Psalms 83:12

Psa 83:12 Who said, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession.

Ver. 12. Let us take to ourselves the houses of God] Covetous impropriators and oppressors have learned this language. Possidebant Papistae, possident Rapistae, saith one wittily.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13. (Psa 83:12). Who have said, let us inherit for ourselves the dwellings (or pasture grounds) of God. This relates not to the former but to the present enemies of Israel, and assigns the reason why they should experience the same fate with their predecessors. The double meaning of the word translated dwellngs makes it peculiarly descriptive of the Holy Land, where God dwelt with his people, and where he fed them as a shepherd. See above, on Psa 23:3; Psa 65:12; Psa 74:20.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained (1850) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

83:12 The coalition’s motivation for wiping out Israel was to acquire the land (see Jer 3:19).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

That is, Judea: for where his Church is, there dwelleth he among them.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 12. Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession.] Nearly the words spoken by the confederates when they came to attack Jehoshaphat. They come (says the king in address to God) to cast us out of thy possession which thou hast given us to inherit. See 2Ch 20:11.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

12. Who have said, Let us take in possession for ourselves the habitations of God. These heathen enemies are again accused of treason against the King of heaven, in seizing upon his heritage like lawless robbers. They would not, we may be sure, avow in so many words that it was their intention to commit such a crime; but as they despised God, who, as they well knew, was worshipped by the people of Israel, they are here justly charged with the guilt of endeavoring to dispossess Him of his own inheritance. And, without doubt, they profanely poured abuse upon the true God, of whose sacred majesty they entertained the greatest contempt, their minds being besotted with their own inventions. But even granting that they abstained from gross blasphemies, yet whatever harassing proceedings are carried on against the godly redound to the dishonor of God, who has taken them under his protection. The appellation, the habitations or mansions of God, which is applied to Judea, is a form of expression, containing no small degree of comfort. God has united himself to us, with the view of having an everlasting residence amongst us, or rather that he may set as high a value upon his Church, and account it as precious, as a householder does his possessions which are most valuable, and yield him a large revenue.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(12) Houses.—Rather, pastures. (See Psa_79:7.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

12. Who have said, Let us take for ourselves in possession

The habitations (or, pastures) of God.

Who refers to the present enemies of Israel, not to the Midianites. God’s habitations or pastures are the land which He has given to His people Israel. Cp. 2Ch_20:11. The LXX reads altar, or according to another reading, sanctuary.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Who said,.... Not the kings and princes of Midian just mentioned, but the confederate enemies of Israel, named Psa 83:6, to whom the like things are wished as to the Midianites and others, because they said what follows:

let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession; not only the temple, which was eminently the house of God, but all the habitations of the Israelites in Jerusalem, and other places, where the Lord vouchsafed to dwell; unless this should be ironically spoken by their enemies calling them so, because they pretended, as they reckoned it, to have and to hold them by the gift of God; whereas, of right, they belonged to them, at least some of them: such a claim was made by the Ammonites in the times of Jephthah, Jdg 11:13, and to dispossess the Israelites was the intention of the Ammonites and Moabites in the times of Jehoshaphat, Ch2 20:10.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Who said, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession - The houses of God here mean the habitations of God, or the places where he dwelt among the people. As there was but one ark, one tabernacle, and one temple, or one place of constituted public worship, this must refer to other places where God was worshipped, or where he might be supposed to reside; either to synagogues (see the notes at Psa 74:8), or to the private dwellings of the people regarded as a holy people, or as a people among whom God dwelt. This may, therefore, imply that their dwellings - their private abodes - were also dwelling-places of God, as now the house of a religious family - a place where God is regularly worshipped - may be regarded as an abode of God on the earth. The language here is not to be understood as that of Oreb and Zeeb, of Zebah and Zalmunna, but of the enemies referred to in the psalm, who had entered into the conspiracy to destroy the Hebrew nation. They had said, “Let us inherit the houses of God;” that is, Let us take to ourselves, and for our possession, the dwellings of the land where God is supposed to reside.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The houses of God; the houses and lands of the Israelites, which their God, as they pretend, gave them in Canaan, to which they have no rightful title; for that we see was formerly objected by the Ammonites, Jdg 11:13, who were a chief party in this war. So they seem to call them houses of God, by way of irony and derision.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ver. 12. Who said, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession. Viewing the temple, and also the dwellings of the tribes, as all belonging to God, these greedy plunderers determined to push out the inhabitants, slay them, and become themselves landlords and tenants of the whole. These were large words and dark designs, but God could bring them all to nothing. It is in vain for men to say "Let us take, "if God does not give. He who robs God's house will find that he has a property reeking with a curse; it will plague him and his seed for ever. "Will a man rob God?" Let him try it, and he will find it hot and heavy work.

None.

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Psalms 83:13*

Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

12. Who said—The Midianitish kings, (Psa_83:11,) had devised to appropriate the country of the Hebrews to themselves. See Jdg_6:3-6.

Houses of God—Or, Habitations of God, are to be understood of all the dwellings and territory of God’s people. It was intended as a direct insult to the religion of the Hebrews, and hence to their God. They fought no battles with Israel to gain possession, but for seven years these shepherd kings moved upon the land in summer, retiring in winter to their Arabian home east of Gilead, where the pasture grounds were more luxuriant in that season. Their numbers intimidated Israel, and none dared to resist, while they contemptuously said, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Who said, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession; rather, the homesteads of God; or "the pastures of God", (Psa_23:2) i.e. of God"s people, Israel.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.