Psalm 2:11

¹²Kiss his son, or he will be angry and your way will lead to your destruction, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.                    

Moses testified before the Israelites in Deuteronomy 9:18-21, ¹⁸Then once again I fell prostrate before the Lord for 40 days and 40 nights; I ate no bread and drank no water, because of all the sin you had committed, doing what was evil in the Lord’s sight and so arousing his anger. ¹⁹I feared the anger and wrath of the Lord, for he was angry enough with you to destroy you. But again the Lord listened to me. ²⁰And the Lord was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him, but at that time I prayed for Aaron too. ²¹Also I took that sinful thing of yours, the calf you had made, and burned it in the fire. Then I crushed it and ground it to powder as fine as dust and threw the dust into a stream that flowed down the mountain.

On behalf of the Israelites, Moses bowed down before the Lord and sought his forgiveness of their wickedness. To fall prostrate and bow before the Lord for 40 days and 40 nights without food and drink was a testament of the humility of Moses. It says in Numbers 12:3, ³Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.

The wickedness and disobedience of the Israelites had triggered God to be angry enough with them to destroy them. Moses knew very well from the history of mankind that the Lord was angry when he sent great flood in the time of Noah. The Lord was angry enough when he sent angels to destroy the city of Sodom and Gomorrah. God was angry enough when he sent plagues and killed all the firstborn men and animals in Egypt.

In comparison, God is gracious and merciful; he readily forgives anyone who sincerely asks forgiveness of their sins; he also forgets the sins he had forgiven. The Lord declares in Jeremiah 31:34, ³⁴I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.

  Lord Jesus, forgive us and help us be faithful to you

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