Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God.
Psalms 83:1-18.-Prayer for God's open interposition (Psalms 83:1); since God's foes tumultuously assail Israel in a vast confederacy of ten nations, Edom, Ammon, and Moab being the center (Psalms 83:2-8); prayer, grounded on God's past deliverances from Midian and Jabin, that He will send His fiery anger on the foe, in order that all may know that Yahweh is most high over all the earth (Psalms 83:9-18). This is the earliest psalm of the series concerning the overthrew of the confederacy which assailed Jehoshaphat. It is a thanksgiving by anticipation for the victory.
So the title is, A Song (shir) or Psalm of Asaph; probably by "Jahaziel the son of Zecharish, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Aspaph," upon whom "came the Spirit of the Lord in the midst of the congregation" (2 Chronicles 20:14). The 47th Psalm was sung on the battlefield after the victory. (Psalms 48:1-14), subsequently in the temple, This "praise-song" was sung by "the Levites, Kohathites, and Korliites, with a loud voice on high" (2 Chronicles 20:18-19). The object of the invaders was to root Israel out of his inheritance. Compare 2 Chronicles 20:7-11 with Psalms 83:3-5; Psalms 83:12, here. The joined craft with force (Psalms 83:3). Marching southward, round the Dead Sea, instead of entering from the east, they let no tidings reach Jehoshaphat until he heard a great multitude was within his territory at Engedi (2 Chronicles 20:2).
Keep not thou silence, O God - even as we do 'not keep silence' from words of prayer (Isaiah 62:6-7), so 'do not thou keep silence' from the word of command for our deliverance. Our age would be desperate indeed, if, when "thine enemies make a tumult" (Psalms 83:2), THOU were to keep silences (cf, Psalms 28:1, note).