Do to them as You did to Midian, as to Sisera and Jabin at the River Kishon,
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
Do unto them as unto the Midianites. Faith delights to light upon precedents, and quote them before the Lord; in the present instance, Asaph found a very appropriate one, for the nations in both cases were very much the same, and the plight of the Israelites very similar.
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