God’s Wrath Against Moses

A Homily on Psalm 90

What do we do with God’s wrath against Moses—the man of God? In Romans 8:1 it says “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” If this is true, how could Moses be an object of God’s wrath? Should we as Christians be afraid of God’s wrath?

What follows is a homily on the Psalm of Moses. It is done in the KJV because it is in the public domain and not subject to copyright restrictions. Most modern translations will not permit full quotation of large portions of Scripture without permission.

Psalm 90:1-2

Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. 2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.

Moses, the man of God who beheld God’s glory on top of Mount Sinai, begins his prayer with a recollection of Israel’s dwelling place—the place of refuge in the midst of all that they suffered in the wilderness. He tells us about the God he worships—the everlasting God who made heaven and earth. 

Notice that Moses uses the word “our,” and not just “my” dwelling place. Here we see Moses acting as the covenant mediator of Israel which foreshadows the coming work of Christ. Moses uses “our” explicitly to show his covenant identification with his people. 

Psalm 90:3-6

Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men. 4 For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night. 5 Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up. 6 In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.

The word that the KJV renders as “turnest” and the word “return” are the same word in Hebrew—shuv. This is often how the Old Testament frames what the New Testament calls “repentance.” Returning and repenting both involve a turning away from something and a turning toward something else.

Yet in the first turning here, it is a turning unto destruction. What does that mean? Why is God “returning” man to destruction?

Sin itself is a turning unto destruction. It is a walking backward through the days of creation—back toward chaos and disorder. God’s turning man back to dust is the wages of sin; it is the consequence of sin. Man is bent toward his own destruction. Sin itself is the undoing of the good. It opposes the good and seeks to unmake it.

If we think of God’s judgment as the protection of the good, then we have a way to understand judgment that is in harmony with His love. But God’s judgment is not only the protection of the good; it is also the calling of the sinner away from destroying himself. Love protects the good—and it protects both the one who has been sinned against and the one who sins. God protects the good and, at the same time, calls the man who is doing evil to turn back to life. It is a double good. His judgment, then, is ordered toward leading sinners back to Himself and back to the good.

After turning man to destruction to restrain evil and to call sinners back, God then goes on the offensive and actively calls the sinner to return: “Return, ye children of men.” These two turnings belong together. The second turning is the call of the gospel—“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” The call to return is a call to repent.

Man, because of his sin, turns toward death—the first turning. God, by His mercy, calls him away from sin and back to life—the second turning. If man does not turn, he will be carried away with the waters of chaos and wither like the grass. The time to repent is limited by God. This is why Hebrews says, “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah.” God’s judgment is not opposed to His mercy; it is His call to return to Himself.

Psalm 90:7-11 

For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled. 8 Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance. 9 For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told. 10The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. 11 Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.

Moses, the man of God, was not without sin, and neither were the people he was leading out of Egypt without sin. God’s anger and wrath were not aimed at destroying Moses or Israel but at calling them back to the good path. Our sins lead us astray into what is not good. That “anger” is not rejection, nor is it an emotion in the creaturely sense.

The Bible uses what are called anthropopathisms, which means it speaks in accommodative language. God does not change; He is immutable. His anger is not hatred but His love in its corrective and disciplinary form. To us, it can seem like anger, since all correction is unpleasant, yet without His “anger” we cannot truly be loved. What kind of love is passive when we are destroying ourselves? A contemporary musical rendering of this psalm phrases it this way “His wrath is His mercy deep.” Yes, that is what it is—mercy deep. (See link at the end to hear this Psalm on YouTube) 

What, then, about God’s wrath? Surely this seems to involve a change in God’s disposition toward us. Wrath, as we commonly perceive it, is what God pours out on His enemies. Surely God’s wrath and judgment on the Egyptians was rejection and hatred of them—or was it? When we look more closely, God’s wrath against Egypt was the protection of the good against the evil. Israel was being protected from Egyptian oppression. So, did God hate the Egyptians? No. A mixed multitude went up with Israel, and God judged Egypt so that they might seek Him.

In Isaiah 19:23-25, we read of God’s great judgment against Egypt, yet the chapter ends with blessing:

In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria will come into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians. In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom the LORD of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed be Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance” 

God loved the Egyptians and the Assyrians. He worked His wrath against them so that they might turn to Him. This is in keeping with the Abrahamic promise that he would be a father to many nations. This wrath of God is exercised both upon those who do not know God and upon those who do. It is the same love calling people back to Himself. For some, it is their first return and their entrance into His household. For others, His wrath is His discipline of those already in His household.

So, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, you can expect God’s wrath in your life. It is His love in its strong form—correction and discipline. It is “His mercy deep.”

Psalm 90:12-15

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. 13Return, O LORD, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants. 14 O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. 15Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the yearswherein we have seen evil. 

This wrath of God should teach us to number our days, that we may partake of His holiness. Discipline does not seem pleasant at the time, but it later yields a harvest of righteousness.

In verse 13, we see the third “turning”: “Return, O LORD. How long?” After God’s discipline, Moses prays that God would return His favor to them and remove His heavy hand of wrath from His people. It is the same word in Hebrew—shuv. These three turnings show us the verbal nature of God’s dealings with mankind. We know Him by His actions toward us, and we respond by our actions toward Him. Faith that does not live in this verbal register is, according to the book of James, a dead faith.

This verbal back-and-forth is like the days of creation themselves. He said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. He speaks—and it is done. The light shines—and we reflect it back to Him. He disciplines us—and we return. We ask Him for restoration—and He grants it. It is an antiphonal song of redemption, a holy call and response. There is a movement from God to us, and from us back to God—the great dance of the redeemed.

It would not be untrue to say that our salvation is a song. All music has rhythm and refrain, tension and resolution, progression and rest. Is it any wonder that the Psalms were written to be sung? This psalm is a litany: sin brings God’s wrath; God calls us to return; we return; and then we ask Him to return to us in fellowship and communion. Word and answer. Call and echo. Judgment and mercy. The whole life of redemption set to music.

Is it any wonder that the Song of Solomon recounts the story of God with His bride—the Church? Of course, it can be read as the love of a husband for his wife—but it is also an analogy of the greatest song ever sung: the song of the redeemed.

At the outro of the psalm, in verses 16–17, we read—or sing—the resolution:

Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children. And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it. 

The song comes to its resolution, and it ends with work. That may seem like a strange ending, given how the psalm began. But if we remember that we know God by His works toward us—and we answer with our work toward Him—then the whole psalm becomes a melodious harmony. Our work is not the source; it is the response. It flows from His work in us.

We can do nothing of ourselves. Salvation is grace from beginning to end of the song. As Jesus says, “Apart from Me you can do nothing.” This is the antiphonal song of redemption—the back and forth of the Redeemer and the redeemed, a dance that will last forever and ever. He is our dwelling place from everlasting to everlasting. Amen.

Note: For a contemporary version of this psalm in the style of the blues check out this link. This is where I heard “His wrath is His mercy deep.”