Several prominent prophecy ministers are teaching a soon coming ME war based on Psalm 83. They say it will be a war won by Israel that will devastate Israel’s surrounding neighbors. And, supposedly, it will be a stand alone war, prior to the final conflict of Ezekiel 38 &39. If that is true, then we certainly need to be watching for it in the very near future. But, is it what the Psalm declares ? Here is the text of Psalm 83; Psalms 83 | NIV Bible | YouVersion
Let’s analyze this Psalm. First, who is the author, Asaph? Asaph was the Temple Musician/song writer during the time of David and Solomon. He is credited as the author of 12 Psalms, with 83 being the last. While many Psalms are prophetic in nature, the focus of this Psalm is prayer. Specifically, prayer to God for protection of God’s people from the enemies that surround Israel. These enemies are listed in verses 6-8. Notice what the Psalmist says about what they are plotting; They “make a tumult‘, they have “lifted up their head“, they have “taken crafty counsel against your people“, they have “consulted together” they have said “let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more“, they have consulted together with one consent“, they “form a confederacy against you“. (Psalm 83:2-5). Sound familiar ? Following is a map of these nations and their modern day counterparts;
During the time of Asaph’s ministry, these nations were not much of a threat, so, perhaps Asaph wanted this song sung by the Israelites as an ongoing prayer to prevent a future threat. There are no biblical accounts of a decisive war against these particular nations all at the same time. But, there is one that comes close in our modern era. The 1967 war. Against incredible odds, Israel fought against the combined militaries of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon. the PLO, and the Saudi air force. It was a miraculous victory for Israel giving her control of the Golan, Gaza, the West Bank, the Sinai peninsula, and Jerusalem including the temple mount. It was a relatively short war that included all the modern counterparts of Israel’s enemies listed in Psalm 83. Might this have been the object and fulfillment of Asaph’s prayer ? It is certainly an obvious candidate. However, there may be another fulfillment in our near future.
As I write this, Israel has just ended an aerial conflict with Hamas on its southern border involving thousands of missiles fired from Gaza. Hamas is an Iranian military proxy devoted to the destruction of Israel. Hamas is not the only Iranian proxy so inclined. To the north is Hezbollah in Lebanon and Shiite militias in Syria. To the east are Iraqi Shiite militias and Iran itself. To the south are the well armed Houthi Shiites, another Iranian proxy. They are all “consulting together to cut Israel off from being a nation”. I think this looming situation may be a focus of Asaph’s prayer. A war between Israel and Iran’s proxies seems imminent. I think this Gaza war was Iran testing Israel’s capabilities. Iran will probably coordinate a massive attack by her proxies in the near future. If the prayer of Psalm 83 is answered, these proxies will be totally destroyed.
So, to sum up, Psalm 83 is primarily a prayer that likely was answered in 1967, with a future 2nd fulfillment imminent between Israel and limited to Iran’s militant Islamic proxies. We can have a part in the outcome of that. When you read Psalm 83, quote it as a prayer to God for the safety and peace of Israel.
Maranatha, Jim