“Deal with them as with Midian, as with Sisera and Jabin at the torrent of Kishon, who were destroyed at En-dor, who became as dung for the ground. Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb and all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna, who said, ‘Let us possess for ourselves the pastures of God’” (Psa 83:9-12).
In Psalm 83, we gain insight into how inspired biblical authors read and apply earlier Scripture. Because of the references to Sisera and Jabin (v. 9), Oreb, Zeeb, Zebah, and Zalmunna, it is clear that Asaph is appealing to God’s victories over the Canaanites, Midianites, Amalekites, and Ishmaelites through Barak, Deborah, and Gideon in Judges 4-8. God’s mighty acts in the past are transformed into prayerful expectations that he will act again by defeating the satanic alliance of ten nations (vv. 6-8).
Because God does not change and his deeds are consistent, the past shapes our prayers and expectations for the future.
By asking God to grant a future victory like those accomplished through his anointed judges, Psalm 83 contains an implicit yet significant Messianic hope. In essence, Asaph is asking God to raise up a future judge who will “pursue” (Psa 83:15 [16]; a key word in Judges: Judg 4:16, 22; 7:23, 25; 8:4-5, 12) and defeat Israel’s enemies (vv. 13-17) so that all nations will know that the LORD is the Most High over all the earth (v. 18). This implicit messianism becomes even clearer when we consider that the prophet Isaiah also compared the Messiah’s victory over Israel’s oppressor to Gideon’s miraculous defeat of Midian (see Isa 9:4-7).
Because God does not change and his deeds are consistent, the past shapes our prayers and expectations for the future. What God did in the past, he will do again, only on a much greater scale. For this reason, we can never fully appreciate Yeshua’s words and deeds without noticing how they repeat and amplify the deeds of Israel’s past. To read the Gospels well means reading the stories of Yeshua while being constantly reminded that he is like, yet far greater than, the heroes of the Hebrew Bible.
