Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 83:8
Assur also is joined with them: they have helped the children of Lot. Selah.
8. Assur ] Assyria. The mention of Assyria as an auxiliary of Moab and Ammon seems to imply that it was not yet a leading power, which would fall in with an early date for the Psalm. Assyria is not known to have come in contact with Israel until the reign of Jehu, who paid tribute to Shalmaneser II in b.c. 842. Still in the time of Jehoshaphat the Assyrians appear to have made conquests in Phoenicia and Syria, and the Ammonites might have procured help from them as they did from Syria at an earlier date (2Sa 10:6).
If the Psalm belongs to the Persian or Maccabaean age, Assyria must stand for Persia or Syria. Theodoret suggests that the Samaritans, as Assyrian colonists, are meant. Lagarde, followed by Cheyne, cuts the knot by reading Geshur for Asshur (see 2Sa 3:3); but this petty Syrian kingdom would hardly be mentioned as an important ally.
they have holpen ] Lit. they have been an arm, i.e. a help. Cp. Isa 33:2.
the children of Lot ] The Moabites and Ammonites, who seem to be singled out as the leaders of the confederacy. Cp. 2Ch 20:1. The phrase occurs in Deu 2:9; Deu 2:19, the only other passages in O.T. outside of Genesis where Lot is mentioned. It points to the unbrotherly character of the hostility of these nations by recalling their common descent.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Assur also is joined with them – Assyria. Assyria was on the northeast of Palestine. The conspirators had secured, it seems, the aid of this powerful kingdom, and they felt confident of success.
They have holpen the children of Lot – The sons, or the descendants of Lot. The margin is, as the Hebrew, been an arm to. That is, they were an aid, or help; in other words, the sons of Lot were permitted, as it were, to make use of the arm of these powerful nations in accomplishing their purposes. The sons of Lot were Moab and Ammon, the ancestors of the Moabites and the Ammonites, Gen 19:37-38. It would appear from this, that the purpose of destroying the Hebrew people had been originated by the Moabites and Ammonites, and that they had called in the aid of the surrounding nations to enable them to carry out their plan. The enumeration of those who had joined in the alliance shows that all the nations adjacent to Palestine, on every side, had entered into the agreement, so that the land was completely encompassed, or hemmed in, by enemies. In these circumstances, the conspirators felt secure; in these circumstances, the Hebrew people had no resource but to call upon God. Thus it often occurs that the people of God are so surrounded by enemies, or are so hemmed in by troubles and trials, that they have no other resource than this: they are shut up to the necessity of prayer. Often God so orders, or permits things to occur, as to cut off his people from every other dependence, and to make them feel that there is no help for them but in Him.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 8. Assur also is joined] The Ammonites might have got those auxiliaries from beyond the Euphrates, against Jehosphaphat, as formerly they were brought against David. See 2Sa 10:16.
They have holpen the children of Lot.] The Ammonites, who appear to have been the chief instigators in this war.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Is joined with them in their counsels, and possibly with some of their forces, though not so openly and powerfully as afterwards.
The children of Lot; Moab and Ammon, who were the principal parties in that war, 2Ch 20, called here the children of Lot, to intimate their horrible degeneration from their pious progenitors.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Assur also is joined with them,…. Before mentioned, or Assyria, though at so great a distance from Israel, and unprovoked by them: according to R. Joseph Kimchi, the sense is, that the Assyrians joined them, continuing in their wickedness, though their army had been destroyed by an angel in Hezekiah’s time, of which they were unmindful; but this, as his son observes, makes this confederacy and war to be after the times of Hezekiah; whereas it was long before it: the Targum is,
“Sennacherib, king of Syria, is joined with them;”
and so some refer this to his invasion of Judea, and besieging Jerusalem, with an army consisting of many nations, in Hezekiah’s time; but he was the principal there, and not an auxiliary, as here:
they have holpen the children of Lot; or were “an arm” h unto them, assisted and strengthened them: these were the Moabites and Ammonites, who were the principals in the war, and the rest auxiliaries, as it appears they were in the times of Jehoshaphat,
2Ch 20:1, here were ten different nations, which joined in confederacy against the people of Israel; to which answer the ten horns of the beast, or ten antichristian kings, who agreed to give their kingdom to the beast, and to make war with the Lamb and his followers, Re 17:12, and it may be observed, that these were on all sides of the land of Israel; the Edomites, Ishmaelites, and Amalekites, were on the south; the Moabites, Ammonites, and Hagarenes, were on the east; the Assyrians on the north; and the Philistines, Gebalites, and Tyrians, on the west: so that Israel was surrounded on all sides with enemies, as the Lord’s people are troubled on every side, 2Co 4:8, and so the Gog and Magog army, of which some understand this, will encompass the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city, Re 20:9.
Selah. [See comments on Ps 3:2].
h “fuerunt brachium”, Pagniuus, Montanus; “sunt brachium”, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, &c.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(8) Assur.For the more usual Ashur, Assyria. Some, however, think the Syria is here intended, that name being, in the view of the Greek writers, a corruption of Assyria. (The Greeks call them Syrians, but the Barbarians Assyrians.Herod, vii., 63.) And even if etymologically incorrect, the error of the Greeks may have been consciously or unconsciously shared by the Jews, and the kingdom of the Seleucid be honoured by the name of the grander and more ancient power.
They have holpen.See margin. And for the importance of the form of the statement see Introduction.
Children of Lot.Ammon and Moab, who thus appear as the leaders of the confederacy.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
8. Assur Assyria. The Assyrians might have sent troops, or only encouraged the enterprise by approbation, or promise of ultimate interference if needed.
Children of Lot That is, Moab and Ammon, (Gen 19:30-38,) a clear proof that they were the instigators and chief actors in this stupendous tragedy. Moab had special cause for exterminating, or at least breaking, the power of the Hebrews, having recently thrown off the yoke of Israel, (2Ki 3:5,) with whom she now stood committed to a desperate war. 2Ki 3:5. Mesha, the brave and ambitious king of Moab, anticipated this, and had the address to raise the confederacy, and undoubtedly was the leading spirit of the expedition. It is wonderful that the inscription of the celebrated “Moabite stone,” discovered by Mr. Klein, missionary at Jerusalem, in 1868, near Deban, (Dibon,) in the Belkan district, (the northern part of ancient Moab,) was written in the name and by the dictation of this same Mesha, king of Moab, and fully states the oppression of Moab by “Omri, king of Israel, and his son,” (Ahab,) the hatred of Moab toward Israel, predatory wars on the Israelitish territory for the recovery of cities well known in the Bible, and, with many other things, clearly states a battle for the recovery of Horonaim, a city on the southern frontier, which, about a year after the date of this psalm was taken, with other cities, by Jehoram and Jehoshaphat. See Psa 83:4, and 2 Kings 3
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 83:8 Assur also is joined with them: they have holpen the children of Lot. Selah.
Ver. 8. Assur also is joined with them ] The Chaldee paraphraseth, Sennacherib, also the king of Asshur, &c. So doth the Turk, with the Church’s enemies; howbeit, Italy is the mark he shooteth at; and the Protestants have the happiness (as also America) to be farther out of his way, and no part of his present aim, for the greatest part of them.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
children = sons.
Selah. Connecting these two things together, the former being that which calls forth the prayer: and connecting the past confederacy with the future one of the “ten kingdoms” and the same Divine destruction.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Assur: Assur is the same in the original as Asshur, or Assyria. Gen 10:11, Asshur, Gen 25:3
holpen: Heb. been an arm to, Isa 33:2
the children: Gen 19:37, Gen 19:38, Deu 2:9
Reciprocal: Num 24:22 – the Kenite 1Ch 1:17 – Asshur Eze 27:23 – Asshur Eze 32:22 – General Hab 3:14 – they Zep 2:13 – he will
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
83:8 Assur also is joined with them: they have holpen the children {g} of Lot. Selah.
(g) The wickedness of the Ammonites and Moabites is described in that they provoked these other nations to fight against the Israelites.