1 To the chiefe Musician, euen to Ieduthun, A Psalme of Dauid. I sayd, I will take heede to my waies, that I sinne not with my tongue: I will keepe my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me.
2 I was dumbe with silence, I held my peace, euen from good, and my sorrow was stirred.
3 My heart was hot within mee, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue.
4 Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my dayes, what it is: that I may know how fraile I am.
5 Behold, thou hast made my dayes as an hand breadth, and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily euery man at his best state is altogether vanitie. Selah.
6 Surely euery man walketh in a vaine shew: surely they are disquieted in vaine: he heapeth vp riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.
7 And now Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee.
8 Deliuer me from all my transgressions: make mee not the reproch of the foolish.
9 I was dumbe, I opened not my mouth; because thou diddest it.
10 Remooue thy stroke away from mee: I am consumed by the blowe of thine hand.
11 When thou with rebukes doest correct man for iniquitie, thou makest his beautie to consume away like a moth: surely euery man is vanitie. Selah.
12 Heare my prayer, O Lord, and giue eare vnto my crie, hold not thy peace at my teares: for I am a straunger with thee, and a soiourner, as all my fathers were.
13 O spare me, that I may recouer strength: before I goe hence, and be no more.
David meditates on man's frailty. (1-6) He applies for pardon and deliverance. (7-13)
1-6 If an evil thought should arise in the mind, suppress it. Watchfulness in the habit, is the bridle upon the head; watchfulness in acts, is the hand upon the bridle. When not able to separate from wicked men, we should remember they will watch our words, and turn them, if they can, to our disadvantage. Sometimes it may be necessary to keep silence, even from good words; but in general we are wrong when backward to engage in edifying discourse. Impatience is a sin that has its cause within ourselves, and that is, musing; and its ill effects upon ourselves, and that is no less than burning. In our greatest health and prosperity, every man is altogether vanity, he cannot live long; he may die soon. This is an undoubted truth, but we are very unwilling to believe it. Therefore let us pray that God would enlighten our minds by his Holy Spirit, and fill our hearts with his grace, that we may be ready for death every day and hour.
7-13 There is no solid satisfaction to be had in the creature; but it is to be found in the Lord, and in communion with him; to him we should be driven by our disappointments. If the world be nothing but vanity, may God deliver us from having or seeking our portion in it. When creature-confidences fail, it is our comfort that we have a God to go to, a God to trust in. We may see a good God doing all, and ordering all events concerning us; and a good man, for that reason, says nothing against it. He desires the pardoning of his sin, and the preventing of his shame. We must both watch and pray against sin. When under the correcting hand of the Lord, we must look to God himself for relief, not to any other. Our ways and our doings bring us into trouble, and we are beaten with a rod of our own making. What a poor thing is beauty! and what fools are those that are proud of it, when it will certainly, and may quickly, be consumed! The body of man is as a garment to the soul. In this garment sin has lodged a moth, which wears away, first the beauty, then the strength, and finally the substance of its parts. Whoever has watched the progress of a lingering distemper, or the work of time alone, in the human frame, will feel at once the force of this comparison, and that, surely every man is vanity. Afflictions are sent to stir up prayer. If they have that effect, we may hope that God will hear our prayer. The believer expects weariness and ill treatment on his way to heaven; but he shall not stay here long : walking with God by faith, he goes forward on his journey, not diverted from his course, nor cast down by the difficulties he meets. How blessed it is to sit loose from things here below, that while going home to our Father's house, we may use the world as not abusing it! May we always look for that city, whose Builder and Maker is God.
Commentary by Matthew Henry, 1710.