EXPOSITION
THE ascription of this psalm in the title to Moses must be admitted to be very remarkable. No other psalm is so ascribed. Nor indeed is a date given to any other earlier than the time of David. The psalm itself, however, when examined, is found to accord with the traditional date. Professor Cheyne notes in it a "roughness," which is presumably a sign of antiquity. Ewald says of it, "The poem has in it something uncommonly striking, solemn, sinking into the depth of the Godhead. In contents and language it is throughout original and powerful; and, as it is undoubtedly very old, it would have been universally considered as correctly derived from Moses, had we known exactly the reasons which guided the collector." Hengstenberg, Kay, professor Alexander, and Dean Johnson accept unhesitatingly the Mosaic authorship.
The psalm is termed, "A Prayer of Moses, the man of God." It is, however, only in part a "prayer," Meditation occupies the opening portion (Psalms 90:1-6); complaint follows (Psalms 90:7-11); it is only with Psalms 90:12 that prayer begins. (For the application to Moses of the phrase, "man of God," see Deuteronomy 33:1; Joshua 14:6; Ezra 3:2.)