Please explain Psalm 83:18.
Listen: 127.5
Psalm 83 is a psalm of David’s frustration. The Lord’s enemies were rising up and joining together to destroy the Lord’s people. King David wrote in Psalms 83:1-2, “Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God. For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head.” The first eight verses of this psalm is David speaking of this confederacy of the Lord’s enemies against Israel. Verses 9-18 are where David asks the Lord to destroy His enemies. We read in Psalms 83:9-10where David writes, “Do unto them as unto the Midianites; as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the brook of Kison: Which perished at Endor: they became as dung for the earth.”
The psalm ends with David desiring the Lord to exalt Himself so that all might see His great person and power. Psalms 83:17-18says, “Let them be confounded and troubled for ever; yea, let them be put to shame, and perish: That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth.” David considered that if the Lord’s enemies heard of His spectacular actions in defeating such a great confederacy, the very heathen would be forced to acknowledge the greatness of Jehovah.
There is an incredible account in 2 Chronicles, chapter twenty where the Moabites and Ammonites came against the nation of Judah. Jehoshaphat was the king in those days. Jehoshaphat realized how defenseless they were against these enemies. We read part of his prayer to the Lord in 2 Chronicles 20:12 where he prayed, “O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee.” The Lord assured His people of victory in the coming battle. We read in 2 Chronicles 20:17, “Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you.” The result of the great victory was that even the Lord’s enemies realized that He was the only true God as we read in 2 Chronicles 20:29-30, “And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries, when they had heard that the LORD fought against the enemies of Israel. So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet: for his God gave him rest round about.”
David’s desire in Psalm 83 was that all might know that there was only one God who is the Most High over all the earth. He wanted all to see that Jehovah was the one true God. Listen to the words of the Lord in Isaiah 42:8, “I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.” We also have the words of the Lord in Isaiah 45:5-6, “I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.”
There is none else. May we realize this great truth in a very practical way. In today’s society, we hear of many gods. Some seem to think that as long as you are sincere in your beliefs it doesn’t matter who you believe in. Men today give credibility and respect to all the so-called gods in the various religions. As believers on the Lord Jesus Christ, we must be insistent upon the fact that there is only one true God. Let’s read 1 Timothy 1:17in the New American Standard version, which is a little more accurate than the KJV here. That says, “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.” The KJV here says that the Lord is the “only wise God”, but in truth, He is the “only God” as most other versions put it. (127.5)