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:
For, behold, I
create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things
shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.
Peter was referring to the
promise given through Isaiah rather than the revelation
concerning a new universe and a new Earth found in
Revelation 20:11 and 21:1.
The War of Gog/Magog must
therefore take place prior to the start of the Tribulation.
We also know that it will take place at least 3½ years
before the start of the Tribulation. Ezekiel 39:9 says, “they
that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall
make fires of the weapons and burn them” for 7
years. At the mid-point of the Tribulation, when the
Antichrist commits the abomination of desolation, the
residents of Israel are commanded to flee to the mountains
(Matthew 24:15-18). If the residents of the cities of Israel
burn the weapons for 7 years, Russia will attack Israel at
least 3½ years before the Tribulation starts, because most
people will not be living in the cities from the mid-point
of the Tribulation on (Revelation 12:14-17).
LaHaye believes the War of
Gog/Magog must also take place 3½ years before the
Tribulation starts. In his book, The Coming Peace in the
Middle East, he quotes from Ezekiel 38, and then
comments on it:
This is what the Sovereign
Lord says: “In that day, when my people Israel are living in
safety, will you not take notice of it? You will come from
your place in the far north, you and many nations with you .
. .” (Ezekiel 38:14-15) (NIV)
We will see in a later chapter
that this nation from the north can only be Russia,
and “Gog” signifies her head of state. Moreover, the time of
peace will occur at least three and one-half years before
the tribulation period. There will actually be two peace
treaties: the one we are discussing which will provide time
for Israel to become so prosperous that Russia will want to
attack her personally, and the one foretold by the
prophet Daniel (9:27) between the Antichrist and Israel that
will officially start the tribulation period.
What possible event or world
conditions could occur to bring about such a peace in
Palestine? No one knows, but we might speculate on some
possibilities. These are only possible conditions in an
imagined scenario. (p.102)
LaHaye is not sure if the Rapture
takes place before the Russia-led invasion of Israel or
after:
Any chronology of the Rapture and
the invasion of Israel is speculative and should be given
wide flexibility. However, it is instructive to examine some
of the possibilities. (Ibid., p. 148)
The Rapture may occur in any of
the four possible time sequences: before Russia is
destroyed, immediately afterward, long afterward, or
simultan-eously with the signing of the covenant between the
Antichrist and Israel. (Ibid., 150, emphasis added,
K.B.)
If he is correct in saying the
Rapture takes place before the invasion of Israel by Russia,
then there should be a gap of 3½ years. That is
impossible because the Bible does not permit a gap as
explained previously. Since there is no gap, the
invasion of Israel by Russia is an extremely important
warning sign for us to “watch.” The last possibility is
correct. The Rapture will take place as LaHaye said,
“simultaneously with the signing of the covenant between the
Antichrist and Israel.”
The 5 primary reasons that I
believe the War of Gog/Magog will take place before the
Rapture/Tribulation are given in my book, The Millennium,
the Apocalypse and Armageddon:
1.
The Antichrist signs his Shalom
covenant with Israel, that is a peace covenant. The Russian
led invasion takes place when Israel is dwelling in security
(betach) as it is today, not when it will be living
in “peace” when the Antichrist signs a covenant with them.
2.
The Western powers are still in
existence when this war breaks out because they make a timid
response to the invasion by asking Russia if it has come to
take a “spoil” and a “prey” (Ezekiel 38.13). A
world government will be established prior to the rise of
the Antichrist and the start of the Tribulation (Daniel
7.23-24). The War of Gog/Magog must take place before then
because there is no world government that responds to the
invasion. Instead individual nations make a response.
3.
The invasion gives rise to a
worldwide revival (Ezekiel 39.7). It starts with the first
stage of Israel’s conversion. The second stage of Israel’s
conversion comes after the 144,000 witnesses are
commissioned (Revelation 7.1-8). They lead millions of
people to Jesus Christ throughout the world (Revelation
7.9).
4.
The implements of war are burned for
7 years (Ezekiel 39.8-9). As noted previously they cannot be
burned into the Millennial Kingdom.
5.
Egypt and its allies – Ethiopia, Put,
Lud, Arabia and Libya – will be destroyed before the start
of the Tribulation along with the nations that support Egypt
(Ezekiel 30.1-6). Russia has supported Egypt against Israel
since 1948. Therefore Egypt will be destroyed along with
Russia in the War of Gog/Magog before the Tribulation.
A final argument which gives
strong proof that Psalm 83 is not a separate war from the
Gog/Magog War is the destruction of Islam. That alleged war
would not destroy the power and influence of Islam. It is
highly unlikely that a world government, a world economic
system and a world church can come into being while Islam
maintains its power and influence in the world. Therefore
Islam must be destroyed, and the way that is done is through
the War of Gog/Magog.
Daniel clearly said a world
government will be established (Daniel 7:23) before the
Antichrist rises to power and signs his covenant with
Israel, which begins the 70th Week (Tribulation) as he
prophesied (Daniel 9:27). Once the world government is
firmly in place it will break into 10 divisions (Daniel
7:24). It is after this division of the world government
into 10 parts that the Antichrist rises to power (Daniel
7:24), and makes the covenant with Israel.
It is highly improbable that a
world government with a world-wide economic system can come
into being while Islam is a major world power. It is also
unthinkable that the Islamic leaders would merge Islam into
a world religion under the authority and control of the
Antichrist and the False Prophet. The logical conclusion is
that Islam will be eliminated as a political, economic and
religious force before the start of the Tribulation.
The men who
propagate the Psalm 83
hypothesis argue that the Gog/Magog War takes place after
the Tribulation starts. As I just explained that is
impossible. Islam must be destroyed before the Tribulation,
and that will be done when God destroys the Islamic nations
along with Russia in the Gog/Magog War.
We must conclude that Psalm 83 is
an imprecatory prayer to God for Him to destroy the enemies
of Israel. That destruction of the Muslim nations, and the
other enemies of Israel will be completed in the War of Gog/Magog.
For more in-depth reading about
this topic please read, When? When Will the Rapture Take
Place? available from the World Bible Society
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