Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 83:16
Fill their faces with shame; that they may seek thy name, O LORD.
16. Fill their faces with shame ] Or, disgrace. Let them be disgraced by defeat and disappointed in their project. But this is only as the means to the higher end, that they may seek Jehovah’s name, recognising in Israel’s God the God of revelation, and submitting themselves to His Will.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Fill their faces with shame – As those who are disappointed and foiled in their plans – such disappointment and confusion commonly manifesting itself in the face. The prayer here is, that their enemies might be so baffled in their designs – that they might be made so to feel how vain and hopeless were all their plans – that there might be such a manifest interposition of God in the case, as that they should be led to see that Yahweh reigned; that it was in vain to contend with him, and that his people were under his protection.
That they may seek thy name, O Lord – That they may be led to seek thee. This explains the drift and design of the whole prayer in the psalm. It is not a malignant prayer for the destruction of their enemies; it is not a wish that they might be made to suffer; but it is a prayer that the divine dealing might be such as to lead them to the acknowledgment of the true God. It is a benevolent thing to desire that men may be brought to the knowledge of the true God, though it be through the discomfiture of their own plans, by defeat, or by suffering. Anything that leads people to an acquaintance with God, and results in securing his friendship and favor, is a gain, and will be cause of thankfulness in the end.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 83:16
Fill their faces with shame; that they may seek Thy name, O Lord.
Shame leading to salvation
I. Ungodly men have good cause to be ashamed–
1. Because of the wrong they are doing to their Maker. You pride yourself upon your uprightness and integrity; but must God alone, then, be made to Suffer through your injustice? Out of all beings, must He alone who made all other beings be the only one to be neglected?
2. There are many ungodly men who ought to be ashamed because they are acting in opposition to light and knowledge, contrary to their conscience, and against their better judgments.
3. Because of their postponements of what they know to be right.
4. Because of their violation of vows which they have made.
5. Because of their not loving the Lord Jesus Christ, and not trusting such a Saviour as He is.
6. A man ought to be ashamed who will not even think of these things.
II. Now, concerning these ungodly people, let me show you that shame is a very desirable thing if it drives them to God. Hence the prayer, Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek thy name, O Lord.
1. Sometimes shame attends the breaking up of self-righteousness.
2. I have known this shame to operate in some when they have done wrong, and have lost the repute they enjoyed among their fellow-creatures.
3. So have I seen failure driving a man to the strong for strength.
4. I have also known men brought to Christ with shame of another sort, shame of mental error leading to a humble faith.
III. The Lord is willing now to receive those who are ashamed of themselves.
1. You are the sort of man to come to Christ, because, first, you have the greatest need of Him. In the time of famine, we give the meal away first to the most hungry family.
2. If you are ashamed of yourself, you are the man to come to Christ, because you will make no bargains with Him. You will say, Save me, Lord, at any price, and in any way!
3. And you are the man who will give Him all the glory if you are saved. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 16. That they may seek thy name] Let them be confounded in all their attempts on Israel; and see, so manifestly, that thou hast done it, that they may invoke thy name, and be converted to thee.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
That being disappointed of their hopes, and discerning the impotency of their idols, they may own and worship thee as the only true God.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
16. that they may seekor asPs 83:18, supply “men,”since Psa 83:17; Psa 83:18amplify the sentiment of Ps 83:16,expressing more fully the measure of destruction, and the lesson ofGod’s being and perfections (compare 2Ch20:29) taught to all men.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Fill their faces with shame,…. For their sins, or rather through disappointment, not being able to put their desperate and deep laid schemes into execution: or “with lightness” o; instead of a weight of honour and glory upon them, let them be despised. R. Joseph Kimchi renders it, “fill their faces with fire”; let their faces be as if they were on fire, as men’s faces are, who are put to an exceeding great blush, or are most sadly confounded and ashamed:
that they may seek thy name, O Lord; not they themselves, who are filled with shame; for it is imprecated, that they be ashamed, and troubled for ever, and so as to perish, Ps 83:17 but others; for the words may be supplied, as in Ps 83:18 “that men may seek thy name, or that thy name may be sought”: the judgments of God upon wicked men are sometimes the means of arousing others, and putting them upon seeking the Lord, his face, and his favour; that God would be merciful to them, pardon their iniquities, avert judgments from them, and preserve them from threatened calamities; and this is a good end, when answered; see
Isa 26:9.
o Heb. “levitate”, Piscator; so Ainsworth.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(16) Thy name, O Lord.Rather, thy name (which is) Jehovah. The nations were to seek Him not only as God, but as Jehovah God of Israel. This is proved by Psa. 83:18. No doubt the thought uppermost in the verse is the submission of the heathen to Jehovahs power. But we may, looking back, read in it a nobler wish and a grander hopethe prophetic hope of a union of nations in a belief in the common fatherhood of God.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
16. That they may seek thy name Or, And they shall seek thy name. They will never inquire after the true God until their false dependencies are swept away, and this latter can be effected only by judgments which, like the plagues of Egypt, are above the arm of flesh to avert. The seeking after God, here, is that which is forced by the pressure of judgments, but the ulterior, true seeking, is anticipated as a possible and desired result.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 83:16 Fill their faces with shame; that they may seek thy name, O LORD.
Ver. 16. Fill their faces with shame ] By confounding their confidences, and blasting their designs. They promised themselves a triumph, but let them have the canvas.
That they may seek thy name, O Lord
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
their: i.e. the enemies.
they: i.e. Israel, or Thy People.
LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 6:10, Psa 9:19, Psa 9:20, Psa 34:5
Reciprocal: Job 11:3 – make thee Psa 31:17 – wicked Psa 53:5 – thou hast Hos 5:15 – in their 2Th 3:14 – that he
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 83:16-18. Fill, &c., that they may seek thy name That, being disappointed of their hopes, and discerning the impotence of their idols, they may own and worship thee as the only true God. Let them be put to shame and perish But those of them that will not humble themselves before thee, let them be utterly destroyed. That men may know Or, that they may know, namely, by dear-bought experience, even by their own ruin, what they would not know by information for their own good; that thou art the Most High The most high God, and the God, not only of thy people Israel, as the heathen fancy, and as their gods are supposed to be confined to their particular and several territories, but the God and governor of all the nations and parts of the earth.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
83:16 Fill their faces with shame; that they may {m} seek thy name, O LORD.
(m) That is, be compelled by your plagues to confess your power.