Verse 18. - That men may know; rather, that they may know. There is no "men" in the original. That thou, whose name alone is Jehovah, art the Most High over all the earth (see the comment on ver. 16).
83:9-18 All who oppose the kingdom of Christ may here read their doom. God is the same still that ever he was; the same to his people, and the same against his and their enemies. God would make their enemies like a wheel; unsettled in all their counsels and resolves. Not only let them be driven away as stubble, but burnt as stubble. And this will be the end of wicked men. Let them be made to fear thy name, and perhaps that will bring them to seek thy name. We should desire no confusion to our enemies and persecutors but what may forward their conversion. The stormy tempest of Divine vengeance will overtake them, unless they repent and seek the pardoning mercy of their offended Lord. God's triumphs over his enemies, clearly prove that he is, according to his name JEHOVAH, an almighty Being, who has all power and perfection in himself. May we fear his wrath, and yield ourselves to be his willing servants. And let us seek deliverance by the destruction of our fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.
That men may know that thou, whose name alone is Jehovah,.... Or, "that thou, thy name alone is Jehovah" (p), a self-existent Being, the Being of beings, the everlasting I AM, the immutable God; for this name is expressive of the being, eternity, and unchangeableness of God, who is, and was, and is to come, invariably the same, Revelation 1:4 which is to be understood not to the exclusion of the Son or Spirit, who are with the Father the one Jehovah, Deuteronomy 6:4, and to whom this name is given; see Exodus 17:6, compared with 1 Corinthians 10:9, Isaiah 6:8 compared with Acts 28:25, but to the exclusion of all nominal and fictitious deities, the gods of the Heathens; and the being and perfections of God are known by the judgments he executes, Psalm 9:16,
art the most High over all the earth; or,
and that thou art, &c. (q), being the Maker and the Possessor of it, and the sovereign Lord of its inhabitants, doing in it what seems good in his sight; see Genesis 14:22, for the accents require two propositions in the text: the Heathens (r) give the title of most high to their supreme deity: the Targum is,
"over all the inhabitants of the earth.''
(p) "quod nomen tuum", Pagninus, Montanus, Musculus. (q) "Quod tu, inquam, sis altissimus", Michaelis. (r) Pansan. Boeotica sive, l. 9. p. 555.
art the most High over all the earth; or,
and that thou art, &c. (q), being the Maker and the Possessor of it, and the sovereign Lord of its inhabitants, doing in it what seems good in his sight; see Genesis 14:22, for the accents require two propositions in the text: the Heathens (r) give the title of most high to their supreme deity: the Targum is,
"over all the inhabitants of the earth.''
(p) "quod nomen tuum", Pagninus, Montanus, Musculus. (q) "Quod tu, inquam, sis altissimus", Michaelis. (r) Pansan. Boeotica sive, l. 9. p. 555.