For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head.
The verse pictures the enemies of God and those who hate Him rising in tumultuous uproar with lifted heads in proud defiance against Him. Israel had turned aside and spared these nations when coming out of Egypt, yet they repaid that mercy by invading Judah. That uprising was fulfilled when the great company of the children of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir came to cast Judah out of the possession God had given Israel to inherit and had given to the seed of Abraham forever. The confederacy included Edom, the Ishmaelites, Hagarenes, Gebal, Amalek and others, joining with one consent in crafty counsel against His sheltered, hidden people to cut Israel off from being a nation so that its name would be remembered no more.
Against so great a host Judah had no might and did not know what to do. The psalm pleads for God not to keep silence but to bring the confederates to confusion, shame, ruin and perishing, as He destroyed Midian and Sisera and Jabin at the Kishon, so that all may know that He whose name alone is Jehovah is the Most High over all the earth. In that peril the verse became Judah's own prayer of helpless dependence, with the leader standing in the temple court confessing powerlessness, appealing to God's rule over all kingdoms and irresistible power that none can withstand, appealing to His promise to hear and help when His afflicted people stand before the house where His name dwells and cry to Him, and fixing their eyes on Him alone. The whole congregation made it their united plea, standing before the Lord with wives, children and little ones, fasting and praying together with eyes on Him and confidence in the One who had often delivered His chosen from destruction, asking Him to confuse their enemies for the glory of His name.
The verse pictures the enemies of God and those who hate Him rising in tumultuous uproar with lifted heads in proud defiance against Him. Israel had turned aside and spared these nations when coming out of Egypt, yet they repaid that mercy by invading Judah. That uprising was fulfilled when the great company of the children of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir came to cast Judah out of the possession God had given Israel to inherit and had given to the seed of Abraham forever. The confederacy included Edom, the Ishmaelites, Hagarenes, Gebal, Amalek and others, joining with one consent in crafty counsel against His sheltered, hidden people to cut Israel off from being a nation so that its name would be remembered no more.
Against so great a host Judah had no might and did not know what to do. The psalm pleads for God not to keep silence but to bring the confederates to confusion, shame, ruin and perishing, as He destroyed Midian and Sisera and Jabin at the Kishon, so that all may know that He whose name alone is Jehovah is the Most High over all the earth. In that peril the verse became Judah's own prayer of helpless dependence, with the leader standing in the temple court confessing powerlessness, appealing to God's rule over all kingdoms and irresistible power that none can withstand, appealing to His promise to hear and help when His afflicted people stand before the house where His name dwells and cry to Him, and fixing their eyes on Him alone. The whole congregation made it their united plea, standing before the Lord with wives, children and little ones, fasting and praying together with eyes on Him and confidence in the One who had often delivered His chosen from destruction, asking Him to confuse their enemies for the glory of His name.