Psalms 39:5

“Behold, thou hast made my days [as] an handbreadth, etc.] These words, with the following clause, are the psalmist’s answer to his own inquiries; or rather a correction of his inquiry and impatience, showing how needless it was to ask such questions, and be impatient to die, when it was so clear and certain a case that life was so short; not a yard or ell (forty five inches), but an handbreadth, the breadth of four fingers; or at most a span of time was allowed to man, whose days are few, like the shadow that declineth, and the grass that withers; by which figurative expressions the brevity of human life is described, (<19A211>Psalm 102:11 103:15); and this is the measure made, cut out, and…”

“His prayer is answered in his obtaining an impressive view of the vanity of the life of all men, and their transient state. Their pomp is a mere image, and their wealth is gathered they know not for whom.”

“Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth - literally, “Lo, handbreadths hast thou given my days.” The word rendered “handbreadth” means properly the spread hand; the palm; the hand when the four fingers are expanded. The word is then used to denote anything very short or brief. It is one of the smallest natural measures, as distinguished from the “foot” - that is, the length of the foot; and from the cubit - that is, the length of the arm to the elbow. It is the “shortness” of life, therefore, that is the subject of painful and complaining reflection here. Who has not been in a state of mind to sympathize with the feelings of the psalmist? Who is there that does not often wonder,…”

“Before thee - If compared with thee, and with thy everlasting duration. Psalms 39:6”

“Behold: Psa 90:4, Psa 90:5, Psa 90:9, Psa 90:10; Gen 47:9; Job 7:6, Job 9:25, Job 9:26, Job 14:1, Job 14:2; Jam 4:14 as nothing: Psa 89:47; Pe2 3:8 verily: Psa 39:11, Psa 62:9, Psa 144:4; Ecc 1:2, Ecc 2:11; Isa 40:17 at his best state: Heb. settled Psalms 39:6”