Who said, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession.
Psalm 83:12 exposes the purpose behind the confederacy gathered against Israel. The whole psalm is Asaph’s prayer to God against them, beginning, “Keep not thou silence, O God” (v.1). Earlier he records their counsel: “They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance” (v.4). They wanted both the people and their inheritance: destroy Israel, then possess what God had given them. Their words reveal hatred toward God’s people, covetousness toward God’s possession, and rebellion against God’s dominion.
The title gives this psalm to Asaph, the chief singer whom David appointed (I Chronicles 16:5,7), and Scripture does not name the invasion it describes, so no occasion should be asserted. The same ambition rose again generations later. When Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir came against Judah in Jehoshaphat’s day, the king prayed, “Behold, I say, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of thy possession, which thou hast given us to inherit” (II Chronicles 20:11). The enemies of God’s people speak this way in every age: they would take for themselves the possession God has given His people.
“Who said.” The enemies are known by their words. They did not act without counsel or purpose. Their mouths declared what their hearts desired. Verse 4 records their purpose to destroy Israel’s name; verse 12 records their purpose to seize Israel’s inheritance. Their words were not harmless talk. The sentence, “Let us take,” gathered nations, encouraged rulers, and prepared invasion. Counsel can become war. Wicked words often uncover wicked designs before the hand performs them, and God heard their words before their hands possessed anything.
“Let us.” This is the speech of united rebellion. Edom, Moab, Ammon, Amalek, the Philistines, Tyre, Assur, and others joined in one purpose (vv.6-8). Men often take courage from numbers. One man hesitates, but many say, “Let us.” Their agreement made them more dangerous, but it did not make them right. “Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished” (Proverbs 11:21). Men gather strength from one another to resist the order of God, but united rebellion remains weak before Jehovah.
“Take to ourselves.” These words reveal both violence and covetousness. The land was not theirs by God’s gift, so they intended to take it. They did not ask what Jehovah had appointed or respect His inheritance. They saw what belonged to another and determined to possess it. The words “to ourselves” expose their selfish end. They wanted the houses of God, but not the God of those houses. They desired His possession without submitting to His dominion. Fallen men often desire God’s gifts while rejecting the God who gives them.
“The houses of God.” The enemies’ own words condemn them. They call these places “the houses of God,” yet they say, “Let us take” them. They acknowledge whose possession it is in the very sentence by which they plot to steal it. Their rebellion is therefore not innocent ignorance. The phrase should not be narrowed to sanctuary buildings. Israel had one appointed place of national worship, but “houses” is plural. The language points to the dwellings, settlements, fields, and habitations of the land where God had planted His people and placed His name.
Scripture makes God’s ownership plain. “The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine” (Leviticus 25:23). Israel had not created the land, earned it by natural greatness, or possessed it by independent right. God had given it, and He remained its highest Owner; they were stewards and heirs under Him. These were the houses of God because He had chosen to dwell among His people: “This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it” (Psalm 132:14). An attempt to seize them was an attack upon the Giver’s appointment.
This gives strong comfort to the people of God. The enemy may see only houses, lands, families, and weak inhabitants, but God sees His possession. “For the LORD’S portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance” (Deuteronomy 32:9). What touches His people touches what He has claimed for Himself. The confederacy was not only against Israel: “For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee” (v.5). Their warfare against God’s people was rebellion against God.
“In possession.” The enemies wanted more than a passing raid. Verse 4 declared their wish to erase Israel as a nation; verse 12 shows what they intended afterward: remove the people, take the houses, and possess the land. Possession implies continuance and control. They meant to settle where God had settled His people and treat His gift as spoil. But no confederacy can overturn the counsel of God. He may chasten His people or permit enemies temporary advantage because of sin, yet rebels cannot seize His inheritance outside His purpose. “There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand” (Proverbs 19:21).
This explains the severity of Asaph’s prayer in the following verses. He asks God to make the enemies like a wheel and as the stubble before the wind, to persecute them with His tempest, fill their faces with shame, and let them be confounded and perish (vv.13-17). They had conspired against God, sought to erase His people, and attempted to seize His possession. Yet the judgment has a higher purpose: “That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth” (v.18). The enemies wanted the name of Israel remembered no more (v.4); God would use their overthrow to publish His own name.
The verse also warns against taking to ourselves what God has claimed for Himself. Men still desire influence over divine things while refusing divine rule. This warning reaches the church, which is the house of God, the church of the living God (I Timothy 3:15). No pope, pastor, family, party, or ruler owns it. God purchased it with His own blood (Acts 20:28). Pastors are stewards: “Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock” (I Peter 5:3). To take the house of God to oneself for power, gain, pride, or family dominion repeats the spirit of Psalm 83:12.
The same grasping spirit appeared in the husbandmen of Christ’s parable: “But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance” (Matthew 21:38). They wanted the inheritance while rejecting the heir. Their words closely resemble Psalm 83:12: men seeking to possess what belongs to God while resisting the One whom God appointed over it. His hearers themselves answered that the lord of the vineyard would miserably destroy those wicked men (Matthew 21:41), and Jesus told them the kingdom of God would be taken from them (Matthew 21:43).
Examine your own heart. The language of rebellion is, “Let us take to ourselves.” The language of faith confesses with David that all things come of God, and of His own we give Him (I Chronicles 29:14). Receive His gifts with thanksgiving, use them for His glory, and let no man seize what Jehovah has claimed. When enemies gather, trust Him, for He alone is the most high over all the earth.
Who said, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession.
Psalm 83:12 exposes the purpose behind the confederacy gathered against Israel. The whole psalm is Asaph’s prayer to God against them, beginning, “Keep not thou silence, O God” (v.1). Earlier he records their counsel: “They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance” (v.4). They wanted both the people and their inheritance: destroy Israel, then possess what God had given them. Their words reveal hatred toward God’s people, covetousness toward God’s possession, and rebellion against God’s dominion.
The title gives this psalm to Asaph, the chief singer whom David appointed (I Chronicles 16:5,7), and Scripture does not name the invasion it describes, so no occasion should be asserted. The same ambition rose again generations later. When Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir came against Judah in Jehoshaphat’s day, the king prayed, “Behold, I say, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of thy possession, which thou hast given us to inherit” (II Chronicles 20:11). The enemies of God’s people speak this way in every age: they would take for themselves the possession God has given His people.
“Who said.” The enemies are known by their words. They did not act without counsel or purpose. Their mouths declared what their hearts desired. Verse 4 records their purpose to destroy Israel’s name; verse 12 records their purpose to seize Israel’s inheritance. Their words were not harmless talk. The sentence, “Let us take,” gathered nations, encouraged rulers, and prepared invasion. Counsel can become war. Wicked words often uncover wicked designs before the hand performs them, and God heard their words before their hands possessed anything.
“Let us.” This is the speech of united rebellion. Edom, Moab, Ammon, Amalek, the Philistines, Tyre, Assur, and others joined in one purpose (vv.6-8). Men often take courage from numbers. One man hesitates, but many say, “Let us.” Their agreement made them more dangerous, but it did not make them right. “Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished” (Proverbs 11:21). Men gather strength from one another to resist the order of God, but united rebellion remains weak before Jehovah.
“Take to ourselves.” These words reveal both violence and covetousness. The land was not theirs by God’s gift, so they intended to take it. They did not ask what Jehovah had appointed or respect His inheritance. They saw what belonged to another and determined to possess it. The words “to ourselves” expose their selfish end. They wanted the houses of God, but not the God of those houses. They desired His possession without submitting to His dominion. Fallen men often desire God’s gifts while rejecting the God who gives them.
“The houses of God.” The enemies’ own words condemn them. They call these places “the houses of God,” yet they say, “Let us take” them. They acknowledge whose possession it is in the very sentence by which they plot to steal it. Their rebellion is therefore not innocent ignorance. The phrase should not be narrowed to sanctuary buildings. Israel had one appointed place of national worship, but “houses” is plural. The language points to the dwellings, settlements, fields, and habitations of the land where God had planted His people and placed His name.
Scripture makes God’s ownership plain. “The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine” (Leviticus 25:23). Israel had not created the land, earned it by natural greatness, or possessed it by independent right. God had given it, and He remained its highest Owner; they were stewards and heirs under Him. These were the houses of God because He had chosen to dwell among His people: “This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it” (Psalm 132:14). An attempt to seize them was an attack upon the Giver’s appointment.
This gives strong comfort to the people of God. The enemy may see only houses, lands, families, and weak inhabitants, but God sees His possession. “For the LORD’S portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance” (Deuteronomy 32:9). What touches His people touches what He has claimed for Himself. The confederacy was not only against Israel: “For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee” (v.5). Their warfare against God’s people was rebellion against God.
“In possession.” The enemies wanted more than a passing raid. Verse 4 declared their wish to erase Israel as a nation; verse 12 shows what they intended afterward: remove the people, take the houses, and possess the land. Possession implies continuance and control. They meant to settle where God had settled His people and treat His gift as spoil. But no confederacy can overturn the counsel of God. He may chasten His people or permit enemies temporary advantage because of sin, yet rebels cannot seize His inheritance outside His purpose. “There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand” (Proverbs 19:21).
This explains the severity of Asaph’s prayer in the following verses. He asks God to make the enemies like a wheel and as the stubble before the wind, to persecute them with His tempest, fill their faces with shame, and let them be confounded and perish (vv.13-17). They had conspired against God, sought to erase His people, and attempted to seize His possession. Yet the judgment has a higher purpose: “That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth” (v.18). The enemies wanted the name of Israel remembered no more (v.4); God would use their overthrow to publish His own name.
The verse also warns against taking to ourselves what God has claimed for Himself. Men still desire influence over divine things while refusing divine rule. This warning reaches the church, which is the house of God, the church of the living God (I Timothy 3:15). No pope, pastor, family, party, or ruler owns it. God purchased it with His own blood (Acts 20:28). Pastors are stewards: “Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock” (I Peter 5:3). To take the house of God to oneself for power, gain, pride, or family dominion repeats the spirit of Psalm 83:12.
The same grasping spirit appeared in the husbandmen of Christ’s parable: “But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance” (Matthew 21:38). They wanted the inheritance while rejecting the heir. Their words closely resemble Psalm 83:12: men seeking to possess what belongs to God while resisting the One whom God appointed over it. His hearers themselves answered that the lord of the vineyard would miserably destroy those wicked men (Matthew 21:41), and Jesus told them the kingdom of God would be taken from them (Matthew 21:43).
Examine your own heart. The language of rebellion is, “Let us take to ourselves.” The language of faith confesses with David that all things come of God, and of His own we give Him (I Chronicles 29:14). Receive His gifts with thanksgiving, use them for His glory, and let no man seize what Jehovah has claimed. When enemies gather, trust Him, for He alone is the most high over all the earth.