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. This verse describes the human lifespan's brevity and difficulty, contrasting sharply with God's eternality. After establishing God's timeless existence (v.1-2) and different perspective on time (v.4), Moses now emphasizes how brief and burdensome human life is apart from God's blessing and purpose.
"The days of our years are threescore years and ten" (יְמֵי־שְׁנוֹתֵינוּ בָהֶם שִׁבְעִים שָׁנָה/yemei-shenotenu vahem shiv'im shanah) sets seventy years as typical human lifespan. "Threescore and ten" is seventy (three twenties plus ten). Moses, who lived 120 years (Deuteronomy 34:7), isn't describing his own experience but normal human experience under the Adamic curse. Before the flood, lifespans exceeded 900 years; after Noah, they rapidly decreased. By Moses's time, seventy years was normal—matching what medical historians and archaeological evidence suggest for ancient populations.
"And if by reason of strength they be fourscore years" (וְאִם בִּגְבוּרֹת שְׁמוֹנִים שָׁנָה/ve'im bigevurot shemonim shanah) acknowledges some live to eighty through gevurot (strength, might, vigor). This isn't divine blessing but physical stamina, robust constitution, perhaps favorable circumstances. Yet even these extended years offer no escape from life's fundamental burdens.
"Yet is their strength labour and sorrow" (רָהְבָּם עָמָל וָאָוֶן/rohbam amal va'aven) describes the content of even healthy, long years. Rohbam (their pride, their best, their strength) refers to what people boast in—health, energy, accomplishments. Yet these amount to amal (toil, labor, trouble) and aven (sorrow, iniquity, emptiness, vanity). This echoes Ecclesiastes's theme: "Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?" (Ecclesiastes 1:2-3).
"For it is soon cut off" (כִּי־גָז חִישׁ/ki-gaz chish) emphasizes suddenness. Gaz (to cut off, cut down) suggests being mown down like grass—a metaphor developed earlier in the psalm (v.5-6). Chish (quickly, hastily, soon) stresses the swiftness of life's end. Just when one gains experience, wisdom, or success, life ends.
"And we fly away" (וַנָּעֻפָה/vana'ufah) concludes with imagery of flying—perhaps like chaff blown away (Psalm 1:4) or birds departing (Ecclesiastes 12:4-5). Uf (to fly, fly away, depart) suggests how insubstantial life is—a brief flight, then gone. James 4:14 echoes: "For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away."
Historical & Cultural Context
Moses witnessed unprecedented death in the wilderness. The generation that left Egypt (numbering over 600,000 men plus women and children—perhaps 2-3 million total) died over forty years. At that rate, approximately 75-125 people died daily. Moses conducted funerals constantly, watching an entire generation perish. This psalm's somber reflection on death's universality and life's brevity comes from lived experience of mass mortality.
Ancient Near Eastern wisdom literature commonly reflected on life's brevity. Egyptian Instruction of Ani, Mesopotamian Gilgamesh Epic, and Greek philosophy pondered mortality. Yet pagan responses differed: some advocated hedonism ('eat, drink, be merry'), others stoic acceptance, others despair. Moses's response differs—neither hedonism nor fatalism but prayer for divine wisdom and blessing to make brief life meaningful (v.12, 17).
The fall's curse included mortality: "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return" (Genesis 3:19). Romans 5:12 declares: "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." Death isn't natural but judgment on sin. Even believers die physically (though death's sting is removed, 1 Corinthians 15:55), awaiting resurrection when mortality puts on immortality (1 Corinthians 15:53).
Historically, life expectancy varied. While average lifespan was lower (infant mortality skewed statistics), those who survived childhood often lived to 60-70. Moses's seventy years matches demographic data from ancient populations. Modern medicine has increased average lifespan in developed countries, but maximum lifespan remains roughly the same—validating this verse's observation.
Jesus's incarnation radically changed death's meaning. Though He experienced mortality, His resurrection broke death's power. Believers die physically but live eternally. 2 Corinthians 5:8: "To be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." Philippians 1:21: "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Death remains enemy (1 Corinthians 15:26), but defeated enemy—Christ has removed its sting.