Psalms 83

This psalm is God’s answer to the prayer of the remnant in the last verse of the previous psalm (Psa 82:8). We see this answer particularly in the last verse of this psalm (Psa 83:18).

Psalm 83 is the twelfth and final psalm of Asaph (Psalms 50; 73-83). It deals with the enemies of God. These enemies are neighboring nations of Israel who want to attack the land to wipe it off the face of the earth and live there themselves. In Jeremiah 12, God calls them: “My wicked neighbors who strike at the inheritance with which I have endowed My people Israel” (Jer 12:14).

These neighboring nations are ten nations that form an alliance (verses 2-8). In Israel’s history, these ten nations have never been an alliance against Israel. For example, in 2 Chronicles 20 it is the Moabites, the Ammonites, and part of the Meunites, which are enemies from only three countries (2Chr 20:1). It is clear that this alliance of ten nations is future. This is especially true of Assyria with nine allies, who is represented in Daniel as the king of the North, and in Isaiah as Assyria, the disciplining rod of God.

God declares Himself one with His people and will intervene on their behalf (Rev 19:11-21). Asaph asks for this intervention. He again interprets the voice of the faithful remnant in the great tribulation. He reminds God of His judgment on some past enemies and refers to two victories of Israel in the days of the judges Barak and Gideon (verses 9-12). These victories foreshadow God’s judgment on Israel’s enemies in the future. God’s actions in the past are an encouragement in view of the future.

For “a Song, a Psalm” (verse 1a) see at Psalm 48:1.

For “of Asaph” see at Psalm 50:1.

The psalm begins with a twofold cry to God – O God, … O God (verse 1b) – and ends with the testimony about the one true God, the God of Israel, the “LORD”, Who turns out to be the “Most High” (verse 18). “Most High” is the title of the LORD in the realm of peace. Already in Psalm 9 we see that the LORD is the same as El Elyon, God the Most High (Psa 9:2).

The remnant is in great distress because of a hostile alliance that wants to destroy Israel. In their distress they cry out to God (verse 1b). With a passionate “O God” they beg Him not to be silent, not to remain a silent Spectator, but to make Himself heard. Now it seems that He does not hear them, for He keeps Himself deaf. Let Him break His silence and command the destruction of the enemies.

Until now the LORD has deliberately kept silent (Isa 18:4). God’s silence puts the people in great distress. If He is going to intervene in the future, it will be enough to speak one word, which is the sword from His mouth (Rev 19:15), and then all enemies will be defeated (Psa 2:5; Isa 11:4b).

The hostile gathered nations may be bent on their destruction, they are their enemies, but the remnant speaks to God of “Your enemies” (verse 2). They are essentially God’s enemies. They “make an uproar” against God’s people, as they prepare to attack them (cf. Isa 17:12; Jer 6:23).

They are people who do not hate them in the first place, but “You”, God. For example, we hear Hezekiah say to the LORD that Sennacherib’s words are meant to “reproach the living God” (Isa 37:4). David says the same thing to Goliath as he approaches the giant: “I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted” (1Sam 17:45). Thus God’s people always make their cause God’s cause. That the enemies hated God can be seen by exalting themselves. It is the gesture of defying God with the presumption that their plans will succeed and that God can do nothing against them.

The remnant says to God that the “shrewd plans” the enemies are craftily conspiring are directed “against Your people” (verse 3). The deliberations they hold are directed against “Your treasured ones”. This indicates that they are taking refuge behind the LORD. The remnant here appeals to their connection to God. They are God’s people. This also means that they are His protectors, who may count on His protection from this enemy alliance.

Then they tell God what the alliance, especially Assyria, is up to: they are up to another shoah, a total destruction of God’s people, to “wipe them out as a nation” (verse 4). An example in the Bible of someone who has sought to exterminate God’s people is Haman (Est 3:2-6). In recent history, Hitler has been someone who wanted to do this.

The words with which the enemies introduce their plan, “come, and let us”, prove the spirit of rebellion against God. They are the words by which mankind in their pride set in motion at the building of the tower of Babel to make a name for themselves on earth (Gen 11:4). This pride is expressed more intensely in our days. Man flaunts sovereignty and freedom as if he were God. God and His people are insufferable to him.

The conspirators are not satisfied with Israel being exterminated. Even “the name of Israel” must “be remembered no more” (cf. Jer 11:19). The land must disappear not only from the map, but also from the history books, as if it had never been there. The language uttered by the enemies is regularly heard in the news today from the mouths of islamic leaders. The prophetic Assyrian may be an alliance of ten islamic nations.

This supreme folly is diametrically opposed to God’s plan for His people and will therefore fail completely (cf. Pro 21:30). Not only will the nonsensical plan fail, but they themselves will be wiped off the face of the earth by the Messiah and their name will not be remembered for all eternity.

What the hostile alliance has conspired together with one mind (verse 5) has been made clear in the previous verses. And again the remnant says to God that the enemies not so much make a covenant against them, but “against You they make a covenant” (cf. verses 3-4). They believe that they are strong because of their joint consultation and solidarity. Everything in them is directed against God and His Anointed, which is the Messiah (Psa 2:2).

Ten nations have united in a covenant against Israel (verses 6-8). It is the counterpart of the ten-state alliance of the European Union, or the restored Western Roman Empire (Rev 17:12; Dan 7:24), which makes a covenant with Israel (Dan 9:27a). The ten-state alliance that seeks to wipe out Israel consists primarily of neighboring nations, some of which are also related to Israel.

1. “Edom” is Esau (verse 6; Gen 36:1,8), the twin brother of Jacob (Gen 25:24-26). It is a brother people of Israel. Edom is the archenemy of Israel (Num 20:14-21; Psa 137:7; Oba 1:12-14). “The tents of Edom” refers to their dwelling places. The hatred of God’s people has a home with them; they harbor the hatred.

2. “The Ishmaelites” are the descendants of Ishmael, who was fathered by Abraham with Hagar, Sarah’s maid (Gen 16:15-16; 25:12-18). They have the same father as Isaac and are therefore also closely related to Israel.

3. “Moab” is a descendant of Lot (Gen 19:36-37). Lot is the son of Haran, the brother of Abraham (Gen 11:27) and thus a nephew of Abraham. Here the family connection with Israel is somewhat more distant than with Edom and Ishmael, but is still clearly present. They have also always been hostile to God’s people (Num 22:4-7; Jdg 3:12-14).

4. “The Hagrites” are a nomadic tribe, living on the east side of the Jordan (1Chr 5:10).

5. The origin of “Gebal” (verse 7) is uncertain. From the only two Scriptures where Gebal is mentioned, we can conclude that there is a close connection with Tyre (1Kgs 5:18; Eze 27:9). We can tentatively conclude that Gebal is a city or a tribe that, like Tyre, is out for prosperity.

6. “Ammon”, like Moab, is a descendant of Lot (Gen 19:36,38). They, too, have always been hostile to God’s people (Jdg 10:9; 1Sam 11:1-2; 2Sam 10:6,8; Zep 2:8-10).

7. “Amalek” is a descendant of Esau (Gen 36:12,16). They went to meet Israel as the first enemy after Israel was delivered by God from slavery in Egypt and set out for the promised land (Exo 17:8-13). They are a vicious enemy who attacked the defenseless people at the rear, where all the weak are (Deu 25:17-18).

8. “Philistia” are the Philistines or Palestinians. These enemies live in the land of Israel and have been a constant plague on God’s people. David has finally defeated them and subdued them (2Sam 8:1; cf. 1Kgs 4:21). Here we see them asserting themselves again in the future.

9. “The inhabitants of Tyre” are characterized by their thirst for prosperity. When Jerusalem is destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, they rejoice over it. A competitor is gone, allowing them to trade more and increase their profit margin (Eze 26:2). This motive drives them to be part of the upcoming coalition.

10. “Assyria” closes the list as the tenth ally (verse 8). “Assyria also has joined them” because of an agenda of their own and will take charge of the alliance. They have “become a help to the children of Lot”, that are Moab and Ammon, to support them. This makes it plausible that Assyria has been asked to be part of the coalition. The former world power is a tremendous asset to the coalition. They will also set policy.

This has created a coalition of nations that encloses Israel from all sides and can attack from all sides, with the main attack coming from the north. This gives the enemies a good sense of their strategy. As for Israel, they have no option but to cry out to God. They see no way out, but are not without a way out (2Cor 4:8b).

The remnant asks God to do with the united enemies as He has done in the past with peoples who have held His people in bondage (verse 9). They point to His dealings with Midian, Sisera and Jabin. The events are recounted in the book of Judges. What they do not refer to is the fact that the nations were given authority over God’s people because of their unfaithfulness to God.

Neither are the judges through whom God acted mentioned. It is about what God has done. He has acted in the judges. They first recount what God did to Sisera, the general of Jabin, the king of Canaan. Sisera met his inglorious end at the torrent of Kishon (Jdg 4:2,7,21-22), with the result that the power of Jabin was also broken (Jdg 4:23-24).

Sisera and Jabin “were destroyed at En-dor” (verse 10). En-dor is near Taanach and Megiddo, that is, in the region of the battle (Jos 17:11; Jdg 5:19-21). Because of the crushing defeat which God inflicted on these enemies, they “became as dung for the ground”. The latter indicates that after their inglorious end, their dead bodies are also treated with the utmost contempt (cf. Jer 8:2; 9:22; 16:4; 25:33; Isa 66:24). This remains of those who offend God’s people.

The remnant asks God for special treatment for the leaders of the enemy coalition (verse 11). They ask that He treat “their nobles” and “their princes” as He has done with the leaders of Midian. “Oreb and Zeeb” are two princes of Midian who were captured, killed and beheaded by Gideon’s army west of the Jordan (Jdg 7:25; cf. Isa 10:26a). “Zebah and Zalmunna” are the kings of Midian (Jdg 8:5). Gideon captured and killed them east of the Jordan (Jdg 8:12,21).

These nobles and princes in their audacity have said: “Let us possess for ourselves the pastures of God” (verse 12). This is also what the coalition of hostile nations wants. It shows that they hate Israel because God dwells with them. They want to wipe out Israel because they want to wipe out the memory of God. They want to do this by taking possession of the land so that they can have their idols dwell there, to whom they will attribute the honor of their victory.

What the remnant is asking for will happen in the end time. There is a clear similarity between the events described in Judges 4 and what is described in the book of Revelation. At Megiddo, the enemy armies are defeated and the LORD’s people are delivered.

At Har-Magedon – which means ‘mountain of Megiddo’ – something similar will take place (Rev 19:11-21). The armies of the then restored Roman Empire, that is, the united Western Europe that will in the future come to the aid of apostate Israel in its battle against the king of the North, will be annihilated by the coming of Christ. The God-fearing part of Israel will then be saved and is called “all Israel” in Romans 11 (Rom 11:26).

The coalition’s efforts to wipe out Israel brings the God-fearing Jew to a prayer in which he asks for God’s judgment on them (verses 13-17). He speaks to God as “my God”. What the enemy wants is directed against his God. Therefore, He asks God to “make them like the whirling dust, like chaff before the wind” (verse 13). A whirling dust and chaff have no power in themselves and are blown willy-nilly by the wind in all directions (cf. Deu 28:7; Isa 17:13).

They must not only be a prey to the wind, but also to the consuming fire (verse 14). Of a forest burned by fire, nothing is left but charred trees, in which life never comes again. Mountains scorched by the flame are blackened. Nothing grows on those mountains that can serve as food. The judgment on Assyria in Isaiah 10 is also described as forest fire (Isa 10:16-19).

As fire and flame do their consuming work, so God must pursue them with His tempest (verse 15). This will rob them of all their strength to be able to do anything against God or His people. He must terrify them with His storm, so that they will forever lose the courage to do something against Him and His people.

God’s action will “fill their faces”, i.e. the faces of the enemies “with dishonor” (verse 16). The nations have said snidely that the name of Israel will be remembered no more when they have carried out their plans (verse 4). Now the remnant says that as a result of the disgrace that will be the portion of the nations, there will be those who will seek the Name of the LORD. The prayerful person realizes that God is a merciful God, Who keeps the door of salvation open also for persons of the nations.

God stretches out His hand in grace to the individual for the last time in the judgments on the nations (cf. Rev 22:17b). If he does not accept this, but continues in his enmity, no salvation is possible. The remnant asks God for the hostile nations that He “let them be ashamed and dismayed forever” (verse 17). There remains no other option but for Him to “let them be humiliated and perish”.

All who stubbornly refuse to bow before God’s judgments will know “that You alone, whose name is the LORD, are the Most High over all the earth” (verse 18). He, Who stands in a special relationship to His people Israel, indicated by His Name “LORD”, stands as “the Most High over all the earth”. All is His and He rules over all, not just Israel. The name “Most High” is the name of God that has a special connection with the realm of peace.

The time will come when everyone will acknowledge Him in this way. That will happen at the beginning of the realm of peace (Isa 45:23). It is the pre-fulfillment of what will be so in eternity, “that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:10-11).