Psalms 83

A Song or Psalm of Asaph.

The closing verse of this psalm accords with that of Psalms 82:0. Their themes and occasions are widely different, though they belong alike to the reign of Jehoshaphat. Psalms 82:0 presents him in the sublime attitude of Jehovah’s king, reforming the judiciary and giving his weighty charge to the judges; in the present psalm we behold him struggling against hostile nations, who have confederated to overthrow his kingdom. No psalm is identified in its historical occasion better than this. Ten nations are enumerated as having conspired against Judah, not merely to plunder, but “to cut them off from being a nation,” Psalms 83:4. The old hatred of the Hebrew family and religion, which, deeply rooted in the neighbouring nations, especially those of Palestine, of Arabia, and of Syria, in nowise softened in later times by the return from the captivity, as the books of Ezra and Nehemiah show, had here culminated in a more secretly planned and formidable league than had threatened Judah since the days of David’s Syrian wars. (2 Samuel 10:0.) From Psalms 83:6-8 it is evident the Ammonites and Moabites, to which the history adds the Edomites, were the primary movers and central power of the alliance. 2 Chronicles 20:1; 2 Chronicles 20:22-23. We must refer the reader to the history of the occasion, (2 Chronicles 20:0,) to the notes, and to our “Psalms Chronologically Arranged,” etc., pp.

409-412, for further details.

The arrangement of the subject-matter is obvious. Excepting the first and last verses, (the former being an urgent general prayer and the latter the motive of the special imprecatory petitions,) the psalm divides itself into two general parts, separated by the “selah,” Psalms 83:2-8 being a description of his enemies; and Psalms 83:9-17, a prayer of imprecation. Then, again, the first part divides itself into two, Psalms 83:2-5 setting forth the conduct, policy, and purpose of his enemies, and Psalms 83:6-8 a particular enumeration of the confederated nations. The formal arrangement of the poetry Delitzsch gives in four strophes of eight lines, and one (the last) of four lines.

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A Song or Psalm of Asaph This Asaph is probably that same “Jahaziel, a Levite of the sons of Asaph,” (2 Chronicles 20:14,) who predicted the overthrow of Jehoshaphat’s enemies, 2 Chronicles 20:14-17. The coincidence is remarkable.