Do unto them as to Midian; as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the torrent of Kishon
Psalm 83 is a prayer raised while a ring of neighbouring nations plots to erase Israel's name from the earth. At verse 9 it turns from the danger to history, asking God to repeat two old rescues — Midian in Gideon's day, Sisera and Jabin at the Kishon river.
The psalm does not ask for something new. It asks God to be consistent with Himself, and it names two rescues recorded in the book of Judges as the measure.
In verse 9 the psalmist asks God to deal with Israel's enemies as He dealt with Midian in the days of Gideon — and even earlier, when Barak defeated Sisera and his armies (Judges 4-5). God defeated those earlier enemies completely. Would He not also defeat those who come against His people at the time of the end?
The psalmist picks these two examples because the situation matches. The old invaders wanted the land that belongs to God. So do the new ones.
This alliance of nations matches Midian flooding the land in the days of Gideon, and Sisera and Jabin in the time of Deborah. The psalmist prays that these enemies may be destroyed as those enemies were... They too would have seized the dwelling places of God in the land, and taken His inheritance for themselves.
The verse fixes the second victory at a river. Commentators say Sisera seems to have chosen that ground himself, and that the name of the place points to the very thing that destroyed him.
The battle takes place at the river Kishon... Its name comes from a root meaning to bend, and has usually been given as "winding." Other words come from the same root too — "a bow" and "to lay a snare." So the name suggests a weapon of war, and the ambush that the schemer himself falls into. Kishon seems to be the place he chose himself for the battle. He falls into the pit he had dug for others. Yet God had foreseen and provided for it all.
Both precedents are famous for the smallness of the means used. Gideon's men carried no weapons worth the name, and that was the point.
Gideon and his feeble 300 men, however, utterly defeated the great Midianite host... Trumpets, pitchers and lamps are wonderfully effective weapons if God is pleased to use them, but then clearly the excellency of the power is not of them but of God.
Writers here read the psalm as more than a memory of old wars. Midian becomes a fixed model — used in this prayer, and used again by the prophet Isaiah for the day when Israel's oppressor is finally broken.
This victory over Midian becomes the pattern for the final overthrow of Israel's enemies. It appears in the prayer of the suffering remnant (Psalm 83), and Isaiah predicts the day it will actually happen (Isaiah 9:4).
The aim of that overthrow is not revenge. It is that the nations come to know who God is.
This is the last alliance of the nations around Canaan, with Assyria helping them... Judgment has to be carried out, so that the rebellious nations may seek Jehovah's name. The point is not that they know the Father, or know there is a God, but that they know Jehovah. When His judgments are in the earth, the people of the world will learn righteousness. Men will know that He whose name alone is Jehovah — the One who is, and was, and is to come — is the Most High over all the earth.
A Christian reading this verse may wonder whether to pray it. Commentators answer plainly, and they point to the people this prayer belongs to.
The right prayer for those who hate us is certainly not the language of Psalm 83:9-18. But it is the right expression of faith from Jewish believers, who are looking to God to rise up and judge the earth.
The reason is a difference in destiny.
We leave the world and go to heaven. We never have to ask for the destruction of our enemies in order to enter glory. But Israel cannot have rest on earth until the wicked are destroyed. So they do ask for this righteous judgment, and that is how they will be delivered.
- Precedent. The prayer asks nothing novel — it points God back to Midian, Sisera and Jabin, and asks Him to act in character again.
- Stakes. Both old invaders wanted the land God calls His own. The new alliance wants the same, so the old cases apply.
- Power. Gideon beat Midian with 300 men carrying trumpets and jars — proof that the power belonged to God, not to the means.
- Pattern. Midian's defeat is the model for the last overthrow of Israel's enemies, and Isaiah points to the same day.
- Purpose. The end is not revenge but recognition. Judgment falls so that the nations learn righteousness and know God's name.
Who were destroyed at Endor; they became as dung for the ground.
Psalm 83 is the cry of God's people while the nations around them plot to wipe them out. At verse 10 the prayer stops speaking in general terms and points to one battlefield, asking God to do again what He did there.
En-dor was a real town, and more than one memory is attached to it.
A city with its towns, belonging to Manasseh though located in Issachar. It was apparently the scene of the death of Sisera and of Jabin. It was also the home of the medium whom Saul consulted.
The line just before this one names the river Kishon. One writer notes the river had a share in the defeat.
The river Kishon is also mentioned as having a part in this victory. God had said He would draw Sisera to Kishon. The torrent itself may have swept many of his army away, perhaps because Israel's army had trapped them.
The request is shaped exactly on two earlier invasions — Midian overrunning the land in Gideon's time, and the Canaanite commander Sisera under King Jabin.
This alliance is set beside Midian's flooding of the land in the days of Gideon, and beside Sisera and Jabin in the time of Deborah. The psalmist prays that their destruction may be like theirs. He prays that their "anointed ones," given a special place among them, may be like the kings who fell by Gideon's hand. They too would have seized the dwelling places of God in the land, and taken His inheritance for themselves.
Faith here argues from history. God's people ask Him to act as He has already acted.
Long ago Jehovah had subdued the Midianites. Earlier still, the Lord had subdued the Canaanites, when they gathered under the leadership of Sisera. So again His people in this psalm look for Him to step in, as effectively as He did in the days of Barak and in the days of Gideon.
The names of the enemy kings in the next line make the point sharper.
Zebah means "sacrifice." Here it suggests not the way of approach to God, but the slaughter the world delights to inflict on the people of God, without mercy. Zalmunna, "shade," or "refuge denied," hints at the same. So the same slaughter would fall on them, with no mercy to shelter them: "For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy." This victory over Midian became the pattern for the final overthrow of Israel's enemies. It shapes both the prayer of the suffering remnant and the fulfilment Isaiah predicted.
Should a Christian pray this against his own enemies? Commentators say this part of the psalm is not the Christian's language.
The fitting prayer for those who hate us is certainly not the language of Psalm 83:9-18. But it is the right voice of faith in Jewish saints who are looking to God to arise and judge the earth.
The reason given is a difference of hope, not a difference between an angry God and a kind one.
This is why we find in the Psalms these appeals to judgment, and demands for it. They have often stumbled Christians when the enemies of Christianity press them. They are not the expression of Christian feelings. We leave the world and go to heaven. In no sense do we have to demand the destruction of our enemies to pass into glory. But Israel cannot have their rest on earth until the wicked are destroyed. So they do demand this righteous judgment, and this is how they will be delivered.
The psalm does not end in revenge. The ruin asked for in verse 10 serves a purpose stated at the close.
God will carry out judgment, so that the rebellious nations may seek Jehovah's name. It is not, know the Father, nor, know there is a God; but, know Jehovah. When His judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. Men will know that He whose name alone is Jehovah is the Most High over all the earth.
- Precedent. En-dor is named because Sisera and Jabin seem to have died there, and the Kishon swept their army away.
- Pattern. The prayer copies Midian's and Sisera's overthrow, asking that this alliance end the same way.
- Plea. Faith argues from what God has already done. It looks for help as real as in the days of Barak and Gideon.
- Principle. Judgment falls without mercy on those who showed none — the day of Midian becomes the model for the final overthrow.
- Purpose. Not private revenge. The aim is that the nations seek His name and learn that Jehovah alone is Most High over all the earth. This is a prayer for Israel's rescue on earth, not the Christian's, who leaves the world and goes to heaven.
Make their nobles as Oreb and as Zeeb; and all their chiefs as Zebah and as Zalmunna.
Israel is surrounded by allied enemies, and the prayer asks God for nothing new. It asks Him to do again what He once did through Gideon. Four dead Midianite chiefs are named. Why pray by names from old battles, and whose prayer is this?
The psalm looks back to the time of the judges. God rescued Israel then through Gideon and through Barak.
So the godly remnant, when the great alliance rises against them (Ps. 83), will cry to their God to defeat their enemies completely. Those enemies are set on wiping the very name of Israel off the earth. It is the great alliance under the northern power, and it is really in league against God. Long ago Jehovah put down the Midianites. Earlier still the Lord put down the Canaanites too, when they gathered under Sisera's leadership. So again His people in our Psalm look for His help to be as effective as in the days of Barak and in the days of Gideon.
The verse pairs two sets of names. The first two men were princes; the second two were kings. All four fell in one campaign.
Prince of Midian: he invaded Israel, but Gideon defeated him and killed him at the rock Oreb — an event that seems to have given the rock its name.
The names of the two kings carry a message of their own.
Zebah means "sacrifice." Here, of course, it does not point to the way of approach to God. It points to the "slaughter" that the world loves to inflict on the people of God, without mercy — as Zalmunna, "shade," or "refuge denied," also shows. So the same slaughter would fall on them, with no mercy to shelter them: "For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy."
The prayer aims at the men at the top. One writer says what these leaders were among their own people, and what they meant to take.
The alliance is set beside Midian flooding the land in the days of Gideon, and beside Sisera and Jabin in the time of Deborah. The psalmist prays that these enemies may be destroyed as those were. He prays that their "anointed ones," the men set apart to a special place among them, may be like the kings who fell by Gideon's hand. They too would have seized the dwelling places of God in the land, and taken His inheritance for themselves.
Gideon's defeat of Midian was not the end of the story. Isaiah takes up the same place and makes it a picture of something still ahead.
In Isaiah 10:26, Gideon's victory over Midian at the rock of Oreb points forward to the final victory over the Assyrian. In the same way, Barak's victory over Sisera at Megiddo pictures the final slaughter of the armies that will gather in the last days at Armageddon.
Read that way, the whole psalm belongs to one future crisis, and its outcome settles a question about who God is.
In Psalm 83 we have the last conspiracy of the Assyrians, and of those that dwell within the limits of the land, where judgment displays that Jehovah is Most High over all the earth.
Throughout the psalm the quarrel belongs to God. One writer sets out the aim of the judgment, and why the fight is His own.
He is supreme in holiness, above the evil. But His name is Jehovah, and He uses His power so that His enemies may seek Him in this way. Then they will know that He is "Elion," the Most High, supreme in government and blessing over all the earth. … The enemies are His, and He is the One they hate. The people are also His — His hidden ones — and the alliance against them is against Him, formed to take possession of His dwelling places.
A Christian reader may hesitate here. One writer answers that this prayer is not the Christian's way of praying about people who hate him.
So the fitting prayer for those who hate us is certainly not the language of Psalm 83:9-18. But in Jewish saints it is the right expression of faith, as they look to God to rise up and judge the earth.
The same writer traces this note through every part of the Psalms and draws the general rule.
So all the way through, earthly judicial righteousness is the atmosphere. It is not the heavenly grace by which the Christian is now called to feel, pray, worship and walk.
- Pattern. The prayer asks for no novelty: do to today's leaders what You did to Oreb, Zeeb, Zebah and Zalmunna through Gideon.
- Persons. Oreb and Zeeb were princes of Midian. Zebah and Zalmunna were its kings, and their names carry the sense of slaughter and of refuge denied. All four fell by Gideon's hand.
- Position. The men named are the "anointed ones," the leaders set apart among the enemy. They meant to seize God's dwelling places as their own.
- Prophecy. The rock of Oreb becomes a picture. That old defeat points ahead to the final overthrow of the last alliance gathered against God's people.
- Purpose. The aim is not destruction for its own sake. It is that His enemies may seek Him, and know Jehovah alone as Most High over all the earth.