God, don’t keep silent. Don’t keep silent, and don’t be still, God.
For, behold, your enemies are stirred up. Those who hate you have lifted up their heads.
They conspire with cunning against your people. They plot against your cherished ones.
“Come,” they say, “let’s destroy them as a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.”
For they have conspired together with one mind. They form an alliance against you.
The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites; Moab, and the Hagrites;
Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek; Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre;
Assyria also is joined with them. They have helped the children of Lot.
Do to them as you did to Midian, as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the river Kishon;
who perished at Endor, who became as dung for the earth.
Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb, yes, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,
who said, “Let’s take possession of God’s pasture lands.”
My God, make them like tumbleweed, like chaff before the wind.
As the fire that burns the forest, as the flame that sets the mountains on fire,
so pursue them with your tempest, and terrify them with your storm.
Fill their faces with confusion, that they may seek your name, Yahweh.
Let them be disappointed and dismayed forever. Yes, let them be confounded and perish;
that they may know that you alone, whose name is Yahweh, are the Most High over all the earth.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4, 5, 9, 12, 13, 18 1 O God! hold not thy peace. It is…
1 O God! hold not thy peace. It is very generally agreed among commentators, that this psalm was composed during the reign of king Jehoshaphat; and in this opinion I readily concur. That godly king, as is well known, had to engage in dreadful wars against multiplied hosts of enemies. Although the Ammonites and Moabites were the originators of the principal war in which he was engaged, yet they mustered forces not only from Syria, but also from distant countries, and the troops thus brought together well nigh overwhelmed Judea with their multitude. It would then appear, from the long list of enemies, here enumerated, who had conspired together to destroy the people of God, that the conjecture is well-founded which refers the composition of this psalm to that occasion; and sacred history informs us, that one of the Levites, under the influence of the Spirit of prophecy, gave the king assurance of victory, and that the Levites sang before the Lord. In the midst of so great dangers, the whole nation, as well as the holy king, must have been involved in the deepest distress; and, accordingly, we have here a prayer full of earnestness and solicitude. These feelings prompted the repetition of the words which occur in the very opening of the psalm, Hold not thy peace, Keep not silence, be not still By this, the faithful would intimate, that if God intended to succor them, it behoved him to make haste, else the opportunity for doing so would be lost. It is unquestionably our duty to wait patiently when God at any time delays his help; but, in condescension to our infirmity, he permits us to supplicate him to make haste. What I have rendered, keep not silence with thyself, is literally keep not silence to thyself, which some translate by the paraphrase, Hold not thy peace in thy own cause, — an exposition which is too refined to be more particularly noticed. This form of expression is equivalent to saying, Hold not thyself in. Perhaps the particle is here superfluous, as it is in many other places.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 16, 18 This Psalm seemeth to have been composed as a…
This Psalm seemeth to have been composed as a form of prayer against the dangers that the Church was in, in the days of Jehoshaphat.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–18 Psa 83:1 « A Song [or] Psalm of Asaph.…
Psa 83:1 « A Song [or] Psalm of Asaph. » Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God.
Ver. 1. Keep not thou silence, O God] Ter idem dicit ad vehementiam. He saith the same thing thrice, to show his earnestness. The Hebrew is, Be not silent to thee, that is, in thine own cause, as Psa 83:5. The Septuagint and Vulgate have it, O God, who is like unto thee?
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18 Keep not thou silence; plead for us, not by…
Keep not thou silence; plead for us, not by words, but by thine actions.
Hold not thy peace; or, be not deaf, to our prayers, and to the blasphemies of thine and our enemies.
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Be not still, i.e. unactive and unconcerned for us.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv1, 9 The Israel of God were now in danger, and…
The Israel of God were now in danger, and fear, and great distress, and yet their prayer is called, A song or psalm; for singing psalms is not unseasonable, no, not when the harps are hung upon the willow-trees.
I. The psalmist here begs of God to appear on the behalf of his injured threatened people (Psa 83:1): "Keep not thou silence, O God! but give judgment for us against those that do us an apparent wrong." Thus Jehoshaphat prayed upon occasion of that invasion (Ch2 20:11), Behold, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of thy possession. Sometimes God seems to connive at the unjust treatment which is given to his people; he keeps silence, as one that either did not observe it or did not concern himself in it; he holds his peace, as if he would observe an exact neutrality, and let them fight it out; he is still, and gives not the enemies of his people any disturbance or opposition, but seems to sit by as a man astonished, or as a mighty man that cannot save. Then he gives us leave to call upon him, as here, "Keep not thou silence, O God! Lord, speak to us by the prophets for our encouragement against our fears" (as he did in reference to that invasion, Ch2 20:14, etc.); "Lord, speak for us by the providence and speak against our enemies; speak deliverance to us and disappointment to them." God's speaking is his acting; for with him saying and doing are the same thing.
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II. He here gives an account of the grand alliance of the neighbouring nations against Israel, which he begs of God to break, and blast the projects of. Now observe here,
1. Against whom this confederacy is formed; it is against the Israel of God, and so, in effect, against the God of Israel. Thus the psalmist takes care to interest God in their cause, not doubting but that, if it appeared that they were for God, God would make it to appear that he was for them, and then they might set all their enemies at defiance; for whom then could be against them? "Lord," says he, "they are thy enemies, and they hate thee." All wicked people are God's enemies (the carnal mind is enmity against God), but especially wicked persecutors; they hated the religious worshippers of God, because they hated God's holy religion and the worship of him. This was that which made God's people so zealous against them - that they fought against God: They are confederate against thee, Psa 83:5. Were our interest only concerned, we could the better bear it; but, when God himself is struck at, it is time to cry, Help, Lord. Keep not thou silence, O God! He proves that they are confederate against God, for they are so against the people of God, who are near and dear to him, his son, his first-born, his portion, and the lot of his inheritance; he may truly be said to fight against me that endeavours to destroy my children, to root out my family, and to ruin my estate. "Lord," says the psalmist, "they are thy enemies, for they consult against thy hidden ones." Note, God's people are his hidden ones, hidden, (1.) In respect of secresy. Their life is hid with Christ in God; the world knows them not; if they knew them, they would not hate them as they do. (2.) In respect of safety. God takes them under his special protection, hides them in the hollow of his hand; and yet, in defiance of God and his power and promise to secure his people, they will consult to ruin them and cast them down from their excellency (Psa 62:4), and to make a prey of those whom the Lord has set apart for himself, Psa 4:3. They resolve to destroy those whom God resolves to preserve.
2. How this confederacy is managed. The devil is at the bottom of it, and therefore it is carried on, (1.) With a great deal of heat and violence: Thy enemies make a tumult, Psa 83:2. The heathen rage, Psa 2:1. The nations are angry, Rev 11:18. They are noisy in their clamours against the people whom they hope to run down with their loud calumnies. This comes in as a reason why God should not keep silence: "The enemies talk big and talk much; Lord, let them not talk all, but do thou speak to them in thy wrath," Psa 2:5. (2.) With a great deal of pride and insolence: They have lifted up the head. In confidence of their success, they are so elevated as if they could over-top the Most High and overpower the Almighty. (3.) With a great deal of art and policy: They have taken crafty counsel, Psa 83:3. The subtlety of the old serpent appears in their management, and they contrive by all possible means, though ever so base, ever so bad, to gain their point. They areprofound to make slaughter (Hos 5:2), as if they could outwit Infinite Wisdom. (4.) With a great deal of unanimity. Whatever separate clashing interest they have among themselves, against the people of God they consult with one consent (Psa 83:5), nor is Satan's kingdom divided against itself. To push on this unholy war, they lay their heads together, and their horns, and their hearts too. Fas est et ab hoste doceri - Even an enemy may instruct. Do the enemies of the church act with one consent to destroy it? Are the kings of the earth of one mind to give their power and honour to the beast? And shall not the church's friends be unanimous in serving her interests? If Herod and Pilate are made friends, that they may join in crucifying Christ, surely Paul and Barnabas, Paul and Peter, will soon be made friends, that they may join in preaching Christ.
3. What it is that is aimed at in this confederacy. They consult not like the Gibeonites to make a league with Israel, that they might strengthen themselves by such a desirable alliance, which would have been their wisdom. They consult, not only to clip the wings of Israel, to recover their new conquests, and check the progress of their victorious arms, not only to keep the balance even between them and Israel, and to prevent their power from growing exorbitant; this will not serve. It is no less than the utter ruin and extirpation of Israel that they design (Psa 83:4): "Come, let us cut them off from being a nation, as they cut off the seven nations of Canaan; let us leave them neither root nor branch, but lay their country so perfectly waste that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance, no, not in history;" for with them they would destroy their Bibles and burn all their records. Such is the enmity of the serpent's seed against the seed of the woman. It is the secret wish of many wicked men that the church of God might not have a being in the world, that there might be no such thing as religion among mankind. Having banished the sense of it out of their own hearts, they would gladly see the whole earth as well rid of it, all its laws and ordinances abolished, all its restraints and obligations shaken off, and all that preach, profess, or practise it cut off. This they would bring it to if it were in their power; but he that sits in heaven shall laugh at them.
4. Who they are that are drawn into this confederacy. The nations that entered into this alliance are here mentioned (Psa 83:6-8); the Edomites and Ishmaelites, both descendants from Abraham, lead the van; for apostates from the church have been its most bitter and spiteful enemies, witness Julian. These were allied to Israel in blood and yet in alliance against Israel. There are no bonds of nature so strong but the spirit of persecution has broken through them. The brother shall betray the brother to death. Moab and Ammon were the children of righteous Lot; but, as an incestuous, so a degenerate race. The Philistines were long a thorn in Israel's side, and very vexatious. How the inhabitants of Tyre, who in David's time were Israel's firm allies, come in among their enemies, I know not; but that Assur (that is, the Assyrian) also is joined with them is not strange, or that (as the word is) they were an arm to the children of Lot. See how numerous the enemies of God's church have always been. Lord, how are those increased that trouble it! God's heritage was as a speckled bird; all the birds round about were against her (Jer 12:9), which highly magnifies the power of God in preserving to himself a church in the world, in spite of the combined force of earth and hell.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–18 Keep not thou silence, O God,.... Which he is…
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 peace; or "be not deaf" (b) to the cries and tears of his people, and to the reproaches, menaces, and blasphemies of wicked men:
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and be not still, O God; or "quiet" (c), at rest and ease, inactive and unconcerned, as if he cared not how things went; the reason follows.
(b) "ne obsurdescas", Vatablus; "ne surdum agas", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "ne quasi surdus et mutus sis", Michaelis. (c) "ne quiescas", Pagninus, Montanus, Musculus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Gejerus; "neque quietus sis", Michaelis.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 6, 7, 8, 13, 14, 16 A remonstrance of the designs and endeavours of Israel's…
A remonstrance of the designs and endeavours of Israel's enemies, ver. 1-8. A prayer, that God would defeat them, preserve his church, and get himself glory, ver. 9-18. A song or psalm of Asaph.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1–18 The psalmist calls upon God for immediate help against…
PSALM LXXXIII
The psalmist calls upon God for immediate help against a
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multitude of confederate enemies who had risen up against
Judah, 1-5.
He mentions them by name, 6-8;
shows how they were to be punished, 9-17;
and that this was to be done for the glory of God, 18.
NOTES ON PSALM LXXXIII
The title, A Song or Psalm of Asaph, contains nothing particular. Among a multitude of conjectures relative to the time and occasion of this Psalm, that which refers it to the confederacy against Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, mentioned 2Ch 20:1-30, is the most likely. The following reasons make it probable:
1. The children of Ammon, that is, the Ammonites and Moabites, were the principal movers in the war.
2. The Idumeans came to their assistance, 2Ch 20:22; with certain Ammonites or Meonians, referred to here in Ps 83:8, and in 2Ch 20:1.
3. There were also in this confederacy many strangers of Syria, and from beyond the sea, most likely the Dead Sea, which seems to indicate the Assyrians, Hagaranes, and Ishmaelites, designed expressly here, Ps 83:7-8.
4. In that transaction there was a prophet of the race of Asaph, named Jahaziel, who foretold to Jehoshaphat their total overthrow, 2Ch 20:14, &c., and probably this Jahaziel is the same with Asaph, the author of this Psalm.
In the course of the notes we shall see other circumstances relative to the war of the Moabites and Ammonites against Jehoshaphat, which illustrates several particulars in this Psalm. See Calmet.
Verse 1. Keep not thou silence] A strong appeal to God just as the confederacy was discovered. Do not be inactive, do not be neuter. Thy honour and our existence are both at stake.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 6, 10, 13, 16 Psa 83:1-2. Keep not thou silence, O God —…
Psa 83:1-2. Keep not thou silence, O God — Plead for us, not by words, but by thy actions; hold not thy peace — Hebrew, אל תחרשׁ, al techeresh: be not deaf, to our prayers, and to the blasphemies of thine and our enemies. Be not still — That is, unactive and unconcerned for us. For lo, thine enemies — They who are not only enemies to us, thy people, but also to thy will, and name, and glory; make a tumult — יהמיון, jehemajun, rage and roar, like the waves of the sea, or, make a tumultuous noise, both with their tongues, reproaching thee and threatening us, and with their arms. And have lifted up the head — Are grown potent, and insolent, and scornful.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1–18 Keep not thou silence, O God - See the…
Keep not thou silence, O God - See the notes at Psa 28:1. The prayer here is that in the existing emergency God would not seem to be indifferent to the needs and dangers of his people, and to the purposes of their enemies, but that he would speak with a voice of command, and break up their designs.
Hold not thy peace - That is, Speak. Give commaud. Disperse them by thine own authority.
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And be not still, O God - Awake; arouse; be not indifferent to the needs and dangers of thy people. All this is the language of petition; not of command. Its rapidity, its repetition, its tone, all denote that the danger was imminent, and that the necessity for the divine interposition was urgent.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 Psalms 83
Psalms 83
A Song or Psalm of Asaph
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2 Keep not thou silence, O God:
Hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God.
3 For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult:
And they that hate thee have lifted up the head.
4 They have taken crafty counsel against thy people,
And consulted against thy hidden ones.
5 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation;
That the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
6 For they have consulted together with one consent
They are confederate against thee:
7 The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites;
Of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
8 Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek;
The Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre;
9 Assur also is joined with them:
They have holpen the children of Lot. Selah.
10 Do unto them as unto the Midianites;
As to Sisera, as to Jabin at the brook of Kison:
11 Which perished at En-dor:
They became as dung for the earth.
12 Make their nobles like Oreb, and like Zeeb:
Yea, all their princes as Zebah, and as Zalmunna:
13 Who said, Let us take to ourselves
The houses of God in possession.
14 O my God, make them like a wheel:
As the stubble before the wind.
15 As the fire burneth a wood,
And as the flame setteth the mountain on fire;
16 So persecute them with thy tempest,
And make them afraid with thy storm.
17 Fill their faces with shame;
That they may seek thy name, O Lord.
18 Let them be confounded and troubled for ever;
Yea, let them be put to shame, and perish:
19 That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH,
Art the Most High over all the earth.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Contents and Composition. The first half of the Psalm, marked by Selah, contains a prayer to God that He would not remain inactive against attacks of those tribes, which, armed with strength and cunning, had risen up to destroy Israel until its very name should become extinct. (Psa_83:2-5). These are then enumerated as leagued together (Psa_83:6-9). The second half gives a positive turn to this prayer, namely that God would prepare for these enemies of Israel the same overthrow and disgrace which He had inflicted upon similar foes of former times (Psa_83:10-13); that He would utterly disperse them and bring them to shame, so that they might learn to seek God (Psa_83:14-17). This thought is expressed again (Psalm 83:18, 19), and presented in a Messianic aspect. With regard to the time of composition, the following difficulty meets us. The ten nations who are here enumerated as being combined against Israel, are never mentioned elsewhere as enemies allied at the same time and for the purpose of annihilating Israel. And yet the expressions are of such a nature, that we cannot be inclined to consider this enumeration as only a poetical individualizing of the general idea: enemies from all sides (De Wette, Hupfeld). The position of Assyria as an auxiliary of the sons of Lot, that is, of the Moabites and Ammonites, is especially unfavorable to this view. The same circumstance, alluding as it does to a special historical instance, opposes also any attempt to refer the composition to the age of the Maccabees (for which many since Van Till decide, referring to 1 Maccabees 5. and Josephus, Ant. 12:8). For even if it be admitted that the name Assyria could be transferred to Syria under the Seleucidæ, we must remember that the latter country had assumed a position of prominence in history just in the age of the Maccabees, and formed the chief power against which the Asmonæan princes contended. We cannot reconcile with this fact the subordinate position assigned in the Psalm to the power designated as Assyria, if respect be had to the predominant character of that age, so well known in history. But if we turn to the special case 1 Maccabees 5. we will find that the Syrians are not mentioned there at all, any more than the Amalekites, who had disappeared from history. We are therefore compelled to go back to a time, when Assyria had not yet become the great world-power that threatened Israel. Accordingly the Persian period Neh_4:1 f.; Neh_4:1 (Köster, Maurer, Ewald) is to be excluded, as also the Chaldean (Hassler). We would therefore be disposed to assume one of the wars of David with the neighboring nations leagued against him, 2 Samuel 8. or 10. (Grotius, J. H. Michaelis, Clauss). But the enumeration given in the text does not correspond with sufficient exactness to any of them. It agrees best with the alliance formed against Jehoshaphat, at the head of which were the Moabites, Ammonites and Edomites (since Kimchi, especially Venema and most of the recent commentators). Yet it must be confessed that even under this assumption there is much to be supplied and left to pure conjecture. For Josephus (Ant. 10:1, 2), gives a multitude of Arabs instead of the Meunim mentioned by the Chronicler. These may possibly be identical with the Ishmaelites and the Hagarenes here mentioned. The latter pitched their tents from the Persian Gulf as far as the country east of Gilead towards the Euphrates (1Ch_10:10), while the former spread themselves (Gen_25:18), through the Sinaitic peninsula over the Arabian Desert as far as the countries under the sway of the Assyrians in the remote north-east. Now, since in 2Ch_20:2, we must read מֵאֶדְֹם instead of מֵאֲרָם, as indicating the place of departure of these hordes, Edom appears to have been their place of rendezvous, and is given the first place by the Psalmist for this reason, unless we prefer to assume that the hostile nations were enumerated according to their relative geographical positions (Delitzsch). Further we can find a place for Gebal, which is not to be sought to the east of Jordan (Rosenm., De Wette), but south of the Dead Sea, (Gesenius) among the inhabitants of Mt. Seir mentioned by the Chronicler. We can certainly assume also, that Amalek, which was still existing in his time was included by him among the Edomites in the same way as Josephus (Ant. 2:1, 2), reckons ᾼμαληκῖτις as part of Idumæa. In Amo_1:6, too (comp. Joel 4:4,) the tribes along the Mediterranean coast, the Philistines and Phœnicians, appear as combined against Israel. Nor, if the same event is referred to as the one dwelt upon in the Psalm, does it appear in this instance also why the Chronicler omitted them as well as Assyria in his enumeration of the allies. If we assume, then, the identity of the events, the conjecture is at least worth mentioning, that the Levite and Asaphite Jahaziel named in 2Ch_20:14, was the author of this Psalm. (Dathe, Hengst., Delitzsch).
[Alexander: “To the general description (Mizmor) there is here prefixed a more specific one (shîr) which designates the composition as a song of praise or triumph. The same combination occurs above in the title of Psalms 48. a composition which as we have there seen, was probably occasioned by the victory of Jehoshaphat over the Moabites, Ammonites and their confederates as described in 2 Chronicles 20. This agrees well with the hypothesis, conclusively maintained by Hengstenberg, that the Psalm before us has relation to the same event, and that as Psalms 47. was probably sung upon the field of battle, and Psalms 48. after the triumphant return to Jerusalem, so Psalms 83. was composed in confident anticipation of the victory.”—J. F. M.]
Psa_83:10. As Midian. That is, as Thou hast done to Midian by means of Gideon (Jdg_7:8, comp. Isa_9:3; Isa_10:26; Hab_3:7). Sisera was the general of Jabin, king of Hazor, whose army was smitten by Barak and Deborah so that the river Kishon was strown with the dead (Jdg_4:5; Jdg_4:21). Endor lay in the midst of the battle-ground not far from Taanah and Megiddo mentioned in Jdg_5:19, (Robinson, III. 468, 477). Oreb, mentioned in Isa_10:26, and Zeeb were שָׂרִים and therefore probably generals of the Midianites (Jdg_7:25); Zebah and Zalmunneh their kings (Jdg_8:5 ff). On the signification of these names, comp. Nöldeke, Ueber die Amalekiter, p. 9. [In Isa_10:26 it is the rock Oreb that is mentioned, so called from the death of the Midianite lord in that place. See Jdg_7:25 also.—J. F. M.]
Psa_83:14 ff. Whirlwind [E.V.: wheel].—Comp. Psa_77:19; Isa_17:3. Wheel (Hupfeld with the ancient versions, Calvin, and others) is unnecessary here also. The fire, because it is the fire of God, devours not the covering of the mountains (most), but the mountains themselves (Hupfeld) which melt away before God like wax (Ps. 97:15; Mic_1:4; comp. Deu_32:23, where the earth, and Psa_78:21; Psa_78:63; Psa_106:18, where men are devoured by it). The image is more highly colored in Isa_10:16-19.—The knowledge spoken of in Psalm 83:19 is, it is true, a practical knowledge gained by actual painful experience of God’s power. But, still, as related to the design of the chastisement expressed in Psa_83:17 (that they may seek God’s name) it is not compulsory recognizing, submitting, and bestowing homage (Calvin, Rudinger, Clericus, Hengstenberg), but an acknowledgment of the exclusive divinity of Jehovah, to which the nations seeking mercy and help shall be brought. We are not to translate: Thou, whose name is Jehovah (Geier, Rosenmüller) or: Thou, according to Thy name (J. H. Michaelis, Hengst.) The subject is repeated, and, as in Psa_44:3; Psa_69:11, the repetition makes the reference more clear. [The last view is undoubtedly correct: “Thou, Thy name is Jehovah,” etc. The sense, however, remains unchanged by the first-mentioned rendering. The second is forced and unnecessary to the elucidation. Calvin has explained the object of the repetition of the subject, laying emphasis, as it does, upon the divinity of Jehovah. He says that a comparison is made between that God and all false gods. “Lord, make them feel that the idols which they have made for themselves are nothing.”—J. F. M.] As an illustration of the meaning of the passage, comp. Isa_37:16-20; 2Ki_19:19.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The Church of God on earth has many enemies, and powerful and cunning ones among them. Sometimes they band themselves together, and then their purpose is to destroy the Church. But God has reversed the relation of affairs more than once. He has preserved His Church, but put her enemies to shame. For her enemies are His enemies. And even if God seems to look on for a while, to observe the conduct of men, He does not remain an idle spectator; but if He lets loose the storm and the fire of His wrath, then are felt the severity and the power of His judgment.
2. The recollection of the Divine judgment in the history of the world is to be no less frequent and lively than the remembrance of His dealings of mercy. For in both of them does God manifest His incomparable majesty, and make it clear to the whole world, that men have equal reason to fear His name and to confide in it. For this name Jehovah has a significance in the history of redemption, and a power in the history of the world.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
The designs of men and the purposes of God.—If our enemies are God’s also, then we need not fear either their number, craftiness, or strength.—God proves Himself to be God alone, by glorifying His name in friend and foe.—God will not merely overthrow His own enemies and those of His Church; He will subdue them also: and so He causes them not only to feel His might, but also to know His name.—God not only rules the world, but He will be acknowledged also throughout its bounds as the Supreme Majesty.
Calvin: God’s punishments do not always effect a change in men for the better, but they do in the end compel an acknowledgment of His supremacy to the glorifying of His name among those who are justly condemned.
Starke: If God keeps silence, do not thou: but keep crying to Him until He ceases to be silent.—Let tyrants say what they will, they do not gain what they would; the hope of the wicked must perish.—Combinations which are formed without God, yea, against God and His Church, cannot last.—Members of God’s Church have, from the beginning, found enemies even in their blood-relations, Abel in Cain, Isaac in Ishmael, Jacob in Esau.—It is far better for men to be brought by God’s blessings to a knowledge of Him, than to be only compelled by His punishment to confess that God alone is the Lord.
Renschel: Strength, counsel, and craft are of no avail; when God begins to smite, then fall chariots, horses, and men.—Arndt : God often conceals from our sight the tokens of His help and counsel, and yet is helping wondrously, though secretly, and preserving His own.—If God alone is called Lord, and the Highest in the universe, it is good to rely upon Him alone, and it is right that we should fear, and stand in awe, and humble ourselves before Him, and that we call upon Him, honor Him, love Him, and praise Him.—Frisch: The less the world knows thee, the better is it for thee, and this alone is sufficient for thee: God knows His own.—Hidden, yet not lost, is the emblem of the Christian.—Roos: It is indeed a great advantage, when the enemies of a nation or of an individual are also enemies of God, provided also that the pretext or primary cause of the injury does not lie with ourselves.—Tholuck: Israel has a God who has spoken to His people, not only in words, but also in deeds.—Guenther: Thy impatience must not proceed from unwillingness to bear the cross any further, but from thy zeal to prove to thy enemies the vanity of their attempts. They would destroy the children of God from the earth.—Diedrich: We, the feeblest creatures, triumph if we have God with us, and the mightiest are dashed to the ground, if they have God against them.—We are so well shielded and cared for in God, that we can wish even for our bitterest foes the highest good at last, the knowledge of God Himself.—Taube: He whose vital breath is God’s word and ways and works, offers his prayers also from out of this atmosphere. And God is ever the same, as He was of old, disposed, just as He had ever been, towards His friends and towards His foes.
[Barnes: What it is right for men to attempt it is right for them to pray for; what it would be right for them to do if they had the power, it is right to ask God to accomplish; what is far from malignity in the act and in the design, may be far from malignity in the desire and in the prayer; and if men can carry with them the idea that what they are endeavoring to do is right, they will have very little difficulty in regard to the so-called imprecatory Psalms.—J. F. M.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1–18 1. Keep not… silence—Hebrew, Not silence to thee. The…
1. Keep not… silence—Hebrew, Not silence to thee. The word here stands opposed to speaking, as one in deep thought, or indecision, as Isa_62:6-7, where the word rest, in Psa_83:7, is the same as silence in Psa_83:6, and in this place.
Hold not thy peace—As one that is deaf and cannot hear.
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Be not still—At rest, inactive. The two former words call upon God to speak, to cause his voice to be heard, while his enemies and Israel’s were “making a tumult;” the latter word calls for action. God hears and then acts. “If we know that he hear us, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.” 1Jn_5:15
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18 1. Keep not &c.] O God (Elôhîm), keep not…
1. Keep not &c.] O God (Elôhîm), keep not still, lit. let there be no rest to thee. hold not thy peace] Or, be not silent. Cp. Psa_28:1; Psa_35:22; Psa_39:12.
be not still] Neither take thou rest, O God (El). For the phrases of this verse cp. Isa_62:1; Isa_62:6-7. God seems to be indifferent to the danger of His people: their enemies are mustering unrebuked: but He has only to speak the word, and their schemes will be utterly frustrated (Psa_76:6 ff.).
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1–4. An urgent prayer that God will come to the rescue of His people, whom their enemies are conspiring to annihilate.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 16 (1) Keep not thou silence, O God.—Literally, God, not…
(1) Keep not thou silence, O God.—Literally, God, not silence to thee. (Comp. Isa_62:7; and see Note, Psa_28:1.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 THE psalmist makes a passionate appeal to God on…
THE psalmist makes a passionate appeal to God on behalf of Israel at a time of great danger. A confederacy has been formed among the surrounding nations, having for its object the destruction of Israel"s nationality (ver. 4). The confederacy includes Edom, the Ishmaelites, Moab, the Hagarenes, Gebal, Ammon, Amalek, Philistia, and Tyre (vers. 6, 7); and it has the support of Assyria (ver. 8). Much doubt exists as to the period of Israelite history whereto the psalm and the events it commemorates belong. The prevalent opinion identifies the movement with that made by Moab, Ammon, and Edom, in the reign of Jehoshaphat, whereof an account is given in 2Ch 20. (So Tholuck, De Wette, Hengstenberg, Delitzsch, Kay, Canon Cook, and Professor Alexander.) Another view held is that the psalm belongs to the time of Nehemiah, and to the attempt then made to crash Israel by Sanballat, Geshem, and Tobiah (see "The Psalms chronologically arranged," by Four Friends, p. 310). More recently, Professor Cheyne has argued strongly in favour of a Maccabean date, and endeavoured to identify the confederacy with that described in RAPC 1Ma 5, which was put down by Judas Maccabaeus. A post-Captivity date is, however, rendered impossible by the mention, among the confederates, of Amalek and Assyria, which had both ceased to exist before the time of Nebuchadnezzar. We are thus thrown back upon the first hypothesis, unless, indeed, a suggestion may be made that the time of David is possible, and that the occasion may be that described in 2Sa 10 1Ch 19. Then only have we a record of Asshur helping the children of Lot. (2Sa_10:16 1Ch_19:6, 1Ch_19:16)
Metrically, the psalm divides into four strophes, three of four verses each, and one (the last) of six.
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Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God. A crisis has come which calls for the Divine interference. If his people are to be saved, God must no longer sit still. Compare the frequent calls on God to "arise". (Psa_3:7 Psa_7:6 Psa_44:26 Psa_68:1, etc.)
HOMILIES BY S. CONWAY Vers. 1-18. Soul spoilers.
Dismissing from our consideration the probable historical occasion of this psalm (for which see 2Ch 20), we take it as a vivid representation of the enemies and destroyers of the soul. Now
I THERE ARE SUCH. Whoever yet sought to live the Divine life, and to walk with God in faithful obedience, that did not speedily find out that there were enemies of his soul such as are set forth here? For see
II THEIR CHARACTERISTICS.
1. Numerous. What a vast horde are named as Israel"s foes (vers. 6-8)! And is not this true of our foes? They are not single, or few, or scattered; but they seem arrayed in troops, and meet us at every turn of our lives.
2. And very strong. Read the history and see the dismay which filled the minds of the devout Jehoshaphat and his people at the awful confederacy which had come against them. And the half-despairing soul, often and often, is tempted to throw down his weapons and to abandon a war in which he seems to have no possible hope of victory. The world, the flesh, the devil are, any one of them, too strong for him; how much more when confederate together, as they often are!
3. United. (Ver. 5) Everything at times seems to be in league against the soul, as were Israel"s enemies against them, our Lord"s enemies against him. They come from all quarters (see vers. 6-78); foes from the south and east are first named, then those from the west, and lastly those from the north. Thus was Israel begirt and shut in with foes who, usually hostile to one another, were now one in hatred to Israel.
4. Deadly. It was not a mere raid against Israel, but a fixed purpose to utterly destroy (ver. 4). And none other is the purpose of our soul"s adversaries not merely to annoy or injure, but to destroy. (1Pe_5:8)
5. Subtle. (Ver. 3) Like "a bolt out of the blue," so often is the assault upon our soul. At an hour when we think not, in ways we never dreamt of, when off our guard, when it seemed not only unlikely but impossible, so does our crafty foe assail.
III THEY SEEM SOMETIMES TO BE VICTORIOUS. (Ver. 2) We seem to hear the "tumult" of their loud exultation, and to see the haughty lifting up of the head. So it seemed to Elijah, (1Ki 19) so it has seemed to thousands of sore-beset ones since.
IV GOD APPEARS TO KEEP SILENT AND INACTIVE. (Ver. 1) He seems to let things go their own way; our cry does not. avail; the bitter agony of our soul does not seem to move him. This is terrible; but the experience of Israel of old is, not unfrequently, that of God"s Israel still but only for a while.
V HELP COMES IN RECOLLECTION,
1. That these enemies are confederate not so much against us as against God. They are "thine enemies" (vers. 2, 5, 18). Therefore we may look away from our weakness to the infinite power of God.
2. That God has vindicated his Name in days gone by. (Vers. 9-11) Oh, it is blessed when in darkness and difficulty to remember God"s deliverances of old, how completely our enemies were overthrown, how he made them "like Oreb and like Zeeb"! Memories such as these stay and strengthen the soul.
VI ISRAEL"S SPIRIT MUST BE OURS.
1. There must be no idea of compromise. Israel desired the complete extermination of their foes. There is a burning ferocity of hate in these verses (9-17), which is utterly alien from the spirit of Christ towards our human foes; it is the spirit of the Old Testament, not that of the New. But in regard to our spiritual foes, the would be spoilers of our soul, we may, we should, we must, cherish a spirit of uncompromising hate.
2. The honour of the Lords Name must be our motive. For his sake (vers. 16, 18) we are thus to pray. S.C.
HOMILIES BY R. TUCK Ver. 1. The mission of the Divine silence.
The occasion of the psalm is clearly some time of national peril from a confederacy of foes. The special distress is that, while the national enemies are vigorously active, God, the Defender of Israel, seems to be quiet, and even indifferent. The psalm is full of hope because, even while the fear of indifference on the part of God distresses the writer, he turns to God with importunate entreaties. The occasion may well have been the combination of Moab and Ammon against Israel in the days of Jehoshaphat, which is narrated in 2Ch_20:1-29 (notice the reference to Asaph in ver. 14). The summary of confederated powers need not be regarded as more than a poetical expansion. A poet of Israel could not know with historical exactness the precise constituents of the opposing force. He gathers together all who were regarded as national foes. Bishop Perowne says, "The poet is fully alive to the danger which threatens his nation. Look where he may, the horizon is black with gathering clouds. Judah is alone, and his enemies are compassing him about. The hosts of the invaders are settling like swarms of locusts on the skirts of the land. East, south, and west, they are mustering to the battle. The kindred but ever hostile tribe of Edom on the border, issuing from their mountain fastnesses; the Arab tribes of the desert; the old hereditary foes of Israel, Moab and Ammon; the Philistines; all are on the march; all, like hunters, are hemming in the lion who holds them at bay." The words used in this verse "peace," "still involve the Divine refraining from both encouraging message and helpful action. This Divine dealing, though frequent, is always specially trying to faith; but it is designed to be the culture of that patience which is one of the best expressions of faith.
I THE DIVINE PROMISE OF HELP. This is distinct, clear, full, unlimited. We may be absolutely sure of the Divine help for every time of need. "God will help, and that right early.
II THE DIVINE RESTRAINT FROM HELPING. The disposition of the Divine love may be to help at once. The decision of the Divine wisdom may be to withhold help for a while. And as the Divine wisdom and love are in perfect harmony, love supports the decision for restraint. Restraint is not refusal.
III THE MISSION OF THE RESTRAINT TO ISRAEL"S FOES. It makes them presume, and so involves them in overwhelming calamities. Divine restraint leads the foe into hopeless situations.
IV THE MISSION OF THE RESTRAINT TO GOD"S PEOPLE. It leads to self-revelation. We find out the imperfectness of our trust in God when we are put to the strain of waiting for his help. R.T.
HOMILIES BY C. SHORT Vers. 1-18. What God is to his people.
The following general truths may be gathered up from this psalm.
I THAT SOMETIMES THE CHURCH OF GOD IS THREATENED BY A COMBINATION OF MANY DANGERS. As now by science, philosophy, historical criticism, the spirit of commerce and the spirit of mammon, and what is called a worldly spirit.
II GOD AND HIS PEOPLE ARE ONE. (Ver. 5)
1. One in the closest relation. Father and children; Redeemer and redeemed.
2. One in work and purpose.
III THIS ONENESS GIVES THEM CONFIDENCE THAT GOD WILL SHIELD THEM FROM ALL REAL DANGER. And therefore they cry to him for defence and deliverance in all times of perplexity and danger.
IV THE PAST EXPERIENCES OF THE CHURCH STRENGTHEN THIS CONFIDENCE. The history of the Church shows that God has been her "Sun and Shield.
V THAT THE VICTORIES OF THE CHURCH OVER VARIOUS FORMS OF EVIL ARE A REVELATION OF THE NAME OF GOD. (Ver. 18) God thus makes himself known to wicked men. "The end of all God"s judgments, as of all history, is the same that all should confess that he is One and Supreme. S.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain On vv1–18 Title. A Psalm or Song of Asaph. This is…
Title. A Psalm or Song of Asaph. This is the last occasion upon which we shall meet with this eloquent writer. The patriotic poet sings again of wars and dangers imminent, but it is no godless song of a thoughtless nation entering upon war with a light heart. Asaph the seer is well aware of the serious dangers arising from the powerful confederate nations, but his soul in faith stays itself upon Jehovah, while as a poet preacher he excites his countrymen to prayer by means of this sacred lyric. The Asaph who penned this song was in all probability the person referred to in 2Ch 20:14, for the internal evidence referring the subject of the Psalm to the times of Jehoshaphat is overwhelming. The division in the camp of the confederate peoples in the wilderness of Tekoa not only broke up their league, but led to a mutual slaughter, which crippled the power of some of the nations for many years after. They thought to destroy Israel and destroyed each other.
Division. An appeal to God in a general manner fills Ps 83:1-4; and then the psalmist enters into details of the league, Ps 83:5-8. This leads to an earnest entreaty for the overthrow of the enemy, Ps 83:9-15, with an expression of desire that God's glory may be promoted thereby.
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Ver. 1. Keep not thou silence, O God. Man is clamorous, be not thou speechless. He rails and reviles, wilt not thou reply? On word of thine can deliver thy people; therefore, O Lord, break thy quiet and let thy voice be heard.
Hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God. Here the appeal is to EL., the Mighty One. He is entreated to act and speak, because his nation suffers and is in great jeopardy. How entirely the psalmist looks to God; he asks not for "a leader bold and brave, "or for any form of human force, but casts his burden upon the Lord, being well assured that his eternal power and Godhead could meet every difficulty of the case.
Title. "A Song or Psalm." When the two words (Shir, Mizmor, )occur together, the meaning seems to be, a lyric poem appointed to be sung. John Jebb.
Title. This Psalm, according to the title, was composed by Asaph. In accordance with this, we read, in 1Ch 20:14, that the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jehasiel, of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly. This Jehasiel is probably the author of the Psalm. Our Psalm is a true picture of the state of feeling which prevailed throughout the people during the danger under Jehoshaphat. According to the history of Chronicles, they praised God at that time, in the midst of their danger, with loud voice, 2Ch 20:19; and here in the title, which is an appendage to that of Psalm 48, the Psalm is called a song of praise; and it is such in reality, although it bears the form of a prayer, a song of triumph sung before the victory, no contest, no doubt, the distress is simply committed to God. The mention of the Amalekites among the enemies of Israel, in Ps 83:7, renders it impossible to come down to times later than that of Jehoshaphat. The last remains of the Amalekites were, according to 1Ch 4:43, rooted out by the Simeonites, under Hezekiah. From that time they disappear altogether from history. Ewald's assertion that Amalek stands here "only as a name of infamy applied to parties well known at the time, "is to be considered as a miserable shift. The Psalm must have been composed previous to the extension of the empire of the Assyrians over Western Asia. For the Assyrians named last, in the eighth verse, appear here in the very extraordinary character of an ally of the sons of Lot. E. W. Hengstenberg.
Ver. 1. Keep not thou silence, O God. In Scripture there are three reasons why the Lord keeps silence when his people are in danger, and sits still when there is most need to give help and assistance. One is, the Lord doth it to try their faith, as we clearly see, Mt 8:24, where it is said that our Lord Christ was asleep: There arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep. And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish. We read more fully in Mark 4 and Luke 8, he left them, when the ship was covered with waves, and they were rowing for their lives, their Lord was asleep the while, and he said to them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that you have no faith? And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. Truly, the Lord will not suffer his people to be overwhelmed, that is certain, but he will suffer them to come very near, that the waves cover them, and fear and horror shall cover their souls, and all to try their faith....
2. I find another reason in Isaiah 59, and that is, the Lord doth keep silence in the midst of the troubles of his people, to try men's uprightness of heart. For if God should always appear for his cause, God and his cause should have many favourites and friends; but sometimes God leaves his cause, and leaves his people, and leaves his gospel, and his ordinances to the wide world, to see who will plead for it and stick to it...
3. There is a third reason: God, as it were, keeps silence in the midst of the greatest troubles, that he may, as it were, gather the wicked into one faggot, into one bundle, that they may be destroyed together. There is a great deal of ado to "gather the saints" in this world; and truly there is some ado to gather the wicked. So God withdraws himself from his people, yet he hath a hook within their hearts, he holds them up secretly by his Spirit, that they shall not leave him; yet the world shall not see but that God hath quite left them, and all their ordinances and his gospel and everything; and there the wicked come together and insult, whereby God may come upon them at once, and destroy them, as we find ten nations in the Psalm. And so in Genesis God stirs up the nations against Abraham and his posterity, and there are ten nations that God promised to cut off before Abraham at once, the Perizzites, and the Jebusites, and the Canaanites, etc. So God heaps them together, and burns them like stubble. Those that burn stubble have rakes, and they gather it to heaps, and then they fire it. This is the way of God's keeping silence among his people, and sitting still in the midst of their miseries, thus God gathers their enemies in heaps as stubble, that he may burn them together. Gualter (Walter) Cradock, in "Divine Drops." 1650.
Ver. 1. Keep not thou silence, etc. The Hebrew words have great emphasis, and express the main causes of silenceclosing the mouth, deafness of the ears, and a tranquility maintained to such an extent as to reject all disquietude. The first clause, let not thy mouth be closed, and thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth, immovably, properly denotes, from the inherent force of the word jqs whose root means to fix to and compact firmly, what is fastened with lime or daubed with plaster...
The second clause, be not thou deaf, properly pertains to the ears, as Mic 7:16, Their ears shall be deaf. The third, be not still, suggests the course of the thoughts of the mind when it is brought to a state of clear tranquility, all cares and commotions being laid aside. The word (Heb.) is properly to settle, to settle down, as when the disturbed dregs of liquor settle down and seek the bottom, whence it is applied to the mind when freed from a great fermentation of cares and the sediments of anxieties and bitterness, a mind serene, clear, and refined...
Let us now see what the poet had in mind when he poured out these prayers, or what he wished to indicate. He hinted, that the people were reduced to these earnest entreaties, because unless God should speedily bring help to them, it might seem that Jehovah, the God of Israel, is like the false gods, a sort of deity, either mute, or deaf, or at his ease. Hermann Venema.
Ver. 1. Is the Lord silent? Then be not thou silent; but cry unto him till he breaks the silence. Starke, in Lange's Bibelwerk.
Ver. 1. The reference to tumult in the following verse gives force to the earnest appeal in this. Amidst all the tumult of gathering foes, he earnestly calls on God to break his silence, and to speak to them in wrath. W. Wilson.
Ver. 1. The long silence of God, the reasons for it, and our reasons for desiring him to end it.
"Expositions and Observations on Psalm LXXXIII., "in "Divine Drops distilled from the Fountain of Holy Scriptures: delivered in several Exercises before Sermons, upon Twenty and Three Texts of Scripture. By that worthy Gospel Preacher, GUALTER CRADOCK, late Preacher at All Hallows Great in London... 1650."
Psalms 83:2*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 16, 18 Keep not Thou silence, O God: hold not Thy…
Psa_83:1-18
Keep not Thou silence, O God: hold not Thy peace, and be not still, O God.
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An appeal to Heaven
I. A lamentable social scene (Psa_83:2-8). The scene is that of men in tumultuous hostility both to God and His people. They appear developing all the leading characteristics of sin.
1. Boisterous. They make a tumult. Sin is agitation. There is no serenity in it, no repose.
2. Haughty.. Have lifted up the head. They were bold, arrogant, defiant. The evil spirit is described by Milton as defying the Omnipotent to arms. Sin intoxicates the soul with vanity and daring.
3. Intriguing (Psa_83:3). Sin works insidiously, and with all the subtilty of the serpent. It is never open, frank, and straightforward; it is artful and scheming.
4. Malignant (Psa_83:4). It is always in mischief. The poison of asps, etc.
5. Antitheistic. They have consulted together, etc. It is all against God.
6. Widespread. The tabernacles of Edom, etc.
II. A reprehensible religious prayer. In this prayer there is--
1. A savage revenge (Psa_83:13), etc.
2. Pious abomination. Their destruction is here invoked, what for? In order that they may seek Thy name, O Lord. On what principle, either in ethics, or conscience, or sound philosophy, can such a prayer be justified? To me, I confess, it appears to be malice, inhumanity, and ungodliness in its worst aspect. (Homilist.)
Mental tendencies in relation to God
These words reveal two tendencies in the human mind in relation to the Creator.
I. A necessary tendency. By this, I mean, the tendency to think of our Maker as like unto ourselves. The psalmist here imagines Him to be silent and inactive, two conditions Which belong to ourselves, but which are impossible to Him. Indeed, we cannot think of God in any other way. We invest Him with our own attributes, and thus we humanify Him. Hence, how infinitely more glorious is the God which Christ adored and revealed, to the God which even the best men ever had, even the prophet and the apostles. This fact--
1. Accounts for the conflicting theologies of men.
2. Argues the necessity for following Christ. If we would reach exalted ideas of the Great Father, we must study and imitate His Blessed Son.
II. A culpable tendency. The culpable tendency indicated here is twofold.
1. A practical ignorement of Gods unremitting communications and activity. Keep not thou silence, O God. Silent! He is never silent. He speaks in all the sounds of nature, in all the events of history, in all the monitions of reason.
2. A proneness to regard Him as indifferent to us because we are in trouble. The psalmist seemed to think that because he and his countrymen were in great trial, the Almighty was silent and indifferent. How often is this the case with us all! How often we are inclined to think in affliction that our Maker has forsaken us! (Homilist.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v1 Psalms 83
Psalms 83
THIS psalm is a cry for help against a world in arms. The failure of all attempts to point to a period when all the allies here represented as confederate against Israel were or could have been united in assailing it, inclines one to suppose that the enumeration of enemies is not history, but poetic idealisation. The psalm would then be, not the memorial of a fact, but the expression of the standing relation between Israel and the outlying heathendom. The singer masses together ancient and modern foes of diverse nationalities and mutual animosities, and pictures them as burying their enmities and bridging their separations, and all animated by one tell hatred to the Dove of God, which sits innocent and helpless in the midst of them. There are weighty objections to this view; but no other is free from difficulties even more considerable. There are two theories which divide the suffrages of commentators. The usual assignment of date is to the league against Jehoshaphat recorded in 2 Chronicles 20. But it is hard to find that comparatively small local confederacy of three peoples in the wide-reaching alliance described in the psalm. Chronicles enumerates the members of the league as being "the children of Moab and the children of Ammon, and with them some of the Ammonites," which last unmeaning designation should be read, as in the LXX, "the Meunim," and adds to these Edom. {2Ch_20:2, corrected text} Even if the contention of the advocates of this date for the psalm is admitted, and "the Meunim" are taken to include the Arab tribes, whom the psalmist calls Ishmaelites and Hagarenes, there remains the fact that he names also Philistia, Amalek, Tyre, and Asshur, none of whom is concerned in the alliance against Jehoshaphat. It was, in fact, confined to eastern and southeastern nations, with whom distant western tribes could have no common interest. Nor is the other view of the circumstances underlying the psalm free from difficulty. It advocates a Maccabean date. In RAPC 1Maccabees 5 it is recorded that the nations round about were enraged at the restoration of the altar and dedication of the Temple after its pollution by Antiochus Epiphanes, and were ready to break out in hostility. Cheyne points to the occurrence in Maccabees of six of the ten names mentioned in the psalm. But of the four not mentioned, two are Amalek and Asshur, both of which had been blotted out of the roll of nations long before the Maccabees era. "The mention of Amalek," says Cheyne, "is half-Haggadic, half-antiquarian." But what should Haggadic or antiquarian elements do in such a list? Asshur is explained on this hypothesis as meaning Syria, which is very doubtful, and, even if admitted, leaves unsolved the difficulty that the subordinate place occupied by the nation in question would not correspond to the importance of Syria in the time of the Maccabees. Of the two theories, the second is the more probable, but neither is satisfactory: and the view already stated, that the psalm does not refer to any actual alliance, seems to the present writer the most probable. The world is up in arms against Gods people; and what weapon has Israel? Nothing but prayer.
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The psalm naturally falls into two parts, separated by Selah, of which the first (Psa_83:1-8) describes Israels extremity, and the second (Psa_83:9-18) is its supplication.
The psalmist begins with earnest invocation of Gods help, beseeching Him to break His apparent inactivity and silence. "Let there be no rest to Thee" is like Isa_62:6. God seems passive. It needs but His Voice to breakthe dreary silence, and the foes will be scattered. And there is strong reason for His intervention, for they are His enemies, who riot and roar like the hoarse chafing of an angry sea, for so the word rendered "make a tumult" implies. {Psa_46:3} It is "Thy people" who are the object of their crafty conspiracy, and it is implied that these are thus hated because they are Gods people. Israels prerogative, which evokes the heathens rage, is the ground of Israels confidence and the plea urged to God by it. Are we not Thy "hidden ones"? And shall a hostile world be able to pluck us from our safe hiding place in the hollow of Thy hand? The idea of preciousness, as well as that of protection, is included in the word. Men store their treasures in secret places; God hides His treasures in the "secret of His face," the "glorious privacy of light" inaccessible. How vain are the plotters whisperings against such a people!
The conspiracy has for its aim nothing short of blotting out the national existence and the very name of Israel. It is therefore high-handed opposition to Gods counsel, and the confederacy is against Him. The true antagonists are, not Israel and the world, but God and the world. Calmness, courage, and confidence spring in the heart with such thoughts. They who can feel that they are hid in God may look out, as from a safe islet on the wildest seas, and fear nothing. And all who will may hide in Him.
The enumeration of the confederates in Psa_83:6-8 groups together peoples who probably were never really united for any common end. Hatred is a very potent cement, and the most discordant elements may be fused together in the fire of a common animosity. What a motley assemblage is here! What could bring together in one company Ishmaelites and Tyrians, Moab and Asshur? The first seven names in the list of allies had their seats to the east and southeast of Palestine. Edom, Moab, Ammon, and Amalek were ancestral foes, the last of which had been destroyed in the time of Hezekiah. {1Ch_4:43} The mention of descendants of Ishmael and Hagar, nomad Arab tribes to the south and east, recalls their ancestors expulsion from the patriarchal family. Gebal is probably the mountainous region to the south of the Dead Sea. Then the psalmist turns to the west, to Philistia, the ancient foe, and Tyre, "the two peoples of the Mediterranean coast, which also appear in Amos {chapter 1; cf. Joel 3} as making common cause with the Edomites against Israel" (Delitzsch). Asshur brings up the rear-a strange post for it to occupy, to be reduced to be an auxiliary to "the children of Lot," i.e., Moab and Ammon. The ideal character of this muster roll is supported by this singular inferiority of position, as well as by the composition of the allied force, and by the allusion to the shameful origin of the two leading peoples, which is the only reference to Lot besides the narrative in Genesis.
The confederacy is formidable, but the psalmist does not enumerate its members merely in order to emphasise Israels danger. He is contrasting this miscellaneous conglomeration of many peoples with the Almighty One, against whom they are vainly banded. Faith can look without a tremor on serried battalions of enemies, knowing that one poor man, with God at his back, outnumbers them all. Let them come from east and west, south and north, and close round Israel; God alone is mightier than they. So, after a pause marked by Selah, in which there is time to let the thought of the multitudinous enemies sink into the soul, the psalm passes into prayer, which throbs with confident assurance and anticipatory triumph. The singer recalls ancient victories, and prays for their repetition. To him, as to every devout man, todays exigencies are as sure of Divine help as any yesterdays were, and what God has done is pledge and specimen of what He is doing and will do. The battle is left to be waged by Him alone. The psalmist does not seem to think of Israels drawing sword, but rather that it should stand still and see God fighting for it. The victory of Gideon over Midian, to which Isaiah also refers as the very type of complete conquest, {Isa_9:3} is named first, but thronging memories drive it out of the singers mind for a moment, while he goes back to the other crushing defeat of Jabin and Sisera at the hands of Barak and Deborah. {Judges 4, 5} He adds a detail to the narrative in Judges, when he localises the defeat at Endor, which lies on the eastern edge of the great plain of Esdraelon. In Psa_83:2 he returns to his first example of defeat-the slaughter of Midian by Gideon. Oreb (raven) and Zeeb (wolf) were in command of the Midianites, and were killed by the Ephraimites in the retreat. Zebah and Zalmunnah were kings of Midian, and fell by Gideons own hand. {Jdg_8:21} The psalmist bases his prayer for such a dread fate for the foes on their insolent purpose and sacrilegious, purpose of making the dwellings (or, possibly, the pastures) of God their own property. Not because the land and its peaceful homes belonged to the suppliant and his nation, but because they were Gods, does he thus pray. The enemies had drawn the sword; it was permissible to pray that they might fall by the sword, or by some Divine intervention, since such was the only way of defeating their God-insulting plans.
The psalm rises to high poetic fervour and imaginative beauty in the terrible petitions of Psa_83:13-16. The word rendered "whirling dust" in Psa_83:13 is somewhat doubtful. It literally means a rolling thing, but what particular thing of the sort is difficult to determine. The reference is perhaps to "spherical masses of dry weeds which course over the plains." Thomson ("Land and Book," 1870, p. 563) suggests the wild artichoke, which, when ripe, forms a globe of about a foot in diameter. "In autumn the branches become dry and as light as a feather, the parent stem breaks off at the ground, and the wind carries these vegetable globes whithersoever it pleaseth. At the proper season thousands of them come scudding over the plain, rolling, leaping, bounding." So understood, the clause would form a complete parallel with the next, which compares the fleeing foe to stubble, not, of course, rooted, but loose and whirled before the wind. The metaphor Psa_83:14 is highly poetic, likening the flight of the foe to the swift rush of a forest fire, which licks up (for so the word rendered scorches means) the woods on the hillsides, and leaves a bare, blackened space. Still more terrible is the petition in Psa_83:15, which asks that God Himself should chase the flying remnants, and beat them down, helpless and panic stricken, with storm and hurricane, as He did the other confederacy of Canaanitish kings, when they fled down the pass of Beth-Horon, and "Jehovah cast down great stones on them from heaven". {Jos_10:10-11}
But there is a deeper desire in the psalmists heart than the enemies destruction. He wishes that they should be turned into Gods friends and he wishes for their chastisement as the means to that end. "That they may seek Thy face, Jehovah," is the sum of his aspirations, as it is the inmost meaning of Gods punitive acts. The end of the judgment of the world, which is continually going on by means of the history of the world, is none other than what this psalmist contemplated as the end of the defeat of that confederacy of Gods enemies-that rebels should seek His face, not in enforced submission, but with true desire to sun themselves in its light, and with heart-felt acknowledgment of His Name as supreme through all the earth. The thought of God as standing alone in His majestic omnipotence, while a world is vainly arrayed against Him, which we have traced in Psa_83:5-7, is prominent in the close of the psalm. The language of Psa_83:18 is somewhat broken, but its purport is plain, and its thought is all the more impressive for the irregularity of construction. God alone is the Most High. He is revealed to men by His Name. It stands alone, as He in His nature dots. The highest good of men is to know that that sovereign Name is unique and high above all creatures, hostile or obedient. Such knowledge is Gods aim in punishment and blessing. Its universal extension must be the deepest wish of all who have for themselves learned how strong a fortress against a world in arms that Name is; and their desires for the foes of God and themselves are not in harmony with Gods heart, nor with this psalmists song, unless they are, that His enemies may be led, by salutary defeat of their enterprises and experience of the weight of Gods hand, to bow, in loving obedience, low before the Name which, whether they recognise the fact or not, is high above all the earth.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 This is the last of the Psalms of Asaph.…
INTRODUCTION
This is the last of the Psalms of Asaph. If the Psalm refers to the times of Jehoshaphat, the author was probably “Jahaziel, a Levite of the sons of Asaph,” upon whom “came the Spirit of the Lord in the midst of the congregation” (2Ch_20:14). In the 19th verse we read that “The Levites stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with a loud voice on high.” Probably this was the Psalm which they sung.
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Occasion.—Hengstenberg says, “There is no room for doubt as to the historical occasion of the Psalm. It refers to the war of Jehoshaphat against the allied Edomites, Moabites, Ammonites, and other nations, and forms the earliest as to subject of a series of cognate Psalms. While it makes mention of the help of God in the midst of danger, the 47th Psalm was sung, after the discomfiture of the enemy, on the field of battle, and the 48th, at the thanksgiving service in the temple. This view has been taken by all commentators, except those who have been prevented from arriving at the truth by some prejudice, such as that all the Psalms of Asaph were composed in David’s time, or that the narrative at 2 Chronicles 20 is not historically correct.” Alexander, Perowne, and Spurgeon held the above view.
THE PERIL AND PRAYER OF THE CHURCH
Amyraldus writes,—“The Psalm may be applied now to the enemies of the Christian Church, of which Israel was the type. The most important and formidable of these are assuredly sin and Satan, from whom we most especially long to be delivered.” Regarding the Psalm thus, in the peril of Israel we have an illustration of the peril of the Church of Christ, and in the prayer of Israel an illustration (in some respects) of the prayer of the Church of Christ.
I. The peril of the Church. The peril of Israel at this time arose from her enemies, who had banded themselves together to make war against her and destroy her power. Several things in the disposition and conduct of the confederate forces are here mentioned which would make their hostility formidable.
1. Their hostility was violent. “For, Io, Thine enemies make a tumult.” They were loud and clamorous in their opposition to Israel, and were rushing on tumultuously to accomplish the destruction of the people of God. There have been times in the history of the Church of Christ when violent opposition has been directed against her. In the apostolic age how tumultuous were her foes! And how they raged in the time of the Roman emperors! Such enemies as Voltaire and Tom Paine have been loud in their opposition to Christianity.
2. Their hostility was confident. “They that hate Thee have lifted up the head.” In dismay or penitence the head is bowed down; in courage and confidence it is lifted up. The enemies of Israel proudly lifted up their heads, feeling assured of success. Their vast numbers, and compact unity, and great power, seemed to them to place their triumph far beyond question. And so men have felt confident that they could destroy the Church of Christ, and have published abroad their intention and power to do so, and to do so speedily—with what results the existence, position, and power of the Church to-day declare.
3. Their hostility was crafty. “They have taken crafty counsel against Thy people, and consulted against Thy hidden ones.” They were not only strong in power, but subtle in strategy also. Their plans were matured with much care and cunning. And Satan and his emissaries, in seeking to destroy the Church of our Lord, put forth all their skill in the formation of their schemes of operation. The Church has to contend against Satanic cunning as well as against Satanic power. “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” “That old serpent, called the devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world.” “Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.”
4. Their hostility aimed at the utter ruin of Israel. “They said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.” They did not merely aim at arresting the progress or crippling the power of Israel. Nothing would satisfy them but the utter destruction of the chosen people. They seek to cut off both root and branch from the face of the earth, leaving of them not even a memorial. Such is the aim of Satan and his allies against the Christian Church. They would banish all true religion from the world. Every Christian temple they would pervert into a “synagogue of Satan;” every godly man they would cut off; all religious literature they would destroy. This has been attempted by means of persecution. But persecution purified and strengthened the Church. The foes of the Church are now seeking her overthrow by corruption and error working within. Ritualism and Rationalism are doing their part towards the destruction of the Church. The rash and hasty conclusions of scientists, and the conceited dogmatism of the professors of “the higher criticism,” are arrayed against the Book. But the Book and the Church are unconquerable, indestructible. “The gates of hell shall not prevail against” the Church of Christ.
5. Their hostility was united. “They have consulted together with one consent; they are confederate against Thee.” There was unanimity in their counsels. Their mutual hostilities they laid in abeyance, that they might unite in one irresistible and all-conquering army. They solemnly covenanted together to seek the destruction of the Hebrews. And there is unity amongst the enemies of the Church in the matter of opposing her and seeking her overthrow. The Jews and Romans, hostile in other respects, united against Christ. The Sanhedrim, Pilate, Herod, and the people all united in opposition to Him. “Of a truth against Thy holy child Jesus, whom Thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together.” This is an illustration of the opposition of the world and the devil to the Church in our own day. Opposed in other things, the unchristian world is united in this.
6. Their hostility was powerful. No less than ten nations were joined in this confederacy against Israel. “Edom, the Ishmaelites, Moab, the Hagarenes, Gebal, Amon, Amalek, the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre, Assur also.” All the nations bordering on Palestine had joined the confederacy, so that the chosen people were quite surrounded by enemies. And some of these enemies were very powerful, so that they felt confident of complete triumph. And Israel turned to God in prayer for help as to their only resource. The enemies of the Christian Church are many and mighty. Satan is strong, subtle, and numerously supported. Sin is strong. Many forms of evil are united against the Church. The lusts of the flesh, drunkenness, gluttony, uncleanness, the greed of gold, the ruinous absorption of mind and heart in temporal and material things, the frivolities of fashionable life, the vices of fast life, the assaults of dishonest scepticism, the miserable negations of atheism, and the corruptions within the Church itself, all tend to its overthrow. Yet the Church, loyally trusting in God, is stronger than all her foes. They may assault her, but their assaults will be like those of the tumultuous waves which furiously dash against a rock-bound coast to be hurled back as if in calm contempt.
It is noteworthy that in this statement of their trouble and danger the poet represents the enemies of Israel as the enemies of God, the confederacy against Israel as a confederacy against God, and the people of Israel as the people of God. Thus they identify their cause and interest with God’s. Their foes hated the laws and religion of God; and in striking at His people, they were striking at His kingdom in this world. The strength of the Church is in her oneness with God. When she is loyal to Him, He saith to her persecutors, “Why persecutest thou Me?” No weapon that is formed against her shall prosper.
II. The prayer of the Church. “Keep not Thou silence, O God: hold not Thy peace, and be not still, O God.… Do unto them as unto the Midianites; as to Sisera, as to Jabin,” &c.
The people here pray—
1. For the interposition of God. “Keep not Thou silence, O God: hold not Thy peace, and be not still, O God.” There are times when God seems as though He did not observe the circumstances and needs of His people, or as though He were not concerned for their prosperity or safety. He stands as it were aside, taking no part in their affairs. His people here pray that He would not thus treat them on this occasion, but that He would speak in mighty deeds, and arouse Himself for their help and defence. The prayer of this verse is clearly an urgent one. The brevity and rapidity and repetition of the request, all indicate the imminence of the need and the earnestness of the desire. It is well when the Church in her dangers betakes herself to the throne of grace to implore the help of God. Not in the wealth of her material resources, not in the wisdom and eloquence of her leaders, not in the patronage of parliaments and princes, but in the presence and power of God in her midst, is the Church’s true and sure defence against her foes.
2. For the utter destruction of their foes. “Do unto them as unto the Midianites, as to Sisera, as to Jabin,” &c. (Psa_83:9-15). These petitions are evidently for their utter destruction. The confederate foes of Israel had agreed to seek her utter ruin, and now in her turn Israel pleads with God that He would terrify, trouble, and completely destroy them. (On the imprecations (Psa_83:9-17) see our remarks on Psa_69:22-28; and the quotation from Perowne on pp. 163, 164.) The Church of Christ should both pray and work for the destruction of her enemies. We would destroy the wicked by destroying their wickedness. We would that all sinners were exterminated by their being regenerated into saints. We would that all the enemies of the Lord were destroyed by becoming loyal to Him.
3. For the confusion of their foes. It seems strange to pray for the confusion of their foes after having prayed for their complete destruction. Yet this is done in the Psalm. “Fill their faces with shame: let them be confounded and troubled for ever.” The prayer is that the schemes of the enemies may be thwarted, their purposes defeated, their designs baffled, their plans all overturned; and that with shame and trouble their confederacy may be broken up for ever. This is a very fitting prayer for the Christian Church. It is both wise and right, our duty and interest, to pray that the counsels of the wicked may be frustrated, the designs of hell baffled, and all the politics of the enemies of the Church confounded.
4. For the submission of their foes to God. “That they may seek Thy name, O Lord.” The context will not allow us to interpret this as a seeking of the friendship and favour of God. It means simply, that they may seek Thee in forced submission, being able to hold out no longer. But we who have learned of Christ may urge this petition with a much higher and diviner meaning. It is ours to pray that the plans of the enemies of God and of His Church may be baffled, that so they might be led to know and trust Him. May their wicked plans be brought to confusion that they might be brought to conversion.
5. For the glory of the Divine name. “That men may know that Thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the Most High over all the earth.” The context compels us to regard the knowledge and acknowledgment as not voluntary, but forced. The prayer is that God would so display His power against the foes of Israel that men would be compelled to acknowledge His supremacy in the earth. So, but with a fuller and higher meaning, let the Christian Church pray for the universal diffusion of the knowledge of the glory of God.
The subject preaches its own conclusion. We are surrounded by a host of foes; “we have no might against the great company that cometh against us.” But the Lord of Hosts is with us. Through Him we shall do valiantly. Onward, Christian soldiers, in God’s name; and ye shall be “more than conquerors through Him.”
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
F. W. Grant 1903 · Public Domain On v1 Victory over the last assault of evil.
Victory over the last assault of evil.
A Song, a Psalm of Asaph.
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Israel being now set right within, the tempest may roar against her; but there is no rotten core any more, to make the tree break. Still, she must find, but she shall find, her resource in God. The eighty-third psalm closes the series with a great confederacy of the nations hurling itself against Israel’s shield, only to be dashed in ruin from it; and Jehovah is thus made known in all the earth in His supremacy of power.
1. In the first section the case is stated which demands the intervention of God. The nations of the earth are in rebellion against Him, and the psalmist cries for Him to act and not be still. His enemies are all astir, and full of anticipated triumph. They are in movement against the people of God, through whom alone they can attack Him; but who are hidden from them in a safe place of shelter, which they discern not, -which they must be made to realize. They mean nothing less than to cut off Israel as a nation from the face of the earth, and cause the very memory of them to be lost.
2. The allied foes are now enumerated, compacted together in covenant against God Himself. They are Israel’s immediate neighbors, as far as we know them; and indeed, largely their kindred, with Philistia and Tyre, who were in the borders of their land. One power only beyond these is mentioned, as aiding and abetting, rather than instigating, the attack: and that is Assyria. Israel’s foes are thus all round her: Edom, Ishmael, and Moab in the south; Ammon and Amalek on the east; the Philistines and Tyrians on the west coast; and Assyria to the north. There are two not certainly known, -Gebal and the Hagarenes or Hagarites. The last stand, in the second member of the sixth verse, over against Ishmael in the first place, and in the same connection with Moab as Ishmael with Edom. Were they, perhaps, as their name might intimate, but a branch of the Ishmaelites themselves, which had attained a similar independence of the original tribe to that which the Amalekites held in regard to Edom? This, which is easily conceivable of these wandering peoples, seems the most probable conjecture, though it is but that. Gebal is only mentioned here, if that in Eze 27:9 (and which was the seat of the Giblites of Jos 13:5.) is different.
The names, as a whole, are difficult to connect, as is generally sought, with any event in Israel’s past history, which (if it could be established) would not, of course, prevent an application to that prophetic future with which these psalms are so evidently connected. It is, as we know, the commonest thing, if not the rule, to make some impending historical event the text of a prediction as to the latter days. But it is also difficult in many ways to connect an irruption of these peoples, most of whom have disappeared long since, with Israel’s prophetic history, as far as we have yet come to an understanding of it. That there is a revival of many of the old nations in the last days, and a replacement of them in the positions they occupied of old, is clear, and has begun even to be fulfilled before our eyes, as in the case of the Greek and the Italian kingdoms. Many of the scattered tribes which are classed in general under the common name of Arabs, may be Moabites, Ammonites, and such like. In all this there is no very great difficulty. On the other hand, while the Assyrian is prominent in Isaiah in connection with Israel’s troubles in the latter day, the list of the nations that come with Gog against her (as given in Eze 38:1-23; Eze 39:1-29) is plainly different, and they are much further off than what are enumerated here. We must leave the precise application of what is here, therefore, in uncertainty. The day will declare it; for of its being a prophecy of the last times there can be no reasonable doubt. Rather than an attack of distant enemies, however, it is an attempted settlement of old scores with Israel on the part of neighboring and kindred races. With the exception of Assyria, Israel is to possess herself of all this territory and such an attack on their part may naturally lead to this.
As to the numerical structure, it is not strange that (with so much else uncertain) there should be room for much uncertainty as to the meaning of it. If the Hagarenes are really but an independent section of Ishmael, then those named in the second verse are all of Israelitish kin. The third verse is much more doubtful, as Ammon had her land expressly preserved for her, along with Moab and Edom. This is the main difficulty; for Gebal may after all be the Phoenician Gebal of Ezekiel and Joshua, and would then be within the limits of Israel’s original inheritance; and Amalek, being condemned to utter extinction, would forfeit her land to Israel, and so be within her limits. As to Philistia and Tyre, there can be no question. Finally, the fourth verse seems to have no difficulty in relation to Asshur.
Edom and Moab will (with Ammon) lose what had been reserved for them, and Israel possess their territory also, which comes plainly into their final inheritance; but the very attack upon Israel here predicted would be, as before-said, a sufficient reason for this, and thus all would be in harmony. But the exceptional place of Ammon in this enumeration is a difficulty as to all this, to which I have no key, and must leave it as an evident objection.
3. The confederacy is paralleled with Midian’s overflow of the land in the days of Gideon, and with Sisera and Jabin; in the time of Deborah. The psalmist prays that their destruction may be like theirs; and their "anointed ones," set apart to special place among them; be like the kings that fell by Gideon’s hand. They too would have seized upon the dwelling-places of God in the land, and possessed themselves of His inheritance.
4. He prays that, in the hands of the Mighty God, they may be like chaff or thistledown whirled by the wind; -that, as the fire catches hold of a wood, or the flame of the volcano sets on fire the mountains, so the anger of God may pursue them and His presence terrify them like the breath of the hurricane. But —
5. The end is to be the blessing of man in the exaltation of God, -that man may find his place with God. He must needs be abased for this, and the pride hid from him; that hides the thee of God. Yea, the destruction of His foes is to make Him known as Supreme, who is alone Jehovah, the Immutable because the Perfect One. Thus fittingly the psalms of Asaph close.
F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 This Ps. describes a confederacy of God's enemies, the…
This Ps. describes a confederacy of God's enemies, the object of which is to attack and exterminate Israel (Psa_83:2-5). A list of the allies is given (Psa_83:6-8). The Psalmist appeals to God to interpose (Psa_83:1), and to deal with these hostile nations as He dealt with the Midianites (Judges 6-8) and the Canaanites (Judges 4, 5) of old (Psa_83:9-12). Psa_83:13-18 continue the prayer for their overthrow, in order that they may seek and acknowledge the true God. No historical occasion is known on which all the nations mentioned were leagued against Israel. The Ps. is connected by some with the invasion in the reign of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 20), by others with the opponents of Nehemiah (Neh_4:7-8), and by others still with the enemies of Judas Maccabgeus (1 Maccabees 5).
3. Thy hidden ones] those in God's protection: cp. Psa_27:5; Psa_31:20.
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5. Are confederate] RV 'make a covenant.'
6, 7. Edom.. Moab.. Ammon] The neighbours of Israel on the SE. and E.
6. Tabernacles] RV 'tents.'
Ishmaelites] wandering desert tribes.
Hagarenes] or Hagrites, a nomadic tribe in the region E. of Gilead (1Ch_5:10).
7. Amalek] a tribe of the desert S. of Palestine.
Gebal] a district of Edom, S. of the Dead Sea. The Philistines] RV 'Philistia,' between Palestine and the Mediterranean on the SW.
Tyre] a city and kingdom on the NW. sea board of Palestine.
8. Assur] RV 'Assyria.' This empire did not come into close contact with Israel till after the time of Jehoshaphat. After the fall of Assyria the name was used generally for the region of the East, even under the Persian kings (Ezr_6:22). The children of Lot] the Moabites and Ammonites (Gen_19:36-38) already mentioned, and apparently the leaders of the hostile combination.
9. Sisera.. Jabin.. Kison] see Judges 4, 5.
10. Endor] not mentioned in Judges 4, 5, but it was in the locality referred to in Jdg_5:19 : see Jos_17:11.
11. Oreb, and.. Zeeb] the princes of Midian (Jdg_7:25). Zebah, and.. Zalmunna] named as kings of Midian in Jdg_8:5-21.
13. A wheel] RV 'the whirling dust.'
15. Persecute] RV 'pursue.'
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 Psalm 83
Psalm 83
The Final Enemies Overthrown
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1. The enemies in confederacy (Psa 83:1-8)
2. Their complete defeat and fate (Psa 83:9-18)
Elsewhere in prophecy we read of the confederacies of nations, Israel’s enemies, coming against the land of Israel in a final great onslaught. There will be an invasion from the north mentioned in Isa 29:1-24; Joe 2:1-32; Dan 8:9-12, and in Zec 12:2. Then there will also be Gog and Magog invading the land (Eze 38:1-23, etc.). It seems the former is in view here. The godly remnant prays and speaks of these invading hosts as “His enemies” calling upon the Lord to deal with them. Their satanic object is to cut them off from being a nation. They remind the Lord of what He did with Israel’s former enemies and treat them likewise, so that Jehovah may become the Most High (God’s millennial Name) over all the earth
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v1 A Prayer for Help against the Enemies of the…
A Prayer for Help against the Enemies of the Church.
A song or psalm of Asaph, the last of his twelve hymns in the psalter, picturing the craft and rage of the enemies and invoking God’s speedy destruction upon them.
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v. 1. Keep not Thou silence, content with resting, with being an idle spectator, O God; hold not Thy peace and be not still, O God, that is, inactive while such great dangers were threatening.
v. 2. For, lo, Thine enemies (the enemies of the Church are God’s enemies) make a tumult; and they that hate Thee have lifted up the head, in haughty pride and arrogance.
v. 3. They have taken crafty counsel, laying their plans in secret and with guile, against Thy people, primarily Israel, but as typical of the spiritual Israel, and consulted against Thy hidden ones, the number of true believers always being so small, by comparison, that they disappear in the great mass of humanity, while, nevertheless. God protects them.
v. 4. They have said, Come and let us cut them off from being a nation, exterminating them from among the nations, that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance, the annihilation, as planned by them, being so complete that the very name of God’s people would be forgotten in history.
v. 5. For they have consulted together with one consent, their hearts and minds all being of the same opinion and purpose; they are confederate against Thee, their covenant against Israel being in reality a covenant against the God of Israel;
v. 6. the tabernacles of Edom, that is, all the nomadic tribes belonging to this nation, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab and the Hagarenes, who roamed from the Persian Gulf to the desert country east of Gilead;
v. 7. Gebal, the northern part of the mountains of Seir and therefore pertaining to Edom, and Ammon, Israel’s ancient enemy east of Gilead, and Amalek, the last remnants of the desert tribe living within the territory of Edom or in remote parts of the Desert of Paran; the Philistines, on the Mediterranean, toward the southwest, with the inhabitants of Tyre, the Phenician nation;
v. 8. Assur also is joined with them, the great kingdom of Assyria, which at that time had not yet reached the summit of its power; they have holpen the children of Lot, entered into an alliance with the Moabites and the Ammonites. Selah. Practically all the heathen nations surrounding Canaan were directly or indirectly interested in this plan of annihilating Israel, even as enemies of every description nowadays unite when the object of the confederacy is to fight the true Church.
v. 9. Do unto them as unto the Midianites, who were practically annihilated at the time of Gideon, Judges 7; Jdg 8:11-12; as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the brook of Kison, at the time of Deborah and Barak, Judges 4,
v. 10. which perished at Endor, a town on the northern edge of the Plain of Jezreel, for it was there that the battle against the host of the Canaanites took place; they became as dung for the earth, their decaying carcasses forming manure, fertilizer, for the soil of Canaan.
v. 11. Make their nobles like Oreb and like Zeeb, the two princes of the Midianites slain at the time of Gideon, Jdg 7:25; yea, all their princes as Zebah, and as Zalmunna, slain by Gideon after their armies had been defeated, Jdg 8:10-21;
v. 12. who said, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession, they had intended to overthrow the true religion.
v. 13. O my God, make them like a wheel, like a whirlwind and whatever is carried away by a tornado, as the stubble before the wind, disappearing without leaving a trace behind.
v. 14. As the fire burneth a wood, great forests being devoured in a short time, and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire, the mountains themselves melting. away with their woody covering before the flame of God’s wrath,
v. 15. So persecute them with Thy tempest and make them afraid, completely overthrowing them, with Thy storm.
v. 16. Fill their faces with shame, disgrace being heaped upon them by their overthrow, that they may seek Thy name, O Lord, acknowledging the exclusive divinity of Jehovah, whether willingly or under compulsion.
v. 17. Let them be confounded, heaped with shame, and troubled, overthrown, forever; yea, let them be put to shame, and perish, fully convinced of their own vanity and that of their false gods,
v. 18. that men may know that Thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, the God of revelation, art the most high over all the earth, admitted as such either in fear or in faith. Cf Isa 37:16-20; 2Ki 19:19. That is the comfort of the believers of all times, that the true God will, in the end, be revealed before all men, to their utter confusion and to His own glorification, as the most high God.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3, 6, 8, 9, 11, 13, 16, 18 General Information:
General Information:
Parallelism is common in Hebrew poetry. (See: Poetry and Parallelism)
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A song. A psalm of Asaph
"This is a psalm that Asaph wrote"
remain unmoved
"do nothing to help us"
Look, your enemies are making a commotion
Here "making a commotion" means they are rioting and rebelling. AT: "Look, your enemies are rebelling against you"
those who hate you have raised their heads
The phrase "raised their heads" is way of saying they are rebelling against God. AT: "those who hate you are defying you" (See: Idiom)
translationWords
psalm
Asaph
God
raise
head
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14 Ps 83 This community lament asks God for rescue…
Ps 83 This community lament asks God for rescue and victory. The terse poetry suggests difficult times. A powerful coalition desires to destroy Israel (83:1-4) and allies itself against God (83:5-8). Recalling the fate of others who came against Israel (83:9-12), the psalmist prays that the same will happen to these enemies (83:13-16) so that God will receive honor among them (83:17-18). It is unclear whether this psalm arose out of a specific historical instance of opposition by these nations, or if it is a poetic collage of nations representing Israel’s enemies.
83:1-4 The enemy has successfully intimidated God’s people, so the poet prays that the Lord will hear and act.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.