¹O God, do not remain quiet; do not be silent and, O God, do not be still. ^2aFor behold, Your enemies … ¹⁷Let them be ashamed and dismayed forever, and let them be humiliated and perish, ¹⁸that they may know that You alone, whose name is the Lord, are the Most High over all the earth.

God’s ultimate purpose is not to destroy evil people. But He is determined to bring severe consequences, if necessary, to open their eyes and hearts to Himself, that they might humbly submit to the sovereign God who created them. That is what this final psalm from the guild of Asaph teaches us. Yet, as mere humans going through time on this earth, we don’t always see this purpose played out as we would like. We want God to act more quickly, so we resonate with the psalmist’s plea, “O God, do not remain quiet.” We see this psalm echoed in the words of the apostle Peter:

The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)

This psalm reflects a time when Israel was oppressed and attacked on all sides. The writer speaks of Israel’s enemies as God’s enemies, for any enemy of Israel is an enemy of Him. While those enemies “make an uproar” against Israel (vs. 2), the call is for God not to remain silent but to speak to their expressed hatred. Indeed, we read elsewhere: “The voice of the Lord is powerful, the voice of the Lord is majestic” (Ps. 29:4). God’s active voice comes as a response to the vicious voice of the enemy:

They have said, “Come, and let us wipe them out as a nation, That the name of Israel be remembered no more.” For they have conspired together with one mind; against You they make a covenant … (Vs. 4–5)

This conspiracy, sadly, involved people groups related to Israel. The Moabites and Ammonites were descendants of Abraham’s nephew Lot through his two sons, Moab and Ammon. The Ishmaelites descended from their namesake, Ismael, who was the son of Abraham by the maidservant and who was also the half-brother of Isaac. The Edomites were descendants of Esau, the brother of Jacob. While God had always instructed Israel not to initiate fighting against these people groups because of their familial connections, we find them conspiring together with the Philistines, Assyrians, and other nations against Israel. All these nations intended to completely wipe Israel out of the land and out of existence altogether.

So, the psalmist’s request was for God to treat them as Israel’s enemies in the past, recalling the victories during the time of Gideon against the Midianites (vs. 9a, see Judges 7) and Deborah and Barak against the Canaanite king Jabin and Sisera his commander (vs. 9b, see Judges 4). These enemies wanted to invade and take over Israel’s land (vs. 12), but the Lord gave Israel victory over all of them. Therefore, the psalmist’s plea is for God to do the same for the present generation of Jews.

The psalm then describes, in picturesque terms, the destruction he envisions against the present enemies of God, that they would be blown away like dust and chaff, the flimsy shell of wheat grain separated out during threshing (vs. 13). May they be like scorched earth after a forest fire or an utterly destructive storm (vs. 14-15). In other words, let them be completely destroyed as an appropriate consequence of their desire to destroy the people of God with complete dishonor and shame (vs. 16a)

However, lest we assign this psalm to the trash bin of merciless vindictiveness, the writer reveals his insight into God’s ultimate desire and prays accordingly. The psalmist desires that those enemies of God will come to recognize they are fighting not against Israel only but against God, the creator of the universe. Their dishonor, shame, and humiliation strike at the core of human pride, that which exalts a person against God. We see this exemplified in the prophecy of the prophet against the king of Tyre, one of the conspiring nations:

Thus says the Lord God, “Because your heart is lifted up and you have said, ‘I am a god, I sit in the seat of gods in the heart of the seas’; Yet you are a man and not God, although you make your heart like the heart of God,” (Ezekiel 28:2)

Because we are all made in His image, God desires that we recognize His sovereignty and humbly worship Him in complete submission. The NT provides us with clear revelation, with the Lord Jesus Christ as the focus:

God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Phil 2:9–11)

Lord, when I am being oppressed, help me see Your purpose in judging their arrogance and pride. Bring them, O Lord, to the same humble repentance as You have done in my life.