What is the meaning of Psalm 106:23? He said He would destroy them - Psalm 106 looks back to Exodus 32, where the Israelites worshiped the golden calf. God declared, “I have seen this people… now leave Me alone, so that My anger may burn against them and I may destroy them” (Exodus 32:9-10). - His threatened judgment shows His unwavering holiness (Habakkuk 1:13) and the covenant penalty spelled out in Deuteronomy 28. - The verse underlines that God’s warnings are real, not rhetorical; had no mediator stepped in, national extinction would have followed (Deuteronomy 9:13-14). Had not Moses His chosen one - Moses was “the man the Lord had chosen” (Numbers 12:6-8) long before Sinai, chosen at the burning bush (Exodus 3:10). - The text stresses God’s pleasure in using a person He appoints. As with Joseph (Psalm 105:17) and David (Psalm 78:70-71), God sovereignly raises instruments for His purposes. - Moses’ role prefigures the ultimate Chosen One, Jesus (Luke 9:35), reminding us that God’s salvation plan consistently works through a designated mediator. Stood before Him in the breach - “Stood” pictures Moses planting himself between an offended God and a guilty people (Exodus 32:11-13). Ezekiel 22:30 uses the same imagery: someone needed to “stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land.” - A “breach” is a break in a city wall; intercession fills that gap so judgment does not pour through. - Practical take-away: believers today echo Moses when we “stand in the gap” through prayer for family, church, and nation (1 Timothy 2:1-2). To divert His wrath from destroying them - Moses pleaded on three bases: • God’s reputation among the nations (Exodus 32:12). • God’s covenant promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Exodus 32:13). • God’s own mercy (Numbers 14:17-19). - The result: “So the Lord relented from the calamity He had threatened” (Exodus 32:14). - This foreshadows Christ, the perfect Mediator who “always lives to intercede” (Hebrews 7:25) and who, by His cross, diverts wrath permanently for all who believe (1 Thessalonians 1:10). summary Psalm 106:23 teaches that God’s righteous anger against sin is genuine, yet He delights to spare when a God-appointed mediator stands in the gap. Moses’ successful intercession preserved Israel and pointed ahead to Jesus, our greater Mediator, whose once-for-all sacrifice eternally turns away God’s wrath for His people. |
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