lol wow the hammer of wrath comment was just a joke...
But since you want to take it so seriously consider this..
Paladin's are supposed to be melee hybrids.
While some paladin abilities work off spell hit, no paladin gears for spell hit.
Some spells have been changed in the past to melee hit.
Maybe it doesn't make perfect sense to have a ranged magical attack work off of melee hit, but it also doesn't make sense to have an ability that no paladin will ever be able to utilize to its full potential just because of a mechanic discrepancy.
Edit: Haha just read on the main page hammer of wrath got changed to instant cast! wewt! least now if it misses, i wont have to play catch up to my target