Psalm 83─An Imprecatory Prayer for God’s Victory Over Israel’s Enemies
By Dr. F. Kenton Beshore
Editor's note:
There has developed controversy over the Psalm 83 passages about the fate of Israel's neighboring enemies. Certainly, no people are in more danger of God's Judgment than are those primarily Islamic nations, most of whom have at one time or another voiced their desire to see the Jewish people and the nation Israel forever removed from the Middle East --even from the planet. (Read Genesis 12: 1-3 to see God's Warning to those who would curse Abraham's offspring. And that offspring comes from Abraham's son Isaac, and grandson, Jacob.)
Is Psalm 83 exclusively an imprecatory plea to Israel's God to completely destroy Israel's neighbor antagonists? Or --are the passages of this Psalm predictive of an actual war that is scheduled, perhaps before the long prophesied Gog-Magog invasion of Ezekiel, chapters 38 and 39?
We are putting two views on the passages side by side. Each explains the particular position in excellent fashion.
Read, study, pray, and come to your own conclusions.
--Terry James
There are several imprecatory prayers in Psalms – 35, 55, 58, 59, 69, 109, 137 and 140. All of them except Psalms 83 and 137 are prayers of David for God to judge his enemies. Psalm 137 is a prayer for God to judge Edom, and Psalm 83 is a prayer for God to judge the enemies of Israel – Edom (Southern Jordanians), the Ishmaelites (Saudi Arabians), Moab (Central Jordanians), Hagarites (Egyptians), Gebal (Northern Lebanese), Ammon (Northern Jordanians), Amalek (Arabs south of Israel), Philistines (Palestinians of Gaza), inhabitants of Tyre (Southern Lebanese) and Assyria (Syria).
A song. A Psalm of Asaph.
83:1 O God, keep not thou silence:
Hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God.
83:2 For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult;
And they that hate thee have lifted up the head.
83:3 They take crafty counsel against thy people,
And consult together against thy hidden ones.
83:4 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.
83:5 For they have consulted together with one consent;
Against thee do they make a covenant:
83:6 The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites;
Moab, and the Hagarenes;
83:7 Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek;
Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre:
83:8 Assyria also is joined with them;
They have helped the children of Lot.
Selah
83:9 Do thou unto them as unto Midian,
As to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the river Kishon;
83:10 Who perished at Endor,
Who became as dung for the earth.
83:11 Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb;
Yea, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna;
83:12 Who said, Let us take to ourselves in possession
The habitations of God.
83:13 O my God, make them like the whirling dust;
As stubble before the wind.
83:14 As the fire that burneth the forest,
And as the flame that setteth the mountains on fire,
83:15 So pursue them with thy tempest,
And terrify them with thy storm.
83:16 Fill their faces with confusion,
That they may seek thy name, O Jehovah.
83:17 Let them be put to shame and dismayed for ever;
Yea, let them be confounded and perish;
83:18 That they may know that thou alone, whose name is Jehovah, Art
the Most High over all the earth. (American Standard Version)
According to this psalm a coalition of nations and peoples that hate God have made a covenant against God, and are conspiring against Israel to destroy her. Their desire is to “cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.” The covenant they have made is the acceptance of the religion of Islam. This conspiracy to destroy Israel has been going on since May 14, 1948.
This coalition of Arab and Islamic states and peoples will attack Israel along with Gog and Magog (Russia), Persia (Iran), Cush (Ethiopia), Put (Somaliland), Gomer (Germany) and Togarmah (Turkey) as prophesied by Ezekiel (38:1, 5-6). This war is described in detail in Ezekiel 38:1-39:16. Psalm 83 is not a description of a different war between the Arab/Islamic nations and Israel. Instead God will answer that imprecatory prayer by defeating the nations noted above when they attack Israel prior to the Rapture and the start of the Tribulation. Their destruction will be so spectacular that everyone will understand that they were defeated by God Himself rather than by the Israeli Defense Forces:
And I will send a fire on Magog, and on them that dwell securely in the isles; and they shall know that I am Jehovah. And my holy name will I make known in the midst of my people Israel; neither will I suffer my holy name to be profaned any more: and the nations shall know that I am Jehovah, the Holy One in Israel. (Ezekiel 39:6-7)
God declares that He alone destroys the enemies of Israel when they attack her. He says that He will pour out His wrath upon them with an earthquake so great that the “mountains shall be thrown down” (Ezekiel 38:19-20). Then He will cause the enemy forces to kill each other (Ezekiel 38:21) and He will send “pestilence” on them. He will finish them off with “great hailstones, fire, and brimstone” (Ezekiel 38:22).
God says that after He destroys the enemies of Israel He “will magnify” Himself, and “sanctify” Himself, and He “will make” Himself “known in the eyes of many nations; and they shall know that” He is “Jehovah” (Ezekiel 38:23). He then says:
And I will send a fire on Magog, and on them that dwell securely in the isles; and they shall know that I am Jehovah. And my holy name will I make known in the midst of my people Israel; neither will I suffer my holy name to be profaned any more: and the nations shall know that I am Jehovah, the Holy One in Israel. (Ezekiel 39:6-7)
The Exodus will pale in comparison to what will happen in the war of Ezekiel 38 and 39. God’s new historic identity, “the Lord who lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north” is based on Jeremiah 16:14-15:
Therefore, behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that it shall no more be said, As Jehovah liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; but, As Jehovah liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the countries whither he had driven them. And I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.
The similarities between the War of Gog/Magog (Ezekiel 38-39) and the prayer of Psalm 83 clearly show that Psalm 83 is a prayer for the fulfillment of the Gog/Magog War. Psalm 83:9 requests that the enemies be killed as the Midianites were by God who caused them to kill each other (Judges 7:22). The Russian coalition will also be killed by God in this manner (Ezekiel 38:21). In Psalm 83:14 a request is made that the enemies be destroyed by fire and the Russian-led coalition will be destroyed in that manner (Ezekiel 38:22).
Other ideas regarding the meaning of Psalm 83 have gained traction in recent years. Some are teaching that it is a prophecy of a future battle that describes a war other than the one of Ezekiel 38:1-39:16. In this war the enemies of Israel will be defeated by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) rather than by God Himself. They would then receive the credit for defeating the coalition of Arab and Islamic nations that surround Israel. Psalm 83 does not say the “exceedingly great army” of Israel will be responsible for the destruction of her enemies. Instead it says that God destroys Israel’s enemies:
That they may know that thou alone, whose name is Jehovah, Art the Most High over all the earth. (Psalm 83:18)
The imprecatory prayer is to God requesting that He destroy the enemies of Israel. It is not a prayer that God give Israel victory over her enemies in battle.
An argument to support the belief that Psalm 83 is a battle that takes place previous to the Battle of Gog/Magog is based on Ezekiel 38:10-12a:
Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: It shall come to pass in that day, that things shall come into thy mind, and thou shalt devise an evil device: and thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates; to take the spoil and to take the prey.
Some argue that the Russian-led coalition comes to Israel to take “the spoil and to take the prey” that Israel has taken from the Psalm 83 confederacy. The destruction of Edom, Moab and Ammon, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia will take place before the Battle of Gog/Magog according to this hypothesis. Why? Because Israel must be so rich with plunder that Russia and its allies become envious. Those who teach the Psalm 83 hypothesis believe that Israel will take possession of all of these lands, and be in control of them by its “exceedingly great army.”
Scripture does not say Russia and its allies decide to attack Israel, a people who “are at rest” and dwelling in a state of security (betach), in order to take “spoil” and “prey” from Israel. It is the Western nations who ask, “Art thou come to take the spoil? hast thou assembled thy company to take the prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take great spoil?” (Ezekiel 38:13).
The truth is God compels Russia and her allies to attack Israel. He does this because of Israel’s unfaithfulness and disbelief in Jesus Christ. He says, “I will turn thee about, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army,” and “I will bring thee against my land, that the nations may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes,” and “I will magnify myself, and sanctify myself, and I will make myself known in the eyes of many nations; and they shall know that I am Jehovah,” and “my holy name will I make known in the midst of my people Israel; neither will I suffer my holy name to be profaned any more: and the nations shall know that I am Jehovah, the Holy One in Israel,” and “it shall be to them a renown in the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord Jehovah,” and “So the house of Israel shall know that I am Jehovah their God, from that day and forward” (Ezekiel 38:4, 16, 23; 39:7, 13, 22). By bringing Russia and her allies against Israel when they are at rest and living in security (betach), and then destroying them by Himself without assistance from Israel’s army, God proves who He is to Israel and the entire world. We must remember that everything that the Gentile nations do in regard to Israel is according to the purpose of God as stated by Daniel, Solomon and John:
The Most High God ruleth in the kingdom of men, and that he setteth up over it whomsoever he will. (Daniel 5:21)
The king’s heart is in the hand of Jehovah as the watercourses: He turneth it whithersoever he will. (Proverbs 21:1)
For God did put in their hearts to do his mind, and to come to one mind, and to give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God should be accomplished. (Revelation 17:17)
The destruction of Russia and her allies is the first stage of the conversion of Israel. It takes place before the start of the Tribulation as Joel prophesied:
That I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my Spirit. And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of Jehovah cometh. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of Jehovah shall be delivered; for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those that escape, as Jehovah hath said, and among the remnant those whom Jehovah doth call. (Joel 2:28b-32, emphasis added, K.B.).
Notice it is clear that this passage takes place before the Day of Jehovah (Tribulation/Rapture) begins.
The second stage of the conversion of Israel is when the 144,000 witnesses are commissioned (Revelation 7:1-8), and the third stage is in the last 3 days of the Tribulation (Hosea 5:14-6:3) when all of Israel will be saved (Romans 11:26).
The destruction of Russia and its allies will also be the greatest opportunity for Christians to save the lost in the last 1900 years. In his 1972 book, The Beginning of the End, Timothy LaHaye stated:
If the magnifying and sanctifying of the Lord, as indicated in Ezekiel 38:16, 23 and 39:7, 13, 22 does indeed mean a short period of time when men call upon the Lord as a result of his miraculous preservation of Israel, then we should work diligently to prepare for it. Since we can expect the period to be brief, we should begin now to train ourselves and find positions of service where we can reach a maximum number of people with the gospel (p. 84).
One of the weakest arguments the proponents of the Psalm 83 hypothesis make is that the Church will not be on Earth when Israel conquers her enemies. According to them the “fullness of the Gentiles” comes in when the Church is raptured, and the alleged war of Psalm 83 takes place afterward. This idea demands a gap between the Rapture and the start of the Tribulation. I show in Chapter 6 of my book, When? When Will the Rapture Take Place? that there is no gap between the Rapture and the Tribulation. The Bible clearly states the two events will take place on the same 24-hour day:
They ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. (Luke 17:27)
But in the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. (Luke 17:29)
The apostle Paul also said there is no gap between the Rapture and the Tribulation:
When they are saying, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall in no wise escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. (1 Thessalonians 5.3-4)
There is a period of “peace and safety” just prior to the start of the Tribulation. Notice that Paul says to Christians of the Church Age that “ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day (Tribulation/Rapture) should overtake you as a thief.”
The proponents of the Psalm 83 hypothesis clearly state that the alleged war of Psalm 83 will take place after the Church has been raptured, and before the start of the Tribulation. If it takes place before the Tribulation starts it means the Church will still be on Earth, because the Rapture takes place on the day the Tribulation starts as shown in Luke 17:27, 29.
The only way they can keep their hypothesis alive is to prove there is a gap between the Rapture and the start of the Tribulation. That is impossible because the Bible does not allow it as shown above. The Lord Himself said there is no gap (Luke 17:27, 29), Paul said the same (1 Thessalonians 5:3-4), the early Church fathers did not teach there is a gap, and the following prophecy teachers also confirmed there is no gap – Morgan Edwards, John Nelson Darby, John Walvoord, J. Vernon McGee, Harold Lindsell, Oliver Green, Dave Breese, J. Dwight Pentecost, Salem Kirban, Thomas Ice, Dave Hunt, Hilton Sutton and Perry Stone.
There are a few prophecy teachers who contend that the Gog/Magog invasion of Israel takes place during the Tribulation. This is not possible. The implements of the war are burned for 7 years. If it starts after the beginning of the Tribulation it would mean weapons of war will be burned into the Millennial Kingdom. That is not possible because Peter said that at the Second Coming of Christ the Earth will be burned up with all that is on it:
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief; in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up. (2 Peter 3:10)
Peter added:
But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. (2 Peter 3:13)
He was quoting Isaiah 65:17 that says a new universe will be created and the Earth will be renovated:
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