Psalms 83:8

Assur Assyria. The mention of Assyria as an auxiliary of Moab and Ammon seems to imply that it was not yet a leading power, which would fall in with an early date for the Psalm. Assyria is not known to have come in contact with Israel until the reign of Jehu, who paid tribute to Shalmaneser II in b.c. 842. Still in the time of Jehoshaphat the Assyrians appear to have made conquests in Phoenicia and Syria, and the Ammonites might have procured help from them as they did from Syria at an earlier date (2 Samuel 10:6).

If the Psalm belongs to the Persian or Maccabaean age, Assyria must stand for Persia or Syria. Theodoret suggests that the Samaritans, as Assyrian colonists, are meant. Lagarde, followed by Cheyne, cuts the knot by reading Geshurfor Asshur(see 2 Samuel 3:3); but this petty Syrian kingdom would hardly be mentioned as an important ally.

they have holpen Lit. they have been an arm, i.e. a help. Cp. Isaiah 33:2.

the children of Lot The Moabites and Ammonites, who seem to be singled out as the leaders of the confederacy. Cp. 2 Chronicles 20:1. The phrase occurs in Deuteronomy 2:9; Deuteronomy 2:19, the only other passages in O.T. outside of Genesis where Lot is mentioned. It points to the unbrotherly character of the hostility of these nations by recalling their common descent.