Remember how short my time is: wherefore hast thou made all men in vain?
The cry belongs to the sorrows and afflictions of the Hebrew captives in the Babylonian captivity, especially its latter part under Belshazzar, when Jewish persecution and distress were severe. It is set in a psalm that displays God's steadfastness and faithfulness in keeping covenant with His children. That psalm presents the promise of a kingdom to Jacob's descendants as conditional, forfeited by Israel under the old covenant, and to be regained only through an interest in Jesus, the prince who is soon to be crowned King.
The psalm is prophetic of David and his greater Son, Jesus Christ. It is David's prophetic song of deliverance, connected with Christ's triumph in the resurrection. Within it the verse is a plea for God to remember how brief human life is, asking why humanity was made in vain if life is so short and futile.
Taken with the next verse, it presents death and the grave as the fate that no person can escape or overcome by his own power. The hell spoken of is the Hebrew sheol, rendered hell in the old English translation and now grave, meaning a covered or unseen place, the grave and the state of death, synonymous with sheol and hades, not a place of conscious suffering. Therefore the verse teaches people to remember how brief their time is and to use it to prepare to meet God.
The cry belongs to the sorrows and afflictions of the Hebrew captives in the Babylonian captivity, especially its latter part under Belshazzar, when Jewish persecution and distress were severe. It is set in a psalm that displays God's steadfastness and faithfulness in keeping covenant with His children. That psalm presents the promise of a kingdom to Jacob's descendants as conditional, forfeited by Israel under the old covenant, and to be regained only through an interest in Jesus, the prince who is soon to be crowned King.
The psalm is prophetic of David and his greater Son, Jesus Christ. It is David's prophetic song of deliverance, connected with Christ's triumph in the resurrection. Within it the verse is a plea for God to remember how brief human life is, asking why humanity was made in vain if life is so short and futile.
Taken with the next verse, it presents death and the grave as the fate that no person can escape or overcome by his own power. The hell spoken of is the Hebrew sheol, rendered hell in the old English translation and now grave, meaning a covered or unseen place, the grave and the state of death, synonymous with sheol and hades, not a place of conscious suffering. Therefore the verse teaches people to remember how brief their time is and to use it to prepare to meet God.