C (3:59)

Asaph was a prophet, we're told in 2nd Chronicles 29:30. Moreover, the king Hezekiah and the leaders commanded the Levites to sing praises to the Lord with the words of David and Asaph the seer. Chozah is the Hebrew word. It means beholder of vision. It means a prophet like Ezekiel and Jeremiah. Also, we're told in 1 Chronicles 25:2 the sons of Asaph were under the direction of Asaph, who prophesied according to the order of the king. So he was a prophet. And it's two most prophetic Psalms is Psalm 50, but most prophetic is Psalm 83.

A (4:32)

Moreover, Asaph the prophet is quoted in the New Testament. Psalm 78 is quoted in Matthew chapter 13. Psalm 78 starts with my people, hear my teaching, listen to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth with a parable. I will utter hidden things, things from of old. That's quoted in Matthew 13 verses 34, 35, or where it says Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables. He did not say anything to them without using a parable. So it was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet. I will open my mouth in parables I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world. So the fact that several of the Psalms are prophetic and that Asaph himself was also a prophet has like credence to the likelihood that Psalm 83 is a prophecy. Let's take a look at the role of Assyria inside of the Psalm 83 Confederacy. We're told in verse eight that Assyria has also joined with them. They have helped the children of Lot. Some translations say they're allied with or reinforced or strong arm for, or they are come to the aid of the children of Lot, who would be Moab and Ammon, which is modern day Jordan. Assyria at the time would have comprised modern day northern Syria and northern Iraq. But the fact that you have one member of the Confederacy actively helping another member of the Confederacy strongly mitigates against it simply being a prayer and strongly favors the fact that it is a future war prophecy Even as far back as the 1800s, theologians were grappling with this question, Is this just a prayer or could this be a prophecy? One of those who addressed this was John Peter Lang, a German respected German theologian who authored the Lang Commentary on the Holy Scripture. It was published in 1877. He says in regarding Psalm 83 the following with regard to the time of composition, the following difficulty meets us. The 10 nations who are here enumerated as being combined against Israel are never mentioned elsewhere as enemies allied at the same time and for the purpose of annihilating Israel. And here's where he talks about Assyria's role. And yet the expressions are of such a nature that we cannot be inclined to consider this enumeration as only a poetical individualizing of the general idea. Enemies on from all sides, which he quotes DeWitt and Hempfield the position of Assyria as an auxiliary of the sons of Lot, that is The Moabites and Ammonites, and is especially unfavorable to this view, unfavorable to the view that it's simply a prayer. So he picked up on the same argument that this has to be a prophecy. And as far back as in 1800s next on the list of objections is some teach that it's only a lament prayer. Psalm 83 is only a lament prayer. And some even go so far as to say lament prayers are never prophetic. I've written an article at our website prophecydepot.com entitled why Psalm 83 is a Prayer and a Future War Prophecy. And indeed it is a prayer, but it's also a prophecy. Here's an excerpt from that article. Psalm 83 is both a lament and imprecatory psalm. It expresses sorrow, which is the lament aspect, and requests divine judgment, which is the imprecation aspect of the psalm.

D (8:04)

Let me just say that Bill has talked about Psalm 83 as an imprecatory prayer. In other words, Asaph is praying that God will fend off this particular list of enemies. And in fact it is an imprecatory prayer. But it's also a prophecy because this group of people is very much a contemporary group of people.

A (8:31)

Now I want to draw your attention to another article at our website, prophecy depot.com this one's entitled with somebody three historically fulfilled and second chronicles 20 this article came about in response to some teachings that Bible scholar Don Stewart had shared on Pastor Tom Hughes show hope for our times, whereby he taught the Psalm 83 is merely a lament prayer and that lament prayers are never prophetic. And therefore he concluded that Psalm 83 hadn't been historically fulfilled. In the second Chronicles 20 account, Adan graciously issued an invitation for people to respond to his teaching. I took him up on that and therefore wrote this article. The reason I bring it to your attention is because inside of this article where four of the objections are addressed and answered. So the four objections addressed in this article are highlighted in yellow. You see them there. It's only a lament prayer and that lament prayers are never prophetic. The people groups don't exist anymore. It was fulfilled historically in 2nd Chronicles 20. There's no prophetic language indicating its prophetic meaning. Psalm 83 being prophetic. Let's take a look at some of the excerpts. We'll start with the first one. Is it true? Is every lament psalm or imprecatory psalm throughout the entire book of Psalms never about the future? The question then is, what about Psalm 102? Here's what it says in Psalm 102. It says the prayer of an oppressed man as he grows faint and pours out his lament before the Lord. Oh Lord, hear my prayer. Pay attention to my cry for help. The nations will respect the reputation of the Lord, and the kings of the earth will respect his splendor. When the Lord reveals Zion and reveals his splendor. The new King James Versions puts it this way, verse 16 of Psalm 102 for the Lord shall build up Zion, and he shall appear in his glory now that the Lord appears in his glory, Jesus Christ at the Second Coming. So we see there's clearly a future event in this lament Psalm. It's just one example. Okay, so let's now address the objection that the people groups don't exist anymore. This argument stresses that the 73 people groups no longer exist. They've been long forgotten, written off in history. You won't find any more Ammonites, Moabites, or Edomites, but the only lights you'll find in modern day would be the megabytes, gigabytes, and termites. My response to this argument is as follows. It must be pointed out that in Ezekiel 38 we read about the ancient lands of Magog, Meshech, Tubal, Gomer, Beth, Togarma, Sheba, Didan, Tarshish, etc. The question is, do these historic people groups and nations in Ezekiel 38 exist today somewhere on earth? Or have they also been lost like supposedly the ones in Psalm 83? How can the prophecies in Ezekiel 38 be talking about the future events if these distinct people groups and nations do not exist anymore? Ezekiel, like the other prophets, used ancient territorial names that the people of the time were acquainted with. However, in Ezekiel's case, none of these names can be found on modern day maps. Although the names of these terrestrial locations have changed at various points in history, the geographical territory remains unchanged. It remains unchanged and it is the geographical territory that is the subject of our focus in Psalm 83 and Ezekiel 38. Okay, let's return back to this article to address the next objection, which is was Psalm 83 historically fulfilled in 2nd Chronicles 20? Now I give many reasons inside the article why I don't believe it was fulfilled at that time. For the sake of this video, we'll just share the top three. Number one Israel is the subject of Psalm 83 and Judah is the subject of Second Chronicles 20. If you recall Israel, the goal of the Confederacy of Psalm 83 is to destroy the Jewish state so that the name of Israel may be remembered no more. So look at that 1/2 Chronicles 20 the battle belongs entirely to the Lord versus the IDF is involved in Psalm 83. We've shared that in prior episodes. Israeli defense forces existing and fulfilling the biblical prophecies towards that end. And then the last one I'll share is the Psalm 83 absentees from Second Chronicles 20. There's 10 people groups in Psalm 83. You find there's far less. And the war of Second Chronicles 20 of King Jehoshaphat okay, let's take a look at the top one. Israel and Psalm 83 vs Judah and 2nd Chronicles 20 at the time 2nd Chronicles 20 took place, we read the events described took place during the reign of King Jehoshaphat of Judah, which occurred around the years 873 to 848 BC. At that time Israel was a divided kingdom. The split happened about 930 BC after the death of King Solomon. So before the war of 2nd Chronicles 20 took place, there was the northern kingdom of called Israel or Samaria and a southern kingdom called Judah. And this was entirely confined to the kingdom of the southern Kingdom of Judah. So that's one argument right there. So to clarify, at that time, the Israel of that day only occupied the northern part of what is modern day Israel today. But if somebody's read a future war prophecy, the Arabs want to destroy not just that northern part, but the entire Jewish state because it's no longer a divided kingdom. Let's move on to the next one here, the second Chronicles 20. That battle belongs exclusively to the Lord versus in Psalm 83 we find the Israeli Defense Forces involved. Here's a couple verses to clarify that. He said, this is in 2nd Chronicles 20, verses 15. He said, Pay attention all you people of Judah, residents of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat. This is what the Lord says to you. Don't be afraid and don't panic because of this huge army, for the battle is not yours but God's. Goes on to say in verse 17, you will not fight in this battle. Take your position. Stand and watch the Lord deliver you. O Judah and Jerusalem. Don't be afraid and don't panic. Tomorrow march out towards them. The Lord is with you. Another one, verse 22:23, says, when they began to shout and praise, the Lord suddenly attacked the Ammonites, Moabites and men from Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated. The Ammonites and Moabites attacked the men from Mount Seir and annihilated them. When they had finished off the men of Mount Seir, they attacked and destroyed one another. So we discover in 2nd Chronicles 20 that that battle belonged exclusively to the Lord versus the Israeli Defense Forces. Involvement in Psalm 83. Now in episode 4, I showed this screen here involving the Israeli Defense Forces and the correlating or peripheral prophecies related to Psalm 83. You see the wars on the left side with supporting Scriptures on the right. You take a screenshot of that and study them on your own. But you have the idea. Versus Lebanon, the Arab neighbors, Syria, Palestinians, Gaza, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia. So we see distinct differences between the way. The way the wars were waged between 2nd Chronicles 20 historically and Psalm 83 in the future. Now let's take a look at the Psalm 83 absentees, those Insomnia 3 that are missing from the Confederacy in Second Chronicles 20. We've established clearly throughout this video series the ten distinct feeble groups that form the Confederacy of Psalm 83. You see them by their ancient names on the left and their modern day equivalents on the right. The tents of Edom, Ishmaelites, Moab, Hagerines, Babal Ammon, Amalek, Felicia, Tyre, Assyria. When you look at the confederates involved in 2nd Chronicles 20, you did have Edom, he had Moab, and had Ammon, and Syria, and even had Munites who have not even listened to Psalm 83. But missing between the two accounts are the Ishmaelites, the Haines, Gabal, Amalek, Felicia, and the inhabitants of Tyre. So there's another argument that this these are two distinctly different accounts. Okay, let's take on the objection that there's no prophetic language indicating it's prophetic. My good friend and Bible scholar Mano Gonzalez of Prophecy Watchers TV recently wrote an article entitled Is a Psalm 83 being fulfilled? Is Psalm 83 a prophecy? In the article he addresses this objection and here's what Mondo says. Others have objected to Psalm 83 being a prophecy by demanding that for it to be prophetic, it must say, contain complete details of a beginning and ending. For many, it also must mention the latter days or have thorough results of war. These are all assumptions, and many passages have full accounts. But this is not a requirement for prophetic material, and the lack of these items does not negate prophetic material outright. So let's talk about the view that Psalm 83 was fulfilled in the 1948 Arab Israeli War. Now, admittedly, the 10 populations identified in Psalm 83 reared their ugly heads up in that 1948 war, but this is a relatively recent view became more popularized over the last 10 years. So I was kind of puzzled by this people starting to advocate at this point in time and not, you know, decades ago when Israel became a Nation in 1948, it was if it found fulfillment at that time. So I wrote this in 2020, had to ask this question of those who advocated it was fulfilled in 1948. And here's what I wrote. Some claim that the Psalm 83 prophecy was fulfilled in the Arab Israeli War of 1948. If so, why was there no specific teaching about this prophecy? They recognized the rebirth of Israel as a fulfilled prophecy, but for 60 years they never acknowledged Psalm 83. Finally, in 2008, after I introduced Psalm 83 in my book entitled His Rallis Sign, they began teaching about this psalm. Thus, for over six decades, the top Bible prophecy experts had vastly overlooked this prophecy. And then, when confronted with the possibility that it could be speaking of a future war prophecy that is yet to be fulfilled, they were caused to take a closer look at the psalm and quickly read and find out in the first eight verses that a group of Arab nations were going to confederate someday to destroy the nation of Israel. And then when they looked at verses six through eight, you could find out by the historic names of the belligerents in the confederacy, the Edomites and Israelites and Moabites, etc. That these are actually the people groups and the modern day equivalents that went to war in 1948. The problem Hussein was fulfilled entirely at that time is that there's 18 verses, not just eight that have to be looked at. And verses nine through 18 are very powerful. Asaph of the Thomas is petitioning God as to what to do with this belligerent Arab confederacy as a result of that failed Arab war in 1948. He had emerged on the scene, the lead player, identified first in this confederacy the tents of Edom. Here's a picture of them as tent dwellers as the casualty of that war. This is a refugee camp in Jordan in 1949. Now the Edomites have ethnical representation in the Palestinians today. So when they became 10 dwellers, that's when in my estimation, this psalm prophecy could start to find its final fulfillment. But it was not fulfilled in its entirety in 1948. So let's look at verses 9 through 18 to get a better handle on how the psalm can find final fulfillment, what requirements it's going to take, and

C (21:34)

then it says, and what's really critically important and why I tell people I don't believe it happened in 1948 because those countries I just mentioned did come against Israel in 1948. That's why some people think, well, it was finally fulfilled there. But there's another, there's verses 9 through 18 that had to be rectified as well, actually 6 through 18. And Asaph petitions God how he wants them to deal with him. Why don't you read if you can,

A (21:58)

Psalm 83, 9, 12.

D (22:00)

Well, verses 9 through 12 says, and again, this is Asaph talking. Do unto them as unto the Midianites, as to Sisera, as to Javin. At the brook of Kishon, which perished at Endor, they became as dung for the earth, make their nobles like Horeb and Zeb and their princes, as Zebah and Zalmunna, who said, let us take ourselves the houses of God in possession. In other words, these enemies tried to take everything Israel had, including Israel's house of God. And Asaph is saying, these men were all defeated. Please God, repeat what you did against these people who tried to take everything we have.

C (22:46)

That's right. And then when the time asaph wrote around 3,000 years ago, you know, he, of course, they had in their history. The Lord intervened and parted the red seas and took out the Egyptians. But from that time between the Exodus to Asaph's time with King David, he had these, the Books of Judges. You had these actual wars where the Israeli Defense Forces were involved. So he takes our attention back to Midian and Sisera. Well, now you're dealing with the Midianites, Gideon and his 300 Men Army.

A (23:14)

So you go back to the Book

C (23:15)

of Judges, chapters four through eight, and you get the history of what Asaph's trying to do, draw our attention to Gideon with his 300 men army. The Midianites had oppressed the Jews for seven years. Gideon was told that that oppression is going to stop. And so he took his 300 men

A (23:30)

with the help of the tribe of

C (23:30)

Ephraim, and they killed 120,000 Midianites. They killed Oreb and Zeeb and Zalmunna. These are the princes and the kings. They took them all out, the infantry, the kings, the leaders. And the Midianites never oppressed the Jews again. Now the Arabs, right now, they came back against the Jews in 1967. So it didn't end in 1948. They still oppressed the Jews in 67, 1973, they're still oppressing the Jews right now. Syria is at war with them. Hezbollah has got missiles pointed at them, Hamas as well, and also the Book of Judges. You talk about when he talked about Jabin and Sisera, the Canaanites. Jabin was the Canaanite king. They had oppressed the Jews for 20 years. And the prophetess Deborah got her general Barak to go defeat the Canaanites, and they never oppressed the Jews again. So what Asaph is saying here is that God deal with them through empowering the Israeli Defense Forces, that they would win a war, take out the infantry, the leaders and everyone so that they could never oppress them again. And if you go through the rest of the verses, and I won't, we'll just summarize it. He goes on and says, make them like whirling dust, chaff before the wind, stubble like burning wood, blazing mountain fire like the tempest before the storm. And I think if you read verse 17 and 18, we'll conclude it with that to say, this is why this is not well.

D (24:45)

And again, this is the conclusion of the imprecatory prayer. And it concludes, by the way, with the name Jehovah, all caps in the King James Bible. That is the name of God. Let them be confounded and troubled. Forever. 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.

C (25:13)

What a captor. So who's he talking about?

A (25:15)

He's saying, let them.

C (25:16)

Let them be the whirling dust of chat before the wind. Deal with them like he did with the Book of Judges, with the Midianites and the Canaanites. Let them be confounded, ashamed, and perish. Okay, now they have not been confounded and shamed and perished. Matter of fact, they've been a problem for Israel. Israel's building walls around themselves for protection against these enemies. So there's just another argument why it hasn't found fulfillment.

A (25:39)

Let's take a second look at verses 16 through 18. It says, fill their faces with shame that they may seek your name, O Lord. We're talking about Jehovah, not Allah. Let them the Confederacy of Psalm 83 be confounded and dismayed forever. Let them be put to shame and perish, that they may know that you, that's Jehovah, whose name alone is the Lord, are the most high over all the earth. So I ask you, did these two verses find fulfillment in 1948? The obvious answer is, no, they did not. Thus, Psalm 83 has not found entirely its final fulfillment. So then how is it that the Lord will accomplish putting them to shame and causing them to perish and coming to recognize that Jehovah alone is the Lord, the most High over the earth? Well, in my estimation, it's through the peripheral correlating prophecies. Watch this.

C (26:38)

I would say the final argument is there are a lot of peripheral prophecies related to these countries and populations involved in Psalm 83. Jordan. Jordan is a subject of prophecies in Zephaniah 2 and Jeremiah 49, where the Israeli Defense Forces topple them. Syria. Isaiah 17 talks about the destruction of Damascus. The Palestinians in Obadiah 1:18, they're taken out by the Israeli Defense Forces. The house of Joseph will be aflame, the house of Jacob, a fire. But the house of Esau, Palestinian descendants and the lineage of Esau shall be stubble, and no survivors shall remain in the house of Esau. And I go through in the Psalm 83 book, there's so many related peripheral prophecies that show the Israeli Defense Forces coming against them. And I'll close with the last one, which is one of your favorite verses. It says in Zechariah 12:2, Jerusalem become a cup of trembling, and by the surrounding nations, when they try to lay siege on Judah and Jerusalem. And in Zechariah 12, 4, 6, we find out those surrounding nations, not the nations at large, not the outer ring of Ezekiel 38, but the surrounding nations that happen to be listed in Psalm 83. He says to them that the Israeli Defense Forces, the captains or governors of Judah, will come against them. There will be a battlefield will be like a fire pan in the wood pile, the IDF will be like a fiery torch. The enemies around them will be like sheaves. They shall devour them on the right hand and on the left hand, talking about the nearness and proximity. But Jerusalem shall remain in this place again forever. Jerusalem. So folks, I would just simply say Psalm 83 could be nothing but a prayer. It could have been fulfilled already. It could be part of Ezekiel 38. But for all the reasons I just shared, thank you for that. I don't think so.

D (28:18)

And if you want to read more, the book is called Psalm 83 by Bill Salus. Bill, thanks for coming here today. I appreciate your clarification.

A (28:26)

Thank you Gary.

D (28:27)

I'm Gary Stearman. You keep watching.

A (28:30)

We are so now let's look at the next objection. Was it possibly fulfilled in the 1967 Six Day War? Unlike the 1948 war where it could be said that all the Arab confederacy of Psalmody was involved in that war in 1967 primarily only Egypt, Jordan and Syria were involved. So for all the reasons it wasn't fulfilled in 1948 also applied, it was not fulfilled in 1967. In fact, the fact that they came back to war again in 1967 further mitigates against the possibility it was fulfilled in the 1948 war because when it is fulfilled, the Arabs will no longer oppress the Jews. Now let's look at the next objection. Could it be part of the Ezekiel 38 prophecy?

C (29:23)

Can't really be part of Ezekiel 38. The differences between Psalm 83 and Ezekiel 38 is that Psalm 83 involves an inner circle of enemies that share common borders with Israel. They are Arab, they are Muslim, they've been Israel's notorious enemies throughout time. They have an ancient hatred against the Jews. They've been warring against the Jews in modern history, 1948, 1967, etc. And so Ezekiel 38 is really non Arabs. They don't share common borders with Israel. It's an entirely dispatch of different enemies. Russia, Iran, Turkey, some North African countries, Sudan, Somalia, Libya, on through Nigeria and Morocco perhaps, etc. Different enemies, outer ring, Ezekiel 38 inner circle. Psalm 83 the motives are different. Psalm 83, the Arabs are coming to invade Israel. It says they want to come against Israel to destroy the name of Israel remembered no more, cut the nation of Israel off, that the name be remembered no more. And then what happens is then this is verse 12. They want to take the promised land, the pastors of God for the possession. They want the land. Okay. Ezekiel 38. They're coming for plunder and booty, coming from the outermost parts of the north. Different motive. Psalm 83 is defeated militarily by the Israeli Defense Forces. Numerous prophecies go into how the Israeli Defense Forces exist in fulfillment of prophecy to fight off the Arabs. Then you get into Ezekiel 38. It is not stopped by the Israeli Defense Forces or the American forces. The Lord stops it supernaturally with an earthquake, fire, great hailstones and brimstone. And the different results occur. Psalm 83 when it's all over, the end of the ancient hatred happens. There's no longer the perpetuated ancient hatred and enmity of the Jews. Ezekiel 38. God intends to make his holy name known in the midst of his people Israel, that they shall not profane it anymore. He's the holy One in Israel. That's in Ezekiel 39, 7 showing the world that God is a promise keeper. He will uphold the Abrahamic covenant.

A (31:24)

So we can see that Psalm 83 and Ezekiel 38 are distinctly different prophecies. And remember that According to Psalm 83, the Arab Confederacy are going to recognize that Jehovah is the Lord the most High over all the earth, which means Allah is going to lose his Akbar at some point. Allahu Akbar means Allah is the greater God. So the way I would size it up, the Muslim countries involved in Psalm 83 when they're defeated becomes like a punch to the gut of Islam. Then Ezekiel 38, following that, which also involves primarily Muslim countries, will be enough to cut to the jawbone of Islam. And ultimately in the tribulation period, Islam will be knocked out for the 10 count and Allahu Allah will lose his Akbar at that point in time. So if it's not part of Ezekiel 38, could it possibly be part of the Armageddon campaign? Let's take a look at that. When you understand the tribulation period, it's a seven year period. And in the second three and a half years is called the Great Tribulation. And that's when the Antichrist initiates his Armageddon campaign. And in that period of time, the Jews are fleeing from a genocidal attempt by the Antichrist not fighting off the arabs in Psalm 83. We're told in Zechariah 13:8 that it shall come to pass in all the land of Israel, that 2/3 and it shall be cut off and die, but 1/3 shall be left in it. A remnant will emerge out of the genocidal attempt, and we find out that Jesus will rescue them. In Revelation 19:11, it's Jesus Christ who defeats the Antichrist at Armageddon. So it's not the IDF involved. It's Jesus Christ single handedly who defeats the Antichrist at the Armageddon campaign. Yes, Jesus Christ is returning at his second coming and he will defeat the Antichrist and His armies. And on that note, we have now concluded our video series entitled Understanding Psalm 83 through seven episodes of an in depth study from top to bottom on Psalm 83.