Psalms 83:1-18

Psalms 83

DESCRIPTIVE TITLE

An Appeal to God for Deliverance from an Impending Invasion.

ANALYSIS

Stanza I., Psalms 83:1-4, Israel's Enemies described as the Enemies of Godtheir Destructive Designs. Stanza II., Psalms 83:5-8, The Parties to the Conspiracy Enumerated. Stanza III., Psalms 83:9-12, Examples of the Overthrow desired, taken from the Book of Judges. Stanza IV., Psalms 83:13-16, Petitions urged for a Complete Overthrow, for High Religious Ends. Stanza V., Psalms 83:17-18, Re-urged for the Sake of Revealing the Supremacy of Jehovah over all the Earth.

(Lm.) SongPsalmBy Asaph.

1

Oh God! let there be no quiet to thee,

do not be silent neither be still O GOD!

2

For lo! thy foes are tumultuous,

and they who hate thee have lifted up the head.

3

Against thy people make they crafty their counsel,

and conspire together against thy treasured ones.

4

They have saidCome! and let us wipe them out from being a nation,

and let not the name of Israel be remembered any more.

5

They have taken counsel with one heart,

Against thee a covenant would they solemnise;

6

the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites[166]

[166] Genesis 25:12-16.

[the land] of Moab and the Hagrites,[167]

[167] 1 Chronicles 5:10.

7

[the lords] of Ammon and Amalek,

the Philistines with the dwellers in Tyre:

8

even Assyria hath joined herself with them,

they have become an arm to the sons of Lot.[168]

[168] The Moabites and Ammonites, who seem to be singled out as the leaders of the confederacy. Cp. 2 Chronicles 20:1.Kp.

9

Do to them as to Sisera,[169]

[169] Judges 4:22-23.

as to Jabin[169] at the brook Kishon:

10

Let them be destroyed as Midian at En (Harod),[170]

[170] Thus the text shd. be re-constructed in accordance w. Judges 7. M.T.: En-dorJoshua 17:11.

let them become as manure for the soil:

11

Make them [even] their nobles as Oreb and as Zeeb,[171]

[171] Judges 7:25.

and as Zebah and Zalmunna[172] all their princes:

[172] Judges 8:21.

12

Who saidLet us take it to ourselves for a possession,

let us enjoy the pastures of God!

13

O my God! make them as whirling dust,

as chaff before the wind;

14

As fire that burneth up a forest,

and as a flame that setteth ablaze mountains:

15

So mayest thou pursue them with thy tempest,

and with thy storm-wind[173] dismay them:

[173] Amos 1:14.

16

Fill thou their faces with dishonour

that men may seek thy name O Jehovah.

17

Let them be put to shame and dismayed unto futurity,

and let them be abashed and perish:

18

That men may know that thou whose name is Jehovahthoualone,

art Most High[174] over all the earth.

[174] So, in effect: R.V. (text), Kp., Dr., Carter, Leeser.

(Lm.) To the Chief Musician.
(CMm.) For the Wine-presses=The Feast of Tabernacles.
For the sons of korah.

PARAPHRASE

Psalms 83

O God, don-'t sit idly by, silent and inactive when we pray, Answer us! Deliver us!
2 Don-'t You hear the tumult and commotion of Your enemies? Don-'t You see what they are doing, these proud men who hate the Lord?
3 They are full of craftiness and plot against Your people, laying plans to slay Your precious ones.
4 Come, they say, and let us wipe out Israel as a nationWe will destroy the very memory of her existence.
5 This was their unanimous decision at their summit; conferencethey signed a treaty to ally themselves against Almighty God
6 These Ishmaelites and Edomites and Moabites and Hagrites;
7 People from the lands of Gebal, Ammon, Amalek, Philistia and Tyre;
8 Assyria has joined them too, and is allied with the descendants of Lot.[175]

[175] The Moabites and Ammonites were among Lot's descendants.

9 Do to them as once You did to Midian, or as You did to Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon.
10 And as You did to Your enemies at Endor, whose decaying corpses fertilized the soil.
11 Make their mighty nobles die as Oreb did,[176] and Zeeb;[176] let all their princes die like Zebah[177] and Zalmunna, [177]

[176] Judges 7:25.

[177] Judges 8:21.

12 Who said, Let us seize for our own use these pasturelands of God!
13 O my God, blow them away like dust; like chaff before the wind
14 As a forest fire that roars across a mountain.
15 Chase them with Your fiery storms, tempests and tornados.
16 Utterly disgrace them until they recognize Your power and name, O Lord.
17 Make them failures in everything they do; let them be ashamed and terrified
18 Until they learn that You alone, Jehovah, are the God above all gods in supreme charge of all the earth.

EXPOSITION

Of the various dates proposed as suiting the origin of this psalm, the two more probable are the time of Jehoshaphat, and that of Jeroboam II.: the former as represented by the narrative in 2 Chronicles 20, the latter not being formally recorded at all, but probably conjectured from various data when brought into historical combination. Delitzsch inclines to the days of Jehoshaphat, in preference to those of the Maccabees. But Thrupp, with considerable plausibility, suggests rather the time of Jeroboam II.: arguing that the Assyrians could not yet have reached the zenith of their power under Pul and Tiglathpileser; that Amalek could not yet have been destroyed by the Simeonites in the days of Hezekiah (1 Chronicles 4:39-43); and that only at this one period have we any indication of the Phoenicians of Tyre being in league with the eastern enemies of the Israelites. He further thinks that it was probably the contemporaneous victories of Uzziah and Jeroboam that the confederacy against which the psalmist prayed was finally broken up. The especial feature in Thrupp's view which interests us is his conclusion that the psalm was composed in reference to a danger which especially threatened the kingdom of the ten tribes, and which he bases on the appeal in prayer being made to events in which the northern tribes were specially interested, coupled with the absence of any allusion to the successes of David. It is true, of course, that Jehoshaphat's prophetic helper was one of the sons of Asaph (2 Chronicles 20:14), and he may have been the author of this psalm; but, at all events, the more interested in the Northern Tribes the composer of this psalm was, the more this song is thrown into line with several which have preceded it, particularly the 78th and 81st.

There is little that needs to be said with reference to the general course and spirit of this psalm. It is obviously the barest justice to those who thus prayed for the destruction of their enemies to remember: That they were a miraculously redeemed and constituted nation; that they were the people of Jehovah, the appointed witnesses of his holiness, power and grace; that his honour was bound up with his people's preservation and well-being; that the haters of Israel were the haters of Jehovah; and that the effacement of this nation meant the silencing of the only national testimony to Monotheism, and the extinction of the race through whom the World's Redeemer was to come. More than this, the psalm contemplates the seeking of Jehovah's face on the part of other nations, as a chief result of the overthrow of those now in conspiracy. Besides all which, there is the ever-present possibility,mostly unspoken, but always involved in Jehovah's readiness to shew mercy to the penitent,that even these rebels on whom vengeance is invoked may by prompt repentance turn away Jehovah's wrath.
It may be added, as a matter of translating interest, that the close of this psalm is one of the few instanced in which both A.V. and R.V. have felt constrained to unveil for the English reader the occurrence in the original of the oft recurring but mostly suppressed sacred name JEHOVAH.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1.

Of the various dates proposed as suiting the origin of this psalm which two are the more probable?

2.

Read 2 Chronicles 20:1-14 and find possible connections to this psalm.

3.

Was there any good reason or reasons for God to answer the prayers of this psalm? If so discuss.

4.

Someone suggested the thought of the defense of honor is different than the seeking of vengeance. Which is it here? Discuss.