Psalm 83: A prayer song for secret believers and their hero Gideon – hidden to reveal God as High and Separated

1: A melody for the song of Gatherer (Asaph).

 

Go, Not-Silent (singular) – God (plural)

You do not silence us

And God, You do not quieten down.

 

2: Because, behold, Your enemies roar.

And your haters raised up their heads.

3: They cause crafty counsel against your people and make advice (guidelines) for your hidden ones (secret believers like Gideon – the Feller, the Warrior – who was scared to “come out”?).

4: They said, Come and make them hide (disappear?) from an unbelieving nation.

5: They were one-heart (wholeheartedly) advised to cut a covenant against you.

6: The tents of the Reds (Edom) and Those-whom-God-hears (Ishmaelites) and From-Father (Moab) and From-Hagar (Hagarim), territories (Gebal is south of Dead Sea), Those-With (Ammon is east Jordan) and Of-Labourer (Amalek), Rollers-In (Phlesheth – Palestininans) with inhabiters of Tsor (Tyre).

8: Also Steppers (Ashur) were joined with the people – they had been strength to the sons of embracers (Lot).

Pause and think about that!

 

9: Make them like Midyan, like Sisera, like Yabeen (Jabin – the discerner – a king whose wife Yael (Canaanite, mountain goat) killed Sisera) in the brook of baiting (Kishon) –

10: the dung of the land at spring of dwelling (En-Dor) were exterminated (Judges 4:16,21).

11: Set up their nobles like the Eveningers (Orev) and like Wolf (Zeev) and like Slaughter-Sacrifice (Zabak) and like Photo (Zalmunna – image) (men from Ephraim mountain come down and capture and kill 2 Midyan princes – Orev and Zeev – after the Midyan army suffers collateral damage(!) and defeat. Judges 7:25.

Gideon defeats another secure Midyan army camp with a pre-emptive attack and captures and then kills 2 leaders – Zabach and Zalmunna Judges 8:21).

All their molten images

12: who said, “We are inheriting The Pleasant Land of God”,

13: set them up, my God, like a whirlwind of chaff in the face of a wind.

14: Like wood burns in a fire, the mountains blaze with flames.

15: So pursue them in your tempest and terrify them with your storm. 

16: Fill their faces with shame. And they will seek your name, Yehoweh.

17: They are being shamed and dismayed forever and ever.

They are being ashamed and are dying.

18: And they are finding out that your name is Yehoweh, Separated and High over all the earth.

 

Prayer:

Shame, dismay and extermination come upon those who hate you and rise up against You and the secret believers in their nations. Gideon kept faith with You in secret, and You used them to launch preemptive attacks to terrify the haters and rebellious. You used Gideon to simulate an attack which caused panic and the enemy killed themselves in confusion and collateral damage. You used supportive foreign king’s wives (Yabin’s wife Yael) and whisked away enemies of secret believers in the whirlwind of Your Spirit. And the enemy, the nay-sayers amongst the believers (Succoth and Penuel were skeptical of supporting Gideon) and secret believers discover Your Name is High and Separated.

Hallelujah.