INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 83 A SONG [OR] PSALM OF ASAPH. This is the last of the psalms that bear the name of Asaph, and some think it was written by him on occasion of David's smiting the Philistines, Moabites, Syrians, Edomites, and others, 2 Samuel 8:1, but these did not conjunctly, but separately,... [ Continue Reading ]
KEEP NOT THOU SILENCE, O GOD,.... Which he is thought and said to do, when he does not answer the prayers of his people, nor plead their cause, nor rebuke their enemies; when he does not speak a good word to them, or one for them, or one against those that hate and persecute them; HOLD NOT THY PEAC... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR, LO, THINE ENEMIES MAKE A TUMULT,.... Or "a noise" d: wicked men are commonly noisy, roaring out their blasphemies against God, belching out oaths and curses, and breathing threatenings and slaughter against the saints; especially a numerous army of them, consisting of many people and nations, a... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY HAVE TAKEN CRAFTY COUNSEL AGAINST THY PEOPLE,.... The people of Israel, hereafter named, whom God had chosen and avouched to be his people; these they dealt subtlety with, as the king of Egypt had done with their forefathers; and this, agreeably to their character, being the seed of the old ser... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY HAVE SAID,.... Secretly in their hearts, or openly to one another, and gave it out in the most public manner, as what they had consulted and determined upon; see Psalms 74:8, COME, AND LET US CUT THEM OFF FROM BEING A NATION; they were not content to invade their country, take their cities, pl... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THEY HAVE CONSULTED TOGETHER WITH ONE CONSENT,.... Or "heart" e; wicked men are cordial to one another, and united in their counsels against the people of God, and his interest: whatever things they may disagree in, they agree in this, to oppose the cause and interest of true religion, or to per... [ Continue Reading ]
THE TABERNACLES OF EDOM, c] Or the Idumeans, as the Targum the posterity of Esau, who, with the rest that joined with them, hereafter mentioned, and made the confederate army, brought their tents with them, pitched them, and encamped in them against Israel: AND THE ISHMAELITES; or Arabians, as the... [ Continue Reading ]
GEBAL,.... Gubleans, or Gebalites, as the Targum; the same with Giblites, Joshua 23:5, or men of Gebal, Ezekiel 27:9 the same with Byblus: these dwelt in Phoenicia, near Tyre, where Pliny g makes mention of a place called Gabale: the Syriac version joins it with Ammon, and renders it "the border of... [ Continue Reading ]
ASSUR ALSO IS JOINED WITH THEM,.... Before mentioned, or Assyria, though at so great a distance from Israel, and unprovoked by them: according to R. Joseph Kimchi, the sense is, that the Assyrians joined them, continuing in their wickedness, though their army had been destroyed by an angel in Hezeki... [ Continue Reading ]
DO UNTO THEM AS UNTO THE MIDIANITES,.... In the times of Gideon, who destroyed one another, trod in whose destruction the hand of the Lord was very visible, Judges 7:20, and much in the same manner was the confederate army of the Moabites, Ammonites, and others, destroyed in the times of Jehoshaphat... [ Continue Reading ]
WHICH PERISHED AT ENDOR,.... Aben Ezra and Kimchi understand this of the Midianites; but rather it is to be understood of Jabin and Sisera, and the army under them, who perished at this place, which is mentioned along with Taanach and Megiddo, Joshua 17:11, which are the very places where the battle... [ Continue Reading ]
MAKE THEIR NOBLES LIKE OREB, AND LIKE ZEEB,.... Two princes of Midian, who were slain, the one at the rock Oreb, and the other at the winepress of Zeeb, so called after their names, Judges 7:25, YEA, ALL THEIR PRINCES AS ZEBAH, AND AS ZALMUNNA; kings of Midian, slain by Gideon, Judges 8:21.... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO SAID,.... Not the kings and princes of Midian just mentioned, but the confederate enemies of Israel, named Psalms 83:6, to whom the like things are wished as to the Midianites and others, because they said what follows: LET US TAKE TO OURSELVES THE HOUSES OF GOD IN POSSESSION; not only the temp... [ Continue Reading ]
O MY GOD, MAKE THEM LIKE A WHEEL,.... Which, as the Targum adds, is rolled, and goes on, and rests not in a declivity; let them be as fickle and inconstant as a wheel; being in high, let them be in slippery places, and brought down to desolation in a moment; like a wheel set running down hill, so le... [ Continue Reading ]
AS THE FIRE BURNETH THE WOOD,.... Or "forest" m; which is sometimes done purposely, and sometimes through carelessness, as Virgil n observes; and which is done very easily and swiftly, when fire is set to it; even all the trees of it, great and small, to which an army is sometimes compared, Isaiah 1... [ Continue Reading ]
SO PERSECUTE THEM WITH THY TEMPEST,.... Pursue them with thy fury, follow them with thy vengeance; cause it to fall upon them like a mighty tempest: AND MAKE THEM AFRAID WITH THY STORM; God has his storms and tempests of wrath and vengeance, which he sometimes causes to fall upon wicked men in this... [ Continue Reading ]
FILL THEIR FACES WITH SHAME,.... For their sins, or rather through disappointment, not being able to put their desperate and deep laid schemes into execution: or "with lightness" o; instead of a weight of honour and glory upon them, let them be despised. R. Joseph Kimchi renders it, "fill their face... [ Continue Reading ]
LET THEM BE CONFOUNDED AND TROUBLED FOR EVER,.... As long as they are in this world, and to all eternity in another; a dreadful portion this: YEA, LET THEM BE PUT TO SHAME, AND PERISH; wholly and eternally, in soul and body, for evermore.... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT MEN MAY KNOW THAT THOU, WHOSE NAME ALONE IS JEHOVAH,.... Or, "that thou, thy name alone is Jehovah" p, a self-existent Being, the Being of beings, the everlasting I AM, the immutable God; for this name is expressive of the being, eternity, and unchangeableness of God, who is, and was, and is to... [ Continue Reading ]