What does Psalm 90:10 mean?
Scripture does not directly claim God has capped human lifespans. Early people enjoyed extremely long lives, by today's standards. Some interpret Genesis 6:3 to suggest the typical maximum for human life, after the flood, is 120 years. This has some support from history—the oldest verified males outside of the Bible all fall just short of 120 years. The oldest verified woman, as of this writing, died at the age of 122. Those outliers represent those fortunate enough to have all the right factors combine, to say the least. For most, however, the wear and tear of life in a fallen world means a shorter life, usually around 70 or 80 years."Average lifespan" is a term often misunderstood. Average lifespans in the ancient world were much lower than they are today. However, that does not mean a 40-year-old in Moses' day would have looked like an 80-year-old today. Even in ancient times, a person who did not pass away due to disease, accidents, or war could expect to see that 70- or 80-year-old mark. The fact that many, many more people died young, of preventable causes, is why the "average" age, not the "potential" age, was so much lower.
Moses' reference to life's brevity is especially poignant because of what he saw during Israel's wilderness wanderings. Those who journeyed through the wilderness experienced hard trials and eventually died. Many of these passed away without ever seeing the Promised Land they'd hoped for (Numbers 14:33–35). There's a subtle humor in this, the oldest known psalm, referring to the limit of human years.
The inevitable arrival of death is constant, even if lives might stretch longer. A recurring statement in the genealogy of Genesis 5 is "and he died." Adam, the first man, forfeited his life because he had sinned, and he also forfeited a peaceful life in the garden of Eden. He did not physically die immediately, but he did die. Regardless of a person's years on earth, death comes "soon," from the perspective of history. This verse echoes sentiments found elsewhere in Scripture, that human life is inherently short and frail (James 4:14; Luke 12:19–20).
