Psalm 83 is the prayer of a people surrounded by enemies who have formed a single purpose: to wipe the name of Israel from the earth. The Psalm does not begin with human strategy. It begins with the question, “O God, who shall be compared to thee?” and ends with the desire that the enemies know that the Lord alone is Most High over all the earth.
The spiritual depth of the Psalm lies in its refusal to separate lament from theology. The enemies are real, the danger is mortal, and the prayer is fierce. Yet the goal is not merely survival. It is that the name of the Lord be known.
Psalm 83 (LXX 82) - O God Who Shall Be Compared to Thee
Psalm Metadata
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| NKJV / Masoretic numbering | Psalm 83 |
| Septuagint / Coptic numbering | Psalm 82 |
| Accepted author | A Song of a Psalm for Asaph. |
| Period in author’s life | Not a single personal setting. It is a national lament over a coalition of hostile nations. |
| Christ prophecy status | Typological and eschatological. The confederacy against God’s people is fulfilled in the spiritual warfare against the Church. The prayer for the enemies to know that the Lord is Most High is fulfilled in the universal kingship of Christ. |
| Coptic lectionary/service use | Local rows preserve printed Psalm 83 references in Sunday and feast contexts. |
| Numbering issue | This note embeds Brenton LXX Psalm 82. The local lectionary rows cited here preserve printed Psalm 83 references. |
Historical and Scriptural Context
Psalm 83 lists a coalition that includes Edom, Ishmaelites, Moab, Ammon, Amalek, Philistia, Tyre, and Assur helping the children of Lot. This is not a random list. It is a theological map of the enemies of God’s people from the time of the judges and the monarchy.
The Psalm prays for God to do to them as He did to Midian (Judges 7), Sisera and Jabin (Judges 4-5), and Oreb, Zeeb, Zebah, and Zalmunna (Judges 8). The memory of past deliverance becomes the ground of present prayer.
Geographical Significance ⛰️
The geography is the map of Israel’s enemies: the tents of Edom and Ishmael, Moab, Ammon, Amalek, Philistia, Tyre, and Assur. The brook of Kison, Endor, and the altar of God are the places where God acted in the past. The prayer is that the same God who acted then will act now.
The Characters 👥
Asaph / the praying community. The voice is the voice of the threatened people of God.
The confederacy. Edom, Ishmael, Moab, Ammon, Amalek, Philistia, Tyre, and Assur united against Israel.
God. The One who alone is Most High, the One who acts in history, the One who cannot be compared.
🕯️ Light from the Word
Psalm 82:1-5, the conspiracy against the name
82:1 A Song of a Psalm for Asaph. 82:2 O God, who shall be compared to thee? be not silent, neither be still, O God. 82:3 For behold, thine enemies have made a noise; and they that hate thee have lifted up the head. 82:4 Against thy people they have craftily imagined a device, and have taken counsel against thy saints. 82:5 They have said, Come, and let us utterly destroy them out of the nation; and let the name of Israel be remembered no more at all.
The Psalm begins with the question that defines all true prayer: “O God, who shall be compared to thee?” The enemies have made a noise, lifted up the head, taken counsel, and formed a confederacy with one consent. Their goal is explicit: “Come, and let us utterly destroy them out of the nation; and let the name of Israel be remembered no more at all.”
This is not ordinary war. It is an attempt to erase the memory of God’s people from the earth. The spiritual parallel for the Church is the attempt to erase the name of Christ and the memory of the saints.
Lesson Guide
- Key phrases: “who shall be compared to thee?”; “let the name of Israel be remembered no more.”
- Emphasize: the enemy attacks the name and the memory.
- Avoid: reducing the Psalm to political commentary. It is a theological battle over the name of God.
Psalm 82:6-9, the list of enemies and the prayer for judgment
82:6 For they have taken counsel together with one consent: they have made a confederacy against thee; 82:7 even the tents of the Idumeans, and the Ismaelites; Moab, and the Agarenes; 82:8 Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalec; the Philistines also, with them that dwell at Tyre. 82:9 Yea, Assur too is come with them: they have become a help to the children of Lot. Pause.
The list of enemies is long because the threat is real. The prayer is fierce: “Do thou to them as to Midian, and to Sisera; as to Jabin at the brook of Kison.” The Psalm remembers the stories of deliverance and asks God to act in the same way again.
The spiritual insight is that the memory of God’s past acts is the fuel for present prayer. The Church prays with the same memory: the Exodus, the Cross, the Resurrection, the martyrs.
Lesson Guide
- Key phrases: “Do thou to them as to Midian”; “the memory of deliverance fuels present prayer.”
- Emphasize: the Psalm does not invent new strategies. It remembers the acts of God.
- Avoid: sanitizing the imprecatory language. The Psalm is honest about the desire for justice.
Psalm 82:10-19, the desire that they know the name of the Lord
82:10 Do thou to them as to Madiam, and to Sisera; as to Jabin at the brook of Kison. 82:11 They were utterly destroyed at Aendor: they became as dung for the earth. 82:12 Make their princes as Oreb and Zeb, and Zebee and Salmana; even all their princes: 82:13 who said, Let us take to ourselves the altar of God as an inheritance. 82:14 O my God, make them as a wheel; as stubble before the face of the wind. 82:15 As fire which shall burn up a wood, as the flame may consume the mountains; 82:16 so shalt thou persecute them with thy tempest, and trouble them in thine anger. 82:17 Fill their faces with dishonour; so shall they seek thy name, O Lord. 82:18 Let them be ashamed and troubled for evermore; yea, let them be confounded and destroyed. 82:19 And let them know that thy name is Lord; that thou alone art Most High over all the earth.
The final section moves from destruction to the desire that the enemies know the name of the Lord. “Fill their faces with dishonour; so shall they seek thy name, O Lord. Let them be ashamed and troubled for evermore; yea, let them be confounded and destroyed. And let them know that thy name is Lord; that thou alone art Most High over all the earth.”
This is the spiritual goal. Not merely the defeat of the enemy, but that they come to know that the Lord alone is Most High. The destruction is not an end in itself. It is the means by which some may seek the name of the Lord.
Lesson Guide
- Key phrases: “so shall they seek thy name”; “that thou alone art Most High over all the earth.”
- Emphasize: the ultimate desire is that the name of the Lord be known.
- Avoid: turning the Psalm into a prayer for personal revenge. The goal is the glory of God.
The Church’s Voice in Worship 📖
The Coptic Orthodox lectionary preserves printed Psalm 83 references in Sunday and feast contexts. The prayer that the enemies know that the Lord alone is Most High resonates with the missionary and eschatological hope of the Church.
Iconography Connection 🖼️
Psalm 83 connects with icons of the victory of the Cross over the powers of darkness, the judgment of the nations, and the universal kingship of Christ. The confederacy of enemies is defeated not by human power but by the name of the Lord.
Spiritual Fruit 🍇
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Pray with the memory of God’s acts. The Psalm does not begin with the problem. It begins with the God who acted in the past.
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Name the conspiracy honestly. The enemies have one consent: to erase the name. The Church must name the spiritual conspiracy without paranoia.
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Desire that the enemies know the name. The fiercest prayer in the Psalm is not for destruction only, but that the enemies come to know that the Lord alone is Most High.
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Let the name of the Lord be your highest desire. The Psalm ends with theology, not merely survival.
Teacher's Notes
- Timing: 10 minutes for the conspiracy, 15 minutes for the list of enemies and the memory of deliverance, 15 minutes for the desire that they know the name, 10 minutes for lectionary and application.
- Where to linger: Psalm 82:18-19.
- Where to compress: the historical identification of each nation. Focus on the one consent against the name of Israel.
- Pastoral warning: do not use the imprecatory language to justify personal hatred. The goal is the glory of God and the knowledge of His name.
- Key phrase to say slowly: “Let them know that thy name is Lord; that thou alone art Most High over all the earth.”
Glossary
- Confederacy: A coalition of nations united against God’s people.
- Midian, Sisera, Jabin: Historical enemies defeated by God in the time of the judges.
- Oreb, Zeeb, Zebah, Salmana: Midianite princes defeated by Gideon.
- Most High over all the earth: The universal sovereignty of the Lord.
Translation and Source Notes
Embedded Scripture is Brenton’s English Septuagint, Psalm 82. The study title uses NKJV/Masoretic numbering first, Psalm 83, with LXX 82 in parentheses. Local lectionary rows cited here preserve printed Psalm 83 references.
Sources
Primary sources: Brenton Septuagint, Psalm 82; Judges 4-8; St Augustine, Exposition on Psalm 82 in the older English numbering tradition corresponding to LXX Psalm 82; Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on Psalm 82 in the Hill translation.
Coptic Orthodox / liturgical sources: Coptic Orthodox lectionary lectionary references and copticchurch.net readings index for printed Psalm 83 rows.