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.
Therefore he said that he would destroy them, (and this would have come to pass), had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them. The length of this verse. as compared with the verses before and after it, implies its designed prominence as the central point of the psalm, separating the two former from the two latter strophes. "He said" - namely, to Moses (Deuteronomy 9:8; Deuteronomy 9:18). With God saying is doing; but His purpose, while it speaks wrath against sin, takes into account the mediation of Him of whom all human intercessors (as Moses) are the type, and to whose intercession they owe whatever efficacy there is in their intercessions (Exodus 32:11-14; Deuteronomy 9:18-19).
Moses his chosen - servant (Psalms 105:26).
Stood before him in the breach - as a warrior covers with his body the breach in the wall of a besieged fortress, and so bears all the brunt of the adversary's wrath. Our great Intercessor similarly bore the whole weight of the divine wrath laid on Him for us (Isaiah 59:16-17). Compare the same image, Ezekiel 13:5; Ezekiel 22:30, where see notes.
To turn away his wrath. The phrase is from Numbers 25:11. Compare Psalms 78:38. Moses' weapon in defending his people from wrath was intercessory prayer. God looked upon the people as represented by him. His purpose of wrath, while it was real, was subject to the qualification virtually implied in Exodus 32:10. When therefore Moses did not, 'let God alone,' but interceded, God withdrew His purpose of wrath. The fact that the nation, in the very beginning of its history, owed its deliverance from destruction to one man's mediation, showed how deeply-seated was their sin, and how little hope there could be now of salvation for them except in the mercy of God.