Ps: 83

[renewbeginnings]

In various commentaries and articles re the combination of Islamic nations, Ps 83 is brought forward as a prophecy. But is it not a prayer to God, beseaching His destruction upon these peoples. I don't read here or in the next chapters about God answering this prayer. Who were the peoples in control of Jerusalem during the middle ages. I need to study more.

[Ken Nagele]

Elvin,

The best I can contribute is Dr. Martin's take on Psalm 83:

www.googlesyndicatedsearch.com/u/ASK?sitesearch=askelm.com&q=psalm+83&sa=Google+Search

Sorry, but it won't hyperlink properly.

I hope that helps.

Ken N.

[Jon]

renewbeginnings, your question caused me to go back and re-read Psalm 83 again. It's interesting, because the attack on Jerusalem by these 10 groups is in the past tense. However, my understanding is that many times prophets would write things in the past tense when it was assured that the event would happen in the future. However, this is a psalm, not a prophecy as far as I can tell.

When I first started studying this passage a few months ago, I couldn't find a single source that said that this has already come to pass. I couldn't even find a crackpot website that said it had already happened, and usually you can at least find one website for any weird idea you can possibly imagine.

Anyway, there's a pretty good summary of the history of Jerusalem on Wikipedia. Just go to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Jerusalem and scroll about halfway down. Wikipedia isn't perfect, but it's usually a great starting place. Enjoy!

[renewbeginnings]

Thanks for the link Jon. Very interesting. I reread Ps from the beginning of Book 3, being Ps 73. Written by Asaph, they seem to describe the destruction of the sanctuary in Ps 74. Ps. 79 describes the destruction of Jerusalem, possibly in 587 by Nebuchadnezzar. But 2 Chron 28 talks about Assyria, Edom and the Philistines attacking in the time of Ahaz, King of Judah.
In Ps 74 he mentions the destruction of ALL of the meeting places of the Lord.(V8). So it may not need to refer to Solomon's Temple. So I see Ps 83 as a prayer asking for deliverance. As well, there is no reference to "In the day of the Lord" or other phrase that denotes end time.