THE BOOK OF PSALMS - PSALM 83 ARISE AGAINST OUR ENEMIES (LAMENT)

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Psalm 83: O God, Arise Against Our Enemies (Communitarian Lament)

(No longer used in the Catholic Mass nor in the Liturgy of the Hours)


1 A song, an Asaphic psalm.

2 O God, no silence[/rest] for You! 
Do not be mute and do not be quiet, God.

3 For, look, Your enemies rage [growl], 
and those who hate You lift their heads.

4 Against Your people they devise cunning counsel 
and conspire against Your protected ones.

5 They have said: “Come, let us obliterate them as a nation, 
and the name of Israel will no longer be recalled.”

6 For they conspired with a single heart, 
against You they sealed a pact [covenant]—

7 the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, 
Moab and the Hagrites,

8 Gebal and Ammon and Amalek, 
Philistia with the dwellers of Tyre.

9 Assyria, too, has joined them, 
has become an arm for the sons of Lot.Selah

10 Do unto them as to Midian, as to Sisera,
as to Jabin at the Wadi Kishon.
 
11 They were destroyed at En-Dor,
they turned into dung for the soil.

12 Deal with their nobles as with Oreb and as with Zeeb
and Zebah and Zalmunna, all their princes,

13 who said, “We shall take hold for ourselves
of all the meadows of God.”

14 O God, make them like the thistledown,
like straw before the wind.

15 As fire burns down forests
and as flame ignites the mountains,

16 so shall You pursue them with Your storm
and with Your tempest dismay them.

17 Fill their faces with infamy
that they may seek Your name, O LORD.

18 May they be shamed and dismayed forever,
may they be disgraced and may they perish.

19 And may they know that You, Your name is the LORD.
You alone are most high over all the earth. 

Robert ALTER, The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary


 
STRUCTURE



Plea to God with reasons (vv. 2-9)
    Reasons for the plea (vv. 3-6)
    Who the enemies are (vv. 7-9)

Petitions for God to act (vv. 10-19)
    First petitions (vv. 10-13)
    Second petitions (vv. 14-16)
    Final petitions (vv. 17-19) 2


About imprecatory (cursing) psalms
  • An imprecatory (cursing) psalm/verse contains a prayer to God to punish the enemies or wicked people, often in a violent manner.
  • Psalms 58, 83, 109 and verses of 16 other psalms are not used in liturgy (e.g. Ps 21:9-13; 31:18-19; 54:7; 55:16; 56:8; 69:23-29; 137:7-9; 139:19-22; 140:10-12 (all verses in NAB); see http://catholic-resources.org/LoH/Psalter-Omissions.html)
  • Reasons for censoring:
    • Mt 5:38-39,43-45 ESV: 38 "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' 39 But I say to you: Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. […] 43 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
    • Luke 6:27-36: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you […]”
  • For a short history on how this came to be, see this article.
  • Watch a reflection by Dr. Walter Brueggemann, a Christian OT scholar.
  • Read a reflection by a priest (Msgr. Charles Pope) on censorship of these psalms.
  • Yet, imprecatory psalms are part of the written word of God. How can we make sense and make use of them rather than ignoring them? Answer: see “Lessons”
  • Imprecation can also be found in New Testament: 
    • Rev 6:10 ESV: O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?
    • Rev 16:6 ESV: For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. It is what they deserve!

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS
  • The plea to God (part 1) is expressed in negative terms: don’t do that 
  • The petitions to God (part 2) are expressed in positive terms: do this and do that
    • In v.2-16, the divinity is called God (Hebrew: Elohim and El)
    • In v.17-19, the divinity is called LORD (Hebrew: YHWH)

VIDEO

• Psalm 83 (Trinity Psalter Hymnal)

PSALM 83 SUNG



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Verse 1
  • This is the last psalm attributed to Asaph (Psalms 50; 73-83).

Verse 2

  • silence/rest → the only other occurrence: Isaiah 62:6-7 ESV: On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen; all the day and all the night they shall never be silent. You [plural] who put the LORD in remembrance [remind the Lord], take no rest [for you], and give him no rest until he establishes [and sets] Jerusalem [as] a praise in the earth. (Video: Become part of ancient Jerusalem's Rising
  • Mute: not intervening
  • Quiet: as if everything is OK

Verse 3
  • Your enemies” → not yet clear who God’s enemies are; only later in vv. 4-5
  • “growl” → Psalm 42:6 NAB: Why are you downcast, my soul; why do you groan within me?
  • “lift their heads” → triumphant

Verses 4-5
  • The enemies of Israel are considered the enemies of God because it was God’s initiative to form a nation called Israel (“God of Israel” 220x); so to want to “obliterate” Israel is to go against God. That’s why the psalmist presses God to act.

Verse 6
  • This is the only place in the Bible where a group of people sealed a covenant against God (rather than with God or with one another, for communion and life).

Verses 7-9
  • “tents” represents populations → synecdoche (part representing the whole)
  • List of 10 enemy nations surrounding Israel
  1. Edom: 1Kings 11:14; 2Kings 8:20,22 (among many others)
  2. Ishmaelites: 2Samuel 17:25 (Absalom); (Judith 2:23? Ishmaelites were plundered)
  3. Moab: Joshua 24:9; Judges 3:12 (among many others)
  4. Hagrites: 1Chronicles 5:10,19-20
  5. Gebal: 1Kings 5:18; Ezekiel 27:9
  6. Ammon: Deuteronomy 2:19; 2Chronicles 20:10-11
  7. Amalek: Judges 3:13 (among many others)
  8. Philistia: 1Samuel 4:1-17 (among many others)
  9. Tyre: 1Kings 9:11 (as friends); Ezekiel 26:2-7 (as enemies)
  10. Assyria: 2Kings 17:5-18 (destruction of kingdom of Israel)

Verse 10
  • Midian (nation) → Judges 6–7
           VIDEO Gideon and 300 men defeated Midian (by Sharefaith Kids)
  • Sisera and Jabin (persons) → Judges 4 Jabin was king of Canaan, Sisera was commander of his army (cf. 4:1)
         VIDEO Story of Deborah (by Gideon Films)

Verse 11
  • En-Dor is mentioned in Joshua 17:11 (Joshua distributes parts of the Holy Land to the 12 tribes of Israel) and 1Samuel 28:7 (Saul consults a medium at En-Dor).


Verse 12

Verse 13
  • Not tested anywhere else in the Bible

Verse 14
  • thistledown = “the light fluffy down of thistle seeds, enabling them to be blown about in the wind” (Concise Oxford English Dictionary)
  • “straw” ≠ “chaff” in Psalm 1:4, but the same ide

Verse 16
  • In Canaanite mythology, the storm (especially bolts of lightning) is the weapon of the sky god.

Verses 17-19
  • The petitions for the enemies’ destruction do not end with eternal damnation. Instead, the purpose is that the enemy will seek and know the Lord (vv. 17,19). God’s acts lead humans toward salvation and redemption.
  • God’s victory is not achieved by destroying the people He created, but by making them recognise His sovereignty, that God is the LORD (not abstract God, but with covenantal relationship).



LESSONS
  • In the face of evil, people tend to ask: “Where is God?” But God is everywhere. The question is: “Where are you?” (Gen 3:9)
  • Evil should evoke horror, strong reaction (e.g. Mt 21:12 Jesus cleanses the Temple; Lk 13:32 Jesus calls Herod “fox”)
  • No reaction = mercy or indifference?
  • Most evils are affecting other people, not ourselves. Do we get used to evil?
  • In the face of evil, we must react violently, but NOT with our own hands. Instead, we turn to God, renouncing revenge. We ask God insistently with faith, NOT with indifference: “Your kingdom come”.
  • God answered these imprecatory psalms through: 
    • Incarnation (Word of God → Jesus)
    • Paschal mystery: passion, death, resurrection of Jesus
  • Jesus died to give us life, by destroying evil and saving sinners who believe in him


VIDEOS

  • To express the sentiment that God is always there even in our darkest moments: I’ll Be There - For You (Martin Nievera)  I'll be there for you


While Psalm 83 directs strong emotions at the evil of others
Psalm 90 intercedes for the sins of God's own people

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