March 2020

“He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel.” – Psalm 103:7

Throughout my years of being a Christian, I’ve heard this verse referred to many, many times. The preachers were trying to encourage us to deepen our walk with Jesus Christ. They’d say something like this:

“The Lord worked miracles in Egypt to force Pharaoh to free the Israelites. He opened up the Red Sea and delivered them out of slavery. And even in the Wilderness, He provided manna for His people six days a week. The nation experienced God’s miracles. But Moses had fellowship with God. He received the Ten Commandments and learned what was on the Lord’s heart. It’s awesome to witness the hand of God at work, but it’s better to know His heart.”

I get it; they want people to grow in Christ and develop their relationship with Him. It’s like parents–they love caring for their babies, but they want them to grow up, too!

The preachers assumed that Moses’ experience was superior to Israel’s. But is that right? 

Literary Form

Bible scholars distinguish two types of poetic verses: synonymous parallelism and antithetical parallelism. In the former, the second line of a verse repeats the thought (but not the exact words) of the first. In the latter, the second line says the opposite.

Here’s an example of synonymous parallelism:

“LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath.” – Psalm 38:1

Rebuke-discipline, anger-wrath: each pair expresses the same idea.

And here’s an instance of antithetical parallelism:

“A fool finds pleasure in wicked schemes, but a person of understanding delights in wisdom.” – Proverbs 10:23

A fool contrasts with a person of understanding. Wicked schemes differ from wisdom.

So where does Psalm 103:7 fit?

If you isolate the verse, it could go either way. There’d be no reason to favor one option over the other. But a cardinal rule of Bible interpretation is to consider a verse in its context. If you review Psalm 103, you’ll see that it has several verses in the form of synonymous parallelism:

“He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; ¹⁰he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. ¹¹For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; ¹²as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. ¹³As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; ¹⁴for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust. ¹⁵The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field; ¹⁶the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. ¹⁷But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children.” – Psalm 103:9-17

I couldn’t find any verse that fits the description of antithetic parallelism. In light of this passage, which forms the bulk of the psalm, I’d say that verse 7 doesn’t contrast Moses and the Israelites. Instead, it treats them as complements.

If that’s the case, the psalmist isn’t touting the spiritual superiority of Moses over the Jewish people. Rather, he’s highlighting instances of God’s revelation. Look at the verse again; “God” is the subject and “revealed” is the verb. What follows is two manifestations of revelation.

The works of the Lord are the miracles He performed to liberate Israel and provide for them. Moses saw all these, so he benefited from them as much as the Israelites did. But he went up on the mountain at Sinai and received the tablets of God’s laws; the nation stayed below.

Yet Moses didn’t keep God’s ways to himself; he taught the Israelites everything the Lord showed him. While Moses alone received the initial revelation, the people obtained it through him. The end result is the same: everyone in Israel knew about God’s ways. And since miracles delivered all the Jewish people from Egyptian bondage, everyone knew about God’s deeds, too.

Implications

This means that Psalm 103:7 doesn’t support the principle of spiritual superiority. Other verses might, but this one doesn’t discuss the matter.

I have no quarrel with pastors who want to see their church members grow in Christ. That’s awesome and of course, it’s God’s will. But one of the ways we develop our spiritual lives is by accepting the teachings of the Bible as they occur. We don’t have to stretch the meanings of verses or inject connotations they don’t own. If the Holy Spirit has given us an idea, we can trust Him to help us find reinforcement in Scripture. This process can take time, but that’s why it’s called “waiting on the Lord!”

Take time to pursue God’s revelation. He sent His Son so that we could know His heart and His power. As we trust Christ, we will come to know the fullness of God.

“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” – John 14:6