John Calvin Commentary Psalms 83:9

"Do thou unto them as unto Midian, As to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the river Kishon;" — Psalms 83:9 (ASV)

Do to them as to the Midianites. The faithful, having complained of the very grievous oppressions to which they were subjected, with the aim of inducing God to aid them more readily, now recall the many occasions on which he had provided relief to his people when they were brought into the most desperate circumstances.

From this, it is an obvious inference that God wisely delays his aid to his servants under oppression, so that when they seem to be reduced to the last extremity, he may appear in a miraculous manner to aid them. The prophet, in this verse, mingles together two histories. Strict accuracy would have required him to have said in one connected sentence, Do to them as to the Midianites at the brook Kishon. But he inserts in the middle of this sentence the slaughter of Jabin and Sisera.

It was, however, of no great importance to distinguish particularly between the two histories. He considered it enough for his purpose to recall to himself and other pious Jews the miracles which God in days of old had so often performed in delivering his people. The primary purpose is to show that God, who had so often put his enemies to flight and rescued his poor, trembling sheep from the jaws of wolves, still possessed the power to accomplish the same deliverance.

The wonderful manner in which he aided his people by the hand of Gideon is well known (Judges 6 and 7). It might have seemed altogether ridiculous for Gideon to venture to engage in battle against a very powerful army with no more than three hundred soldiers; and these, it should be noted, were men who had been in bondage their whole lives, and whom the mere look of their lords might have thrown into consternation.

And yet, the Midianites perished by turning their swords against each other. God displayed the same goodness in the slaughter of Sisera and King Jabin (Judges 4:13). Barak, led by a woman, Deborah, defeated them both when, with a small handful of soldiers, he intrepidly gave battle to their mighty army.

And Sisera, the general of the army, did not die bravely on the field of battle but was struck down by a woman after he had retreated to a hiding place. So that the faithful may not be overwhelmed with terror and fall into despair, they timely fortify themselves with these examples of deliverance, by which God had shown that in him alone resides sufficient power to defend his people, whenever, lacking human aid, they should turn to him.

From that astonishing and unusual way of granting deliverance, they came to the conclusion that he is a wonderful worker in preserving His Church, in order to encourage themselves to have the fullest confidence that in his breath alone they would have sufficient strength to overthrow all their enemies. Nor is it only in this passage that the slaughter of the Midianites is related for this purpose.

Isaiah also (Isaiah 9:4) introduces it to confirm the truth of the Church’s restoration: For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian.

When it is stated that they became manure for the earth, the expression may be explained as meaning either:

1. that their carcasses lay rotting upon the earth;
2. or that they were trampled underfoot as manure.

This latter explanation is the most appropriate, but I do not reject the former.

It is somewhat difficult to ascertain the reason why it is said, They perished at Endor. The name Endor is found in Joshua 17:11, and it is probable that the army of King Jabin was destroyed there. The opinion held by some, that Endor is used here as a descriptive term conveying the idea that their defeat was open and visible to the eye, is one I cannot approve.