O God, Do Not Keep Silence

Order of Service

• Scripture Reading — Psalm 83
• Sermon
• Pastoral Prayer

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Sermon Title: O God, Do Not Keep Silence

Scripture: Psalm 83

I. The Encircling of the Enemy

A. Ten nations form a coalition seeking the total annihilation and extinction of Israel

• The Edomites (descendants of Esau) and the Ishmaelites (descendants of Ishmael) are notably the first two listed — both closely related to the covenant line but not chosen, now seeking to destroy the chosen people
• Psalm 83:4 captures the threat: "Come, let us wipe them out as a nation; let the name of Israel be remembered no more"

B. The historical situation is uncertain, but a possible background is found in 2 Chronicles 20

• Moabites, Ammonites, and Meunites come against Jehoshaphat
• Jahaziel, a descendant of Asaph, prophesies deliverance: "The battle is not yours, but God's" (2 Chronicles 20:15)
• Not all ten nations of Psalm 83 appear in 2 Chronicles 20, so this may be a heightened, more general expression of Israel's perpetual vulnerability

C. This threat reflects the broader redemptive-historical pattern of Genesis 3:15 — enmity between the offspring of the serpent and the offspring of the woman

1. The seed of Satan repeatedly seeks to destroy the covenant people through whom the Messiah will come
2. Parallel examples in Scripture: Noah and the flood (Genesis 5–6), the killing of Hebrew infant boys in Exodus, Haman's plot in Esther
3. The genealogy of Matthew 1 traces the Messianic line through Abraham, showing Israel as the womb from which the Messiah comes — and that womb is repeatedly threatened
4. Even at the cross, otherwise hostile parties (Pharisees, Sadducees, and Rome) form an unlikely alliance against Christ, echoing the covenant of the nations in Psalm 83:5

II. The Call for God to Act as Before

A. Asaph appeals to two primary past victories as the basis for his plea

B. First victory: the defeat of Midian under Gideon (Judges 6–8)

• Oreb, Zeeb, Zebah, and Zalmunna were Midianite rulers destroyed in this campaign (Psalm 83:11)
• God reduced Gideon's army from 10,000 to 300 so that the victory would be unmistakably his

C. Second victory: the defeat of Sisera under Deborah and Barak (Judges 4–5)

• Sisera was the commander of the Canaanite king Jabin's army
• Barak refused to go without Deborah — a moment of cowardice
• Sisera was ultimately killed by Jael, a woman, who drove a tent peg through his skull — shameful by ancient Near Eastern standards
• Deborah showed more courage than Barak; Sisera was destroyed by a woman

D. The pattern of both victories: God brings victory over strong armies through weakness

• The God of the 300; the God of Jael
• As new covenant Christians, we call on the God of Jesus Christ, who faced the entire world at the cross — Rome and the Jewish nation united against him — and rose three days later
• Psalm 83 is a psalm for the church to recite in seasons of intense persecution, spiritual dryness, or apparent faithlessness

III. The Prayer of Faith

A. The imprecatory character of the psalm must be understood rightly

• Imprecatory psalms call on God to curse his enemies
• The enemies here are first and foremost God's enemies — Psalm 83:2: "your enemies"; Psalm 83:3: "your people, your treasured ones"; Psalm 83:5: "against you they make a covenant"
• This is not a call for God to curse those who merely hurt our feelings; it is a jealous call for God to defend his own honor and covenant name
• Similar to Moses interceding for Israel by appealing to what the nations would say about Yahweh if he destroyed his own people

B. Asaph prays boldly as a sinner who nonetheless owns the covenant promises of God

• Faith in bleak situations means storming the throne of grace, claiming God's promises, rather than retreating into doubt ("Maybe God doesn't love me")
• Doubting God's love offends him more than coming boldly in faith with his own sworn promises

C. The imprecatory prayer also contains a redemptive purpose — Psalm 83:16, 18: "Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek your name… that they may know that you alone, whose name is the Lord, are the Most High"

1. Judgment is called down so that the nations might recognize Yahweh as the true God
2. This mirrors the structure of Isaiah: 66 chapters of judgment giving way to salvation
3. It mirrors John 12 — Christ lifted up on the cross in judgment draws all peoples to himself; imprecation gives way to salvation
4. In a fallen world with a just God, justice is inseparable from salvation

D. Lack of imprecation can ironically be a lack of mercy

• Romans 1 describes God's wrath as giving people over to their sin — leaving them comfortable in evil
• Praying for judgment and conviction is asking God not to leave the wicked comfortable in their sin, but to wake them up — as the prodigal son came to himself
• Calling down sorrow and heartache on the unrepentant, that they might call on the name of the Lord, is an act of mercy