Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 83

Keep not thou silence, O God - See the notes at (Psalms 28:1). The prayer here is that in the existing emergency God would not seem to be indifferent to the needs and dangers of His people, and to the purposes of their enemies, but that He would speak with a voice of command, and break up their designs.

Hold not thy peace - That is, Speak. Give command. Disperse them by Your own authority.

And be not still, O God - Awake; arouse; do not be indifferent to the needs and dangers of Your people. All this is the language of petition, not of command. Its rapidity, its repetition, its tone, all denote that the danger was imminent, and that the necessity for divine interposition was urgent.

For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult - They are excited, aroused, and moving in a wild, furious, tumultuous manner, rushing on to accomplish their designs. They come like rolling waves of the sea. See the word used here explained in the notes at Psalm 2:1, where it is rendered in the text as “rage,” and in the margin as “tumultuously assemble.”

And they that hate thee - Your enemies; the enemies of your cause and your people. Who they were is specified in Psalm 83:6-8.

Have lifted up the head - They have become proud, bold, and confident of success, all of which is indicated by the phrase “lifted up the head.” The head is bowed down in penitence and trouble; pride lifts it up. Boldness, confidence, and wickedness are indicated by its being lifted up in this way.

They have taken crafty counsel - The one word translated “have taken crafty” — ערם ‛âram — means properly to make naked, and then, to be crafty, cunning, malignant (1 Samuel 23:22). It is well rendered here; they have taken crafty counsel. The meaning is, they have made their counsel or their consultations crafty, cunning, artful, malignant. Instead of pursuing a course in their deliberations that would be just, true, honorable, they have followed the reverse.

On the word rendered “counsel” — סוד sôd — which means a couch or cushion, and hence, a divan — see Job 15:8, note; Psalms 25:14, note; Psalms 64:2, note. The idea here is that the persons referred to in the subsequent part of the psalm (Psalms 83:6–8) had been assembled in a divan, or for consultation, and that they had there formed a malignant plan — against God and his people — which they were now proceeding to execute.

Against your people - For the purpose of destroying them.

And consulted against your hidden ones - The word rendered “hidden ones” — from the verb צפן tsâphan — to hide, to conceal — properly denotes that which is secret, private, inaccessible (Ezekiel 7:22); and then, anything protected or hidden so as to be secure. Compare the notes at Psalm 27:5. It would seem here to refer to those who were so protected by Yahweh — so inaccessible to others by reason of his guardian care — that they would be safe.

They have said, Come, and let us cut them off ...—Let us utterly destroy them and root them out from among the nations. Let us combine against them and overpower them; let us divide their land among ourselves, attaching it to our own. The nations referred to (Psalms 83:6–8) were those which surrounded the land of Israel, and the proposal seems to have been to partition the land of the Hebrews among themselves, as has been done in modern times with Poland.

On what principles, and in what proportions, they proposed to divide the land this way is not intimated, nor is it said that the project had progressed so far that they had agreed on the terms of such a division. The formation of such a purpose, however, was by no means improbable in itself. The Hebrew people were offensive to all the surrounding nations because of their religion, their prosperity, and the constant rebuke of tyranny and idolatry by their religious and social institutions.

There had also been enough in their past history—in the remembrance of the successful wars of the Hebrews with those very nations—to keep up a constant irritation on their part. Therefore, we should not be surprised that there was a deeply cherished desire to blot out the name and the nation altogether.

That the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance—that the nation as such may be utterly extinct and forgotten; that the former triumphs of that nation over us may be avenged; that we may no longer have in our very midst this painful memorial of the existence of one God and of the demands of His law; that we may pursue our own plans without the silent or open admonition derived from a religion so pure and holy.

For the same reason, the world has often endeavored to destroy the church: to cause it to be extinct, to blot out its name, and to make the very names Christ and Christian forgotten among mankind.

Hence, the fiery persecutions under the Roman government in the time of the Emperors; and hence, in every age and in every land, the church has been exposed to persecution—a persecution that originated with the purpose of destroying it as long as there was any hope of accomplishing that end.

That purpose has been abandoned by Satan and his friends only because the result has shown that the persecution of the church only served to spread its principles and doctrines and to fix it more firmly in the affections and confidence of mankind. Consequently, the tendency of persecution is to overthrow the persecutor rather than the persecuted.

Whether it can be destroyed by prosperity and corruption—by science—by error—now seems to be the great problem before the mind of Satan.

For they have consulted together with one consent—Margin, as in Hebrew, heart. There is no division in their counsels on this subject. They have one desire—one purpose—in regard to the matter. Pilate and Herod were made friends together against Christ (Luke 23:12); and the world, divided and hostile on other matters, has been habitually united in its opposition to Christ and to a pure and spiritual religion.

They are confederate against you—literally, “They cut a covenant against you;” that is, they ratify such a covenant, compact, league—referring to the manner in which bargains and agreements were ratified by cutting in pieces a victim sacrificed on such occasions; that is, by giving to such a transaction the solemnity of a religious sanction (Genesis 15:10; Jeremiah 34:18–19). See Bochart, Hieroz. i. 35. The meaning here is, that they had entered into this agreement in the most solemn manner, under the sanctions of religion.