Psalm 83: An ‘Imprecatory Prayer’ Psalm 83:1-18

Text: “O my God, make them (God’s enemies, the enemies of God’s people) like a wheel; as the stubble before the wind.  As the fire burneth a wood, and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire; so persecute them with Thy tempest, and make them afraid with Thy storm. Fill their faces with shame; that they may seek Thy Name, O Lord. Let them be confounded and troubled forever; yea, let them be put to shame, and perish: that men may know that Thou, whose Name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth.”

Psalm 83:13-18.

Good morning, entire Bible believer!  Not for you some picky manner of reading Holy Scriptures: reading and believing only the sections of your KJV Bible that seem to fit some ‘oh, we never offend anyone’ spirit, that some Christians seem to want to practice today.

No! You and I are mature enough in faith to realize that, “…All Scripture is given by inspiration (God-breathed) of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect (mature), thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”  (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

Being ‘entire Bible believers’, we study to show ourselves approved of God, in the Old Testament practice of faith as well as the New Testament belief and practice of Christian belief.  There was no one that quoted Old Testament Scriptures as Divine authority like the Lord Jesus Christ Himself!  Glory to His Holy Name! Christ often said: “It is written!”

“Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth.” (Understanding, and discerning, and spreading the Bread of Life from Holy Scriptures)”             (2 Timothy 3:15)

Imprecatory Psalms: An ‘Imprecatory Psalm’ is a Psalm, or a Scriptural prayer, containing a plea for God to CURSE His enemies, and the enemies – Spiritual and physical enemies – of Christ’s redeemed people. Psalms 35; 58; 59; 69; 83; 109; and 137 are all Psalms containing a plea to curse, confound, and punish God’s enemies and the enemies of Christ’s redeemed people. Please do not take my too fallible word for this fact, dear Reader – be like a Berean, check out from the Scriptures what I say for yourself!

“And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews.  These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the Word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so. Therefore, many of them believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few.” (Acts 17:10-12)

Verse 1. “Keep not Thou silence, O God: hold not Thy peace, and be not still, O God. In today’s 21^st Century language, we can understand that the poet-preacher, Asaph, seeing the dangers approaching from God’s enemies, and the enemies of Israel, “…excites his countrymen to prayer by means of this sacred lyric.” (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 355)

God has set up ‘watchmen’, and granted them faith and Spiritual discernment to clearly SEE the dangers approaching the international church of the Lord Jesus Christ; to recognise the vile intent of ‘the enemies’ – enemies of Christ and, necessarily so, enemies of all those who believe in Christ Jesus and seek to follow Him in obedience to His truth and His Gospel.

Such ‘watchmen’ and ‘watchwomen’ MUST shout out the warning to the rest of the church! Or the blood of those left unwary of the danger shall be upon our heads.

“The watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing…”   (Isaiah 52:8)

“I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence.” (Isaiah 62:6)

“Also, I (the Lord) set watchmen over you saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet (Gospel preaching, shouting the Eternal warning of Hell and a lost Eternity). But they said, We will not hearken. Therefore…behold (hear and fully understand), I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto My Words, nor to My law, but rejected it.” (Jeremiah 6:17-19)

God’s prophets - Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel – were given this same message, and made watchmen over God’s people to cry out the warning of grave National and Spiritual danger.

“And it came to pass at the end of seven days, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore, hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless, if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also, thou hast delivered thy soul.” (Ezekiel 3:16-21)

After all these loud-and-clear warnings of impending National and personal doom – nations, and tribes, and individuals closed their ears to God’s warnings, and turned their unbelieving hands and minds to seek the destruction of God’s watchmen and preachers of His truth.

Nothing seems to have changed in that aspect today – Gospel street-preachers are being arrested and locked up by British policemen under orders from a sinful Government!

In the face of such systematic anti-Christian persecution, the church is not without Spiritual weapons to employ, the Lord God has granted us ‘THE IMPRECATORY PSALMS’.

Verse 3. “They have taken crafty counsel against Thy people. Theirs was the policy of extermination. They laid the axe at the root of the matter. Rome has always loved this method of warfare, and hence she has gloated over the massacre of Bartholomew and the murders of the Inquisition.” (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 355)

Verse 17. “Let them be confounded and troubled forever. We must not hesitate to sincerely pray this imprecatory Psalm when God’s enemies seek to destroy the true Church of Christ. “That men may know that Thou, whose Name is Jehovah, art the most high over all the earth.”

Thought: Our Spiritual weapons are powerful – when earnestly used.  Arm yourself, Christian solder of the Lord. The watchman is shouting a clear warning.  Pray now!