Psalm 83: Fates Worse Than Death
Eternal shame, not carnage
Reading Psalm 83 reminded me of Psalm 13.
The psalmist in 83:2 beseeches God to not be silent, or speechless. The psalmist in 13:2 prays to God not to hide his face, and not to ignore him.
The psalmist in 83:3 refers to “your enemies”, like he is begging God to stand up for himself. The psalmist in 13:5 talks about “my enemies”.
The psalmist in 83:6 talks about a covenant of God’s enemies. The psalmist in 13:5 talks about his enemies celebrating, possibly together.
That is where the similarities end. Psalm 13 is psychological, and Psalm 83 is historiographical. Psalm 13 has faith, Psalm 83 relies on a history lesson of Biblical encounters between the Israelites and their enemies.
What is interesting though, is what the psalmist prays for in Psalm 83. Other psalms (see Psalm 58) have literally requested bloody carnage; Psalm 83's ultimate request is for psychological punishments. We see the psalmist asking for “disgrace” (83:17), “shame” and “anxiety” (83:18); that they should be ashamed forever, not physically destroyed.
We colloquially say “I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemies”. It is fascinating the psalmist felt that shame, disgrace and constant anxiety might be fates worse than death and utter destruction. Psalms 13 and 83 don’t contradict each other: only a person like the one who wrote Psalm 13 could imagine the ultimate punishments of Psalm 83.