Ps. 90.3 (from mountains to men)

You turn human beings / back to dust;
saying, “Turn back / you mortals”. 

From mountains the psalmist shifts his attention to humans. We alluded already to why this is probably the case. Just as mountains represent the height of creation and that place where heaven and earth meet, so too do humans represent the pinnacle of living things, and that place, arguably, where haven and earth meet in living things. Furthermore, when it comes to mountains it is their ‘birth’ and origin from Yhwh that is in focus; here, it humans ‘death’ and end that is in focus. What these verses represent, then, is a type of utter mastery of Yhwh not only over creation and life, but over time itself. He is ‘before’ creation just as he is ‘after’ death. The point, though, is not in his ‘existence’ both pre and post creation/death, but rather that these ‘times’ are utterly under his command. They are not simply ‘states of being’, but enactments of Yhwh’s divine will. Again, we need to recall the opening lines and its focus on Yhwh’s “help” in “every generation”. His ‘help’ is an enactment of his will toward his people. 

The question needs to be asked, though, in what light are we to view this ‘command to death’. Is it simply the ‘reverse pole’ of the creation of mountains or is there something of the curse of Genesis contained in it? I think the answer is mixed. We need to point out here that the phrase ‘turn back’ is used later the psalm, when psalmist implores Yhwh to “turn back” and “change his mind” about his servants. There, the directive to Yhwh is one of a moral quality—it appeals to Yhwh to turn away from his anger at his people’s sinfulness. It is, in other words, an appeal for mercy. What it is attempting to change, though, is not death, but the ‘toil and trouble’ of life lived in the glare of Yhwh’s anger (vs. 10). When Yhwh ‘turns back’ in mercy, his people are not granted a longer life but a joyful one (vs. 14-16). However, that said, the ‘work of their hands’ is granted a type of longevity; it is ‘established’ (vs. 17). Furthermore, their children are granted a ‘majestic vision’ of Yhwh (vs. 16). 

I think what we see here is important in light today’s verse: all men die, but in the light of Yhwh’s blessing and mercy, the communal life of his people and their work is raised up into his ‘time’ and thereby ‘established’. So, I don’t think that what we see in this verse is a ‘moral’ quality to death; however, in the concluding section what we do witness is a type of immortality that is granted to Yhwh’s people (through their perpetual offspring and the establishment of their ‘work’ in contrast to ‘toil and trouble). As we will see, the light of Yhwh’s face is what removes these particular aspects from ‘common’ use and makes them participate in the ‘holiness’ of Yhwh’s time.