Balentine abstract

Psalm 90, the only Psalm attributed to Moses, reflects the torah that instructs who God is and who God’s people are to be. The focus is the tension of hope and lament before God in the face of suffering. From this tension rises the question of whether God will respond. There is exploration of the reverberations in Psalm 90 of Exodus 32:7-14, where Moses prays for God’s faithfulness to God’s own character for the sake of the people. The essay considers tensions faced in contemporary exegesis and liturgical leadership, concluding that those who hear this Psalm are enjoined to live as mortals before God and pray as servants of God and God’s people, wrestling with hard questions; honest about pain while hopefully insistent upon faithfulness to the divine character.