Psalm 90 is an expression of grief over the Israelites who died because of God’s wrath. It is the only psalm attributed to Moses. Some believe that the heading only refers to Moses’ name because the content of the psalm shows how Moses would have prayed for the people, and the tone of the psalm seems reminiscent of Moses.

There are, however, arguments to support Moses being the author of this psalm. There are linguistic and content similarities with Deuteronomy 31:30 – 32:47. Moses acted on behalf of Israel, which is consistent with the contents of the psalm. Moreover, linguistic analysis shows that Psalm 90 belongs to one of the oldest parts of the Psalter.

Moses as the author places this psalm in the historic context of Israel’s time in the desert when almost the whole Exodus generation died due to their sins (Numbers 14:1–45).