Psalm 83:3-11

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Psalms 83:1-8

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 (Ps. 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 (2 Chron. 20:11), Behold,... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Psalms 83:9-18

The psalmist here, in the name of the church, prays for the destruction of those confederate forces, and, in God's name, foretels it; for this prayer that it might be so amounts to a prophecy that it shall be so, and this prophecy reaches to all the enemies of the gospel-church; whoever they be that oppose the kingdom of Christ, here they may read their doom. The prayer is, in short, that these enemies, who were confederate against Israel, might be defeated in all their attempts, and that they... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 83:3

They have taken crafty counsel against thy people ,.... The people of Israel, hereafter named, whom God had chosen and avouched to be his people; these they dealt subtlety with, as the king of Egypt had done with their forefathers; and this, agreeably to their character, being the seed of the old serpent, more subtle than any of the beasts of the field; these devised cunning devices, formed crafty schemes for the destruction of the Lord's people; but often so it is, that the wise are taken... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 83:4

They have said ,.... Secretly in their hearts, or openly to one another, and gave it out in the most public manner, as what they had consulted and determined upon; see Psalm 74:8 , come, and let us cut them off from being a nation ; they were not content to invade their country, take their cities, plunder them of their substance, and carry them captives, but utterly to destroy them, root and branch; so that they might be no more a body politic, under rule and government, in their own... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 83:5

For they have consulted together with one consent ,.... Or "heart" F5 לב "corde", Pagninus, Montanus; "ex corde", Tigurine version, Musculus, Gejerus; "cordicitus", Cocceius. ; wicked men are cordial to one another, and united in their counsels against the people of God, and his interest: whatever things they may disagree in, they agree in this, to oppose the cause and interest of true religion, or to persecute the church and people of God: Herod and Pontius Pilate are instances of... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 83:6

The tabernacles of Edom , &c.; Or the Idumeans, as the Targum; the posterity of Esau, who, with the rest that joined with them, hereafter mentioned, and made the confederate army, brought their tents with them, pitched them, and encamped in them against Israel: and the Ishmaelites ; or Arabians, as the Targum, who descended from Ishmael, the son of Abraham: of Moab, and the Hagarenes ; the Moabites, who sprung from Lot by one of his daughters, in an incestuous way; and the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 83:7

Gebal ,.... Gubleans, or Gebalites, as the Targum; the same with Giblites, Joshua 23:5 , or men of Gebal, Ezekiel 27:9 the same with Byblus: these dwelt in Phoenicia, near Tyre, where Pliny F7 Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 20. makes mention of a place called Gabale: the Syriac version joins it with Ammon, and renders it "the border of Ammon": and Ammon and Amalek, the Philistines, with the inhabitants of Tyre ; these are well known in Scripture, and as the enemies of Israel. read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 83:8

Assur also is joined with them ,.... Before mentioned, or Assyria, though at so great a distance from Israel, and unprovoked by them: according to R. Joseph Kimchi, the sense is, that the Assyrians joined them, continuing in their wickedness, though their army had been destroyed by an angel in Hezekiah's time, of which they were unmindful; but this, as his son observes, makes this confederacy and war to be after the times of Hezekiah; whereas it was long before it: the Targum is, ... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 83:9

Do unto them as unto the Midianites ,.... In the times of Gideon, who destroyed one another, trod in whose destruction the hand of the Lord was very visible, Judges 7:20 , and much in the same manner was the confederate army of the Moabites, Ammonites, and others, destroyed in the times of Jehoshaphat, 2 Chronicles 20:20 , as to Sisera, as to Jabin : Jabin was a king of Canaan, who oppressed Israel, and Sisera was his general; the latter was slain by a woman, Jael, the wife of Heber;... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 83:10

Which perished at Endor ,.... Aben Ezra and Kimchi understand this of the Midianites; but rather it is to be understood of Jabin and Sisera, and the army under them, who perished at this place, which is mentioned along with Taanach and Megiddo, Joshua 17:11 , which are the very places where the battle was fought between Jabin and Israel, Judges 5:19 according to Jerom F9 De locis Hebraicis, fol. 88. L. and 91. E. , it was four miles from Mount Tabor to the south, and was a large... read more

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