Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.
This prayer belongs to the faithful in Babylon's captivity, when deliverance drew near. They lament their afflictions, plead for the temple's restoration, and recall God's promises to steady their hope. The prophet shaped it as a form of prayer when the seventy years were nearly finished and comfort was about to break forth.
AI summary
Commenting on Psalm 102:1-28
Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth. Creation is no new work with God, and therefore to "create Jerusalem a praise in the earth" will not be difficult to him. Long ere the holy city was laid in ruins the Lord made a world out of nothing, and it will be no labour to him to raise the walls from their heaps...
When the ten tribes were lost in Assyria and Judah nearly lost in Babylon, the promise seemed to fail utterly; the strength of that nation was broken in the way, and the day of the Messiah appeared cut short. Yet the psalmist cries out as we all must when sickness or early death threatens: God's hand holds our strength and time, and we must trust His love even when both are taken from us.
AI summary
Commenting on Psalm 102:23-28