Psalms 90:10
The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
The verse sets seventy years as the usual length of human life in Moses' time, with those who placed it in David's time beside them, and eighty years for those of exceptional strength. Even that stronger span is labor and sorrow, soon cut off, showing human life as brief and fragile against God's everlasting existence after a sharp fall from the nearly thousand years lived from Adam to Noah. The shortening has continued to a still lower present average through continued violation of God's laws of health and life, especially in diet and in liquor and tobacco, and will require the removal of the curse at Christ's second coming to restore Eden's perfection. Disease and death before the full measure do not come from God's providence but from transgression of natural laws, while faithful keeping of those laws can preserve vigor unimpaired at seventy. Even seventy years is a short probation in which to prepare for eternity, which may end at any time even before manhood, and God desires that men live out the full measure with every organ free for its work and no work left unfinished.
Lifespan in History
The seventy years is the usual span of human life in Moses' time, marking a sharp decline in longevity from earlier generations. The threescore and ten years is the average human lifespan in David's time. Eighty years is allowed for those with unusual or exceptional strength, and the years before a child's first birthday are less than one-seventieth of that allotted term.
Even that stronger span of eighty is labour and sorrow and soon cut off and passing away, so that human life set against God's everlasting existence is brief and fragile. The seventy years marks a further stage in woeful physical and mental deterioration and decrease in longevity from the much longer lifespans before and after the Flood. The patriarchs from Adam to Noah, with few exceptions, lived nearly a thousand years, and people in the first few thousand years after creation reached an age the present generation dies before.
The decline has continued down from seventy to a still shorter present average. Reported averages are thirty years in Europe and the United States and twenty years in great cities, contrasted with the three-score and ten of David's time. American life expectancy has fallen far below the proper average span of healthy human life set at threescore years and ten, and is still declining. If the decline from nearly a thousand years to seventy continued, the human race would eventually cease to exist. This steady increase of disease and mortality through successive generations points to the need for a great change at Christ's second coming, when the curse will be removed and humanity and the earth restored to Eden's perfection.
Why Life Shortens
The shortening of life and the steady increase of disease and mortality through successive generations are caused by continued violations of God's laws of health and life. In David's time threescore and ten years stood as the average human lifespan, yet reported averages have fallen to thirty years in Europe and the United States and to twenty years in great cities, and human life remains brief and marked by frailty and pain. The present generation dies before the age reached by people in the first few thousand years after creation, for the patriarchs from Adam to Noah, with few exceptions, lived nearly a thousand years.
Threescore years and ten is the proper average span of healthy human life, but American life expectancy has fallen far below that standard and is still declining. Worsening diet and the increasing use of liquor and tobacco undermine health and have helped drive life expectancy down. The allotted human lifespan is seventy years, or eighty for those with unusual strength, and the year before a child's first birthday is less than one-seventieth of that term.
Harmful habits and violations of the laws of health can shorten life so that a person living by such violations may not live out half the allotted days. A person who abuses alcohol or tobacco may still live to threescore years and ten and appear fairly well. Even then hidden damage has been consuming the internal organs and leaves the person liable to die suddenly.
Faithfully keeping nature's laws can preserve health, vigor, and enjoyment through a long life, as shown by a patriarch whose vigor remains unimpaired at threescore years and ten, which supplies the measure of a long human life. God wants men and women to live out the full measure of their days, with every organ free to do its allotted work and no work left unfinished by premature death. Disease and death that remove members of the household before that full measure do not come from God's providence but are the sure result of transgression of natural laws, so it is unjust to complain of God or charge Him with causing them.
Using Brief Probation
Even a full span of seventy years is a short probation in which to prepare for eternity and to seek eternal life. Those threescore years and ten mark the limited time granted for the work of salvation. Brief as that term is, it may end at any time and is not guaranteed to run its course.
The interval between birth and death can pass swiftly. The seventy-year period may be cut short at any point, and death may come even before a person reaches manhood.
God wants men and women to live out the full measure of their days. His purpose is for every organ to be left free to do its allotted work. Then no work would be left unfinished through premature death.