Fathers

Psalms 39

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I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me. I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred. My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue, LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am. Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah. Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them. And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee. Deliver me from all my transgressions: make me not the reproach of the foolish. I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it. Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thine hand. When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity. Selah. Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were. O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more.

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What the Fathers say

Psalms 39:4

Western Saints

Augustine of Hippo

"Lord, make me to know mine end" [Psalm 39:4]. For some things I have passed by already; and I have arrived at a certain point, and that to which I have arrived is better than that from which I have advanced to this; but yet there remains a point, which has to be left behind. For we are not to remain here, where there are trials, offenses, where we have to bear with persons who listen to us and cavil at us. "Make me to know mine end;" the end, from which I am still removed, not the course which is already before me.

Exposition on Psalm 39 ↗

Ambrose of Milan

It is not that he was enquiring about his own death—death is not the end of one who will rise again—but rather his enquiry concerned that end of which the apostle speaks: "Afterwards there will be the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God and the Father". … Evil will fade to nothingness, and eternal good will take its place.… That, surely, is the true end. It is not the end of one person alone, but the end of all. Why then does David say "my end"? But consider a moment who it is that is speaking. …

Commentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms ↗

Thomas Aquinas

Here he turns to God and is set ablaze. "I spoke with my tongue: Lord, make known to me my end, and the number of my days." Here a twofold petition is set forth. The first, at "Make known to me, Lord, my end." End is taken here as Christ. Rom. 10: "Christ is the end of the law." And he says, "Lord, make known to me Christ." The other petition is at "Make known to me the number of my days," that is, I wish to consider what the present life is like, so that I may compare it to that end; because these days are evil, few, and imperfect, …

Exposition on the Psalms of David ↗