Psalm 83:10

Which perished at Endor: they became as dung for the earth.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(10) En-dor.—This place, for which see 1 Samuel 28, is not mentioned in Judges 4, but is in the battle-field not far from the Taanach and Megiddo of Deborah’s song. (Robinson, iii. 224)

Benson Commentary

Psalm 83:10-12. Which perished at En-dor — Either, 1st, The Midianites; or rather, Jabin and Sisera, who were overthrown at Taanach and Megiddo, (Jdg 5:19,) nigh unto which places was this En-dor, as appears from Joshua 17:11. They became as dung upon the earth — They were trodden under foot, and their carcasses left unburied. Who said, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God — The houses and lands of the Israelites, which their God, as they say, gave them in Canaan; but to which they have no rightful title. This was formerly objected by the Ammonites, as we see Jdg 11:13, and the Ammonites were a chief party in this war. So they seem to call them houses of God by way of irony and derision.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Which perished at En-dor - Endor is not particularly mentioned in the history of the transaction in the book of Judges, but it is known that Endor was in the vicinity of Mount Tabor, and there is no improbability in the tradition which has fixed the site of the battle at or near Endor. The word or name "En-dor" means properly fount of the dwelling (or, habitation), and was probably given at first to a spring or fountain near to which some distinguished or well-known person dwelt. It is mentioned in Joshua 17:11; 1 Samuel 28:7.

They became as dung for the earth - The land was enriched or made fertile by their flesh, their blood, and their bones, as the field of Waterloo was by that of the slain, or as fields of battle commonly are.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

9-11. Compare the similar fate of these (2Ch 20:23) with that of the foes mentioned in Jud 7:22, here referred to. They destroyed one another (Jud 4:6-24; 7:25). Human remains form manure (compare 2Ki 9:37; Jer 9:22).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Which perished at En-dor: either,

1. The Midianites. Or rather,

2. Jabin and Sisera, who were overthrown near Taanach and Megiddo, Judges 5:19, nigh unto which places was this En-dor, as appears from Joshua 17:11.

They became as dung for the earth; they were trodden under foot, and their carcasses left unburied. Compare 2 Kings 9:37 Jeremiah 8:2 16:4.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Which perished at Endor,.... Aben Ezra and Kimchi understand this of the Midianites; but rather it is to be understood of Jabin and Sisera, and the army under them, who perished at this place, which is mentioned along with Taanach and Megiddo, Joshua 17:11, which are the very places where the battle was fought between Jabin and Israel, Judges 5:19 according to Jerom (i), it was four miles from Mount Tabor to the south, and was a large village in his days, and was near to Nain, the place where Christ raised the widow's son from the dead, Luke 7:11.

they became as dung for the earth; being unburied, they lay and rotted on the earth, and became dung for it; see Jeremiah 8:2, or were trodden under foot, as dung upon the earth; so the Targum,

"they became as dung trodden to the earth.''

(i) De locis Hebraicis, fol. 88. L. and 91. E.

Geneva Study Bible

Which perished at Endor: they became as {i} dung for the earth.

(i) Trodden under foot as mire.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

10. En-dor is not mentioned in the narrative of Judges, but it was situated in the same valley as Taanach and Megiddo, which are named in Jdg 5:19, and is mentioned along with them in Joshua 17:11.

as dung] Omit as. A contemptuous expression for the fate of un-buried corpses. Cp 2 Kings 9:37; Jeremiah 8:2; &c.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 10. - Which perished at Endor. "Endor" is not mentioned in the narrative of Judges; but it was certainly in the neighbourhood of Taanah and Megiddo, which are mentioned (Judges 5:19; see Joshua 17:11). They became as dung for the earth; i.e. their carcases manured the soil (comp. 2 Kings 9:37; Zephaniah 1:17). Psalm 83:10

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

With כּמדין reference is made to Gideon's victory over the Midianites, which belongs to the most glorious recollections of Israel, and to which in other instances, too, national hopes are attached, Isaiah 9:3 [4], Isaiah 10:26, cf. Habakkuk 3:7; and with the asyndeton כּסיסרא כיבין (כּסיסרא, as Norzi states, who does not rightly understand the placing of the Metheg) to the victory of Barak and Deborah over Sisera and the Canaanitish king Jabin, whose general he was. The Beth of בּנחל is like the Beth of בּדּרך in Psalm 110:7 : according to Judges 5:21 the Kishon carried away the corpses of the slain army. ‛Endôr, near Tabor, and therefore situated not far distant from Taanach and Megiddo (Judges 5:19), belonged to the battle-field. אדמה, starting from the radical notion of that which flatly covers anything, which lies in דם, signifying the covering of earth lying flat over the globe, therefore humus (like ארץ, terra, and תבל, tellus), is here (cf. 2 Kings 9:37) in accord with דּמן (from דמן), which is in substance akin to it. In Psalm 83:12 we have a retrospective glance at Gideon's victory. ‛Oreb and Zeēb were שׂרים of the Midianites, Judges 7:25; Zebach and Tsalmunna‛, their kings, Judges 8:5.

(Note: The Syriac Hexapla has (Hosea 10:14) צלמנע instead of שׁלמן, a substitution which is accepted by Geiger, Deutsch. Morgenlnd. Zeitschr. 1862, S. 729f. Concerning the signification of the above names of Midianitish princes, vid., Nldeke, Ueber die Amalekiter, S. 9.)

The pronoun precedes the word itself in שׁיתמו, as in Exodus 2:6; the heaped-up suffixes ēmo (êmo) give to the imprecation a rhythm and sound as of rolling thunder. Concerning נסיך, vid., on Psalm 2:6. So far as the matter is concerned, 2 Chronicles 20:11 harmonizes with Psalm 83:13. Canaan, the land which is God's and which He has given to His people, is called נאות אלהים (cf. Psalm 74:20).