it is reportedly read often at funeral services and memorial services, and is a favorite text for sermons at New Year's Eve watch-night services marking the close of the year. On such occasions verse 4 is often cited together with verses 10 and 12.

Related Passages

• Psalm 90:2
• Psalm 90:12
• 2 Peter 3:8–9
• Psalm 102:25–27
• Isaiah 40:6–8