831 O God, do not keep quiet: let your lips be open and take no rest, O God. 2 For see! those who make war on you are out of control; your haters are lifting up their heads. 3 They have made wise designs against your people, talking together against those whom you keep in a secret place. 4 They have said, Come, let us put an end to them as a nation; so that the name of Israel may go out of man's memory. 5 For they have all come to an agreement; they are all joined together against you: 6 The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites; Moab and the Hagarites; 7 Gebal and Ammon and Amalek; the Philistines and the people of Tyre; 8 Assur is joined with them; they have become the support of the children of Lot. (Selah.)
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Psalm 83:1-8
Commentary on Psalm 83:1-8
(Read Psalm 83:1-8)
Sometimes God seems not to be concerned at the unjust treatment of his people. But then we may call upon him, as the psalmist here. All wicked people are God's enemies, especially wicked persecutors. The Lord's people are his hidden one; the world knows them not. He takes them under his special protection. Do the enemies of the church act with one consent to destroy it, and shall not the friends of the church be united? Wicked men wish that there might be no religion among mankind. They would gladly see all its restraints shaken off, and all that preach, profess, or practise it, cut off. This they would bring to pass if it were in their power. The enemies of God's church have always been many: this magnifies the power of the Lord in preserving to himself a church in the world.