A Prayer of Moses

I am following a chronological Bible study, the order of which was suggested by Skip Andrews.  It is supposed that this psalm refers to the sentence passed on the Israelites that they would remain in the wilderness forty years and die there, never entering their promised land, as studied in the last post on Numbers 14.

(Psalm 90:1) [A Prayer of Moses the man of God.]
Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.

This psalm is identified as a prayer of Moses.  He began by recognizing that the Lord had been the people's resting place throughout their generations.  Even when they had no real dwelling place of their own, their Lord was their resting place, refuge, and defense.

(2) Before the mountains were brought forth,
Or ever You had formed the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.

Before the earth was ever formed, before the mountains and the dust of the earth were formed, before the inhabited world as they knew it, from eternity before time began to eternity that will continue after time has ended, always and forever, with no beginning and no end, Moses declared God to be the one true God.

(3) You turn man to destruction,
And say, “Return, you children of men.”

There are several ways to look at this verse.  Albert Barnes, in his Notes on the Bible, described it as God turning man to destruction or death, and returning him to dust.  Adam Clarke, in his Commentary on the Bible, said it appeared to be "a clear and strong promise of the resurrection of the human body" after death.  My first thought and the view of still other commentaries is that God turns men to destruction to turn them back to Him.  I have come to learn that is the ultimate motive of God, to bring His children back to Him, back to their only source of life and salvation.  How many times does a terrible tragedy bring people to God?  How many times have people had to hit rock bottom and get to the end of themselves before they turn to God?  Does God cause that tragedy?  Or does He just use it?  That is a debate among Christians.  I have people in my own family who believe God never does anything bad, so He would never cause a tragedy.  But if that tragedy brought people to their only hope of salvation, was it bad?  Didn't even Jesus say if your eye or arm or foot offends you, cut if off, for it is better to enter heaven maimed than to be whole in hell? (Matthew 5:29-30 and 18:8-9; Mark 9:47)  If He tells us to cut off our arms to save ourselves, would He not lovingly cut them off for us to save us?  I believe scripture is pretty clear that God will use any means necessary to turn us back to Him.  How awesome and truly loving is that?!

The original word that was translated as "destruction" was "dakka", and it literally meant "crushed" like powder, figuratively "contrite".  In fact, in the two other places in scripture where the word was used, it was defined as "contrite".  I believe the true meaning is that God brings man low, in whatever form it takes, whether maimed or depressed or without anything, to bring him back to Him.  Maybe it is the death of one or several people that will bring others to Him.  Does God sacrifice some to save others?  There was a time in my life when I believed this wasn't fair, especially considering the early death of my father.  But God is always fair and just and loving, so we don't have to worry about that.  Because God knows everything that has been, is now, and will be, He knows whether or not a person would have accepted Him or His son Jesus Christ.  If He takes out evil people to save others, that is good.  If He takes out His own people who do accept His gift of salvation, then you can be sure those people have eternal life with Him, so that is definitely good!  If He apparently takes out people who just haven't come to Him yet, again He knows the heart and what would have happened, so you can be sure He will be fair and just.  You don't have to figure out whether or not God is just; it's His very nature; He can't help but be!  Perhaps a person dying young is fulfilling their purpose in the kingdom of God, and will have a rich reward in heaven.  I think about the incident where Jesus and His disciples saw a man that was blind from birth.  The disciples asked Him who it was who sinned, the man himself or his parents, that he should be blind.  Jesus said that neither did, that he was blind so that the work of God could be revealed in Him at this time, when Jesus healed him.

This brings me to another revelation I've had.  I know people who believe that we are all "healed", in their minds, they believe we are all physically healed, so that no time should we ever be in poor health, if only we would accept His word that we are healed.  In the case of the blind man above, that just isn't true.  He could never be healed until the point where God's purpose was fulfilled.  That was this man's purpose for the kingdom of God!  Jesus healing him at that point was an illustration of how Jesus alone can save us from hell.  When Jesus comes into our lives, He heals us from death and destruction.  That doesn't mean we don't die physically, so why should it mean that we have to be physically healed if we trust Jesus?  In both cases, I believe it is a healing and salvation from eternal death.  That's not to say that God doesn't still presently heal people; and if that is their purpose, that through their healing, people are brought to Him, then He will do it.  However, sometimes people may be brought to Him through the death of a loved one, and that was His purpose for the one who died.  We should not mourn for those who have gone to their reward in Heaven.  We mourn our loss, but there is no need to mourn for them.  When we truly understand that this world is not where we receive our rewards, but it is in heaven, we can willingly accept and delight in God's purpose for our lives.  The sixth chapter of Matthew continually speaks about how people who do things for worldly praise, have their own reward, but those who do things for God will be rewarded by Him, and His reward is everlasting!

(4) For a thousand years in Your sight
Are as yesterday when it is past,
And as a watch in the night.

I believe the meaning is that a thousand years in God's sight are gone in the blink of an eye when compared to eternity.  As soon as it has occurred, it is gone in the past as yesterday.  A watch in the night was just a portion of the night.  As a night was divided into three watches, a single watch was only a portion of the night, an even smaller portion than a 24-hour day.  A thousand years to God are not only as a day, but as a small portion of a day.

(5) You carry them away as with a flood;
They are as a sleep;
In the morning they are like grass which grows up.

Those thousand years are swept away as in a mighty torrent, or perhaps it means that men who are turned to destruction (v. 3) are carried away in an instant in comparison to an eternity with God.  They (the years or men's lives) are as a sleep, the sense being they pass as quickly as time during a sleep.  I had difficulty with the last part of this verse.  Some commentaries suggest that the lines should have been separated as "They are as a sleep in the morning" and "They are like grass which grows up".  Either way, I still struggle with grass that grows.  This doesn't create an image for me of time passing as quickly as the blink of an eye, but then again, grass grows visibly each day, much faster than the life of a man or a thousand years.  The original word that was translated as "grows up" was "chalaph" and literally meant "slide by", by implication meaning "hasten away", "spring up", or even "change".  Indeed, grass springs up and fades away quickly, especially when compared to eternity.

(6) In the morning it flourishes and grows up;
In the evening it is cut down and withers.

It's not my experience with the grass in my yard, but perhaps in the hot desert climates, grass springs up from the dew in the morning, and withers from the heat of the day and is brought or cut down in the evening.  Certainly that is the meaning of this verse--in the short period of a day, what was so green and flourishing in the morning, is, at the close of the day, dried up. So it is with man's life in God's eternity.

(7) For we are consumed by Your anger,
And by Your wrath are we troubled.

This verse could be seen two different ways.  It could be a continuation of the idea that man's life is but a quick flicker in God's eternity.  Death originally occurred because of sin against God; therefore mankind is consumed or brought to death by God's displeasure beginning with His sentence given to Adam:

"In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.” - Genesis 3:19

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. - Romans 5:12

By God's wrath, man is troubled.  Since the fall of Adam in the Garden of Eden, man has been plagued with troubles.  It could also be that Moses was beginning to lament their present situation.  The people were indeed to be consumed by God's anger, and would die in the wilderness, never entering their promised land.

(8) You have set our iniquities before You,
Our secret sins in the light of Your countenance.

The causes of all trouble, consumption, and death--that is, the sins of man--are before the Lord as the evidence according to which He as a righteous Judge proceeds.  Even the secret sins of man's heart are in full view of the Lord, and in accordance with these, God righteously judges man.

(9) For all our days are passed away in Your wrath;
We end our years like a sigh.

The original KJV translated this verse as, "For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told."  The italicized words are ones the translators added for what they thought would be a clearer understanding.  Most all the other translations were similar to what I transcribed above.  When I looked at the Strong's definitions of the words in question, in each case the first meaning seems to be the most appropriate.  The word translated by KJV as "spend" was "kalah" and the first definition was "end", followed by "cease, be finished, perish"; indeed it was translated as "end" or "consumed" most often in the Bible.  One of the last definitions and one that is used almost the least often in scripture is "spend", so I feel very comfortable accepting the translation "end".  The word that was translated as "tale" by KJV and "sigh" by most of the other translations was "hegeh" and it literally meant "muttering (in sighing, thought, or as thunder)".  It was used only three times in scripture, translated as "mourning", "sound", and "tale".  However, consider the root word "hagah", which means "to murmur (in pleasure or anger); by implication to ponder: - imagine, meditate..."  That word was used much more often in scripture and was most often translated as "meditate"; although "mourn" and "speak" were also translations, many other words like "imagine", "study", "mutter", and "utter" were used.  In keeping with the theme of the lines thus far, I believe the meaning is that man's life is ended because of God's righteous anger against his sin, and that his life passes away as rapidly as a thought or a sigh.

(10) The days of our lives are seventy years;
And if by reason of strength they are eighty years,
Yet their strength is labor and sorrow;
For it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

Moses apparently stated a fact that the life of man was on average about seventy years or perhaps eighty for the stronger men.  It is a fact that by Moses's time men lived a much shorter time than in the days before the flood when men lived hundreds of years.  However, we will find later that Moses himself lived to be 120, Aaron was 123, Miriam was 130, and Joshua was 110 when they died.  It does seem that men lived an average of 120 years in Moses's time.  In Genesis 6:3, God proclaimed that the days of man would be 120 years.  Why would Moses proclaim the days of man would be 70 to 80 years?  This question caused Adam Clarke, in his Commentary on the Bible, to state that this psalm could not have possibly been written by Moses, at least this Moses.  While all transcriptions attributed it to Moses, the man of God, Mr. Clarke wrote if that were true, it would have to have been another Moses.  I don't see that that must be the case.  Once again, Moses could be lamenting their present circumstance.  Those who were numbered in the wilderness of Sinai, from twenty years and upwards, were now condemned to die in the wilderness sometime in the next 38 years.  Some would necessarily die in their 50's and 60's, but an average could certainly be 70 and probably no more than 80.  At this time in Moses's life, 70-80 years could have seemed the average lifespan to him; even in our current time we would say that is the average lifespan, even though many people live past 100.

Although the days of their lives be 70 years, maybe longer by reason of strength, that strength was only through toil and sorrow, and it was soon cut off anyway, and they flew away, either intimating they disappeared as quickly as a bird flies away, or maybe referencing that they flew away to heaven.  Interestingly, the word translated as "sorrow" is "aven" and means "in vain, nothingness".  This reminds me of the lines in Ecclesiastes that declare all is vanity or nothingness.  The sense of these lines by Moses above probably is something to the effect of "The days of our lives; what are they?  Just toil and sorrow and then they are cut off!"

(11) Who knows the power of Your anger?
Even according to the fear of You, so is Your wrath.

Who can truly comprehend or measure the power of God's anger?  That anger that had been expressed in His judgments against men's sins in truly awesome and powerful ways in the past?  Consider the drowning of the whole world in Noah's time, the burning and destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the immediate striking dead of men in the wilderness, etc.  Who could possibly understand the expanse of His power under any circumstances, but Moses contemplated His power expressed in anger.  Even as God was awesome, great, and powerful beyond man's comprehension, so was His wrath.

(12) So teach us to number our days,
That we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Moses prayed that the Lord instruct them to estimate their days correctly, understanding how quickly they pass, and the uncertainty of when they might suddenly end, that they might gain a wise heart.  They should live wisely in God's favor looking forward to eternity, understanding that life on earth is short and uncertain.  They should live every day as if it were their last, so to speak.

(13) Return, O LORD!
How long?
And let it turn You concerning Your servants.

Moses pleaded with the Lord to return to His people, showing mercy and sparing them.  He wondered how long this expression of His wrath would last.  He pleaded that the Lord turn from His expression of wrath against His people, withdrawing His judgment, and showing mercy to them.

(14) Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy,
That we may rejoice and be glad all our days!

Moses prayed that the Lord satisfy them with the answer to their prayers by showing mercy soon, literally in the morning, presumably the next morning.  He asked this that the people might rejoice and be glad all their lives, remembering God's love, grace, and mercy, at this time in their lives.

(15) Make us glad according to the days You have afflicted us,
The years we have seen evil.

The prayer seems to be that the people be glad in proportion to their affliction.  Considering all their time in captivity and their time in the wilderness, Moses was praying that their joy be so great as to make up for all their years of affliction.  In fact, as stated in Romans 8:18, "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us", there really is no comparison between the evils of this world and the joy and gladness in Heaven.  However, I imagine Moses was praying for the people's hearts to be joyful in great measure comparable to the great misery they had endured in this present life.

(16) Let Your work appear to Your servants,
And Your glory to their children.

I believe the meaning is that Moses asked that the Lord's great work in what he prayed for at that time, God's mercy in withdrawing His judgment on His people, be done, and seen, and truly appreciated by His people.  In addition, His glory, displayed in the acts of providence and grace for which Moses prayed, would be known and celebrated by their children.  Put simply, Moses's prayer was that all the glory be given to God in answering his request.

(17) And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us,
And establish the work of our hands on us;
Yes, establish the work of our hands.

The word translated as "beauty", "noam", literally means "agreeableness".  Moses prayed that the pleasure of the Lord be upon His people, and that He would guide them in their work and endeavors.  The fact that this last part was repeated suggests an intense desire that God would enable them to carry out their plans; in this case, it was surely that they be allowed to reach their promised land.

According to Albert Barnes, if this was truly a prayer of Moses, as stated in verse 1, then it was "the only one of his compositions which we have in the Book of Psalms".  We had a song of Moses recorded in Exodus 15, and there is another song of his recorded in Deuteronomy 32.  Whereas the original word "mizmor" translated as "psalm" literally means "song" or "poem set to notes", this particular psalm was said to be a "tephillah", meaning "intercession", "supplication", "prayer".  However, this prayer was very poetic, and it seems appropriate that it be considered among the psalms.  The next post will return to Numbers 15, after this intermission of poetic prayer and supplication by Moses.