A Song. A Psalm of Asaph.
1 O God, do not keep silence;
do not hold your peace or be still, O God!
2 For behold, your enemies make an uproar;
those who hate you have raised their heads.
3 They lay crafty plans against your people;
they consult together against your treasured ones.
4 They say, “Come, let us wipe them out as a nation;
let the name of Israel be remembered no more!”
5 For they conspire with one accord;
against you they make a covenant—
6 the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
Moab and the Hagrites,
7 Gebal and Ammon and Amalek,
Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre;
8 Asshur also has joined them;
they are the strong arm of the children of Lot. Selah
9 Do to them as you did to Midian,
as to Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon,
10 who were destroyed at En-dor,
who became dung for the ground.
11 Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb,
all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,
12 who said, “Let us take possession for ourselves
of the pastures of God.”
13 O my God, make them like whirling dust,
like chaff before the wind.
14 As fire consumes the forest,
as the flame sets the mountains ablaze,
15 so may you pursue them with your tempest
and terrify them with your hurricane!
16 Fill their faces with shame,
that they may seek your name, O LORD.
17 Let them be put to shame and dismayed forever;
let them perish in disgrace,
18 that they may know that you alone,
whose name is the LORD,
are the Most High over all the earth. – Psalm 83:1-18 ESV
This final psalm of Asaph contains an impassioned plea for God to intervene on behalf of His chosen people. No context is given to explain Asaph’s despair, but he provides a lengthy list of Israel’s enemies who are causing them suffering and distress. He includes the Edomites, Ishmaelites, Moabites, Hagrites, Gebalites, Ammonites, Amalekites, Philistines, and the inhabitants of Tyre and Asshur. The New International Version rightly translates Asshur as “Assyria,” and states that this powerful northern kingdom “joined them to reinforce Lot’s descendants” (Psalm 83:8 NIV).
Asaph describes what he sees as an international conspiracy to wipe out God’s chosen people. According to Asaph, these disparate nations had nothing in common except their hatred for the Israelites and a shared desire to see them completely eradicated.
They devise crafty schemes against your people;
they conspire against your precious ones.
“Come,” they say, “let us wipe out Israel as a nation.
We will destroy the very memory of its existence.” – Psalm 83:3-4 NLT
From Asaph’s perspective, God has gone radio silent and allowed Israel’s enemies to go unchecked in their genocidal quest. Asaph attempts to make this personal by appealing to God’s pride.
Don’t you hear the uproar of your enemies?
Don’t you see that your arrogant enemies are rising up?
They devise crafty schemes against your people;
they conspire against your precious ones. – Psalm 83:2-3 NLT
Asaph can’t understand why these pagan nations have been allowed to operate unrestrained and without any retribution from God. They are idolatrous, immoral, and representative of all that stands opposed to God’s will. Their violent resistance to Israel’s existence is indicative of their hatred for Yahweh and their opposition to the covenant promises He made to Abraham.
So the Lord made a covenant with Abram that day and said, “I have given this land to your descendants, all the way from the border of Egypt to the great Euphrates River— the land now occupied by the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.” – Genesis 15:18-21 NLT
“I will give the entire land of Canaan, where you now live as a foreigner, to you and your descendants. It will be their possession forever, and I will be their God.” – Genesis 17:8 NLT
For Asaph, the situation was complicated by the presence of nations like the Ammonites and Moabites, who were distant relatives of Israel. These descendants of Abraham’s nephew, Lot, had joined forces against their own kin, enlisting the aid of the Assyrians to attack Israel. However, the Ammonites and Moabites were not the only blood relatives of Abraham who decided to make Israel their enemy number one. The Hagrites were also descendants of Abraham through his wife's handmaiden, Hagar. When Abraham’s wife Sarah could not bear him an heir, she suggested that he use Hagar as a surrogate. In an act of faithlessness, Abraham complied, and Hagar bore Ishmael, whose descendants became the Ishmaelites. So, the Hagrites and Ishmaelites, despite sharing a common ancestry in Abraham, had chosen to align themselves against His chosen people.
In frustration, Asaph attempts to give Yahweh a history lesson, reminding Him of His past acts of deliverance. This unsolicited lecture was intended to stir God to action.
Do to them as you did to the Midianites
and as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the Kishon River.
They were destroyed at Endor,
and their decaying corpses fertilized the soil. – Psalm 83:9-10 NLT
Asaph recalls two battles in which Yahweh gave the Israelites decisive victories over the Midianites and Canaanites. Both of these events took place during the period of the Judges. The first is recorded in Judges 4, where the prophet Deborah led the Israelites in battle against the Canaanites and defeated Sisera, the Canaanite commander, and Jabin, the Canaanite king. The second victory took place under the judgeship of Gideon and is recorded in Judges 7-8. He led the Israelites in battle, but this time, it was against the Midianites. With a small force of 300 men, Gideon and the Israelites defeated a much larger Midianite force.
Asaph reminds God of Oreb and Zeeb, the Midianite commanders, and Zebah and Zalmunna, the Midianite kings. These pagans got what they deserved, and Asaph wants to know why God won’t do the same to Israel’s current foes. Just in case God doesn’t connect the dots, Asaph gives Him His marching orders.
O my God, scatter them like tumbleweed,
like chaff before the wind!
As a fire burns a forest
and as a flame sets mountains ablaze,
chase them with your fierce storm;
terrify them with your tempest.
Utterly disgrace them
until they submit to your name, O LORD.
Let them be ashamed and terrified forever.
Let them die in disgrace. – Psalm 83:13-17 NLT
For Asaph, the solution is simple. God is all-powerful and fully capable of defeating any enemy of any size on any occasion. All He has to do is act. The identity and size of the foe don't matter. If God can defeat Midianites and Canaanites, He can deal with Edomites, Ishmaelites, Moabites, Hagrites, Gebalites, Ammonites, Amalekites, and Philistines. Asaph believes God can deliver, but can't understand why He has not yet done so. What is Yahweh waiting for? What is the reason for His delay? Why would Yahweh allow these nations to continue their harassment of God’s people and their mocking of God’s name?
Asaph ends his psalm with a not-so-subtle word of encouragement, appealing to Yahweh’s jealousy for His honor in the hopes that He will vindicate the people who bear His name.
Then they will learn that you alone are called the LORD,
that you alone are the Most High,
supreme over all the earth. – Psalm 84:18 NLT
But Asaph never stops to consider whether their suffering may be due to sin. He does not self-reflect or analyze their plight, to see if they have violated God’s will. This lack of personal or corporate culpability is telling. While Asaph is familiar with the stories of Deborah and Gideon, he seems to have conveniently left out that the Canaanites and Midianites were attacking because Israel had been unfaithful.
After Ehud’s death, the Israelites again did evil in the LORD’s sight. So the LORD turned them over to King Jabin of Hazor, a Canaanite king. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-haggoyim. Sisera, who had 900 iron chariots, ruthlessly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years. Then the people of Israel cried out to the LORD for help. – Judges 4:1-3 NLT
The Israelites did evil in the LORD’s sight. So the LORD handed them over to the Midianites for seven years. The Midianites were so cruel that the Israelites made hiding places for themselves in the mountains, caves, and strongholds. Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, marauders from Midian, Amalek, and the people of the east would attack Israel, camping in the land and destroying crops as far away as Gaza. They left the Israelites with nothing to eat, taking all the sheep, goats, cattle, and donkeys. These enemy hordes, coming with their livestock and tents, were as thick as locusts; they arrived on droves of camels too numerous to count. And they stayed until the land was stripped bare. So Israel was reduced to starvation by the Midianites. Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD for help. – Judges 6:1-6 NLT
Sin brought judgment, but when the Israelites cried out, God brought deliverance. The entire Book of Judges records the cycle of sin, judgment, repentance, and deliverance that Israel experienced during the period of the Judges. While Asaph fixated on God's deliverance, he neglected to focus on Israel's rebellion. He conveniently left out the fact that the Israelites had done evil in the LORD’s sight. God loves to deliver His people, but He requires an acknowledgment of sin and a humble recognition that He alone deserves glory, honor, and reverence.
Father, I love it when You deliver me from difficult situations, but I am less fond of admitting my guilt and shame. I don't particularly like to shine the light on my own culpability or complicity for my suffering. So often, I am the cause of my pain and the author of my misfortune, but I demand that You step in and fix my mistakes and clean up my messes. Help me to honor You by willingly admitting that I am the undeserving recipient of Your grace and mercy. Give me the strength to admit my faults and allow You to convict me of the sins that produce so much hurt and heartache in and around me. And thank You for rescuing me from my own stupidty and stubbornness. You are a good and gracious God. Amen
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.