Jehovah, what is man, that thou takest knowledge of him, the son of man, that thou takest thought of him?
Psalm 144 opens with David praising the Lord for His greatness. Then, in the middle of that praise, he stops and asks why God pays any attention to man at all. The question is not idle curiosity. It sets God's greatness beside human frailty, and David asks it with enemies in view.
The wondering tone of verse 3 comes from what David has just been saying about the Lord. Once he has taken in who God is, man shrinks by comparison.
(vv. 3-4) The psalmist has looked at the greatness of the Lord, and now he sees how weak man is. What is man (Adam), or the son of man (Enosh)? This is man in all his frailty and weakness. Why should the Lord take account of him? He is only a breath, and his days are like a shadow that passes away.
Verse 3 asks; verse 4 replies.
Verse 3 has asked, "What is man?" Now verse 4 answers: "Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow." This is again looking at mankind in general. It is not looking at the striking representative we see in Christ Jesus.
The same question turns up elsewhere in the Old Testament. Each time it carries a different weight. In Job it is a complaint. In Psalm 8 it is amazement. Here in Psalm 144 it is different again.
In Job 7, it is: "What is man, that you should magnify him? and that you should set your heart upon him?" He says it in a complaining, bad spirit: Why does the LORD take such notice of me? Why does He make such a trouble about me? Why does He not leave me alone? Why should the LORD think so much of me, and not cut me off?
Then, in Psalm 8, "What is man," that God is going to make His own Son a man, and set Him over everything? … And here, in Psalm 144, it is, "What is man," that God should be so careful over this wicked people?
Job shows God testing man. Psalm 144 shows the result of the test. Davison reads the psalm as man's verdict, not just his weakness.
In Psalm 144 we learn the fruit of that trial. Man failed under it, and so man is now under judgment… Beloved, every one of the sons of Adam has been under trial, and the result was inevitable: they have all come under judgment. Whatever the trial, and whenever it came, it brought the same result. The whole race has come under judgment.
There is a second edge to David's question. He is thinking of enemies who keep blocking God's purposes. He cannot understand why God allows it.
In these verses David has his enemies before his mind. He is filled with thoughts of the unstoppable power of God. He is amazed that God lets man — man who is like a breath — throw himself across God's path again and again, trying to block Him from carrying out His purposes. Then he makes this earnest appeal: "Bow Your heavens, O Lord, and come down … Cast forth lightning, and scatter them." This is the old problem of why God allows evil. It has puzzled godly people in every age. The wicked win, and the righteous suffer… God could order it all differently, yet He does not act! Heaven is silent. Who has not felt the strain and trial of this!
Psalm 8 asks the same question and ends with man set over the works of God. Psalm 144 leaves man under judgment. The two pictures seem to clash.
How has this come about? Man breaks down under trial, as in Job. Man comes under judgment, as in Psalm 144. Yet man is set over the works of God, as in Psalm 8. … our Lord Jesus Christ is the answer to it all… He came into flesh and blood conditions, into the scene of trial where every other man had broken down… He too was under trial, yet He never broke down under it… But what about man being under judgment? Beloved, Christ has borne that judgment in our place… He conquered death, and God has raised Him from among the dead and crowned Him with glory and honour at His right hand.
So the very title used in the question becomes the answer to it.
Man is such a small being that millions of men can be swept away in a very short time. The flood of Noah proves it. Yet here is a wonderful fact: the Lord of glory has become Man, and indeed "the Son of Man."
- Occasion. The question rises out of praise: seeing the Lord's greatness is what makes man look small.
- Answer. Verse 4 supplies it — a breath, a passing shadow — and that is mankind in general, not Christ.
- Verdict. Where Job shows man under trial, Psalm 144 shows the result: the whole race under judgment.
- Strain. David's wonder includes a protest: why does God let frail men block His purposes? Heaven stays silent, and that strain has tested godly people in every age.
- Resolution. The title in the question is where the answer lies: the Son of Man bore the judgment and is crowned with glory.
Man is like to vanity; his days are as a shadow that passeth away.
David has his enemies in mind, men who try to block God's purposes. Two questions run under this verse: why does God notice a creature so slight, and why does He let it delay His people's blessing?
So who does this verse measure — mankind in general, or one Man in particular?
Verse 3 has asked, "What is man?" Now verse 4 answers, "Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow." For this is again considering mankind generally. It is not the striking representative seen in Christ Jesus.
Two different Hebrew words stand behind "man" in verse 3. Psalm 8 asks the same question, but runs the two words the other way round:
In Psalm 8 the question moves from "Enosh" to "Adam". It is exactly reversed in Psalm 144, where "Adam" in the first question comes out as "Enosh" in the second — that is, frail, powerless and mortal as sinful. Here there is no question of God's purpose or of Christ. The one exception is that the psalm goes on to introduce Him as Jehovah, bowing the heavens and coming down to deliver (verses 5, 7).
This is not an abstract thought about human frailty. The man in view sets himself against God's purpose:
Before Jehovah, what is man, that He should take account of him? This is, of course, looking at him as the would-be thwarter of God's purposes. Yet he is merely like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.
So the frailty becomes an argument in prayer. If the obstacle is only a breath, why does the blessing still wait?
Its plea for the destruction of the enemies is, What is man? Why should Jehovah make account of such a worm, and delay bringing in blessing by lingering in judgment like this? So the psalm looks for deliverance, and for the full, true, final blessing of Israel.
David feels a puzzle that troubles believing people in every age. God has all the power, yet He does not use it now.
In these verses David has his enemies in mind... Filled with thoughts of the unstoppable power of God, he is amazed that God permits it. Man is like a breath. Yet he flings himself across God's path again and again, trying to block Him from carrying out His purposes. He follows this with the earnest appeal: "Bow Your heavens, O Lord, and come down… Flash forth the lightning and scatter them." It is the old problem of God's permission of evil. This has perplexed the godly in every age. The wicked triumph and the righteous suffer... God could so easily order it all otherwise, yet He does not act! Heaven is silent. Who has not felt the strain and trial of this!
Job, Psalm 144 and Psalm 8 set out three stages: man tried, man judged, man in glory. So how do they fit together?
How has this come about, we may well ask? Man breaks down under trial in Job. He comes under judgment in Psalm 144. Yet in Psalm 8 he is set over the works of God. The solution to this puzzle of Old Testament days is ours today. The answer to it all is found in our Lord Jesus Christ... He came into flesh and blood conditions, into the scene of trial where every other man had broken down... What about man being under judgment? Christ has borne that judgment as a substitute. He did it so that God's purpose for man could take effect.
Some argue from words like these that man simply ends at death. Yet the shortness of life is solemn for a deeper reason:
Statements like these describe how brief man's life on earth is. They are not new or unknown to those who believe the soul is immortal. And it is a solemn, unnatural thing for God's creatures to be "subject to vanity." Those who argue that way should consider it, quite apart from what comes after death... For the point is the wreck and ruin of the first creation by death coming in at all. This is what gives solemnity to the brevity of his earthly history.
- Breath — Verse 4 answers verse 3's question. It measures mankind in general, not the one outstanding Man seen in Christ Jesus.
- Frail — In verse 3 the word for man ends at "Enosh": frail, powerless and mortal as sinful. Psalm 8 moves the opposite way.
- Opponent — The breath in view is man as the would-be thwarter of God's purposes. His frailty becomes a plea: why let such a creature delay the blessing?
- Silence — Why does God permit this obstruction? It is the old problem of God's permission of evil, felt by the godly in every age.
- Answer — Man tried and broken in Job, man judged in Psalm 144, man crowned in Psalm 8. The puzzle resolves in Christ, who bore that judgment as a substitute.
Jehovah, bow thy heavens, and come down; touch the mountains, that they smoke;
David holds two things side by side: God's overwhelming power and man's frailty. Out of that contrast comes a cry for God to open the sky and come down.
The prayer follows straight on from David's admission that man is a passing shadow.
(vv. 5-8) Seeing the greatness of the Lord and the frailty of man, who dares to exalt himself against God, why should the judgment be delayed? So the psalmist begs the Lord to step in with judgment on the enemies of His people. The aim is to bring the godly out of their deep distress — the "great waters" — and to free them from the power of corrupt strangers.
Behind the prayer lies an old difficulty. God has the power to end the matter, and does not use it.
Filled with thoughts of the unstoppable power of God, he is amazed that He should allow man, who is like a breath, to keep throwing himself across His path and trying to block Him in carrying out His purposes. He follows this up with the urgent appeal: "Bow Your heavens, O Lord, and come down… Cast forth lightning, and scatter them." It is the old problem of God's permission of evil. This has puzzled the godly in every age. The wicked triumph, and the righteous suffer. God could so easily order it all otherwise, yet He does not act! Heaven is silent. Who has not felt the strain and trial of this!
The verse works on two levels at once.
"Bow Your heavens, O LORD, and come down!" (v. 5). This is both a prayer and a prophecy. Bowing the heavens and coming down is perfectly true of the Son of God who once came in gracious childhood. But it is also a prophecy of His coming down to Israel in the time of their deepest need. He comes in judgment against their enemies, touching the mountains (which stand for higher authorities) so that they smoke, flashing like lightning to scatter them, and bringing destruction by the arrows of His swift judgment.
Commentators differ on how much weight to give His first coming here. Others read these verses only of His coming in judgment.
Verses 3–4 confess that man is nothing. That clears the ground for the display of power. One writer notices that the psalm holds together two things about the same person.
In verses 3, 4, there is an emphatic and repeated acknowledgment of human vanity (compare Ps. 8). This prepares the way for the display of God in power in the verses that follow (5-11). The twofold glory of the person of Jesus is displayed. As the Seed of David, and Heir of covenanted mercy, He and His kingdom are the subjects of Divine deliverance. Yet He is Himself the Deliverer.
Judgment is not the goal. The prayer looks past it to what judgment makes room for.
Man's worthlessness is presented to Him here in this way. It was now the hand of foreigners, and Messiah had to be delivered — the One who pleads for the people He stood in for, and who shared their affliction. Man is like a passing breath. "Bow Your heavens, O Jehovah"; and the righteous Messiah claims the intervention of power, and this brings judgment and new songs — judgment so that righteousness may bear its unhindered and natural fruits of blessing.
The prayer is not left hanging.
There is here, as afterwards in Psalm 144, the expectation of that deliverance by some mission or ministry "from above," or from heaven. The scene in Rev. 19 is the answer to this expectation: there the heavens open to let down the deliverer desired and expected here.
When that moment comes, God explains the silence instead of just ending it.
"The mystery of God," that is, the mystery of His non-intervention, of His permission of evil, will then be cleared up. The heavens will no longer be silent, but opened. The rightful Lord of all will come forth and take His rights; evil will be dethroned, and righteousness will be exalted in peace.
- Cause — Man is a passing shadow. God's power is unstoppable. So the psalmist asks why judgment waits.
- Cry — "Bow your heavens" puts an honest strain into words. Heaven stays silent while evil wins, and the psalm says so.
- Coming — Writers read the bowed heavens both of the Son of God's coming in grace and of His coming in judgment. The smoking mountains stand for the ruling powers He touches.
- Character — The One asked to come down is David's Seed, who receives deliverance, and the Deliverer Himself.
- Consequence — Judgment is asked for so righteousness can bear its fruit of blessing. When the heavens open at last, God explains His long patience with evil instead of just ending it.
Cast forth lightnings, and scatter them; send forth thine arrows, and discomfit them
David has just called man a breath, whose days are a passing shadow. Now he asks God to come down with lightning and arrows — a cry commentators read as both David's real trouble with real enemies and a picture of a day still to come.
The call for lightning is not abstract. One writer sets it against the enemies who fought David before and after he became king. He finds in it a question every believer asks.
In these verses David has his enemies in mind. He was God's Anointed, known and owned as such years before he sat on Israel's throne. Yet he never lacked enemies, both before and after he became king, who did their best to block God's purposes for him... Filled with thoughts of the irresistible power of God, he is amazed that He allows man, who is like a breath, to keep throwing himself across His path and trying to stop Him from carrying out His plans... It is the old problem of God's permission of evil. This has troubled the godly in every age. The wicked triumph, and the righteous suffer... God could so easily order it all otherwise, yet He does not act! Heaven is silent. Who has not felt the strain and trial of this!
The same writer points to the day when that silence ends and God makes His reason for waiting plain.
"The mystery of God" — that is, the mystery of why He does not step in, of why He allows evil — will then be cleared up. Heaven will no longer be silent. It will be open. The rightful Lord of all will come out and take His rights. He will bring evil down from its throne and lift righteousness up in peace... we shall see that, despite all appearances, the enemy has not really hindered any purpose of God.
The images are weapons. One commentator reads them — the smoking mountains, the flash that scatters, the arrows — as the Lord coming down to Israel at their lowest point.
"Bow your heavens, O LORD, and come down!" (v. 5). This is both a prayer and a prophecy. Bowing the heavens and coming down is perfectly true of the Son of God, who once came as a child in grace. But it is also a prophecy of His coming down to Israel in the time of their deepest need. He comes in judgment against their enemies. He touches the mountains, which stand for higher authorities, and makes them smoke. He flashes like lightning to scatter them. He brings destruction by the arrows of His swift judgment.
This verse does not stand alone. It answers the question the psalmist asked two verses earlier. One writer shows how the smallness of man becomes the reason for the plea.
Its plea for the destruction of the enemies is this: What is man? Why should the LORD take account of such a worm, and hold back blessing by waiting so long to judge? So deliverance is looked for, so that Israel may come into its full, true, final blessing.
The lightning is not the end of the psalm. The same writer shows what the judgment is for.
"Bow your heavens, O LORD" — the righteous Messiah asks God to step in with power, and this brings judgment and new songs. The judgment comes so that righteousness may bear its natural fruits of blessing, with nothing left to hinder them.
A prayer for lightning to destroy people sounds strange on Christian lips. One commentator refuses to soften the words. He puts the difference somewhere else — in how God deals with the world now.
It is the difference in God's dealings that clears it all up, without twisting the words. When God judges enemies, as He did long ago and will again, His people share in it to some extent. Now He is showing sovereign grace, and a different spirit of action fits them. The New Testament proves this clearly for the Christian and the church. Even so, the Psalms are a treasure of divine riches to the believer.
- The delay. Heaven stays silent while evil wins. That strain has tried the godly in every age, and here it turns into a prayer.
- The descent. Bowed heavens, smoking mountains, lightning, arrows — they all say one thing. God comes down Himself.
- The plea. The argument is not the psalmist's worth but man's smallness. Why should God take account of such a worm, and hold back blessing?
- The purpose. Judgment is not the goal; it clears the ground so that righteousness can bear its natural fruits of blessing.
- The difference. God is now showing sovereign grace, so a different spirit fits His people. The psalm stays a treasure, but it is not the Christian's prayer.