As fire consumes a forest, as a flame sets the mountains ablaze,
This psalm was written when King Jehoshaphat faced a dreadful confederacy of enemies, not only Ammonites and Moabites, but forces mustered from Syria and distant lands that nearly overwhelmed Judah. The poet enumerates these many nations to show how urgent the prayer for God's aid must be, and to stir us to greater confidence that He will defend His Church against all who conspire to extinguish it.
AI summary
Commenting on Psalm 83:1-18
As the fire burneth a wood. Long years have strewn the ground with deep deposits of leaves; these being dried in the sun are very apt to take fire, and when they do so the burning in terrific. The underwood and the ferns blaze, the bushes crackle, the great trees kindle and to their very tops are wrapped in fire, while the ground is all red as a furnace.
Let the enemy's fate be what befell Midian, Sisera, and Jabin: total rout. God is unchanging toward His people and unchanged against their foes. The Midianites were routed by their own terror more than by Gideon's three hundred; Sisera's army became as dung on the earth. So shall these confederates perish, and Israel be preserved.
AI summary
Commenting on Psalm 83:9-18