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Psalm 83: Israel, Muslims, and Arabs


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In the wake of the Paris massacre, Christians need to know how God will deal with His enemies.  Since God knows the end from the beginning, He foreknew and foresaw the enmity of Muslims and Arabs against Israel.  He also predicted the ultimate outcome, which is that the one whose name is JEHOVAH is acknowledged as supreme over all the earth.

GOD ASKED TO INTERVENE

1 Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God.

THE ENEMIES OF ISRAEL ARE GOD’S ENEMIES

2 For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head.

THESE ENEMIES ARE CRAFTY AND DECEITFUL

3 They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones.

THESE ENEMIES ARE DETERMINED TO OBLITERATE ISRAEL

4 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.

 THESE ENEMIES ARE UNITED IN THEIR HATRED

5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:

THESE ENEMIES ARE IDENTIFIED AS ARABS AND MUSLIMS

6 The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes;

7 Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre;

8 Assur also is joined with them: they have holpen the children of Lot. Selah.

9 Do unto them as unto the Midianites; as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the brook of Kison:

10 Which perished at Endor: they became as dung for the earth.

11 Make their nobles like Oreb, and like Zeeb: yea, all their princes as Zebah, and as Zalmunna:

THESE ENEMIES DESIRE TO TAKE POSSESSION OF GOD’S HOUSES

12 Who said, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession.

PRAYER FOR THEIR UTTER DESTRUCTION AND HUMILIATION

13 O my God, make them like a wheel; as the stubble before the wind.

14 As the fire burneth a wood, and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire;

15 So persecute them with thy tempest, and make them afraid with thy storm.

16 Fill their faces with shame; that they may seek thy name, O LORD.

17 Let them be confounded and troubled for ever; yea, let them be put to shame, and perish:

 THE ULTIMATE GOAL: TO ESTABLISH THE SUPREMACY OF JEHOVAH

18 That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth.

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The places you have listed are indeed Muslim areas - they are all in the Middle East. I find the word 'tabernacles' interesting too. A tabernacle is a tent, and to my knowledge apart from a few indigenous peoples around the Globe, Arabs are the only people that still pitch tents to dwell in.

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Psalm 83: Israel, Muslims, and Arabs

This is a popular but misguided teaching these days. Psalm 83 speaks about an event that took place in 485 BC, when the newly-crowned Emperor Xerxes of Persia, dealing with rebellions throughout his empire at the death of Darius, allowed the enemies of the rebellious Jews to punish them for him. (He had more pressing concerns with a rebellion already occurring in his much more important province of Egypt, and a brewing rebellion in Babylon.) Nothing in this Psalm speaks of the events as taking place in the future of Asaph's days; on the contrary, they speak of events that he experienced.

Other Psalms written by Asaph make this clear. In Psalm 74, he wrote:

1  O God, why hast thou cast [us] off for ever? [why] doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture? ... 3 Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; [even] all [that] the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary. ...6 ...they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers. 7 They have cast fire into thy sanctuary, they have defiled [by casting down] the dwelling place of thy name to the ground. 8 They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.

Synagogues/meeting places were an institution begun during the Babylonian captivity, and brought back with Zerubbabel's emigration.

Ps. 80:4 O LORD God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people? 5 Thou feedest them with the bread of tears; and givest them tears to drink in great measure. 6 Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours: and our enemies laugh among themselves.

All of these things are things which Asaph was experiencing, not prophesying about.

The Book of Lamentations, despite its non-biblically-supported attribution to Jeremiah, was probably also written by Asaph, or at least by a contemporary. That book begins,

1:1 How doth the city sit solitary, [that was] full of people! [how] is she become as a widow! she [that was] great among the nations, [and] princess among the provinces, [how] is she become tributary! 2 ...all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become her enemies. ...10 The adversary hath spread out his hand upon all her pleasant things: for she hath seen [that] the heathen entered into her sanctuary, whom thou didst command [that] they should not enter into thy congregation.

The mention of Jerusalem as being "princess among the provinces" denotes this book as being written during the era of the Persian Empire, when Judah was truly a province. During the era of the Babylonian Empire, Judah was a vassal kingdom, never a province. Those among the Jews left in Judah after Nebuchadnezzar carried off captives to Babylon--which captives included all the priests he had not killed -- had plenty of food left for them to harvest. Jer. 40:10 In contrast,

Lam. 4:9 [They that be] slain with the sword are better than [they that be] slain with hunger: for these pine away, stricken through for [want of] the fruits of the field.

Final point of many other possible points of evidence: Lamentations 4:20 reads, "The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the LORD, was taken in their pits, of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the heathen." Now, can you see Jeremiah or anyone of his day calling Zedekiah "the breath of our nostrils"?? Hardly.

This same anointed king, which the Jews had crowned over Judah in defiance of the Persian Emperor, causing him to send his loyal allies against Judah, is also spoken of in Psalm 89, another Psalm of this era:

89:39 Thou hast made void the covenant of thy servant: thou hast profaned his crown [by casting it] to the ground. ... 51 Wherewith thine enemies have reproached, O LORD; wherewith they have reproached the footsteps of thine anointed.

But God did allow this reproach, because the Jews did not have his permission to anoint another king over his people until the coming of the Messiah of the house of David. The Jews had been presumptuous, thinking that the prophecies of Isaiah about a Messiah were to be fulfilled in their day; and God allowed their enemies to spank them.

 

 

 

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This is a popular but misguided teaching these days. Psalm 83 speaks about an event that took place in 485 BC, when the newly-crowned Emperor Xerxes of Persia, dealing with rebellions throughout his empire at the death of Darius, allowed the enemies of the rebellious Jews to punish them

for

him. (He had more pressing concerns with a rebellion already occurring in his much more important province of Egypt, and a brewing rebellion in Babylon.) Nothing in this Psalm speaks of the events as taking place in the future of Asaph's days; on the contrary, they speak of events

that he experienced

. [/quote]

Unless you can provide solid historical confirmation of what you have said, there is no history of Arabs and Muslims coming against Israel to destroy it in 485 B.C.  We should also keep in mind what is stated in verse 18.  That is clearly a future event.

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Xerxes, the enemy of all Heathen temples, having ascended the Medo-Persian throne (485 B. c), confirmed to the Hebrews of Palestine all the privileges granted them by his father, Darius. When he invaded Greece, it is narrated by his contemporary, Cherilus (30), a body of Hebrew warriors was in his army.

Nothing concerning the Hebrews being on record from 515 to 458 BC, it is evident that no events transpired during that time to produce any change or disturbance in the new Hebrew state

.[/quote]

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This is a popular but misguided teaching these days. Psalm 83 speaks about an event that took place in 485 BC, when the newly-crowned Emperor Xerxes of Persia, dealing with rebellions throughout his empire at the death of Darius, allowed the enemies of the rebellious Jews to punish them

for

him. (He had more pressing concerns with a rebellion already occurring in his much more important province of Egypt, and a brewing rebellion in Babylon.) Nothing in this Psalm speaks of the events as taking place in the future of Asaph's days; on the contrary, they speak of events

that he experienced

.

Unless you can provide solid historical confirmation of what you have said, there is no history of Arabs and Muslims coming against Israel to destroy it in 485 B.C.  We should also keep in mind what is stated in verse 18.  That is clearly a future event.

Like duh. Muslims didn't exist in 485 BC, and Ishmaelites and Edomites were not called Arabs back then.

Where is your solid evidence that Psalm 83 prophesies about Muslims and Arabs?  Just your word?

Ps. 83:18 18 That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth.

This is a request of God made by Asaph about his contemporary troubles, not a prophecy.

Regarding historical evidence, all of the verses I quoted are solid historical evidence. Why were priests starving in Jerusalem during the time of Lamentations, and when was that time? Jer. 40:9-10, during the immediate post-Babylonian destruction of 588 BC, reads (did you even bother to look?):

9 And Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, took an oath before them and their men, saying, “Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you. 10 “As for me, I will indeed dwell at Mizpah and serve the Chaldeans who come to us. But you, gather wine and summer fruit and oil, put them in your vessels, and dwell in your cities that you have taken.

-- so obviously, they weren't starving then.

When was it, Ezra, that they "crowned" their "anointed one." Lamentations clearly indicates it was during the Persian reign.

Ezra spoke of the "captivity, pillage, and humiliation" of the Jews of Judah "at the hand of the kings of the lands...as it is this day." Ezra 9:7 Nehemiah wept because Jerusalem's walls had been broken down, its gates burned, and "the remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach;" and later testified to Artaxerxes that Jerusalem "lieth waste." Neh. 1:3; 2:3

Who are the "pagan nations" that the author of Lamentations wrote about -- not one word about Babylon in the whole book -- who plundered Jerusalem and enslaved the Jews, if not the pagan nations of Psalm 83? Tell us if you know, and where this fits in your history.

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Xerxes, the enemy of all Heathen temples, having ascended the Medo-Persian throne (485 B. c), confirmed to the Hebrews of Palestine all the privileges granted them by his father, Darius. When he invaded Greece, it is narrated by his contemporary, Cherilus (30), a body of Hebrew warriors was in his army.

Nothing concerning the Hebrews being on record from 515 to 458 BC, it is evident that no events transpired during that time to produce any change or disturbance in the new Hebrew state

.

 

If you mean nothing from the Persian records, you are correct, because Persian records don't exist for that era, all having been destroyed. The primary records that do exist are biblical, Jewish (primarily Josephus) and Greek, and the latter historians had no reason to concern themselves with the little Persian province of Judah during that time. Therefore, only the biblical records, which are relatively numerous, and include Psalm 83, can tell us much about that time.

Let's look at Ezra 4. The Book of Ezra is a series of documents of events that occurred between 537 BC, when Cyrus sent Jews back to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem, and 457 BC, when Ezra arrived to teach the Law. Ezra 4:1-5 describe the events whereby Zerubbabel and Jeshua were stopped in their attempt to finish the Temple, due to the opposition of non-Jewish residents of the area, who “frustrate[d] their purpose … even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.” The next events in time are recorded in verse 24 and then chapter 5, which concern when the rebuilding program was restarted.

In between verses 5 and 24, two key historical statements are made, which are often overlooked:

1) 4:6 In the reign of Ahasuerus [aka Xerxes, 486/5-465], in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.

2) 4:7 In the reign of Artaxerxes (464-425) also [complaints against the Jews of Judah were made]: 12 ...the Jews who came up from you have come to us at Jerusalem, and are rebuilding the rebellious and evil city... 15 ...search...in the book of the records of your fathers. And you will find that this city is a rebellious city, harmful to kings and provinces, and that they have incited sedition within the city in former times, for which cause this city was destroyed. ...19 ...a search [was] made, and it was found that this city in former times has revolted against kings [plural], and rebellion and sedition has been fostered in it.

Now, the only biblical record of Jerusalem ever revolting against any king before the days of Persia was the revolt against King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. Other than that, the only foreign kings that could be referred to were all Persian. Couple this knowledge with that of the accusation made against the Jews of Jerusalem to Xerxes, and we can see that the most likely time for the plundering of Jerusalem being described in Psalms 74, 79, 80, 83, 89 and the Book of Lamentations would be during “the beginning” of the reign of Xerxes. That is, it took place between Nov. of 486, when Darius died, and spring 485, when the first regnal year of Xerxes commenced. Egypt already had revolted before Darius died, for which cause he had been assembling an army of invasion. And Babylon revolted in ca. 484. Thus it was a prime time for messianic Jews to think that they could secede also, and anoint their own king, the one mentioned in Lam. 4:20 and Ps. 89:38, 55.

In sum, nothing in Psalm 83 denotes that it is prophetic, and a great deal of evidence from the biblical record denotes that it is historical.

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  Quote

Xerxes, the enemy of all Heathen temples, having ascended the Medo-Persian throne (485 B. c), confirmed to the Hebrews of Palestine all the privileges granted them by his father, Darius. When he invaded Greece, it is narrated by his contemporary, Cherilus (30), a body of Hebrew warriors was in his army.

Nothing concerning the Hebrews being on record from 515 to 458 BC, it is evident that no events transpired during that time to produce any change or disturbance in the new Hebrew state

.

If you mean nothing from the Persian records, you are correct, because Persian records don't exist for that era, all having been destroyed. The primary records that do exist are biblical, Jewish (primarily Josephus) and Greek, and the latter historians had no reason to concern themselves with the little Persian province of Judah during that time. Therefore, only the biblical records, which are relatively numerous, and include Psalm 83, can tell us much about that time.

Let's look at Ezra 4. The Book of Ezra is a series of documents of events that occurred between 537 BC, when Cyrus sent Jews back to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem, and 457 BC, when Ezra arrived to teach the Law. Ezra 4:1-5 describe the events whereby Zerubbabel and Jeshua were stopped in their attempt to finish the Temple, due to the opposition of non-Jewish residents of the area, who “frustrate[d] their purpose … even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.” The next events in time are recorded in verse 24 and then chapter 5, which concern when the rebuilding program was restarted.

In between verses 5 and 24, two key historical statements are made, which are often overlooked:

1) 4:6 In the reign of Ahasuerus [aka Xerxes, 486/5-465], in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.

2) 4:7 In the reign of Artaxerxes (464-425) also [complaints against the Jews of Judah were made]: 12 ...the Jews who came up from you have come to us at Jerusalem, and are rebuilding the rebellious and evil city... 15 ...search...in the book of the records of your fathers. And you will find that this city is a rebellious city, harmful to kings and provinces, and that they have incited sedition within the city in former times, for which cause this city was destroyed. ...19 ...a search [was] made, and it was found that this city in former times has revolted against kings [plural], and rebellion and sedition has been fostered in it.

Now, the only biblical record of Jerusalem ever revolting against any king before the days of Persia was the revolt against King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. Other than that, the only foreign kings that could be referred to were all Persian. Couple this knowledge with that of the accusation made against the Jews of Jerusalem to Xerxes, and we can see that the most likely time for the plundering of Jerusalem being described in Psalms 74, 79, 80, 83, 89 and the Book of Lamentations would be during “the beginning” of the reign of Xerxes. That is, it took place between Nov. of 486, when Darius died, and spring 485, when the first regnal year of Xerxes commenced. Egypt already had revolted before Darius died, for which cause he had been assembling an army of invasion. And Babylon revolted in ca. 484. Thus it was a prime time for messianic Jews to think that they could secede also, and anoint their own king, the one mentioned in Lam. 4:20 and Ps. 89:38, 55.

In sum, nothing in Psalm 83 denotes that it is prophetic, and a great deal of evidence from the biblical record denotes that it is historical.

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