Psalms 83:1

Keep not thou silence, O God,.... Which he is thought and said to do, when he does not answer the prayers of his people, nor plead their cause, nor rebuke their enemies; when he does not speak a good

Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God.

Psalms 83 THE The occasion of the Psalm is manifest from the body of it, and it seems to have been a dangerous attempt and conspiracy. of divers neighbouring nations against Israel or Judah. Probably it was that which is mentioned 2Ch 20, wherein all the people here mentioned might be engaged, though all of them be not there expressed; this being usual in the sacred historians, for the latter to record some passages which the former omitted. Or it may belong to some other history. Or it may have a more general respect unto the several enterprises and combinations of all these people against them, some at one time, and some at another. The church’ s complaint to God of her enemies’ conspiracies, . Her prayer against oppressors, , that God would fill them with shame, and make them know that he alone is Jehovah, . Keep not thou silence; plead for us, not by words, but by thine actions. Hold not thy peace; or, be not deaf, to our prayers, and to the blasphemies of thine and our enemies. Be not still, i.e. unactive and unconcerned for us.

Psalms 83:1 « A Song [or] Psalm of Asaph. » Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God.Ver. 1. Keep not thou silence, O God] Ter idem dicit ad vehementiam. He saith the same thing thrice, to show his earnestness. The Hebrew is, Be not silent to thee, that is, in thine own cause, as Psalms 83:5. The Septuagint and Vulgate have it, O God, who is like unto thee?

(1) Keep not thou silence, O God.—Literally, God, not silence to thee. (Comp. Isaiah 62:7; and see Note, Psalms 28:1.)

PSALM LXXXIII The psalmist calls upon God for immediate help against a multitude of confederate enemies who had risen up against Judah, 1-5. He mentions them by name, 6-8; shows how they were to be punished, 9-17; and that this was to be done for the glory of God, 18. NOTES ON PSALM LXXXIII The title, A Song or Psalm of Asaph, contains nothing particular. Among a multitude of conjectures relative to the time and occasion of this Psalm, that which refers it to the confederacy against Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, mentioned 2 Chronicles 20:1-30, is the most likely. The following reasons make it probable: 1. The children of Ammon, that is, the Ammonites and Moabites, were the principal movers in the war. 2. The Idumeans came to their assistance, 2 Chronicles 20:22; with certain Ammonites or Meonians, referred to here in Psalms 83:8, and in 2 Chronicles 20:1. 3. There were also in this confederacy many strangers of Syria, and from beyond the sea, most likely the Dead Sea, which seems to indicate the Assyrians, Hagaranes, and Ishmaelites, designed expressly here, Psalms 83:7-8. 4. In that transaction there was a prophet of the race of Asaph, named Jahaziel, who foretold to Jehoshaphat their total overthrow, 2 Chronicles 20:14, &c., and probably this Jahaziel is the same with Asaph, the author of this Psalm. In the course of the notes we shall see other circumstances relative to the war of the Moabites and Ammonites against Jehoshaphat, which illustrates several particulars in this Psalm. See Calmet. Verse 1. Keep not thou silence] A strong appeal to God just as the confederacy was discovered. Do not be inactive, do not be neuter. Thy honour and our existence are both at stake.

1–4. An urgent prayer that God will come to the rescue of His people, whom their enemies are conspiring to annihilate.

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

1. Keep not… silence—Hebrew, Not silence to thee. The word here stands opposed to speaking, as one in deep thought, or indecision, as Isaiah 62:6-7, where the word rest, in Psalms 83:7, is the same