March 24, 2017: Day 83 – Psalm 83

For some reason this song comes to mind when I read this Psalm.  

I think it is because this Psalm is a walk down memory lane of when God came to the rescue of Israel against some of the fiercest foes.  You notice that the author does describe and call out by name those enemies.  I hope you also noticed that there were 10 enemies which are listed.  The number 10 is not one of those numbers that is used consistently in Scripture like 12 or 3 or 7, but it is one that is used often enough for us to know that it basically represents all of the enemies of Israel.  

So when we get to vs.13 we know that when he says: “Make them like whirling dust”, we know that he means all of the nations when he says “them”.  Some of the victories described in this psalm are some of the greatest victories that Israel ever had.  What are some of the greatest victories that we may have had as a nation?  When we talk about D-Day, we know that it set the path for a victory in WWII, but do we remember the slaughter that took place where so many of our troops were decimated?  The Psalmist certainly lifts that up as a reality which they faced even with the victories which are recounted.