Psalm 83 Study Notes

Ps 83 title On Asaph, see note at Ps 50 title.

83:1 A communal lament, this final psalm of Asaph makes three urgent requests of the Lord. Using terms generally attributed to lifeless, false gods (81:9), the community seeks God’s response to the current crisis.

83:2 In contrast to the Lord’s silence and apparent inactivity (v. 1), the adversaries made an uproar, lifting their heads in a defiant gesture of independence.

83:3 The imagery in vv. 3-5 echo 2:1-3, without the messianic emphasis. Nations “rage” and “plot” (2:1), gathering together to challenge the Lord and his anointed (2:2-3). Similarly the enemies “make an uproar” (83:2), devise clever schemes, and conspire against God’s treasured ones (lit “sheltered, protected ones,” Is 7:5-6; 17:12-13).

83:4 The rare Hebrew term for wipe . . . out denotes complete annihilation, making it as if it had never existed (9:4-6; Ex 23:23; 1Kg 13:34).

83:5 It was not as individual peoples that Israel’s enemies opposed them, but as an alliance united in their hostility.

83:6-7 While the context implies that all ten enemy nations originated from Lot (v. 9), only Moab and Ammon descended from him (Gn 19:36-38). The nations listed here divide into two separate groups. The Ishmaelites and the Hagrites are synonymous with Moab and Edom. The remaining nations make up a familiar list of all Israel’s fiercest enemies, with the exception of Gebal, about which little is known.

83:8 Assyria, as the enemy par excellence, lent support (lit “arm”), a term figuratively denoting military resources and strength.

83:9-12 In an extended imprecation (see note at 109:1-31), the lament evokes memories of the Lord’s intervention in two major victories. Sisera and Jabin were defeated by Deborah and Barak (Jdg 4-5), and the nation of Midian—including Oreb . . . Zeeb . . . Zebah, and Zalmunna—was defeated by Gideon (Jdg 6:1-8:21).

83:13 The opposition will be like straw, separated from the grain and blown away by the evening wind, implying that the enemy’s power lacked substance.

83:14-15 Storm imagery is associated with the execution of God’s wrath (18:7-15; 50:3; 107:24-30; Jnh 1:4).

83:16-18 Three Hebrew terms for shame in these verses reinforce the extent of the Lord’s judgment and his complete humiliation of the oppressors, culminating in the annihilation of hostile peoples. The fate the adversaries sought to inflict on God’s people (v. 4) will be exacted on them (see note at 7:14-16). Only then would the nations recognize the Lord as sovereign King.