A Prayer of Moses the man of God.
This psalm was composed by Moses, the man of God, some time after God had sentenced the Hebrews to wandering and death in the wilderness, Num. 14. In it, (1.) Moses comforts himself, and his people, with the eternal and unchangeable duration of God himself, and their interest in him, ver. 1-2. (2.) He humbles himself and his people with the consideration of human frailty, ver. 3-6. (3.) He submits himself and his people to the righteous sentence of God passed upon them, ver. 7-11. (4.) By prayer he commits himself and his people to their gracious and merciful God; and requests the sanctified use of their awful chastisements; the averting of divine wrath, and the bestowal of true comforts and joys; the returns of his favour, and the progress of his work of mercy among their children, ver. 12-17.
Let me sing this psalm, as but the tenant of an hour, who hath none assurance of his present life: Sing it as resigned to my lot on earth, however afflicted; as active in preparation for death; and committing myself and family to the God of truth as our Redeemer, our God, and our everlasting all.