Psalms 106:23

My Notes

What Does Psalms 106:23 Mean?

Psalm 106:23 describes the single most consequential act of intercession in the Old Testament — and the thin thread by which an entire nation survived: "Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them."

The Hebrew amar lĕhashmīdam — "he said that he would destroy them" — is aorist: God declared it. The destruction was spoken. The sentence was pronounced. The nation was one word away from annihilation. And then: lulē Mosheh bĕchīrō amad bapperets — "had not Moses his chosen stood in the breach."

The "breach" — perets — is a gap in a wall, a break in a fortification. When a wall is breached, the enemy pours through. Moses stood in the gap between God's justice and Israel's sin. He didn't close the breach. He stood in it — his body filling the space where judgment would pour through. The image is of a man physically blocking the flow of divine wrath with his own presence.

"His chosen" — bĕchīrō — means God's elect, God's selected one. Moses wasn't self-appointed to the breach. God chose him for it. The intercessor is positioned by the same God whose wrath he's turning back. God provides the mediator for His own anger. He creates the solution to the problem His justice demands.

Reflection Questions

• 1.Is there someone in your life who needs you to stand in the breach — to intercede between their sin and God's justice?
• 2.Moses was 'God's chosen' — positioned by the same God whose wrath he redirected. Does it change how you view intercession to know God provides the intercessor for His own anger?
• 3.God pronounced destruction and then allowed Himself to be turned. What does that reveal about His relationship to His own justice?
• 4.Have you given up on praying for someone? What would it look like to stand in the breach again?

Devotional

God pronounced the sentence. Destroy them. It was spoken. The nation's existence hung on what happened next.

And what happened next was Moses. Standing in the breach — the gap in the wall where judgment would pour through — using his own relationship with God as the barrier between divine wrath and a guilty people. He didn't argue from Israel's merit. He argued from God's promises. And the wrath turned.

The breach is the image that should haunt every person who prays for others. A wall has been broken. The enemy — in this case, the just consequence of sin — is pouring through. And one person stands in the gap. Not an army. One person. Whose only weapon is the relationship they have with the One whose wrath they're redirecting.

Moses is called "his chosen" — God's elect. That detail is crucial. God chose the very person who would stand against His own judgment. He provided the intercessor for His own anger. God doesn't want the destruction — even when it's justified. He sets up the mediator because He'd rather be turned than follow through.

If someone in your life is in the breach zone — heading toward destruction, provoking consequences they can't survive — someone needs to stand in the gap. Not with advice. Not with lectures. With intercession. Standing between God's justice and their sin, using your relationship with God as the thing that blocks the flow. That's what Moses did. And an entire nation exists because he did it.

Someone might be alive right now because you haven't given up on praying for them. Don't stop. The breach is real. Your presence in it matters. And the God whose wrath you're turning would rather be turned than destroy.

Commentary

Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.

Cross References

Related passages throughout Scripture