What is the context?
The people speak of life under divine anger and sins exposed in God’s presence. Years pass with a sigh.
Seventy or eighty years describe the short and burdensome span the prayer considers. Even strength does not remove the final passing away.
The description is part of a communal confession. It should not become a rule that every person must die at one of those ages or that an early death proves unusually great guilt.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Wesley takes the ages as a general description with exceptions and emphasizes accountability before God. His reading should not be made into a demographic measurement for every society or a diagnosis of an individual death.
What is our position?
We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.
Where can I study this further?
No deeper study linked yet.