Psalm 83 is NOT A Prophecy!
by Peter Salemi
When the Worldwide Church of God was at its zenith, it did a wonderful work of the watchman. The work they did especially in prophecy was incredible. God had shown them many things that were accurate and precise. But some things were not, human nature sometimes takes over, and without prayer and revelation from God, some mistakes can creep in. 80% of the doctrines of the Worldwide Church of God were correct in my estimation. The other 20% are questionable or just down right wrong. Yet it is these doctrines that have caused splits in the churches of God! The 80% should bind them together; instead it’s the 20% that has torn them apart.
These Armstrongism (20%) doctrines include:
1) Church eras
2) End time Elijah
3) H.W. Armstrong God’s end time Apostle
4) The only one true church
5) The Place of Safety
6) 1975 in Prophecy
There are some others but these listed are some of the main ones. One doctrine we will deal with in this article is Psalm 83. Many of the church of God, British-Israelites and even mainstream fundamentalist churches believe that this verse is a prophecy of the end time Beast; and the nations listed will be the 10 nations that make up the beast.
The Psalm reads: “A Song or Psalm of Asaph. Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God.
“For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head.
“They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones.
“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.
“For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:
“The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
“Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre;
“Assur also is joined with them: they have holpen the children of Lot. Selah.” (Psalm 83:1-8). The question is, is this scripture an end time prophecy?
For many years the Church of God taught that Psalm 83 was a prophecy of the coming end time Beast, and these nations would be part of that beast. This led many to believe that Russia would be part of that Beast power. But upon further investigation of this scripture, one finds that Psalm 83 is NOT A PROPHECY! There is no language in that chapter which indicates that it is a prophecy.
The Psalm was about the war that David fought in 1 Chronicles 18&19 against the Assyrians, Mesopotamians and their allies when they came to “help the children of Lot” (the Ammonites of 1 Chronicles 19). Psalm 83 aligns well with 1 Chronicles 18–19, where David’s army engaged in a big conflict against a sizable coalition made up of Ammonites, Aramaeans, Mesopotamians, and others. At the time, Assyria, also known as Asshur, was the dominant force in Mesopotamia.
According to Psalm 83, these countries are all at war with David in an attempt to exterminate the Israelites. Given that David’s army had already crossed the Euphrates River, it makes sense that they would attack Israel (1 Chronicles 18:3).
Prophetic Phrases
If this was an end time prophecy we would see certain phrases that God uses to reveal to us that this was for certain an end time futuristic prophecy.
The expression the “latter” or the “last days” shows up in such predictions as Genesis 49:1, Numbers 24:14, Jeremiah 30:24 and 49:39, Daniel 2:28, Hosea 3:5, and so forth. The expression “the time of the end” is utilized in Daniel 12:4. The “day of the Lord’s anger” is expressed in Zephaniah 2:2-3; and the expression “day of the Lord” is additionally utilized Isaiah 13:9, Joel 2:1, Zechariah 14:1, and Malachi 4:1. An abbreviated rendition of that phrase occurs in certain prophecies as “in that day” (Zechariah 12:3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11; Zechariah 14:6-9, 13). Another is Revelation 1:3 that surely tells us that the whole book of Revelation is a “prophecy.” God leaves no doubt what is prophecy and what is not.
Does one find any of these prophetic expressions in Psalm 83 indicating it as a prophecy? NO! Nothing in Psalm 83 recognizes it as a modern day prophecy. There isn’t anything in the section that recognizes it to be an end time prophecy by any means.
In addition, there is no response by God to Asaph’s request recorded in Psalm 83 about the coming hope of the Messiah and the kingdom of God. Since there is no response by God then the Lord did not provide a prophecy in Psalm 83. Added to that, when Asaph composed this Psalm he was speaking in the present tense, (“they have taken…” “They have said… ,” “they have counseled together”). He was addressing events that were occurring in his own lifetime, not something “in the last days.” In versus 9-16, He asks God for triumph over their enemies in the approaching battles-there is no reference to any time period farther than that, nothing of the future.
The List of Nations
Many believe that these are the nations that will join the beast in the end time. However this is an utter impossibility because some of these peoples and city states do not exist today.
The “Hagarenes” for example. Psalm 83 is the only time the “Hagarenes” are mentioned, and once in 1 Chronicles 5:10. After this, there is no record of them at all. They never played any huge part in ancient times, and “where they dwelt after their expulsion by the Israelites is not known.” (Clarke’s Commentary); there is no proof they exist by any means in the today’s world.
“Gebal” is another. “Gebal might be the inhabitants of Gabel, a city of Phoenicia, saith Stephanus; or of Syria, saith Strabo, which Volateran saith was called Gibel in his time, but anciently Biblus.” (Trapp’s Complete Commentary of the OT &NT) Gebal is an ancient name for the Phoenician city-state of Byblos which was occupied by Alexander the Great and later it was occupied by the Romans, the Crusaders, the Arabs and others. Again, no proof that they exist in today’s world and therefore Psalm 83 cannot be a list of end time nations that align with the beast. These ancient peoples or city-states no longer have any geopolitical presence. While some attempt to map these ancient nations onto modern counterparts, such associations are speculative at best and lack concrete evidence. Therefore this is additional proof that this is not an end time prophecy.
What kind of Psalm?
The MacArthur Bible Commentary, p.651 says that “This Psalm [is] a national lament which includes prayer and imprecations…” This is what the Psalm is-a national lament! This kind of Psalm is usually composed of the following structure:
1) An introductory cry to God.
2) A lament.
3) A confession of the Psalmist trust.
4) A petition.
5) A vow of praise or expression of praise.
Psalm 83 has all of these elements, except for the last item.
The Psalm is divided as follows:
1) An introductory cry to God (83:1).
2) A lament or complaint to God (83:2–8).
3) A confession of the Psalmist trust in God (83:9–12).
4) A petition or request of God (83:13–18).
David composed a significant number of his Psalms about his experiences, shouting out to God for help or mending, judgment, laments and victory over his foes-thanking God for his wins and glory. Psalm 83 fits perfectly in this kind of theme.
In this case, David’s military won the first battle when his administrators Joab and Abishai led the Israelites army to victory.
David then prepared all Israel for battle and triumphed in the second battle as well. At this time some Mesopotamians had run away from the battle, and the Syrians (Aramaeans) approached their partners east of the Euphrates River (Mesopotamia) to assist them with battling Israel. This is when David would then approach God asking for triumph in this battle. Psalm 83 is that request. The whole setting of Psalm 83 is approaching God to give him triumph against this alliance of countries that included Asshur/Assyria. The “Psalmist makes a passionate appeal to God on behalf of Israel at a time of great danger.” (Pulpit Commentary).
Notice in Psalm 83:8, Asshur and its vassal countries came to “holpen the children of Lot” Ammon and Moab were the children of Lot. In 1 Chronicles 19:1-6 relates an episode where the Ammonites (the offspring of Lot) outraged David so the Ammonites contacted and asked for support from the Mesopotamians (which would have included Assyria and its numerous vassals in and close to Mesopotamia). Psalm 83 records the vassals of the Assyrians in this fight-this fits perfectly with 1 Chronicles 18-19. This Psalm clearly shows these were events that were taking place at that time! Nothing about the future.
Conclusion
A study of the biblical text of Psalm 83 reveals that it does not contain a prophecy no matter what some contend when they call it the coming Psalm 83 war. There are certainly messianic prophecies in the Psalms, but of other specific prophecies in the Psalms concerning the Gentile nations in the end times there are none.
Constructing a separate end time war out of Psalm 83 is just reading too much into a text. This Psalm is simply saying that Israel is surrounded by enemies and asking that the Lord intervene and deal with them. It could be that this national lament during the Davidic reign is raising the ubiquitous question for Israel—why does everyone hate us? When will it ever end? God will one day judge these enemies mentioned in Psalm 83, but it’s not based upon this Psalm. Actual prophecy relating to the nations of Psalm 83 and their judgment do appear in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos, and others; but there is no prophecy in this Psalm, it’s simply a petition to God by Asaph to judge those enemies that are against Israel.
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