Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Psalms 83:5

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Psalms 83:5. They have consulted together with one consent — With a united heart, לב יחדו leb yachdav, Their heart and soul are in the work.

They are confederate against thee — "They have made a covenant," ברית יכריתו berith yachrithu, "they have cut the covenant sacrifice." They have slain an animal, divided him in twain, and passed between the pieces of the victim; and have thus bound themselves to accomplish their purpose.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Psalms Opposition to God’s just rule

Psalms 82:0 is written against all those who act unjustly in their position as God’s representatives in administering justice. They are even called gods (v. 1,6; cf. John 10:34; Romans 13:1,Romans 13:4,Romans 13:6). However, instead of rescuing the helpless poor from the powerful rich who enslave them, they show favour to those with influence and money (82:1-4). Because they are blind to all justice, truth and mercy, there is no stability in society (5). They may have high rank, but it will not save them on the day when they themselves are judged. They will be destroyed along with other wicked people (6-8).

Another picture of opposition to God concerns an attack on Israel by enemy nations whose hatred of Israel results from their hatred of God (83:1-4). On all sides enemies gather to fight against God and his people (5-8). But just as God defeated Sisera and Jabin in the time of Deborah, and defeated the Midianites in the time of Gideon, so may he defeat the gathered armies again (9-12; see Judges 4:1-31, Judges 6:1-28). The psalmist prays that their destruction will be complete (13-15), so that people will acknow ledge God’s sovereign power and praise his holy name (16-18).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

SUMMARY OF THE DANGER THREATENING ISRAEL

“For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult; And they that hate thee have lifted up the head. They take crafty counsel against thy people, And consult together against thy hidden ones. They have said, Come, let us cut them off from being a nation; That the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. For they have consulted together with one consent; Against thee do they make a covenant.”

“They that hate thee (God) have lifted up the head” The hatred of the whole evil world against God’s people is due primarily to the world’s rejection of the value-judgments and strict morality of God’s holy religion. The Book of Numbers reveals that it was the Decalogue and particularly its command against adultery that outraged Moab and led to the campaign of Moab and the prophet Balaam against Israel (Numbers 25-26).

“They take crafty counsel against thy people” An example of such crafty counsel is mentioned in Numbers 31:16, which refers to the crafty counsel of Balaam to the Moabites which led to the disaster at Baal-Peor (Numbers 24-26).

“Come let us cut them off from being a nation” The picture of counsels being held and of purposes being outlined in these verses raises a question of, “Who led such maneuvers?” The answer, of course, is Satan. Not only in the final days, when Satan shall rally Gog and Magog to make war against God’s people, but in ancient Israel (as in this chapter), and, for that matter, throughout human history, the inveterate, implacable enemy of all righteousness is Satan. The evil one (the devil) is very angry, “For he knoweth that he hath but a short time” (Revelation 12:12).

History indicates clearly that many efforts have been made by satanically led nations to destroy God’s true religion. The Roman emperors attempted it; and the prophecies reveal that other attempts will be made in the future.

Barnes pointed out that an attempt is now in progress to destroy God’s church through, prosperity, radical criticism and denial of the Bible, materialism, humanism, (and recently by Communism). These are the phases of Satan’s war against the Truth at the present time. “Whether the Church can be destroyed by such opposition is now before the mind of Satan.”Ibid., p. 333.

Why does not Satan attempt to destroy the church by murderous persecutions, as in the past? The answer is simple enough; he learned by experience that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

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 thee - literally, “They cut a covenant against thee;” 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.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

5For they have consulted with the heart together. The multiplied hosts which united their powers together to oppose the Church of God and to effect her overthrow, are here enumerated. As so many nations, formed into one powerful confederacy, were bent on the destruction of a kingdom not greatly distinguished by its power, the miraculous aid of God was indispensably necessary for the deliverance of a people who, in such extremity, were altogether unable to defend themselves. In circumstances apparently as hopeless good king Asa gave utterance to that truly magnanimous reflection:

“Lord, it is nothing with thee to help whether with many, or with them that have no power: help us, O Lord our God! for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitudes”
(1 Chronicles 14:11.)

The same Spirit who inspired that pious king with such invincible fortitude dictated this psalm for the benefit of the whole Church, to encourage her with unhesitating confidence to betake herself to God for aid. And in our own day he sets before us these words, in order that no danger or difficulty may prevent us from calling upon God. When the whole world may conspire together against us, we have as it were a wall of brass for the defense of Christ’s kingdom in these words, “Why do the heathen rage?” etc., (Psalms 2:1.)

It will be in no small degree profitable to us to contemplate this as an example in which we have represented to us, as in a mirror what has been the lot of the Church of God from the beginning. This, if rightly reflected upon, will keep us at the present day from being unduly dejected when we witness the whole world in array against us. We see how the Pope has inflamed the whole world against us with diabolical rage. Hence it is, that in whatever direction we turn our eyes, we meet with just so many hostile armies to destroy us. But when we have once arrived at a settled persuasion that no strange thing happens to us, the contemplation of the condition of the Church in old time will strengthen us for continuing in the exercise of patience until God suddenly display his power, which is perfectly able, without any created aid, to frustrate all the attempts of the world.

To remove from the minds of the godly all misgivings as to whether help is ready to be imparted to them from heaven, the prophet distinctly affirms that those who molest the Church are chargeable with making war against God, who has taken her under his protection. The principle upon which God declares that he will be our helper is contained in these words,

“He that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of mine eye,”
(Zechariah 2:8.)

And what is said in another psalm concerning the patriarchs, is equally applicable to all true believers,

“Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm,”
(Psalms 105:15.)

He will have the anointing with which he has anointed us to be, as it were, a buckler to keep us in perfect safety. The nations here enumerated did not avowedly make war against him; but as, when he sees his servants unrighteously assaulted, he interposes himself between them and their enemies to bear the blows aimed at them, they are here justly represented as having entered into a league against God The case is analogous to that of the Papists in the present day. If any were to ask them, when they hold consultations for the express purpose of accomplishing our destruction, Whether they were stronger than God? they would immediately reply, That they had no intention whatever of assaulting heaven in imitation of the giants of old. But God having declared that every injury which is done to us is an assault upon him, we may, as from a watch-tower, behold in the distance by the eye of faith the approach of that destruction of which the votaries of Antichrist shall have at length the sad and melancholy experience.

The expression, to consult with the heart, is by some explained, to deliberate with the greatest exertion and earnestness of mind. Thus it is quite common for us to say, that a thing is done with the heart which is done with earnestness and ardor of mind. But this expression is rather intended to denote the hidden crafty devices complained of a little before.

Some interpreters refer the tents of Edom to warlike furniture, and understand the words as meaning, that these enemies came well equipped and provided with tents for prolonging the war; but the allusion seems rather to be to the custom which prevailed among those nations of dwelling in tents. It is, however, a hyperbolical form of expression; as if it had been said, So great was their eagerness to engage in this war, that they might be said even to pluck their tents from the places where they were pitched.

I do not intend to enter curiously into a discussion concerning the respective nations here named, the greater part of them being familiarly known from the frequency with which they are spoken of in the sacred Scriptures. When it is said that Assur and the rest were an arm to the sons of Lot, this is evidently an additional aggravation of the wickedness of the sons of Lot. It would have been an act of unnatural cruelty for them to have aided foreign nations against their own kindred. But when they themselves are the first to sound the trumpet, and when of their own suggestion they invite the aid of the Assyrians and other nations to destroy their own brethren, ought not such barbarous inhumanity to call forth the deepest detestation? Josephus himself records, that the Israelites had passed through their borders without doing them any harm, sparing their own blood according to the express command of God. When the Moabites and Ammonites then knew that their brethren the Jews spared them, remembering that they were of the same blood, and sprung from one common parentage, ought they not also to have reciprocated so much kindness on their part as not to have embarked in any hostile enterprise against them? But it is, as it were, the destiny of the Church, not only to be assailed by external enemies, but to suffer far greater trouble at the hands of false brethren. At the present day, none are more furiously mad against us than counterfeit Christians.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Psalms 83:1-18 is a psalm where he is speaking out of the calamities that the enemies have brought upon them and asking for God's deliverance as He had in their past history. Asking God to work, "O God, help us now, Lord."

Don't keep silence, O God: don't hold your peace, don't be still, O God ( Psalms 83:1 ).

God, do something.

For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: they that hate thee have lifted up the head. They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones ( Psalms 83:2-3 ).

One of the difficult things today is, more or less, the silence of God. When I see the corruption that is being foistered upon the United States through the Hollywood movie industry, I see how that crafty people are making God seem like, you know, making the worship of God or people believe in God, making them look like fools. Making a person who believes in righteousness or morality to look like an Archie Bunker type, you know, a real nut. And deliberately casting a person who would stand up for good in a bad light, and glorifying the evil kind of person, making heroes out of those that are engaged in evil. Poisoning the mind of the nation.

I sometimes with the psalmist say, "God, don't keep silence. Do something, Lord. Stop them. Break their teeth in their mouths, Lord. Smash their noses against their face. God, don't keep... do something, God." I look at these ads that have been promoted by the National Council of Churches that are against the evangelicals, Norman Lear, and I say, "God, stop these evil men." The National Council of Churches hires this atheistic, humanist Norman Lear to make these ads that are against the evangelicals. And I think, "God, stop them." Terrible that they... National Council of Churches.

Now, I know that on Sunday nights we have an extremely large radio audience. In fact, the radio surveys that are made have discovered that the Sunday night broadcast here at Calvary of our service is the most listened to radio program in Orange County. It exceeds all the news programs, rock stations or anything else. And we praise the Lord for the opportunity of being on the radio and to broadcast the Sunday night services so that a lot of the people who have small children can stay home and put the kids to bed and listen to the services.

But yet, you think of all...well, the people that are listening, and you, a lot of you are come from other churches. A lot of you are involved with churches that are related to the National Council of Churches. And I'd like to say personally, I wouldn't want the slightest relationship or association to the National Council of Churches, and I would not contribute one dime to any church that supports the National Council of Churches or the World Council of Churches. And I'm just laying it out to you straight, and I think that if some of the people will just quit supporting some of these churches that do support them, that they'll start taking another look at their relationships. But I believe that the National Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches have done more against Christianity than perhaps almost any other groups in the world. They are not representative of the true evangelical church at all. They represent humanistic concepts in religion, and they are promoting evil causes.

Oh, don't keep silent, God. Don't hold Your peace. Don't be still, God. Do something. But, "Lo, your enemies are making a tumult. Those that hate You have lifted up their head. They've taken crafty counsel against Your people." Hired crafty counselors.

They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation ( Psalms 83:4 );

And actually they have taken a position against Israel is what he is saying. Do you know that the World Council of Churches supports the PLO to the tune of over $2 million a year? A lot of the terrorist activities of the PLO are sponsored and paid for by the World Council of Churches that receives its monies from the churches that are related to the National Council of Churches, which part of that money goes to the World Council of Churches. And if you belong to a church that is contributing to either the National or World Council of Churches, you are actually contributing to such things as Angelo Davis' defense fund; you're contributing to the terrorist groups that are in Africa; you're contributing to those terrorists that are coming in and killing missionaries and missionary children; you're contributing to the terrorism of the PLO; you're contributing to those that are seeking to destroy the nation Israel, and I wouldn't want to have any part in the contribution to any of those causes myself.

But they've confederated against you. Let us cut Israel off.

that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. They have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against God: The tabernacles ( Psalms 83:4-6 )

And he names the nations now that have gone together.

Edom, the Ishmaelites; those of Moab, the Hagarenes; Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines and Tyre; Assur also is joined with them: and they have the help of the children of Lot ( Psalms 83:6-8 ).

Now he's saying, "God, wipe them out."

Do unto them like you did to the Midianites ( Psalms 83:9 );

In the time... in the book of Judges when the Midianites came against the children of Israel and Gideon went out against them.

Do as you did to Sisera, and as to Jabin, there at the brook Kison ( Psalms 83:9 ):

Or Sisera, and Jabin. God, as You've driven a spike through their skull. You know, get them, God.

Make their nobles like Oreb, and Zeeb ( Psalms 83:11 ):

Who were in the book of Judges also. Oreb and Zeeb are about the eighth chapter, or the seventh chapter of the book of Judges.

and unto the princes of Zebah, and Zalmunna ( Psalms 83:11 ):

These were all princes that were slain of the Midianites who had come against Israel at the time of Gideon and were destroyed by... some by Gideon and others by the Ephraimites who came to help Gideon.

Who said, Let us take ourselves the houses of God in possession. O my God, make them like a wheel; as the stubble before the wind. As the fire burns wood, and the flame sets the mountains on fire; So persecute them with thy tempest, and make them afraid with thy storm. Fill their faces with shame; that they may seek thy name, O LORD. Let them be confounded and troubled for ever; yea, let them be put to shame, and perish: That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the Most High over all the eaRuth ( Psalms 83:12-18 ).

"God, do these things in order that men might know that You are over all things." And that was the real cry behind, "O God, it seems that these people have gathered against You, against Your purposes. Now God, put them to silence. Stop them, Lord, that people might learn to respect You." "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

1. The danger of destruction 83:1-8

The psalmist cried out to God to act for His people by expressing the alternatives negatively (Psalms 83:1). He described how Israel’s enemies had conspired to oppose God by destroying His people. Asaph used a chiastic structure to connect God’s interests with those of His nation (Psalms 83:2-5). He then listed Israel’s enemies (Psalms 83:6-8). The Hagarites (Hagrites, NIV), or descendants of Hagar, were the Ishmaelites. Gebal is another name for Byblos, a strong town in Lebanon. Lot’s children were the Moabites and the Ammonites.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Psalms 83

Asaph prayed that God would destroy the enemies that threatened to overwhelm Israel, as He had done in the past. This is a psalm of national (communal) lament, and it is the last of the psalms attributed to Asaph (Psalms 50, 73-83).

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

For they have consulted together with one consent,.... Or "heart" e; wicked men are cordial to one another, and united in their counsels against the people of God, and his interest: whatever things they may disagree in, they agree in this, to oppose the cause and interest of true religion, or to persecute the church and people of God: Herod and Pontius Pilate are instances of this:

they are confederate against thee; or have made a covenant against thee f; the covenant they had entered into among themselves, being against the Lord's people, was against him; and such a covenant and agreement can never stand; for there is no wisdom, nor understanding, nor counsel against the Lord, Proverbs 21:30. This the psalmist mentions to engage the Lord in the quarrel of his people, and not be still, and act a neutral part; since those were his enemies, and confederates against him, and they are next particularly named.

e לב "corde", Pagninus, Montanus; "ex corde", Tigurine version, Musculus, Gejerus; "cordicitus", Cocceius. f עליך ברית יכרתו "foedus adversus te icerunt", Tigurine version; "contra te foedus pepigerunt", Junius Tremellius, Piscator, Gejerus so Musculus, Cocceius, Michaelis.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

A song or psalm of Asaph.

      1 Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God.   2 For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head.   3 They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones.   4 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.   5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:   6 The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes;   7 Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre;   8 Assur also is joined with them: they have holpen the children of Lot. Selah.

      The Israel of God were now in danger, and fear, and great distress, and yet their prayer is called, A song or psalm; for singing psalms is not unseasonable, no, not when the harps are hung upon the willow-trees.

      I. The psalmist here begs of God to appear on the behalf of his injured threatened people (Psalms 83:1; Psalms 83:1): "Keep not thou silence, O God! but give judgment for us against those that do us an apparent wrong." Thus Jehoshaphat prayed upon occasion of that invasion (2 Chronicles 20:11), Behold, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of thy possession. Sometimes God seems to connive at the unjust treatment which is given to his people; he keeps silence, as one that either did not observe it or did not concern himself in it; he holds his peace, as if he would observe an exact neutrality, and let them fight it out; he is still, and gives not the enemies of his people any disturbance or opposition, but seems to sit by as a man astonished, or as a mighty man that cannot save. Then he gives us leave to call upon him, as here, "Keep not thou silence, O God! Lord, speak to us by the prophets for our encouragement against our fears" (as he did in reference to that invasion, 2 Chronicles 20:14-17, c.) "Lord, speak for us by the providence and speak against our enemies; speak deliverance to us and disappointment to them." God's speaking is his acting; for with him saying and doing are the same thing.

      II. He here gives an account of the grand alliance of the neighbouring nations against Israel, which he begs of God to break, and blast the projects of. Now observe here,

      1. Against whom this confederacy is formed; it is against the Israel of God, and so, in effect, against the God of Israel. Thus the psalmist takes care to interest God in their cause, not doubting but that, if it appeared that they were for God, God would make it to appear that he was for them, and then they might set all their enemies at defiance; for whom then could be against them? "Lord," says he, "they are thy enemies, and they hate thee." All wicked people are God's enemies (the carnal mind is enmity against God), but especially wicked persecutors; they hated the religious worshippers of God, because they hated God's holy religion and the worship of him. This was that which made God's people so zealous against them--that they fought against God: They are confederate against thee,Psalms 83:5; Psalms 83:5. Were our interest only concerned, we could the better bear it; but, when God himself is struck at, it is time to cry, Help, Lord. Keep not thou silence, O God! He proves that they are confederate against God, for they are so against the people of God, who are near and dear to him, his son, his first-born, his portion, and the lot of his inheritance; he may truly be said to fight against me that endeavours to destroy my children, to root out my family, and to ruin my estate. "Lord," says the psalmist, "they are thy enemies, for they consult against thy hidden ones." Note, God's people are his hidden ones, hidden, (1.) In respect of secresy. Their life is hid with Christ in God; the world knows them not; if they knew them, they would not hate them as they do. (2.) In respect of safety. God takes them under his special protection, hides them in the hollow of his hand; and yet, in defiance of God and his power and promise to secure his people, they will consult to ruin them and cast them down from their excellency (Psalms 62:4), and to make a prey of those whom the Lord has set apart for himself,Psalms 4:3. They resolve to destroy those whom God resolves to preserve.

      2. How this confederacy is managed. The devil is at the bottom of it, and therefore it is carried on, (1.) With a great deal of heat and violence: Thy enemies make a tumult,Psalms 83:2; Psalms 83:2. The heathen rage,Psalms 2:1. The nations are angry,Revelation 11:18. They are noisy in their clamours against the people whom they hope to run down with their loud calumnies. This comes in as a reason why God should not keep silence: "The enemies talk big and talk much; Lord, let them not talk all, but do thou speak to them in thy wrath," Psalms 2:5. (2.) With a great deal of pride and insolence: They have lifted up the head. In confidence of their success, they are so elevated as if they could over-top the Most High and overpower the Almighty. (3.) With a great deal of art and policy: They have taken crafty counsel,Psalms 83:3; Psalms 83:3. The subtlety of the old serpent appears in their management, and they contrive by all possible means, though ever so base, ever so bad, to gain their point. They are profound to make slaughter (Hosea 5:2), as if they could outwit Infinite Wisdom. (4.) With a great deal of unanimity. Whatever separate clashing interest they have among themselves, against the people of God they consult with one consent (Psalms 83:5; Psalms 83:5), nor is Satan's kingdom divided against itself. To push on this unholy war, they lay their heads together, and their horns, and their hearts too. Fas est et ab hoste doceri--Even an enemy may instruct. Do the enemies of the church act with one consent to destroy it? Are the kings of the earth of one mind to give their power and honour to the beast? And shall not the church's friends be unanimous in serving her interests? If Herod and Pilate are made friends, that they may join in crucifying Christ, surely Paul and Barnabas, Paul and Peter, will soon be made friends, that they may join in preaching Christ.

      3. What it is that is aimed at in this confederacy. They consult not like the Gibeonites to make a league with Israel, that they might strengthen themselves by such a desirable alliance, which would have been their wisdom. They consult, not only to clip the wings of Israel, to recover their new conquests, and check the progress of their victorious arms, not only to keep the balance even between them and Israel, and to prevent their power from growing exorbitant; this will not serve. It is no less than the utter ruin and extirpation of Israel that they design (Psalms 83:4; Psalms 83:4): "Come, let us cut them off from being a nation, as they cut off the seven nations of Canaan; let us leave them neither root nor branch, but lay their country so perfectly waste that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance, no, not in history;" for with them they would destroy their Bibles and burn all their records. Such is the enmity of the serpent's seed against the seed of the woman. It is the secret wish of many wicked men that the church of God might not have a being in the world, that there might be no such thing as religion among mankind. Having banished the sense of it out of their own hearts, they would gladly see the whole earth as well rid of it, all its laws and ordinances abolished, all its restraints and obligations shaken off, and all that preach, profess, or practise it cut off. This they would bring it to if it were in their power; but he that sits in heaven shall laugh at them.

      4. Who they are that are drawn into this confederacy. The nations that entered into this alliance are here mentioned (Psalms 83:6-8; Psalms 83:6-8); the Edomites and Ishmaelites, both descendants from Abraham, lead the van; for apostates from the church have been its most bitter and spiteful enemies, witness Julian. These were allied to Israel in blood and yet in alliance against Israel. There are no bonds of nature so strong but the spirit of persecution has broken through them. The brother shall betray the brother to death. Moab and Ammon were the children of righteous Lot; but, as an incestuous, so a degenerate race. The Philistines were long a thorn in Israel's side, and very vexatious. How the inhabitants of Tyre, who in David's time were Israel's firm allies, come in among their enemies, I know not; but that Assur (that is, the Assyrian) also is joined with them is not strange, or that (as the word is) they were an arm to the children of Lot. See how numerous the enemies of God's church have always been. Lord, how are those increased that trouble it! God's heritage was as a speckled bird; all the birds round about were against her (Jeremiah 12:9), which highly magnifies the power of God in preserving to himself a church in the world, in spite of the combined force of earth and hell.