Psalms 90:7
For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled.
Original Language Analysis
Historical Context
Moses witnessed God's wrath firsthand throughout wilderness wandering. After the golden calf, God threatened to consume Israel (Exodus 32:10). When Israel rejected Canaan at Kadesh, God's anger flared and He sentenced that generation to death in the wilderness (Numbers 14:11-23). Korah's rebellion brought consuming fire and earthquake (Numbers 16:31-35). Complaining brought fiery serpents (Numbers 21:6). Throughout forty years, divine wrath consumed the rebellious generation—approximately 85 people died daily until the entire generation perished.
This verse reflects post-fall reality. Before sin, humans weren't subject to death—Adam and Eve had potential immortality through the tree of life. But Genesis 3:19 pronounced death as judgment: "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." Romans 6:23 declares: "The wages of sin is death." Death entered through sin and represents God's judicial response to rebellion. Every funeral, every grave, every tear testifies to divine wrath against sin.
Yet even in wrath, God remembers mercy (Habakkuk 3:2). Christ absorbed divine wrath on the cross, becoming sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21), enduring God's consuming anger in our place. Believers still die physically (mortality's continuation) but death's sting is removed (1 Corinthians 15:55-57)—physical death no longer represents divine wrath but transition to glory.
Questions for Reflection
- How does understanding death as manifestation of God's wrath against sin (not merely natural process) change your view of mortality and the gospel?
- What does it mean that we are 'troubled' by God's wrath throughout life, and how does this manifest in human experience apart from Christ?
- How does Christ's absorption of divine wrath on the cross change the believer's relationship to death, even though we still die physically?
Analysis & Commentary
For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled. This verse shifts from describing mortality's effects (v.3-6) to explaining its cause: divine anger against sin. The "for" (ki) indicates this verse provides the reason for humanity's swift withering like grass. Death isn't natural or neutral but judicial—God's wrath against human rebellion manifests in mortality, suffering, and trouble throughout life.
"For we are consumed" (כִּי־כָלִינוּ בְאַפֶּךָ/ki-chalinu ve'apekha) uses kalah (to be complete, finished, consumed, destroyed). The perfect tense indicates accomplished reality: we ARE consumed, already experiencing this consumption. Kalah suggests thorough completion—not partial diminishment but complete consumption, like fire burning fuel until nothing remains. This is death's ultimate trajectory: complete consumption of mortal life.
"By thine anger" (בְאַפֶּךָ/ve'apekha) identifies the consuming agent. Af literally means nose or nostril, idiomatically representing anger (from the ancient association of flaring nostrils with rage). God's af burns against sin, consuming sinners like fire. This isn't arbitrary divine temper but righteous response to human rebellion. Romans 1:18 declares: "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men."
"And by thy wrath are we troubled" (וּבַחֲמָתְךָ נִבְהָלְנוּ/uvachamatkha nivhalnu) parallels and intensifies the first clause. Chemah (wrath, heat, rage) represents hot burning anger, even stronger than af. Bahal means to be terrified, dismayed, troubled, hurried away. The Niphal form (passive) indicates we are acted upon—God's wrath troubles us, terrifies us, hurries us to death. We don't merely die peacefully but are troubled throughout life by awareness of divine displeasure.