Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 83:3
They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones.
3. They have taken and consulted ] They are taking and consulting together. Jehovah’s hidden ones are His people whom He conceals in His pavilion in the day of trouble (Psa 27:5; Psa 31:20), those to whom He has given an asylum from their enemies. The later Greek Versions (Aq. Symm. Theod.) and Jerome read the singular, thy secret place, i.e. the temple, cp. Eze 7:22.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
They have taken crafty counsel – The one word translated have taken crafty – aram – means properly to make naked; and then, to be crafty, cunning, malignant, 1Sa 23:22. It is well rendered here, they have taken crafty counsel. The meaning is, they have made their counsel or their consultations crafty, cunning, artful, malignant. Instead of pursuing a course in their deliberations that would be just, true, honorable, they have followed the reverse. On the word rendered counsel – sod – which means a couch or cushion, and hence, a divan – see Job 15:8, note; Psa 25:14, note; Psa 64:2, note. The idea here is, that the persons referred to in the subsequent part of the psalm (Psa 83:6-8) had been assembled in a divan, or for consultation, and that they had there formed a malignant plan – against God and his people – which they were now proceeding to execute.
Against thy people – For the purpose of destroying them.
And consulted against thy hidden ones – The word rendered hidden ones – from the verb tsaphan, to hide, to conceal – properly denotes that which is secret, private, inaccessible Eze 7:22; and then, anything protected or hidden so as to be secure. Compare the notes at Psa 27:5. It would seem here to refer to those who were so protected by Yahweh – so inaccessible to others by reason of his guardian care – that they would be safe.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 83:3-4
They have taken crafty counsel against Thy people, and consulted against Thy hidden ones.
The enmity of the wicked against the Church
I. The enmity which the wicked bear to the Church of God, and from whence it proceeds.
1. This proceeds from the craft and policy, the malice of the Devil, who, being a competitor with God for dominion in the world, and whose whole design it is to defeat Him in the good that He would do for mankind, doth perpetually labour to put a stop to whatever may be offered toward the delivering of the souls of men out of his snare.
2. It proceeds from the restless temper of wicked men, whose minds are set upon mischief, and that do catch at all opportunities for it.
3. It proceeds from the interest of wicked men (Psa 83:3).
4. It may proceed from the excellency of a Church, when it doth outshine them in the best and truest perfections, and that true goodness and substantial piety is there taught and practised.
5. It may proceed from the disposal of Divine Providence, that for the punishing of the sins of a Church, doth not only suffer others to aft]let her, but turn their displeasure that way.
II. In what ways they show this enmity, and what course they take to afflict and destroy the Church.
1. Slandering their adversaries, and raising false reports of them.
2. Dividing the Church, and setting one part of it against the other.
3. Downright force.
III. The confidence they have of success. This may proceed from the review which they have of their own policy and strength, and from the observation which they make of the weakness of their adversaries; weak, perhaps, of themselves; weaker, perhaps, with their divisions; weak because they are secure, and not aware of an assault; and weak because they have made no provision against it. Confident again they may be of success because the design lies out of sight.
IV. The course by which the Church and people of God may and shall be secured. Which is fervent prayer to God, and entire dependence upon Him. (J. Williams, D. D.)
Thy hidden ones.
Gods hidden ones
1. We may find Gods hidden ones where possibly you would least think of looking for them, amongst those who are about us most–the children. I often think of Charles Lambs plaint over the wrongs and woes of children.
2. We may find Gods hidden ones amongst the struggling souls so plentifully to be met with in society. Society, as such, frequently seems as if it were impossible for it to believe in penitence or amendment, as if it were impossible for it to exercise forgiveness, or hope, or charity, What God thinks of these hard-pressed, sin-tormented souls; how He cares for those who fail in the crisis, who sink in the depths, who lose name and character, and heart and hope, do we not see in His revealer and interpreter to mankind, His best gift to the world, the Lord Jesus Christ?
3. We may find Gods hidden ones amongst the poorer, the obscurer, the unheard-of members of our Christian communities. Many a poor soul consigned to the free seats or the galleries loves the worship and work of the Church far more than those known of most or seen of all. Many a cottager, in proportion to his time or his means, denies himself more, contributes more, than those who take the Chief seats, or are saluted as leaders.
4. We may find Gods hidden ones in regions or atmospheres that may to us seem least likely to produce them. I have heard of some worthy Christian men who, if you had told them that Gods good Spirit taught the Romans, or the Greeks, or the Assyrians, or the Egyptians in ancient days as well, as the Jews, would have been tempted to charge you with blasphemy; or, if you had expressed the conviction that God was as much in Asia or Africa at this moment as He is in Europe or America, would have thought you well-nigh an atheist.
5. We may find the hidden ones of God without, as well as within, the pale of the Church. Where there is no declaration of faith on the lips, there may still be true loyalty in the heart; that where there is no outward profession, there may still be the sincerest inward service. (J. T. Stannard.)
The obscurity and security of good men
They are hidden in two senses–
I. In the sense of obscurity. The Divine motives that actuate, the sublime aims that inspire, the supernal joys that fill the souls of the genuinely good, are hidden from the eyes of worldly men. The world knoweth us not.
1. The characters of good men are misjudged by the world. They have often been treated as fiends rather than as angels, hence martyrdom.
2. Their moral superiority is unappreciated by the world.
II. In the sense of security. In the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion. Thou shalt hide them in the secret of Thy presence. Your life is hid with Christ in God. The hidden things are generally the most secure, the hidden roots, the hidden springs, the hidden substances, etc. Hid with Christ in God. What enemys hand can reach them there? (Homilist.)
Gods hidden ones
I know few studies that may be made more profitable to Christian people than the names and titles which are given to them in the Book of God. They are called the flock of God, to intimate His care and their sure supplies; trees of God, to intimate their hidden life, their growth and fruitfulness; His jewels, to denote their preciousness and rarity; the family, the children, the household of God, to denote His Fatherhood and their happiness and home; the priesthood of God, that they may be holy and separate, and present daily sacrifice to Him; soldiers, in order to inspire them with courage to fight the good fight of faith. In the text they are called His hidden ones. The name implies–
I. The safety of Gods people. Out of God and away from Him, man is exposed, without screen or shelter, to the storms of conscience, the tempests of sorrow, the blast of death, the winter of judgment and of doom. All round the world this shelterless condition is felt. Adam felt it, and tried to hide himself among the trees. The heathen fears the anger of the gods, and screens himself by cruel offerings to idols of wood and stone. Self-righteousness makes a fancied refuge for itself, but all in vain. BuS God Himself hath opened a hiding-place: His own infinite mercy, as manifest in the atoning death of Christ.
II. The concealment of the Christian.
1. The godly are for the most part hidden, unnoted, and unknown. They are not appreciated. The spirit of the world is at enmity with them–refuses to rank them amongst those whom it delights to honour. It altogether undervalues them, and has little but sneers, contumely, and contempt to give.
2. Besides this, the bulk of Gods people in this world are hidden in the obscurity of their condition. In the main, Christianity dwells among the brushwood. It is composed of the rank and file, and has its dwelling, as it had in Christs time, in the homes of the poor.
3. Some of Gods children are hidden by persecution. In the olden time, the faithful ones were hidden among rocks, and dens, and caves of the earth.
4. Many loyal and faithful disciples of Jesus are hidden by a constitutional diffidence. They shrink from any and all publicity. These hidden ones, quiet, silent, and reserved, may be doing a holy work in secret spheres.
5. Then, again, the Lord has His hidden ones, who are hidden by age, by sickness, and by the iron wall of duty, from which they cannot, ought not to break away. Depend upon it, this is a large and noble army.
6. Then I would not forget how many of the Lords loyal disciples are hidden from each other by the thick, man-spun veils of opposing creeds.
7. Many of ,Gods hidden ones are hid away in the shelter of the restful grave.
III. Gods appreciation of His people. Nobody troubles to hide what is counted worthless. It either has an intrinsic value, like gold, or a circumstantial value, like an old letter or a lock of hair. Believers in Jesus are dear to Him, precious to Him. He hides them, guards them, keeps watch over them. Where do you keep your jewels? some one asked of a Roman matron. In my heart, said she, and straight brought her children into view. They were her precious things, hid in her heart. Thy hidden ones!
IV. The ultimate manifestation of Gods people. Hidden, are they? Well, but He that hides can find. The jewels are hidden in the casket till they are wanted; then they are brought out to flash upon the breast and to beautify the brow. The royal regalia is hid away under lock and key until another coronation-day comes round. (J. J. Wray.)
Gods hidden one
I. Why are they called Gods hidden ones?
1. Because He has put them out of the reach of their adversaries, and concealed them in a place of safety.
2. Because He gives them quiet and peace, even in the midst of turmoil and sorrow. The more of trial you have to endure, the more of communion you shall have to enjoy. This is the happy, happy case of a tried child of God.
3. Because they are not understood. He who has been made to live unto God lives a life that is quite incomprehensible to ordinary men.
4. Because they are obscure.
5. Because all the saints are at present unrevealed.
II. What is their special honour?
1. He knows whom He chose and redeemed; He knows whom He has called; He knows whom He has justified. He has hot done any of those things in the dark. He has a familiar acquaintance with all that His grace has done for you.
2. Though you are hidden, you are not hidden from the Lord. You are hidden by Him, but you are not hidden from Him. He can read your thoughts; He knows the troubles that are yet to come as well as those that have come; He reads you as I read the pages of this Bible.
3. Some of Gods hidden ones are among the very choicest of His children. I think there are some who are so very dear to God that He keeps them to Himself.
4. Hidden as you are, He has engaged to keep you. His Very hiding of you shows that He means to keep you in safety. You shall never perish, for He keepeth the feet of His saints.
III. What then?
1. Let us rejoice that the Lord has more people than we knew.
2. Let us look for these hidden ones wherever we are.
3. Since God has hidden ones, let us take care never to act or speak so as to grieve them.
4. Although God has His hidden ones, let not one of us hide himself more than is needful. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 3. Consulted against thy hidden ones.] tsephuneycha, Thy hidden things; places; persons. “The hidden things in thy treasures.” – CHALDEE. “Thy holy ones.” – SYRIAC. “Thy saints.” – VULGATE and SEPTUAGINT; and so the AEthiopic and Arabic. The people of Israel are probably meant. Or perhaps the temple, the ark, and the treasures of the temple, are intended.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
i.e. Thy people of Israel, as it is explained in the foregoing words, and in the next verse; who are called Gods hidden or secret ones, to intimate the singular care and respect which God hath to them, as to his peculiar treasure, as they are called, Exo 19:5; Psa 135:4, whom he will hide and preserve in the secret of his presence, and under the shadow of his wings; and withal, to note their folly in seeking the destruction of those whom God was engaged and resolved to protect.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. hidden oneswhom Godspecially protects (Psa 27:5;Psa 91:1).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
They have taken crafty counsel against thy people,…. The people of Israel, hereafter named, whom God had chosen and avouched to be his people; these they dealt subtlety with, as the king of Egypt had done with their forefathers; and this, agreeably to their character, being the seed of the old serpent, more subtle than any of the beasts of the field; these devised cunning devices, formed crafty schemes for the destruction of the Lord’s people; but often so it is, that the wise are taken in their own craftiness, and their counsel is carried headlong:
and consulted against thy hidden ones; not hidden from the Lord, and unknown unto him, though from their enemies, and unknown by them, and so the object of their hatred and persecution; but hidden by him as his jewels and peculiar treasure, which he takes care of; hidden under the shadow of his wings, in the secret of his presence and tabernacle, as in a pavilion; and therefore it was a daring piece of insolence in their enemies to attack them: so the life of saints is said to be hid with Christ in God, which denotes both its secrecy and safety; see Col 3:3, the Targum is,
“against the things hidden in thy treasures;”
meaning the riches of the temple.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(3) They have taken crafty counsel.Literally, They have made their plot crafty; or, as we say, They have laid a deep plot.
Hidden onesi.e., those under Gods close protection, as in Psa. 17:8; Psa. 27:5; Psa. 31:20.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. Crafty counsel Hebrew, Craftily plotted a secret. Both the object and the plan of execution were a secret. Avoiding all customary army routes, they stealthily took the dangerous Bedouin trail around the south and west shores of the Dead Sea, a route which well nigh cost Jehoram his army soon after, (2 Kings 3,) and, ascending the mountains at Engedi, completely surprised Jehoshaphat. He had no time to collect his army, and had no army adequate to meet the foe.
Hidden ones Those whom God “hides in the secret of his tabernacle,” that is, protects. Psa 27:5
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 83:3. Thy hidden ones God’s hidden or treasured ones, are those faithful ones whom he keeps up safe and precious as his treasures. The Chaldee paraphrase renders it, Thy hidden treasures; and elsewhere, as Dr. Hammond observes, they explain themselves to mean thereby, the habitation of God’s presence, or the temple and sanctuary itself.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psa 83:3 They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones.
Ver. 3. They have taken crafty counsel, &c. ] They have negotiated this league with much subtilty and solicitation, conferunt et captant consilia, they are cruel crafties. Malignaverunt consilium, saith the Vulgate.
And consulted against thy hidden ones
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
They: Psa 10:9, Psa 56:6, Psa 64:2, 1Sa 13:19, Isa 7:6, Isa 7:7, Luk 20:20-23
thy hidden: Psa 27:5, Psa 31:20, Psa 91:1, Col 3:3
Reciprocal: Exo 1:10 – Come on 1Ki 17:3 – hide thyself 2Ch 20:11 – to cast us Neh 4:8 – all Psa 71:10 – take Isa 7:1 – Rezin Isa 7:5 – Syria Isa 8:10 – counsel Jer 51:11 – the vengeance Lam 4:21 – be glad Eze 25:10 – may Eze 35:2 – and prophesy Eze 38:10 – that at Amo 1:11 – because Mat 2:7 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THY HIDDEN ONES
They have consulted against Thy hidden ones.
Psa 83:3
I. We may draw sweet and almost inexhaustible instruction from the names given to the children of God in Scripture.This title of the Lords hidden ones is full of consolation. How many a Lazarus is there whom the world in its giddy course of pride, or reclining in its purple luxury, disdains to feed with its superfluous crumbs! And at times the poor sufferer himself may make his moan, I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind. It is so different to suffer in an amphitheatre of admiring spectators, and to languish in solitary grief, unwitnessed and unknown. Yet is this no unfrequent badge of discipleship. The servant is not greater than his Lord. He was despised and rejected of men. Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not.
II. You see your calling then, concealed saint, one of the Lords hidden oneshidden from the glare and glitter of the world, and the pomps and passions of life: hidden in respect of your tears and trials, your joys and felicities: hidden as to your true inalienable glorya child of God, an heir of blissful immortality; a king and priest unto our God for ever. Yes, hidden now, and many stormy waves about you; but what a hiding-place! In the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; in the secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me. Those who are admitted to the private apartments of their sovereign, are not wont to complain of their seclusion. And mark the next clause: He shall set me up upon a rock. Those who are now hidden in the clefts of the Rock of Ages, shall one day stand thereon and sing.
Bishop E. H. Bickersteth.
Illustration
This psalm may be traced to that terrible crisis in the history of Judah described in 2 Chronicles 20. It was written apparently before the Hebrews had received the assurance of victory, and when the first rumours of the confederacy were bruited abroad. The alliance of the surrounding nations threatened the very existence of the chosen people. Then it was that this psalm pleaded for the interposition of Jehovah, and challenged Him to do again as He had done.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Psa 83:3-5. They have consulted against thy hidden ones That is, against thy people Israel, as it is explained in the foregoing words, and in the next verse. They are called Gods hidden, or secret ones, , tzepunecha, abditos tuos, to intimate the singular care and respect which God had to them, as his peculiar treasure, (as they are called, Exo 19:5; Psa 135:3,) whom he would hide and preserve in the secret of his presence, and under the shadow of his wings; and withal to denote the folly of Israels enemies in seeking the destruction of those whom God was engaged and resolved to protect. They have said, Come, let us cut them off, &c. Whereby they have showed both their implacable rage and malice, and their great assurance of success. They are confederate against thee They have laid aside all their private quarrels and animosities, and agreed together against thee.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
83:3 They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy {c} hidden ones.
(c) The elect of God are his secret ones: for he hides them in the secret of his tabernacle, and preserves them from all dangers.