Psalm Eighty Three

by Dr. Henry M. Morris

(taken from the Defender's Study Bible)

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A Song or Psalm of Asaph.

Asaph. See note on Psalm 66 (title). This is the last of the twelve psalms of Asaph.

Psalm 83:1 Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God.

Psalm 83:2 For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head.

Psalm 83:3 They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones.

Psalm 83:4 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.

from being a nation. The intent to destroy Israel completely has become a firm policy of the Arabic Muslim nations arrayed against Israel today, not to be compromised by any deceptive “peace process.”

Psalm 83:5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:

Psalm 83:6 The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes;

tabernacles of Edom. The nations enumerated in Psalm 83:6-8 were those immediately surrounding Israel, all joined against her (Psalm 83:5). The prophecy primarily applies to the end-times, since their defeat will be forever and will result in men acknowledging Jehovah as supreme over all the earth (Psalm 83:17-18). It relates to the modern equivalent of the Moslem nations surrounding Israel (Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Iraq, etc.) in their united efforts to destroy her (compare Ezekiel 38:1-9).

Psalm 83:7 Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre;

Psalm 83:8 Assur also is joined with them: they have holpen the children of Lot. Selah

Psalm 83:9 Do unto them as unto the Midianites; as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the brook of Kison:

as to Jabin. See Judges 4:23. Actually, Jabin was a dynastic name for the kings of Hazor (note Joshua 11:1). The name has even been found on one of the Mari tablets, used in this sense.

Psalm 83:10 Which perished at Endor: they became as dung for the earth.

Psalm 83:11 Make their nobles like Oreb, and like Zeeb: yea, all their princes as Zebah, and as Zalmunna:

Psalm 83:12 Who said, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession.

Psalm 83:13 O my God, make them like a wheel; as the stubble before the wind.

Psalm 83:14 As the fire burneth a wood, and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire;

Psalm 83:15 So persecute them with thy tempest, and make them afraid with thy storm.

Psalm 83:16 Fill their faces with shame; that they may seek thy name, O LORD.

Psalm 83:17 Let them be confounded and troubled for ever; yea, let them be put to shame, and perish:

Psalm 83:18 That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth.

That men may know. The inference that Psalm 83 and Ezekiel 38 may well refer to the same last-days invasion and conflict is strengthened by the fact that both end with a physical “act of God” (Psalm 83:15; Ezekiel 38:18-22) with the result that all nations thenceforth will know beyond doubt that the God of Israel is truly God over all the earth (Psalm 83:18: Ezekiel 38:23).

whose name alone is JEHOVAH. The Muslims following the false prophet Mohammed profess to worship Allah as the one true God. Allah, however, is not Jehovah, and the Koran is not the revealed word of the true God.