Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 83
Charles Ellicott Commentary
Psalms 83
Charles Ellicott Commentary
Psalms 83
"O God, keep not thou silence: Hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God." — Psalms 83:1 (ASV)
Keep not thou silence, O God. —Literally, God, not silence to you. (and see Note, Psalms 28:1.)
"For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult; And they that hate thee have lifted up the head." — Psalms 83:2 (ASV)
Make a tumult. —Literally, roar like the sea. So (correctly) Septuagint and Vulgate .
"Thy take crafty counsel against thy people, And consult together against thy hidden ones." — Psalms 83:3 (ASV)
They have taken crafty counsel. — Literally, They have made their plot crafty; or, as we say, “They have laid a deep plot.”
Hidden ones — i.e., those under God’s close protection, as in Psalms 17:8; Psalms 27:5; Psalms 31:20.
"They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; That the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance." — Psalms 83:4 (ASV)
For this attack against not only the independence, but even the continued existence of Israel as a nation, compare Esther 3:6; Esther 3:9; Jeremiah 11:19; Jeremiah 31:36; Jeremiah 48:2; Isaiah 7:8.
"For they have consulted together with one consent; Against thee do they make a covenant:" — Psalms 83:5 (ASV)
They are confederate. —Literally, they have cut a covenant, from the custom described in Genesis 15:17. (Compare to the Greek δρκια τέμνειν.)
Against you. —God and “His hidden ones” are one, a truth preparing the way for that grander truth of the identification of the Son of man with all needing help or pity in Matthew 25:40.
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