READ: Ps. 83:1–8: … They have said, ‘Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, That the name of Israel may be remembered no more.’ … Fill their faces with shame, That they may seek Your name, O LORD … That they may know that You, whose name alone is the LORD, Are the Most High over all the earth.
The psalmist prays to the LORD as the God of His covenant people when they are surrounded by enemies. They are not only enemies of God’s people but also enemies of God Himself: ‘Your enemies … those who hate You’ in their pride (vv.2–3). They want to destroy God’s people so completely that nothing will remain of them and no one will remember that they ever existed (v.4). This is the conflict between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent.
The hostile power is great because these enemies unite in their common struggle against the LORD and His people. Verse 5 says that they have made a covenant together against the LORD (cf. Rev. 16:14). Although it is uncertain which event in the history of Israel and Judah gave rise to this psalm, many think especially of 2 Chron. 20, when the God-fearing King Jehoshaphat of Judah was threatened by a coalition of Edom, Moab, and Ammon. The LORD then delivered Judah by causing the enemy armies to fight against one another. In verses 6–8 still more enemies are mentioned who had surrounded Judah.
From verse 9 onward we read the psalmist’s passionate appeal to the LORD to deliver His people and to overthrow and destroy His enemies. He points to the victories the LORD had given in the past over the Midianites (Judg. 6–8), in which Gideon was used, and over Sisera and his army (Judg. 4–5), in which Deborah, Barak, and Jael were instruments in God’s hand. Thus the psalmist appeals to the LORD to deliver His people now, just as He had done in former times.
But besides the deliverance of God’s people, the psalmist points to an even higher purpose: the glorification of God. He will be acknowledged and honoured as the Most High not only by His redeemed people (Rev. 15:1–4), but also by His enemies in His judgment upon them (Calvin, in his commentary on Psalm 83; cf. Rev. 1:7; Belgic Confession, Art. 37).
Who are the enemies of the church today?
Sing: Ps. 83:1,7