Smack Talk

Psalm 83

O God, Do Not Keep Silence

A Song. A Psalm of Asaph.

 ¹O God, do not keep silence;
    do not hold your peace or be still, O God!
²For behold, your enemies make an uproar;
   those who hate you have raised their heads.
³They lay crafty plans against your people;
   they consult together against your treasured ones.
⁴They say, “Come, let us wipe them out as a nation;
   let the name of Israel be remembered no more!”
⁵For they conspire with one accord;
   against you they make a covenant-
⁶the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
    Moab and the Hagrites,
⁷ Gebal and Ammon and Amalek,
    Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre;
⁸ Asshur also has joined them;
   they are the strong arm of the children of Lot.
                         Selah

 ⁹Do to them as you did to Midian,
   as to Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon,
¹⁰who were destroyed at En-dor,
   who became dung for the ground.
¹¹Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb,
   all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,
¹²who said, “Let us take possession for ourselves
   of the pastures of God.”

 ¹³O my God, make them like whirling dust,
   like chaff before the wind.
¹⁴As fire consumes the forest,
   as the flame sets the mountains ablaze,
¹⁵so may you pursue them with your tempest
   and terrify them with your hurricane!
¹⁶ Fill their faces with shame,
   that they may seek your name, O LORD.
¹⁷Let them be put to shame and dismayed forever;
   let them perish in disgrace,
¹⁸that they may know that you alone,
    whose name is the LORD,
   are the Most High over all the earth.

In this Psalm we find Asaph in full-on imprecatory mode, listing the bad guys who have opposed Israel and calling upon God to pursue them, shame them, terrify them, and consume them. Yikes! These strong words are always a little unsettling, and they remind me that I have little context in such matters. Americans are nationalistic, sure, but I think we have no concept of the feelings that much older societies have toward their country, and we’ve surely got nothing on Israel. An old building in America is 200 years old. An old building in Israel is 2,000 years old. More importantly, we are a country of diverse cultures and religions, while the countries of the Middle East are defined by their singular culture and religion.

In fact, the words of verse 4 are shockingly relevant to the Middle East today. Consider Eugene Peterson’s rendering of the verse:

“‘Let’s wipe this nation from the face of the earth,’
      they say; ’scratch Israel’s name off the books.’”

Sound familiar? This could easily be a quote from Bin Laden. Just as I struggle with the idea that one people group could want to destroy another people group, I struggle with Psalms like this one. I’m not sure I have the context necessary to understand them.

I do know this one thing: the pleas here are not motivated by hatred, or racism, or greed. They are, strangely, motivated by God. Don’t miss verse 18. The reason for all this vitriol is that God be glorified and be recognized for who He is.

The contrarian in me comes back to say that, apparently, Bin Laden is motivated by allegiance toward his false god, so the sentiment is much the same. The fundamental difference is all about God. We must fly in the face of postmodernism and stand on the truth that our Almighty God is the Author of righteousness. I’ll allow that religious fervor and devotion can wrongly motivate someone to seek to destroy others; I must also allow that imprecatory Psalms highlight the justice of God in the presence of sin, and that His justice is a great and necessary thing. C. S. Lewis said, “The ferocious parts of the Psalms serve as a reminder that there is in the world such a thing as wickedness and that it (if not its perpetrators) is hateful to God.”

Take this Psalm today as a testament that there is absolute right and wrong, defined by God for once and for all. Also, take this Psalm as encouragement to not shy away from the difficult parts of the Bible. Meet them head on. Wrestle, contend, learn. God can handle it.