EXPOSITION
THIS psalm, like the majority in the present Book, is without a title. Jewish tradition, however, ascribed it to Moses—a conclusion which Dr. Kay and others accept as borne out by the facts, especially by the many close resemblances between it and Deuteronomy 32:1-52; Deuteronomy 33:1-29. Other critics, and they are the majority, trace in it a different hand, but regard it as suggested by Psalms 90:1-17.
The subject is the security of the man who thoroughly trusts in God. This subject is worked out by an "antiphonal arrangement" (Cheyne)—the first speaker delivering Psalms 90:1, Psalms 90:2; the second, Psalms 90:3, Psalms 90:4; then the first responding with Psalms 90:5-8; and again the second with Psalms 90:9-13. In conclusion, a third speaker, making himself the mouthpiece of Jehovah, crowns all by declaring the blessings which God himself will bestow upon his faithful ones (Psalms 90:14-16).
This psalm is, apparently, liturgical, and is "the most vivid of the liturgical psalms" (Cheyne). It has a certain resemblance to the speech of Eliphaz the Temanite in Job 5:17-23, but stands at a higher elevation.