Original Meaning
The Heading (83:0)
THE TWO MOST COMMON DESCRIPTIONS of psalms combine here: “A song. A psalm of Asaph.” These two Hebrew designations (shir and mizmor) are frequently found together in the headings to the psalms and, broadly speaking, seem to function as synonyms, with both terms implying a composition to be sung with musical accompaniment.1
Psalm 83 concludes the Asaph collection that dominates Book 3.
Bridging Contexts
THE NATIONS IN THE PSALMS. Normally in the psalms, as in much of the Old Testament, the nations are presented as being the enemies of Israel and in rebellion against God. Psalm 2 is the prime example of the general attitude we find in the Psalter. The enemies conspire against God (vv. 1–3), and they come under his judgment (vv. 10–12). As we have seen in the psalms of Book 3, often the psalmist laments because of the military victory of the nations and the mockery they direct against Yahweh because of these geopolitical events (e.g., see the discussion of Pss 74 and 79). But on occasion in the book of Psalms, the discussion of the nations takes on missional intensity. Psalm 83 is one of these poems, and this theme returns in Book 4 with the discussion of the reign of Yahweh in Psalms 93–100.
As modern readers, we often balk at the militaristic overtones we encounter from time to time in the Old Testament. It is easy for us to take a patronizing view of these ancient texts and to reject them as brutal, simplistic, and sectarian. But such an attitude would simply display our own lack of awareness of the realities of the ancient world from which the psalms were penned. Military expansionism reflected the supremacy of the gods of the nations that happened to be in ascendency, so often the psalmists’ prayers reflect no more that the desire for Yahweh to be seen for who he is in reality—sovereign over all the earth. In the language of the world in which the poets lived, renewal and restoration of God’s people out from under control of their oppressors was the only means by which the true nature of God as Creator and Controller of the universe could be established.
What is more, Psalm 83 shows us that the attitudes toward the nations reflected in the psalms were not necessarily vindictive. Often the prayers regarding the nations simply seek divine redress for undeniable injustices perpetrated on their people. The psalmists were becoming aware that the exile, with all of its accompanying suffering, was part of God’s plan to bring his people to repentance and right relationship with him. But injustice was still injustice. Brutality was still brutality. War crimes were just that—crimes. The only appropriate response to such national tragedy was to bring the whole situation before God in prayer. The poets knew that the exile was part of Yahweh’s plan to bring his people to repentance, but their exile did not mean that he was blind or indifferent to the horrors perpetrated on them by the armies of the nations. Such behavior was still wrong in the eyes of God, so the psalmists were under no doubt that offering prayers seeking divine justice for such offenses was an entirely appropriate response to the actions of the nations. Furthermore, Psalm 83 shows us that in the book of Psalms, the prayers seeking divine retribution were not necessarily as simplistic as we sometimes believe.
Psalm 83 prays for military victory over the nations who had conspired against Israel and Yahweh. But battle honors were not the ultimate aim of the psalmist’s prayer. Much as the exile served as a means to an end with regard to the spiritual restoration of Israel, so the psalmist prays that military triumph over the nations, of the type witnessed during the time of the judges (see comments on vv. 9–12 above), would serve as a witness drawing these nations into the worshiping community of God’s people. It is difficult to overemphasize the significance of the prayer in verses 16–18. The speaker prays publicly that these very nations who had conspired to eradicate the nation of Israel should experience Yahweh’s rebuke so that they too could become a part of the family of God’s people! Psalm 83:17 shows us that the psalmist still sought God’s justice if the nations refused to learn the lessons that would come from Yahweh’s activity in Israel’s behalf (just as the Midianites failed to learn that lesson in Judg 4–8), but the ultimate goal of this prayer is that those who hate God’s people would become a part of them. Psalm 83 is a prayer that the nations would see the true God and respond to him. It is fundamentally missional in nature. We should not oversimplify the psalmic view of the nations to one of simple hostility. Clearly, there were those in Israel who realized that their divine election did not mean divine rejection of all other nations. Israel’s function as light and witness to the nations (e.g., Deut 4:14) had not been entirely forgotten, even in the crisis of the exile.
Psalm 83 in the New Testament. While there are no direct quotations from Psalm 83 in the New Testament, the psalmist’s attitude toward the nations is remarkably consistent with the teaching of Jesus and the apostolic writers regarding how we should treat enemies. For example, the prayer of verses 16–18 is remarkably consistent with Jesus’ challenging teaching in Matthew 5:4–48. Setting aside the norms of bygone eras, Jesus challenges those hearing the Sermon on the Mount, “pray for those who persecute you” (Matt 5:44).20
This challenge is precisely what the psalmist takes up in Psalm 83. Having highlighted the extent of the opposition to God’s people (vv. 2–8), the poet then goes on to pray that the opponents would become part of the worshiping community of God’s people. It is often claimed that the New Testament displays a higher ethic than the Old Testament does. Equally, we encounter frequent assertions that the psalms vilify other nations and that these poems are marked by a characteristic hatred of those outside the covenant community. But here in Psalm 83, we see the kernel of Christ’s teaching regarding the right attitude toward enemies. We also see that the psalmic view of the nations is more nuanced than is often realized.
Contemporary Significance
PRAYING FOR THE PERSECUTED CHURCH. In terms of application to the contemporary world in which we live, Psalm 83 models for us the attitude we should share in prayer for our brothers and sisters in Christ who are persecuted for their faith. The psalmist is unwilling to see injustice persist, yet his prayer is couched in terms of seeking repentance and change in the hearts of those who persecute God’s people.
In the (still fairly) comfortable Western church, we often forget the realities of Christians who daily face persecution and even martyrdom simply because they call Jesus their Lord. Many believers in many countries throughout North Africa, the Middle East, and East Asia daily face the threat of serious maltreatment or death at the hand of those who conspire against God and his people. Fellow Christians have their property confiscated, their businesses ruined, and their educational opportunities removed—they are beaten, tortured, humiliated, and all too frequently killed by those who worship other gods or insist that there is no God. How should we respond to such outrages against the created order that God has instilled in this world? Psalm 83 models for us the type of prayer we ourselves should adopt in behalf of those who face persecution for their faith.
First, we should pray! Praying is precisely what the poet does. He does not just shake his head silently or rage impotently against the injustices of life among the nations—he does the right thing by adopting the most efficacious course of action available to any believer in any situation. All too often we pray when all else fails. The fact that we have not quickly turned to prayer is frequently the reason why all else has failed! It may be true to say that prayer was the only recourse open to the exiled psalmist. He had no human power upon which he could call to remedy the people’s situation. But the theology of Psalm 83 clearly demonstrates the pray-er’s realization that intercession is always the best course of action regardless of circumstances. It is not accidental that the psalmist calls on God to act as he did in the time of the judges. There were many victories the poet could have called to mind as examples; he chose to focus attention, however, on these particular incidents in which the power of God rather than human military expertise is the primary point of the text. Psalm 83 reminds us that prayer is the best course of action we can ever take and should, therefore, be the first course of action we do undertake. In this light, it is important that we remember to pray regularly and in an informed manner for Christians in the suffering church, for therein lies the power to effect real change.
Second, we must be honest in prayer. There is no point in brushing over the brutality of oppression some Christians face. We need to investigate the reality of their daily lives and bring these facts before God in prayer. Organizations such as Christian Solidarity Worldwide and Release International provide detailed and timely information about the events that affect churches and individuals worldwide. With access to email and the internet, we have every means open to us to find out about the situations that our Christian family encounter on a daily basis. Yes, of course God knows these things, but acknowledgment of that fact did not stop the psalmist from describing his reality to God in prayer (vv. 2–8). We too must lay out present realities before our Father, who hears our prayers through his Son (Rom 8:31–3).
Third, our prayers should focus on repentance and justice. The poet’s first focus of intercession is that the enemy nations might discover the truth about God and (by implication) join the community of his people in worship (Ps 83:16–18). But injustice and violence are offensive to God as much as they cause harm to individuals, and such situations cannot be allowed to continue unchecked. The psalmist’s desire is that the nations will repent and know that God is the Most High and, therefore, the only being worthy of worship. There is no doubt from the poet’s prayer, however, that the persecution perpetrated by the enemies should stop (vv. 13–18). So also in our prayers for the persecuted church, we should focus on repentance and justice. We should pray that, in the providence of God, he will intervene to bring a realization of error and repentance to those who persecute. God has done so many times in the past—in the experience of the apostle Paul through to military and police figures of the present day. But should repentance not occur for whatever reason, our prayers should also invoke God’s justice into the situation—prayers beseeching the all-sovereign God to punish wrong and wrongdoers who rebel against his standards and purposes. Some Christians balk at such forceful prayer—and, of course, we should be careful when we pray such things for ourselves. Christians, however, should be advocates and intercessors seeking God’s kingdom to come on this earth. Injustice and evil should be named for what they are, and our prayers should reflect the revulsion the Creator feels when his laws and his people are violated. That repentance and justice should be the focus of our prayers is also part of the message of Psalm 83.
Imprecations affirm God by surrendering the last word to God. They give to God not only their lament about their desperate situation, but also the right to judge the originators of that situation. They leave everything in God’s hands, even feelings of hatred and aggression.21
Original Meaning
The Nations Conspire (83:1–8)
PSALM 83 DIVIDES INTO TWO PARTS. In verses 1–8 the psalmist reminds God of the nations that have joined together to conspire against the nation of Israel and against Yahweh, their God. Verses 9–18 then voice the psalmist’s prayer that God will work powerfully against these conspirators to reestablish his reputation as Lord over all the earth.
O God, do not remain silent. The opening verse of Psalm 83 follows intriguingly from the final verse of Psalm 82. Psalm 82:8 ends with the call for Yahweh to rise up and judge the earth, for all the nations belong to him. The poet knows that Israel’s God rules absolutely over the nations (see 83:1–7), but he ends the Psalm 82 with a call for Yahweh to pronounce his judgment over the whole earth. Psalm 83:1 then picks up on this theme with a threefold prayer that God will not be silent! The implication is that the poet calls for God’s silence over the exile to end as he pronounces judgment on the nations, their rulers, and their gods.
The three verbs used (damah, harash, and shaqat) all seem to be synonyms implying voicelessness rather than inactivity. The prayer is for Yahweh finally to speak. The implication is that, though the people may by faith have come to accept the fact that God does still rule over the nations, their desire is for his sovereignty to be proclaimed to those nations that still mock the Creator and King of the universe. Psalm 82:8 encourages Yahweh to “rise up,” which is a frequent call to activity. The activity desired in Psalm 83:1 is one of speech. According to the psalmist, it is time for God to declare his verdict over the nations and, by doing so, to address their mockery (cf. Ps 79:10). The brute fact of God’s silence during the experience of exile added to Israel’s dismay.2
As far as the people are concerned, it is time for God to break silence and to speak in judgment over the injustices of the nations.
The psalmist/speaker stands as the representative of the people in this psalm. He prays publicly, thus exercising the only—and the most powerful—weapon at the disposal of the community of faith in the midst of their turmoil. In the Hebrew text this opening verse is bracketed by the two most common words for God (’elohim and ’el), thus focusing on the sole locus of hope for Israel in exile.3
God alone can bring release. God alone can pronounce judgment. So the people, through the psalmist, pray. “God seems 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.”4
See how your enemies growl. The psalmist moves from intercession (Ps 83:1) to lament (vv. 2–8). He begins by praying for Yahweh to speak in judgment and then lays out the reason why that pronouncement should come, namely, because the nations are in rebellion against God and his design for the world. The silence of God stands in marked contrast to the very vocal nature of the nations’ rebellion. They “growl” (better “rage,” as the Hebrew is stronger than the NIV’s translation here), they “conspire” and “plot” and “say.” In the poetry of the psalm, the speaker paints a picture of a loud mass of rebellious people in contrast to a God who, to date, remains silent. The imagery is powerful and conveys the urgency of the intercession in verse 1.5
The use of pronouns is also significant in verse 2. The psalmist makes it clear that these enemies—who are described elsewhere in this collection as Israel’s enemies (Pss 80:6; 81:14) are actually Yahweh’s enemies as well. They hate not only Israel as a state but also Yahweh as their God. In the mind of the poet, standing against God’s people is standing against God’s will and purpose and, therefore, against God himself (Ps 83:3–5). So, in the lament, which provides the rationale for the prayer of verse 1, the speaker makes it plain that the peoples deserve judgment not just for the injustices of the exile but also for their rebellion against God.6
“Come,” they say, “let us destroy them as a nation.” Psalm 83:4 displays the extent of the opposition Israel has faced. It is not just a minor political conflict—the aim of the enemies listed in this psalm is to wipe Israel out.7
Psalm 83:4b is particularly poignant. Memory was a significant concept in the ancient world, and for a nation to be forgotten entirely would be the darkest of fates.8
We see the same tendency in our own day. Politicians are forever thinking about their “legacy,” and we all want to be remembered after we are gone. The significance of the conspiracy in Psalm 83 is the way in which it runs counter to God’s plan for the world. As we read the unfolding story of God’s design to restore his relationship with sinful humanity, we see quite clearly that Abraham and his descendants have a role to play within that plan. From Genesis 12 onward we read about the Creator’s choice of a particular individual, his family, and the nation born out of his family. In choosing that particular individual, Yahweh always maintained the intent of working out his plan to bless the whole of the created order through him (Gen 12:1–3). So, the narrative of the Bible, unfolding from the fall of humankind in Genesis 3 onward, displays God’s design to restore right relationship with sinful humanity. Clearly, Israel has their role to play within that design. Through Israel God sought to display his true nature to the nations, and Israel, as a society driven by his revealed word, was meant to attract the nations to turn back to Yahweh (e.g., Deut 4).9
Even though they singularly failed in this task, Israel remained a part of God’s purpose for the outworking of his salvation on the earth. So, the nations’ plan to wipe out the memory of Israel from the earth was also an act of rebellion against Yahweh and his purposes for the world.
They form an alliance against you. The Hebrew of Psalm 83:5b is powerfully telling. Literally, the Hebrew text of this verse says, “Against you, they cut a covenant.” The notion of covenant governed the relationship between Yahweh and his people, Israel. God’s relationship with his people is structured and ordered by the covenants he makes with them.10
Covenant is the means by which God makes his expectations clear regarding how his people behave, live, act, think, speak, worship, and so on. Covenant is also the means by which the Creator lets his people know what they can expect from him as a result of their allegiance to God. Covenant is a solemn and serious agreement of association. As well as working on a divine-human level, covenants could also be made between human parties to an agreement. They could either function between individuals, much like a modern-day contract, or between nation states, much like a treaty. It is the latter that the psalmist refers to here. The idea of “cutting” a covenant seen here in the Hebrew text is linked with the ceremonies that accompanied the making of a covenant. Often these ceremonies would involve the bloody sacrifice of animals as a graphic warning that failure to keep the covenant would lead to the same end result. Genesis 15 gives us a biblical example of just such a covenant-making ceremony. The point is that entering into a covenant is a serious and solemn matter. The psalmist is making it clear that we are not simply talking about a difference of opinion regarding foreign policy here. The nations listed in Psalm 83:6–8 are clearly and purposefully intent on conscious rebellion against Yahweh through the annihilation of his people, God’s instrument for working out his purposes on the earth at that time.
The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites. Ten neighboring nations are listed in verses 6–8 as those who have entered into covenant against Israel. This list is probably not intended to mark a particular historical incident in which all these nations combined to attack Israel; rather, the recorded nations have all opposed Israel at some point in the past, and the psalmist is calling to mind their aggression. That geographically these nations surround Israel emphasizes the people’s great need of divine intervention (vv. 9–18).11
The special mention of Assyria in verse 8 is interesting. If Psalm 83 is part of a mini-collection focused on the challenge of exile, it would be more logical to see Babylon as the great and dominant threat rather than Assyria. There are a number of possible explanations for the psalm’s focus on Assyria. First, and perhaps most likely, this psalm could originally have been of northern, Israelite origin (note also the lack of specific reference to Jerusalem). This explanation would make sense of seeing Assyria as the greatest threat, as it was the great military power on Israel’s doorstep during the years of the divided kingdom. Nonetheless, an original setting in the experience of Israel would not prevent the editors who gathered the psalms together as a book from seeing Psalm 83 as a composition appropriate to this discussion of the problem of exile. Although the original setting may have been in the context of Israel’s experience, the indeterminacy of the psalms means that they can readily be read and adopted in different circumstances. So, it is entirely possible that a psalm originating in the north, where Assyria was the oppressor, would be adopted as the prayer of a Judean audience when they faced similar circumstances. Other suggestions include the possibility that Assyria may have been chosen as a foil to establish the sovereign ability of Yahweh because, despite their great power and military success, they failed in their attempt to capture Jerusalem.12
So the use of Assyria as the superpower behind the other nations reminds the people of God’s ability to deliver them even from the mightiest of oppressors. A third alternative may be that Assyria functions as a kind of code referring to Persia, the superpower of the day in the early postexilic period (fifth century BCE). The Persian kingdom of this period encompassed the territory of Assyria, and Ezra 6:22 uses the phrase “king of Assyria” to refer to Darius, king of Persia.13
Whatever the rationale behind the use of Assyria as the archenemy in Psalm 83:8, these verses emphasize the extent of opposition faced by Israel over the years. This climactic verse of the psalmist’s lament leads into the prayer that follows.
Bridging Contexts
THE NATIONS IN THE PSALMS. Normally in the psalms, as in much of the Old Testament, the nations are presented as being the enemies of Israel and in rebellion against God. Psalm 2 is the prime example of the general attitude we find in the Psalter. The enemies conspire against God (vv. 1–3), and they come under his judgment (vv. 10–12). As we have seen in the psalms of Book 3, often the psalmist laments because of the military victory of the nations and the mockery they direct against Yahweh because of these geopolitical events (e.g., see the discussion of Pss 74 and 79). But on occasion in the book of Psalms, the discussion of the nations takes on missional intensity. Psalm 83 is one of these poems, and this theme returns in Book 4 with the discussion of the reign of Yahweh in Psalms 93–100.
As modern readers, we often balk at the militaristic overtones we encounter from time to time in the Old Testament. It is easy for us to take a patronizing view of these ancient texts and to reject them as brutal, simplistic, and sectarian. But such an attitude would simply display our own lack of awareness of the realities of the ancient world from which the psalms were penned. Military expansionism reflected the supremacy of the gods of the nations that happened to be in ascendency, so often the psalmists’ prayers reflect no more that the desire for Yahweh to be seen for who he is in reality—sovereign over all the earth. In the language of the world in which the poets lived, renewal and restoration of God’s people out from under control of their oppressors was the only means by which the true nature of God as Creator and Controller of the universe could be established.
What is more, Psalm 83 shows us that the attitudes toward the nations reflected in the psalms were not necessarily vindictive. Often the prayers regarding the nations simply seek divine redress for undeniable injustices perpetrated on their people. The psalmists were becoming aware that the exile, with all of its accompanying suffering, was part of God’s plan to bring his people to repentance and right relationship with him. But injustice was still injustice. Brutality was still brutality. War crimes were just that—crimes. The only appropriate response to such national tragedy was to bring the whole situation before God in prayer. The poets knew that the exile was part of Yahweh’s plan to bring his people to repentance, but their exile did not mean that he was blind or indifferent to the horrors perpetrated on them by the armies of the nations. Such behavior was still wrong in the eyes of God, so the psalmists were under no doubt that offering prayers seeking divine justice for such offenses was an entirely appropriate response to the actions of the nations. Furthermore, Psalm 83 shows us that in the book of Psalms, the prayers seeking divine retribution were not necessarily as simplistic as we sometimes believe.
Psalm 83 prays for military victory over the nations who had conspired against Israel and Yahweh. But battle honors were not the ultimate aim of the psalmist’s prayer. Much as the exile served as a means to an end with regard to the spiritual restoration of Israel, so the psalmist prays that military triumph over the nations, of the type witnessed during the time of the judges (see comments on vv. 9–12 above), would serve as a witness drawing these nations into the worshiping community of God’s people. It is difficult to overemphasize the significance of the prayer in verses 16–18. The speaker prays publicly that these very nations who had conspired to eradicate the nation of Israel should experience Yahweh’s rebuke so that they too could become a part of the family of God’s people! Psalm 83:17 shows us that the psalmist still sought God’s justice if the nations refused to learn the lessons that would come from Yahweh’s activity in Israel’s behalf (just as the Midianites failed to learn that lesson in Judg 4–8), but the ultimate goal of this prayer is that those who hate God’s people would become a part of them. Psalm 83 is a prayer that the nations would see the true God and respond to him. It is fundamentally missional in nature. We should not oversimplify the psalmic view of the nations to one of simple hostility. Clearly, there were those in Israel who realized that their divine election did not mean divine rejection of all other nations. Israel’s function as light and witness to the nations (e.g., Deut 4:14) had not been entirely forgotten, even in the crisis of the exile.
Psalm 83 in the New Testament. While there are no direct quotations from Psalm 83 in the New Testament, the psalmist’s attitude toward the nations is remarkably consistent with the teaching of Jesus and the apostolic writers regarding how we should treat enemies. For example, the prayer of verses 16–18 is remarkably consistent with Jesus’ challenging teaching in Matthew 5:4–48. Setting aside the norms of bygone eras, Jesus challenges those hearing the Sermon on the Mount, “pray for those who persecute you” (Matt 5:44).20
This challenge is precisely what the psalmist takes up in Psalm 83. Having highlighted the extent of the opposition to God’s people (vv. 2–8), the poet then goes on to pray that the opponents would become part of the worshiping community of God’s people. It is often claimed that the New Testament displays a higher ethic than the Old Testament does. Equally, we encounter frequent assertions that the psalms vilify other nations and that these poems are marked by a characteristic hatred of those outside the covenant community. But here in Psalm 83, we see the kernel of Christ’s teaching regarding the right attitude toward enemies. We also see that the psalmic view of the nations is more nuanced than is often realized.
Contemporary Significance
PRAYING FOR THE PERSECUTED CHURCH. In terms of application to the contemporary world in which we live, Psalm 83 models for us the attitude we should share in prayer for our brothers and sisters in Christ who are persecuted for their faith. The psalmist is unwilling to see injustice persist, yet his prayer is couched in terms of seeking repentance and change in the hearts of those who persecute God’s people.
In the (still fairly) comfortable Western church, we often forget the realities of Christians who daily face persecution and even martyrdom simply because they call Jesus their Lord. Many believers in many countries throughout North Africa, the Middle East, and East Asia daily face the threat of serious maltreatment or death at the hand of those who conspire against God and his people. Fellow Christians have their property confiscated, their businesses ruined, and their educational opportunities removed—they are beaten, tortured, humiliated, and all too frequently killed by those who worship other gods or insist that there is no God. How should we respond to such outrages against the created order that God has instilled in this world? Psalm 83 models for us the type of prayer we ourselves should adopt in behalf of those who face persecution for their faith.
First, we should pray! Praying is precisely what the poet does. He does not just shake his head silently or rage impotently against the injustices of life among the nations—he does the right thing by adopting the most efficacious course of action available to any believer in any situation. All too often we pray when all else fails. The fact that we have not quickly turned to prayer is frequently the reason why all else has failed! It may be true to say that prayer was the only recourse open to the exiled psalmist. He had no human power upon which he could call to remedy the people’s situation. But the theology of Psalm 83 clearly demonstrates the pray-er’s realization that intercession is always the best course of action regardless of circumstances. It is not accidental that the psalmist calls on God to act as he did in the time of the judges. There were many victories the poet could have called to mind as examples; he chose to focus attention, however, on these particular incidents in which the power of God rather than human military expertise is the primary point of the text. Psalm 83 reminds us that prayer is the best course of action we can ever take and should, therefore, be the first course of action we do undertake. In this light, it is important that we remember to pray regularly and in an informed manner for Christians in the suffering church, for therein lies the power to effect real change.
Second, we must be honest in prayer. There is no point in brushing over the brutality of oppression some Christians face. We need to investigate the reality of their daily lives and bring these facts before God in prayer. Organizations such as Christian Solidarity Worldwide and Release International provide detailed and timely information about the events that affect churches and individuals worldwide. With access to email and the internet, we have every means open to us to find out about the situations that our Christian family encounter on a daily basis. Yes, of course God knows these things, but acknowledgment of that fact did not stop the psalmist from describing his reality to God in prayer (vv. 2–8). We too must lay out present realities before our Father, who hears our prayers through his Son (Rom 8:31–3).
Third, our prayers should focus on repentance and justice. The poet’s first focus of intercession is that the enemy nations might discover the truth about God and (by implication) join the community of his people in worship (Ps 83:16–18). But injustice and violence are offensive to God as much as they cause harm to individuals, and such situations cannot be allowed to continue unchecked. The psalmist’s desire is that the nations will repent and know that God is the Most High and, therefore, the only being worthy of worship. There is no doubt from the poet’s prayer, however, that the persecution perpetrated by the enemies should stop (vv. 13–18). So also in our prayers for the persecuted church, we should focus on repentance and justice. We should pray that, in the providence of God, he will intervene to bring a realization of error and repentance to those who persecute. God has done so many times in the past—in the experience of the apostle Paul through to military and police figures of the present day. But should repentance not occur for whatever reason, our prayers should also invoke God’s justice into the situation—prayers beseeching the all-sovereign God to punish wrong and wrongdoers who rebel against his standards and purposes. Some Christians balk at such forceful prayer—and, of course, we should be careful when we pray such things for ourselves. Christians, however, should be advocates and intercessors seeking God’s kingdom to come on this earth. Injustice and evil should be named for what they are, and our prayers should reflect the revulsion the Creator feels when his laws and his people are violated. That repentance and justice should be the focus of our prayers is also part of the message of Psalm 83.
Imprecations affirm God by surrendering the last word to God. They give to God not only their lament about their desperate situation, but also the right to judge the originators of that situation. They leave everything in God’s hands, even feelings of hatred and aggression.21
Original Meaning
Intercession Seeking Intervention (83:9–18)
DO TO THEM AS YOU DID TO MIDIAN. In counterpoint to the list of opposing nations in the lament part of Psalm 83, the poet then moves on in the ensuing intercession to list some of the great victories of God in behalf of his people. From the attacks of Edom, Moab, Assyria, etc., the psalmist refocuses on Israel’s great victories over Midian, Sisera, and Jabin. The essence of the psalmist’s heartfelt plea is that Yahweh would deal with their present oppressors as effectively as he has done in behalf of his people in the past. It seems that in verses 9–12 the psalmist is focusing particularly on the victories of God during the time of the judges.14
Sisera and Jabin were defeated by Deborah and Barak, with Sisera meeting a particularly gruesome demise involving a woman and the business end of a tent peg (Judg 4:17–24). The poet’s reference to Oreb, Zeeb, Zebah, and Zalmunna continues the judges theme by bringing to mind another great Israelite victory over the Midianite military. These four Midianite noblemen died in Gideon’s campaign against this people’s oppression of Israel (Judg 6–8).15
There are two key features of these campaigns that suit the psalmist’s purposes in writing Psalm 83. First, in Judges 4–8 Israel was helpless before the might of Midian, and the emphasis of these stories is upon the people’s absolute reliance on Yahweh for deliverance. Such reliance is a key thrust of the Gideon narrative in particular, in which Yahweh whittles away the numbers of Gideon’s army to prove that it is the Warrior God who brings victory rather than the skill of Israel’s generals or armies. Israel stood no chance against Midian in the days of Gideon, yet God brought them victory. So, the psalmist calls to mind this triumph in his present prayer for deliverance—God’s people in exile stood no chance against their enemies, yet, just as in the days of the Judges, he is still capable of bringing release. Second, the Judges narrative is poignant because in those days Yahweh won his people’s release from oppression despite their sin and rebellion. One of the dominant motifs of the book of Judges is the repeated cycle of Israel’s rebellion against God, resulting in their oppression from a neighboring state as a means of divine rebuke, followed by their prayer for release from this punishment, and issuing in Yahweh’s intervention in behalf of his people by sending a deliverer who leads the people to freedom from military oppression. Key to this repeating narrative throughout Judges 2–16 is the grace of God in hearing the prayers of his people despite their rebellion against him.16
Understandably, this nuance of the Judges story is significant in forming the prayer of Psalm 83. The mini-collection of Psalms 79–83 makes it plain that God’s people had brought the crisis of the exile on themselves through their sinful refusal to listen (Ps 81) and through their own failure to maintain justice in the land (Ps 82). Yet God had brought release to a sinful people in times past, and the psalmist prays that he will do so once again for the present generation.
Who said, “Let us take possession of the pasturelands of God.” The attitude of the nations currently oppressing the psalmist and the praying congregation is aligned with the arrogant rebellion of those defeated by God in the past (Ps 83:4; cf. v. 12). The Midianites had arrogantly assumed that their might allowed them to take whatever they wanted. But these tracts were the “pasturelands of God,” not just of Israel. Thus, their arrogant pride truly led to their fall when their plotting took them up against the Warrior God of Israel. The intercession of verses 9–12 invokes the same treatment of the arrogant military oppressors of the psalmist’s day. They plot against Yahweh when they plot against his people, and the poet seeks the same end for these modern enemies as was experienced by ancient enemies in the time of the judges. “Yhwh gave Israel spectacular victory on these occasions. These verses take these acts of God as a pattern for their prayer, seeking Yhwh to act in the same way again.”17
Make them like tumbleweed, my God. Psalm 83:13–15 expands this prayer for divine deliverance from military persecution. The victory requested in verses 9–12 is spelled out in these subsequent verses. The poet demands that these forces, which seem so substantial, become inconsequential before the power of Yahweh. Just as the awesome might of Midian is transformed into fertilizer for the ground, so the psalmist prays that the solid power of their present oppressors becomes as slight as “tumbleweed” or “chaff.” This imagery echoes the theology of Psalm 1, where the wicked are described as being “like chaff” (v. 4, though this verse uses a different word for “chaff “from that used in Ps 83:13). Psalm 1 speaks of the stability, strength, and fruitfulness of those who love the Lord and delight in his revealed word. This stability is contrasted with the ethereal nature of those who reject God’s ways. Those who reject Yahweh are like chaff—passing, insubstantial, here today and gone tomorrow. As an act of faith, the psalmist sees beyond the reality of his present experience to view the possibilities that exist when God answers prayer (see Contemporary Significance). Just as Gideon came to see what God was capable of despite the “objective” military might of the Midianites (Judg 6–8), so the speaker and the people praying with him see beyond the reality of their present experience. The Babylonians were strong enough to take the people of Judah and Jerusalem into captivity. In that sense, they were a substantial threat. Yet the psalmist knows that before God they may be as lightweight as chaff.
As fire consumes the forest . . . so pursue them with your tempest. The prayer for restoration builds to a crescendo. The pray-er moves from the prayer that the enemies of God’s people will become “tumbleweed” and “chaff” to asking that they will be consumed by “fire” and “flame.” So the prayer is that the oppressors’ great strength will be removed from them and that they will be engulfed by the consuming power of God’s judgment. Then the psalmist calls for the unleashing of all God’s furious power on those who would spoil his purposes. The imagery of “tempest” and “storm” speaks of the revelation of God’s power in theophany. When God makes his presence tangibly real on the earth, his appearance is accompanied by powerful storm manifestations (Exod 19; Deut 5; Ps 18). The poet prays that the people’s (and Yahweh’s) enemies will be terrified before this manifestation of God’s raw power, just as Israel was terrified at Mount Sinai (Exod 20:18–21). This petition becomes significant as the prayer develops because the speaker does not pray that God will visit on Israel’s enemies the same end that these enemies sought for Israel (Ps 83:4). The prayer is that God will relentlessly pursue his enemies until they are absolutely convinced of his absolute power.18
Cover their faces with shame, LORD, so that they will seek your name. In some ways we naturally balk at the violent overtones of the prayer in Psalm 83:9–15, yet the end purpose of the prayer is quite remarkable. The psalmist lived in a violent world, and people of Israel were faced with the threats of that merciless reality (v. 4). But the psalmist’s prayer is not that Yahweh will mete out punishment in line with the intent of the rebellious nations. Instead he prays that the Warrior God of Israel will absolutely establish his power over the nations so that they would seek him! In many ways this request is uncanny. The pray-er asks God to confound his enemies with his power so that ultimately they may know that he is the one, true God and seek relationship with him. This desired result makes Psalm 83 quite remarkable among the psalms that seek God’s intervention. The psalmist effectively prays that Yahweh would make the enemies who had conspired to eradicate the covenant community part of that selfsame family of God’s people! So, the psalmist views the military victories of the past as essential to establishing the true nature of Yahweh as God over all the nations. His prayer for divine intervention is not vengeful but salvific in intent. His desire is for the nations who reject God and conspire against him to acknowledge his lordship and join with the community who worship him. He prays that those separated from God will find a truth that surprises them.
May they ever be ashamed and dismayed. The means by which the psalmist sees this transformation occurring is also interesting. In Psalm 83:16–17 we see a threefold emphasis on the imagery of shame (“shame,” “ashamed,” “disgrace”). Why so? As far as the Bible is concerned, any act of rebellion against God finds its root cause in human pride.19
Before the nations listed in verses 6–8 can truly see the error of their ways and seek the name of Yahweh (v. 16), they must first be humbled by God. The prayer is poignant because it reflects the experience of Israel and Judah in exile. Their own arrogant refusal to hear God and to bow to his will led to their humiliation in the loss of their capital, their land, their king, and their temple. God’s people first had to be humbled in order to seek him again. Having apparently learned this lesson, the psalmist prays that the peoples of the alliance of rebellious nations will also be humbled in order that they may seek and find the truth and blessing of life with God.
Let them know that you . . . are the Most High over all the earth. In an echo of Psalm 82, the psalmist prays that, through the act of divine humiliation, the nations will realize that Yahweh alone is the one who rules over the whole of creation. The temporary military success of the nations inclined them to believe that their gods ruled, but the poet prays that God will work to show them the reality of the situation: Yahweh alone is the High King over the entire world. He is sovereign over the rhythms of the world in which we live, and human beings only find their true role in created order when they accept his kingship and their part in his purposes. The psalmist prays that the people of the nations will come to know Yahweh as the Most High. In doing so they will find the blessing, meaning, and purpose that comes from complying with his design for this planet.
Bridging Contexts
THE NATIONS IN THE PSALMS. Normally in the psalms, as in much of the Old Testament, the nations are presented as being the enemies of Israel and in rebellion against God. Psalm 2 is the prime example of the general attitude we find in the Psalter. The enemies conspire against God (vv. 1–3), and they come under his judgment (vv. 10–12). As we have seen in the psalms of Book 3, often the psalmist laments because of the military victory of the nations and the mockery they direct against Yahweh because of these geopolitical events (e.g., see the discussion of Pss 74 and 79). But on occasion in the book of Psalms, the discussion of the nations takes on missional intensity. Psalm 83 is one of these poems, and this theme returns in Book 4 with the discussion of the reign of Yahweh in Psalms 93–100.
As modern readers, we often balk at the militaristic overtones we encounter from time to time in the Old Testament. It is easy for us to take a patronizing view of these ancient texts and to reject them as brutal, simplistic, and sectarian. But such an attitude would simply display our own lack of awareness of the realities of the ancient world from which the psalms were penned. Military expansionism reflected the supremacy of the gods of the nations that happened to be in ascendency, so often the psalmists’ prayers reflect no more that the desire for Yahweh to be seen for who he is in reality—sovereign over all the earth. In the language of the world in which the poets lived, renewal and restoration of God’s people out from under control of their oppressors was the only means by which the true nature of God as Creator and Controller of the universe could be established.
What is more, Psalm 83 shows us that the attitudes toward the nations reflected in the psalms were not necessarily vindictive. Often the prayers regarding the nations simply seek divine redress for undeniable injustices perpetrated on their people. The psalmists were becoming aware that the exile, with all of its accompanying suffering, was part of God’s plan to bring his people to repentance and right relationship with him. But injustice was still injustice. Brutality was still brutality. War crimes were just that—crimes. The only appropriate response to such national tragedy was to bring the whole situation before God in prayer. The poets knew that the exile was part of Yahweh’s plan to bring his people to repentance, but their exile did not mean that he was blind or indifferent to the horrors perpetrated on them by the armies of the nations. Such behavior was still wrong in the eyes of God, so the psalmists were under no doubt that offering prayers seeking divine justice for such offenses was an entirely appropriate response to the actions of the nations. Furthermore, Psalm 83 shows us that in the book of Psalms, the prayers seeking divine retribution were not necessarily as simplistic as we sometimes believe.
Psalm 83 prays for military victory over the nations who had conspired against Israel and Yahweh. But battle honors were not the ultimate aim of the psalmist’s prayer. Much as the exile served as a means to an end with regard to the spiritual restoration of Israel, so the psalmist prays that military triumph over the nations, of the type witnessed during the time of the judges (see comments on vv. 9–12 above), would serve as a witness drawing these nations into the worshiping community of God’s people. It is difficult to overemphasize the significance of the prayer in verses 16–18. The speaker prays publicly that these very nations who had conspired to eradicate the nation of Israel should experience Yahweh’s rebuke so that they too could become a part of the family of God’s people! Psalm 83:17 shows us that the psalmist still sought God’s justice if the nations refused to learn the lessons that would come from Yahweh’s activity in Israel’s behalf (just as the Midianites failed to learn that lesson in Judg 4–8), but the ultimate goal of this prayer is that those who hate God’s people would become a part of them. Psalm 83 is a prayer that the nations would see the true God and respond to him. It is fundamentally missional in nature. We should not oversimplify the psalmic view of the nations to one of simple hostility. Clearly, there were those in Israel who realized that their divine election did not mean divine rejection of all other nations. Israel’s function as light and witness to the nations (e.g., Deut 4:14) had not been entirely forgotten, even in the crisis of the exile.
Psalm 83 in the New Testament. While there are no direct quotations from Psalm 83 in the New Testament, the psalmist’s attitude toward the nations is remarkably consistent with the teaching of Jesus and the apostolic writers regarding how we should treat enemies. For example, the prayer of verses 16–18 is remarkably consistent with Jesus’ challenging teaching in Matthew 5:4–48. Setting aside the norms of bygone eras, Jesus challenges those hearing the Sermon on the Mount, “pray for those who persecute you” (Matt 5:44).20
This challenge is precisely what the psalmist takes up in Psalm 83. Having highlighted the extent of the opposition to God’s people (vv. 2–8), the poet then goes on to pray that the opponents would become part of the worshiping community of God’s people. It is often claimed that the New Testament displays a higher ethic than the Old Testament does. Equally, we encounter frequent assertions that the psalms vilify other nations and that these poems are marked by a characteristic hatred of those outside the covenant community. But here in Psalm 83, we see the kernel of Christ’s teaching regarding the right attitude toward enemies. We also see that the psalmic view of the nations is more nuanced than is often realized.
Contemporary Significance
PRAYING FOR THE PERSECUTED CHURCH. In terms of application to the contemporary world in which we live, Psalm 83 models for us the attitude we should share in prayer for our brothers and sisters in Christ who are persecuted for their faith. The psalmist is unwilling to see injustice persist, yet his prayer is couched in terms of seeking repentance and change in the hearts of those who persecute God’s people.
In the (still fairly) comfortable Western church, we often forget the realities of Christians who daily face persecution and even martyrdom simply because they call Jesus their Lord. Many believers in many countries throughout North Africa, the Middle East, and East Asia daily face the threat of serious maltreatment or death at the hand of those who conspire against God and his people. Fellow Christians have their property confiscated, their businesses ruined, and their educational opportunities removed—they are beaten, tortured, humiliated, and all too frequently killed by those who worship other gods or insist that there is no God. How should we respond to such outrages against the created order that God has instilled in this world? Psalm 83 models for us the type of prayer we ourselves should adopt in behalf of those who face persecution for their faith.
First, we should pray! Praying is precisely what the poet does. He does not just shake his head silently or rage impotently against the injustices of life among the nations—he does the right thing by adopting the most efficacious course of action available to any believer in any situation. All too often we pray when all else fails. The fact that we have not quickly turned to prayer is frequently the reason why all else has failed! It may be true to say that prayer was the only recourse open to the exiled psalmist. He had no human power upon which he could call to remedy the people’s situation. But the theology of Psalm 83 clearly demonstrates the pray-er’s realization that intercession is always the best course of action regardless of circumstances. It is not accidental that the psalmist calls on God to act as he did in the time of the judges. There were many victories the poet could have called to mind as examples; he chose to focus attention, however, on these particular incidents in which the power of God rather than human military expertise is the primary point of the text. Psalm 83 reminds us that prayer is the best course of action we can ever take and should, therefore, be the first course of action we do undertake. In this light, it is important that we remember to pray regularly and in an informed manner for Christians in the suffering church, for therein lies the power to effect real change.
Second, we must be honest in prayer. There is no point in brushing over the brutality of oppression some Christians face. We need to investigate the reality of their daily lives and bring these facts before God in prayer. Organizations such as Christian Solidarity Worldwide and Release International provide detailed and timely information about the events that affect churches and individuals worldwide. With access to email and the internet, we have every means open to us to find out about the situations that our Christian family encounter on a daily basis. Yes, of course God knows these things, but acknowledgment of that fact did not stop the psalmist from describing his reality to God in prayer (vv. 2–8). We too must lay out present realities before our Father, who hears our prayers through his Son (Rom 8:31–3).
Third, our prayers should focus on repentance and justice. The poet’s first focus of intercession is that the enemy nations might discover the truth about God and (by implication) join the community of his people in worship (Ps 83:16–18). But injustice and violence are offensive to God as much as they cause harm to individuals, and such situations cannot be allowed to continue unchecked. The psalmist’s desire is that the nations will repent and know that God is the Most High and, therefore, the only being worthy of worship. There is no doubt from the poet’s prayer, however, that the persecution perpetrated by the enemies should stop (vv. 13–18). So also in our prayers for the persecuted church, we should focus on repentance and justice. We should pray that, in the providence of God, he will intervene to bring a realization of error and repentance to those who persecute. God has done so many times in the past—in the experience of the apostle Paul through to military and police figures of the present day. But should repentance not occur for whatever reason, our prayers should also invoke God’s justice into the situation—prayers beseeching the all-sovereign God to punish wrong and wrongdoers who rebel against his standards and purposes. Some Christians balk at such forceful prayer—and, of course, we should be careful when we pray such things for ourselves. Christians, however, should be advocates and intercessors seeking God’s kingdom to come on this earth. Injustice and evil should be named for what they are, and our prayers should reflect the revulsion the Creator feels when his laws and his people are violated. That repentance and justice should be the focus of our prayers is also part of the message of Psalm 83.
Imprecations affirm God by surrendering the last word to God. They give to God not only their lament about their desperate situation, but also the right to judge the originators of that situation. They leave everything in God’s hands, even feelings of hatred and aggression.21
HALOT 1:566).
bahal) that is used to assert God’s sovereignty over enemies of God and the people (Exod 15:15 . . ., Ps 2:5; 48:5)” (McCann, “Psalms,” 1010).